Due to the specific economic structure, mode of thinking and cultural environment, China's food culture has formed its own distinctive features, namely artistic tendency, which is mainly manifested in the following six aspects.
Excellent selection of ingredients
Excellent selection of ingredients is the first skill of China chefs, and it is the basis for making a good China cuisine. You must have rich knowledge and skilled skills. The raw materials used in each cuisine, including main ingredients, ingredients, auxiliary materials, seasonings, etc., have a lot of stress and certain rules. In a nutshell, it is the word "fine" and "fine", which is what Confucius said: "You are never tired of fine food, and you are never tired of fine food". The so-called "refined" refers to the selected raw materials, taking into account their varieties, producing areas, seasons, growth periods and other characteristics, with fresh, tender and excellent materials as the best. In the Han and Tang dynasties, it was customary to call delicious food "Eight Treasures". About the Song Dynasty, Bazhen specifically refers to eight precious cooking materials. In the Qing Dynasty, there were numerous series of "Eight Treasures", mainly referring to the banquet of eight rare raw materials. For example, the "four treasures" of the "Manchu-Han banquet" refers to the banquet of four groups of eight treasures. Four Eight Treasures, namely, Eight Treasures of Mountain, Eight Treasures of Sea, Eight Treasures of Poultry and Eight Treasures of Grass, each refer to 32 precious raw materials, specifically:
Eight Treasures of Mountain: hump, bear's paw, monkey brain, scarlet lip, elephant, leopard fetus, rhinoceros tail and deer tendon.
eight treasures of the sea: bird's nest, shark's fin, radix aconiti, fish belly, fish bones, abalone, seals and pike (giant salamander).
Eight precious birds: red swallow, flying dragon, quail, swan, partridge, colorful finch, turtledove and red-headed eagle.
eight herbs: Hericium erinaceus, Tremella fuciformis, Dictyophora dictyophora, Asylum donkeys, Morchella esculenta, Flammulina velutipes, Day Lily and Yunxiangxin.
Skillful knife work
Knife skill means that the chef handles the raw materials by knife, making them into a uniform shape needed by cooking, so as to adapt to the heat, heat evenly, facilitate the taste and maintain a certain shape beauty, which is one of the keys of cooking technology. As early as ancient times, China attached importance to the use of knife-cutting, and after repeated practice by chefs of past dynasties, it created rich knife-cutting methods, such as straight knife-cutting method, slice knife-cutting method, oblique knife-cutting method (marking knife lines on raw materials without cutting them off) and carving knife-cutting method, and processed raw materials into pieces, strips, wires, blocks, diced, granules, velvet, mud and other forms and pills and balls. In particular, the combination of knife skills and hand-waving makes clinker and edible raw materials into artistic and lifelike fancy platters of birds, animals, insects, fish, flowers and grass, such as "Dragon and Phoenix in Prosperity", "proud as a peacock", "Magpie in Plum", "Lotus Crane" and "Flower Basket with Double Phoenix". For example, "proud as a peacock" is made of fifteen kinds of raw materials, such as duck meat, ham, pork tongue, quail eggs, crab clams and cucumbers, and it is finished through twenty-two fine knife techniques and assembling procedures.
It is not only writers who regard the fine knife-cutting as a perfect art appreciation, but also ordinary people often take a quick look. In order to broaden one's horizons, someone specially organized a knife performance in ancient times, which caused a sensation. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zeng Sanyi's Record of the Same Talk said that one year Mount Tai held a unique performance, and the "best art in the world" naturally included those who were good at cooking. "There was a man who made a man bow down to the ground with his back bare, and took a catty of meat with his back as a few, and carried it with a knife. Try to withdraw the meat, and the soldier's back is not hurt at all. " Taking a person's back as a chopping block, shredding pork without hurting his back, this move can't help but be amazing.
