According to WeChat official account News of National Humanities and History WeChat, China has a land area of 9.6 million square kilometers today, and China has even a land area of 13 million square kilometers at a certain time in history. In such a large area, there are naturally many branches of Chinese food. From the four well-known cuisines to the eight well-known cuisines, and now every administrative region wants to establish its own local cuisines, we may find some differences in this region more or less.
However, the division of cuisines requires logic and recognition. If there is no logic, the connotation and extension of cuisines will be full of contradictions, and many paradoxes will appear. On the contrary, it will cause extreme confusion in recognition and restrict the improvement of the expressive power of cuisines. Some people in Chongqing have been pushing Chongqing cuisine in recent years. Although their emotional demands are understandable, they are completely unscientific and unwise in commercial competition.
The context of the five branches of Sichuan cuisine
Perhaps everyone is not very clear about how gangs in Sichuan cuisine are formed.
Usually, if this gang in Sichuan cuisine is objectively formed, it will definitely form a kind of "people’s cognition", that is, on the one hand, it will form a certain consensus within the cooking industry, and on the other hand, it will form a common knowledge in society.
However, we read a lot of literature, at least in the literature of the Republic of China, we didn’t see detailed cognitive records about gangs in Sichuan cuisine. At most, it was only a few uncertain words such as Chengdu flavor, local flavor and Yanshu gang.
Through the author’s research, it is found that this kind of gang cognition comes from later generations. In fact, the words of the five major groups of Sichuan cuisine put forward by Wang Dayu in "A Brief History of Sichuan Cuisine" in 1988, that is, Chengdu Gang, Chongqing Gang, Dahe Gang, Xiaohe Gang and Inner Gang, should be the earlier classification and naming of the five major groups of Sichuan cuisine based on geographical distribution.
This understanding may come from Wang Dayu’s personal experience of Sichuan cuisine.
As for the salt gang dishes and mansion dishes we talked about, they are the summary of the characteristics of gangs in Sichuan cuisine by later generations, which was not known in the local area before. It is a summary of the characteristics of the previous things by later generations to divide the salt-side dishes into salt merchants’ dishes, salt workers’ dishes and other categories. This is not a kind of "cognition of time and people", but a kind of "cognition of future generations". Some people also divide Xiaohe Gang into Zigong Salt Gang Cuisine, Neijiang Sugar Gang Cuisine, Luzhou River Fresh Cuisine and Yibin Sanjiang Cuisine, which is the cognition of "posterity" and "individual".
Style of traditional Sichuan cuisine
In addition, historical research needs clear time coordinates. Wang Dayu’s division of the five groups of Sichuan cuisine lacks a time coordinate, that is, which period does it refer to? The cognition of the five major food gangs must be studied based on a certain period of time, because the characteristics of food gangs will be different in different periods.
Before the end of the Qing Dynasty, because the regional differences of Sichuan Basin’s own dishes were not obvious, and also limited by the lack of information about the differences in the literature, it was impossible for us to analyze the regional differences in Sichuan cuisine before the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Judging from the information we have at present, it can only be divided into two time sections: one is the regional division cognition of Sichuan cuisine from the late Qing Dynasty to the 1990s, and the other is the regional division cognition of Sichuan cuisine in the past 30 years.
Map of Sichuan in late Qing Dynasty
As far as the former is concerned, the historical development of Bashu area presents three characteristics:
First, influenced by the background of China’s political, economic and cultural center of gravity moving eastward and southward, the economic and cultural center of gravity in Sichuan Basin gradually moved to the southeast, and the regional differences gradually narrowed, which created the foundation for the regional development of Sichuan cuisine.
Second, foreign cultures in modern times often spread their culture along the Yangtze River, taking rivers as the road. Therefore, rivers are often an important carrier of regional culture, and food culture may also be in this pattern.
Third, under this pattern, the urban structure of twin constellations was formed in Sichuan Basin. Because the political, economic and cultural center of China moved eastward and southward in modern times, especially after Chongqing opened its port, set up its capital and established the third-line construction of new China, Chongqing and Chengdu became two political, economic and cultural centers in the basin, forming the geographical pattern of Chengdu and Chongqing, which laid the foundation for the formation of the five Sichuan food gangs.
