Shanghai Food Travel Notes

In recent years, I have visited Shanghai frequently, and I have visited Shanghai more than half a hundred times, and I can't tell how many Shanghai food I have eaten. As a professional glutton, he has always been confused by the twists and turns of Shanghai cuisine. He always feels that it seems to be involved with many local dishes and is entangled with melons and cucumbers. It was not until I began to study Fan Li's proposition that I unexpectedly brought out the Chinese food street centered on Shanghai, and finally became enlightened.

Therefore, I have to say a few words about Fan Li first. Because he is the originator of this Shanghai-China food street.

Fan Li is the most charming historical figure in my mind. I wonder why the series are so keen on Qing Dynasty opera but indifferent to Fan Li? Fan Li's life was fascinating enough without any artistic processing or fabrication.

Using only three of his seven wonderful strategies, he helped Gou Jian defeat Fuchai and directed masterpieces that have been sung through the ages, such as Sudden hardships and Tasting courage, Sailing on Wu Yue, and Beautiful Beauty Xi Shi. In fact, Fan Li's magnificent life shone even more brightly after he retired and went incognito.

He developed salt industry, created Shaoxing wine, processed jade, and even almost monopolized pottery, grain, and iron ore. He migrated three times, and three times without hesitation scattered the wealth of his family, and miraculously created more wealth. He is a veritable God of Wealth and the true originator of Chinese businessmen. The Ningbo merchants and Yangzhou salt merchants that originated from this constitute the origin of Chinese merchants.

Shanghai-Chinese food streets also came into being because of him. Shanghai cuisine is a combination of local dishes such as Ningbo cuisine and Yangzhou cuisine, a by-product of Fan Li's extensive economic enlightenment.

A food street similar to France runs south from Paris, via Dijon to Lyon. The food street with the famous wine origin Burgundy inlaid in the middle lists the world's highest-level two-star three-star French restaurants. Shanghai-China food street is divided into two branches from Shanghai, the western line and the southern line. The southern line food street runs from Shanghai to Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Ningbo; the western line food street runs from Shanghai to Suzhou, Wuxi, Zhenjiang and Yangzhou.

These delicacies from various places, which seem to have different styles, are actually closely related to Fan Li's historical activities.

In other words, with Fan Li's common historical origin as the main line and Shanghai as the most dazzling pendant, the entire food street is like a beautiful pearl necklace.

Now, enjoy the brilliance of each pearl and the deep connection between them. However, the topic is too big and cannot be elaborated in detail due to space limitations. Friends who are only interested in food and not interested in food history don't have to read it. Not very fun.

Start with the southern food street.

Hangzhou cuisine: Hangzhou cuisine, one of the ancestors of Shanghai cuisine, is finely made, delicate and beautiful. It is good at cooking techniques such as frying, frying, stewing, and frying. It is characterized by freshness, freshness, tenderness, refinement, mellow and other characteristics, and has a wide range of fans.

Hangzhou cuisine cannot help but mention Louwailou and Tianxianglou. Tianxiang Lou and Louwailou in Hong Kong and other places in Japan are the top restaurants in the area. Representative dishes are Jiaohua chicken, West Lake vinegar fish, Longjing shrimp, Dongpo pork, and West Lake water berm soup. Fish and raw fried eel slices. Eat both yellow croakers and so on. Shanghai cuisine combines and stores many of the culinary essence of Hangzhou cuisine.

Shaoxing wine: Similar to Burgundy, the famous wine producing area inlaid in the center of French food streets, Shaoxing wine is the main producing area near Kuaiji Mountain on the way from Hangzhou to Ningbo.

Shaoxing is the capital of ancient Yue. Due to the special composition of Shaoxing wine, the main raw material, the white glutinous rice, the older it ages, the stronger the first-class sweetness. Those who have more than ten years old are called flower carvings. I drank a real 20-year-old aging wine in Shaoxing. It is long and mellow.

Shaoxing wine is as indispensable as a tuner in the cooking techniques of the entire Shanghai, China's food street. This is also the seasoning tone of the entire food street.

Shaoxing dishes are crispy and glutinous, and the soup is strong and mellow, full of the simple style of an ancient city in a water town.

After tasting the dishes of Xianheng Hotel and Shaoxing Hotel, I was deeply impressed by dried tofu.

Shaoxing wine is worthy of being a thousand-year-old. Shaoxing local dishes also have the characteristics of fermentation. They are "smelly dishes" fermented by lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and case-liver bacteria (locals laugh at themselves. Friends who are not used to the aroma of fermentation may not be able to stand it.) There are many varieties and flavors, which add a lot of wild interest to the cuisine.

