History of Hunan cuisine
Hunan is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, with fertile land, mild climate and superior natural conditions. It is one of the developed areas in ancient China.
A large number of exquisite pottery vessels and wine vessels unearthed from the Neolithic sites in Hunan Province, as well as the remains of grains and animal bones unearthed with these pottery, confirm that Xiaoxiang ancestors broke away from the original state of eating animals and cooked food as early as 89,000 years ago. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Hunan was mainly a place where Chu people and Yue people lived together, with many nationalities living together, different eating customs and prevailing sacrificial rites. Wang Yi explained the Nine Songs in Han Dynasty and said, "In the past, between Wen Yi and Yuanxiang in southern Chu, people believed in ghosts and loved shrines, and their shrines must make songs and music to enlighten the gods ..." Every ritual activity was always accompanied by dance and music. Sacrificing to the gods, offering sacrifices to the land, enjoying the ancestors, celebrating weddings and funerals, welcoming guests and seeing them off, all need to have a dinner party. There are strict requirements for the variety of dishes, and they are also very particular about color, fragrance, taste and shape. For example, during the Warring States Period more than 300 years BC, the great poet Qu Yuan was exiled to Hunan and wrote the famous poem Chu Ci. Among them, "Evocation of Soul" and "Big Trick" reflect the rich and delicious dishes, drinks and snacks in this sacrificial activity at that time. There is a description in "Evocation": "... eating too much, Migaimai, Huangliangduo." Bitter and salty, it is difficult to make a difference. Fat cows smell better. If you are bitter, Chen Wu will have some soup. The turtle shoots mutton with some pulp. Sour fish, fry some red fish It is unpleasant to show chickens. Explained in the vernacular, it is like this: "The food you eat is rich and colorful. You can eat rice, millet, glutinous rice and Huang Liang at will. Sweet and sour, salty and bitter, harmonious and palatable. Beef tendon is soft and fragrant. Sour black fruit soup. Roasted turtle, roast mutton and sugarcane juice. Vinegar boiled swans, braised pheasants, fried fat geese and cranes, braised chicken and stewed turtle soup are delicious and full of energy-they will last for a long time. "In addition, the big move also mentioned Chu cheese-Chu cheese, dolphins-pork sauce, bitter dog meat dried dog meat, roasted crow, steamed pheasant, fried. It can be seen that there were dozens of cooking methods such as burning, roasting, stewing, frying, boiling, steaming, stewing, vinegar cooking, halogen and sauce in the diet life of Hunan ancestors at that time. The raw materials used are also natural resources with the color of Chu Xiang. In addition, according to the records in Songs of the South, the snacks at that time were also very distinctive. Qu Yuan described it this way: "... and some honey and erbium. Yaojiang honey spoon is more feathery. If you drink cold, it will be cooler. Chinese food is frozen, and there is some nectar .. "Interpreted as vernacular, it means:" There are fried honey glutinous rice Baba and steamed honey cake, and caramel. The iced glutinous rice wine is really cool and mellow, and the jade yellow wine is enough to make you intoxicated ... "All these show that as early as the Warring States period, the dietary life of Hunan ancestors was quite colorful and the cooking skills were quite mature, forming a southern flavor dominated by sour, salty, sweet and bitter. As for the daily staple food of Hunan ancestors during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, according to archaeological and historical records, there are rice, sorghum, beans, wheat, millet and rice, but rice is the main one. Steamed rice retort, pot, kettle, etc. Steamed rice is not sticky or sweet. When cooking porridge, put rice and water into the porridge and cook it with fire until the rice is cooked. When the rice porridge is ready, after the dish is ready, it must be put in a container for easy eating. At that time, Hunan's utensils were not only complete in variety, but also exquisite and elegant. As far as materials are concerned, it mainly includes pottery, bronze, iron, lacquer and so on. Although these food containers have appeared since the Shang Dynasty, their shapes have their own characteristics in Hunan. In particular, thousands of lacquerware unearthed from Chu Tomb in Changsha, Hunan, have beautiful shapes, bright colors and smooth patterns.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Hunan's food culture gradually formed a relatively complete system in terms of materials, cooking methods and flavor styles, and its rich raw materials, colorful cooking methods and delicious flavor were outstanding. 1972 It can be seen from the burial relics of Xin Zhui, the wife of a soft Hou in Mawangdui, Changsha City, Hunan Province that there were nearly 100 kinds of exquisite dishes and delicacies in Hunan more than 2,000 years ago during the Western Han Dynasty. There are 24 kinds of broth in 5 categories. Pure meat is called Taitang, which is the best soup. There are nine kinds, all of which are thick soup. The clear soup cooked by stewing is called white soup, including beef white soup, deer taro white soup and fresh mandarin fish lotus root abalone white soup. The meat soup cooked with celery is called Chinese soup. There are three kinds of soup: dog towel soup, goose towel soup and crucian carp lotus root soup. The meat soup cooked with mugwort is called every soup, including beef soup, sheep soup and tapir soup. There are two kinds of broth cooked with bitter vegetables: dog soup and beef soup. There are 72 kinds of food. For example, "fish skin" is the meat cut from the belly of raw fish; "Cattle fat" and "deer fat" are foods made by cutting raw meat into filaments; "Boiled rabbit" and "boiled quail" are dry-fried rabbits or quails.