However, if a social cognition of regional difference gangs within Sichuan cuisine has really formed before, it is probably due to the names of boathouses in modern Bashu area.
During the Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, there were three shipwrecks in Bashu area, namely, seven shipwrecks in Dahe, six shipwrecks in Xiahe and four shipwrecks in Xiaohe. Among them, the Dahe actually included seven shipwrecks in Minjiang River, the mainstream of Chuanjiang River above Chongqing and Tuojiang River, while the Xiahe six shipwrecks included six shipwrecks in Chuanjiang River below Chongqing, and the Xiaohe gang included shipwrecks in Jialing River basin.
In fact, there is a saying that the Tuojiang River in Luzhou is called Xiaohe in Bashu area in history, and the Tuojiang boathouse is also called Xiaohe Gang. It is possible that Sichuan cuisine has borrowed this name in history.
Of course, the gangs of Sichuan cuisine do not completely correspond to the boatmen. Some people think that modern Sichuan cuisine is only divided into Xiahe Gang, Shanghe Gang and Xiaohe Gang, forming three regional food gangs in Chongqing, Chengdu and southern Sichuan, but they are different from the above five food gangs.
Therefore, the cognition of the following five major cuisines is also the author’s self-cognition of the internal cuisines of Sichuan cuisine in history, which belongs to "later generations’ cognition" and is not a cognition of Sichuan cuisine in modern times.
Chengdu gang
Chengdu is located in the heart of Sichuan Province.
Chengdu Gang is also called Shanghe Gang in history because it is located in the top section of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
For more than 2,000 years, Chengdu has been the political, economic and cultural center of Sichuan Basin. Since ancient times, it has been rich in products, humid climate and unexpected food and clothing. People have more time and financial resources to discuss food culture, which has made Chengdu famous for its profound food culture.
Therefore, as early as the Tang Dynasty, there was a saying that "Yang Yi Yi Er", and the nickname of "Mingdu Paradise" was also preserved in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The catering industry has always been relatively developed, and many traditional Sichuan dishes originated in Chengdu. Chengdu’s special political, economic and cultural status makes its catering industry have a solid material and cultural foundation, especially the introduction of modern foreign culture, the political center, the spread of seafood and the fact that people are still eating, which makes Chengdu’s cuisine complete. Therefore, the Manchu-Chinese banquet based on seafood and delicacies was produced in Chengdu and became one of the three Manchu-Chinese banquets in China.
Generally speaking, the basic seasonings of traditional Sichuan cuisine, Pixian watercress, Deyang soy sauce and newly-developed pickles, are basically produced in this area, and the emphasis on seasonings has laid a good foundation for the development of Sichuan cuisine.
The classic dishes of traditional Sichuan cuisine, such as Mapo Tofu, kung pao chicken, Zhangcha Duck, Sichuan Cuisine, Boiled White, White Meat with Garlic Paste, and Couple’s Lung Slices, may all be developed from Chengdu Cuisine Gang, and many dishes are marked with the logo of Chengdu in their names. For example, Sichuan Cuisine in history is called "Chengdu Meat".
Mapo Tofu is closely related to the place name of Wanfuqiao in Chengdu, and kung pao chicken is associated with Ding Baozhen, the governor of Sichuan. From the perspective of cooking methods, Chengdu gangs have a variety of techniques, a variety of flavors, spicy and delicious, and moderate spicy. Pay equal attention to pigs, sheep, cattle, ducks, chickens, fish, seafood and wild birds in the use of meat materials, especially good at cooking pork, pig offal and seafood dishes.
Classic Sichuan dish mapo tofu
Another feature of Chengdu’s food culture is that there are many snacks, which are recorded in Chengdu Overview. However, due to various factors, many snacks in history have now been lost. In the history of Sichuan cuisine, most celebrities who are closely related to Sichuan cuisine appear in Chengdu Plain or are related to Chengdu, such as Sima Xiangru, Zhuo Wenjun, Meng Shi, Song Qi, Su Shi, Lu You, Huang Tingjian, Yang Shen, Li Diaoyuan, Fu Chongju, Li Jieren, He Lunkui, Zhou Shanpei and Ding Baozhen. It can be said that Chengdu Gang is the birthplace and base camp of modern Sichuan cuisine, which is famous for its comprehensive dishes, fine workmanship and numerous snacks. Therefore, during the Republic of China, the words of "Chengdu flavor" appeared, and the food culture was the deepest in Bashu area.
