中华美食《舌尖上的中国》英语版
2012年06月02日
《舌尖上的中国》自5月14日热播以来，迅速成为吃货们的视觉盛宴。那些让你垂涎欲滴的中国菜，它们的英文表达你又知道多少呢？一起来底下的留言板聊一聊你钟爱的菜系，谈一谈你拿手的料理，八一八你尝过的美食吧~~
Beijing: Peking roast duck
北京：烤鸭
The cuisine: Generations of emperors and blue-blooded residents have set the standard for high-end Chinese cuisine. The city is famous for imperial cuisine, which uses only premium quality ingredients and is cooked with complex techniques.
烹饪风格：历代皇帝和贵族早已为高端的中式烹饪设定了标准。北京这座城市因其皇家菜肴闻名遐迩，这种菜肴仅选用上等食材佐料，并运用复杂的技巧烹饪而成。
The dish: A perfect kaoya is roasted to a reddish color; its skin remains crispy and the meat oozes a fruity flavor.
菜肴：最棒的烤鸭烤至淡红色，表皮酥脆，鸭肉口感圆润。
Qinghai province: hand-grabbed lamb
青海省：手抓羊肉
The cuisine: Qinghai's vast expanse of grassland produces some of the country's finest mutton and beef. While cooking, locals combine spice with twists of sweetness.
烹饪风格：青海辽阔的草原培育出了全国最上等的牛羊肉。当地人喜爱将香料加一丝甜味来做这道菜。
The dish: As a province with a large Islamic population, Qinghai contains a great variety of halal food.
菜肴：青海省的居民大都信仰伊斯兰教，因此当地有大量的清真食品。
Sichuan province: mapo doufu
四川省：麻婆豆腐
The cuisine: Sichuan is one of the most influential regional cuisines in today's China.
烹饪风格：现如今，川菜是中国最具有影响力的地方菜色之一。
The dish: Mapo doufu is named after its creator, a freckle-face woman from Chengdu who lived during the Qing Dynasty. No Sichuan meal is complete without it. The tofu is tender, the minced beef crispy, the scallions fresh. The sauce hits its numb and spicy notes with aplomb.
菜肴：麻婆豆腐是由这道菜的发起人——一个满脸雀斑的女人而命名的。她来自成都，居住在清朝时期。没有麻婆豆腐川菜就不完整。嫩豆腐，碎牛肉和鲜葱是这道菜的主要材料。其调料巧妙地实现了”麻“和”辣“的平衡。
Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region: big plate chicken
新疆维吾尔族自治区：大盘鸡
The cuisine: Uygur people like to show their hospitality by treating guests to heavy sauces on top of hearty meat dishes served on gigantic plates.
烹饪风格：维吾尔族人喜欢展现他们的热情好客，因此会将分量十足的鲜肉淋上丰富的佐料，然后放在一个巨大盘子里来招待客人。
The dish: Da pan ji features big chunks of chicken and potatoes cooked in a beer-based sauce and garnished with colorful bell peppers.
菜肴：大片鸡块，由啤酒佐料拌煮的土豆，再装饰上色泽鲜艳的甜椒，别提多美味了！
Yunnan province: over-the-bridge rice noodles
云南省：过桥米线
The cuisine: Yunnan cuisine is heavily influenced by Sichuan, meaning locals have a yen for spicy food.
烹饪风格：受到川菜的影响，当地人也非常喜爱吃辣味。
The dish: Allegedly invented by a virtuous wife who wanted to keep her soup noodles fresh and hot for her hard-studying husband, this Yunnan specialty is nutritious and often beautifully presented. The dish normally comes with a bowl of rice noodles, a bowl of stock and more than a dozen of small plates piled with toppings, such as beef, crab meat, salted goose, oyster mushrooms, wooden-ear mushrooms, assorted vegetables and fragrant herbs.
菜肴：据称，这道菜是由当地一位非常贤惠的妻子制成，由于她的丈夫在外努力工作，因此她用了特别的方式使面条长久保鲜保热。这道云南特色菜营养丰富，呈现方式也非常新颖。一般来说，这道菜配备有一碗米线，一碗高汤和几打装有各种配料的小盘子，例如牛肉，蟹肉，盐水鸭，牡蛎，木耳，然后辅以蔬菜和香草制成。
Chongqing: chili-fried chicken cubes
重庆：辣子鸡
The cuisine: Even compared with food from Sichuan, China's mecca of spicy dishes, Chongqing cuisine scores high in spiciness and numb-inducing ingredients.
烹饪风格：即使常常拿来和川菜作对比，重庆仍旧是当之无愧的中国辣菜圣城，在麻辣程度上重庆菜首屈一指。
The dish: La zi ji combines crispy chicken breast cubes with a fireplace of peppercorn, toasted sesame and dried bird's-eye chilis to create a plate of hot, red deliciousness.
菜肴：辣子鸡是将酥脆的鸡胸脯块与干胡椒、芝麻和干辣椒一同翻炒，从而做出一盘子火辣辣红彤彤的美味。
Hubei province: three delicacies wrapped in tofu skin
湖北省：三鲜豆皮
The cuisine: Three words sum up Hubei cuisine: steamed, fishy and soupy.
