Category: Chinese Food

Seasoned Millet Mush is genuine breakfast with traditional Beijing flavor.面茶是一道纯正老北京味道的早餐。

The Chicken Wings and Legs with Brown Sauce is a famous local dish served in the Meilongzhen Restaurant in Shanghai. It originates in the Taolechun Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant in Shanghai in the late 20th century and was created by the famous chef Yan Chenglin and some other chefs inspired by the Peking Opera The Drunken Concubine. It used to be called “Chicken Wings and Legs with Brown Sauce with Beijing Scallions”. This dish is cooked in an earthenware cooking pot and is a dish served in winter time. In the late 1930s, this dish was introduced into Meilongzhen Restaurant, and the chef Shen Zifang, who was good at “stewing with gentle heat”, improved this dish with the unique cooking techniques called “half soup and half dish” and renamed this dish “Chicken Wings and Legs with Brown Sauce”. As such, this dish has become a dish that can be served in all four seasons. After this dish is finished cooking, it will be placed in a tureen and is served to the customer. When the lid is uncovered, the whole room will be filled with its delicious smell. The chicken wings are fat and tender. 贵妃鸡是上海梅龙镇酒家的著名风味菜。源于20年代末上海陶乐春川菜馆，由名厨颜承麟等借京剧《贵妃醉酒》而创制。原名“京葱贵妃鸡”，盛器是砂锅，为冬令品种。30年代末该菜移入梅龙镇酒家，由擅长“文火细烧”的沈子芳师傅运用“半汤半菜”自成一格的烹调技术，将该菜改进提高，易名“贵妃鸡”，遂成为四季皆宜的品种。此菜制成后装入盖碗内上席，揭开盖后，满室香气，酒香扑鼻，鸡翅肥嫩。

Mengzi Rice Cake in Yunnan Mengzi Rice Cake is one of the famous traditional foods of Yunnan Province. 蒙自年糕即云南的蒙自年糕，是云南省传统的名小吃。

Royal cuisine is not only preciously made, but also implies special meanings. As the top leader of a country, emperors cherished the state won by their ancestors. Thus, they innovated the food their ancestors ate during war times into imperial court dishes so that their descendants could remember the experience. Thus, some dishes with special flavors and meanings became the traditional food of imperial court cuisine.宫廷菜不仅精巧别致，还有许多有着特殊的含义。皇帝身为一国之君，倍加珍惜祖辈们辛苦打下来的江山。于是，他们将祖辈们攻城拔寨时吃的菜加以改造，放在宫廷膳食中，让子孙们将先帝的训诫铭记于心。久而久之，这些风味独特而又意味深远的菜就成了宫廷的传统膳食之一。

The chrysanthemum wine was regarded in ancient times as "auspicious wine" that people must drink on the Double Ninth Festival to prevent disasters and pray for blessings. Chinese people have it as a tradition to drink the chrysanthemum wine on the Double Ninth Festival. 菊花酒在古代一直被当做吉祥的酒，每每到重阳佳节，人们都会喝菊花酒祛灾祈福。重阳佳节喝菊花酒一直是重阳佳节的一个习俗。

Kunming: Steam Pot Chicken 昆明：汽锅鸡
As far back as the period of the Qianlong Emperor in the Qing Dynasty, Steam Pot Chicken was popular in the south Yunnan. According to legend, it is a dish created by Yang Li, a cook in Defuju Restaurant in Jian’an Prefecture (now Jianshui County). In that year, the Emperor made an inspection tour to Jian’an Prefecture. To please the Emperor, the magistrate proclaimed that he would collect the most delicious dishes and the selected dishes could win 50 taels of silver. Yang Li was poor and his mother was ill. In order to get the generous award, he integrated the local methods of cooking hot pot and steaming buns and created the steam pot. In addition, regardless of risking his own life, he climbed to the height of swallows to get a bird's nest for the purpose of cooking a steam pot chicken with bird's nest. Unexpectedly, the steam pot was stolen and Yang Li was accused of deceiving his majesty and sentenced to death. Fortunately, when the Emperor inquired about the facts, he absolved Yang Li from the death penalty and changed the Fudeju into “Yang Li’s Steam Pot Chicken”. Since then, the Steam Pot Chicken has gained considerable fame, becoming a famous Yunnan dish. At that time, the cooking method of the Steam Pot Chicken was very simple but its taste was mellow and pure.早在清代乾隆年间，汽锅鸡就流行在滇南一带。相传是监安府（今建水县）福德居厨师杨沥发明的吃法。那年皇帝巡视监安，知府为取悦天子，发出布告征求佳肴，选中的赏银50两。杨沥家贫，老母病重，为得重赏，他综合了当地吃火锅和蒸馒头的方法，创造了汽锅，又不顾生命危险，爬上燕子洞顶采来燕窝，想做一道燕窝汽锅鸡应征。不料汽锅被盗，杨沥被问欺君之罪，要杀头。幸而皇帝问明真相，免杨沥一死，并把福德居改名为“杨沥汽锅鸡”。从此汽锅鸡名声大振，成滇中名菜。那时汽锅鸡的做法很简单，但味道很醇正。 

Goubuli Stuffed Bun（狗不理包子）
Goubuli (狗不理; Gǒubùlǐ; literally "dogs don't pay attention/dogs ignore") is a famous brand of baozi from Tianjin, China. Founded in 1858, it is one of China's longest established brands.

