As one of the eight major cuisines in China, Anhui cuisine benefited from its unique geographical and climatic environment, with rich local materials, diverse dishes and full flavor. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, local flavor was introduced into the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which effectively promoted the development of Anhui cuisine. The characteristics of original flavor, original flavor and paying attention to food supplement make Jiangnan literati obsessed with it, creating a "emblem" feeling that has been famous for centuries.
Stinky mandarin fish is the representative dish of Anhui cuisine. Stinky mandarin fish is a popular name because it has a bad smell. According to Huizhou people's name, it should be called pickled mandarin fish, also called barrel fresh fish and pickled fresh fish. It turns out that Huizhou does not produce mandarin fish. Fishermen along the Yangtze River pick mandarin fish and put them in wooden barrels with a layer of fish and a layer of salt for sale in Huizhou. At first, the fish didn't rot and deteriorate during transportation. They were sprinkled with light salt water to keep fresh. After a few days, the gills are still red, and the scales are intact, but there is an odorless smell. After cooking, the spiny fish was separated, and the meat was delicious and mellow, which had a different taste compared with the fresh mandarin fish.
It is also a coincidence that Huizhou stinky fish Huangshan Maotofu Maotofu was born. According to legend, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, begged for a piece of tofu in his early years. After a few days, he found it moldy, so he fried it and ate it, which was extremely delicious. After he became emperor, he popularized this dish and it has been passed down to this day. The warm environment of Huangshan hairy tofu in Huizhou gave birth to a strange food with white hyphae attached. After fermentation, the inside of tofu has been very different. Mucor secretes protease, which degrades soybean protein into peptones, peptides and amino acids. This series of changes endow tofu with extraordinary delicacy, and this rich flavor is called "the taste of hometown" by Huizhou people. ?
Huangshan Yipin Chicken is well known. Anhui cuisine pays attention to "triple", that is, heavy color (the function of heavy color adjustment), heavy oil (the function of seasoning) and heavy fire (the function of temperature control). A full and moist chicken is the embodiment of the "triple" of Anhui cuisine. The meat is tender and smooth, which means that after two hours of slow stew, the broth slowly penetrates into the chicken. Compared with the usual chicken, it is more delicate, supplemented by rich sauces, from the fragrance of the tip of the tongue to the mellow between the lips and teeth, and every bite is full of rich Huizhou flavor. The fisherman's four-buckle bowl looks like a simple and heavy Anhui dish, but it actually contains warm and delicate techniques. Small and exquisite fisherman's four-button bowl, excellent braised pork, fresh shrimp sauce, soft and sweet pumpkin, balanced meat and vegetables, suitable depth and original flavor. ?
Looking back 200 years ago, Huizhou merchants may still be listening to the little songs on merchant ships, savoring the flavor of the year from their hometown and pinning their thoughts on their family and friends.
Huangshan knife board smells like Huangshan knife board. It is made of pork belly with skin, evenly rubbed with a layer of salt, dried, soaked in cold water overnight before eating, taken out, washed, steamed and sliced for eating. This kind of bacon was originally an "inconspicuous cloth" in Anhui cuisine, and now it is as famous as the stinky mandarin fish. The so-called "knife board fragrance" is because when bacon is placed on the pier of the old elm tree, the elm tree will absorb excess grease and make the meat have wooden roots. As always, the meat is salty, refreshing and not greasy, seemingly simple, but there is a great innovation trend of Huizhou cuisine in it. ?