A brief history of Buddha jumping over the wall;
Buddha jumping wall was originally named Fu Shouquan. In the 25th year of Guangxu reign (1899), an official of Fuzhou Bureau of Official Money hosted a banquet for Zhou Lian, the envoy of Fujian Province. In order to curry favor with Zhou Lian, he asked his wife to cook in person, and used Shaoxing jars to fill chicken, duck, mutton, pork tripe, pigeon eggs and seafood with 10 kinds of raw materials and auxiliary materials, and it was named Fushouquan. After Zhou Lian tasted it, she was full of praise. Later, Zheng Chunfa, an official chef, learned how to cook this dish and improved it. When Zheng Chunfa opened the "Juchunyuan" restaurant, he made a sensation in Rongcheng with this dish. On one occasion, a group of literati came to taste this dish. When Fushou went to the Xi Qitan, the meat and fragrance overflowed. One of the scholars was ecstatic, which triggered poetry, and immediately sang: "The altar is full of meat and fragrance, and the Buddha heard that he abandoned Zen and jumped over the wall." From then on, it was renamed Buddha jumping wall. 1965 and 1980, respectively, in Guangzhou Nanyuan and Hong Kong, Fuzhou cuisine, which mainly cooked the Buddha leaping wall, caused a sensation and set off the Buddha leaping wall fever all over the world. Restaurants opened by overseas Chinese all over the country often use self-proclaimed authentic Buddha jumping wall dishes to attract customers. The Buddha jumps over the wall and has been seated at the state banquet for the heads of state such as Prince Sihanouk, President Reagan of the United States and Queen Elizabeth of England, which has been greatly appreciated, making this dish even more famous in the world.
Allusions to Buddha jumping over the wall:
The Buddha Jumping Wall is a famous traditional dish in Fuzhou, which is famous at home and abroad. It has been listed as the "chief dish" of Fujian recipes by local cooking circles and has a history of more than 100 years.
So delicious food, why is it called "Buddha jumping over the wall"? There are three kinds of folk legends in Fuzhou.
First, it is said that at the end of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1876), an official of Fuzhou Guanqianzhuang hosted a banquet for Zhou Lian, the chief secretary of Fujian, and his wife from Shaoxing personally cooked a dish called "Fushouquan", which contained chicken, duck, meat and several kinds of seafood, and simmered it in a jar filled with Shaoxing wine. Zhou Lian was full of praise after eating it, so she ordered Zheng Chunfa, an official chef, to imitate it. Zheng Chunfa went to the door for advice and reformed the materials, using more seafood and less meat to make the dishes more delicious. Later, Zheng Chunfa left Zhou Lian's official residence to raise funds to run Juchunyuan Restaurant, and "Fushouquan" became the main dish of this restaurant. Just because the pronunciation of "Fushouquan" in Fuzhou dialect was similar to that of "Buddha jumping over the wall", over time, "Fushouquan" was replaced by "Buddha jumping over the wall" and became famous all over the world.
The second is: Fujian custom, on the third day after the new daughter-in-law gets married, she should cook in person to show off her tea and rice skills, serve her in-laws and gain appreciation. Legend has it that a rich girl, spoiled, did not learn to cook, and was worried on the eve of her marriage. Her mother took out all the delicacies at home and made all kinds of dishes, wrapped them in lotus leaves and told her how to cook them. Who knows that this young lady forgot all the cooking methods, so she poured all the dishes into a Shao wine jar, covered it with lotus leaves and left it on the stove. The next day, the aroma wafted out, and the whole family praised the good dishes. This is the origin of the "Buddha jumps over the wall" of "eighteen dishes cooked in one pot".
Thirdly, a group of beggars beg around with earthenware pots every day, and pour all kinds of leftovers together to cook, which is steaming and fragrant. When the monk smelled it, he couldn't help but be tempted by the fragrance, jumping out of the wall and feasting. There is a poem to prove it: "When the fragrance of meat floats ten miles, the Buddha hears that he abandoned Zen and jumped over the wall."
The fourth is not exactly the same as the first: "Buddha jumps over the wall" is the first traditional dish in Fujian cuisine. According to legend, this dish originated in the late Qing Dynasty. An official of the official bank of Yangqiao Lane in Fuzhou hosted a banquet at home to invite Chief Secretary Zhou Lian and the official's wife to cook in person. More than 20 kinds of raw materials, such as chicken, duck and meat, were put into Shaoxing jars and carefully simmered into a meaty dish. Zhou Lian was full of praise after tasting it. Afterwards, Zhou Lian took Zheng Chun, the official chef, to visit the official bank. After returning to my office, Zheng Chunfa carefully studied and reformed the materials, using more seafood and less meat, and the effect was better than the former. In 1877, after Zheng Chunfa opened the "Juchunyuan" restaurant, he continued to study and enrich the raw materials of this dish, and the dishes made were rich in flavor and widely praised. One day, several scholars came to the restaurant to drink and taste dishes, and the hall official brought an altar of dishes to the scholar's table. The lid of the altar was opened, and the dishes were full of meat and fragrance, and the scholar was intoxicated by the smell. Someone asked the name of this dish. A: It hasn't been named yet. So the scholar improvised a poem and wrote a poem, among which there is a poem saying: "The altar is full of meat and incense floating around, and the Buddha hears that he abandoned the bouncing wall." Everyone was amazed. Since then, quoting the meaning of the poem: "Buddha jumps over the wall" has become the proper name of this dish, which has a history of 100 years.