Chongqing gang
Chongqing Gang, as compared with Shanghe Gang, is located in the lower section of Chuanjiang River, hence the name Xiahe Gang.
Chongqing’s historical status rose from the Southern Song Dynasty, especially after the opening of modern ports, and its status rose significantly, with a large number of foreign cultures infiltrating, becoming the first city in western China to accept and be deeply influenced by western culture.
During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, Chongqing became the capital of the National Government, and a large number of Xiajiang people entered, and a large number of foreign cultures poured in, which made the cultural diversity of Chongqing particularly obvious. From the geographical environment, Chongqing City is close to rivers and mountains, with obvious diversity of resources.
Topographic map of Chongqing
In this context, the cooking methods of Chongqing cuisine are diverse, and the resources of mountains, hills and flat dams coexist in diversity. Therefore, in modern Chongqing cuisine, there are some fine products of traditional Sichuan cuisine, such as Zhangcha duck and stir-fried eel in Yizhi, kung pao chicken and fish-flavored eggplant in Chongqing Hotel, hibiscus chicken slices in minzu road Restaurant, Sichuan-cooked pork, fish-flavored shredded pork, steamed pork, boiled pork, pocket tofu in experimental restaurant, white meat with garlic paste, boiled beef and fried pork in Xiaozhulin, etc.
For example, outstanding achievements have been made in cooking fish dishes, such as garlic-roasted silver carp, douban crucian carp and crispy fish in experimental restaurants, half-soup fish, vegetable fish soup and milk-soup shredded crucian carp in minzu road restaurants, braised crucian carp in Chongqing restaurants, steamed fish and fried fish at the time of retirement.
Many dishes show Chongqing’s straightforward personality characteristics, such as hairy belly hot pot, crispy pork slices, hairy blood curd and braised chowder, which all show Chongqing’s frank, simple and rough personality.
Mao Xue Wang
The cooking methods of Chongqing cuisine are still diverse, but they strive to be concise and to the point, and the materials are fierce. They like to use pickled peppers and dried peppers, but the use of red oil, douban and old ginger is relatively small. This personality of Chongqing cuisine has laid the foundation for the popularity of Jianghu cuisine in recent decades.
Especially in the period of Chongqing’s opening to the outside world and the Anti-Japanese War as the capital, a large number of overseas and foreign food cultures entered Bashu area, mostly concentrated in Chongqing area, resulting in the situation that the northern and southern cuisines converged in Chongqing. The integration of Beijing cuisine, Cantonese cuisine and Jiangsu cuisine (Xiajiang flavor) with local cuisine made the innovation of Sichuan cuisine reach a new height, so the "local flavor" style appeared in Chongqing during the Republic of China.
Dahebang
Map of Jiangjin city
Dahebang generally refers to Jiangjin, Hejiang, Luxian, Yibin and Leshan in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern areas of Shangchuan South and Xiachuan South in history.
It used to be adjacent to the minority areas in Sichuan Basin in history. It was an important channel for Sichuan Basin to enter Yunnan-Guizhou area in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it was also an important hub of Yangtze River waterway in Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a developed water transport culture.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this area was relatively less affected by the war, with more indigenous people and more medieval food culture. Before artificial commercial fish farming, the rivers in this area were rich in fish resources, and they were good at cooking local river fresh and poultry.
In terms of cooking methods, frying, frying, frying, steaming, burning and cooking are equally important, and small frying is good at it. In taste, he is good at using red oil, and pays equal attention to sour and sweet in style.
For example, Zhou chicken and sweet-skinned duck in Leshan, bitter bamboo shoots and garlic frog in Jiajiang, tofu in Xiba of Leshan, steamed turkey feet, cages (clams), bad eggs, burning noodles, huang ba rich in oil, Yeerba in Yibin, Yupai crispy belly (hot belly head) in Luxian, meat bean curd, canned chicken and Gulin hemp.
