There has always been an old saying in China: "food is the most important thing for the people". Although it reflects the strong desire of the people for a better life and a delicious meal during the hard life period, the Chinese food culture has become a broad and profound part of Chinese culture. In this regard, apart from France, there should be no country as keen on "eating" as China. As early as in the Song Dynasty, different regions began to distinguish their diets, sweet in the north and salty in the south. Later, with the Southern Song Dynasty, economic center moved to the south, sweet taste gradually introduced to the south. By the time of Ming Dynasty, there were Beijing style, Su style and Guang style. In the Qing Dynasty, various cuisines began to form gradually. According to the Qing Dynasty barnyard notes compiled by Xu Ke in Hangzhou, it is said that "the dishes have their own characteristics, such as Beijing, Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangning, Suzhou, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou and Huai'an." During the period of the Republic of China, the major cuisines had a great development, and the "eight major cuisines" came from this. They were Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, Anhui, Shandong and other cuisines.
Of course, the Jiangsu cuisine refers to the cuisine of Jiangsu Province, the land of fish and rice, and the Yangtze River Delta, where geomancy is precious. Of course, the cuisine can not be missed. In this article, I will give you an inventory of Jiangsu cuisine, ranking in no order!
1. Yancheng Dongtai fish soup noodles
As the saying goes, "rely on mountains, depend on water", and for Dongtai, Jiangsu Province, which is close to the sea, of course, is most famous for its seafood, and the most famous is the fish soup noodles in Dongtai, Yancheng. This dish still belongs to the Su cuisine series and is a traditional pasta of Han nationality. It is said to have been done by a royal chef who was expelled from the palace. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the owner of a noodle shop in Dongtai found a new noodle stall on the street. He took a sip of the soup and found it delicious. When asked, the stall owner was the imperial chef of the imperial palace. He was driven out because he made a little mistake. However, he had to make a living on his own. The owner of the shop asked the chef to listen to him. Since then, the noodles in this shop are all made of fish soup made by the imperial chef. One pass ten, ten pass hundred, hundred pass thousand, so "fish soup noodles" is famous in Dongtai.
As for Dongtai fish soup noodles, the main raw material is noodles, the soup white juice is thick, refreshing and delicious, but also has a good health care effect, moistening the spleen and stomach, tonifying deficiency and curing intestines. People often say that "after eating fish soup and noodles, it's better than the old birthday star". It's no wonder that the local people say, "eat a bowl, think for three years."
In my spare time, I'd like to take my family with me. Why don't you go to Yancheng to taste the fish soup noodles in Dongtai and see the Red Crowned Crane in Dafeng by the way.
2. Dog meat with turtle sauce in Peixian County, Xuzhou
Although eating dogs is inhumane, and the Yulin dog meat Festival has also been resisted by many dog lovers, there is a place in Jiangsu that is famous for its dog meat, and it has become a famous traditional dish of Han nationality, that is, dog meat with turtle juice in Peixian County, Xuzhou.
Peixian is said to be the hometown of Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang likes to eat dog meat. And fan Kui Shao, his general, made a living by slaughtering dogs. According to historical records, Liu Bang and fan Kai had a deep friendship and often ate meat without paying a cent. In order to avoid Liu Bang, fan Kai moved the meat stall to Xiayang lake. When Liu Bang heard the news, Liu Bang was blocked. He was suffering from no money to take a boat. Suddenly, a big turtle came to the river and carried Liu Bang. After seeing fan Kai, Liu Bang grabbed the dog meat he sold and ate it. Later, people began to buy and eat dog meat. Later, Liu Bang often sat on a turtle to eat meat with fan Kuai. When fan was angry, he killed the turtle and cooked it with the dog meat. But the fragrance is more fragrant, more delicious. Therefore, later Peixian dog meat was also known as "turtle juice dog meat".
After that, Liu Bang became a garrison in Surabaya. He was very angry when he learned that fan Kai had killed turtle, so he took away all his knives for cutting dog meat. Fan Kai was helpless, so he had to tear up the dog meat and sell it to customers. Therefore, the eating method of "Peixian dog meat without knife" has been handed down to this day. In the end, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, defeated Xiang Yu and won the world. When he passed through his hometown and entertained the villagers, he would eat large pieces of dog meat and drink in large bowls. He also wrote a poem "the wind rises, the clouds fly, and Wei Jia returns to his hometown from home, and the brave men guard all directions." Since then, Peixian dog meat has been well-known to this day.
Its meat is sauce red, bright color, rotten but not greasy, has high nutritional value, and helps digestion. In compendium of Materia Medica, Li Shizhen said that dog meat has the effects of strengthening the five viscera, strengthening the kidney, strengthening the full force, transforming the accumulation of ruffian, activating water sores, and tonifying the five labors. Eating dog meat can enhance people's physique, improve digestive capacity, promote blood circulation and improve sexual function. Often eat in winter, can make the old people strengthen the ability of cold resistance.
But with more and more dog lovers joining in, the dog meat market seems to be no better now. People are against eating dog meat because dogs are our friends. However, turtle juice dog meat in Peixian County of Xuzhou is still popular with people for its long history, culture and unique flavor.
