Hangzhou Cuisine - Westlake Vinegar Fish

Hangzhou and of Hangzhou Cuisine

Hangzhou city is the capital of Zhejiang province, it has a long history, and there were human civilizations 4700 years ago. Hangzhou cuisine, the most famous is the Westlake Fish in Vinegar Gravy; it has 800 years of history. The reason for food and dining being called culture lies in its other meaning other than filling the belly. There is a kind of subtle delicacy in Hangzhou cuisine, which needs to be carefully tasted.

Hangzhou cuisine, as Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Cuisine. Its taste combines southern and northern tasters together, different from traditional Zhejiang Cuisine.

Hangzhou cuisine pay a lot of attention to cutting technique and colors, so the cuisine is delicately made with mild, fresh, tasty, refreshing and crisp flavors. The mild flavors refer to little cooking oil, a little salt, little sugar, and low starch, so the Cuisine tastes mild. Then another one is to go with the seasons. People eat different Cuisine according to different seasons. Therefore, Hangzhou Cuisine can be said to be a kind of elegant Cuisine. They do not eat all the food at the same time.

History of Hangzhou Cuisine

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This kind of taste directly originated from the historical chance of Southern Song Dynasty (BC 1127-1279) moving the capital to Lin'an over 800 years ago. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were 1 million people in Hangzhou. After all, it was the capital. Actually, there were only 200,000 local Hangzhou people. So in fact, the northerners accounted for a majority. The northern culture was a kind of high culture. It profoundly affected every aspect of the life of the Hangzhou people. The north also changed food and dining in Hangzhou. It was consistent with the core ideas of the entire Chinese culture and the critical values of the local culture. 

WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy 西湖醋鱼

The simplest one is WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy. Hangzhou's WestLake is one of the few lakes' cultural heritage sites in the world heritage list today. Hangzhou has been in prosperity since ancient times. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou cuisine has been significantly influenced by Central Plains culture together with the elegance of the south of the Yangtze River.

Besides the WestLake, there is a restaurant name Louwailou, it combining beautiful scenery of lakes and mountains. Whose name came from a poem in Southern Song Dynasty, “outside the hills and buildings, there are still hills and buildings.” 山外青山楼外楼。Enjoy the beautiful scenery of the WestLake when dining. Louwailou attracts numerous tourists every day. Most tourists come because of respect for the fame of a famous dish called WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy.

Look over there from this side of the WestLake; circumspective tourists will find that there is a set of the large net cage at the gate of Louwailou. It is specially prepared for cooking WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy. Every day, the cook go to Westlake to choose appropriate fish.

How to select the fish

Cook the most traditional WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy must with grass carp, which has been starved for three days in the net cage beside the WestLake. To starve the fish is a necessary procedure for cooking WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy. After being starved, the fishiness of grass carp will be removed, and its meat becomes compacted. The most appropriate fish is no longer than 1/3 meters and is not more massive than 1.5 catties. Only the fish are meeting these harsh conditions, we can use it to cook WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy.

The history story of the Westlake fish in vinegar gravy

According to legend, in ancient times there lived the brothers of Ning’s family who were well educated and retreated on the shore of Westlake, making a living on fishing. High official Zhao, the local scoundrel wanted to seize Sister Song when he saw Sister Song was good looking and charming and played a trick to bring down her husband. The younger brother brought a lawsuit to the local authority for revenge; it is just only to cudgel a result. Sister Song talked over the younger brother-in-law to flee to some other place. She cooked a huge fish from WestLake with sugar and vinegar for a particular purpose to give a farewell dinner before his departure and urged him “to keep in mind the hardships of common people no matter in bitterness or in sweetness.” Later on, the younger brother-in-law gained some meritorious fame. On one banquet, he restlessly tasted the sweet but sour specially made fish dish and finally found his renamed elder sister-in-law who was on escape. Then he quitted the official position and restarted an angler’s family life.

How to cook the Westlake fish in vinegar gravy

The cutting technique is particularly crucial. For WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy, the round fish can only be cut seven times, regardless of which cook cut it. According to provisions of traditional practice, cutting the fish open is one cut. Then the second is to cut open the thickest part of the fish. The third cut at the back of the gills. The fourth and fifth cuts aim to cut off. The sixth and seventh cuts in the fishtail.

The reason for the attention paid to this seven cut in cooking WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy is that it is straightforward to cook it. Put it into burning water and cook it for three minutes or so. It is the quick-boil cook method. To quick boil, the fish thoroughly in such a short time depends on cutting technique, making the thickness of fish meat even.

When fast boiling fish in the water, the duration, and degree of heating shall be accurately grasped. It would be OK as long as it is not raw anymore. The fish will not be done if taking out a little earlier and will be overdone if taking out a little later.

Cooks judge this depending on their experience. In Louwailou, several individual cooks cook WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy. There are only a few seasoned cooks are qualified for this. Cooking oil, salt, and monosodium glutamate are not used in cooking WestLake Fish in Vinegar Gravy at all. When eating, you can taste the salt taste and flat taste with a delicate flavor. The last secret lies in the sauce made of rice wine, rice vinegar, soya sauce, white granulated sugar and starch.

Dongpo Pork 东坡肉

The history of Dongpo Pork

Dongpo Pork came from Song Dynasty. Su Tungpo went to dredge the WestLake and built the present Su Causeway. After Su Causeway was built, the water quality of WestLake became excellent and ordinary people felt it was very convenient. Therefore, to express their thanks to Su Tungpo, they sent a lot of pigs and spirits to Su Tungpo. However, Su Tungpo said: “let everybody eat these. And I will give you a tip.” That is Dongpo Pork.

