The historical origin of Xiaoyao Hu spicy soup

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, in order to please the emperor, the ministers of the court obtained a secret recipe for longevity from an eminent monk and presented it to him. He cooked the soup and drank it. After tasting it, the emperor was overjoyed. Then he named it "Yu Tang". At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhao Ji, the imperial cook who was living abroad, passed by Xiaoyao and saw that the east gate was close to the Shahe River and the boats were galloping, and the west gate was close to the Ying River. The situation was perfect. The two rivers meandered eastward, and the fortress in the town was strong. It was a beautiful place with beautiful land and water. , Zhao Ji decided to live in seclusion. As a result, the secrets of the royal palace spread here. The porridge soup cooked by the common people with this secret recipe is sour, spicy and full of mellow aroma, commonly known as "Hu spicy soup". As time goes by, the soup spreads farther and farther. Because it is popular in Xiaoyao, it is called "Xiaoyao Hu spicy soup".

The soup is mainly made of wheat flour, cooked beef and mutton, and is supplemented with Amomum villosum, Sichuan peppercorns, pepper, cinnamon, Angelica dahurica, kaempferol, licorice, costus, cardamom, grass fruit, galangal and anise. Nearly thirty kinds of pure natural plant spices such as fennel, cloves, etc. are comprehensively boiled according to different ratios, and added with MSG created in the new era, an appropriate amount of sesame oil, and mature vinegar. It is not only spicy and delicious, but also It has magical effects such as strengthening the spleen and appetizing, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, dispelling wind and cold, promoting blood circulation and strengthening bones, nourishing yin and strengthening yang, clearing away heat and detoxifying, refreshing and refreshing, diuretic and treating stranguria, regulating and harmonizing qi.

Xiaoyao Hu spicy soup is a treasure of traditional Chinese food culture and an excellent brand of folk food culture in the Central Plains. In order to make Xiaoyao Hu spicy soup, a famous snack, a blessing to future generations, in the past ten years, under the strong guidance and support of the Xihua County Party Committee and the county government, a large number of people who have mastered the craft of Hu spicy soup have left their homes and gone out to do business. Hu spicy soup, along with the development and expansion of business scale, Xiaoyao Hu spicy soup industry has rapidly expanded from Henan to major and medium-sized cities across the country, getting stronger and stronger. Xiaoyao Hu spicy soup has become a household name in many places, and is praised as "Beijing's largest Bowl of tea, Xiaoyao spicy soup." At present, there are more than 50,000 Hu spicy soup operators and more than 20,000 soup pot operators in the county, covering hundreds of large and medium-sized cities in more than 20 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country. The annual net income reaches 300 million yuan. Only Xiaoyao Town There are more than 10,000 Hu spicy soup operators, more than 5,000 soup pots, and annual revenue of 120 million yuan. Become a successful way for Xihua farmers to make a fortune.

In February 2003, the "First Xiaoyao Hu Spicy Soup Food Festival and Hu Spicy Soup Competition" sponsored by the Xihua County People's Government and undertaken by the Xiaoyao Town People's Government was successfully held in Xiaoyao Town, and Xiaoyao Hu spicy soup association. In June of the same year, the Xiaoyao Hu Spicy Soup Association selected representatives to participate in the National Chinese Famous Food Competition held in Xiamen. Xiaoyao Hu Spicy Soup was awarded the title of "Chinese Famous Food" by the China Cuisine Association. In 2004, CCTV's seven "Getting Rich" column made a special report on Xiaoyao Hu Spicy Soup. In 2005, "Dahe News" published a full-page promotion of Xiaoyao Hu Spicy Soup for three consecutive days. On April 23, 2006, the "Second China Xihua Xiaoyao Hu Spicy Soup Food Festival" was held in Xiaoyao Town. At the same time, a hot spicy soup competition was also held, with 53 contestants competing on-site. Experts from the Provincial Henan Cuisine Research Association, Provincial Cuisine Association, and Zhoukou Culinary Association were invited to compete on-site, and 10 special prizes and 20 first prizes were awarded.