烹饪风格：“蒸、鱼、汤”这三个字就可以总结湖北菜。
The dish: Sanxian doupi is Hubei's answer to lasagna. The traditional breakfast from Wuhan is made with a delicious stuffing, a mixture of soft glutinous rice, egg, mushroom and pork, tucked into two pieces of tofu skin and then pan-fried until golden brown.
菜肴：三鲜豆皮是湖北的千层面。武汉的传统早点是用美味可口的馅儿做成的，软糯米，鸡蛋，蘑菇和猪肉混合，卷在两张豆皮里，然后放在油锅中炸至金棕色。
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《舌尖上的中国》
【片中菜名的英文翻译】
莲藕排骨汤：lotus root and rip soup
鱼头泡饼： bread soaked in fish head soup
炸藕夹： deep-fried lotus root sandwich
腌笃鲜：bamboo shoot soup with fresh and pickled streaky pork
烤松茸：roasted matsutake
油焖春笋：braised bamboo shoot
酸菜鱼：boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chili
香煎马鲛鱼：decocted mackerel
酸辣藕丁：hot and sour lotus root
葱油椒盐花卷：steamed twisted rolls with scallion and spicy salt
馒头：steamed bread
干炒牛河：stir-fried rice noodles with beef
腊汁肉夹馍：Chinese hamburger
羊肉泡馍：pita bread soaked in lamb soup
兰州拉面：Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles
岐山臊子面：Qishan minced noodles
端午粽子：zongzi
青菜炒年糕：rice cake stir-fried with vegetables
毛蟹炒年糕：rice cake stir-fried with crabs
扁豆焖面：braised noodles with lentil
山西焖面：Shanxi braised noodles
清明团子：sweet green rice ball
鲜虾云吞面：won ton noodle with shrimps
大煮干丝：raised shredded chicken with ham and dried tofu
豆腐脑：tofu curd
香炸奶豆腐：fried dried milk cake
蒙古奶茶：Mongolia milky tea
炸乳扇：fried dairy fan
烤羊排：baked lamp chop
红烧毛豆腐：stinky tofu braised in soy sauce
绍兴醉鸡：Shouxing chicken in wine
酸菜白肉：pickled Chinese cabbage with plain boiled pork
酸菜饺子：dumpling of pickled Chinese cabbage
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《舌尖上的中国第一集：自然的馈赠》 Episode 1 Gift of Nature
《舌尖上的中国第二集：主食的故事》 Episode 2 The Story of Staple Food
《舌尖上的中国第三集：转化的灵感》
《舌尖上的中国第四集：时间的味道》
《舌尖上的中国第五集：厨房的秘密》
二、中英文台本
第一集《自然的馈赠》
Episode 1 Gift of Nature
China have the world's most strange natural landscapes, plateaus,mountains and forests, lakes and rivers, coastline. Such kind of geographical span is very good for the growth and reserve of species, which any of other countries don't have a lot of potential raw of food like China. To get the gift of nature, people collect, pick, dig, catch all year round. This episode will show the story about man and nature behind the delicious.
Shangri-la, in the nature hybrid forest of pine and oak tree, Zhuoma is looking for a sort of elf-like food——matsutake. Because the matsutake only have 2-day short fresh life, businessmen have to do with sophisticated processing with the fastest speed on the matsutake. Then, after 24hours a kind of this matsutake will soon appear in the markets in Tokyo.
At 3 a.m. in the habitat of matsutake, Zhuoma' father took zhuoma and her mather in a motorbike. After passing through the village, mother and daughter would walk into the virgin forest 30 km away. Heavy rain made all kinds of wild mushroom grow crazily, however, every Tibetan has a pair of sharp eyes. After digging out the mushroom, Zhuoma covered the hole quickly with pine needles on the soil. Only in this way, can keep the organization of mushroom from destroy. To continue the gift of nature, Tibetans follow the rules of forests in mind.
During 2-month period of mushroom pitching, Zhuoma and mom had made 5000 yuan back. This payment presents the reward of their hard work.
In the mao bamboo grove of Laobao, who comes from Zhengjiang, there used to have a biggest winter bamboo shoot in Suichang. Winter bamboo shoots hide under the soil, just like noting from the surface of the earth. As watching the color of bamboo leaves can Laobao knows the exact position where bamboo shoots are. It totally relay on his rich experience.
The way to retain freshness of bamboo is very hard. Bamboo shoots are only a kind of bud, which is the most vigorous part of the whole plant organism. Clever Laobao said it's very easy to protect winter bamboo shoots. Digging up the loose soil, covering the bamboo shoots in the holes again, preserving moisture. This way of covering makes use of nature and can retain freshness more than 2 weeks.
Winter bamboo shoots can be found in four major Chinese cuisines. Cooks prefer it also for its pure flavor, which is very easy to take in other taste. Lao Bao is now using the bamboo shoots to make a normal home dish of bamboo shoot soup. The main material of bamboo shoot soup with fresh and pickled streaky pork should have to be spring bamboo shoots, however, Lao Bao put the Suichang winter bamboo into use, which is 20 times higher than the winter bamboo shoots. Because Lao Bao thought it is only a small kind of dishes in his home.
