Jiaozi is a famous food with a long history in northern China. As early as 2000 years ago, during the Western Han Dynasty, jiaozi was popular in Chang 'an, the capital (now Xi City). However, it was commonly known as jiaozi at that time, and it was renamed "Crescent Wonton" in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. During the Three Kingdoms period, there was a record about wonton in the book Guangya written by Zhang Yi, a Wei national. Yan Zitui in the Northern Qi Dynasty also wrote a book saying: "Today, wonton is shaped like a crescent moon, and there is enough food in the world." The crescent moon is the shape of jiaozi now. In the Tang Dynasty, jiaozi became more popular and called it "flat food". Archaeologists in China found jiaozi in a bowl in the Tang Dynasty tomb in Turpan, Xinjiang, just like jiaozi now. In Song Dynasty, it was called "Jiao Jiao". In the Ming Dynasty, Liu Ruoyu's Collection of Fires in the Imperial Palace recorded the situation of eating jiaozi in the New Year, and said: "From the fifth watch, I will drink pepper and cypress wine, eat snacks and eat instant flat food. Or it contains a secret money bag, and the person who gets it will get a one-year-old blessing. " There is a similar record in "Yanjing Years" of Qing Dynasty. It was only in the Ming and Qing Dynasties that it was renamed "Jiaozi", which has continued to this day.

Speaking of the birth of dumpling feast, there is quite a difficult experience. Xi 'an Dumpling Banquet Hotel (formerly Jiefang Road Dumpling House) is located in the northern section of Jiefang Road in Xi 'an, with a history of nearly 50 years. Their jiaozi has always been famous, beautifully carved, shaped like an ingot, soft, tender and delicious, which often makes diners forget their taste for a long time, and the business is quite prosperous.

In the early 1980s, tourism in Xi suddenly warmed up. The staff of Jiefang Road Dumpling House looked at the endless stream of Chinese and foreign tourists, and suddenly thought, "We don't have seafood in Shaanxi, but we have jiaozi and jiaozi, and we can go to by going up one flight of stairs.". In order to adapt to the development of tourism and meet the requirements of the masses, the store began to develop dumpling banquets from 1984. They sent famous chefs to Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Qingdao and other big cities in the north and south, and earnestly studied the styles, characteristics, production techniques and people's tastes of jiaozi. I also went deep into some cities and counties in the province to learn about the practices of folk jiaozi. Among them, Guangguo Town went three times just to learn a kind of lilac jiaozi. In addition, the production technology of jiaozi in ancient Tang and Song Dynasties was also studied. Yang Yuhuan, the imperial concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, wanted to eat a stuffing food one day, which should be steamed. The clever cook knew that she liked chicken wings, so she made steamed dumplings with them. Yang Guifei was very happy to eat it, so "Guifei Steamed Dumplings" became a court food and was handed down. In the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi fled to xi 'an and wanted to eat a kind of jiaozi. This kind of jiaozi should be cooked face to face. The chefs wrapped the chicken breast into a small pearl jiaozi, and the hot pot contained chicken soup, which was served to the Queen Mother and cooked with it. This kind of jiaozi was later called "Empress Dowager Hotpot".

After repeated experiments and hundreds of trial-productions, a dumpling feast with good fragrance and taste, refreshing shape and special taste was finally developed. At that time, the south and the north held dumpling banquets at the same time. In recent days, I have also come to join in the fun and often invite the staff of dumpling houses to perform in Japan. China's influential newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun published a photo of a dumpling feast with the caption "China State Secret".

From the banquet in the Great Hall of the People to the food festival in Taipei, thousands of jiaozi in Qian Qian, shaped like fruits, flowers, animals and mascots, have solved the troubles of countless people, just like dew in the drought, but at the same time, they have also made employees suffer, so that some female employees are afraid when listening to performances abroad. Why? Customers are so enthusiastic that employees can't keep their fingers straight all night!

