Tan Jiacai is the family feast of Tan zongjun, a bureaucrat in the late Qing Dynasty. Because it was the top dish in Tongzhi's two years, it was also called "top dish". It is a representative of the official cuisine, integrating Guangdong cuisine and northern cuisine. Its flavor is suitable for both north and south, especially for cooking seafood. Tan's cooking methods are mainly burning, stewing, simmering, relying on and steaming. "They are good at making dry products" and "they are good at cooking sea eight delicacies in high soup and old fire". After integrating the cooking techniques of the East, the west, the north and the south, and the government and the marketplace, it has become a school of its own, thus creating a peak of Chinese cuisine, which is also known as the three famous official cuisines of China, together with "kongfu cuisine" and "Suiyuan cuisine".

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the early period of the Republic of China, Kyoto-Beijing, all parties gathered to promote the development of culinary culture. As a result, in addition to Gongting dishes, Guanfu dishes, which are unique flavor dishes created by cooking teams privately owned by large and small officials, have developed rapidly. As far as the 1920s and 1930s were concerned, there were three most famous private cooks in Beijing, namely the "Duan Jia Cai" in the military, the "Ren Jia Cai" in the banking, and the "Wang Jia Cai" in the finance. At the time, it was said that "private chefs are better than restaurants." But these private dishes also rose and fell with the rise and fall of the lords of these mansions, and finally failed to spread. What really passed down came from small and medium-sized bureaucratic families, such as Tan Jiacai and Kangle restaurants. Tan Jiacai was founded by the father and son of bureaucrat Tan Zongjun at the end of the Qing Dynasty and at the beginning of the Republic of China. Tan Zongjun, Zi Shuyu, a native of Nanhai, Guangdong. His father Tan Ying was a famous scholar in the Qing Dynasty. He was knowledgeable, wrote many books, and taught many students. Tan Zongjun entered the Hanlin in 1875 (Thirteen Years of Tongzhi) at the age of 27, entered the Hanlin, supervised Sichuan, and served as a deputy examiner in Jiangnan.

Tan Zongqing, the son of Tan Zongjun, pays more attention to diet than his father. When Tan Zongjun left Beijing to serve as a foreign official, Tan Aoqing also went with him. He dabbled in various local dishes and accumulated abundant recipes. In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the general officials and eunuchs were enthusiastic about Guangzhi Tianzhi, but the Tan family and son still deliberately ate. The hostess of the Tan family is good at cooking. In order to continue to improve their cooking skills, they do n’t hesitate to invest heavily in hiring celebrity chefs to learn the skills in the cooking process. In this way, the Tan family continued to absorb the strengths of famous chefs of various schools, and successfully combined southern cuisine (especially Cantonese cuisine) with northern cuisine (especially Beijing cuisine), and strived for excellence and created a unique school. In the later period of Tan Zongjun, his career was not smooth and he returned to his hometown in Guangdong, where he died in depression. In the period of Xuantong (1909), Tan Zongjun, son of Tan Zongjun, came to Beijing again and served as the secretary of the Ministry of Communications, the Pingsui Railway Bureau, the General Education Department, the General Administration of Internal Affairs, the General Administration of Industry, and the Supervision Office. At that time, society respected the old celebrities more than anything. Tan Youqing had no parties and no factions. The political turmoil seemed to have nothing to do with him. No matter which faction was in power, he could always get a casual job. Speaking of being a secretary, he doesn't do official documents, but just gives people a life order, a couplet, etc., and accompanies those old bureaucrats who claim to be elegant and elegant to write poems, sing songs, and enjoy flowers and wine. It's a veritable helper. Despite his family's disappointment, Tan Aoqing did not change her eating habits at all. He likes to make friends, drink good food, and pay attention to the various hobbies of painting and calligraphy, making the Tan family still full of high-end friends every day, and the feast is always open. As a result, Tan Jiacai has further developed and its reputation is rising day by day. Until later, Tan Bingqing would rather sell a house to raise money for a banquet, and never expressed a slight backlash at the banquet. However, Tan Aoqing finally fell to such a point; he had to take out his famous Tan Jiacai to operate in disguise in order to earn some income and subsidize more and more subsistence households. But this has further developed Tan Jiacai. Although Tan Aoqing is called "Tan Food", he does not cook on the stove. The true cook of Tan Jiacai has always been the hostess of the Tan family and the few home cooks. Since Tan Zongjun, the hostess of the Tan family has been good at cooking. When Tan Yuqing returned to Beijing during the Xuantong period, the two aunts brought by Guangdong were also cooking experts. Tan Aoqing's first auntie died early. Later, the one who independently supported Tan Jiacai has been the wife of the third aunt. The third aunt's name is Zhao and her name is Lifeng. In the 1930s, when a newspaper in Beijing reported Tan Jiacai: "It is Mrs. Ru