Anhui cuisine has rich cultural heritage and is one of the eight famous cuisines in the country. Its main flavor characteristics are salty and fresh, highlighting the original taste, paying attention to fire skills, and focusing on food supplements. The cooking methods include roasting, stewing, stewing, and steaming.
, smoking and other techniques are the main ones.
It originated in ancient Huizhou during the Southern Song Dynasty and has a history of more than 800 years. It is considered a cuisine with a long history. A million-word food book could be written about the characteristics of Hui cuisine, and there are countless classic dishes.
The representative ones are stinky mandarin fish, Wenzhengshan bamboo shoots, Huizhou steamed chicken, Fuliji roasted chicken, Sanhe Crispy Duck, Baogong Fish, Wu Wang Gong Goose, shepherd's purse dumplings, Wang Yixing roast duck, Bagongshan tofu, milk sauce
Fat king fish, white jade dumplings in clear soup, Huaiwang fish stewed with tofu and other dishes.
The most representative cooking ingredient of Anhui cuisine is chicken. Anhui cuisine can be said to be the master of chicken cooking, with no one around it. Today, Li He and Lao Hu Bai Tofu are looking for the representative of Anhui cuisine.
Cao Cao Chicken.
Since it is called Cao Cao's chicken, it must be related to the historical figure. Cao Cao's chicken is also called Xiaoyao chicken. According to legend, during the Three Kingdoms period, when Cao Cao was stationing troops in Xiaoyaojin, Luzhou, he was overworked and bedridden because of his busy military and political affairs. During the treatment process, the chef
Add Chinese medicine to the chicken according to the doctor's instructions and cook it into medicated chicken.
Cao Cao's condition gradually improved after eating it, and he often ate this kind of medicated chicken. This dish spread and was known as "Cao Cao Chicken". Cao Cao's chicken was slaughtered and shaped, coated with honey, deep-fried, and braised with ingredients.
It is delicious and simmered until it is crispy and the meat and bones are separated. The finished product is red in color, rich in aroma, crispy and shiny, and beautiful in shape. When eating, shake the legs to remove the meat, the bones will be crispy and the meat will be rotten, and the mouth will be full of fragrance after eating.
The above information was found by Li He on Baidu. Cao Cao Chicken has a longer history than Anhui cuisine. It was already famous throughout the world long before the development of Anhui cuisine.
Li He has only seen a few pictures of this dish, but has never actually tasted it. There are several restaurants in Sanhe Ancient Town that use Cao Cao Chicken as their signature dish, but as far as everyone knows, the ones they cook are not the most authentic.
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To say that it is the most authentic, you probably have to go to the chef who cooked chicken for Cao Cao more than 2,000 years ago. However, it is not necessarily bad after 2,000 years, because the dishes always require continuous improvement and innovation by future generations. Not so
How many chefs have worked tirelessly to discover the delicious food that makes foodies linger over it.
For more than two thousand years, the breeds of chickens have been constantly changing, and the ingredients used with them have changed dramatically. Every change in the chicken makes the quality of the dish different, and every change in the ingredients can cause a difference in the taste of the dish.
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However, there must be people who pursue tradition and restoration, such as the chef Liang whom Li He and his friends visited. He has retired and devoted his life to studying and restoring the original Cao Cao Chicken.
Over the past thousands of years, the original taste has been unknown, and there are very few historical records about this dish. Most of them are folklore legends. Therefore, Chef Liang has retired for many years, but he has never been able to find Cao Cao Chicken that satisfies him.
When they came to visit today, Li He and Lao Hu Bai Tofu were rejected. Chef Liang lives in a courtyard at the east end of Sanhe Ancient Town. It is not as lively as the town, but rather a rural countryside.
scene.
The fence surrounds the yard, and there are seven or eight free-range chickens inside. A small river flows by the fence. The water flow is not large. After passing through the artificial diversion channel, a small puddle is formed on the other side. A few ducks and geese are playing leisurely.
Water. Next to the puddle is a small forest, with country roads passing through it.
When Li He and others came, they were chased away by the geese in the puddle for a long time. There was a fierce human-goose battle, which was hilarious. Of course, this had the effect of a show. The photographer faithfully filmed and recorded it while being chased by the geese.
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After getting rid of the entanglement of the big goose, Li He and the others came to the door of the yard and looked in through the fence. Li He said doubtfully: "It seems that no one is home."
"I'll give it a try," Old Hu said, shouting toward the yard: "Is anyone there? Is anyone home?"
After a long time, no one answered. The three of them were very embarrassed. Bai Doufu said: "Why don't we go back first? I'm hungry after looking for so long."
Li He's nose was always very sensitive. He took a whiff and said, "No, someone should be at home. Look, there is smoke rising from the kitchen and there is a fragrant aroma."
"I smelled it too. Could it be that someone is cooking?"
"It's very possible that it's lunch time now, so cooking is normal."
"How about we wait?"
"The key is that I'm hungry. I want to eat."
Just as the three were hesitating, a middle-aged man came out, saw Li He and the camera crew next to him, and opened the door with a smile: "Are you on a food show?"
Li He and the other three looked at each other, and Bai Doufu said: "It counts. We heard that there is a chef living here who is particularly good at making Cao Cao chicken, so we came to visit."
"It's normal. Many people come here to taste this dish. You are in for a treat today. I happen to be practicing. Come in!" the middle-aged man said, letting Li He and the others in.
"Are you Chef Liang?" Li He asked.
The middle-aged man shook his head and said, "No, my surname is Lin, and Chef Liang is my chef."
"So that's it. Is Chef Liang at home?" Lao Hu asked
Chef Lin shook his head and said: "At home, but if you want to eat his cooking, you don't have much hope. You need to meet three conditions."
"What conditions?"
"You'll know when you go in." The middle-aged man led Li He and the three of them in. After obtaining permission, the film crew found a place in the house to shoot.
Chef Lin also briefly introduced himself. He works as a chef in a restaurant in Hefei, and his specialty is Cao Cao chicken. This time, he took advantage of his vacation to visit his chef and ask for advice.
Chef Liang lives in a typical Hui-style building. Hui-style architecture uses bricks, wood, and stone as raw materials, and mainly uses wooden frames. The beam frames are mostly made of large materials and pay attention to decoration. Bricks, wood, and
Stone carvings show a superb level of decorative art.
Huizhou architecture originally originated from ancient Huizhou and is a typical representative of Jiangnan architecture. Historically, Huizhou merchants operated in Yangzhou, Suzhou and other places, and Huizhou architecture also had a considerable impact on local architectural styles.
This house faces south and pays attention to internal lighting; it is made of bricks, wood, and stone as raw materials, and the wooden frame is mainly used. It uses wooden beams to bear the load, and uses bricks, stones, and earth to build retaining walls; with the main room as the center, it is decorated with carved beams, painted beams, and decorations.
The roof and eaves are long.
According to Chef Lin, this house is an ancient house that has been passed down from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Chef Liang’s ancestors were imperial chefs. Because of his good cooking, he received many rewards, and this house is one of them.
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Most of the precious things disappeared during the turbulent years of war. All that was left to the Liang family was this house and a book of Liang's dishes.
Nowadays, Chef Liang's children have all achieved great achievements, but not many of his children have inherited his Liang family's cuisine. The most outstanding one is an outsider, Chef Lin.
Compared with other chefs who pay attention to tradition, Chef Liang is quite Confucian in style and values teaching without distinction. As long as you are willing to learn, he is willing to teach, but whether you can learn is another matter.