What should authentic Hunan cuisine be like?

Hunan cuisine, also known as Hunan cuisine, is one of the eight major cuisines with a long history in China, which was formed as early as the Han Dynasty. Xiangjiang River Basin, Dongting Lake Area and Xiangxi Mountain Area are the three major local flavors.

Hunan cuisine is well-made, widely used, diverse in taste and variety; The color is bright, thick and practical; Pay attention to spicy, fresh and tender taste; The making method is called stewing, stewing, waxing, steaming and frying. The theme of Hunan cuisine is cooking. In fact, many people in Hunan are also afraid of eating spicy food and want to eat that kind of spicy food, which leads to the result of eating too much rice. So the main function of Hunan cuisine is cooking.

The representative dishes of official Hunan cuisine are Anzu Hunan cuisine, such as Anzu tofu and Anzu shark's fin. The representative dishes of folk Hunan cuisine include fish head with chopped pepper, fried meat with pepper, grandma in Xiangxi, sour meat in Jishou, beef powder, fish powder in Chenzhou, Dong 'an chicken, goldfish playing lotus, blood duck in Yongzhou, steamed bacon, sister jiaozi, delicious snake in Ningxiang and ginger and spicy snake in Yueyang.

basic feature

Hunan cuisine has always attached importance to the collocation of raw materials and the mutual penetration of tastes. Hunan cuisine is particularly hot and sour. Due to the geographical location, Hunan has a mild and humid climate, so people like to eat peppers to refresh themselves and get rid of dampness. The dishes cooked with pickled vegetables as seasoning and pepper are appetizing and refreshing, which are favored by people and become a unique local eating custom. At the same time, stir-frying is also a major feature of Hunan cooking.

Cooking characteristics of Hunan cuisine

It has a long history. Among the three cooking techniques: hot cooking, cold cooking and sweet blending, there are only a few of each technique, and there are dozens of others. Relatively speaking, Hunan cuisine is better at stewing meat, almost reaching the point of perfection. Stew can be divided into red stew and white stew in color change, and clear soup stew, thick soup stew and milk soup stew in seasoning. Slow stew, original flavor. Some dishes are crystal clear and mellow, some dishes are pure and nourishing, some dishes are soft and delicious, some dishes are crisp and delicious, and many stews have become famous dishes in Hunan cuisine.

Generally speaking, the dietary customs in Hunan mainly have the following backgrounds and characteristics:

(1) In Hunan, "eating" has rich social significance.

First of all, in people's weddings and funerals, eating is always an important content. Marriage is called "having a wedding banquet"; The dead, commonly known as "eating meat"; If you add the population, you will have a "full moon"; Eat poached eggs and "birthday noodles" for your birthday. Secondly, "eating" is also one of people's important social means. When friends and acquaintances meet, the first greeting is often: "Have you eaten?" When you visit a friend's house, you can eat 10 or 12 dishes, which shows that you have received the warmest hospitality from your host.

(2) In Hunan, due to geography, climate and other reasons, rice is cultivated in most areas, and people take rice as the staple food in their daily diet. However, in a few mountainous areas, especially in some places in northern Hunan, corn, sweet potatoes and potatoes can only be used as staple foods for planting dry food crops. The economy of these areas has gradually developed, producing flue-cured tobacco or medicinal materials, which can be sold to the country in exchange for rice, so rice and corn are gradually used as staple foods. Sweet potato and potato are gradually separated from the staple food and become raw materials for making starchy food, brewing wine and sun-dried vegetables. Or feed for livestock. In Hunan, people eat three meals a day, whether in urban or rural areas. The difference is that in cities, breakfast is more casual, dinner is the heaviest in a day, and diet is the heaviest on weekends in a week. In rural areas, there is no obvious difference between three meals a day. Every lunar festival or solar term, the diet is generally more grand than that in the city. Within a year, the diet around the Spring Festival is the most important. In addition, no matter in urban or rural areas, almost every household should make some pickles, dried vegetables, pickles, preserved vegetables and pickles according to different seasons. Whenever guests arrive, the dining table is always served to show the housewife's skills and housekeeping ability.

(3) Men, women and children are generally fond of spicy food. Whether it's three meals on weekdays, a restaurant banquet, or a drink for three friends and four friends, one or two peppers are indispensable.