unique heat
heat is one of the keys to form the flavor characteristics of dishes and delicacies. However, the temperature changes rapidly, and it is difficult to do it just right without many years of practical experience. Therefore, mastering the proper temperature is a stunt of chef China. Chef China can accurately identify different firepower, such as strong fire, medium fire and weak fire, be familiar with the heat resistance of various raw materials, skillfully control the time of using fire, be good at mastering the properties of heat transfer objects (oil, water and gas), and also determine the order of cooking according to the tenderness, moisture content, shape and size of raw materials, and the thickness of whole pieces, and use them flexibly to make the cooked dishes tender and crisp. As early as ancient times, chef China had made a special study on the heat, and expounded the law of heat change and the key points: "Five flavors and three materials, nine boiling and nine changes, will win with it, without losing its reason." Su Shi, a great poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, is not only a gourmet, but also a cook. He created the famous Dongpo meat dishes, which is closely related to his good use of cooking time. He also wrote these experiences into stew poems: "Slow fire, less water, natural beauty when the cooking time comes." Later generations used his experience to cook the meat with a sealed low fire. The meat was original, oily and bright red, rotten but not broken, waxy but not greasy, tender like tofu, palatable and outstanding in flavor.
Temperature is the most important thing in cooking, and it is also the most difficult thing to grasp and explain. It can really be said that "Tao can be Tao, which is extraordinary", and whether a cook can become a famous chef is the key. Therefore, when cooking, the chefs in China's diet accumulate life experience, realize their own spirituality, give full play to their subtle observation experience and rich imagination, and create food art. The so-called wonderful operation, with a single heart, is really "knowing the gains and losses."
Different skills
Cooking skills are another stunt of Chinese chefs. The commonly used techniques are: stir-frying, frying, cooking, boiling, frying, pasting, stewing, grilling, burning, stewing, stewing, boiling, dipping, steaming, roasting, mixing, frying, smoking, as well as drawing sugar beet, honey juice, frosting and so on. Different techniques have different flavor characteristics. Each technique has several or even dozens of famous dishes. The famous "beggar chicken" is famous all over the world for its mud roasting technique. According to legend, a beggar stole a chicken in Changshu, Jiangsu Province in ancient times. Because there was no cooker, he slaughtered the chicken, removed its internal organs, put in onion salt, sewed it up, pasted it with yellow mud, grilled it on a fire, cooked it with mud, and knocked on the ground to eat it. The meat was fresh and tender, and the aroma was overflowing. After being improved by the chef, it was roasted with a variety of seasonings, which made it taste more beautiful and became a famous dish. Yunnan's "crossing the bridge rice noodles" is a masterpiece of techniques. According to legend, a scholar was studying in the study in ancient times, and his wife created this method in order to make him have hot soup and hot rice: the hen was boiled into boiling chicken soup, and then sliced into thin chicken slices, fish slices, shrimp slices and rice noodles. Because of the oil floating on the surface, it can keep warm and cook the above foods, and it can remain hot and tender after crossing the bridge, thus creating this method.
blending of five flavors
seasoning is also an important skill in cooking, so-called "blending of five flavors with a hundred flavors". Regarding the role of seasoning, according to the research of culinary scholars, there are mainly the following: < P > correcting the odor of raw materials; Taste is given to the tasteless; Determine the taste of the dish;
increase the flavor of food; Give color to dishes; It can be sterilized.
The seasoning methods are also varied, mainly including basic seasoning, stereotyped seasoning and auxiliary seasoning, with stereotyped seasoning being the most widely used. The so-called stereotyped seasoning refers to the seasoning in the process of heating raw materials, in order to determine the taste of dishes. Basic seasoning is carried out before heating, which belongs to pre-processing seasoning. Auxiliary seasoning is carried out after heating, or seasoning when eating.
so, the five flavors in the so-called "harmony of five flavors" are a general reference. The dishes we enjoy are generally compound flavors with more than two flavors, and they are changeable. "Huangdi Neijing" says: "The beauty of five flavors is incomparable"; "Wen Zi" says: "The beauty of the five flavors can't be tasted", and it is said that the harmony of the five flavors can bring people wonderful enjoyment.
in a word, whether the seasoning is just right or not depends on the chef's proper preparation, in addition to the material conditions such as complete variety and excellent texture. There are strict requirements on the proportion of seasoning, the order of blanking and the seasoning time (pre-cooking, mid-cooking and post-cooking). As long as we are meticulous, we can make the dishes reach the predetermined flavor.
Elegant mood
China's food culture has an elegant mood and artistic atmosphere, which is mainly manifested in three aspects: beauty, fame and beauty.
