The historical origin of braised chicken
There are various opinions about the origin of braised chicken in Dezhou, such as: "The watermelon in Dezhou is the seedling in Wucheng, and the braised chicken in Dezhou is the soup in Yucheng", which means that braised chicken in Dezhou originated in Yucheng (county-level city); There are also rumors that braised chicken in Texas is the result of continuous refining and summary by roast chicken merchants in Texas. And every sentence has an allusion.
At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, with the busy grain transportation, Dezhou became the imperial road for Kyoto to reach nine provinces. The economy began to prosper, and roast chicken appeared on the market. Old people selling roast chicken often appear near canal docks, flood control and drought relief stations and city offices with baskets. This kind of roast chicken is a delicious roast chicken made by hand: the shape lies on its side, the color is bright and delicious, and the meat is tender and delicious. As the embryonic form of braised chicken, it appeared. With the development of economy, Dezhou entered its heyday and became one of the 33 big cities in China. The land and water arteries are crowded with merchants, and the goods from the four townships are distributed here, resulting in a situation of "tourists from south to north are like clouds, restaurants and inns are like forests". Roast chicken is not only seen at the dinner table, but also "stepped into" society. There are many people selling roast chicken with suitcases on their arms. Xu Jia, who was originally named after Jia Jia, was later known as "Xu Roast Chicken" and Zhang in the west. And it is not uncommon to open a shop in front of the door. Of course, people who eat roast chicken at this time are only limited to dignitaries, businessmen and rich people, and ordinary people can only look at the chicken and sigh. But the inventors and producers of roast chicken are the real working people. In order to support their families, they worked hard to run a bleak business and made contributions to society. Later, the chicken gizzard was developed, and the original chicken culture was produced in the narrow family workshop and in the ancient and extensive technological process.
In the 31st year of Kangxi (AD 1692), an artist named Jia cooked roast chicken in the street outside the west gate of Dezhou City. He runs a roast chicken shop. Because this street leads to the canal pier, small business is not bad. One day, shopkeeper Jia had something urgent to go out. He told Xiao Er to put down the fire. I didn't know that the shopkeeper Jia had left, but the boy quickly fell asleep in front of the stove and woke up to find that the fire had been cooked. When the shopkeeper Jia came back, he wanted to fish out the chicken and sell it in the store. Unexpectedly, the smell of chicken is very attractive, attracting many passers-by to buy it. The guests were full of praise when they bought it: not only the meat was rotten and fragrant, but even the bones were crisp and fragrant when chewed. It can be said that it is really fragrant. Later, Jia shopkeeper devoted himself to studying and improving his skills. This led to the original practice of braised chicken, that is, cooking with big fire and stewing with small fire. In the present words, one should take one's temperature first, and then take one's words. Wu Wen is orderly. Therefore, braised chicken is also called "roast chicken". Jia Jia Chicken is very famous, so our regular customers suggested giving it a name. Boss Jia can't think of anything himself. A few days later, I suddenly remembered that there was an old scholar named Ma in the street and thought he would have a good name. So I wrapped two steaming chickens in lotus leaves and walked quickly to Ma Xiucai's house in Liukou Street, Majia, asking the scholar to name the chickens. Ma Xiucai tasted the chicken, asked how to do it, and recited it while tasting it. He blurted out: "when you shake your flesh and blood in the heat, the strange fragrance comes unexpectedly;" Provoked the old man to stretch his five fingers, and the entrance teeth stayed in Tenshindon for a long time. " After the poem was sung, he blurted out, "What a spiced braised chicken!" The following year, 1693, Jia mentioned braised chicken for sale at the Lantern Festival, which sold well and gained great fame. Since then, there has been a situation in Dezhou where roast chicken and braised chicken are produced and sold at the same time.
With the opening of Jin-Pu Railway and Shide Railway, the operation of braised chicken in Texas has entered a prosperous period, showing the scene of "a hundred schools of thought contend". Shopkeepers passed on their skills for their own prosperity, and secretly "stole" skills from each other, which objectively contributed to the substantial improvement of braised chicken production skills. At this time, most of the braised chicken shops are concentrated in front of the railway station square, with shops, stalls and stalls scattered all over the place. Walking in the street smells delicious and makes people drool. The descendants of braised chicken in this period were mainly represented by Bao Lanzhai braised chicken shop Hou and braised chicken shop Han Shigong, as well as five families (all from Dezhou) who followed Jia and Xu's production sites. Han Shigong is a businessman, not good at talking and thinking about processing skills. In practice, he fumbled and summed up the previous experience in making roast chicken and braised chicken, improved the technology, increased the ingredients, and made great efforts in washing and frying chicken, especially in stewing. At first, it was himself, and in the middle, he cooperated with Cui to open a braised chicken shop called. Finally, Zhang Jintang, Zhang Jingui and Duanmu Zhao Rong opened a Sihe store called "Center Zhai". Several people cooperated, learned skills, abandoned roast chicken and specialized in braised chicken, which laid a solid foundation for the further development of braised chicken technology and played a role in connecting the past with the future. At this time, due to the extension of trains in all directions, sales expanded to Northeast China, Central Plains and South China, with an annual sales volume of 300,000 vehicles.
"Singing a rooster is all white on earth." The establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC) has brought new vitality to the braised chicken industry. Braised chicken shops have grown to more than 30, with an annual sales of more than 400,000 braised chickens. The names of Zhai Deshun, Baolanzhai, Shenglanzhai, Fushun Zhai and Zhongxinzhai appeared. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the braised chicken industry embarked on the road of cooperation. Dezhou braised chicken joint venture is composed of more than 20 braised chicken descendants, and then set up a platform sales department to specialize in braised chicken in the station.
1956, the descendants of braised chicken walked into the door of state-owned enterprises (Dezhou Company, China Food Company) with the food industry. In these times, the descendants of braised chicken also brought their skills into the company. The leaders of the company attach great importance to these highly skilled Texan braised chicken successors and improve their enthusiasm and wisdom. With their unique skills and skills, this authentic product has been continuously developed under the attention and protection of state-owned food enterprises. In the same year, the first "National Food Exhibition and Evaluation Meeting" was held in Beijing, the capital of China, and the spiced boneless braised chicken in Dezhou was the exclusive style. Zhang Shulin and Cui Changqing, descendants of Dezhou Braised Chicken, showed their skills at the scene. The press and gourmets praised Texas braised chicken as "the first chicken in China".
At present, Shandong Dezhou Braised Chicken Group has gradually developed into a provincial-level enterprise group focusing on poultry breeding, meat and egg processing, catering service and food management. Dezhou Paji was awarded as "China Famous Trademark" and "China Time-honored Brand", and the Group was awarded as "China Top 50 Enterprises in Meat Industry".