It is said that pepper originated in tropical South America and was introduced to China in the late Ming Dynasty. Hunan's geographical environment is called "lowly and wet land" in ancient times, which is rainy and humid. Pepper has the effects of keeping out cold, expelling wind and removing dampness; In addition, Hunan people take rice as their staple food all the year round, which can directly stimulate saliva secretion, stimulate appetite and increase appetite. More people eat, and the custom of eating spicy food is formed. People in Hunan eat peppers in various ways. Soak the red pepper in a sealed acid jar, which is sour and spicy, and it is called "hot and sour"; Combine red and spicy, pepper and garlic, and call it "spicy"; Chop up the big red pepper and pickle it in a sealed jar, which is salty and spicy, so it is called "salty and spicy"; Chop red pepper, mix in dried rice flour, and marinate in a sealed jar. When eating, it can be fried or mashed, which is called "spicy"; After red pepper is crushed, garlic seeds and fragrant black beans are added and soaked in tea oil, which is rich in flavor and is called "oily and spicy"; Barbecue the red pepper in the fire, then peel off the thin skin and mix with sesame oil and soy sauce. Spicy and sweet, it is called "fresh and spicy". In addition, dried and fresh peppers can also be used as cooking ingredients, and there are many ways to eat them. Especially in Miao Village, Xiangxi Dong nationality township, whenever guests come, they always entertain them with dried Chili stew. When persuading guests, they always politely invite them to eat "Chili" instead of "meat" again and again, which shows that they like spicy food very much. Hunan cuisine is deeply loved by customers in Europe, America and Southeast Asia, especially in the United States and Canada. In the United States, in front of some Hunan restaurants, there is a sign painted with big red pepper, which says Hunan pepper, and the apron of the waitress in the museum is also embroidered with big red pepper.

Steamed multi-cured ham

(4) Hunan people love bitter taste. According to documents, its origin can be traced back to the pre-Qin period. There is a poem in "Chu Ci evokes the soul" that says, "Bitter should be salty, sweet should do something". The "great bitterness" here is said to be lobster sauce. So this condiment made of beans has a history of more than 2000 years. Hunan people still have the habit of eating lobster sauce, such as Liuyang lobster sauce, which is one of the famous local specialties. Others such as bitter gourd and bitter buckwheat are also favorite foods of Hunan people. The suffering of Hunan customs has both its historical origin and its local characteristics. Hunan is located in the subtropical zone, with a long hot summer. Traditional Chinese medicine explains the meaning of summer heat: weather dominates heat, local qi dominates dampness, and damp heat steams up, which is called summer heat; When people are in the communication of qi, they will feel sick, which is summer sickness. And "bitterness can purge fire", "bitterness can dry dampness" and "bitterness can strengthen the stomach". Therefore, people eat some bitter food properly, which is helpful to clear away heat, dry dampness and stomach, and is of great benefit to health care. Looking at the topography of Hunan, most of the northern Hunan is a lake area, most of the southern Hunan is a mountainous area, and the central Hunan is a typical hilly area. This regional difference leads to the diversity of dietary customs in various parts of Hunan. We divide it into three areas: Xiangxi area, central Hunan area and southern Hunan area, and northern Hunan area.

Taste characteristics of Hunan cuisine

"When the spicy taste is strong, it will win countless people." After pepper seeds were widely spread in southwest, northwest and southeast regions, they began to formally settle in this fertile and humid land of Hunan, and immediately took root, blossomed, borne fruit, multiplied and expanded here, winning the love of people in this land. Pepper, as a kind of foreign goods from the west, has not been excluded or neglected by crops such as onions and peppers in Hunan, but has been given special courtesy, and generate has a spark of passion. The reasons can be analyzed as follows:

The first layer is because of geography and climate. It is said that there is a "spicy belt" at the same latitude in the world, from South America through the Pacific Islands to East Asia, Southeast Europe and North Africa, and Hunan is at a point of this "spicy belt". Because Hunan is located in the transition zone between Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the southwest and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the northeast, and where the warm and humid air currents in the Bay of Bengal compete with those in the Pacific Ocean, the annual precipitation is as much as 1.300 ~ 1.800 mm, with dense rivers and lakes and continuous water networks. The underwater flood discharge of Hunan, Zi, Yuan and Li is supported by the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, resulting in waterlogging or prolonged drought. Jia Yi, a teacher in Changsha, said: "Changsha is a low and humid place, which is not conducive to longevity." In this land, on the one hand, it is suitable for the growth and reproduction of subtropical plants, and the yield and quality of pepper are very considerable; On the other hand, the advantages of pepper in dispelling cold, dampness and depression are displayed here, like a heroic place. Pepper is especially suitable for eating in Hunan. Generally speaking, mainlanders can accept the spicy taste and taste of Hunan cuisine for more than half a month without obvious adverse reactions. Some people from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangdong and even the Northeast who have worked in Hunan for many years are as passionate as Hunan natives. Zhang Qijun, a philosopher from Taiwan Province, also talked about this point in the Principles of Cooking, saying that he didn't eat Chili at first: "Don't say that you don't eat Chili. If you put a little Chili in your dish, you won't dare to eat the whole dish. With the rise of the Anti-Japanese War, when I arrived in Hunan, I saw that the dishes cooked by Hunan people's peppers were delicious. Try it, the more you taste, the braver you are. Within half a year, you will be able to eat peppers like Hunan people. " On the other hand, when Hunan people leave Hunan, such as going to Beijing or going south to Guangdong, Hainan and Shenzhen, their appetite for spicy food is greatly reduced, their ability to resist spicy food is gradually degraded, and even abnormal reactions such as cleft lip and sores appear due to spicy food. This proves the distinct and strong regional characteristics of spicy food from both positive and negative aspects.

The second layer is the reason of economy and circulation. Hunan landform is composed of "seven mountains, two waters and one field", which is remote, barren and far from the southeast coast. The disadvantages of topography, location and transportation made the economy of ancient Hunan relatively closed and backward, and it was on the edge of politics, economy and culture. Shun Di's southern tour collapsed in the wilderness of Cangwu (now Yongzhou City), which is the boundary of the sphere of influence of the Central Plains. Yelang country (now Huaihua area in western Hunan) is a place where prisoners are exiled. Li Baiyou, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said, "I am worried about the bright moon. I will follow you to Yelangxi." Today, the Furong Building in Qianyang, Hunan Province is to commemorate this famous "western poet" at that time.

These areas are still economically underdeveloped areas, concentrated in major poverty-stricken counties and districts in Hunan Province. Inconvenient transportation leads to poor circulation, and sea salt here has always been very expensive. Even in the eventful years of modern Jinggangshan revolutionary struggle, salt is still very scarce in Hunan and Jiangxi mountainous areas, and pepper has the function of stimulating taste and disinfection, which is just a substitute for salt. Second, it is difficult for seasonal vegetables outside the province to enter the local area. Rural people's purchasing power is low, and peppers are delicious and cheap, which replaces the edible and even medicinal value of salt to some extent and is the first choice for "sending rice". From this point of view, a big bowl of cabbage is not worth a spoonful of pepper, which is the oil of the poor, so it has become the most affordable and practical vegetable for farmers. Farmers in Baoqing (now Shaoyang City) in central Hunan have a car full of dried Chili peppers for the New Year, which shows their large consumption. Farmers in Jiangyong, Yongzhou, xu zhen even eat dried peppers directly. According to the statistics of the rural investigation team of Hunan Provincial Bureau of Statistics, 1999, the pepper planting area in the whole province1150,000 hectares, with an annual output of more than 300,000 tons. In that year, more than 300,000 tons of anti-season peppers were imported from Hainan and other places, and the per capita consumption of peppers in the province was more than 0 kg/kloc-0. Today, due to the economic development, the spicy degree of the whole province is declining. The obvious difference between developed cities and remote rural residents continues to prove the relationship between pepper consumption, especially the spicy degree and the local economy.

The third layer is spiritual and cultural reasons. "If I change in Hunan, China will change; If I live in Hunan, then China will live. " "If China dies, unless Hunan people die." The sense of mission that Hunan people with lofty ideals take the world as their responsibility is extremely prominent in all provinces of China. Two large-scale immigrants in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties had a great influence on the character and folk customs of Hunan people. The two great migrations were caused by the sharp drop of population caused by the war, and a large number of foreigners moved to Hunan. This regrouping of population led to the emergence of new folk customs in Hunan. Therefore, Wu Xinfu and others believe in the General History of Hunan that the pioneering spirit of new immigrants and the integration of Han and Miao ethnic minorities have gradually formed the temperament of perseverance, courage, perseverance, hard work and bravery, and are often called "mules" and "Man Zi". This humanistic feature is connected with the spiritual essence of pepper, so pepper and "spicy people" hit it off. It is not surprising that Hunan people use the momentum of pepper to express their feelings, express their feelings and strengthen their hearts. Not surprisingly, they developed from their general enthusiasm for spicy food to the process of growing and making spicy food on a large scale.