When it comes to Chongqing cuisine and Chengdu cuisine, people from other provinces may not understand it. Aren’t they both Sichuan cuisine? In fact, the big ones look almost the same, and the types of dishes are also similar. But from the perspective of people from this province, it is quite different. Chongqing’s cuisine is just like Chongqing’s geography, with mountains and rivers that can swallow up everything. Chengdu cuisine is like the gurgling stream in front of the bamboo forest courtyard, with a kind of beauty of Xiaojiabiyu. This kind of connotation makes Chengdu chefs and Chongqing chefs cook the same dish very differently.
Compared with twice-cooked pork, the number one dish in Sichuan cuisine, Chengdu’s twice-cooked pork is a little softer, with more moderate amounts of sugar, vinegar, chili, and flour sauce, and the overall feeling is more palatable. Chongqing's twice-cooked pork is a bit crispier, and the seasoning is much stronger. The overall feeling is more enjoyable. However, this taste is generally not noticeable to outsiders.
Chongqing people like excitement and have a lawless and straightforward culture. Eaters don't stick to conventions, and chefs don't like to follow recipes, so they often try out all kinds of new dishes. These new dishes are usually created by chefs without formal training.
Chengdu people like to live an elegant life, and there is a flowing petty bourgeoisie culture in it. Diners should pay attention to authenticity, and chefs should not neglect it. When a Chengdu chef makes twice-cooked pork, he is extremely particular about meat selection, slicing, ingredients, and heat. Every restaurant wants to claim that its chef is a formal graduate of Sichuan Cuisine University. Chengdu cuisine becomes more and more elegant the more it is cooked, the more it is made, the more it is made and the more it is made, the more it strives for excellence.
If I treat a well-dressed friend to a meal, I treat him to Chengdu food. Rather tasteful. If I treat a well-dressed friend, I treat him to Chongqing cuisine. More flavorful.
Innovation of Chongqing cuisine
Chongqing people unconditionally support innovative cuisine. Since the 1980s, a large number of Jianghu dishes have been appearing in front of Chongqing people, some of which have not been tolerated. The test of people living in Chongqing gradually disappeared, but those who withstood the test usually spread to Chengdu first, and then spread to the north and south of the Yangtze River. For example, there are more than ten kinds of famous Chongqing dishes.
Chongqing hot pot. Jianghu cuisine, which has a relatively long history, is said to have been invented by Yangtze River trackers, fishermen and porters. There are many types of hot pot, the most famous of which is tripe hot pot, and then there are eel hot pot, seafood hot pot, fish head hot pot, mutton hot pot, dog hot pot, mandarin duck hot pot, etc.
Jiangjin pickled fish. It originated from Zhu Erge's roadside restaurant in Jinfu Town, Jiangjin, Chongqing, serving drivers, and then spread throughout Chongqing by the drivers. It became popular in 1988. I am quite good at this dish.
Gele Mountain Spicy Chicken. From Geleshan Town, Shapingba District, Chongqing, a roadside shop called Linzhongle was the first to launch it. It became popular in 1990. The fun for diners is to search for crispy chicken cubes the size of soybeans in a large pot of chili. The store is located in Gele Mountain in Chongqing's Forest Park, close to Linyuan, the famous official residence of Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing (it is said that if you don't visit Linyuan, you don't count yourself in Chongqing, but the place is not open). Tourists and diners have formed the current... Spicy chicken street. I'm good at this dish.
Beer duck. It came from a roadside restaurant 7 kilometers away from Nan'an District, Chongqing. It is said that the inventor was inspired by Guizhou. It became popular in 1992. The recipe is to stew a duck with a bottle of beer, which is spicy and delicious. When the store was at its most popular, thousands of ducks were used a day, but it is now in decline.
Spring Chicken. From Nanshan Town, Nan'an District, Chongqing City. It became popular in 1993. The method used is to kill the live chicken quickly and then cook it vigorously. The time from killing the chicken to the finished dish should not exceed 5 minutes. This dish comes from Nanshan, known as the "Mountain City Corolla". As a result, Quanshui Chicken Street was formed, and the Quanshui Chicken Festival was also held.
Taian fish. From Tai'an Town, Tongnan County, Chongqing City. It became popular in 1994. It was also spread by drivers and became popular. But this dish requires more skills and is not easy to copy, so it is not as popular as other dishes. My wife is better at this dish.
Hot pot fish. From Lianglu Town, Jiangbei District, Chongqing City. Initially it was also aimed at driver friends. It became popular in 1996. The hot pot fish is also particularly fresh. The fish should be about 10 kilograms of fatty fish that is almost oily and cut into palm-sized pieces. He heated a large iron pot like a vat until it turned red as if he were practicing iron. After the dish is ready, it is served in a big basin, bright red and piping hot. A circle of people gathered around the big basin and fished for fish with beer bottles. After eating, cook some green vegetables, tofu, etc., which is particularly crisp and clean.