Xi's dumpling feast gave many foreigners a perceptual knowledge when they ate a large piece of jiaozi. According to word of mouth, more and more Chinese and foreign tourists come to Xi 'an to taste the jiaozi feast, so jiaozi, Jiefang Road and jiaozi, Defachang in the railway station and Bell and Drum Tower Square, guard the main attractions of the ancient city like red-faced generals in ancient times. The difference is that they are not holding a dragon crescent moon blade, but a delicious dumpling feast.

So far, there are hundreds of jiaozi in jiaozi, Xi 'an. Divided into hundred flowers banquet, peony banquet, dragon and phoenix banquet, palace banquet, eight treasures banquet and so on. Jiefang Road Dumpling House is therefore famous all over the world. In recent years, it receives an average of more than four or five thousand customers at home and abroad every day. Defachang Dumpling House, located on the side of Xi 'an Bell Tower, has a history of more than half a century, but it has been in a hurry. In the literary world, it has long been known as the "jiaozi feast for friends and friends, and it has long remembered Chang 'an Defachang", forming a jiaozi feast with its own characteristics and enjoying a high reputation in all directions. There are also some restaurants and hotels that also operate dumpling banquets, and some even put up the signboard of "Authentic Dumpling Banquet". Dumpling feast has become a delicacy in Xi, and some people say it is also a delicacy in China. Some people say that it is not true to go to Xi 'an without seeing the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang, and it is not true to eat jiaozi.

Breakthrough of Xi 'an Dumpling Banquet

First of all, it broke the tradition of using only pigs, cattle, mutton and vegetables as fillings. Chicken, duck, fish, eggs, seafood, delicacies, fresh vegetables, dried vegetables, fruits and so on, all delicious and nutritious materials can be used as fillings.

Second, it broke the tradition of making raw hides and fillings and then cooking, with raw fillings and more cooked fillings; Stuffing should not only be seasoned, but also boiled, fried, stir-fried, fried, fried and slippery. There are dumplings, and more practices are steaming, frying, roasting and frying.

The third is to break the tradition of pure salty and fresh taste and add a variety of ambiguous types such as sour, sweet, hemp, spicy, fishy and strange.

Fourthly, it broke the tradition of single crescent and angle, combined cooking technology with plastic arts, and produced various beautiful and realistic shapes such as flowers, plants, fish and insects.

5. Breaking the tradition of eating jiaozi and simply eating jiaozi, taking jiaozi as the main dish, serving cold dishes, hot dishes and drinks, and combining them skillfully and organically, giving jiaozi different beautiful names for different raw materials, shapes, colors and tastes, greatly improving the cultural color and festive atmosphere of the banquet.

Jiaozi feast special food

The types of dumpling stuffing are expanded to include those that fly in the sky, those that run on the ground, those that swim in the water and those that grow in the mountains. Its cooking method adopts almost all the cooking techniques in China. It can be said that after biting a jiaozi, people's good expectations for China cuisine have all come true, so it is no wonder that a guest left a message saying that "a dumpling feast will eat all the fresh food in the world".

Tasting the dumpling feast can often leave a beautiful and deep impression on people. This is because the shape is beautiful, the taste is delicious, the connotation is rich and interesting. Many colors are based on folklore or historical allusions. For example, "eight-treasure steamed dumplings" is taken from the story of "playing gold". It is said that Guo Ziyi once wrapped eight flavors of jiaozi, such as sea cucumber, to celebrate the settlement of this incident. "Baochuan Steamed Dumplings" is filled with mustard and pork, which is taken from the legend that Wang Baochuan dug mustard in the south of Chang 'an. "Steamed dumplings with black rice" originated from the legend that Zhang Qian dreamed of Wen Qu and found that black rice was sent to the western regions. Many jiaozi are exquisite handicrafts. Some look like butterflies, some look like penguins, some look like green leaves, and some look like goldfish, flying, clouds and pearls. The names are also very poetic: butterflies flying, fish jumping in Longmen, oolong lying in the snow, dragons making waves, green king rabbits, charcoal in the snow, bon voyage and so on. Everyone is eye-catching, making people want to miss their birthdays, but they are reluctant to part. After tasting dozens of jiaozi dishes, whether in Jiefang Road Dumpling House or Defachang Dumpling House, you can enjoy a wonderful and wonderful form, namely Pearl Hot Pot jiaozi.

