Mount Emei cuisine

Mount Emei 峨眉山

Mount Emei located in the southwest of Sichuan province. It is grand with the main peak more than 3,000m. It is surrounded by the wind all year-round and has enjoyed the excellent name that Mount Emei is beautiful under the sky all the time.

Mount Emei is one of the four great mount Buddhist in China, the long-lasting Buddhist culture and splendid natural views in Mount Emei attract the sightseers from around the world. Mount Emei has different climatic characteristics as the altitudes change, and thus the saying goes all along that “one Mount has four seasons and it is different weather from ten miles.”

At the places with different altitudes more than 23,000 wild animals, including Mount Emei, can be seen here and there and there are more than 3,200 kinds of precious plants. The rare treasures and delicacies in Mount Emei has won the praise of the literati and painter. In different times Poet Lu You 陆游 of Southern Song Dynasty visited Mount Emei for times after he returned his hometown, he could not forget the delicious foods here wrote the verses like “How can such foods be found elsewhere? I dreamed returning Sichuan Province every night.” 还吴此味哪复有，夜夜寒食梦还蜀。

health-preserving food in Mount Emei

Ten View Dishes in Mount Emei had its original inspiration from ten particular outstanding views including Buddha’s Light in Golden Summit of Mount Emei and Evening Bell of Shengji and others. Mount Emei has always enjoyed the reputation as the kingdom of animals and plants from of old, and most of these food materials come from different altitudes in Mount Emei.

This great health-preserving dishes in Mount Emei which are the wildly renowned dishes presented? In Mount Emei, the preparation of such luxurious dishes will usually take a whole day. The chef said that since the making process for health-preserving dishes is elaborate and complicated, its completion needs the cooperation of several significant cooks.

Pepper and Chili Bean Sauce 豆瓣酱

The reason that the people in Mount Emei cannot live without pepper, it is very moist weather here. If they do not eat a bit of red pepper or spicy things, they will not sweat out then you will be easy to get sick and have rheumatism. So the people eat pepper because it is widely popular that pepper can expel dampness in Sichuan cuisine.

Long ago, Sichuan people love red pepper. More than 1600 years ago, the Chronicle of Huayang Empire the earliest local chronicle in China had the record that Sichuan people uphold flavors and love spicy foods. In Mount Emei almost all villages have the workshops grinding red pepper. They had to be well-armed when grinding the red pepper because the red pepper in Mount Emei is too spicy.

How to make the Chili Bean Sauce with pepper

First, make the bean halves being exposed to the sun. These bean halves were made with broad beans. Then added the proper amount of salt into the ground pepper and poured them into the well-exposed broad bean halves. Mix it up well. Many special cares are required for adding red pepper into the Chili bean sauce. Airing and mixing are significant steps for the making of Chili Bean Sauce.

The history of the Chili Bean Sauce

The Chili Bean Sauce is related to the famous mass migration of “Hu-Guang people moves to Sichuan Province” at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty.  According to the historical records, wars and natural disasters sharply reduced the population in Sichuan Province, and then the Qing Dynasty issued the order for times to migrate the people into Sichuan Province. It was said that on their migrant way since the beans taken by some persons were mildewed because of exposure to sunshine and rained some salt, and red pepper was added to the beans as the seasoning. Therefore, they have Chili Bean Sauce today. The Lao Gan Ma, Chili Bean Sauce that is popular all over the world is one kind of Sichuan Chili Bean Sauce.

Longsnout Catfish 江团

Mount Emei is situated in the upper reach of the Yangtze River and between the Qingyi River and the Dadu River. It has been the significant water traffic channel from of old and has been famous in the world for its abundant resources of various rare river foods. Among health-preserving dishes of Mount Emei diverse river, fish foods are indispensable entrees. The locals told us the most famous river food is long snout catfish. Longsnout catfish. According to the historical sources had become the tribute to the emperors since the Ming Dynasty.