In the northern part of mountain area of Dali in Yunnan province, many natural salt wells,which is an essential element of special food of mountain people, spread in the striking red sandstone. Lao Huang and his son is setting up a cooking range beside the brook. The job of the cooking range is to boil salt every winter.
In the market of Yunlong county in winter, Lao Huang and his son rushed to pick up the pork to make the ham. The pickle of ham began in the yard of old house. The pickle of Nuo Deng Ham is very easy. Lao Huang got rid of the extra pork, made the pork a kind of mellow and full ham, put liquor on it to kill bacteria, and then spread on the salt made home. During the pickle, rubbing and pressing are only be used in case the fiber is destroyed.
Even use the modern standard to make a decision, Nuo Deng Well Salt is still the top of salt. Although the place used to be rich of salt in the ancient times, we still believe Nuo Deng Salt is a valuable present to the mountain people from nature.
Shengwu and Maorong are twin brothers. Every September, they will come to the Jiayu county in Hubeing province, to pick up a kind of natural delicious food. This sort of plants live in the muds far away from the river. The root of what Maorong has dug is called lotus root, a kind of high produced vegetables in the lakes.
As a professional of digging lotus roots, every year Shengrong and Maowu will be out for 7months. As soon as the season of lotus roots picking up, they will get to the place where is rich of lotus roots from their own home in Anhui province. The high payment make Shengrong and Maowu are willing to do the hard job. People who pick up lotus roots like cold weather, not because it's easy to pick up in cold weather but that people who buy the lotus roots or eat it will be more and the price will be high.
There are still 5 months left to pick up a lake lotus roots. On the lake of Jiayu county, 300professionals keep working from sunset to sunrise every day. You will see the same picture year and year in every big province which is rich of freshwater lakes.
Nowadays, when we have the power to be far away nature and enjoy delicious food, we should be grateful to the people who use their hands and brain to make so many delicious food.
第二集《主食的故事》
Episode 2 The Story of Staple Food
China has diverse natural, conditions across its land. As a result, Chinese people living in different areas enjoy absolutely different but rich staple food. From the south to the north, the diverse staple food provide energy for human bodies. Moreover, they influence people's feelings towards the change of four seasons and enrich the lives of the Chinese.
The Ding Village in Shanxi is the most ancient village in the Central Plains. Housewives here are best at making food out of flour. Local people call the powdered cereals as flour.Cereal processing has a history of over 10,000 years. The most ancient millstone was unearthed just nearby. Today, millstones of the same shape are still being used. Millstones grind up cereals into powders. Sieve out the coarse grains. Then the real flour food appears.
Rich in mountains while lacking rivers, Shanxi is scarce in its vegetable varieties. Housewives cannot do much to enrich the non-staple food. So they figure out different ways of making flour food to increase the family's appetite. Flour is processed into various delicacies on the table.These diverse and delicate foods remind people of the women's nimble fingers and rich imagination.
When the women in the Ding Village are busy preparing a birthday feast, a fragrance of flour floats out from a cave house on the loess plateau. Huang Guosheng, a Suide native, just got a tray of yellow buns steamed. Processed by Huang, the glutinous millet becomes sweet and tasty. From the lunar November on, he would ride 1.5 hours to the county town every three days to sell the buns.
Suide County sits in the hilly-gully areas in Northern Shaanxi. Today, minor cereals and wheat are the main ingredients on the table. Local people make them into diverse dishes. Suide is rich in the glutinous millet resources. The yellow steamed buns are made with this main ingredient.
Due to its drought-enduring nature, glutinous millet became the most important crop on the loess plateau. It was planted along the Yellow River regions more than 8,000 years ago. If the glutinous millet is directly steamed, it doesn't taste good enough. But it used to be the most popular staple food for people in Northern Shaanxi.
There are two types of glutinous millets, the hard and the soft. Huang Guosheng mingles the two based on this proportion: 70% hard glutinous millets and 30% the soft kind, dip them in water over a night and then grind them up on a millstone. Then he would use a sieve to get rid of the rough grains. Huang firmly believes that the glutinous millet powdered by a machine lags far behind those ground up on his millstone.
Fried glutinous millet produces natural fragrance. That's a recipe that Huang feels most proud of. After kneading the glutinous millet flour, Huang would put it in a big jar for fermentation for a night. Experience taught Huang to wrap up the jars with quilts to make the buns tastier.
Huang's home, a cave house, is the most traditional dwelling format on the loess plateau in China. It has a history of over 4,000 years. For the hardworking farmers here, their basic wish is to renovate a cave into a home and marry a wife. That's how a life gets complete.
Huang and his wife can make 700 buns every time. Grinding up, kneading and fermentation, the whole process takes 3 days. The couple works from 3 a.m. through 9 p.m. Huang's buns are good-tasting. And Huang is an honest businessman. One yuan for each bun, no bargain. In the coldest two months of a year, Huang can sell 15,000 buns. Taking into account the cost, he can earn 8,000 yuan in a winter.
Huang has a son and a daughter. Both have settled down in the city. They no longer work on the farmland. But Huang doesn't want to leave. Living in his cave house and eating the food he plants, Huang feels satisfied with his wife.
For thousands of years, Chinese people gain food and clothing from the five cereals. The feel of satisfaction brought by these carbohydrates is just provided by millions of hardworking farmers like Huang.