潮州小吃——老婆饼Chaozhou Snack – Laopo Cake (Wife Cake)
Laopo Cake, or Wife Cake, was originated from Chaozhou of Guangdong Province. The cake has a golden flaky crust with paper-thin layers inside. It is so crispy that one bite causes it to crumble apart. Enjoy this tasty cake which is as sweet as honey.起源自广东潮州点心老婆饼，外皮烤成诱人的金黄色，里头一层层的油酥薄如棉纸，酥松得不得了，一咬下去碎屑便掉了满地，每一口都尝得到蜜糖般的香甜滋味！老婆作的饼受到老板青睐！
Allegedly, there was a traditional teahouse famous for various cakes in Guangzhou established in the late Qing Dynasty. One day, a pastry chef from Chaozhou brought all the famous cakes back home for his wife. Unexpectedly, his wife did not praise the cakes after eating them. She even criticized the teahouse, “The cakes in the teahouse are so prosaic. They are nothing compared to the Chinese wax gourd cake made by my parents.”相传在广州，有一间创办于清朝末年的老字号茶楼，以各式点心及饼食驰名；某日，茶楼里一位来自潮州的点心师傅，带了店里各式各样的招牌茶点回家给老婆吃，想不到他老婆吃了之后，不但没称赞店里的点心好吃，甚至还嫌弃地说：“茶楼的点心竟是如此平淡无奇，没一样比得上我娘家的点心冬瓜角！”
Of course, the chef did not believe her and asked her to demonstrate. She baked golden cakes with Chinese wax gourd, sugar and wheat flour. Taking a bite of the cake, the chef couldn’t help praising the cake because of its sweet and delicious taste.这位师傅听了之后心里自然不服气，就叫他老婆作出“冬瓜角”给他尝尝！老婆就用冬瓜蓉、糖、面粉，作出了焦黄别致的“冬瓜角”；这位潮州师傅一吃，风味果然清甜可口，不禁称赞起老婆娘家的点心！
The next day, the Chaozhou chef took some of the cakes made by his wife to the teahouse. The boss of the teahouse was profuse in praising the cakes and asked which teahouse made them. The chef said, “The laopo (wife) in Chaozhou.” Then, the boss unconsciously named it Chaozhou laopo cake and asked the chef to produce it for his teahouse. Soon, Laopo Cake became very popular.隔日，这位潮州师傅就将“冬瓜角”带回茶楼请大家品尝，结果茶楼老板吃完后更是赞不绝口，问起这是谁哪一间茶楼作的点心？师傅们说：“是潮州老婆作的！”于是老板就随口说这是“潮州老婆饼”，并且请这位潮州师傅将之改良后在茶楼贩卖，结果大受好评！“老婆饼”因而得名。
The excellent taste and texture of wife cakes comes from the paper-thin layers of bakery shortening crust. According to Liu Zhenan, chef of the Milk House Bakery, it is really a hard work to make them into different layers. First, we should divide oil dough from bakery shortenings through wrapping the bakery shortening into oily dough and fold the dough twice. As oil cannot be mixed with water, layers will be produced during baking. The chef said during the whole process, the force applied to the dough should be consistent so as not to break it. If the dough is broken, the dough and shortening will be mixed up and there will be no layers at all.叠出酥松的层次感“老婆饼”的绝妙口感，来自于里头层层叠叠、薄如棉纸的油酥皮；“米哥烘焙坊”主厨刘哲男师傅说，要作出这份层次感相当费工夫，首先在材料上，要将水油面团与油酥分开处理，将水油面包入油酥，开再折起，如此重复两次，利用水与油互不相溶的特性，作出酥松分明的层次感！师傅说整个过程中力道要均匀，千万不能将面皮秆破，两种面团和在一起，就会失去层次感！
The traditional Chaozhou Laopo Cake uses Chinese wax gourd spread as a sweet stuffing. Thus, it is also known as wax gourd cake. When the cake was introduced to Taiwan, the stuffing was replaced with sugar, but the taste is equally delicious.至于香甜的内馅，传统的潮州“老婆饼”包入的是冬瓜蓉，所以也称为“冬茸饼”，传入台湾后，甜馅内容改以单纯的糖为主，清甜的香味一样迷人可口！