How to make the Longsnout Catfish

What is the unique feature of Longsnout Catfish? People said that Longsnout Catfish, Puffer Fish, and Ribbonfish as “Top Three Delicate Fishes of the Yangtze River.” and the most outstanding feature of Longsnout Catfish is its tender and fresh flesh. Longsnout catfish is different from other fishes, and its mouth is in the lower part not in the middle, it has one main fishbone.

There are many cooking methods of Longsnout Catfish. One crucial step is the salting to remove the fishy smell. While spirit, ginger, and shallot. Particular attention shall be paid to the steaming duration. Too long steaming length will make the fish over-matured and pasty. Then it is not delicious and not fresh. While with too short a steaming duration, the flesh is red, so it is not natural.

Because Longsnout Catfish is tender and fresh the time for steaming fish cannot be more than twelve minutes so that the Longsnout Catfish steamed. This way can be delicious and fresh for the making of the dish.

Second: Flowery Longsnout Catfish

Flowery Longsnout Catfish the flowers made with bean curd are evenly arranged on both sides of catfish. Its making requires the cooperation of several cooks. In the making of Pearl Longsnout Catfish radish strips washed with water are matched with the well-cooked long snout catfish.

Third: Longsnout Catfish Soup

Longsnout Catfish Soup with Matsutake Mushroom is more fresh scented and delicious. The Longsnout Catfish, as one of the three river foods in the Yangtze River, deserves its name indeed.

Chinese herbal and dietary therapy

Mount Emei has always enjoyed the reputation as the kingdom of animals and plants from of old. More than 500 years ago famous medical scientist Sun Simiao in ancient China gathered herbs in Mount Emei for the training of active substances and recorded rare treasures and strange herbs from Mount Emei into his medicine book of “Essential Formulas for Emergencies Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold” 千金要方.

According to the statistics, there are up to 2,050 kinds of medicinal plants in Mount Emei where it is rich with precious herbs, such as Tuberous Dutchmanspipe, Panax Notoginseng, and Rhizoma Gastrodiae. Among the Rhizoma Gastrodiae mostly grow in the middle mountain area with an altitude above 1000m. The people of Emei often go to the mountains to pick up it for herbs' food. The signature food is local chicken stewed with autumn asparagus and Rhizoma Gastrodiae. This food not only tastes delicious but also has a good effect on chronic headache. This particular diet is the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and food, also known as dietary therapy in China, to treat some diseases through daily diet.

It is very common in daily foods of the people in Mount Emei that there are various herbs. Another medicine food is yellow-leafed moss, which is called Giant Knotweed regarding traditional Chinese medicine. Giant Knotweed can cure hepatitis, as a dish, people often eat it to health the liver. The making of this dish is easy, but it requires good control of duration and degree. Only with this can its medicinal properties be brought into play.

Mount Emei in July it is high time that various fungi and edible wild herbs are available in the market when the mountain delicacies and wild herb hotpots with different flavors are extremely popular and the wild herbs and fungi become main dishes of the people in Mount Emei.

Tofu pudding with the spring water

In Mount Emei, there is a saying goes like this till now. Where there is water, there is the family. Where there is the family, there is the tofu pudding. There are many families grinds soya bean with a stone mill, that the soya bean milk made with this stone mill is finer and more delicious. Such tools and methods have been produced for more than 2,000 years, all of them are ancestral crafts.

Step2: after grinding the beans, the soybean juice from the mill will be cooked with slow fire about one hour.

Step3: the cooked juice is poured into the cotton gauze to remove the bean dregs;

Step4: the juice is put into the pot for cooking with soft fire.

Step5: More than two hours later tofu pudding was gotten out of the pot. It was scented very sweet, and sweet with special sense.

Although there is no difference in how to make the tofu pudding, the water quality in Mount Emei is so good that it is very tasty. The spring water here contains many trace elements beneficial to human health, and taste sweet. The effect of water quality on the taste of food is self-evident. People not only make tofu pudding with the spring water here but also make tea with the water. Even some people drive hundreds of miles to get the spring water.

All in All

The people living in Mount Emei make use of their unique wisdom to integrate themselves with nature to enjoy their comfortable, cozy and harmonious life.