When people used cups and chopsticks alternately, suddenly the lights went out. At this moment, a big copper chafing dish engraved with the pattern of Yunlong Cao Rui was lit in the middle of the table. The blue flame made everyone suddenly feel back to ancient times. Next, jiaozi, as small as a pearl, is put in a small bowl in front of people. From 1 to 10, even every jiaozi has an auspicious and beautiful saying. First, smooth sailing; Second, double happiness; Three, three, six, nine, go up; Get rich in the fourth and fourth seasons; Five or five children were admitted to the Central Organization Department; Six, six and six; Seven, seven stars shine high ... let every guest break up in joy.

At present, jiaozi's views on Pearl Hot Pot are divided into two camps: "Tang Theory" and "Qing Theory" by gourmets and some government officials who are good at cooking. The former confirmed that jiaozi was the pearl hotpot invented by Yang Guifei. The latter insisted that it was a tribute from the Queen Mother of the West when she took refuge in Xi 'an in 1900. So far, the two factions have been arguing, and the experts' arguments have not been resolved, but the business of the two dumpling houses is booming. Like many things in Xi 'an, because of Xi 'an's long history, many things are really unknown at present, but Xi 'an dumpling feast has become a special food that tourists must taste after arriving in Xi 'an.

Types of jiaozi at Dumpling Banquet

Boiled jiaozi

Crystal jiaozi; Champion jiaozi; Light jiaozi; Sea Intestine jiaozi; Crab yellow jiaozi; JD.COM vegetarian jiaozi; Jiaozi stuffed with pork lotus root; Wenjiang jiaozi; Jiang Mao jiaozi; Hot and sour jiaozi; Huasu jiaozi; Chicken soup jiaozi; Shrimp and mushroom mustard tuber jiaozi; Sanxian tangyuan; Yuanyang jiaozi; Baekje jiaozi; Shrimp dumplings; Egg shell jiaozi; Cabbage and oyster jiaozi; Shrimp, egg, leek, jiaozi.

Steamed dumplings/jiaozi (meat stuffing and vegetable stuffing)

Soup steamed dumplings; Steamed beef jiaozi; Steamed dumplings with stuffing; Cut stuffed steamed dumplings; Steamed dumplings with snow bamboo shoots; Yipin steamed dumplings (salty stuffing); Mu Ping steamed dumplings; Xi' an steamed dumplings; Steamed dumplings in round cages; Mutton steamed dumplings; Steamed dumplings with stuffing; Three fresh steamed dumplings; Steamed dumplings with dried vegetables; Yipin steamed dumplings (plain stuffing); Jiangcheng steamed dumplings; Hangzhou steamed dumplings; Steamed pork dumplings; Steamed dumplings with hot noodles; Steamed dumplings with stuffing; Steamed dumplings with ham; Sanding steamed dumplings; Yipin steamed dumplings (sweet stuffing); Huaiyang steamed dumplings.

fried dumpling

Jingwei fried dumpling; Chicken fried dumplings; Fried dumplings with curry; Fried jiaozi; Egg pot stickers; Nanwei bombing; Shrimp egg dumplings; Assorted pot stickers; Tianjin fried dumpling; Qiu Er fried dumplings; Pork and cabbage pot stickers; Pork, egg and leek pot stickers; Beef and green pepper pot stickers; Shrimp tofu pot stickers; Chicken sauce pot stickers; Baoding fried dumpling; Vegetarian fried dumplings; Fried dumpling with shrimp skin and leek; Beef and cabbage pot stickers; Mutton and green onion pot stickers; Henan fried dumpling; Fresh meat pot stickers; Pork and eggplant pot stickers; Muslim beef pot stickers; Mutton and wax gourd fried dumpling.

fried dumpling

Fried meat stuffing jiaozi; Crispy jiaozi; Fried dumplings; Crispy onion jiaozi; Fried crispy jiaozi; Taiji crisp dumplings; Salty and crisp jiaozi; Crispy snowflake egg dumplings; Mutton fried dumplings; Fried dumplings with hot noodles; Potato fried dumplings; Yuanbao fried dumplings; Guangdong fried dumplings; Fried dumplings with taro; Fried dumplings with taro; Fried dumplings with stuffing; Multi-flavored fried dumplings; Fried beef dumplings; Fried dumplings with horseshoes; Fried dumplings with rice noodles.

