Jingmen, Hubei, 8 Aug (ZXS) -- Hubei Zhongxiang Panlong Cuisine: 3 years of inheritance of "fragrant" people's homes
China News Agency reporter Liang Ting
"Mountain and sea delicacies do not need to be offered, rich water and spring fragrant wine has a strong flavor. The full hall of guests called out the dishes and packed them into rolls and cut the dragon. In Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province, the poet Fan Guokai's poems are widely circulated. Originated from Zhongxiang's special dish Panlong cuisine, after 500 years of inheritance and innovation, now its "fragrant" ordinary people's home.
Originated from Zhongxiang's special dish Panlong cuisine, after 500 years of inheritance and innovation, now its "fragrant" ordinary people's home. Photo by Ren Kai
Beaulong cuisine is known as one of the "Zhongxiang Three Exceptions" and is listed in the "Chinese Recipes". The "Beaulieu Cuisine Making Technique" was inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hubei Province in 2011. A reporter from the China News Agency recently walked into Zhongxiang to understand the "past life and present life" of Beaulong cuisine.
Wu Qinggao, the "master of Chinese cooking" and the representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Hubei Province "Panlong cuisine making skills", has been engaged in the production of Beaulong cuisine since 1962. He introduced that Chef Zhongxiang is very rigorous in the preparation of dishes, and the banquet serving procedures also have a specific pattern, and Beaulong cuisine deserves to be the "first dish".
According to reports, Beaulong cuisine is mostly called roll cut or chopped vegetables in the local dialect. When steamed out of the cage, this dish resembles a "voldorne", sliced and placed on a plate, and resembles a "coiled dragon", hence its name. Its beautiful shape, delicious taste, oily but not greasy, is famous for "eating meat without seeing meat".
When the dragon vegetable is steamed out of the cage, it looks like a "voldic dragon", and its slices are placed on a plate, which also resembles a "coiled dragon", hence its name. Photo by Wu Taotao
In order to protect and inherit this skill, Wu Qinggao has successively accepted more than 100 apprentices so far. Wu Jinlin, inheritor of the Jingmen intangible cultural heritage project "Panlong Cuisine Making Skills", is one of them. He introduced that the production of Beaulieu cuisine involves multiple processes, the main raw material is pork, and then starch, eggs, salt, ginger and other auxiliary condiments are made. The skin is golden, the cake slices are elastic, the taste is tender, and when eaten, it is shaped in a bowl.
Panlong cuisine is a well-deserved "starter" in Zhongxiang's banquet, with a smooth taste and a long aftertaste. Photo by Ren Kai
"Fat cut strips and wash with water, lean meat chopped and bleached with water; The green onion and ginger seasoning should not be less, stir on the strong egg skin bag. Wu Qinggao summed up the production tips from years of practice. He introduced that to make Beaulieu dishes, you need to grasp the key steps, such as adding seasonings to the meat mushroom, you need to add water while stirring, and stir in a clockwise direction until the meat is "strong"; Then steamed over high heat, and finally re-steamed for 15 minutes, so that the aroma of Beaulong cuisine is smooth and long.
Nowadays, in Zhongxiang, the locals invite guests to set up wine, known as "one dragon, two phoenixes, three stir-fried, four boiled, six soups, seven broken, eight steamed, nine fish and ten balls", of which "dragon" refers to Beaulong cuisine, known as "no dragon without a table".
"The creation of Beaulieu cuisine has brought blessings to the local people and has also greatly promoted Zhongxiang's culinary community." Wu Qinggao introduced that Zhongxiang is an important birthplace of Chu cuisine, during the Ming Jiajing period, Zhongxiang cuisine has been further developed, special dishes have reached a certain number, and quickly spread all over the world, and the famous dishes have come out one after another, such as the famous three-yuan hooves, the delicious and fresh flower stuffed eel, and the unique flavor of Xisha meat.
Nowadays, with the "blessing" of modern technology, Beaulieu cuisine, a famous dish that has been passed down for 500 years, has become more portable and entered the international market. At the same time, corn, beef, shrimp and other ingredients are added to its raw materials, and the taste is gradually diversified. In Wu Qinggao's view, this move is an innovation based on inheritance and is conducive to the development of Beaulong cuisine.
It is understood that at present, Zhong Xiang is working on the prefabricated dishes of Panlong cuisine, and with the help of e-commerce, this special dish derived from Zhong Xiang can be "served" to the tables of people all over the country. According to incomplete statistics, Zhongxiang has nearly 20 industrial production enterprises of a certain scale of Beaulong vegetables, with an annual production of about 3000 million jin (1 jin = 500 grams) and an output value of more than 6 million yuan. (End)