In autumn, the ripe wheat decides the basic color of the land in North China. Wheat was introduced into the Central Plains through the Hosi Corridor. As it contains rich nutrition, it has been the most vastly planted crop in North China after a localization process of over 4,000 years. This species originated from West Asia and has become the most important staple food for the Chinese.
After the wheat flour ferments, people bake them in a specially-designed fire pit. This type of round pancake contains little water and can be preserved for a long time. They're the indispensable staple food for Uyghur families in all seasons.
In Kuqa, Xinjiang, people celebrate the Corban Festival with delicacies. Naan is the most favorite staple food for Uyghur people. The name originated from ancient Persian and has a history of over 2,000 years.
When they first emerged, steamed buns were called Chui cakes and steamed cakes. They are the most popular staple food in the Central Plains. Ancient Chinese people were inspired by the water boiling food theory. They made China the earliest country to cook with steam.
Five cereals in China have always been a changing concept. Around 2,000 years ago, the five cereals were namely rice, broomcorn millet, millet, wheat, and beans. But today, the three grains that rank top in terms of their production volumes are rice, wheat and corn. No matter how things have changed, the leading status of rice remains unchanged.
In the Dong language, Dimen means the origin of spring. Dimen Village sits at the origin of Qingshui River. It mostly rains throughout a year. Wu Shunyu is fetching rice from their own barn. Barn plays a vital role in the storage of rice. The barn of tile and wood structure was built above the water to prevent fire, mice and insects. The most ancient barn here has a history of 300 years.
The rice Wu Shunyu has fetched is with shells. The fresh taste of rice can be preserved with the shells. The rice Wu fetched today would be presented as a gift to a family in their village. In Dimen, after a woman gives birth and her baby reaches the age of one month, her parents-in-law would send her the betrothal gifts. That marks the official formation of a new family. Other women in the village would also send baskets with new rice and eggs. That represents the most sincere blesses for the newly-born.
Rice noodles are the most important rice product in Liping, Guizhou. They can be seen everywhere on the local markets. People here love the noodles in soup the most. Refined rice noodles in the spicy broth can be served for any of the three meals daily. Grind the dipped fresh rice into rice milk, that's the first step for Yang Xiuxia to make to rice noodles. Scoop out the milk, steam it. The rice milk is steamed on the boiling water, air dry it and store it. This is a typical rice noodle workshop in South China. As white as jade, the rice noodles preserve some warmth and produce the unique fragrance of rice. For every movement, they've repeated for hundreds of times.
Plowing a field in spring, hoeing and weeding in summer, harvesting in autumn and storing up in winter. Today, more than 65% of the Chinese eat rice. China is the earliest country to plant rice paddy. Some 7,000 years ago, rice paddy was grown in the Yangtze River areas. From the green rice shoots to the golden paddy, rice has been made into different foods based on people's diverse eating habits.
Guangzhou natives also love rice noodles, which are cooked similarly to Liping rice noodles. Around 150 years ago, rice noodles first appeared is Guangzhou. The rice noodles here are thinner and more transparent and they taste more tender and smooth. The most popular rice noodle product emong the Cantonese can be this stir-fried rice noodles with beef. This dish is a test of a Cantonese chef's basic skills. To make this dish perfect, chefs have to fry the noodles on vigorous fire. While frying the noodles evenly, chefs also have to guarantee the intactness of the noodles. People in North China like eating flour products. The noodles in the south are made of rice.
More than 1,000 years ago, China was divided by the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River in terms of the rural pattern: rice in the south and wheat in the north. Therefore, people in the south love eating rice and those in the north cannot live without wheaten food.
Thousands of miles away in Xi'an, this restaurant in the old city town is always filled with people waiting. What can keep the local people wait so patiently can only be the marinated meat in baked bun.
In Xi'an, this type of baked bun is the most widely accepted steple food. The marinated meat in baked bun in the most classic way to enjoy the buns. Marinated meat and baked bun are the perfect combination. The buns Xi'an people eat are baked on fire. The meat is made with 30-plus seasonings and is stewed with gentle heat. So it tastes soft and glutinous. The plain buns can better highlight the mellow meat.
Xi'an native Cao shi founded a band with a few friends. They sing in Xi'an dialects. Cao is a college teacher and also the lyric writer for the band. In this song, he lists dozens of local delicacies in ordinary people's loves in Shaanxi.
Xi'an was once the most prosperous city in the world. Thirteen dynasties set up their capitals here. People from around the world gathered here, bringing the place diverse delicacies. Today, Xi'an remains a heaven of staple foods for the Chinese.
Paomo, another staple food in Xi'an, originated from the baked buns. Based on their own preference, people can tear a bun into different sizes. As for Xi'an natives, this process is what they enjoy very much.
In Northwest China, chopped-up baked buns in lamb or beef broth is a perfect combination of staple food and soup. Another example can be the Lanzhou beef noodles. Lanzhou natives start their days with a bowl of beef noodles. With the Yellow River crossing the city, Lanzhou is home to over 1,000 Muslim noodles shops. Everyday, more than 1 million bowls of beef noodles are consumed. People have lavished praise on the tender and hot Lanzhou noodles.
