When it comes to Yunnan, people often think of popular tourist cities such as Kunming, Dali, and Lijiang. In fact, there is a quiet ancient city Jianshui hidden 220 kilometers away from Kunming. This ancient city not only has pleasant scenery, but also has many ancient relics in the city. Wandering in it, you always feel that there are ancient rhymes everywhere.

Jianshui is also called Lin'an, but this Lin'an is not that Lin'an. Lin'an was originally the old name of Hangzhou, the city of paradise. It is said that after the Yuan Dynasty conquered the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to express its contempt for the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, was given to this southern Yunnan land. I never thought that this Lin'an is also worthy of the name. The ancient buildings such as the Chaoyang Tower, the Zhujia Garden like a grand view garden, and the Tuanshan Ancient Village, which embodies the Han and Yi culture, demonstrate the strong cultural heritage of this ancient city.

Another major feature of Jianshui is ancient wells. There is no second ancient city with hundreds of ancient wells like Jianshui. These wells are all left over from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They are distributed in the streets and alleys with different shapes. They seem to have become a part of Jianshui's history and culture, and they complement each other with the old houses in the ancient city.

The well water in Jianshui has not only nurtured generations of Jianshui people, but also produced all kinds of delicacies. Usually, the locals make rice noodles, tofu, and even tea from the clear well water. It’s no wonder that Jianshui is recognized as a treasured gourmet town in Yunnan. If you want to avoid the crowds and enjoy the beautiful scenery, and eat all kinds of delicacies at affordable prices, then Jianshui is really worth a visit.

Tofu

Speaking of which, Jianshui Tofu is much more famous than this city, and it is a frequent visitor on the gourmet list of foodies. Even the folk songs in Yunnan will be recited: "Yunnan stinky tofu is the most famous in Lin'an Prefecture. It smells stinky, tastes delicious, swollen, round, yellow and bright, with four edges and eight corners, which makes people think. If you don't eat three meals, you will panic." Often in In the tofu shop in Jianshui, I saw the stall owner and diners sitting around the brazier, chatting while roasting tofu. The scene looked very lively.

It is no secret why the tofu in Jianshui is delicious. Tofu needs good water. The water used to make tofu is usually from Daban well in the ancient city of Ximen. It has the reputation of "the first well in southern Yunnan". The well water is clear and Sweet and sweet, it replaces the gypsum and brine that are usually used to make tofu. The raw material is white-skinned soybeans, which finally present a white and delicate appearance.

Baked tofu is the most common way for locals to eat. Put the tofu baked on the grill on the dipping plate and poke it, then take a light bite, then dip it in dry ingredients or soy sauce to eat, the outside is burnt and the inside is tender, thick The thick bean curd flows out of it, making people unable to resist eating one piece after another.

barbecue

Jianshui barbecue is one of the main factions of Yunnan barbecue. It is famous, and many Kunming people will travel thousands of miles to Jianshui to eat barbecue. And there are so many varieties of it that people can eat it with open arms. From regular ingredients such as beans to enoki mushrooms, to unorthodox wasps to grasshoppers, everything can be roasted. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a world-class barbecue holy place.

Although the grilling method of Jianshui barbecue is the same as that of other places, the taste is very different. Generally speaking, Jianshui barbecue seasonings can be divided into dry and wet. The dry ingredients are chili powder, pepper noodles, peanut powder, etc. The wet ingredients are also called dipping ingredients, mainly including marinated rot juice, chili powder, garlic water, etc. Regardless of dry or wet ingredients, the ingredients will be marinated in advance to make them tasty. The common point of both is that they are particularly fragrant in the nose.

What is worth eating in Jianshui BBQ? Generally, foreign tourists come to Jianshui, and the locals will recommend roasted grass sprouts, eggplant, tilapia, chicken feet, pig’s trotters and other ingredients. The vegetables are fragrant and tender, and the meat is chewy. Once you eat it, you will never forget it.

Steamer Chicken

Compared with the casualness of roasting tofu and barbecue, steam pot chicken is relatively formal, and it is a must-have delicacy for Jianshui people during festivals or banquets. According to legend, it was quite popular in southern Yunnan during the reign of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, and the way to eat it was invented by chef Yang Li of Lin'an Prefecture.

One of the characteristics of steam pot chicken is to choose Jianshui's unique local cooking utensils, that is, Jianshui purple pottery steam pot. This kind of steam pot looks like a Taji pot, with a hole in the middle, through which the steam will come out, and then condense and drip from the pot lid. The second feature is that there is no need to put a drop of water in the pot, just put the chicken nuggets, green onion, ginger and other seasonings into the steam pot, and the chicken soup will be brewed by the water dripping back into the pot.

The chicken soup made in this way not only retains the umami taste of the chicken to the greatest extent, but also the steamed chicken pieces are separated from the bones, and the soup is rich in flavor. The moment the lid is opened, the fragrance overflows. At that time, Premier Zhou used it as one of the famous dishes of the state banquet to entertain US President Nixon, and it became a good story.

rice noodle

It is well known all over the country that Yunnan people love rice noodles deeply, and they have also deduced various ways to eat them. The most distinctive feature of Jianshui is the grass sprout rice noodles. This plant looks like a small ivory, and it tastes sweet, crisp and tender, very refreshing. The store will add grass sprouts and green onion to the hot rice noodles, then scoop a large spoonful of hot bone broth, and finally sprinkle coriander and mint leaves, and a bowl of grass sprout rice noodles is presented in front of diners.

Do you have any Jianshui delicacies to share? Welcome to leave a message.