The strong spirit of Chaozhou people preserving the tradition

The Chaozhou cuisine and phoenix dan cong oolong has a lot in common. They both remain till today thanks to the spirit of Chaozhou people in continuing the traditions of their ancestors

Chaozhou Cuisine has 1000 years of history

Chaozhou Cuisine - originated from Chaozhou, has a history of more than 10 centuries. According to historical records, Chaozhou Cuisine can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, where during the Tang Dynasty; the impact of cooking skills has developed rapidly. Chaozhou Cuisine entered its heyday during the late Ming through early Qing Dynasty. Today, it has developed into a unique Lingnan culture, well known both at home and abroad as it was brought over by many migrants from China to other places like Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

You should not miss the street food in Chaozhou

Nonetheless, when I was in Chaozhou, the most common food around was street food. You may easily run into a stall serving food at any time of the day. Moreover, Chaozhou people enjoy eating out even when it’s close to midnight at roadside food stalls, where some stay open till dawn. Most commonly, these street food stalls serve a variety of single menus. For instance, porridge, Kway Teow soup, clay pot rice, steamed rice rolls, desserts, braised varieties like goose, duck or chicken, and etc. These foods are served in individual stalls. This makes my eating experience more interesting as I am able to indulge in one stall’s specialty dish and then explore my way down the street for more delicious cuisines. Sometimes I would go back and forth a few times just to decide which cuisine I can accommodate at a time.

Shocked by the deep and the rich taste

To my surprise, though it’s just one particular food that is prepared, the taste is profound and deep, always giving me a three-dimensional impression that makes me want to return to that particular stall for that specific food. Although the cooking looks simple—for example, Kway Teow soup, which is usually served with clear soup, thin rice noodles with beef or pork slices, and vegetables like bean sprouts—its taste is very rich and has full body. Their fundamental key to a rich and appetizing cuisine depends greatly on the freshness and quality of the ingredients for taste and flavor, while the use of seasoning is much lighter compared to most other Chinese cuisines. Chaozhou cooking is a delicate cuisine where dishes emphasize poaching, steaming, and braising. I noticed that even a simple roadside stall has its own special stock called superior broth (in Chinese called Shang Tang 上湯), which remains on the stove and is continuously replenished. The long hours of boiling the broth make it very rich in taste and give it a strong body as well. Despite the single-menu offerings at each stall, their businesses have continued for a long time, even being passed down through generations.

The strong spirit of Chaozhou people created the great tea culture too

I feel that Chaozhou people have a strong spirit in continuing the traditions of their ancestors; even in tea culture, they focus on practicing and continuing traditional methods of making tea. Innovation and new ideas can be valuable, but I believe in the importance of preserving tradition. In this modern era, we may emphasize efficiency, productivity, and output, yet we should not deny that everything good needs time to develop. Just like producing tea or wine, the highest quality products that people value most are often those that withstand the test of time. For example, without spending a minimum of 20 hours of continuous baking with charcoal fire, Phoenix tea would not develop its strikingly strong fruity flavor that is rare among other categories of tea. To me, Phoenix tea is produced with extraordinary care and attention, from the selection of fresh tea leaves through fermentation to the drying and baking process.

For more on where Phoenix Dan Cong comes from, what Dan Cong and Lao Cong mean, and how it is made and brewed, see What Is Phoenix Dan Cong?.