In the 22nd year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1896), when Li Hongzhang visited the United States, he hosted a banquet in the embassy to entertain guests. Because Chinese food is delicious, the guests have not been seated for several hours. At this point, the main course has been used up, and the chef has to mix and cook the leftovers left over from cooking to make a dish. After the guests tasted it, they cheered again and again and asked about the name of the dish. Li Hongzhang replied: "Eat more delicious food!" Unexpectedly, the pronunciation of "delicious and eat more" is similar to that of English chowder, and later this dish was named "Li Hongzhang Chowder".

In fact, Li Hongzhang's chowder is very particular, so it is necessary to do a good job of "preliminary work" in advance. For example, take chicken offal, belly slices, ham, gluten, mushrooms, mountain bamboo shoots, sea cucumbers and so on. As the bottom, then put it into a pottery basin, add some seasonings such as white wine and soy sauce, and slowly burn it on the charcoal bottom until the oil and vegetables are cooked and filled in the original basin.

After 100 years of improvement, Li Hongzhang's chowder is richer in materials and more complicated in practice. Chefs have improved the traditional "hodgepodge" making process, using water-made shark's fin, water-made sea cucumber, water-made squid, oily fish maw and scallop, cooked white chicken, cooked pork maw, cooked ham, clean fish, fresh mushrooms, tender bamboo shoots, water-made yuba, pigeon eggs, onion slices, ginger slices, Shaoxing wine, refined salt, monosodium glutamate, chicken powder and white pepper powder.