Shandong Cuisine

中國魯菜

雙語版

Shandong Cuisine, or Lu Cuisine, originated in Zibo, Shandong Province, is considered as the No. 1 of the eight Chinese Cuisines. It is the only self-originated cuisine while others are influenced by other cuisines more or less. With its longest history, richest cooking techniques and the most exquisite cutting skills, it is the representative of cooking culture in the Yellow River Basin. Representative dishes are Sweet and Sour Carp, Braised Sea Cucumber with Scallion, Braised Intestines in Brown Sauce and Braised Prawns in Oil and so on.

山東菜，又稱魯菜，起源于山東淄博，中國八大菜系之首。相對于其他菜系而言，它是唯一的自發(fā)型菜系。魯菜以其最悠久的歷史、最豐富的技法、和最極致的刀工，成為黃河流域烹飪文化的代表。代表菜有糖醋鯉魚、蔥燒海參、九轉(zhuǎn)大腸、油燜大蝦等。

During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, Lu Cuisine emerged, whose main ingredients included beef, lamb, pork, especially poultry, game and seafood. In Qin and Han dynasties, the cooking materials became richer. The cooking skills have greatly developed during the Northern Wei Dynasty. In Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, the skills reached a higher level. In the Song Dynasty, especially, with the Confucius Mansion officially established, a typical branch of Lu Cuisine, Confucianism Cuisine showed up. In Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, Lu Cuisine always served the royal court and the official mansions.

春秋戰(zhàn)國時期，齊魯肴饌便嶄露頭角。當(dāng)時的魯菜以牛、羊、豬肉為主料，但也善長烹制家禽、野味、海鮮。秦漢時期，食材更加豐富。北魏時期，魯菜的烹飪技藝得到了極大的發(fā)展。唐宋時期，已經(jīng)達到了很高的水平。特別是宋代時，隨著孔府正式建府，魯菜最重要的一支——孔府菜誕生。元、明、清時期，魯菜一直作為宮廷和官府的主要菜系。

Lu Cuisine chefs are good at cooking and using stock. Most hot Lu dishes highly depend on stock, thus, the saying, “Don’t cook without stock” Two types of stock, clear and milky, are always applied in cooking. The clear stock is usually made of chicken，duck or lean pork. The milky one is made of bones of chicken, duck and pig, pork knuckles and pig feet. Different from soup，the stock cannot be eaten directly, but used to freshen dishes as a seasoning. That’s the chefs’ knack to make dishes umami.

魯菜廚師精于制湯。魯菜中大量熱菜極其依賴高湯，所謂“無湯不成菜”。高湯分為清湯和奶湯。清湯通常是由雞鴨和瘦肉熬制而成。奶湯則是由雞鴨豬骨，豬蹄和豬肘等熬制而成。不同于其他菜系中的湯，魯菜高湯不是直接喝，而是烹飪時用的調(diào)味料。這是魯菜廚師增加菜品鮮味的獨門秘訣。

Scallion is a specialty of Shandong Province. Most dishes, especially the sea food and meat dishes, need to be cooked with it to release their flavor. When frying, simmering, braising, etc., scallion is the essential seasoning. Braised Sea Cucumber with Scallion even takes scallion as the main ingredient.

大蔥，是山東特產(chǎn)，多數(shù)菜肴，尤其是海鮮和肉類都要用蔥來增香提味。炒、熘、燒等都要用蔥，蔥燒海參甚至以蔥為主料。

The special and outstanding cooking technique of Lu Cuisine is Flash-Frying, called “Bao” in Chinese. The Flash-Frying skills include frying with oil, frying with sauce, frying with scallion, and frying with stock. The heat is precisely controlled when flash-frying. This cooking method can best keep the original taste of the materials. Like an ancient saying puts it, “Like taking treasure out of fire, timing in cooking is essential. Every second counts. A second less, the dish is underdone while, a second more, it is overdone.” So, there is a proverb in China that the best dish is from China and the best cooking in fire is from Shandong Province.”

魯菜最具特色的烹飪方法就是“爆”。爆，分為油爆、醬爆、蔥爆、湯爆等。爆炒，精準(zhǔn)把控火候至關(guān)重要，它能最好地保持原材料的味道。正所謂“烹飪之道，如火中取寶。不及則生，稍過則老，爭之于俄頃，失之于須臾”。因此，世人有“食在中國，火在山東”之說。

Crisp Frying with Syrup, which is followed by other cuisines, is a Lu Cuisine cooking skill for making sweet dishes. The sugar is stir-fried in oil and then melted and turns golden, and then the fried hot diced ingredient like sweet potato is put into the syrup and stirred. If timing and heating are perfect, the diced sweet potato is coated with crisp and golden syrup and you can see the candied floss when picking up one dice.

拔絲是魯菜制作甜品的一項烹飪技巧，其他菜系爭相效仿。糖入油鍋攪拌融化直至金黃，然后將過油預(yù)制的熟料如紅薯等，趁熱倒入糖漿中攪拌。如果時機火候到位，紅薯就會裹上一層金黃色糖漿，夾起時，就可以看到拉出的糖絲。