Luzhou red egg
Xiaohebang
Full map of Jialing River basin
Xiaohe Gang mainly refers to the middle reaches of Jialing River basin, Fujiang River, Qujiang River and the north of Sichuan River, especially the Langzhong area of Sichuan River.
This area happens to be a hilly traditional farming area, and it is greatly influenced by Shaanxi-Gansu culture. muslim food culture is relatively developed, and it is also greatly influenced by extensive northern food culture. It is the most primitive and simple among the five major cuisines.
In addition, due to the dual influence of northern unrestrained food culture and hilly traditional farming culture, the field mat is developed, such as Zitong’s fragrant bowl (inlaid bowl) and Bazhong’s Tuotuo meat as the special dishes in the field mat.
There are many and influential beef and mutton dishes, such as Shunqing mutton, Langzhong Zhangfei beef, Daxian Dengying beef, Zuizhuxuan steamed beef, and Dajia beef in Shehong county.
Other northern Sichuan bean jelly (Shunqing bean jelly, Mianyang mat bean jelly), Langzhong white steamed buns, Zitong sliced noodles and Mianyuan rice noodles also have local characteristics and ethnic flavor. Generally speaking, the cooking in this area is also south and north, and the Sichuan flavor itself is not distinct. The spicy index is obviously lower than that of the inner gang in southern Sichuan, and slightly lower than that of the upper and lower river gangs.
Tossed Clear Noodles in Chili Sauce
Self-help
Regional map
This area is the handicraft core and transportation hub area in the history of Sichuan Basin, which mainly refers to Zigong, Neijiang, Rongxian, Weiyuan and Zizhong. Some people think that Xiaohe Gang refers to Zigong, Neijiang, Nanchong, Luzhou, Guangyuan and other places, which may be a statement that Jialing River Xiaohe Gang and Tuojiang River Xiaohe Gang are mixed together, because in history, Jialing River and Tuojiang River are both called Xiaohe compared with the Yangtze River.
Zigong area was the center of Sichuan well salt industry in Ming and Qing dynasties, with developed commerce and catering industry. Neijiang and Zizhong areas are relatively developed because they are located in the central area of Chengdu, Chongqing and Higashioji. In the past, business and catering industries were also relatively developed.
In this area, a large number of cattle are used as the driving force to extract bittern in the salt industry in Zigong area, and a large number of sick and old beef have spawned a large number of dishes with beef as the ingredients. Neijiang, as the center of sugar industry in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, also has its own characteristics.
In terms of cooking methods, Zinei Gang is similar to Dahe Gang, featuring stir-frying and explosion. In terms of flavor type, Zineibang is characterized by thick and heavy flavor, which is very strong with spicy spices. It is good at adding Chili (mainly shredded, diced and red oil) and ginger to stir-fry, explode, boil, fry and eat cold.
Historically, Zigong’s boiled beef, fire whip beef, cold rabbit, blood soaked meat, fresh pepper rabbit, Fushun bean curd, Neijiang’s meat with sand, shredded red pepper, bean fish, rock sugar tremella, and Zizi’s Qiuxi river silver carp and other dishes are very influential.
Cold eat rabbit
What I want to explain here is that the concept of salt-help dishes was first put forward in 2003, which is obviously a "later generation" cognition. Some scholars even put forward that Zigong salt dishes can be divided into three categories: salt merchants’ dishes, salt workers’ dishes and guild hall dishes, which is also a classification of future generations plus individuals.
Sliced Beef in Hot Chili Oil
The special historical development process of Bashu
It should be noted that the cognition of the above five major groups of Sichuan cuisine is originally a historical concept, and it is only a perceptual cognition of modern people on the pattern of Sichuan cuisine from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century.
In recent decades, with the development of transportation and communication in various places, on the one hand, the regional characteristics of food culture in various places are relatively weakened, on the other hand, under the impetus of the interests of food business development, new Sichuan cuisine emerges, and Jianghu cuisine develops independently, and the regional characteristics of the original five major food gangs are relatively weakened.
Generally speaking, the regional evolution of Sichuan cuisine coincides with the three major regions divided by Sichuan cultural areas, forming three major sub-cuisines of Sichuan cuisine in the past 30 years, namely Chengdu regional cuisine, Chongqing regional cuisine and southern Sichuan regional cuisine.