How to cook the Dongpo Pork

Dongpo Pork is a famous dish in Hangzhou Cuisine. The dainty of raw materials first shows the delicacy of Hangzhou Cuisine: refinement counts more than quantity. Dongpo Pork of Hangzhou Restaurant is made of the pork of Jinhua pig with two black ends of Zhejiang. It has thin skin, and the proportion of fat pork and lean pork is just right for the purpose. Also, its seasonings are very simple: only chives and gingers with an elegant fragrance.

Put the square pork on the chives and gingers. Add a whole bottle of Shaoxing Rice Wine and soya sauce into it. Boil it in the very hot oven, cover it, and then stew it. Then what to do next is to wait for its flavor to come out slowly. What is the key? Little water and gentle fire. Sufficient duration and degree of heating will undoubtedly make it delicious. The ordinary people find that the pork braised in brown sauce tastes delicious when cooked according to Su Tungpo's method.

Quick Boiled Noodles with Sliced Pork and Bamboo Shoot 片儿川

Hangzhou people love the WestLake, and they have deep emotions for Su Tungpo, who profoundly affected the landscape of the WestLake. It was said that Su Tungpo once said that people would be thin without pork and be vulgar without bamboo. Therefore, Hangzhou people created a kind of noodles with both pork and bamboo shoot Quick Boiled Noodles with Sliced Pork and Bamboo Shoot. Both pork and bamboo shoot are quickly boiled in water. If you go to Hangzhou without eating Quick Boiled Noodles with Sliced Pork and Bamboo Shoot, then Hangzhou people would think you have not been to Hangzhou at all.

Fired Shelled Shrimps with Longjing Tea 龙井虾仁

The history story of Fired Shelled Shrimps with Dragon Well Tea

Recording that once when Qianlong Emperor came down to the south of the Yangtze River at the Pure Brightness Festival, he paid a sightseeing visit to the Longjing near the WestLake. The tea farmers presented new tea to him. He brought the fresh tea back to his dwelling palace and ordered his imperial chef to input the tea when the “Jade-white Shelled Shrimp” was fried, thus to have this famous dish cooked out. Before long, this course of the dish “Fired Shelled Shrimps with Longjing Tea” appeared on the menu of “Louwailou Restaurant.”

How to cook the Fired Shelled Shrimps with Longjing Tea

The material is uniquely used for this dish, and cooking duration must also be controlled to a turn. During cooking, the chef shall put inside the shelled shrimps pasted with seed powder of Gordon Euryale immediately after the pot has been smoothened with oil and lard has been placed inside, and pour the shrimps into a strainer to be removed from the oil after they have been fried for about 15 seconds. They shall be again put together with new tea that has been soaked with boiled water into the pot, be sprayed with cooking wine and be quickly tossed over the fire, then the dish is prepared.

Sister Song's Fish Broth 宋嫂鱼羹

A native of Bianliang (now Kaifeng city in Henan province), Sister Song had once run a fish broth restaurant in Bianliang. The Sister Song was fearless at all before Emperor Emeritus and said to him “I am a native of Bianliang and I came here along with your carriages.” Zhao Gou, Emperor Emeritus could not bear to sigh at this and thought to himself that it was really the hope of the Song Dynasty that a civilian like she could follow him and migrate down to Lin’an in the south. He then awards the Sister Song with10 wen gold coins, 100 when silver coins, and 10 pieces of silk, and furthermore ordered the backyard to supply refreshments.” Since then, people call the fish broth of the Sister Song as “Sister Song’s Fish Broth.”

The fish broth is usually steamed with mandarin fish or sea bass, and it is prepared with ham, mushroom, bamboo shoots, chicken soup, etc. After baking, the color is bright, tender and smooth, taste like crabmeat.

Cooking steps:

Fresh fish 100g, ham silk, red pepper silk, cucumber silk, mushroom silk each 5g, egg 1, ginger, salt, pepper, the starch in moderation.

1. Cut up the fresh fish meat. Add water, ginger, and pepper to boil.

2. Add the shredded ham, mushroom, and stir in the egg mixture.

3. Season with red pepper and cucumber, and season with salt and pepper as appropriate.

Stewed Female Goose 云林鹅

The full name is Stewed Female Goose with Honey and Rice Wine. It is a famous traditional dish with a history of 600 years. When cooking the Stewed Female Goose, it needs Honey and Shaoxing Rice Wine, pepper, salt, and chives. There is no other sauce, to show the original flavors of food materials. The initial character is also one of the characteristics of Hangzhou cuisine.

The most significant characteristic of this recipe is to stew the goose to the thoroughly cooked with small fire generated from three bundles of straws. A bunch of straws weighs 1.8 catties. The chef should burn it little by little. Add some when the former is burnt up. The fire cannot be too intense. Otherwise, the soup would be boiled away. The cooking process of the goose is stewing. The most significant benefit of stewing is that there are few losses of nutrition and delicate flavor.

This famous dish has been handed down for hundreds of years. Although it seems to have only a few seasonings, the cooking process is by no means simple. People cannot help to sigh with emotion for the delicacy, and dainty insisted on by Hangzhou Cuisine. Nowadays, when people have too many experiences in gustatory sensation, seeking for original flavor of food might be the most precious.

Trip to Hangzhou

Another, you may see an oil press has a history of 400 years, and it is still in use now. It is rare to see this oil manufacture process anciently. When so many people are too busy to enjoy a meal. Yet, some people spare no pains to cook a nice dinner. Therefore, when we want to get a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, we should come to Hangzhou. Try a few hundred years of constant cooking, enjoy the Hangzhou Cuisine and enjoy the beauty of the WestLake, to have the rest of your mind and body.