and the lady who are in charge of the stove, and the host is from the ups and downs." This Mrs. Ru refers to the wife of the third aunt, Zhao Lifeng. When Zhao Lifeng first came to Beijing, he was in his twenties, dignified and intelligent, clever and enlightened, and was a woman who was good at managing her family. She was born in poverty and never went to school. Because she was good at cooking vegetables, she was favored by the Tan family and accepted as a concubine. In terms of quickly mastering cooking skills, she seems to have a genius. Within a few years of arriving at the Tan family, she basically mastered the cooking secrets passed down by the Tan family. After coming to Beijing, she even learned a lot of cooking skills from famous chefs in Beijing. At that time, Tan's family was still very rich, and there was a party every day; Tan Aoqing often spared a lot of money to hire famous chefs to come home and let Zhao Lifeng take this opportunity to learn to cook new dishes. At that time, celebrity chefs generally had three or four best dishes, and Mrs. Zhao Lifeng, the third aunt's wife, was watching the celebrity chefs' best dishes and tried everything she could to learn. In this way, Zhao Lifeng not only became the master of Tan Jiacai, but also widely absorbed the specialties of the famous chefs of various schools in Beijing, so that Tan Jiacai developed to a new level. Jinghua

After Tan Jiacai gradually flowed into the society, more and more people were attracted by its unique delicacies, so the public praised it, became famous, and even said that the food world is full of praise. At that time, when ordering Tan's house banquet, one must entrust someone who knew Tan Tanqing well. The price for each table seat is around one hundred dollars. This price, the general middle-class family is afraid to care about. However, Beijing has always been the first district of goodness, with a gathering of humanities and gathering of people from all walks of life, "it has the same taste for taste" and naturally wants to try Tan Jiacai. Eat well the first time, and want to come the second time. Therefore, Tan Jiacai's business has never been light. Some people living in other places also have to find ways to eat Tan's food as soon as possible. For example, the famous painter Zhang Daqian greatly appreciated Tan Jiacai and had a close friendship with Tan Aoqing. When he lived in Nanjing, he repeatedly asked people to buy the "Yellow Braised Shark's Fin" at the Tan's home, which was immediately airlifted and served. At the beginning, the Tan family only held a banquet in the evening, only two or three tables at a time. Later, at noon, I had to prepare a banquet. As recorded in the book "Beijing in the Past 40 Years": Tan Jiacai "The more and more famous, the ear eaters are shocked by the nobleness of their price. I feel that it is a darling to treat guests with Tan Jiacai. After getting it, it was not only "Xu Xi", but also "Xu Day", it was not too late to book a seat after a month. " At that time, some people also made a "Tan Food", the lyrics actually named Tan Aoqing's name as "Tan Food" by homophonic. "Tan Food Song" is very long, and one of the sections is dedicated to food. It is very vivid and salivating, and it becomes a precious material for us to study the history of Beijing's diet. Tan Jiacai is expensive, but the bird's nest shark fin, mountain treasures and seafood are all good dishes; all utensils, antiques, are ancient porcelain on the top; one living room, three dining rooms, furniture are rosewood rosewood; antiques are full of shelves, bonsai exquisite , The four walls are celebrity calligraphy and paintings; the room is elegant and floral, well-equipped, it is not comparable to ordinary restaurants. Therefore, anyone who has eaten Tan Jiacai is said to be "not a waste of money." There is an unwritten rule to eat Tan Jiacai. That is, no matter how high the power of the diner, you have to walk into the Tan Jiamen to eat Tan Jiacai, and the Tan Jia will not go out. On one occasion, Wang Jingwei came to Beijing to feast on Beijing celebrities in the newly built Hutong Shangzheng Mansion and informed Tan Aoqing that he hoped that the Tan family would come out for an outing. Tan Aoqing declined. Later, the two parties compromised. Tan Yuqing agreed to make two dishes for Wang, one "braised shark wings" and one "purple abalone in oyster sauce", but they were all delivered by the Tan family's kitchen after the Tan family made it. As for going out of business, Tan Aoqing never responded. Sweet and salty

In the food industry, there is always a saying that "sweet and sweet". Tan Jiacai is usually half of sugar and salt in cooking. It is sweet and fresh, and salty and fragrant. The dishes made have a moderate taste and are delicious. Both southerners and northerners love to eat. Another characteristic of Tan Jiacai's taste is the emphasis on authenticity. Tan Jiacai rarely uses spicy pots such as peppercorns, and rarely sprinkles seasonings such as pepper powder after the dishes are made. When you eat Tan's dishes, you should pay attention to the taste of chicken when you eat chicken, and try the fresh fish when you eat fish. You must not use other peculiar smells or strange smells to interfere with the original taste of the dishes. When braising dishes, you should never add soup or juice, otherwise, you won't be able to talk about the original juice. These unique features of Tan Jiacai were so appreciated by a group of old gluttons that they were fascinated and fascinated. Tan Jiacai's