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Shovel gangs’ hearty food now Shanghai cuisine
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Basic Shanghai cooking — oily, sugary and soy sauce-drenched — is said to have originated in Pudong’s Sanlin Town with “shovel gang” traveling cooks. Qu Zhi meets the old-timers.
About a hundred years ago, “shovel gangs” (chan dao bang 铲刀帮) of traveling cooks went from village to village cooking hearty, flavorful fare with plenty of fat, sugar and soy sauce. They cook with big pans on the hearth with long-handled shovels.
They were caterers who cooked large meals for big events — weddings, funerals, baby showers and other occasions.
They originated Sanlin benbang (native and original 本帮) cooking, which later became the basis of Shanghai cuisine.
“Sanlin local food is unsophisticated. All the dishes come from villagers who like to cook, especially on big occasions,” says 58-year-old chef Li Mingfu, one of the best Sanlin cooks.
Li has inherited the century-old Sanlin benbang cooking skills, listed as part of the Pudong New Area’s intangible cultural heritage.
His grandfather was part of a shovel gang. His father, Li Borong, is regarded as the greatest living master of the old-fashioned cooking.
There are eight classic dishes: streaky pork braised in brown sauce (zou you rou 走油肉); steamed slices of ham, bamboo shoots and chicken (kou san si 扣三丝) ; steamed chicken in soy sauce (benbang kou ji 本帮扣鸡); steamed egg rolls (kou dan juan 扣蛋卷); pigskin soup (zhu pi tang 猪皮汤); stewed flat bream in brown sauce (hong shao bianyu 红烧鳊鱼); stewed trotter, pigskin, chicken and bamboo shoots (zheng san xian 蒸三鲜) and stewed salted pork with bamboo shoots (xian rou kou shui sun 咸肉扣水笋).
Zou you rou has a sweet, soy glaze and a lot of fat. Each slices is around 8 centimeters long, 1.5cm thick.
Kou san si features 1,999 pieces — each ingredient should be sliced vertically 72 times and horizontally 36 times.
Records of cooking in the area go back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1378).
According to Li Borong, the “shovel gangs” were the first generation of Shanghai cuisine cooks. They moved from villages across the river to the city, cooking simple street fare as well as dishes for restaurants.
At first most customers were manual laborers. The cooks chose seasonal ingredients, making dishes that were intense in flavor. It was oily, sugary, drenched in soy sauce and served in bowls.
That is said to be the origin of Shanghai cuisine, which has become more refined, but is still oily, sugary and filled with soy sauce.
Li Mingfu started to learn cooking at the age of 20, from his father’s friend. After graduating from high school, Li became a Chinese lute (pipa) player at the local cultural center. He didn’t intend to develop his career in the kitchen.
When the cultural center decided to open an eatery, Li was asked to join because of his family’s well-known history.
The beginning was all tedious — slicing tofu and raw meat into thin pieces, over and over. Li was a quick learner and in three months of painstaking practice, he got the hang of it.
“Cooking is a deep-rooted tradition in my family and for me it’s natural,” he says.
Two years ago he opened a small, simple restaurant in Sanlin and diners from around the city regularly show up. On a typical day, seniors in their seventies go directly to their table and order without looking at a menu.
“I have many customers like this,” Li says. “Yesterday an elderly customer told me that the zou you rou had reminded him of his childhood. In the past, this was food that would make your day but now people barely eat it or make it at home. Some food fades out of our lives.”
Li’s food is affordable.
“Most diners are middle-aged or older and I want everyone of them to feel satisfied with my food that tastes exactly like dishes in their early days,” he says.
The dishes may not be delicate in presentation but they are authentic.
Now many cooks add cornstarch to thicken soup, but Li prefers the old-fashioned way of long, slow, low-heat cooking until it’s thick and flavorful.
All the dishes are fried and stirred in a big, traditional iron pan.
There’s no big secret to Sanlin benbang dishes, Li says, it takes patience, careful slicing and the precise control of heat. Fried shrimp in soy sauce should be deep-fried in boiling oil at 300 degrees Celsius for less than a minute to ensure it’s crispy outside and tender inside.
Li has several apprentices but has stopped taking on new ones. His son is a successful chef working at a well-known Shanghainese restaurant in Huangpu District.
“This cooking method isn’t hard but it requires hard work and a lot of patience,” Li says. “When they acquire a little more knowledge, many young cooks stop practicing and learning. They job-hop and start tinkering with time-tested recipes.”
Sanling Benbang Restaurant
Address: 66 Zhonglin Rd, Sanlin Town
Tel: 5077-1717
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