Baked Crispy jiaozi

Coffee jiaozi; Zhangcha duck dumplings; Curry jiaozi; Crispy coconut jiaozi; Mandarin ducks burn jiaozi; Vegetarian crispy jiaozi; Fresh meat crisp dumplings; Jiaozi with crispy fruit; Beijing pancake crisp jiaozi; Sweet-scented osmanthus crispy jiaozi; Curry crisp jiaozi; Assorted pastry jiaozi; Crispy jiaozi stuffed with bean paste; Wuren Crispy jiaozi; Jujube paste dumplings; Zhenjiang Crispy jiaozi; Pork belly braised crispy jiaozi; Jujube paste crisp jiaozi; Double-flavored crispy jiaozi; Crispy red bean paste jiaozi.

Dumpling feast with different tastes

Dumpling banquet is a kind of banquet mainly in jiaozi. There are generally more than 65,438+000 kinds of fillings. According to the number of diners, if there are seven people at a table, each dish will only serve seven jiaozi, and after one dish, jiaozi with a second different filling will be eaten, while jiaozi with the same filling will never have a meal before eating it. The following are different dumpling feasts.

1, Erlong Play Pearl Banquet

Its main cage consists of many traditional jiaozi Erlong pearls in China, and there are 24 kinds of artistic jiaozi, such as steamed dumplings with shrimp balls, jade dragons leaving the palace, dragons making waves and butterflies flying. All the fillings are mainly fish and shrimp, highlighting seafood.

2. Golden Dragon Welcome Banquet

It is an excellent banquet for welcoming guests and entertaining relatives and friends. It is composed of several jiaozi's golden dragon flying patterns, and 22 kinds of artistic jiaozi, such as carp yue longmen, oolong lying in the snow, grinding colorful moss, gold needle silver bars and barbecued tremella.

3. Yuanyang banquet

This is a feast mainly composed of mandarin ducks playing in water and steamed dumplings. It includes 22 kinds of artistic jiaozi, such as butterfly ushering in the spring, jade dragon leaving the palace, phoenix returning to the nest, jiaozi, jiaozi and Yuanbao steamed dumplings. This is a feast for the festive wedding banquet.

4. Seafood feast

The dumpling feast is filled with seafood and matched with 18 kinds of art jiaozi.

5. Chicken and Duck Banquet

A feast of chicken and duck stuffing. There are 18 jiaozi with rich and unique flavor.

6, the imperial concubine banquet

It is a dumpling feast developed with reference to the "Twenty-four Odd Wonton" in Wei Juyuan's cookbook in Tang Dynasty. There are mainly 22 kinds of artistic jiaozi, such as Guifei Chicken jiaozi, Yulong Gong Chu jiaozi, Guifei Red Pot jiaozi, Xiangu Steamed Dumplings, Qunlong Naohai jiaozi, Lotus Chicken jiaozi and Sugar Pot jiaozi, which have various tastes and shapes.

7. ruyi banquet

This is a feast with "Congratulations on getting rich" as the main cage. Congratulations on getting rich is an artistic steamed dumpling developed from the homonym of Nostoc flagelliforme.

8. Sam sun banquet

Dumpling feast made of pork, beef and fish stuffing. This banquet is mainly composed of three fresh dumplings, accompanied by 20 kinds of artistic dumplings such as green pepper meat rice, steamed dumplings with pulp, assorted steamed dumplings, celery steamed dumplings and beef with strange flavor. This banquet is innovative on the basis of maintaining the traditional flavor of jiaozi, and it is a feast with strong annual flavor.