It can be seen from the unearthed Raiders of the Western Han Dynasty that the cooking methods in Hunan in the Han Dynasty have further developed compared with those in the Warring States period, and developed into soup, roasting, frying, boiling, steaming, boiling, processing, pickling, pickling, frying, pickling and so on. Seasonings used in cooking include salt, sauce, black beans, sake koji, sugar, honey, leek, plum, cinnamon, pepper and dogwood. Because Hunan is rich in natural products, it is known as the "land of abundance", so since the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hunan's food culture has developed more perfectly, and gradually formed a distinctive Hunan cuisine among the eight major Chinese cuisines.
Brief introduction of Hunan cuisine
Xiaoxiang flavor represented by Hunan cuisine is one of the eight major cuisines in China. Hunan province is located in the south-central part, on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The climate here is warm, with abundant rainfall and sunshine, and the four seasons are distinct. There is Hengshan Mountain in Nanyue in the south and Dongting Lake in the north. Four rivers, Hunan, Guizhou, Yuan and Li, pass through the whole province. Rich natural conditions are conducive to the development of agriculture, animal husbandry, sideline and fishery, so the products are particularly rich. Xiangbei is a famous Dongting Lake plain, which is rich in fish, shrimp and xianglian, and is a famous land of fish and rice. According to Records of the Historian, Chu is "rich in terrain and has no hunger". For a long time, the proverb "the lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full" has been widely circulated. There are hills and basins in the southeast of Hunan, and agriculture, animal husbandry and by-products are very developed. Xiangxi is mountainous and rich in bamboo shoots, mushrooms and delicacies. Rich products provide exquisite raw materials for diet. Famous specialties are: Wuling soft-shelled turtle, Junshan silver needle, Qiyang basin fish, Dongting scarab, Taoyuan chicken, Linwu duck, Wugang goose, Xianglian, whitebait bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and mountain delicacies in western Hunan. In the long-term food culture and cooking practice, Hunan people have created a variety of dishes. According to research, as early as the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, Changsha was able to cook various styles of delicacies with various raw materials such as animals, poultry and fish through cooking methods such as steaming, boiling, boiling and baking. With the development of history and the continuous exchange of cooking skills, three local flavors of Hunan cuisine have gradually formed: Xiangjiang River Basin, Dongting Lake Area and Xiangxi Mountain Area.
Hunan cuisine is a local flavor dish with a long history in China. Xiangxi cuisine is famous for its fragrance, sour and spicy taste, and it is rich in mountain flavor. Hunan cuisine has a long history. As early as the Han dynasty, a kind of cuisine has been formed, and its cooking skills have reached a fairly high level. Hunan is located in the south-central part of China, with warm climate, abundant rainfall and superior natural conditions. Xiangxi is mountainous and rich in bamboo shoots, mushrooms and delicacies; Southeast Hunan is hilly and basin, with developed domestic animal husbandry and by-fishery; Xiangbei is a famous Dongting Lake plain, and it is known as "Land of Fish and Rice". The Records of the Historian recorded that Chu was "rich in terrain and had no hunger".
On April 1958, Mao Zedong and other leading comrades of the Central Committee inspected Changsha Fire Hotel, tasted the famous dishes of Changsha Fire Hotel, and spoke highly of them. The main famous dishes of Hunan cuisine are Dong chicken, braised shark's fin, steamed bacon, whole duck cake, spicy winter bamboo shoots, braised chestnuts, five-yuan fairy chicken and Jishou hot and sour meat. Among them, "Braised shark's fin", also known as "Anzu shark's fin", is a famous dish in Hunan. Cooking methods are shark's fin, chicken soup, soy sauce and so on. Simmer with a small fire. Juice is delicious and famous for its freshness and softness. During the Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, Jinshitan liked this dish very much, so his chef improved the method of braised fish wings, cooking chicken, pork belly and shark fin together, making the shark fin softer and more mellow and delicious. Tan Jinshi is highly praised for his delicious food and is famous all over the world. Therefore, this dish was created by Jia's chef, so it is called "shark's fin in the temple".
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