Classic food: wonton is where the snacks

Wonton, a well-known snack, is also called flat food in southern Fujian.

It is one of the snacks with a long history in China.

For those of you who are interested in food culture, let's find out where wontons are a snack from!

Hundun is one of the traditional noodle dishes of the Han Chinese people, stuffed with a thin crust and usually boiled and served with soup. It originated in northern China.

History

Yang Xiong of the Western Han Dynasty mentioned in his Dialect that "the cake is called wontons", and wontons are a type of cake, with the difference being that they are filled with a filling and eaten after being steamed; if cooked in soup, they are called "soup cakes".

The ancient Chinese thought it was a kind of sealed buns, no seven, so it is called "chaos", according to the rules of Chinese characterization, and later called "wonton". At this time, there was no difference between wontons and dumplings.

Dumplings have not changed significantly over the centuries, but wontons have flourished in the south and have developed a separate style. From the Tang Dynasty onwards, a formal distinction was made between the names of wontons and dumplings.

The Han Dynasty Huns

In the past, the old Beijing had "winter solstice wontons and summer solstice noodles". According to legend, during the Han Dynasty, the Huns in the north often harassed the border, and the people had no peace. At that time, there were two leaders of the Hun tribe, the Huns and the Tuns, who were very cruel. The people hated them so much that they wrapped them into horns with meat and took the sound of "Hun" and "Tun" and called them "Hundun". Hate to eat, and seek to quell the war, can live in peace. Because the first wontons were made on the day of the winter solstice, every family ate wontons on the day of the winter solstice. Hundun has developed into a famous snack with many names, different productions and delicious flavors, which is loved by people all over the country. Wonton name a lot of places such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and most of the places called wontons, while Guangdong is called wonton, Hubei, said the bag of noodles, Jiangxi, said the soup, Sichuan, said the copious, Xinjiang, said Qu Qu and so on.

Taoism

There is another way to say: on the day of the winter solstice, there is a grand puja in the capital of the great Taoist temple. Taoist priests recite sutras and present tables to celebrate the birth anniversary of Yuan Shi Tian Zun. Taoism believes that

Hundun, Yuan Shi Tian Zun symbolizes the chaos is not yet divided, the Taoist qi is not yet revealed in the first century. Therefore, the folk have the custom of eating wontons. The Yanjing Times Record: "the shape of the wonton is like a chicken egg, rather like the chaos of heaven and earth, so the winter solstice to eat." In fact, "wonton" and "chaos" resonate, so the folk will eat wontons extended to, break the chaos, open up the world. Later generations no longer explain its original meaning, only the so-called "winter solstice wonton summer solstice noodles" proverbs, it is simply seen as a seasonal diet.

Eating wontons Many places in China have the custom of eating wontons on the winter solstice. In the Southern Song Dynasty, when Lin'an (now Hangzhou) also had the custom of eating wontons on the day of the winter solstice. Zhou Mi, a Song dynasty person, said that people in Lin'an ate wontons on the winter solstice to honor their ancestors. It was only in the Southern Song Dynasty that the custom of eating wontons on the winter solstice to honor ancestors began to prevail in China.

Ravioli development so far, it has become a lot of names, production of different, fresh and delicious, all over the country, loved by the famous snacks around a lot of special features, well received by diners ravioli, famous Chengdu City, the Dragon copious hand eating and drinking store copious hand, a variety of varieties of its thin skin, filling tender, flavorful soup fresh; Chongqing City, the bridge copious hand, packet pinching, seasoning a variety of, dipped in the seasoning to eat; Shanghai City, Shanghai old! City God Temple Songyunlou three fresh wontons, filling materials, thin skin package filling, flavor and color; Urumqi City, Xinjiang, Qu Qu, mutton as filling, thin skin filling tender, soup clear flavor and so on.

Xi Shi said

Legend has it that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period, King Wu Fuchai defeated the Yue State, captured the Yue King Goujian, and got a lot of gold and silver treasures, especially after getting the beauty of the Xishi, more complacent, indulge in songs and dances, alcohol and sex, and do not ask about the state of affairs. This year, the winter solstice festival came, the king of Wu routinely accept the hundred officials to worship, inside and outside the palace song and dance. Unexpectedly, in the banquet, tired of eating delicacies of the sea, he was actually upset, put aside the chopsticks do not eat. All this Xishi all see in the eyes, she took the opportunity to run into the royal kitchen, and the dough and rolling, want to make a new style of dim sum to show their own feelings. Skin in her hands after turning a few patterns, finally wrapped up a dustpan type of snacks. Into the boiling water a blanch, the dim sum will be one by one on the surface of the water. She into a bowl, add fresh soup, sprinkle onion, garlic, pepper, drop of sesame oil, offered to the king of Wu. King Wu tasted, fresh and delicious to the extreme, ate a big bowl, and asked: "What kind of snacks?" Xi Shi secretly laughed: this is a useless king, all day long muddle-headed, really chaotic not open. When she heard the question, she answered casually, "Wonton." From then on, this kind of confectionery has flowed into the folklore under the name of "Hundun". People in Wu and Yue not only love to eat wontons on weekdays, but also to commemorate the wisdom and creativity of Xi Shi, it is also designated as the winter solstice seasonal food.

Characteristics

Wonton to wontons and dumplings to compare, wonton skin for the side length of about 6 centimeters square, or the top edge of the length of about 5 centimeters, the bottom edge of the length of about 7 centimeters isosceles trapezium; dumpling skin for the diameter of about 7 centimeters of wonton rice round. Wonton skins are thinner and transparent when cooked. Therefore, the difference between thin and thick, equal amount of wontons and dumplings into the boiling water to cook, cook wontons in a shorter period of time; cooking dumplings in the process of adding another 3 times cool water, through the so-called 'three sinks and three floats' to ensure that the cooked.

Wontons are heavy on the soup, while dumplings are heavy on the dipping sauce.