Legend has it that bean curd originated in jiaozi in the north. Due to the lack of wheat in Lingnan, homesick Hakka immigrants in the Central Plains replaced flour with bean curd and stuffed meat into bean curd, just like flour wrapped in meat. Fermented tofu is the first dish of Hakka. On holidays or for entertaining guests, Hakka people all make fermented tofu, and the homonym of "tofu" means "Dafu", which means a good omen.
There is also a legend that a long time ago, a Hakka from Xingning and a Hakka from Wuhua became brothers. One day, they invited each other to a restaurant for dinner. When ordering, Xingning people want to eat tofu, and Wuhua people want to eat pork. To outdo each other, the two men held their own views and quarreled, and the restaurant owner intervened, thus coming up with a clever plan: chop the pork, mix it with seasonings, brew it into pieces of tofu, fry both sides of the tofu into golden brown, and then cover the pot and stew it. The fragrant, colorful and delicious fermented tofu tastes smooth and delicious. The two clapped their hands in the same year and even said' delicious, delicious'!
Later, Hakka people made Hakka cuisines such as bitter gourd, eggplant and green pepper in a similar way.
2 the origin of salted chicken
Baked chicken with salt is a famous Hakka dish. Hakka people choose local tender chicken, slaughter it, remove its internal organs and dry it. Then, wrap the whole chicken with straw paper coated with a little cooking oil, stuff it into the fried hot salt pile, and bake it with slow fire for about half an hour. After taking it out, tear it into shredded meat slices, put it on the plate and serve it on the mat, and then add seasonings such as ginger juice and sesame oil. The skin is soft and tender, fragrant and delicious, and it has the function of warming up. There is a legend about its origin:
Once upon a time, there was a Hakka businessman who accepted a fat chicken from a friend. The businessman planned to take it home for his wife and children to taste, but it was a long way and it was not easy to carry live chickens, so he slaughtered the chickens and made them into white-cut chickens, wrapped them in salt and packed them in bags. Unexpectedly, on the way home, he was in the middle of nowhere, and there was nothing to eat. He was hungry, so he took out the boiled chicken from the salt bag and roasted it. Unexpectedly, he found that the chicken made in this way was very delicious. The businessman left a few pieces and took them home for his wife and children to taste. After the wife tasted them, she cooked them according to law, and the "salted chicken" was born.
3 The Legend of Braised Meat with Plum Vegetables
Plum cuisine is a traditional Hakka specialty. It is golden in color, fragrant, sweet and refreshing, neither cold nor dry nor wet nor hot. It is called "healthy food" and is carefully made with plum cuisine, pork belly and seasoning. "Braised pork with plum vegetables" has a long-standing reputation. It is said that it is also known as Hakka three treasures together with salted chicken and fermented tofu.
There is also a wonderful legend about "braised pork with plum vegetables": During the Northern Song Dynasty, when Su Dongpo lived in Huizhou, he specially sent two famous chefs to Hangzhou West Lake to learn cooking skills. When the two chefs returned, Su Dongpo asked them to imitate the "Dongpo braised pork" of Hangzhou West Lake and make "braised pork with plum vegetables". It was delicious, refreshing and not greasy, and was very popular, and soon became a delicious dish at the banquet.
4 Hakka meatballs
Hakkas love to eat meatballs, which are both snacks and a home-cooked dish. Hakkas mainly use the homonym of "pill" and "circle", meaning reunion and perfection. Meatballs are divided into pork balls, fish balls, beef balls and beef tendon balls due to different materials. It is characterized by pure taste, keeping the original meat taste and crisp toughness.
According to historical records, since the end of the Jin Dynasty, many Han people in the Central Plains moved south, forming an early Hakka clan. Later, some Han people continued to move eastward to Fujian or southward to Guangdong and other places. In order to escape from the war in the Central Plains and suffer from migration, the Hakka people are looking forward to peace and prosperity, eager for family reunion and eternal peace, and specially made a flavor food with outstanding local characteristics and strong festive colors, that is, round Hakka meatballs.
