Chapter 36 Some Auspicious Dishes for the New Year

It is a custom in southern China that at the end of the Lunar New Year, all close relatives and friends will always be invited to their home for a meal of home-cooked dishes, which is called "Reunion Year".Spring is born in the new year, and once the God of Wealth Day is over on the fifth day of the first month (the god of wealth is received on the fifth day of the first month in the south, and the god of wealth is received on the second day of the first month in the north, this is a place where the customs of the north and the south are different), and the spring festival is invited again.Once, the author was in Shanghai to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Because I was away alone, as soon as I entered the Layue Gate, I had acquaintances and friends, and I started to treat them to a New Year’s Eve dinner.There is an unwritten rule about eating New Year’s Eve dinner. No matter how busy you are, you can’t stop ordering and say goodbye. It’s only meaningful if you eat a mess and don’t get drunk, otherwise the host will think you are polite and false and hurt the friendship.The author has a poor appetite, and he is almost afraid of eating New Year's Eve dinner.It's much more comfortable to drink spring wine with ease.

Dong Shengfu, Zhong Ding Kunji, a family friend, was born in a family of hundreds of Cantonese. He drank with the same quality. In his spare time, because he studied the way of cutting and cooking to entertain others and himself, he opened a beautiful restaurant in Hongkou Tongqu. The door decoration is golden and magnificent, which was second to none among the restaurants in Guangdong at that time. They knew that my mother-in-law and the author were both famous for their delicious food from both the north and the south, so they invited us to have spring wine only about Ding's uncle and nephew, and there were six guests in total.There are only five dishes, and there are two fine dishes, all of which are light, flavorful, quiet and meticulously prepared by the beautiful head chef.

Dong Shi Kunzhong said: "Today's guests are all tasters of Fang's family. If you use some fat abalone fins, it will be unconventional. A few flavors of rough vegetables are dishes that the chef thinks is worth trying. Please let me know how to taste them. Thank you Pardon the brevity." On the table stands a menu card with a silver frame and engraved pattern, sandwiching a piece of cardboard with a Zhusi grid. The menu for this drink is written in regular script: (1) Yukui Treasure Fan; (2) Xi takes the lead; (3) ) Dragon flying and Phoenix dancing; (4) Liufang Ruicai; (5) Immediate spring breeze.The other line is more detailed about double products.Cantonese restaurants have always played tricks on the names of their dishes. Some dishes have weird names that make it impossible to guess, but after careful consideration, you can probably guess right. But these five dishes are full of auspicious words. There is no trace to be found.Mrs. Ding, the co-chairman, has been discussing Lianghuai for many years, and he knows a lot about the aliases of Cantonese cuisine, so he shook his head in puzzlement.Fortunately, the Dong brothers explained the last dish and listened to it while eating. In addition to feasting, they also heard some stories, a lot of cooking skills, and a lot of knowledge, which naturally added a lot of interest to the meal.

The first dish "Jade Sunflower Fan" was served, and Mr. Dong Da first told a story.According to legend, in ancient Lingnan aristocratic families, there was an engaged and unmarried Mrs. Luo, who had an heirloom fan, with sunflowers on one side and Sanskrit curses on the other side, surrounded by emeralds, shining brightly.It is said that all young men and women who hang themselves or drown themselves, as long as they die soon, they can fan the dead with a treasure fan non-stop.One day Mr. Luo's fiancée was washing clothes by the stream, accidentally fell into the water, and when she was salvaged, she was breathless.In desperation, Mr. Luo held the precious fan and kept fanning beside the corpse. After fanning for a day and a night, he actually fanned the dead man back to life.The average family in Guangdong likes to use steamed fish for dinner. If you use fresh soil dace and top-grade cao white fish to steam together, the fresh and salty flavors blend together, just like in the story. This dish is called "Jade Sunflower Fan", which is suitable for both wine and rice.The fish must be carefully selected, and the meat must be steamed thoroughly, with red skin and white texture, which will open up the taste.

The second taste is "happy to take the lead".Guangdong is a province that pays attention to eating shark's fin, and is also the province that is best at making shark's fin. Compared with the feast of the scene, shark's fin is always used as the first dish to be glorious.But top-grade shark fin is expensive, so I know it’s good to have a drink, and I use fish maw more often. One means that I don’t see others, and the other is that Yuan Caizi often said in "Suiyuan Recipes" that chickens, ducks, fish and shrimps are practical materials, and abalone People who participate in belly wings have a reputation, and belly wings are stewed with phthalate sauce. If they come from cooking masters, they will also clarify hundreds of products and list them as delicacies.However, some people only know that fish maw is delicious, but they don't know which part of the fish it is.In fact, to put it bluntly, fish maw is the swim bladder.There are many types of fish, and the quality of the fish maw is naturally complex. Among them, the fish maw of cod is the highest quality, and the products in Chaoshan Haifeng area are even more famous.I heard from seniors who are proficient in medicine that the function of fish maw is to invigorate Qi and invigorate the middle. In the early years, rich and noble people in Guangdong paid attention to giving bird's nest, white fungus, fish maw, and big black tonic for pregnant women.Codfish, also known as carp fish, is used as a gift for the full moon. It also contains the meaning of conjoining births for the noble son and the monopoly of the codfish. You can see how far-reaching this kind of praise and prayer is.Of course, the fish maw is first fed with soup, then stewed with garlic and scallops, thick but not greasy, rotten in quality and mellow in taste.This is a hot dish, under the training of famous masters, it is of course exceptional.Although this dish is not fin abalone, the price may be higher than fin abalone, and it is also the best fish maw I have eaten.