cooking characteristics are full of heat, strong ingredients, soft and rotten dishes, and easy to digest. Tan Jiacai is a family dish, which focuses on slow cooking, unlike the dishes in general restaurants. For business needs, most of them are in a hurry. Therefore, in Tan Jiacai, the most common cooking methods are roasting, braising, braising, steaming, grilling, frying, roasting, and soup, etc. The dishes that are rarely stir-fried, and do not pay attention to shaking the spoon Turn the spoon and other technologies. There are four fire eyes in Tan's kitchen. Two fire eyes: one is for cooking dishes, and one is for steamer; the other two small fire eyes: one is for dishes, and the other is for roast pork. The stove is burned with hard coal and has good firepower. At any time in the kitchen, it is always clean and orderly, and you can never hear the sound of the scoop in the restaurant. The so-called cutting is ruthless, but it refers to how much cutting is needed when hanging soup. All the traditional Chinese dishes are relied on by the chef ’s carefully prepared soup ingredients, especially for the cooking of shark fin, bird ’s nest, bear paw and other rare seafood. Tan Jiacai's clear soup is made from whole chicken, whole duck, pork knuckle, scallops, Jinhua ham and other raw materials. Its soup is clear and rich, extremely delicious. Because the soup hung out is good, the dishes cooked are even more delicious. Tan Jiacai is very soft and tender, especially suitable for the elderly. In fact, those who often come to the Tan family for dinner are often those who are old-school, celebrities, and old bureaucrats. They pay attention to careful taste and like soft and rotten dishes. The Tan family dishes are just the right dishes for them. Too. Of course, the so-called scorching feet are not the same for all kinds of dishes. For example, the white chopped chicken in Tan's dishes is simply cooked in boiling water, so there is no such thing as "scorching feet", but its tenderness is extraordinary and delicious. Therefore, it is impossible to generalize when Tan Jiacai is ready. As a housewife of the Tan family in the later period, Zhao Lifeng was not only the cook of Tan Jia Cai, but also the purchaser of Tan Jia Cai raw materials. In order to ensure the quality of Tan Jiacai, she always picks up baskets to go to the market every morning to purchase, non-genuine people do not buy. She specially packs a monthly car and goes out at six every morning. In the late 1930s, after Tan Jiacai opened its doors in disguise, raw materials such as chicken, duck, and fish no longer needed to be bought. They were delivered to the market every day, but the mountain and seafood flavors such as bird's nest and shark fins were still by Zhao Lifeng Go to the market to choose. Due to frequent purchases, she is very familiar with the shopkeepers of Juxingcheng Seafood Restaurant, Yichengyuan Seafood Restaurant, Taihefang Chicken Duck Shop and other shops. These shops have good goods and often stay for her, waiting for her to choose first. . Her ability to buy is very strong, which piece of shark fin has no sand, and which batch of abalone is of poor quality, she can see at a glance. For defective goods, she never buys them even if it is a big sale. The father and son of the Tan family have always been very fine and very picky when it comes to eating. They eat the bear's paw, they must choose the left front palm, because it is said that this palm is often licked by the bear, so it is particularly fat; eat shark fin must choose "Lu Songhuang"; eat abalone must choose the precious purple abalone. Tan Jiacai is most famous for the cooking of bird's nest and shark fin. In Tan Jiacai, there are more than ten kinds of cooking methods of shark fin, such as "three wire shark fin", "crab yellow shark fin", "casserole shark fin", "simmered shark fin", "soup shark fin", "sea braised shark fin" "and many more. These dishes are all produced by the family. The ingredients are affordable. The shark fins are soaked in cold and hot water without any fishy smell. After being prepared, the fin meat is soft and rotten, and the taste is very mellow. Of all the shark fin dishes, "Yellow Braised Shark Fin" is the best. This dish is made of precious yellow meat fins (ie Lu Songhuang). Pay attention to eating whole wings. A shark fin is braised on the fire for 6 hours. The shark's fin braised in this way is thick in juice, thick in taste, soft and sticky, and extremely delicious. The "clear soup and spinach" in Tan Jiacai is more unique. It does not take the method of raising the bird's nest with alkali. Although the bird's nest issued in that way is white in color and has a large amount, there will be a great loss of nutrition. In Tan Jia Cai, the practice of this dish is to soak the bird's nest with warm water for 3 hours, then rinse it repeatedly with clean water, and carefully select the bird's feather and impurities. After the bird's nest is soaked, place it in a large soup bowl, inject half a catty of chicken broth, steam it in a basket for 20 to 30 minutes, remove it and place it in a small soup bowl. Then boil the clear soup boiled with chicken, duck, elbow, scallop, ham and other ingredients, add the right amount of cooking wine, sugar, salt, mix with good taste, and put into the soup bowl, sprinkle a few finely cut each bowl The shredded ham is ready to serve. The soup is clear like water, slightly beige, delicious, the bird's nest is soft and unbreakable, and has high nutritional value. It is the masterpiece of Tanjia cuisine.