According to the needs of the market, with the guidance and support of the government, we further explored and demonstrated the traditional soup recipes and production techniques, and scientifically analyzed them, and developed "Convenient Hu Spicy Soup" and "Water-Infused Soup". There are 46 varieties of Hu spicy soup series seasonings in eight series, including "Hu spicy soup", "Hu spicy soup whole flavor powder", "Shilixiang", "delicious fragrance", and "bean foam", and 38 Hu spicy restaurants have been built successively. Soup soup production company. Among them, the "Jingyao" brand, "Xiaoyaozhen" brand, "Longliang", "Longyihe" and "Xiaoyaoxiang" brand series of spicy soups have successively won the title of "Provincial Quality Product". The annual output is 6 million pieces of various spicy soup seasonings, with an output value of 160 million yuan. At present, all supermarkets in large and medium-sized cities across the province have special areas for spicy soup, and all counties and towns have sales outlets for spicy soup, allowing thousands of households to enjoy the delicious flavor without leaving home. Xiaoyao spicy soup with delicious and unique flavor. In the last years of the Republic of China, due to frequent wars, social unrest, bandits' plundering, and warlords' infighting, the market was in a state of depression. Unfortunately, misfortunes never come singly, and the owner of Zhao's Hu Hot Soup became addicted to smoking. ".

When he first started smoking, his family's financial situation was pretty good. After he became addicted to smoking, he quickly squandered his modest family fortune. It was difficult for the family to live, and they had no choice but to kick him out of the house and leave him to fend for himself.

The head of the Zhao family lived on the streets and lived on credit. The neighbors took pity on him and occasionally gave him some things. But as his addiction to smoking worsened, he soon owed a large amount of debt. The biggest debt he owed was to an old man Wang who set up a stall selling fish soup and chowder. There was a time when he made up his mind to quit drug addiction and return to his old business in order to pay off his debts, but he suffered from lack of money and could not buy the ingredients for soup. There was a pharmacy boy named Wei Xiniu, who was an apprentice at Long Yihe Pharmacy from Shanxi. He sympathized with his plight and secretly stole some medicinal ingredients from the pharmacy based on the spicy soup recipe he gave him. He makes spicy soup. This can be said to be the first time that someone other than Zhao has obtained the medicinal formula of Hu spicy soup.

Not long after he persisted, the head of the Zhao family was addicted to cigarettes again. This time he smoked harder than before. He felt that he could never get rid of this "devil", so he gave up on himself and sat down to wait. die. Thinking that he still had a large debt to repay, he decided to use the cooking process and recipe of Hu spicy soup to pay off the debt. After he taught Mr. Wang's son Wang Guoyu how to make Hu spicy soup, his body completely collapsed. When he was dying, he told Old Man Wang that the ingredients for spicy soup were at Wei Xiniu's place, and then passed away. Later, Wang Guoyu obtained the formula of Hu spicy soup ingredients from Wei Xiniu and became the most famous Hu spicy soup master in Xiaoyao Town during the Republic of China.

After liberation, the country transformed handicrafts, industry and commerce. Xiaoyao Town gathered these skilled chefs to set up a cooperative, allowing each chef to perform his skills and pay wages according to the level of his cooking skills. Among these people is Wang Guoyu, a master of spicy soup. The chefs exchanged knowledge during the performance and quickly mastered the method of making Hu spicy soup. Among them, Cheng Jinyu was the most skilled. According to Mr. Hou Kequan, those who later became more famous for making hot spicy soup, such as Zhang, Gao, Yang, etc., all learned the craft in the cooperative at that time. The reason why Mr. Hou Kequan knows so many stories about spicy soup is because Mr. Hou’s father had good friends with Wang Guoyu, Wei Xiniu, Cheng Jinyu and others. When he was a child, he listened to a few adults chatting and memorized them.

The spring breeze is blowing and you are happy

The real development of Hu spicy soup came after the reform and opening up. According to Liu Jianwei, secretary-general of the Xiaoyao Hu Spicy Soup Association, since the 1980s, Hu Spicy Soup in Xiaoyao Town has regained its vitality. At the beginning, the people in Xiaoyao Town had not yet come out of the shadow of "cutting off the tail of capitalism". Only the local Hui people secretly made and sold it, and they were still worried. Gradually, other people also saw the benefits, and some people began to go out of their homes and hang up the Xiaoyao Town Hu Spicy Soup brand in other areas, first in Luohe (the nearest prefecture-level city to Xiaoyao Town), then in Zhengzhou City, Luoyang City, Kaifeng City, etc., and later, reaching Heihe in the north, Haikou in the south, Tianshan in the west, and the sea in the east, Xiaoyao Town Hu spicy soup has spread all over the country.