One hundred years ago, a Hui ethnic person Ma Baozi poured the water, in which the beef and lamb livers were just boiled, into a pot. Noodles made in that pot won popularity immediately. The clarity of the beef broth is the way to check if the beef noodles are authentic. The best beef noodles should acquire the following five features: clear soup, clean white turnips, brilliant red chili oil, green parsley and yellow noodles. When kneading the flour, Ma Baozi creatively added some special water, whose main component is potassium carbonate. That made the flour more elastic. All the procedures are manual.
Ma Wenbin is the fourth-generation successor of Lanzhou beef noodles. He's been working in a noodle shop for 40 years. To pull the dough into noodles of different thickness, a chef needs to have extraordinary strong arms and also exquisite skills in controlling his strength. The same wheat and the same flour, but different noodles and different wonders are produced.
For the mouthfeel of noodles, people from the north and south have absolutely different requirements. The Cantonese like this type of slim noodles, which are completely different from Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles. These noodles taste crispy, elastic and chewy. Rice paddy gets ripe in Guangdong for up to three seasons out of a year. But that doesn't prevent the Cantonese from loving the noodles.
Duck eggs are applied in dough making. A bamboo is used to press against the dough. A person jumps while sitting at the other end of the bamboo. Thus, the dough can receive strength evenly. The thin flour can be made into noodles or wanton skin that have special elasticity. Stewing pig bones, ground fish and shrimp eggs for 3 hours, and the soup for the tasty wonton noodles is made.
Cantonese call noodles made with this traditional method bamboo noodles. This ancient method of dough pressing has been passed on for generations.
When making noodles, the Cantonese use bamboo while those in the Central Plains apply a rolling pole. Making dough is a skill that girls in the Central Plains must master. Noodles for breakfast and a banquet in the noon is the custom in Ding Village when people hold a birthday feast. To celebrate her husband's 70th birthday, Madame Wai got up early to prepare the flour food. The noodles are called longevity noodles. Why Chinese people eat noodles on their birthdays? How did noodles become the symbol of longevity? It is said that the shape of noodle is both long and slim. In Putonghua, long (chang) and slim (shou) is similar to the pronunciation of longevity (changshou). Noodles are the most popular staple food on birthdays for the Chinese.
At the birthday banquet in Ding Village, a ritual requiring the participation of all people is ongoing. Before eating the noodles, all the people pick out the longest noodle in their bowl and put it into the bowl of the one who celebrates the birthday. When be eats the bowl with all the long noodles carrying the villagers' best wishes, a birthday banquet can be regarded as complete.
People in Qishan, Shaanxi also eat noodles when celebrating birthdays. Qishan people would gather together and invite a Qin Melody troupe to perform. At this time, a towl of hot, sour and spicy Qishan saozi noodles is indispensable.
From early in the morning, a feast serving guests with noodles starts. As soon as the guests come, they'll get a bowl of noodles. Local chronicles say that Qishan saozi noodles originated 3,000 years ago. According to the local custom, people only eat the noodles but don't drink the soup.
The methods to make the ingredients for the Qishan saozi noodles are very particular. Meat is chopped into thin and even dices and dry-fried until they turn transparent. Add vinegar and chili and fry the meat on slow fire. The good-quality ingredients for Qishan saozi noodles are red in color, sour and spicy in the taste. The bright color and spicy taste are the essence of Qishan saozi noodles.
The trimmings for the noodles have five colors. Fungus and tofu mean black and white. Eggs represent wealth. Red carrot symbolizes a prosperous life. Garlic sprouts mean vitality. The five colors, red, yellow, green, white and black represent Qishan people's best wishes for life. For thousands of years, saozi soup has been boiling in every corner in Qishan Village. Qishan saozi noodles have become a wonderful art piece.
Qishan saozi noodles function as both the rice and the dishes. Such a combination of rice and dishes can also be found elsewhere in China.
第三集《转化的灵感》
Episode 3 Inspiration for Transformation
Taste is more important than anyting else as far as food is concerned. The Chinese have never restricted themselves to a certain tedious food list. With their understanding of food, the Chinese are always looking for an inspiration for change.
Once the clouds clear up, Yao Guiwen moves the split-bamboo baskets to the terrace. He and his wife have spent days making the tofu balls. Some tofu has already turned yellowish. But that's far from enough. Yao has to wait several days more. When it gets hard and shriveled and the skin turns black, then the tofu has matured. The change is because of fermentation.
Wang Cuihua tightly wraps the shapeless tender tofu with gauze and squeezes out the water. Then the tofu takes shape. There is no time to lose. The fresh tofu will quickly turn sour. It means Wang has to work very quickly without rest.
A basin of charcoal fire of proper heat will be the key to Yao's work in the afternoon.
Jianshui in Honghe Prefecture of Yunnan Province was named Lin'an in ancient times. It was once an important city in southwest China during the past 1200 years. Its brilliance has gradually faded with the passage of time. Just like many other towns in Yunnan, Jianshui is a multi-ethnic settlement. Different cultures have merged here, conjuring a unique atmosphere.
The tough tofu quickly inflates in the heat of charcoal fire. It reminds people of fermented flour. People of Jianshui like enjoying this special air-dried and fermented flavor. People can enjoy the tofu with varied sauces. But for Yao, the texture of tofu is the most important.