Yuan Mei quoted an old saying that "the ancients said" food is not as good as beautiful utensils "in" Food List with the Garden ",which means that eating beautiful utensils is also beautiful, and food should be matched with beautiful utensils, seeking the effect of adding beauty to beauty.
The beauty of China's eating utensils lies in quality, shape, decoration and harmony with food. The beauty of ancient tableware in China mainly includes pottery, porcelain, bronze, gold and silver, jade, lacquer and glassware. The rough beauty of painted pottery, the elegant beauty of porcelain, the solemn beauty of bronze, the transparent beauty of lacquerware, the brilliant beauty of gold and silver, and the bright beauty of glass have all given people who use it a beautiful enjoyment, and it is another kind of beautiful enjoyment besides food.
the beauty of a beautiful vessel is not limited to the quality, shape and decoration of the vessel itself, but also lies in the beauty of its combination and the beauty of its matching with dishes.
the tripod in the Zhou dynasty, the cup set in the Han dynasty, and the Manchu-Han banquet silver tableware in Confucius' house all embody a kind of combined beauty. Confucius House specially designed silver tableware for Manchu-Han banquet, with a total of 414 pieces, which can serve 196 dishes. This set of tableware is partly antique and partly food-like. The decoration of the utensils is also very elegant, inlaid with jade, jadeite, agate, coral, etc., engraved with various flower patterns, and some also engraved with poems and auspicious words, which is even more elegant and extraordinary.
The Manchu-Han banquet tableware in Confucius' house is arranged according to the four-four system pattern, which is divided into several parts: small tableware, water tableware, fire tableware and snack box. The harmony between beauty and food is the highest realm of food aesthetics. In Du Fu's "two for the road", "red camel-humps are brought them from jade broilers, the disk of crystal is plain; And the finely wrought phoenix carving-knife is very little used "poem, at the same time chanting the beauty of food and utensils, foil the elegant realm of the beauty of food and utensils.
In China, there are no nameless dishes. A wonderful naming of dishes is not only a vivid advertising word of dishes, but also an organic part of dishes themselves. The name of a dish gives people beautiful enjoyment. It is conveyed to the brain through auditory or visual perception, which will produce a series of psychological effects and play a role that the color, shape and taste of the dish can't play.
Editing the royal diet in this paragraph
The Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in China. It summarized and absorbed the traditional essence of China's food culture, and developed the palace diet to its peak. From the historical archives, people can see five characteristics of royal meals in Qing Dynasty:
First, the emperors of Qing Dynasty only ate two meals a day. Breakfast usually starts at 6: 11 am, and sometimes it is postponed until 8: 11 am.
dinner is mostly from 12: 11 to 2: 11 in the afternoon. In modern terms, this should be regarded as lunch. After two dinners, if you are hungry, add a snack each.
Second, the imperial cuisine in Qing Dynasty is mainly composed of three local flavors and cuisines. Manchu cuisine is a national taste accustomed to snacks, and all kinds of meat and game, sticky food, sauce dish, etc. are all delicious foods that the emperor's concubines can't give up; After entering the central plains, the Qing palace followed the characteristics of the Ming court diet, and the diet was gradually dominated by Shandong flavor; During the Qianlong period, due to several southern tours, Suzhou and Hangzhou dishes were appreciated and became popular in the palace.
Third, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty had different dietary preferences. For example, Emperor Qianlong's diet was very reasonable. Emperor Guangxu likes seafood dishes, and dishes cooked with shark's fin, sea cucumber, jellyfish and kelp are necessary for every meal. Cixi's favorite dishes include roast pork skin, stewed duck tongue and feet, watermelon cups, etc., and snacks such as steamed buns and fried triangles. Puyi was interested in western food, and once set up a western food kitchen in the Forbidden City.
Fourth, there are many kinds of banquets in Qing Dynasty, which are eaten from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Besides New Year's Day, Wanshou (the emperor's birthday) and Winter Solstice, there are also triumphal banquets to celebrate the victory of the campaign, grand banquets to win over the subjects, the wedding banquet of the emperor, the wedding banquet of the princess, the New Year's Eve banquet to entertain the envoys of North Korea, the tribute envoys of Tibet and the princes of Mongolia, the birthday banquet of the empress dowager, the banquet of the empress, the birthday banquet of the concubines, and the wedding banquet of the prince's grandson. In addition, there are various festivals and banquets.