Boiled fish. In fact, the predecessor of boiled fish is hot pot fish. After the fish hot pot became popular, many restaurants in the city began to imitate it. However, in the kitchens of these restaurants, there was no way to get a large iron pot and make a fire like iron. Besides, it was not convenient for diners to eat 10 pounds of fish. . So it was made into a small pot, a small fire, and a small fish. Euphemistically called boiled fish. But I personally feel that hot pot fish is not as satisfying as wide soup, fierce fire, and fatty fish.
Spicy crab. This dish was probably invented by a restaurant in Chongqing. Because Jianghu restaurants generally don't involve high-end things like crabs. But spicy crab is still a thing that is like snow in Chongqing, and it is not popular in the world. It became popular in 1996.
Pickled pepper bullfrog. It became popular in 1996. First there was the bullfrog, then the baby cuttlefish with pickled peppers. And derived various pickled pepper series. This dish is also spread from restaurants.
Duck stewed with sour radish. Use very sour pickled radish. This radish is specially pickled and is not available in other provinces. It usually takes half a year to soak, the longer the better. There are many varieties of this dish, such as sour cowpea stew, pickled sansho pepper stew, mutton stew, chicken stew, etc. Became popular in 1996.
Postal crucian carp. From Youting Town, Dazu County, Chongqing City. It became popular in 1997. There are a lot of seasonings and the way to eat them is very particular.
Black river fish. From the Fuling area of ??Chongqing City. The Wujiang River runs through the Fuling and Qianjiang areas of Chongqing and has many tributaries. It is famous for producing all kinds of wild fresh fish. The preparation of Wujiang fish pays attention to the freshness of the fish, but in cities, fish are generally farmed, so catfish (glutinous) is generally used to make Wujiang fish in cities. fish. Became popular in 1998.
Mao Xue is prosperous. It comes from Ciqikou Town, Shapingba District, Chongqing, a small town that retains Chongqing’s ancient wharf culture. Boil the tripe, blood slices (eel) and duck blood together. It also spread from poor dock workers. It has become quite popular in recent years.
The above are some of the more typical and popular innovative Chongqing dishes. In addition, there are many other dishes including phoenix fish, Qiuxi catfish, Chengkou roasted bacon, Qianjiang fish in sour soup (also found in Guizhou), Nanchuan bamboo shoot meat, Wulong roasted pheasant with mountain mushrooms, bandit chicken, etc.
Generally after an innovative dish comes out, it spreads to the first few stores through driver friends, then it becomes popular among thousands of people, and then like a strong wind, it becomes popular throughout the city. Everyone who knows it can't help but feel eager to taste it.
These dishes in Chongqing all have some unique characteristics, that is, they are generally created by Jianghu chefs, and the raw materials and production are relatively popular. It is not like the camphor tea duck in Chengdu that needs to be steamed and smoked several times. , the common people cannot afford to eat or cook. The cooking methods of Chongqing cuisine generally use a lot of oil, strong ingredients (some dishes have more peppers than vegetables), high heat, big pots, and big basins, and they pay attention to freshly cooked dishes. In terms of eating methods, it is also relatively rude, such as spring water chicken. Chicken heads, necks, livers, etc. are mixed into a big pot. Sometimes the chicken feathers are visible, which is more in line with the lawless mentality and rude and straightforward character of Chongqing people. .
Improvements of Chengdu cuisine
Chengdu cuisine can’t be said to have any innovative dishes. The more famous and popular one across the country seems to be Feng Yutou, but it is actually a kind of fish head. Improvements in hot pot. Therefore, Chengdu cuisine rarely has dishes that are extremely popular across the country, while Chongqing cuisine always maintains a leading position. For example, boiled fish is now very popular in Beijing. Even the Northeastern restaurant downstairs from my house has grandly launched their boiled fish. It almost makes people think that boiled fish is like a powerful influenza, which is too lethal.
But Chengdu cuisine has been exploring the ancient treasure house of Sichuan cuisine and constantly summarizing and improving it. From the selection of ingredients, cooking, service, and management, we are constantly improving in all aspects. This improvement is not an improvement of a certain cook's personal consciousness, but a continuous improvement based on the continuous accumulation of the national consciousness.
Since the Han Dynasty when Chengdu made Xiangru pottery and Wenjun made stoves, diners in Chengdu have paid attention to the artistic conception, experience and perfection of eating. Li Bai (a native of Jiangyou, which is 150 kilometers away from Chengdu, and often visited Chengdu when he was young) had the feeling of drinking alone under the moon and making three shadows, which Chongqing people who like to drink heavily in the streets will not have. The Dongpo Pork invented by Su Shi (a native of Meishan, which is south of Chengdu and 80 kilometers away from Chengdu) needs to be simmered for three hours. Chongqing people who like to eat it alive and drink its blood will not have the patience.
If you want to eat authentic Sichuan-style stir-fry, Chengdu’s large and small restaurants are all about the same, and they all pay attention to consistency, and the cleanliness is an order of magnitude higher than that in Chongqing. But in Chongqing, there are all kinds of tricks.