The Xiaoyao Town Government established the "Xiaoyao Hot and Spicy Soup Association" on February 15, 2003. It hopes that through this association, Xiaoyao Town Hot and Spicy Soup can be made into a real hot and spicy soup with a standardized chain operation model. The Henan brand has changed the street stall image of spicy soup in people's minds, allowing more people to understand it, accept it and like it.

It is reported that the "Xiaoyao Hu Hot Soup Association" is registering the trademark "Xiaoyao Town Hu Hot Soup". Because someone has already registered this trademark, the Xiaoyao Town Government is negotiating with the other party to resolve the matter. I certainly hope they can obtain the trademark of "Xiaoyao Town Hu Hot Soup", because regardless of history and reality, this trademark should belong to them and no one should take it away.

The origin of Hu spicy soup: Legend has it that during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was busy practicing Taoism and wanted to live forever. In order to please the emperor, the cabinet scholar Yan Song Yange sent people to search for the secret recipe, and unexpectedly found it in the hands of an outsider Taoist priest. According to Taoist priests, this recipe can prolong life. Yan Song then offered this recipe, and the imperial dining room made a soup according to this recipe. After taking it, Emperor Jiajing felt his mouth was smooth, his breath was smooth, his spirit was refreshed, and he felt that this soup was exquisite, so Long Yan was very happy, so he It was named "Imperial Soup" because the Imperial Kitchen specially added ginseng and other precious supplements to this soup, so it was also called "Golden Soup". It can really be called the "Palace Jade Liquid Soup", which is a blessing that only the royal family has! At the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Qing troops entered the country, the imperial chef Zhao Qi fled to Xiaoyao Town, a famous town in the Central Plains, with this secret recipe. Unable to bear the loss of this soup, he passed it on to the local residents. Since then, the local people have passed it down from generation to generation and regard it as a treasure. It has been evolved and improved in many ways and has become a treasure on the local people's tables. Therefore, the soup is spicy and appetizing, and it is gradually called "Hu spicy soup" by the local people.

Anecdotes of spicy soup: Legend has it that spicy soup once cured the cold of Yu Qian, a famous upright official in the Ming Dynasty. "Not afraid of being broken into pieces - Yu Qian Memorial Hall" commemorative essays record: Yu Qian was the governor of Henan and Shanxi provinces and was stationed in Kaifeng. One year when he was celebrating his birthday, he happened to be on an inspection tour in Zhengzhou. According to his frugal routine, he found a "Hu Ji" restaurant and spent his birthday drinking a bowl of hot soup. This unique birthday food made Yu Qian deeply remember its delicious taste.

Once, when Yu Qian was returning from a tour of Shanxi, he passed by Zheng County (now Zhengzhou). Due to the fatigue of the journey and busy official duties, he contracted a cold for several days and did not recover. One night, Yu Qian suddenly remembered the soup from "Hu Ji" and sent someone to buy it. When the shopkeeper of "Hu Ji" heard that the respected governor wanted to eat it, he put in enough seasonings and made it carefully. Yu Qian sweated profusely after eating. The next day he was light and healthy, and his cold recovered unknowingly. Yu Qian sealed the soup with ten taels of silver to thank Shopkeeper Hu for his medical treatment, and suggested that the soup be named after Hu. From then on, the soup became "Hu Spicy Soup".

After the Qing Dynasty, Zhengzhou sold more spicy soup. However, since the Qing Dynasty was founded by the Manchus, people did not dare to say the word "Hu" too much, and the soup looked mushy. "Hu" and "stick" have the same pronunciation, so Hu spicy soup was later changed to "Mu spicy soup", and the soup looked mushy. It is still used today.

Nowadays, spicy soup has become accustomed to being called Hu spicy soup, also known as: "Palace Royal Brocade Soup".