China Gourmet Trip (12) - 9/26 Huai'an 淮安

The purpose for organizing this China Gourmet Trip in the beginning was due to a good friend Charlie's suggestion to visit his home town Huai'an(淮安) and attend the "Annual Chinese Huai Yang Gourmet Culture Festival" (中國淮揚菜美食文化節)held there every September. Unfortunately, Charlie had to cancel at the last minute so we went on this trip without him. However, he did make contact with his friends in Huai'an to ensure that we were taken care of in the nicest way. Therefore, we came to Huai'an with expectations of finding some really good eats and we were not disappointed at all!

A brief introduction of Huai'an first:

Huai'an, known as Huaiyin before 2001, is a city in northern Jiangsu province. The area of Huai'an spans over ancient canal of Huai River and the name of Huai'an is referring to "everlasting peace of Huai River".

Located on the northern bank of Yangtze River, Huai'an borders Anhui Province to the southwest, Yangzhou to the southeast, and 200 km of driving distance to Nanjing, provincial capital of Jiangsu. The city has a population of 5.24 millions and the land size is more than 10,000 square meters. Huai'an has a civilization history tracking back to Xia Dynasty. With the opening of the Imperial Canal, the Grand Canal, the town experienced a boom in economy and trade during the 6th and 7th century in China.

Huai'an is famous with its notable figures in Chinese history, including the famous Ming Dynasty novelist, author of “Journey to the West”(西遊記), Wu Cheng En (1500-1582); and the well-respected formal Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai (1898-1976), was born and spent 12 years of his childhood here.

One of the major attractions of Huai'an is its food culture. Huai’an is the origin location of “Huai Yang” culinary style, one of the major four culinary styles in Chinese cooking. Huai’an has been promoting the "Annual Chinese Huai Yang Gourmet Culture Festival" for the past 6 years.

【淮安簡介】
淮安，即淮水安瀾之意，得名于1500多年前的南北朝時期。据《南齊書州郡志》記載:武帝永明七年(公元489年)，割直瀆、破釜塘以東淮陰鎮下流雜一百戶置淮安縣，隸屬于東平郡。淮安之名始見。

淮安歷史悠久，距今已有2200多年的歷史。它是新石器時代青蓮崗文化發源地，古名淮陰，明清時期的大運河、淮河交匯，成為漕運和鹽運樞紐，作為河道治理中心、漕運指揮中心、漕船製造中心、漕糧儲備中心、淮北鹽運集散中心，奠定了“運河之都”的歷史地位；並且跟杭州、蘇州、揚州並稱大運河沿線“四大名城”。

2001年淮陰改名為淮安市，淮安市位于蘇北平原中部，下轄四縣四區，面積1.01萬平方公里，人口524萬，其中市區建設成區面積75平方公里，人口73萬。京杭大運河穿境而過，洪澤湖鑲嵌其間。 淮安地理位置優越，南距江蘇省省會南京市188公里，東北距亞歐大陸橋橋頭堡連雲港市135公里。東靠鹽城市，南連揚州市，西與西南接安徽省，北鄰連雲港市與徐州市以及剛剛成立的宿遷市,素有“壯麗東南第一州”的美譽。

淮安名人輩出。是周恩來總理的故鄉。歷史上先後誕生了漢朝大軍事家韓信、明朝開國皇帝朱元璋、巾幗英雄梁紅玉、《西游記》作者吳承恩、《老殘游記》作者劉鶚。大家朗朗上口的韓信「胯下之辱」、「漂母進飯」歷史典故，臭頭洪武君朱元璋的民間傳奇，以及早JK.蘿琳數百年，就創造出比「哈利波特」更精采奇幻的小說「西遊記」作者吳承恩。另外就是曾在歷史上失落，如今重出水面的泗州古城遺址，也值得一遊。

淮安更是美食之鄉，我國四大傳統菜系之一，最講究選料和刀工的【淮揚菜】，發祥地就是淮安；懷抱水產豐富的洪澤與高郵湖，更奠定它淮菜之鄉的地位；連續6屆【中國淮揚菜美食文化節】，展示和弘揚了博大精深的中國淮揚菜美食文化；來到淮安，只有一字相告，就是「吃」！是的，不斷的吃！地道拿手菜有: 軟兜長魚、清燉獅子頭、平橋豆腐、淮餃三吃等等。

除了淮揚菜以外，淮安轄下的盱眙縣，近年更是以「十三香小龍蝦」，打下飲食新江山，盱眙龍蝦就是原產美國，造成台灣農田大患的克氏螯蝦，當年日軍是把小龍蝦當作生化武器，故意放養破壞農作物，盱眙人竟以各式麻辣、辛香、油悶、蒜蓉調理食法，控制了災禍蔓延，每年七月到九月更為這個小縣創造上億營收。大家都知道陽澄湖有肉肥膏美的大閘蟹，殊不知洪澤湖也有個大肉美的小龍蝦。盱眙小龍蝦是喝著洪湖水長大的無污染淡水養殖龍蝦，顏色鮮紅明亮略黃，肉不僅鮮嫩而且肥美，尤其是尾部的肉足以讓口水直流的食客們一口咬個爽勁兒。此外，秋分時候盛產洪澤湖養殖的凝膏溢黃大閘蟹，以及高郵雙黃鴨蛋、洪澤活魚鍋貼都是令老饕驚艷的淮安風味特產。

Now let's see what awaited us at our first meal in Huai'an - Lunch at Xuyi Country Garden restaurant.

Here began the Hai'an Lunch Feast that would be remembered by our taste buds for a long long time.....(WARNING: IF YOU ARE HUNGRY NOW, BETTER STOP VIEWING THE PICTURES BELOW).....We started with 6 Appetizer Dishes:

Then came the main dishes one by one, 16 in TOTAL! 【淮安風味特產介紹】軟兜長魚： 所謂長魚，即是鱔魚，軟兜是指專取鱔魚的脊背肉部分，選用小嫩俗名"筆桿青"的活鱔魚脊背肉，先在鍋內大火過油，再用大蒜焗煸出香味，盛入盤裡。

【淮安風味特產介紹】開洋淮城蒲菜﹕ 蒲菜是淮安的特產，這種菜清香甘甜，吃起來像嫩筍。把它水中的根莖，放入雞湯或肉湯，加佐料燴制後，滋味奇佳。它生長在淮城勺湖、月湖裏，移植到郊外或江南、就難以入口了。相傳是宋代巾國英雄梁紅玉堅守淮安城，被金人圍困時，發現馬吃蒲草，才聯想到人也可以吃。
【淮安風味特產介紹】洪澤湖清蒸大閘蟹: 自陽澄引進，養殖於無污染的淡水洪澤湖。肉肥甜美，凝膏溢黃，深受民眾喜愛，更是秋季宴席中必備佳餚。