5 Hakka zhuduji
Pork-bellied chicken is an important dish for Hakka people to entertain distinguished guests, and it is also a home-cooked dish for Hakka people. It is said that a long time ago, a daughter-in-law of a large family had just given birth to a baby, and her grandmother cooked supplements for her every day, but she just had no appetite, her body was getting thinner and her milk was insufficient. So her husband invited the chef to cook for her, and the chef found that she loved pepper pot pork belly. Later, the chef finally thought of a good way to put the chicken in the pork belly and add herbs to make soup. Sure enough, she had a big appetite and got better. Later, neighbors did the same thing, and this dish has spread among Hakkas since then.
6 The origin of dried plum.
Dried plum is a traditional Hakka dish, which is made of fresh plum through drying, selecting, salting and other processes. It is golden in color, fragrant, sweet and refreshing, neither cold nor dry nor wet nor hot, and can be used as braised pork with plum, steamed ribs with plum, soup with dried plum and other meat condiments. There is a story about the origin of dried plum.
Once upon a time, there was a lady Lu in a Hakka place. She was born in a big family, knowledgeable and kind-hearted, but later her family came down. Mrs. Lu has five children. Because of the war and famine, her life is getting worse and worse, and she often has three meals. One day, she was washing clothes by the river, and the children were hungry and crying for food. Mrs. Lu couldn't help crying. In a trance, a breeze blew and a colorful cloud floated in. I saw an immortal empress standing in front of me, claiming to be Aunt Mei, and happened to pass by and asked Mrs. Lu why she was sad. After asking the reason, Mei Xiangu took out a bag of things and said, "Here is a bag of rapeseed. You can take it to sow and harvest it before the Spring Festival! Can alleviate your urgent needs! " Say it and go away. Mrs. Lu took the rapeseed and quickly kowtowed to Xiangu.
So, Mrs. Lu sowed rapeseed in the vegetable garden, worked hard, and soon grew green seedlings. After the autumn harvest, she planted them in a large number of rice fields. In a blink of an eye, it was the twelfth lunar month, the harvest season, and the food was collected and cooked. It was sweet and tender, and the children had a full meal and were happy. When the harvested vegetables could not be eaten, Mrs. Lu tried to cut them down and dry them, salted them and put them in clay pots for storage, and then steamed them, aired them and dried them in the sun. The dried vegetables were golden, shiny and fragrant. During the Spring Festival, Mrs. Lu took out plum vegetables and stewed them with pork. They were fresh, sweet and delicious, and had a unique flavor. When relatives and friends asked what it was, Mrs. Lu thought for a moment and said, "It's a vegetable seed sent by Sister Mei. Let's call it dried plum."
7 Tai Po bamboo shoots
For thousands of years, jiaozi, as a New Year's food, has been loved by people, and has been passed down to this day. During the Spring Festival, people eat jiaozi, which means auspiciousness, to show that they will bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.
Hakka ancestors moved from the Central Plains to the south to settle down. They also brought the eating habits of the Central Plains, and they always packed "jiaozi" on holidays. But when they settled in the south, the local wheat was not produced, so they could not get the flour packed in jiaozi. Clever Hakkas make starch from locally grown sweet potatoes and potato roots into dough, and use locally rich bamboo shoots, mushrooms and meat materials to make bamboo sticks shaped like "jiaozi". As a festive New Year's greeting food, bamboo sticks have become a prestigious Hakka snack for a long time.
8 Tai Po Yizi hairpin
There is a sad story about the name of Yizihairpin in Tai Po. According to legend, in the Ming Dynasty, there was a family in a certain place in Tai Po. The mother's name was Aunt Song, and her son, Ah Gen, was outstanding in martial arts. She worked as a sailor under Zheng Chenggong and went across the ocean to Taiwan Province to eradicate the enemy and get rid of violence, and never returned home. Aunt Song misses her son. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, she makes her son's favorite hairpin and puts it under the moon to miss her son. I went to Qiu Lai in the spring and waited for 30 years. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, my son suddenly came back. Aunt Song brought her son's favorite hairpin, and Ah Gen took the "hairpin food" from her mother's hand to celebrate the reunion, hence the name "Yi Zi Bang".
