The origin of Linyi local old eight bowls of vegetables

First, the origin of the old eight bowls of vegetables

"Eight Bowls" is also called "Old Eight Bowls". According to legend, the Eight Immortals crossed the ocean and angered the Dragon King. After a long battle, it was difficult to win, and the hunger was unbearable, so they looked for food separately to satisfy their hunger. Cao Guojiu went to a farmhouse by himself. The food was delicious and his mouth was watering. I saw eight people around the square table, so I took eight attractive dishes and left a message: My uncle lent eight bowls to the immortals, and I will definitely repay them in the future. Later, people changed the square table to the square table, which was used for auspicious celebrations. Eight people sat and ate eight dishes (eight cold dishes and eight big bowls of dishes), and it has been passed down to this day.

Before the founding of New China, all the dignitaries ate delicacies, but in the lives of ordinary people, "eight bowls" were rare delicacies. On birthdays, weddings, funerals and full moons, most people don't go to restaurants, but build greenhouses at home and in the village and find special chefs to entertain relatives and friends.

Today's "Eight Bowls" have been improved in many cooking methods, paying more attention to adapting to the taste needs of different guests and catering to the modern people's pursuit of green and healthy eating concepts. The cooking method of "Eight Bowls" comes from the traditional Shandong cuisine technique and originates from the northern folk. It is mainly made by family cooking methods such as steaming and stewing, with meat and other animal raw materials as the main ingredients. After a series of working procedures, excess grease is effectively removed. Compared with frying and other cooking methods, it can retain the nutritional components of food from the nutritional point of view, which meets the requirements of modern people for a healthy diet.

Second, the characteristics of Linyi Eight Bowls

Linyi's "eight bowls" are unique. The so-called "eight bowls" originated from running water seats. Traditional weddings, funerals and even social occasions require people to get together for dinner. This is a folk celebration as important as singing a big drama. Because there are not enough scenes, tables, chairs and chopsticks, we have to adopt the method of "eating while using".

Eat a flowing mat, and decide the order of sitting according to personal relationship and fame. Although the dishes are different, the contents of the seats are the same, with big fish and meat and other things that are rarely seen at ordinary times. It is required to be done quickly, usable, with sufficient weight and basically the same taste. Cooking is the main thing, and it is served in a large bowl of coarse porcelain to show the quantity. After hundreds of years of running-in, the menu of Linyi's "eight bowls" is basically fixed, namely Sanhuang chicken, yellow croaker, elbow, meatball, rice flour meat, braised pork, loose meat and ribs.

But this is only the low-end eight bowls, and the high-end ones are called "coarse eight bowls", that is, stir-fried green shrimp, stewed shredded chicken, stewed egg soup with crab roe, sea cucumber balls, golden ingot meat, clear soup chicken, braised chicken and home-cooked roasted carp. Later, there were "fine eight bowls", that is, fried fish slices, stewed shrimp, family photos, osmanthus fish bones and stewed slippery.

Most of the "eight bowls" are upgraded versions made by restaurants, with exquisite materials and fine workmanship. However, taking traditional weddings as an example, there are often hundreds of guests, and only large-scale restaurants can provide them, otherwise there are not enough seats. Most of the folk "eight bowls" are pulled by chefs themselves, and the guests prepare materials. The chefs set the table in the open air with their own tools and hands. Cooking skills are very particular, otherwise it will take a long time to burn coal, and it will be easy to earn a few hard money and not enough to buy fuel.

"Eight bowls" are not necessarily eight bowls, but eight main dishes, excluding cold dishes and staple foods. Sometimes stir-fry is added in the name of side dishes, and most of the first guests are distinguished guests. Adding vegetables is common, but "eight" is "safe and sound", and people still maintain this title.

In the era of scarcity, "eight bowls" have narrowed the distance between people and diluted the boredom of daily life. However, gathering people to eat is easy to spread diseases, and overeating is unhealthy. With the improvement of life, the traditional "eight bowls" in Linyi drifted away and were once lost. Now some businesses have recovered.