The third dish is "Long Xiang Feng Wu".It is not uncommon to eat grouper in Taiwan, but in Guangzhou, Kowloon, Hong Kong and Macao, grouper is very rare, especially mouse grouper.The author was in Hong Kong the year before last, and one tael of mouse spots cost more than 20 yuan in Hong Kong paper, which is equivalent to more than two hundred yuan in Taiwan dollars, which is really appalling. "Long Xiang Feng Wu" dare to be fat and tender pigeon stewed grouper. According to Mr. Dong Er's explanation: any giant grouper weighing more than 30 kg is hard to come by.Guangzhou calls this kind of large grouper "long grouper", the bigger the body, the finer the meat.The dragon grouper we use today is prepared by a boat tycoon in a beautiful banquet. He brings his own dragon grouper to the kitchen, and we share it.The piece of dragon grouper we share is eight inches square, big and fat, and six crispy squabs are spread on the belly of the fish. The fish meat is steamed and fragrant, the fat is smooth and the meat is thin, without any fishy smell. , if the owner hadn't introduced it first, I would have regarded it as some rare and strange smell, and I never thought it was grouper!

The fourth dish is "Liufang Ruicai".People in Guangdong are good at cooking porphyra fish, which is also called salamander fish. They use large grains of wolfberry, a specialty in Gansu, to simmer the salamander. The wolfberry is bright red and more beautiful than pomegranate. Thinking about it cleverly, as for the fat and fat of the fish, it is slightly sweet and fragrant, not to mention. The fifth dish is called "immediate spring breeze".To celebrate the spring of the new year, the spring festival in Guangdong Province is a feast for guests, and the dishes on the table are for the sake of flattery. The so-called spring breeze immediately is raw fried saddle eel.It is said that this is a famous dish in Shunde. It uses a large eel (called eel king in Guangdong) to be boneless and sliced, and then stir-fried with mushrooms and bamboo shoots. The eel slices must be cut into saddle shapes, so it is called saddle eel.This is a dish that is cooked with fire. It depends on the skill of the cooker to fry it crispy, tender and tender without leaving any oil.The beautiful woman, Yi Ya, was hired from "Mo Shang", one of the so-called four major restaurants in Guangzhou, with a lot of money.At Xiuse, she only accepts three dishes and two orders. In addition to the raw fried eel we eat, the other two dishes are burning conch slices and Guanyinzhai. Guanyinzhai is a specialty dish of Guangzhou Yongsheng Nunnery.None of the major restaurants in Guangzhou can make such pure and rich vegetarian dishes. I don’t know how much effort this female Yi Ya has used to learn the tricks of cooking Guanyinzhai. Unfortunately, there is enough food for the day , failed to taste the delicacy.

The two desserts are "Fenguo" and "Chicken Porridge". We tried them one by one while drinking that day.In the early years, Beiping Dongyalou once took advantage of Chen Sangu from Daliang to visit relatives in Beiping. Emotional intelligence Chen Sangu demonstrated in Dongyalou and made a short-term powdered fruit. Regardless of the taste, only the steamed powder of the powdered fruit is different.The clear powder is soft and crystal-clear, and the water is transparent, which can perfectly reflect the light yellow and purple of the fruit filling, especially the peel is not dry or cracked, unlike the powder fruit made by restaurants nowadays, there is no problem of sticking to the bottom and revealing the filling.The powdered fruit made by Nv Yiya is no different from Chen Sangu's powdered fruit. She puts it on the table in a fire-resistant glass plate, and the glass reflects the snow. Food needs beautiful utensils, which are more elegant than the lead and iron plates in Dongya Building. There are more Gao Hua.Later, the pink fruit of Lu Yuju in Hong Kong became famous in Hong Kong and Kowloon. It is said that it is the masterpiece of this female Yi Ya!

After having enough wine and vegetables, each person has a bowl of gold and silver chicken porridge. This kind of porridge is first opened and washed, and then put into the porridge that has just been boiled and boiled. After two hours, the chicken is already cooked. Erosion, take out the bones and tear the skin and skin into thin shreds (do not use a knife to cut), and prepare half a chicken, remove the bones and shreds, put them together in a porridge pot and cook again, add ginger, old fried dough sticks, Crispy shrimp slices, coriander, and a little raw pomelo, stir it, and immediately serve it. It is mellow and delicious, and it is extremely delicious.

The host said: The dishes are only five delicacies, all of which are fish bodies. This is called "more than auspicious, more than every year". Travelers travel within a year, always when it rains, and will not encounter rain and snow.Although this spring meal is not a rare delicacy, the ingredients are difficult to obtain, and the tastes are different.The author once entered "Jinjin Xiaoji", so although it has been many years, the memory is still fresh.At the beginning of this year, I specially wrote down these auspicious dishes, hoping that the sun will rise and the moon will be constant, and there will be more than every year.