It is mainly reflected in the geographical pattern that Chengdu helps to absorb the western region of Xiaohe Gang, Chongqing helps to absorb the eastern region of Xiaohe Gang, and self-help communicates with Dahe Gang.
Chengdu regional cuisine pays equal attention to traditional Sichuan cuisine and new Sichuan cuisine, and its cooking methods are compatible with Bashu cuisine, with strong comprehensiveness and relatively weak characteristics.
The traditional Sichuan cuisine of Chongqing cuisine is greatly weakened, the new Sichuan cuisine is developed, and Jianghu cuisine is rampant;
The regional dishes in southern Sichuan still retain the characteristics of vigorous materials, high spicy degree and being good at frying.
Among the three regional cuisines of modern Sichuan cuisine, the basis of regional cuisines in southern Sichuan is to retain more ancient cooking and food culture in southern China, namely, the distinctive glutinous rice culture, high spicy index of dishes and being good at cooking with Sichuan ginger.
The glutinous rice culture is distinct.
Judging from the glutinous rice culture, all ethnic groups in the southern rice culture area have the custom of eating glutinous rice and eating glutinous rice. To some extent, eating glutinous rice is an important feature of the diet culture of the indigenous people in the south. As early as the Tang Dynasty, it was called "Guangzhou vulgar rice cake", and the number of rice products is an important symbol of the characteristics of the southern culture.
For example, today’s steamed zongzi in Guangdong, bowl cakes and condyles in Package Ci in Guangxi, rice cakes in Fujian and rice cakes in Yunnan, together with zongzi, rice cakes and Ciba, which are popular in southern regions, have formed a very large cultural circle of eating glutinous rice and eating glutinous rice. Among the three major sub-regions of modern Sichuan cuisine, huang ba (called Huanggaoba in northern Guizhou), which is popular in southern Sichuan and northern Guizhou today, is actually the remains of waxy food in the food culture of southern nationalities in the Middle Ages.
Steamed zongzi
In the cultural system of glutinous rice in the south, the representative one is the glutinous rice cake, which we used to call Ciba.
There are records of powder paste in the literature of the Tang Dynasty, and this kind of powder paste is recorded in Chen Da’s "Ben Xin Zhai Vegetables Recipe" in the Song Dynasty, which is called "steamed rice with sugar", but it is not said which areas are popular in the south.
For example, the Ming dynasty’s anonymous "Zhu Si Zhi Zhang": "Powder glutinous rice, cake." Anonymous "Taichang Continuation Examination" Volume 1: "Powder paste, made of glutinous rice flour into noodles, steamed, pestled into cakes, which are big cubes, to be cold-cut into small cubes."
Another is the zongzi that we used to call later. For example, Volume 16 of Meng Liang Lu by Wu Zimu in the Song Dynasty recorded "steamed zongzi", which is mainly different from today’s steamed zongzi because it does not need stuffing, and it is still called "steamed zongzi" in the Ming Dynasty.
Gao Lian’s Eight Notes on Zunsheng records the steaming method: "Steamed glutinous rice is soft and cooked, mixed well with sugar, and then steamed with bamboo leaves." The records are very specific, but there is no clear epidemic area.
In the Qing Dynasty, the useful stuffing of zongzi was recorded:
For example, Gu Zhong’s "Yang Xiaolu" specifically recorded the practice of "steaming dumplings": "Steamed white glutinous rice, mixed with white sugar, and steamed with bamboo leaves wrapped in small corners. Or use stuffing. Steamed is delicious. If you peel it out and fry it, it will be eaten by the immortals. " Gu Zhong is a native of Jiaxing, and this record may reflect the situation of "steamed dumplings" in Jiangnan area at that time.
Zhu Yizun’s "Shi Xian Hong Mi" records: "Steamed white glutinous rice, mixed with white sugar, wrapped in bamboo leaves, steamed (walnuts, meat, mint mixed well as stuffing, also wonderful), peeled and fried better." This is also the practice of recording "steamed dumplings", which is similar to the above one.