9. Lohan Zhai Banquet

This is a vegetarian dumpling feast for vegetarian customers. It consists of Luohanzhai as the main cage and 20 kinds of artistic jiaozi, such as tomato sauce crispy rice, vegetarian horseshoe jiaozi, apple steamed dumplings, Wuren steamed dumplings and Yinxian steamed dumplings. It is delicious, light and nutritious.

Qiannian dumplings feast

1959, wonton and jiaozi were found in the Tang tomb in Astana.

Jiaozi and wonton are common foods in daily life and are deeply loved by people. Jiaozi and wonton are also favorite foods of Uighurs. They are called "Juwa" and "Qukeer" respectively in Uygur language. Every weekend, in many Uighur families, there will be a scene in which the whole family get together to pack jiaozi. When a plate of hot jiaozi is served, everyone will pick up chopsticks after several courtesies. This atmosphere is full of rich family life. Jiaozi has a very long history in Xinjiang. Judging from the jiaozi food unearthed from the ancient tomb in Turpan, jiaozi became one of the favorite foods of Xinjiang people in the Tang Dynasty more than 654.38 million years ago.

Jiaozi is a traditional food of the Han nationality.

Jiaozi was originally a traditional food of the Han nationality. The reason why it can be accepted by people of all ethnic groups is that jiaozi's production method is relatively simple and it tastes very delicious. There is a saying in the northern region: "Delicious but not as good as jiaozi." There is a folk song that says, "It's cold, so eat jiaozi for the New Year." Now the Han people still have the custom of eating jiaozi on New Year's Eve. In order to eat jiaozi at home on this night, people from afar will travel thousands of miles back to their hometown to reunite with their families and have a lively and happy New Year. In the Chinese New Year folk custom, eating "jiaozi" on New Year's Eve is a big meal, which is irreplaceable by any delicious food.

People think that jiaozi originated from the Yellow River Basin in the north and has been circulating for thousands of years. In ancient China, there were many names for jiaozi, such as prison pill, jiaozi, Joule, flat food, water steamed stuffed bun, water cake and water dessert. It was called "wonton" in the Northern Dynasties. Yan Zhitui, a native of the Northern Qi Dynasty, said: "Today's wonton is shaped like a crescent moon, and the world is delicious." This crescent-shaped wonton should be jiaozi. Duan, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, said in Youyang Miscellaneous Wine and Food: "Prisoner pills are in cages, and prisoner pills are in soup." The "liquid medicine" here is jiaozi. The word "Joule" appeared in the Ming Dynasty, and Shen Defu, a juren in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, wrote Wanli Wild Collection, which mentioned "Joule in the Spring Book". It was called "jiaozi" in Qing Dynasty.

Scholars believe that the word "jiaozi" has the meaning of alternating old and new. New Year's Eve is the end of the past year and the beginning of a new year, so-called "farewell to the old and welcome the new". At this time, it is the first day of the first lunar month. Eating jiaozi means "making friends when you are young", which means that "making friends" and "jiaozi" are homophonic, which means "reunion happiness" and "good luck".

Legend has it that "Xi" is a very powerful monster, which will appear at the turn of the year and endanger the world. People believe that in order to get rid of the bad luck for one year, we must eat "jiaozi" on New Year's Eve. On New Year's Eve, after eating jiaozi, people will gain a lot of strength and become brave and powerful in the struggle against "Xi". Then, men, women and children set off firecrackers to help the gods drive away monsters. This year will be a good year, and people can live a happy life.

Jiaozi's other name is "Bian Shi", which is said to have appeared in the Song Dynasty. jiaozi was still called "Bian Shi" in the Ming Dynasty. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a eunuch named Liu Ruoyu. Because of the intervention of eunuch Wei Zhongxian's close friend, he was beheaded. During his imprisonment, in order to defend himself and prove that he is not a party to Wei Zhongxian, he wrote the book "The Measure", which mentioned many things about the court diet:

On the first day of the first month, on the fifth watch, incense is burned and firecrackers are set off. Eating Chili and cypress wine, eating dim sum-flat food. Sometimes there is a silver or two in the flat food. Whoever eats this flat food means that he will have a good year.