9 Dabu pancake
Tai Po pancake is a traditional food in Tai Po with a history of more than 200 years. According to legend, during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, Yang Yunxu, a Baihou native of Tai Po who served as a provincial judge in Shaanxi, went home to celebrate his mother's birthday. In order to honor my mother, I took my attendants and chef back to Tai Po to hold a birthday banquet for the villagers. Among them, there was a snack "pancake", which I never thought my mother liked very much. Yang Zuanxu's personal leave has arrived, and she wants to return to Shaanxi. In order to let her mother eat pancakes for a long time, she asked the chef to stay and let him teach the local villagers the skills of making pancakes before returning to her post. Since then, the technique of making pancakes has spread among the people in Baihou, Tai Po, and the Hakka people in Tai Po have constantly improved and changed their tastes in combination with the local rich raw materials, thus evolving into today's flavor snacks.
10 Tai Po Oil Cake
According to legend, more than 100 years ago, there was a man named Zhong in Taining, Chayang, dapu county, Meizhou. He went to Chayang all the year round to sell agricultural products to maintain his family's livelihood. In order to save money for lunch, he always took his own cakes as dry food and never got tired of eating them. One day, the old clock had a whim, why not make more cakes by the way? Maybe others like it as much as I do. So, he really did a lot, picked Chayang to go to the fair and sold it in the fair, and named it "Enterprise Oil Cake", which is both oily and sugar, and the price is cheap. Sure enough, the enterprise oil cake was very popular as soon as it was listed. Old Zhong, who tasted the sweetness, switched to the business of enterprise oil cakes. When his son grew up, he inherited his father's business and then his son's business. Now enterprise oil cakes have spread to the fourth generation, and the technology has naturally been greatly improved and improved, becoming a shining star in Tai Po cuisine.
1 1 Yongding taro package
There is a folk saying, "Eat taro buns, and make a fortune by wrapping them with silver and gold". Taro buns are a Hakka snack. It is a kind of steamed stuffed bun with taro and cassava flour, and its making method is simple. Generally, the large and perishable taro is washed, cooked with skin in a pot, then peeled off, mashed (rotten) into taro paste in a pot, added with appropriate amount of cassava flour and refined salt, and rolled into steamed stuffed bun skin with a rolling pin. The stuffing is lean pork, mushrooms, shredded winter bamboo shoots (or dried bamboo shoots), shrimps, shredded radish, scallion and other materials, which are chopped, put in refined salt and monosodium glutamate, stir-fry, and filter out the soup to form the stuffing.
After the taro is wrapped, put it in a steamer with gauze, and steam it with strong fire 15 minutes later, it will smell delicious and mouth-watering. At this time, put out the pan and put in spices such as sesame oil. A plate of steaming, fragrant taro buns is finished. Taro buns can be eaten steamed, boiled, fried, fried and other cooking methods, and their tastes are unique.
There is also a short story about "taro relieving hunger" circulating in Hakka areas in western Fujian: in ancient times, there was a temple monk who devoted himself to planting taro, and he earned a lot of money every year. He was as muddy as mud and built a wall, and then he was hungry. More than forty monks in this temple ate taro mud to survive the fierce years. It can be seen that taro is a good thing and a treasure in the mountains. However, when the clever and capable Hakkas eat miscellaneous grains, they constantly change their tastes, change the way they eat taro, update the cooking patterns of taro, and entertain guests with taro cooking dishes, so they cook a country food-taro buns in their daily life. In the past, taro and sweet potato were the main miscellaneous grains in Hakka families in mountain villages. As the agricultural proverb says, "Sweet potato and taro are the food for half a year", which can be used as both vegetables and food.
In the Hakka area of western Fujian, every household makes taro buns on holidays, especially the taro buns on New Year's Eve, which have a special taste. Not only does it have the meaning of "wrapping money with gold", but the scene of the whole family gathering together to wrap taro is full of deep affection and exudes warmth!
