The flavors of the cities
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In Chinese people's eyes, Shanghai food, tinged as it is with Western flavor, is sophisticated. There are, to name a few, Michelin-rated restaurants in the European-style buildings on the Bund, delicate Huaiyang cuisine in shikumen (typical Shanghai stone gate) houses, Shanghai-style secret-recipe dishes in old-time mansions of influential people and new-style Fusion in renowned old-line restaurants. The fancier the restaurant, the more old-fashioned its building. The real local cuisine of Shanghai, however, features big utensils and strong flavors, and stresses the substance rather than the appearance of food. Every dish is quite oily and sugary, with a strong taste and bright brownish-red color, which is actually the color of the pots and bowls of ordinary households in the alleys of Shanghai, a grand city with the flamboyant title of "cosmopolis."
Eileen Chang, a noted 20th-century woman writer, said that Shanghai people are "traditional Chinese tempered by the high pressure of modern life" and have "uncanny intelligence." The Shanghai people have employed this peculiar intelligence to the preparation of food. To make a common salad they combine the ingredients of a French fruit salad, Russian potato salad and some local-style food like sausages. Thus, they have created a cold dish you can now find in both Chinese and Western restaurants in Shanghai. Such salads epitomize the lifestyle of the Shanghai people, who have merged and absorbed both Chinese and Western elements, and then have stamped on them the city's own characteristics.
Yangzhou—A Feast for the Eyes
"Bidding me farewell at Yellow Crane Tower, my old friend sailed eastward to Yangzhou in the misty and blossomy third lunar month." In the third lunar month, Yangzhou not only boasts picturesque scenery, it is also noted for fresh vegetables and freshwater dishes of the season. This is, therefore, the best time to taste the local Huaiyang cuisine.
In China, State banquets tend to feature Huaiyang dishes, including the banquet for the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the banquet for the 50th founding anniversary of the PRC in 1999, and the one given by Chinese President Jiang Zemin to US President George W. Bush in 2002.
Since ancient times, Yangzhou has been famous for its "three knives" (kitchen knife, barber's knife and pedicure knife), with the kitchen knife ranked first. This indicates that the kitchen knife skills of Yangzhou's chefs are of the highest order. Braised Shredded Chicken with Ham and Dried Tofu and Wensi-style Tofu Soup with Ham and Minced Vegetables are among the local dishes demanding good kitchen knife skills. For the former dish, a slice of one-cm-long dried tofu is cut into 21 slices, shredded as fine as a hair; and every shred of ginger has to be as thin as a cotton thread, able to be threaded through the eye of a needle. For the latter dish, a piece of tofu is divided into three parts, and the middle part, less than two cm thick, is cut swiftly into over 30 slices, which are then laid flat to be finely shredded.
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