The word "flat food" has been passed down to this day. Uighurs living in Kashgar and Hotan now call jiaozi a "living doll", while Uighurs in Turpan and Hami still call it a "flat food".

Jiaozi was found in the tomb of Astana.

Jiaozi has a long history. According to some legends, Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor in the Eastern Han Dynasty, invented jiaozi. After Zhang Zhongjing retired from Changsha, he saw many people down and out, and their ears were frozen in the cold weather. Zhang Zhongjing was very sad when he saw this scene, so he got the name "Quhan Joule Decoction". That is, mutton, peppers and some cold-dispelling herbs are wrapped in dough, wrapped in adults' ears, cooked in a pot and then distributed to poor patients. After the patient ate them, the disease of freezing ears was cured.

Zhang Zhongjing was a famous physician in the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was known as the medical sage and served as the magistrate of Changsha, so he was called "Zhang Changsha". Zhang Zhongjing's Treatise on Febrile Diseases is a famous medical work in ancient China. Zhang Zhongjing is very caring. Until the New Year's Eve, he was still treating people and giving medicines to patients. People cannot forget Zhang Zhongjing's kindness. On the first day of New Year's Day, while celebrating the New Year, people cook New Year's food in the form of joules and eat it early in the morning. People call this kind of food Joule and jiaozi. Later, the custom of eating jiaozi on New Year's Day spread among the people to commemorate the day when Zhang Zhongjing cured the ears of the poor.

Jiaozi, as an important food in Han diet culture, has been recorded in many historical documents and legends, and has also been found in archaeological discoveries in Xinjiang for many years. During the period of 1959, Xinjiang archaeologists excavated many foods including jiaozi in the tomb of Astana Tang in Turpan. Jiaozi is about 5 cm long and about 1.5 cm wide, and it is well preserved. And the shape of jiaozi found here is the same as that of jiaozi now. Although it is small in scale, its historical and cultural value is immeasurable, which has made important contributions to the study of ancient food culture in Xinjiang.

Turpan people in the Tang Dynasty ate wonton.

Wonton is an ancient snack in China, and it is also a soup food that we often see in our life. Uighurs call wonton "Ququer", and the stuffing inside is mainly mutton and onion, in addition to alfalfa stuffing and red amaranth stuffing, which is very delicious.

According to ancient documents, the history of wonton is longer than that of jiaozi. Jiaozi was originally called wonton, and jiaozi may be a kind of food separated from wonton. "Diet Records" records: "Wonton, or chaos". Zi Yuan, written by Ge Hong in Jin Dynasty, is called Wonton. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was called Huntun in the Book of Qi Yaomin. According to the rules of word formation, chaos is a kind of food, and later it changed the radical and became wonton. There was no distinction between wonton and jiaozi in ancient times. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that wonton and jiaozi were formally distinguished, and wonton became a delicate jiaozi.

There is a fable in Zhuangzi that before the world was created, there was a chaotic god. His appearance is different from that of human beings, and there are no seven tricks on his face. The whole person became a ball of meat. Later, two gods representing time and space gave chaos seven tricks. Although the chaos disappeared, everything in the world appeared and became rich and colorful. Ye Shuxian, a famous scholar, believes that the custom of eating wonton is closely related to the creation myth of Taoism.

In the Tang Dynasty, Turpan people in Xinjiang had already eaten delicious wonton, which was also confirmed in archaeological discoveries. 1959, several wonton were also unearthed in the tomb of Astana Tang in Turpan. The wonton was made of wheat flour, about 3 cm long and about 1.9 cm wide. Although it is not fresh when unearthed and looks very old, it is by far the oldest wonton in China, and it is not easy to preserve 1000 years. Its historical and cultural research value is self-evident.