Tofu easily ferments in the warm weather of the river valley area. And the mildly dry air prevents it from rotting. Yao is more sensitive than anyone else to the subtle relations between wind, water, sunshine and tofu.
This is the famous Daban Well of Jianshui. Beside the well, women set up a production line of tofu by just using their fingers.
Water is a necessity in every procedure of making tofu. With a total of 128 wells in Jianshui, local residents are well versed with water. The Chinese believe water nourishes the spirit and mind up people. Just like water to tofu, the common points speak for themselves.
The ancient town of Shiping is less than 40km from Jianshui. Tofu here has a completely different look. The finished product is shockingly big. But it's unusually tenacious. And it almost doesn't crumble. A dash of salt can best preserve the tofu's freshness.
Yunnan has never been a major soybean production area, but it has a long history of making tofu. One corn for one piece of tofu. There is a tacit agreement between the buyer and the seller.
For the past 3 decades, Yao's tofu stall has never been quiet. It takes half an hour to walk from the stall to home and Yao has to go across almost the entire town. The rapid development has changed many aspects of Jianshui. As time goes by, some variables have disappeared and others, altered. And new ones are added. But there are some that stand the tests of time and remain.
The Yao's life centered on tofu is watery and hard. The biggest wish of the husband is to fish in the big lake far away. He has no merits but only shorcomings. To the couple, every piece of tofu is precious. It help them to support their children and sustain a happy family life.
In the past over 1,000 years, with rounds of northern immigration, tofu, the representative of central China's food culture, has taken roots in the abundant land on the south-west border. And it has developed its unique disposition. The production details remind us of the hinterland of central China that is thousands of miles away. There, from birth to prosperity, tofu has enjoyed a history of 2,000 years.
Hu Xuebing is on his way to the county town. He needs to sell his tofu at the morning market.
Shouxian County is an old little town in the north Anhui province, people there has a special attachment to tofu. They believe their ancestors invented the great tofu. In middle October, soybeans in north Anhui have already been ripped and stored tofu made with newly harvested soybeans has always been the most popular in China's thousands years old history of agriculture. Soybean has long occupied an important position among the well-known legumes. Soybean is the richest in protein. So for the cheapest sustenance, but it was once in an awkward position. Cooked soybeans failed to wet people's appetite and to make matter's worse caused flatulence people urgently need to find the best way to consume soybeans.
The white power on scale is gypsum, the key to turn soy milk into tofu. Hu Xuebing can use gypsum as skillfully as his ancestors.When the denatured protein meets the gypsum, the boiling soymilk quickly coagulates. The change is so drastic that it can be see in a blink of eye in ancient days.
Gypsum often appeared in secret scriptures of Chinese war locks. It is said that was how the relation between gypsum and tofu originated started.Over 2000 years ago, Liu An, the king of Huanan was addicted to alchemy when nurturing a mortal pill in soymilk. He happened to add some gypsum in it. Many people believe that's how tofu was invented, regardless of whether the reality was as dramatic as the story. Chinese must be coping for a long time before finally making tofu a great food of china. The invention of tofu however completely changes the fate of soybeans.
[en]The great flexibility tofu offers a huge space for the imagination of the Chinese well-known for color its skill. The disadvantages of soybeans were eliminated by reason or unconsciously. As the ancient Chinese transform soybeans into tofu, the value of soybeans protein to human body reach the climax for the invention of tofu. Chinese cooks' understanding of tofu will often take you by surprise. May be it is also correct to say that the Chinese are showing their adaptability through tofu, and thus, soybean has been sublimated.The milky juice arouses many thoughts in our mind.
On the vast grassland of north China,the Mongolian nomads are nourished by another flowing delicacy. In late September, the green cover is fading on Uzemchin grassland. Mengke and his family are seizing the last days of grazing before the bitter winter arrives. The chill is felt in the late autumn of grassland; dried cow manure can make the fire burn up.
Milk tea is always a must for breakfast. Brick tea, butter, stir-fired millet and fresh milk are the important ingredients for making milk tea. Milk curd was made several days ago. Milk tea and curd are indispensable for people living on the grassland. They provide vitamins and minerals that can't be gained from vegetables and fruits.
Grassland has the magical power to make tings simple. Mudu the cattle of Mengke, is in the lactation period, to get fresh milk from the cow, Mengke's mother, has to get permission from the cow. Fresh milk no longer ferments as easily as during the warm days. The mother must hurry to make the milk curd as food reserve for the long winter. The sour cream on the surface is carefully ladled out and the cream is very precious. Fermented milk curdles protein and whey is separated when heated. The whey, though, won't be wasted as it best for feeding livestock. You have to keep stirring the juice, so that the curdled milk won't stick to the pot. When the whey is fully separated, the hot curdled milk is put into moulds. Mengke offers the fresh milk curd to his grandfather. It’s the best delicacy.
Heading straight south, an almost identical scene is happening in Yunnan thousands of miles away. Thick and heavy chopsticks are moved vigorously. A smooth curdled "milk lump" has soon be rolled after several moves; the lump is dragged into a sheet which is then rolled up onto the bamboo rack by the wall.