Fifth, pay attention to health preservation and pursue immortality. Emperor Qianlong often took turtle-aged wine, pine-aged Taiping Spring wine, spleen-invigorating and kidney-nourishing champion wine, and often ate "Bazhen cake" in his later years. Cixi began to drink Ruyi Changsheng wine after middle age. This wine can dispel wind and dampness, quench thirst, dredge blood vessels, strengthen tendons and bones, and is a good health care product.
Editing this section of tableware culture
Food culture is something that China should be proud of and is easily accepted by all countries in the world. Delicious food is much enjoyed. Have you ever studied when China people began to get rid of the life of eating and drinking blood? When did you start cooking on the stove? When do the dumplings and wonton that you often eat appear? How did it evolve from a separate meal system to eating around the table? ..... In the "Gourmet Beautifying Instruments-China Dietary Instruments Exhibition in Past Dynasties" being held in Hongkong, we can not only get the answer, but also understand the changing relationship between China's diet preference and instruments in a simple way.
The exhibition is provided by the National Museum of China with more than 1,111 precious cultural relics. Hu Xiaojian, an associate researcher in the exhibition department of the museum, said that the museum was specially prepared and organized for this special exhibition. Most of the exhibits were exhibited in Hong Kong for the first time, and more than 11 of them were national first-class cultural relics in Neolithic Age, such as Grey Pot and Stove, Golden Foot and Golden Cup in Sui Dynasty, Lotus Zun of Celadon in Northern Wei Dynasty and Paving in Han Dynasty.
The Pot and Stove of Grey Pot exhibited on the spot is an early and complete cookware. Hu Xiaojian said that the Pot with Additional Heap Patterns of Grey Pot in Neolithic Age was a three-legged pot, and the Black Pot retort was the earliest steamer, which contained water in the lower part, called Wei, with a hole in the middle and food on it. In the Paleolithic period, human beings mainly barbecued, but in the Neolithic period, they began to cook and steam, eating millet in the north and rice in the south. A Neolithic "Bottle with Small Ears and Sharp Bottom" was on the scene. Ropes were hung from the ear holes on both sides, and when it was put into the river, the pottery bottle would stand up. It can be seen that the ancestors at that time were also very wise to draw water.
in the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, the famous bronze craft reached its peak, and the combination of retort and retort had developed into bronze ware system. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, jiaozi appeared, and at that time, ancestors began to know how to eat pasta, wonton and powder food. Due to the emphasis on ritual sacrifices during this period, many wine vessels appeared. For example, the bronze ribbon on the horse was a drinking vessel. F is used to hold wine, and "Stealing the first three legs of the dragon?" B "was a wine mixer at that time, the most special one was" Bronze Ice Guide ",an ice wine appliance with a built-in square jar for holding wine. Imitations of lacquerware tableware commonly used in the same period were also exhibited at the scene.
The special exhibits in the Han Dynasty are Paving a Head with a Ring of Copper, which was a copper oven at that time. In addition, the funerary object of the Han Dynasty, Pottery Stove, reflects that people had complete stove equipment at that time. This boat-shaped pottery stove was a popular style in the south, while only a simple rectangular stove was used in the north.
The Sui and Tang Dynasties were a period when China's culture and national power were strong. All ethnic groups further exchanged and merged in food culture, and the variety of dishes increased greatly, and different food schools were established. At that time, high-legged tables and chairs were popularized, and the banquet dishes were rich. Therefore, the form of one set of tableware with separate meals evolved into the form of multiple people eating around the table. At that time, the emphasis was on gorgeous life, and gold, silver and glassware appeared one after another, and the workmanship was exquisite. The utensils of Sui and Tang Dynasties exhibited on the spot include the Golden Foot and Golden Cup imported from East Rome. In addition, in the Tang Dynasty's jiaozi and Dim Sum unearthed in Xinjiang, dim sum is some cakes, and the noodles are printed with flower patterns into beautiful shapes and patterns, while there is meat in jiaozi, reflecting that Xinjiang is also influenced by the diet of the Central Plains.
As for the exhibits of other dynasties, there are some special ones, such as The Picture Brick of Banquet and Acrobatics in the Eastern Han Dynasty, The Lotus Statue of Celadon in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and The Golden Cup with Lotus-petal Handle in Liao Dynasty.