Tag: Traditional Chinese

Private kitchen, also known as a speakeasy, is a term in referring to an unlicensed, restaurant-like establishment.At the beginning of the 20th century, the three most famous private home cuisines in Beijing – “Duan’s Cuisine” from the military, “Wang’s Cuisine” of the financial circle and “Ren’s Cuisine” from the banking sector were ebbed and flowed with the rise and fall of the official master, finally withering away completely. However, Tan’s Cuisine, a private home cuisine originating from an official family of the Qing Dynasty, took root in Beijing thanks to its unique characteristics of color, fragrance and appearance etc.私房菜或者是私宅料理，是指在住宅内小本经营的食店。它们不会有任何宣传，而是靠口耳相传。在20世纪初，京城最出名的三大私家烹饪：军界的“段家菜”、财政界的“王家菜”、银行界的“任家菜”都随着官府老爷的盛衰而起落，最终灰飞烟灭。而谭家菜，这个清朝官僚家庭产生的私家菜却由于独树一帜的色、香、形等特点得以扎根京城。
Tan’s cuisine is neither too salty nor too sweet and combines northern and southern flavor. Chefs of this culinary style give priority to revealing the original taste of ingredients, careful observance of cooking durations and temperatures as well as condiments and soft consistencies. Therefore, Tan’s cuisine is delicious, soft and tender with mellow, soft and original flavors. The dishes are moderate and mild, maintaining the original flavors of their ingredients. Tan’s Cuisine has its own unique style and includes nearly 300 dishes, of which the sea food dishes are most famous. The bird’s nest soup has the most notable of special characteristics.谭家菜咸甜适口，南北均宜，调料讲究原汁原味，制作讲究火候足、下料狠，菜肴软烂、因而味道鲜美、质地软嫩。口感醇厚、绵润、本色。中庸和平，讲究原汁原味，谭家菜自成菜系，有菜品近三百种，以发制烹调海味菜最有名。尤其是谭家菜中的清汤燕菜更有其独道之处。
Dishes from bird's nest and shark’s fin are the most famous of Tan’s Cuisine, the cooking techniques of which retain traditional private home cooking methods. The shark’s fin is thoroughly soaked in warm water. Caustic soda is never used to quicken the soaking as it results in loss of nutritional value. All traditional Chinese dishes are cooked complete with soups which are elaborately prepared by chefs: this is particularly true of the preparation of rare delicacies such as shark’s fin. When making the soup, chefs boil the whole chicken (homebred Chai hens from rural areas), the whole duck, the dried scallops and the ham in the correct proportions and stew over fire for two days. The whole chicken or duck will melt into the soup. The soup will then be filtered with bamboo basket with small perforations and a mellow liquor is left over. The shark’s fin is then added to the soup and stew over a gentle heat for a day. The whole process for cooking shark’s fin takes three days. In this way, the simmered shark’s fin will have rich juices and strong flavor; being soft, tender, smooth and extremely delicious. Tan’s cuisine shark’s fin is bright yellow and mellow in taste. The dish is not greasy and it imparts a great aftertaste.谭家菜以燕窝和鱼翅的烹制最为有名。其保留翰林府家庭制做方法，鱼翅全凭温水泡透、发透，决不用火碱急发，以免破坏营养成分。凡传统中国菜，都需用厨师精心“吊”制的高汤来烹制，尤其是鱼翅类山珍海味。谭家菜吊汤是用整鸡(农家养柴母鸡)、整鸭、干贝、火腿按比例下锅，用火工二日，将鸡、鸭完全熬化，溶于汤中，过细箩，出醇汤，将鱼翅放入汤中，用文火靠上一日，整个鱼翅烹制过程需三日火工。这样焖出来的鱼翅，汁浓、味厚，吃着柔软濡滑，极为鲜美。谭府鱼翅菜金黄发亮，浓鲜绵润，味厚不腻，口感醇美，余味悠长。
Tan’s cuisine bird’s nest soup has its own unique characteristics. Since the caustic soda will greatly deplete the nutritional content of the bird’s nest, chefs never use caustic soda to soak the bird’s nest leading it to take on a whiter color and appear greater in quantity. The dish’s clear soup looks water like with a light beige color and it is very tasty. The bird’s nest is soft and smooth and not broken. This dish is a nutritious one that is a signature Tan’s Cuisine dish. 谭家菜中的“清汤燕窝”更有独到之处。它不采取用碱涨发燕窝的办法，虽然那样发出的燕窝颜色白，量也显得多，但是营养受到很大的损失。此菜汤清如水，略带米黄色，味道鲜美，燕窝软滑不碎，营养价值很高，是谭家菜中的代表作。
Special cuisines: braised shark's fin with brown sauce, bird’s nest soup, Tan’s stewed pork with brown sauce and Arhat prawns.特色菜品：黄焖鱼翅、清汤燕窝、谭家红烧肉、罗汉大虾。 