In far away Dali, Yunnan, a similarly method is adopted by the Bai minority to transfer milk Rushan, made from milk are hung and air dried in the yard just like giant wind chimes.
Over 800 years ago, during the reign of Kublai Khan, the expeditionary Mongolians arrived and settled in Yunnan. They brought dairy products from their home. Unexpectedly, the way to transform milk has been passed down and still prosperous even today.
Mother takes the hardened milk curd out of the wooden box. Dried milk curd can be preserved for an extremely long time. Meat is a luxury as livestock is so precious. Dairy products have almost become the main food on the grassland.
This is a Mongolian restaurant in downtown Beijing. The mouth-watering roast lamb back is the top choice for dinners here. It easily reminds us of the food lifestyle on the grassland, but to people living in the depth of the grassland, milk products are more close to their real life.
Rain brings the temperatures down to freezing. Mengke's second elder sister has found the lost lamb in the bush. Lamb tock are family assets and part of the nomads' life.
Mengke has changed into his new winter robe. Hot tea and milk curd keep him warm, and the milk products will continually provide calories to sustain the entirely morning's herding. The telescope is the legacy of his grandfather's. Mengke lost his father at the age of three. He learned to herd with his grandfather. His grandfather has told him that it's good enough to be a qualified herdsman. Host poling in hands, Mengke threw himself on the horse, feeling full of strength.
Out the grassland, herding is substituted by farming. Without the conditions for grazing cattle and sheep, people choose to cultivate the limited land. Dairy products have failed to hold this position in kitchens of central China. People living in farming culture have shifted their eyes to other plant resources to obtain precious protein. It was revolutionary for the Chinese to gain protein from plants. To the Chinese who historically had insufficient meat supply, the discovery is wisdom as well as luck.
In the ancient temple of Mount Tiantai, the monks are preparing the most important meal of a day. Monk has vegetarian diet. The monastic life is poor and simple, even dinning is a practice of Buddhism. In fact, only Han Buddhism in China includes vegetarian diet as its religious disciplines. That has deeply impact to traditional vegetarianism in China over the past 1000 years.
Originating from plants, tofu can follow the strict disciplines, and it provides the best possible nutrition for the body. Soybean is the only plant food that matches meat for protein quality. So to vegetarians, it's perfect despite its plainness.
Chinese tofu is given a certain spiritual quality. The ancient people praised it saying tofu has merits. Those who have tofu are contained within simple life, and those who make tofu understand as to let life take its course.
The unique geological environment and mild weather in southern Anhui have form calm and conserved qualities in its people, though so produced unique food. The strange food covered with white hypha is actually tofu. As the season for mass production has not yet arrive, the hairy tofu in Fang Xingyu's shop is a rare commodity worth holding. It will be sold out before noon.
The heavy hair covering tofu launches our imagination. We link it , for example, to animal, and there is indeed a life in it. The white thin hair is the hypha of mucor, which gives tofu a new vitality. It’s hard to believe how this food is actually made.
Today, Fang Xingyu has handed over most of the workshop to her elder daughter. Fang has begun to associate her future of the shop with her.
The surface of soybean milk gradually coagulates, which shows the soybean is rich in oil, but to produce hairy tofu, oil is not required.
Tofu skin is hung on the chopstick when air dried and become a by-product of hairy tofu. In other delicacy with a totally different texture, the key to produce hairy tofu is to add self-made "sour juice" into soymilk for fermentation. The sour substance can make soy protein clot. What's more important is that microorganisms flow into the milk with the pouring of sour juice. It's just like burying seeds into tofu.
No matter wherever you are in China making tofu is an extremely hard work. Family members sit down and out and leave the dinning table in succession. The elder sister is always the last one to come. Her sister will accompany her to finish the already cold dishes.To the mother and the elder sister, the tofu workshop has already become a major part of their lives.
Fang will not make hairy tofu in the sultry summer.We can't control the fermentation of tofu in sauna days.But in other seasons, the warm and humid environment in Huizhou makes microorganisms ferment properly. Fang hopes her daughter can learn and understand everything about making tofu.
The hair is actually fungi, the index showing whether the yeast and germs are growing harmoniously. It decides the progress of fermentation and whether the final product is delicious or not.
Huizhou people who are gourmets can truly appreciate hairy tofu. You can have it in a simple or complicated way. In the mind of old Huizhou people, a little bit of chilly sauce goes best with coal roast tofu. The interia of tofu is completely different. Mucor secretes proteinase making soy protein degrades into smaller molecules of peptones, polypeptide and amino acid. This series of transformations give tofu an incomparable flavor. Huizhou people call this strong flavor—a flavor of hometown.
The small grains among the hypha are spores, and an indication of the hairy tofu is properly matured. The clever Chinese are profession in using the microorganisms. In fact, the wisdom of transformation sparkled early in ancient times.
Wine is probably the earliest case of how people transform food with microorganisms. Huangjiu, literally meaning yellow wine brewed from rice, is one of the oldest wine in the world. It's the morning of Lidong, the start of winter. It has started to drizzle in Shaoxing. It's a good sign for wine makers. Yeast favors the long but mild coldness of winter in Jiangnan, south of the lower Yangtze valley.
