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 Henan
Province are the kitchen wares used in the early Neolithic Age, and
shown in the frescos found in the Tombs of the Han Dynasty at Dahuting,
Xinmi City are vivid scenes of cooking fish, boiling meat, butchering
chicken and goose. It is in Henan that the earliest ancestor of the
Chinese cuisine Yi Yin was born, and one of the earliest famous banquets
in the Chinese history "Banquet of Juntai" was also held
here. In the Zhou Dynasty the rules with regard to cookery had been
preliminarily formed; till the Northern Song Dynasty when "All
of the exotic flavors could be prepared in the kitchens", Henan
cuisine had developed a complete system with the characteristics of
the imperial courts and with all the five factors of color, fragrance,
taste, design, table wares stressed; later, the Yu Cuisine gradually
spread outside the province, and restaurants specialize in the Yu
Cuisine were opened in major cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shenyang,
Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an, Jinan, Lanzhou, Kunming, Harbin and so on.
In the long cooking practice, the cooks in Henan have summarized many
valuable tips: in selecting materials, "Carp is best to eat when
it is one chi long, and crucian carp eight cun long", "Chicken
is best to eat when millet is ripe, and fish in October", and
"Whip-rod-thin eel and hoof-sized turtle are best to eat in every
March and April"; in terms of cutting and slicing skills, the
Yu Cuisine possesses the traditional skills described as "All
cutting must be neat, slicing even, dividing more than half, chopping
not messy". The unique cutting techniques in the Yu Cuisine also
include that "Cut the front part, slice the middle, and chop
the rear", by so doing multiple effects can be reached. Surely
much of the other expertise has been summarized. |
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