杭州美食介绍 英文版.doc

Dongpo PorkSu Dongpo (1036-1101), one of eight most famous writers in Tang and Song dynasties, is also famous for his verse, calligraphy and painting. Additionally, Su is also special at cooking. When he was degraded to Huangzhou for offending emperor, he always cooked by himself to enjoy with his friend. Sus expert was cooking bouilli. He had ever poetized to explain his cooking experience: Cooking slowly/ Watering steadily/ Sufficiently cooked, taste showed. However, the reason of calling this bouilli Dongpo meat was because of an interesting thing happened during his second time staying in Hangzhou as a local official.At that time, the West Lake was mostly covered by wild grass. When he took the post, he called the people there to weed. The mud dug out was piled up to a long bank. Then they built a bridge to dredge the lake. The bank improved the environment and provided convenience to people. Not only people got benefit from this long bank, but also West Lake became more beautiful by this bank. Later, it was listed as the first of West Lake Ten Scenes: Spring on Su Bank.Meanwhile, people were very grateful for Su Dongpo. When they heard that Su liked bouilli, they all presented pork to him coincidently in spring festival. With so much pork, Su Dongpo thought he should enjoy them with his hard-working people. So he asked his family to cut pork into blocks, and to cook them with his method, then to send the bouilli, together with wine, to every household. When his family was cooking, they mistook sending bouilli with wine for cooking bouilli with wine. But the result was that the bouilli cooked with wine was more aromatic and tasteful. All people praised the especially delicious bouilli sent by Su Dongpo. Then the interesting story spread around. The students of Su Dongpo included those who learned calligraphy and writing, and some learned cooking Dongpo Meat. Louwailou imitated Sus method to cook this dish, and improved the skill through experience, thus Dongpo Meat comes down.Beggars ChickenTo make the ginger juice, grate the ginger and squeeze out the juice until you have 1 teaspoon. In a small bowl, combine the marinade ingredients. Rub the marinade ingredients over the inside and outside of the chicken and let marinate for 1 hour.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.While the chicken is marinating, prepare the vegetables and pork. If using dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstitute by soaking in warm water until softened. Squeeze dry and cut into thin slices. For fresh, wipe with a damp cloth and slice. Cut the pork into thin matchstick pieces. Finely chop the remaining vegetables.In a wok or heavy frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high to high heat. Add the green onion and the pork. Stir-fry until the pork is crisp and nearly cooked through, then add the mushrooms and preserved greens. Stir in the soy sauce, rice wine or dry sherry, sugar, sesame oil and five-spice powder if using. Remove from the pan.Stuff the chicken loosely with the stuffing and close with skewers or strong toothpicks. Wrap the chicken tightly in the aluminum foil. Place the wrapped chicken in a roasting pan.Bake the chicken for 75 minutes. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the juices run clear and the temperature of the chicken in the thickest part of the thigh is 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the stuffing and serve with the chopped up chicken.West Lake Vinegar FishWest Lake Vinegar Fish is also called A treasure from a man and his sister-in-law. The story goes like this: Long long ago, there were two brothers whose surname was Song. They were very knowledgeable, but they lived at West Lake by fishing. There also lived a rascal Mr. Zhao. Once, rascal Zhao was traveling along West Lake, he saw a beautiful women washing near the lake. When he was told that she was Elder Songs wife, he played an intrigue and killed Elder Song. Younger Song and Elder Songs wife were greatly infuriated by rascals action. They sued to the local official, hoping to be treated with justice and the rascal be punished. But what beyond their expectation was that the official was in collaboration with rascal. The official gave them a heavy beat and threw them out of the feudal official, needless to say take care of their charge.After they got home, Madam Song asked the brother-in-law to flee to other place to avoid being retaliated by rascal. On departure, Madam Song cooked a plate of special fish: she added sugar and vinegar in fish. Younger Song felt very strange and asked why. Madam Song told him: Fish is sweet and sour, which symbolizes life is sweet and sour. I am intending to remind you of the sour life of common oppressed people and the grievance of your sister-in-law when you have a good life. Younger Song was greatly moved. He finished the fish and left, with those words in mind. Later, Younger Song succeeded in pursuit of his fame and came back to Hangzhou. He revenged for his elder brother, punished the rascal. But he couldnt find his sister-in-law. Once Younger Song was invited to have a dinner. In dinner, he found the taste of one dish was just the same as what he ate before leaving home. He immediately asked who made this, and knew it was just his sister-in-law. It was because that after Younger Song left home, his sister-in-law hid herself in an official as a cook to shun harass from rascal. Now they were very happy to see each other. Younger Song resigned and took his sister-in-law home. The again lived as fisherman. A poet got inspired by this dish. He wrote a poeDragon Well Shrimp KernelThe material of Dragon Well Shrimp Kernel is large live river shrimp, cooked with fresh tea newly grown up around Chinese Tomb-sweeping Day. This is a famous dish with Hangzhous traditional flavor specialized by white and delicate shrimp kernel, green and fragrant lotus leaf, pleasing color, and unique taste.Some one is saying that people were enlightened by the great litterateur, Su Dongpos verse and made out Dragon Well Shrimp Kernel. One sentence of his verse generally described like this: Not miss your homeland with your old friends, just taste the new tea by new fire. Enjoy poem and wine since you are young. In old times, there was a custom that on the day before Chinese Tomb-sweeping Day, it was forbidden to use fire. After this day, the fired burned was called new fire. And the tea picked at this time was called new tea, the best of Dragon Well tea. People associated it with the fresh river shrimp and cooked Dragon Well Shrimp Kernel with new fire. They found the taste delicious, and the feature special, therefore they preserved this cooking style.But whether on earth is Dragon Well Shrimp Kernel really originated from this, we could never know. This is just a supposition, just for referenceWest Lake Water Shield Soup“I see autumn wind blows and I quit and return to homeland, so that I could taste delicious dishes”. West brings me memory of a soup of Wu. I quit and return to homeland, so that I could taste delicious dishes”. West Lake Water Shield Soup is called also as “Chicken, Ham and Water Shield Soup”. It is a typical ancient famous dish in Hangzhou. Water shield is called also as water sunflower. It contains rich protein and vitamins. It is a rare water vegetable. Water shield grows in the lake and the pool. Presently, only Taihu Lake, Xiaoshan Lake and West Lake produce this plant. Among which, ones from West Lake are the best.Fried Ring BellIt is said that when this dish first come out, it was neither in this shape, nor with this name. Afterward, it was gradually appreciated by people. With more and more people came to restaurant to order this dish, Fired Ring Bell showed its special feature. Once, a hero came into the restaurant, ordering only this dish. Unfortunately, the restaurant just ran out of the material of bean curd skin. This hero was not let down. When he heard this material was made in Si Xiang, he immediately jumped onto the horseback and rushed for Si Xiang. When he got the bean curd skin back, the owner of restaurant was greatly moved by his deed cooked the dish with extra care in a shape of horse bell, to commemorate his keen love for this dish. Therefore, people called this dish Fired Horse Bell. The skin of Fired Horse Bell cooked by experienced cook of Louwailou is very crisp, which gives prominence to the savor of bean; the inside of Fired Horse Bell is fresh and tender, which super induces your appetite. Especially when eating it aftHangzhou Seasoned Duck in Soy SauceThe region of Hangzhou is full of lakes and rivers, so it is endowed with rich resource of snails, fish and shrimps, which are good food to feed ducks. These ducks are the raw materials for Han