12 equal langmei wine
Once upon a time, there was a couple in a certain place in Hakka. They were loving, kind-hearted, and charitable. They lived a carefree life by making wine, but they never had children after several years of marriage. One day, my husband went out to deliver wine. On his way back, he saw an abandoned baby girl crying sadly and taking her home. His wife was also a kind-hearted person, that is, she put down her work and washed the baby girl. The washed baby girl's eyes were dark and very pleasing. At this time, a pot of wine with a strong aroma was brewed. The couple were very happy. They put the wine in a jar and stored it in a cellar. The couple discussed that if they had children in the future, they would make this baby girl a daughter-in-law. If you can't have children, make her your daughter, and this pot of wine will be used for your son, daughter-in-law to get married or your daughter to get married. Perhaps God was moved by the kindness of the couple. Two years later, the couple had a baby, and the little girl was clever and cute. She learned to make wine at the age of seven or eight, and the wine brewed by her hand was delicious and delicious. Many distant guests came here to buy "Waiting for Langmei Wine". Since then, this family has flourished.
Eighteen years later, the couple got married for their son and daughter-in-law, and invited their neighbors to a banquet. The wine that had been stored for 18 years was even more fragrant, and a famous folk singer improvised a folk song:
Since then, the couple's good deeds have become a much-told story. It is said that the title of "Waiting for Langmei" has also spread since then, and the custom of Hakka adopting "Waiting for Langmei" has also started since then.
13 the legend of mugs
Hakkas have a traditional custom, that is, in spring, they knead wormwood and glutinous rice flour to make "mugs" to worship God and entertain guests. It is recorded in Compendium of Materia Medica that Folium Artemisiae Argyi is used as medicine, which is warm in nature, bitter in taste, non-toxic, pure in yang, and has the effects of restoring yang, regulating qi and blood, expelling dampness and cold, stopping bleeding and preventing miscarriage. Therefore, Hakka people like to eat fresh and tender wormwood, and the weather is humid during the Qingming period. Eating wormwood can dispel dampness and warm up. Wormwood is not only used for eating, but also hung in front of the door to ward off evil spirits. Children use wormwood to boil water for bathing, and it can also prevent sores. There is another legend about Ai Zan:
A long time ago, in the early spring of one year, a dragon from the East China Sea escaped from the Crystal Palace and ran amok outside. He went to Zijin, a Hakka area, to make waves. Strong winds blew down houses and trees, floods washed away crops and land, evil waves overturned ships, and evil dragons devoured people and animals. The people are miserable and complain a lot. On February 19th, Guanyin Bodhisattva traveled by this place, and when she saw that the evil dragon was lawless, Guanyin turned into a kind-hearted old woman and explained this to the local people. According to Guanyin's instructions, the people quickly made hairpin with mugwort leaves and glutinous rice flour for friends and relatives to taste. People who have eaten mugwort give off a smell that scares dragons. Families also put trays of mugs on the table in front of the screen, or hang them on high places to let the smell of mugwort slowly spread. In addition, incense sticks were lit and firecrackers were set off. People came and went, and people were buzzing and very lively. The evil dragon was stunned by the smell of mugwort leaves, half dead, and had never seen such a boiling scene. He was scared out of his wits and fled back to the sea, never daring to make a move again.
14 Anecdotes of Polygonum in Xingning
"Polygonum flower" is a famous pastry in Xingning County, and is known as the "flower of cakes". More than 100 years ago, "Polygonum multiflorum" was exported to Singapore, Malaysia and other places in Southeast Asia. "Polygonum flower" pays attention to shape, color and taste. Its appearance is like melon, and its inside is like melon pulp, which is crisp and sweet. There are high requirements for material selection and production technology. Speaking of Polygonum, there is an interesting story.
Zhu Zhishan, a talented scholar in the south of the Yangtze River, was a magistrate of Xingning. One day, Zhu Zhishan wanted to eat the famous glutinous rice cake in his hometown very much, so he invited a dim sum chef named Chen to dictate the making method of glutinous rice cake and asked Master Chen to do the same. However, Master Chen did not completely follow the recipe he taught him, but combined the characteristics of Hakka dim sum making and made another unique food with raw materials such as glutinous rice, taro, sesame and sugar. When Zhu Zhishan ate it, it was crisp and fragrant, crisp and sweet, with good color, smell and taste. He couldn't help but praise Master Chen for his superb craftsmanship, and at the same time doubled his salary. He personally named this cake "Liaohua". Since then, the reputation of "Polygonum multiflorum" has spread in Hakka area, and slowly spread to home and abroad.