Ningbo cuisine: Ningbo cuisine uses soy sauce and sugar to thoroughly taste the raw materials, which has a deep influence on Shanghai cuisine, as can be seen from roasted bran and so on. Local chefs in Ningbo are particularly good at preparing seafood. Their techniques are famous for stewing, roasting and steaming. The taste is fresh and salty. The dishes are tender and smooth, and pay attention to the original flavor. Cooking dishes with dried fish products is more unique.

Zhuangyuan Building and Overseas Chinese Hotel are both good. Tuanyu and shrimp are famous. In particular, yellow croaker is the top dish, such as cabbage and yellow croaker soup.

Take a look at the Western Food Street.

Suzhou cuisine: As a land of fish and rice, Suzhou cuisine is mostly famous dishes based on river shrimp, river crab, and freshwater fish.

The best of the well-known Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs, known as Shanghai crabs abroad, are sold to Hong Kong and abroad.

The actual output of hairy crabs in Yangcheng Lake is only 1500 tons, but the market circulation has increased by nearly a hundred times to no less than 100,000 tons. This is indeed too Chinese. As for how to accurately identify it, I am also exhausted.

Songhelou Restaurant and Deyuelou Restaurant are the old shops of Suzhou cuisine. Representative dishes are shad, squirrel mandarin fish, and wake-up chicken. In addition to the invaluable contribution of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs to the popularization of Shanghai cuisine, the "water mat" style of Suzhou cuisine has also had a profound impact on Shanghai cuisine.

Wuxi cuisine: You can recommend Wuxi Grand Hotel, Liyuan and other restaurants.

In addition to the famous Wuxi ribs, gluten stuffed pork, Taihu whitebait, and roast duck are also worth a try. The much-discussed sweetness and distiller's grains seasoning of Wuxi cuisine are also examples of this food street.

Yangzhou cuisine: Yangzhou salt merchants 'attention to cuisine has reached the level of extreme extravagance. The exclusive chefs gathered by elites, strong economic strength, and rich ingredients and seasonings made Yangzhou cuisine popular and became the most influential ancestor of Shanghai cuisine.

Representatives of Yangzhou cuisine include crystal shrimp, lion's head, boiled dried shredded silk, shredded silver carp head, grilled whole pig's head, crystal dish hoof, three sets of ducks, soft-pocket eel, fried butterfly slices, winter melon cup, etc. However, Yangzhou fried rice, which everyone knows, is not available locally. The mutual inheritance between Yangzhou cuisine and Shanghai cuisine is even more obvious.

Finally, let's take a look at the most dazzling locket-our Shanghai cuisine.

In addition to the well-known Lulu and Xiaonanyuan, the top floor of Jing 'an Hotel, which I particularly like, is also worth recommending. Our cuisine integrates the culinary traditions of Shanghai, a Chinese food street, and almost condenses the essence of local dishes from all over the entire food street. Representative dishes include: stir-fried shrimps, stewed yuan hoof, boiled four-gill perch, mandarin fish in white sauce, eight-treasure duck, eight-treasure chili sauce, steamed crucian carp, hibiscus crab bucket, bamboo shoots pickled fresh soup, raw stir-fried straw head, fried river shrimp in oil, etc.

Shanghai, which is permeated with thousand-year-old Shaoxing wine and has the same originator and the same culinary tradition, has developed-the overall outline of China's food street is clearly highlighted.

In addition to the above introduction, I found that roast duck is a common traditional dish in this Shanghai-China food street. The taste of roast duck is actually far better than the Beijing roast duck that is well known to all women and children. In addition, the humble Xiaolongbao, although simple, is very good everywhere on this street. As for the magical shad that is connected, I have written a special topic on Ctrip's travel notes "China's Mermaid", so I won't repeat it.

This pearl necklace was created in a rough way so that friends can better grasp this Shanghai-China Food Street as a whole. In the future, when tasting delicious delicacies at various points on this food street, they can compare and identify each other to better experience the fun of food and travel.

Each of the above-mentioned local dishes can be written independently and can be said to be wonderful. Limited by space, I just sort out the rough lines and have the idea of throwing bricks to attract jade. Consciously speaking is not in place, please hit the bricks with your travel friends.

Of course, just like the martial arts sect has Wudang Shaolin, in addition to this Shanghai-Chinese Food Street, there is also another food street where Chinese cuisine is even more advanced. Just think about it, which place is the most passionate, passionate, and obsessed with fine cuisine in the world? Please take a look at the humble work on Ctrip.

(2006/10/14)