Because the "Buddha jumps over the wall" is to simmer dozens of raw materials in one altar, it not only has the same meat flavor, but also maintains its own characteristics. It tastes soft, tender and moist, rich and fragrant, and it is not greasy; The ingredients are permeated with each other, and the taste is delicious. At the same time, it has high nutritional value, and has the effects of invigorating qi and nourishing blood, clearing away lung heat and moistening intestines, and preventing and treating deficiency and cold. When serving, it is even more wonderful to serve with a dish of hemp fiber radish (shredded white radish), a dish of oil mustard, a dish of ham mixed with bean sprouts, a dish of fried bean sprouts with mushrooms, and then accompanied by silver rolls and sesame cakes. Its taste is endless.
Speaking of the dish "Buddha jumps over the wall", almost all people know it and have made various imaginations, but few people have really eaten it. For example, Mr. Liang Shiqiu talked about Buddha jumps over the wall, but in the end he turned to braised pork, not to mention waiting for mortals. Fortunately, China's Chinese characters with rich connotations and denotations describe the famous Fuzhou dish "Eight Treasures of Burning Tans" for us at that time.
The allusions about the Buddha jumping over the wall are much like the Chinese names of Hollywood blockbusters, but neither "burning eight treasures in the altar" nor "blessing the whole life" bring us endless imagination and enjoyment.
Eighteen main materials and twelve auxiliary materials are integrated with each other. In the meantime, it almost includes human delicacies, such as chicken and duck, sheep elbow, pork belly, hoof tip, tendon, ham, chicken and duck gizzard; Such as fish lips, shark's fin, sea cucumber, abalone, scallop and fish belly; Such as pigeon eggs, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and razor clams. More than 30 kinds of raw materials and accessories are processed and modulated separately, and put into the altar in layers, just like an ambitious New Year's film. The gathering of big names is naturally extraordinary.
For many years, Shaoxing wine jar has been selected as the stewing device of Buddha jumping wall, in which Shaoxing famous wine is mixed with materials. Stewed Buddha jumps over the wall and pays attention to storing fragrance and preserving taste. After filling the altar, the mouth of the altar is sealed with lotus leaves and then covered. The fire for the Buddha jumping over the wall is a strict, pure and smokeless charcoal fire, which is simmered for five or six hours with low fire after boiling. Nowadays, some hotels publicize how their dishes smell fragrant, which is indeed a little implicit compared with the Buddha jumping over the wall. The real Buddha jumping wall has almost no fragrance during the simmering process. On the contrary, when it is simmered into the altar, it is only necessary to slightly open the lotus leaf, and the wine will be fragrant and straight into the heart and spleen. The soup is thick and brown, but thick and not greasy. When eating, the wine is mixed with all kinds of aromas, and the fragrance floats four times, rotten but not rotten, and the taste is endless. I think this is the highest level of food.
Mr. Fei Xiaotong studied the founding of the Buddha Leaping Wall, and said that the inventors of this dish were beggars. These beggars carry broken crocks and beg for food every day, collecting all kinds of leftovers in the restaurant. It is said that one day, when a restaurant owner went out, he accidentally smelled a wisp of strange incense floating in the street, and found that the wine left in the broken crock was poured together with all kinds of leftovers, which would have a different fragrance. The boss was enlightened by this, and went back to the store to mix all kinds of raw materials in an urn, accompanied by wine, and created the Buddha jumping wall. It seems that the Buddha jumps over the wall and the beggar chicken are related.
The second statement is related to a spoiled woman. In Fujian customs, there is a rule called "trying to cook". On the third day after marriage, the new daughter-in-law must go to her husband's house to try out the kitchen in public. This is a test of the new wife's housekeeping skills, which is related to her future position in the eyes of her in-laws. According to legend, there was a spoiled woman who couldn't cook. Before getting married, I was worried about the upcoming kitchen trial. For her daughter's exam, the mother tried her best to find out all the treasures of the family, prepared them one by one and packed them into small bags with lotus leaves, and repeatedly told her daughter how to cook all kinds of raw materials. Who knows that the bride completely forgot all kinds of cooking methods in her panic the day before the kitchen trial. She didn't go to the kitchen until the evening, unpacked all kinds of raw materials wrapped by her mother, piled up a table, and when there was nothing she could do, she heard that her in-laws wanted to enter the kitchen. Fearing that her in-laws were picky, the new wife saw a jar at the table, so she hastily put all the raw materials into the jar, wrapped the jar mouth with lotus leaves wrapped with raw materials, and put the jar on the fast-extinguishing stove. Thinking about the kitchen trial tomorrow, the new wife sneaked back to her family for fear that she could not cope. The next day, all the guests arrived, but the new wife was gone. When my in-laws entered the kitchen, they found a jar on the stove, which was still hot. As soon as the lid was lifted, the fragrance was overflowing, and the guests cheered in unison when they smelled the fragrance, which became the Buddha jumping over the wall. I think this new daughter-in-law has been well received, otherwise, we wouldn't be able to enjoy this delicious food on earth, which is "the altar is full of meat and incense floating around, and the Buddha hears it and abandons Zen and jumps over the wall." Even my Buddha participated in the promotion, so it is no wonder that the Buddha jumping wall in the north and south of the Yangtze River is so famous.
Anyway, if I were a Buddha, I would never jump over the wall. I would do it myself. I hope that the essence of China's culture will last forever, and the Buddha jumps over the wall is one of them.