When stir-frying twice-cooked pork, some restaurants in Chongqing put dried tofu, some lettuce heads, and some cabbage. Anyway, the cook can put whatever he likes. As for the selection of seasonings, there are even more tricks. All restaurants in Chengdu stock green garlic sprouts. If the green garlic sprouts are gone, he will tell you that the twice-cooked pork cannot be fried. This will surprise Chongqing people.
Chengdu people carefully summarize the frying method of each side dish. A Chengdu chef can write 10,000 words to summarize the stir-frying method of twice-cooked pork, teach you for 30 days, and then pass it down from master to master. A Chongqing cook summed up the method of stir-frying twice-cooked pork in three words: meat, chili, watercress, and everything else. If you eat a piece of stir-fried water spinach in a random street shop in Chengdu, it will be so crispy and refreshing, with a long aftertaste. But if you leave Chengdu and travel all over the country, you will never find such good fried vegetables. Chengdu people say that frying vegetables is difficult, but no one in Chongqing agrees because they have not studied it as deeply as Chengdu people. Beijing’s stir-fried vegetables are even less worth mentioning.
When I was studying in Chengdu, I would walk twice a week to eat Shao Bai from a small restaurant. The small restaurant has a small front and not many people. A very shy girl from western Sichuan stood at the counter without a face, then walked over gently and asked softly what she wanted. I usually order a portion of Shao Bai, a bowl of rice, a bowl of bean curd, and a plate of kimchi. Then the girl gently serves you the food and then walks away gently. The Shao Bai is done very well, the meat and bean sprouts are carefully selected, not to mention the steaming temperature. Zhenzi rice (a method of steaming rice in Chengdu, steaming the rice in a wooden barrel, which has a special fragrance) is always hot and soft. And I just enjoyed it quietly by myself. The casual feeling was a bit like drinking alone under the moon. Similarly, when eating in Chongqing, the spicy and tense atmosphere is like eating in prison.
I don’t like to eat crispy rice and pork slices very much. Put crispy rice and pork slices together, and there is nothing to eat. But I was in Anren Town, Chengdu (the hometown of the great landowner Liu Wencai, 60 kilometers away from Chengdu), and the small restaurant there made really perfect crispy pork slices. The restaurants there are very small, and the wooden storefronts in western Sichuan next to the ancient bluestone road are very clean. The store puts the prepared ingredients on a large table, as fresh as if they were growing in the ground an hour ago. What do you want to eat, there is no recipe, just look at the case and choose. When they make crispy pork slices, they carefully select magnolia slices and shiitake mushrooms (mainly relying on these two things to enhance the flavor) to make fresh soup. The heat of the crispy pork and pork slices is just right. When the soup is poured with oil, and the fire is rumbling, the remaining What comes down is the aroma that fills the house. On a spring rainy evening, after riding for 60 kilometers, we enjoyed this wonderful crispy pork slices. It was really wonderful and will never be forgotten. Since then I have cycled there three times. It's a pity that such a famous dish tastes just like crap if you go outside Chengdu. Because no one studies the softness and hardness of the crispy rice, the tenderness of the meat slices, and the deliciousness of the soup as carefully as the Chengdu people. Even the method of serving plays a key role in the quality of crispy pork slices.
Therefore, compared with the people in Chongqing, the degree of exquisiteness in cooking of Chengdu people is really in the sky and on the ground. For every dish, Chengdu people must carefully summarize what ingredients to choose, what pot to use, what fire to make, how to plate, how to serve, how to arrange the table, etc., all of which are carefully and thoughtfully considered. On the other hand, no matter what food Chongqing people cook, they always serve it to you in a big basin, and the take-out waiter soaks it in the soup. Although generous, one can easily imagine the carelessness hidden in it.
The basis for Chengdu cuisine to be good at improvement is actually summary. Therefore, the advantages of Chengdu cuisine are reflected in some home-cooked stir-fries and snacks. Speaking of Chengdu’s snacks, it is indeed the result of improvements and improvements made by Chengdu people over hundreds of years before they become what they are today. For example, Qingshiqiao’s Fat Rice Roll Rice, Husband’s and Mrs’s Beef Slices/Zhong’s Dumplings on Admiral Street, Chunxi Road’s Long Chaoshou, and Mapo Tofu, etc., are all developed through the patience of several generations. The recipe of Xue Tao's dried tofu in Jiuyanqiao is said to have been passed down by the poets of the Tang Dynasty. It is very suitable for jealous girls who like to gnash their teeth. There are so many types of snacks handed down from past dynasties in Chengdu that it would probably take a month to eat them all. The snacks in Chongqing are much inferior. There are only a few items brought by outsiders during the Anti-Japanese War, such as Ling Tangyuan and Hangzhou Xiaolongbao. They are not as good as before and are gradually disappearing. Because the traditional methods were thrown away by the Chongqing people who took over. Chongqing people don’t have the patience to sum up these experiences.
It is said that Brother Zhu, who created the pickled fish, has been very prosperous for several years, but now he still guards his three old tile-roofed houses on the roadside, looking forward to the patronage of customers who have lost enthusiasm.