The wine makers go in and out of the wine workshop getting ready for tributes of the sacrifice. This is the day to worship the god of wine; no one dares to slight it, even the best wine maker can not ensure he can brew the best wine every year due to the capricious weather, wind, air and fungi. Every year, the sacrifice is for the wine makers to show their reverence for nature.
Winter brewing is about to begin in Shaoxing, also located in the Guyuan region, Xiuning of Anhui is on the same latitude as Shaoxing. 73 years old Cheng Jingshun is busy brewing homemade glutinous rice wine. Brewing wine isn't difficult for old people.
In the abundant Jiangnan, rice is an indispensable part of life here. It's only natural to make several jars of wine to treat them and treat the guests as well as worship gods during the slack season of farming.
The cocoon shaped Jiuqu or fermentation starter, is the soul of wine making. Jiuqu is considered to be "the seed of yeast". A variety of the yeasts are laying in the mixture of rice powder and red….herbs. They are waiting for the perfect time to wake up.
Cheng mixes the crushed Jiuqu with glutinous rice. Jiuqu is a great invention of the Chinese people, the most ancient and effective attempt of human beings at taming microorganisms. This is the most important step of making wine which will bring about the most magical part of the transformation.
A deep hole is dug in the well mixed rice. Not a single grain of rice will be wasted. To distribute the last handful of Jiuqu powder, all the procedures are finished. Now we will just let time deal with the rest of the work. The moulds will change the starch into sugar. The yeast will turn the sugar into alcohol. We can almost hear the hilarious singing of yeast spreading from the darkness. The longer the time, the more fragrant the wine will become. Huangjiu's flavor is thick and strong, and it stays for long.The Chinese can taste both the "tenderness" and the "toughness" in the wine.
Huangjiu-drinking Shaoxing people are mild and moderate, and their persistence to the tradition has allowed them to enjoy the time on their flavor.Almost every household in Shaoxing has soy sauce. Soy sauce is a must in the lives of the Shaoxing people, which has already become the most distinctive taste identity of Shaoxing. All the food can be braised in soy sauce. Enough salt allows food to stay fresh in humidity. Food rolled in soy sauce gives us a special aroma. Local people call it the "cuisine of home".
Historically, Shaoxing has been a prosperous and abundant land. Even today, many people love to reside by the river enjoying a relaxed life.
The ancient town of Anchang, outside Shaoxing city, is built along the river. It's the season for making preserved meats. Bamboo poles of different length display their abundance. The sausage of Anchang is very famous in Zhejiang. Its good flavor is largely attributed to the locally brewed sauce. Dozens of giant jars standing in the yard of sauce shop. 56-year-old Ding Guoyun still works vigorously. The sauce is thick and stinky. Workers have to stir it with the fixed schedule to ensure the fermentation takes place evenly within the jar, and within the jar the microorganisms will restricted one another, one kind's lose is another's gain.
The jars have been through many repairs during the past several decades. The direct exposure in the sun can greatly stimulate the vitality of yeast, but rain could ruin everything. Time slips always in the repeated sound of lids of jars, being moved away and put back.
The sauce of China started the trend of human beings' history of fermentation. Several thousands of years had passed, and it has become a fundamental flavor on dinning tables in China.
In north China, the meaning of sauce is more straightforward. Only a little paste is left in the jar of Wang Yuying's. Enough salt ensures the sauce won't get frozen in sever winter. In chilly northeast China, quiet a long time, salt in a form of sauce, has provided a physical and psychological support for people.
3 months later, it will be time to make new soybean paste, but the preparation work will start now. The cooked soybeans are smashed in the pot. In northeast China, soybean is the only ingredient for making sauce. The monopoly is also a luxury.
Heilongjiang province boasts the most fertile black soil in China. The farm and the harvest here is short and hasty, but the place produces the best soybeans. On the heated bed, six hands work together to pile the smashed beans into shape. The taste of the paste can even be the standard to measure whether a housewife is qualified. The tightly wrapped warm paste is hung on the wall. Over the course of the next 2 months, it will quietly ferment, and when spring arrives, the transformation will get even more dramatic.
Under the powerful Siberian high winter in north China. It is more unbearable than any other places. Facing the sever chill, people will learn to adapt themselves. After a more than 30-day complicated fermentation, the Chinese cabbage in the jar has gained a whole new life. The northern people have an unaffected love for pickled cabbage. In the winter which lasts for nearly 7 months, the pickles have almost become a lifestyle. Squeezing out the sour water in the leaves, not only get rid of the bitterness but also make the cabbage taste crispier, the pickled cabbage gives out a pleasant and savory sour fragment that is the smell of lactic acid. After the fermentation, oxalate acid is discomposed. When dissolved in water, protein gives out peptide and amino acid which bring out this great flavor. The best partner of pickle cabbage is pork. Pickled cabbage subtly mutualizes the natural grease of pork. The caldron of northern Chinese doesn't enjoy a delicate look, but they content inside the caldron is just like the personality of the locals—straightforward and generous.
Today, the children are all come back to visit their parents. The pickled stuffed cabbage dumplings will be the main course for dinner.
Time flies as usual, and life remains prosperous. Another year has passed.
精华帖呀，要好好学习英文了
第四集以后的就没有了么