Su Zao Rou (meat in broth) is unique to Beijing. It is neither homemade nor prepared for banquets. However, locals cherish a great fondness for this dish. The words “Su Zao” do not mean that the dish is cooked in the Suzhou style, but it is a common assumption. The recipe was from the court of the Qing Dynasty. Cooked with several traditional Chinese medicines and spices, the dish is appetizing and has many benefits for the spleen. Braising and simmering are very important in the cooking process. What the words “Su Zao” actually mean is that this dish is both soft and crisp.苏造肉是老北京特制菜肴，既不是家常自做，也不是筵宴所备。可是老北京人着实喜欢这一道菜。所谓“苏造”，并非仿照苏州口味烹造。原来是由清宫传出的做法，用多种中药和香料配合，有开胃健脾之功效。烹制时，着重于文火煨焖，“苏造”包含“酥造”的含义。
Main ingredients of Su Zao Rou are pork and pig offal. The secret of delicious Su Zao Rou lies in the stock and Su Zao broth. Famous braised pork with soy sauce depends on the proper preparation and preservation of stock. For example, Tianfu Restaurant is expert at stock, thus its famous braised pork shoulder with soy sauce is highly spoken of.做苏造肉的原料主要是猪肉及猪内脏，关键在于使用“老汤”和“苏造汤”。谁家酱肉出名，取决于它的“老汤”配制保存得法，如闻名的天福斋酱肘子就是以老汤取长。
Boiling the meat in the stock is the first procedure. The second and also the last procedure is making it soft and crisp. When preparing the Su Zao broth, add a proportional amount of soy sauce and salt into water. Grind the traditional Chinese medicines into powder, seal them in a small well-sewed cloth bag, and put the bag in the boiling soup. When the scent of medicines and seasoning is clear and fragrant, the Su Zao broth is ready and it can be used for simmering meat. Remaining Su Zao broth is preserved, increased and recycled just like stock.用老汤煮肉是做“苏造肉”的第一道工序。“苏造肉”是第二道工序，也是成品工序。调汤时也是用一定比例的水和酱油、盐，开锅后，把需要使用的中药品种碾成粉末，用布袋缝制装好放入汤中同煮，汤中发出药料及调料的香味时，即成苏造汤。用以煨肉。用后，剩下的苏造汤，其贮藏、保管和增加的方法，会与老汤相同，也是更迭使用。
Slice the meat and put it in a bowl (or pot or jar as appropriate), sprinkle the meat with the stock, and no other seasoning is necessary (spicy food lovers may add some spicy sesame oil). It is then ready to eat. It can be eaten together with wine or sesame pancakes. The broth is thick and fresh, and the meat is soft and crisp. Su Zao Rou is a unique and tasty dish suitable for people all ages.切好放在碗中（或盆、罐），浇上原汤，不需再放什么调料（若吃辣的可加辣椒香油），就可以吃了，或佐酒，或就着芝麻烧饼，芝麻火烧吃。其汤很浓，很鲜，肉也很酥烂绵软，糯香柔韧，老少皆宜，别具一格，回味无穷。 

Tea茶 Since China has a long history of tea planting, extensive tea areas, various natural conditions, numerous varieties of tea trees and also different methods of tea collecting and processing, it has produced thousands of tea products. Through long-term practice, people have created and adopted diverse processing and making technologies for developing series of tea. These come from non-fermented, half-fermented and fully-fermented teas, which gradually formed the six major types of tea in traditional Chinese concept, which are green tea, black tea, oolong tea, white tea, yellow tea and dark tea. Furthermore, scented tea and brick tea are famous teas as well.由于我国产茶历史悠久，茶区辽阔，自然条件各异，茶树品种繁多，更因采制加工方法不同，从而形成了千姿百态、丰富多彩的茶品。人们通过长期的实践，创造并采用了不同的加工制作工艺，发展了从不发酵、半发酵到全发酵一系列不同茶类，逐步形成了中国传统意义上的六大茶类：绿茶、红茶、乌龙茶、白茶、黄茶、黑茶。此外，花茶和砖茶也是有名的茶品。