3. Fish head in casserole of Tianmu Lake, Changzhou
Now that I come to Changzhou, I have to taste the fish head in casserole of Tianmu Lake in Liyang City. This is a traditional dish of Han nationality in Jiangsu Province. Few people know about the origin of this dish. It is said that it was because the staff of Tianmu Lake Reservoir fished fish and cooked food and wine for the guests. But the fish was too big, so the owner threw away the fish head which had not much meat. Later, Xu Yugen, the old secretary of the reservoir, found it a pity that he picked up the fish head and put it in the pot to make soup. After several years of exploration, the fish head of the stewed soup tastes more and more delicious. The soup is fresh and juicy, and the aroma is overflowing. People who have tasted it all praise its wonderful. Since then, this dish is famous for stewing fish head in Shahe. In 1975, Zhu Shuncai, a chef who came to the reservoir from the army, made further exploration and summary, and finally developed a famous delicacy fish head in casserole.
The best way is to choose the best live fish, wash and chop the fish head, fry it in a casserole, and pour it into the water of Tianmu Lake, add some green onion, ginger, cooking wine, coriander, pepper and so on, simmer on the fire for more than 3 hours, almost successful. At this time, the head of the fish was white and red, and it was very fresh and tender. In 1982, envoys of 75 countries to China and their wives came to Tianmu Lake to taste fish head in casserole, and they all praised each other. After tasting it, Deng Xiaoping praised: "this fish head is the best dish to eat tonight." Even an educator, after eating, did not forget its flavor for three years, and wrote a poem: "the head of silver carp is delicious, three contain the fragrance." In addition, fish head has high nutrition and good taste, which plays an important role in reducing blood fat, strengthening brain and delaying aging.
4. Crayfish from Xuyi, Huai'an
It seems that Zhang Jiazi's "four million copies of history" has been published in the world since he graduated from the University in 2014. Zhang Jiajia's style of writing is delicate, and he is a real literary youth, but at the same time, he is a real eater. Among the many foods, he only preferred crayfish. He almost ate all the crayfish shops in Jiangsu. He could tell the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Therefore, he even opened his own crayfish shop and ordered crayfish online. However, the most famous crayfish should be Huaian Xuyi.
Xuyi lobster is a freshwater lobster, also known as crayfish. It was produced in the United States before, and spread to Nanjing around the 1930s. Later, it entered the Hongze Lake, Tianquan lake, Maoer lake and other rivers and lakes in Xuyi. The peak season of crayfish is from May to September every year, with an annual output of 5000 tons. Xuyi crayfish with unique taste, spicy, fresh and fragrant has become a kind of popular culture. It has endless aftertaste and is popular among the food eaters.
And its cooking skills also add a lot of color to Xuyi lobster, the most famous is the hand grasping thirteen spice lobster. A pot of red shrimp, steaming hot, fragrant, bite, juicy, meat, spicy, fresh and beautiful, fragrant and sweet, tender and crisp, it's really hard to stop! But a few years ago, when the price of crabs was high, more and more ordinary people chose to replace crabs with shrimps. Therefore, Xuyi crayfish was also called "crab assistant".
Now people's life is getting better and better, and they pay more and more attention to eating. After Xuyi lobster became popular, Xuyi lobster restaurants were blooming everywhere in China, which also led to the development of local economy. On December 18, 2009, the first regional public brand building forum of China's agricultural products was held in Beijing. Liu Jian, counsellor of the State Council and former Vice Minister of agriculture, confirmed that the brand value of Xuyi lobster reached 4.13 billion yuan. On December 20, 2009, Xuyi lobster was successfully registered, and the first lobster "China's famous trademark" was born.
However, as more and more lobster houses are opened in the market, the local privately bred lobsters also make up for the number on the market. If you want to taste authentic crayfish, you might as well go to Xuyi in person.
5. Hairy crabs in Yangcheng Lake, Suzhou
"When you come to Gusu, you'll see them all. There are few idle lands in ancient palaces and many bridges in water lanes. Lotus root is sold in the night market, and qiluo is carried by boat in spring. Far away I know the moon is still awake, and my homesickness is in the fishing song. As an ancient city with the same landscape, how can food be lacking? Speaking of Suzhou's delicacies, there are all kinds of them. But if you talk about crabs, they must be the top class of Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou!
Autumn September, sweet scented osmanthus, is a good time to enjoy the moon and autumn scenery, but also the beginning of crab eating season. In the late autumn of October, the end of summer and autumn is cool. This is the beginning of crab growth. The paste of male crab is very thick, and the crab yolk of female crab begins to solidify. At this time, it is really a wonderful time to eat crabs.
Crab eating has a history of nearly 5000 years in China. In the Yangtze River Delta region, archaeology has found that there are a large number of crab shells among the wastes used by our ancestors. However, no one dares to eat crabs in many countries in Western Europe and North America. In the long-term historical exploration, people have summed up three famous crabs in China, which are daze river crab in ancient Danyang, Baiyangdian river crab in Hebei Province and Yangcheng Lake crab in Jiangsu Province.
Li Bai, an immortal poet of the Tang Dynasty, once said, "the crab claw is the golden liquid, and caoqiu is Penglai. And must drink good wine, ride the moon drunk platform. " And Yangcheng Lake hairy crab, also known as golden claw crab. Crab body is not stained with mud, commonly known as clear water hairy crab. It has a large body, green shell and white belly, golden claw and yellow hair, and its meat is delicate. The golden claw crab is also in the peak season when it comes to the market. When cooked, the female crab is golden yellow, while the male is transparent like white jade, which is famous in China.
As for Chinese eating crabs, many foreigners praise that Chinese have a flexible tongue. Some people can eat crabs, and the remaining shells can still form a complete crab. In a detailed view, all the meat inside is picked out with toothpicks. I really feel that the Chinese people are obsessed with eating and spend a lot of time on it. As for foreigners, they can only look at it with amazement and can't help but give up their thumbs up.
6. Taizhou Huangqiao pancake
There is a Huangqiao town in Taixing, Taizhou, Jiangsu Province