Yuan Mei’s "Suiyuan Food List" Volume 4: "Bamboo leaf dumplings, boiled with bamboo leaves wrapped in white glutinous rice, are as small as newborn water chestnuts." Bamboo leaf dumplings and steamed dumplings belong to the same kind, but there are some differences.
Powder cake
On the basis of this kind of "flour paste" and "steamed", Sichuan region not only formed the Shu-style rice cake, but also formed today’s huang ba. In the Song Dynasty, Shu Zhong called zongzi a "glutinous rice tube", which was mainly made by putting rice zongzi in a bamboo tube. Specifically, the huang ba in Bashu area was improved on the basis of cutting the powder and sugar into pieces and wrapping the steamed leaves.
Li Huanan recorded the making method of "rice cake" under the volume of "Awakening Garden Record":
Steamed sticky cake method, 7 liters per glutinous rice, 2 liters with white rice, washed with clear water. Soak overnight, sift the wok powder, mix with 5 Jin of white sugar (brown sugar is also acceptable), water and mix well, and grab it with your hands to form a ball, not too wet. Steam it in a cage. Once cooked, pour it out and let it cool, put it in a basin, and knead it with your hands until there is no white spot. Then put it flat with a cage ring, lay it with bamboo shoots at the bottom and around, then put the cake down, flatten it with your hands, and circle it into a circle.
Li Huanan was a Sichuanese in Qianlong period. Although he lived abroad, what he recorded was not entirely rice cakes in Bashu area, but it may also reflect the characteristics of popular rice cakes in Bashu to some extent:
For example, glutinous rice and japonica rice mixed with sugar are all used for reference by huang ba. During Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty, a kind of "yellow cake" was popular in Chengdu, which may have the shadow of huang ba later.
According to Yang Xie’s "Jin Cheng Zhu Zhi Ci" in Jiaqing, "Banana leaves stick sweet rice, which tastes like rice cakes and bricks." This kind of brick-like dessert wrapped with banana "tastes like rice cake", which is obviously not the rice cake mentioned above.
Guangxu’s General Survey of Chengdu records that there were people selling "yellow cakes" in Chengdu at that time, and the "yellow cakes" in their paintings were like square bricks, which obviously had the shadow of today’s "huang ba". At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Xun called "steamed rice yellow cake" in the volume of "Lotus Story", which was still one of the important breakfasts for Chengdu people at that time, but today it is no longer popular in Chengdu.
Today, huang ba only exists in Yibin and Luzhou in southern Sichuan and Zunyi and Guiyang in Guizhou.
Yellow cake
Ye Erhua, which is popular in southern Sichuan and western Sichuan, is also a typical representative of waxy food culture in the Middle Ages.
Ye Erba is called Ye Erba in Yibin in southern Sichuan and western Sichuan, but it is called Pig Ba in Luzhou in southern Sichuan and Zunyi in northern Guizhou, and it is called Duck Ba in some places, and it is also called Three Dynasties Ba in some places.
In history, Ye Erba in Chongqing, Xindu and Yibin and Pig Ba in Luzhou are the most famous, but today they are mainly popular in Bashu cultural stability areas such as southern Sichuan and southwest corner of Chengdu Plain in western Sichuan.
According to the previous custom: the new husband invited the wedding attendees to eat three dynasties, and the wedding ceremony was very ancient. Similar records can be found as early as the twentieth volume of Wu Zimu’s Dream Liang Lu in the Song Dynasty.
Ye Erba may itself be a feature of the diet culture of eating glutinous rice and eating glutinous rice in the South in the Middle Ages. It is said among the people that Ye Erzhen was made by Emperor Guangxu when Eight-Nation Alliance attacked Beijing. Naturally, there is no basis and it is not credible. At present, the "three-non-sticky" Ye Erba in chongzhou city, Sichuan Province was just created by a man named Song in the early 20th century. At that time, it was called "Ai Mo Mo", named after it was wrapped with wormwood leaves.
However, as early as the Qing Dynasty, Zhuerba was very popular in Zunyi Prefecture. Zheng Zhitong’s "Song of Bait Block Ba" noted that "Zunyi Zhuerba is similar to bait block, but the shape difference is small", indicating that Yeerba may have appeared very early, but there is a lack of historical records. According to the folk survey, the pig’s gizzard in Anhongqiao, Nanjiang, Sichuan was introduced from Guangdong, which also proved that this waxy culture really came from immigrants in the south.
