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September 29, 2016

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Local chef puts neglected dishes back on menu

By Xu Wenwen | September 29, 2016, Thursday | Print Edition

TO realize his dream of cooking authentic traditional Hangzhou dishes, chef Guo Lianbao ended his days of working for other restaurants and opened his own eight years ago.

Located on the narrow Huimin Road, Guo’s restaurant, Fu Yuan Ju, is easy to be overlooked with its nondescript exterior. But diners don’t come here for the decor. They’re lured instead by hard-to-find dishes that long ago vanished off menus at other local eateries.

Some of these now-obscure specialties include Hangzhou Fried Chicken, Hangzhou Crispy Duck and Fried Tofu Sheet Stuffed with Minced Pork; all of which were popular in the 1990s but have since faded from view.

“They were dropped because they’re complicated and time-consuming to make. Also the ingredients are common, so prices were set low,” remarked Guo on the decline of these dishes.

For example, to make Hangzhou Crispy Duck, Guo first massages an entire duck with pepper, scallions, ginger and local yellow wine, and then stuffs seasoning into the duck’s belly. After 90 minutes, the duck is moved to a steamer for a further 40 minutes. After cooling, it gets deep fried.

In the end, Guo’s Hangzhou Crispy Duck is meant to be tender enough to tear apart with chopsticks or fingers. Just as delicious is the price, with each duck selling for just 58 yuan (US$8.70).

“Back in the 1980s and 1990s, this would be the main dish at a feast,” recalled Zhao Jingfen, a customer of Guo’s in his 60s. “And it was one of the standards by which to evaluate a cook.”

Another factor behind the decline of this and other traditional dishes is the fact that many young cooks are migrants who lack experience with local food history and culture. Additionally, many practicing chefs and cooking instructors in China began their careers at a time when rare ingredients and fancy presentations trumped adherence to tradition.

A Hangzhou native, Guo entered a local cooking school in 1985, when he was only 15. When he became a cook three years later, the city’s restaurant scene was just starting to boom thanks to China’s reform and opening-up policies.

In this golden era, the young Guo studied traditional Hangzhou cuisine under a number of different teachers. However, it was also during this time that a new degree of superficiality started creeping into local restaurant kitchens, according to the chef.

“Some steps were saved, some unnecessary steps were added, and some difficult recipes were given up,” he said.

For instance, to give dishes a glistening appearance intended to impress diners, chefs would dress sauteed dishes with a starchy sauce that also covered the taste of the original ingredients. Guo says he prefers instead to add a bit of local rice wine for a flavor reminiscent of his childhood.

“Old methods are good, because only good things are passed down,” he said.

Guo’s Hangzhou Fried Chicken is a must order. The chef picks local free-range chickens for the softest, most tender meat. He boils each bird in salty water for less than one minute, and then fries it for a few minutes so the skin becomes crispy while the meat remains succulent.

To make the classic Hangzhou dish Dongpo Pork, he fries meat chunks first to bring the moisture out of the meat. He then adds soy sauce, yellow wine, sugar and water.

Guo compares fried meat to a dry sponge that absorbs whatever it touches, so soy sauce should be added first so the salty flavor and umami can enter into the meat. “I just cannot help shaking my head when I see young cooks add water first,” Guo said.

While Guo says he feels like it’s his duty to keep local food ways alive, he also lets his personal tastes guide his choices in the kitchen.

“I need to be responsible to myself first,” said Guo. “If I don’t like the dish, I don’t make it.”

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