Dumpling/Jiaozi 饺子
Jiaozi is regarded by many Chinese people as the best food. Making jiaozi during Spring Festival is customary, especially for the people in northern China. Originally called jiao er, jiaozi was allegedly invented by Zhang Zhongjing, China’s medical sage.舒服不如躺着，好吃不如饺子，这句老话形象地概括出饺子在中国人心目中的地位，包饺子，过大年也一直是中国人尤其是北方人民的习俗。饺子原名“娇耳”，流传是中国医圣张仲景首先发明的。
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, owing to disasters in many places, many people suffered from various diseases. There was a famous doctor named Zhang Ji, style name Zhongjing, in Nanyang. He studied medicine very diligently since childhood and later became a founder of traditional Chinese medicine. Zhang Zhongjing was skillful in medical treatment and could cure various difficult and complicated cases of illness. He also had lofty morals and earnestly treated every patient, poor or rich. As an official in Changsha, he cured many patients. One year during a plague, he distributed free medicine from a vessel in front of his government office. Changsha people respected him very much. After Zhang Zhongjing retired from his post, he came back home. Walking along the Baihe River in his hometown one day, he found many poor people suffering from cold and hunger, and they had ulcers in their ears. He felt sorry for them and decided to help. After Zhang Zhongjing returned home, many people came to him for medical treatment. He was very busy every day. But he still remembered the poor people with ulcers in their ears. He continued his practice in Changsha and asked his apprentices to build a shed as his clinic on the vacant lot in Dongguan in Nanyang. His clinic opened on Winter Solstice and his apprentices distributed medicine to the poor for free. His medicine was called “anti-chill jiao er soup.” He boiled mutton, chili and other medicines to raise inner heat in the vessel. After the materials were boiled, Zhang Zhongjing took them out and minced them. Then, he used dough slices to wrap the stuffing and made into the shape of ears. After boiling the 'ears' in water, the jiao ers were distributed to the patients. Each patient could have two jiao ers and one bowl of soup. After eating the soup, the patents would be warm, their blood circulation would be smooth and their ears would be warmer. After a period of time of treatment, the ulcers in their ears healed. Zhang Zhongjing’s donations lasted until the eve of Spring Festival. During Spring Festival, people celebrated Chinese New Year, and celebrated the recovery of their ears. They also followed Zhang Zhongjing to make jiao ers and ate them during Spring Festival. People call the food jiao er, jiaozi or pianshi, and eat them on Winter Solstice and Spring Festival so as to commemorate the dates of Zhang Zhongjing’s contributions and medical treatments.东汉末年，各地灾害严重，很多人身患疾病。南阳有个名医叫张机，字仲景，自幼苦学医书，博采众长，成为中医学的奠基人。张仲景不仅医术高明，什么疑难杂症都能手到病除，而且医德高尚，无论穷人和富人，他都认真施治，挽救了无数的性命。张仲景在长沙为官时，常为百姓除疾医病。有一年当地瘟疫盛行，他在衙门口垒起大锅，舍药救人，深得长沙人民的爱戴。张仲景从长沙告老还乡后，走到家乡白河岸边，见很多穷苦百姓忍饥受寒，耳朵都冻烂了。他心里非常难受，决心救治他们。张仲景回到家，求医的人特别多，他忙的不可开交，但他心里总挂记着那些冻烂耳朵的穷百姓。他仿照在长沙的办法，叫弟子在南阳东关的一块空地上搭起医棚，架起大锅，在冬至那天开张，向穷人舍药治伤。张仲景的药名叫“祛寒娇耳汤”，其做法是用羊肉、辣椒和一些祛寒药材在锅里煮熬，煮好后再把这些东西捞出来切碎，用面皮包成耳朵状的“娇耳”，下锅煮熟后分给乞药的病人。每人两只娇耳，一碗汤。人们吃下祛寒汤后浑身发热，血液通畅，两耳变暖。吃了一段时间，病人的烂耳朵就好了。张仲景舍药一直持续到大年三十。大年出一，人们庆祝新年，也庆祝烂耳康复，就仿娇耳的样子做过年的食物，并在初一早上吃。人们称这种食物为“饺耳”、“饺子”或偏食，在冬至和年初一吃，以纪念张仲景开棚舍药和治愈病人的日子。
Nearly 1,800 years have passed since Zhang Zhongjing’s contributions. But his story of donating “anti-chill jiao er soup” has been handed down among the people. In Winter Solstice and Spring Festival every year, people eat jiaozi and remember Zhang Zhongjing’s kindness. Today, we do not need to cure ear ulcers, but jiaozi has nonetheless become the most common and most popular food.张仲景距今已近1800年，但他舍“祛寒娇耳汤”的故事一直在民间广为流传。每逢冬至和大年初一，人们吃着饺子，心里仍记挂着张仲景的恩情。今天，我们用不着用娇耳来治冻烂的耳朵了，但饺子却已成了人们最常见、最爱吃的食品。

baozi — bāozi A baozi (Chinese: 包子, Pinyin: bāozi)  is a type of steamed, filled bun or bread-like (i.e. made with yeast) item in various Chinese cuisines, as there is much variation as to the fillings and the preparations. In its bun-like aspect it is very similar to the traditional Chinese mantou. It can be filled with meat and/or vegetarian fillings.