Yeerba
Huang ba leaves and Ye Erpa leaves are mainly leaves of zingiberaceae plants produced in the south. Today, they are called Baba leaves and huang ba leaves in the south of Sichuan, also known as Liang Jiang Ye and Liang Jiang stalks. They are leaves of zingiberaceae plants produced in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Fujian and southern Sichuan. Therefore, huang ba and Ye Erhua in southern Sichuan are obviously the remains of southern culture.
Generally speaking, southerners are often better at making rice cakes, so Zhuzhi Ci says that "white powder and brown sugar are Republican and even, as the best number of southerners". In the cultural area we call Old Sichuan, there are many rice products with characteristics. Apart from huang ba and Ye Erhua, there are Luzhou white cake, Yibin Chao cake and Jiang ‘an Hongqiao Kefen in southern Sichuan.
The spicy index of dishes is high
Sichuan cuisine in southern Sichuan is obviously more pungent than that in other areas of Bashu.
As early as "Huayang Guozhi", it was recorded that Shu people were "very spicy". Although the spicy spices have been constantly replaced and updated for more than 2,000 years, this regional and local characteristics have not changed.
Especially in Zigong area in southern Sichuan, the degree of spicy is particularly prominent. As early as the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the book Ziliujing said: "Pepper is strong, light in color and short in shape, and its spicy power is especially heavy than that of chicken heart pepper. Those produced in Sichuan Province take the spicy taste here as the first … The strongest pepper is Qixing pepper, which is twice as strong as that of chicken heart and beef buttons."
Another poem also said: "The temperament is violent and stirs up the trend, and the taste should be peaceful and slow. It’s strange that people’s hearts are hot and bad, so I advise you to eat less seven-star pepper. " And noted: "Seven-star pepper, the most spicy, is also a specialty of Ziliujing."
It can be said that it is precisely because it is located in the old Sichuan area and inherits the most ancient Chinese culture of Bashu, so the southern Sichuan area embodies the heavy spice and fragrance of Bashu tradition most prominently. There are "four famous peppers" in Bashu area, namely, the sea pepper in Weiyuan Xindian, Zigong, the sharp pepper in Yongchuan, the morning pepper in Luzhou and the millet pepper in Liangshan, Panzhihua. Most of these four pepper producing areas are also in the southern part of Sichuan Basin, which is basically consistent with the spicy degree of Sichuan pepper in geographical distribution.
Sour residue sea pepper
Be good at Shu Jiang cooking
As we have mentioned before, Sichuan ginger is as important as Sichuan pepper in history, and it is the most important regional feature of traditional Bashu diet. Therefore, it is also obvious to grow ginger in southern Sichuan, such as the young ginger in Tuanjie Town, Weiyuan County. Therefore, the popularity of ginger and the huge amount of ginger used in southern Sichuan cuisine are also quite prominent in Sichuan cuisine.
In Zigong, Neijiang, Yibin, Luzhou and other places in southern Sichuan, shredded Chili and shredded ginger are basically the standard for cooking.
The obvious characteristics of this kind of eating Sichuan ginger show that the food culture in this area inherits the food charm of Bashu, Han and Tang Dynasties.
Ginger
At the same time, the diet in southern Sichuan often forms a situation in which I have you and you have no me.
For example, the dishes we talked about, such as burning noodles in southern Sichuan, rotten eggs in Xufu, huang ba, bitter bamboo shoots, pork chop, sprouts and stir-fried dishes in southern Sichuan, are more classical and less influenced by the immigrant culture of "Huguang fills Sichuan".
It can be said that among the three sub-cuisines in modern Bashu, the southern Sichuan cuisine is a relatively stable branch of culture, and it is a region that retains more food culture in the Middle Ages. However, Chengdu and Chongqing are more obviously influenced by the immigrant cuisines of "Huguang filling Sichuan", especially since modern times, the influence of foreign food culture such as Xiajiang cuisine on these two branches is more obvious.
Original title: A brief history of Sichuan cuisine: How did the five gangs come into being in modern times?
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Xin Zhilei
