Xin Chang Fa's Sugar-roasted Chestnuts
Meilin Brand Luncheon Meat
The Meilin brand luncheon meat is one of the famous
products of the Shanghai Meilin Cannery. They are packed
in tins of a wide range of sizes. For the convenience
of the customers, each of the square tins is provided
with an opener. Being one of the delicacies of Western-
style food, it is also good for preparing cold or hot
Chinese dishes. Luncheon meat can be sandwiched and goes
well with bread or Chinese steamed bread. Fried luncheon
meat in slices or scrambled meat mixed with mushrooms,
green pepper, eggs and other flavorings can serve as an
excellent dish at banquets, having all the Chinese characteristics
of color, flavor, taste and shape in preparing food and
combining Chinese and Western flavors in a good way.
The Meiling brand luncheon meat is made from the scientifically
defrosted pork of the best quality. The pork, well proportioned
in lean meat and the fat, is salted under low temperature,
then minced and mixed with starch, maize flour, refined
salt, white powdered pepper and other supplementary flavorings
before it is thoroughly mixed under vacuum, filled into
tins, sterilized under high temperature and cooled down
instantly. The weight of each filled tin is standardized
and the tinned meat is in perfect and nice shape. Due
to the carefully designed procedure, streamlined production
and the selection of good materials, the luncheon meat
of good quality is famous for its tenderness, elasticity,
smoothness, richness, un-greasiness, fragrance and delicious
taste. It enjoys high reputation in the international
market.
Pear Syrup Candy
The pear syrup candy, a special product of Shanghai's
City God Temple Bazaar, has long enjoyed a wide fame.
The first shop selling the candy was Zhu Ping Zhai. It
was set up in 1854, the fourth year of the reign of Emperor
Xian Feng of the Qing Dynasty and was then located beside
the stone lions in front of the Grand Hall of the City
God Temple. It sold then medicinal pear syrup and square-shaped
pear syrup candy. The second shop, named the Yongshen
Hall, was opened in 1882. Twenty years later, a third
one, called the Dashen Hall, was established near the
entrance of the ancient Yu Yuan Garden to the north of
the temple.
Different from the sellers of other trades, the peddlers
sang loudly in praise of their candy while making the
candy on a stove. Their songs attracted a big member of
buyers. This made the pear syrup candy of the City God
Temple Bazaar known far and wide.
Now the Shanghai Pear Syrup Candy Store in the Yu Yuan
Bazaar(formerly the City God Temple Bazaar) sell pear
syrup candy of a great variety all year round. Among them
is the medicinal pear syrup good for curing coughs, which
is made of a dozen of medicinal herbs like the almond,
haw, tendril-leafed fritillary bulb, orange roots and
blossoms. There are also assorted pear syrup candy made
of ginger juice, peppermint, walnuts, fried shrimps, meat
floss, bean puree, pine-nuts, peanuts, gingko nuts, dried
rose petals, lemon, etc.
Pork Sausage
Shanghai pork sausage are made of fresh lean pork. They
are tender but do not get loose when they are sliced off.
Being elastic, glossy, tasty and easy to be preserved,
the sausages can be served as a good potluck or used as
presents for friends. They taste even better if they are
kept in a cool and ventilated place for a few weeks. Sausages
of this type can be used for cold assorted dishes, hot-fried
or stewed dishes. For people on business trips or on sightseeing
tours, they make a very good picnic food. With the improvement
of the techniques, its quality is getting better and better.
Salted Ham
The salted ham, a new development of the Western way
of preserving ham, was first produced by the Shanghai
Meat Products Factory. The lean meat used by the factory
is well selected from pig's hind legs through strict veterinary
inspection and the bones, fat and tendons are removed.
A salt solution mixed with hemoglobin, liquid glucose
and other supplementary ingredients is injected by the
machine into the meat, which is then preserved for several
days before it is rolled, kneaded, molded and cooked.
The salted ham so prepared looks reddish, glossy and elastic.
It does not fall apart while sliced. It tastes neither
flavorless nor too salty. Being tender and delicious,
it is a favorite food for both Chinese and foreign residents.
It is also used by chefs for preparing cold and hot dishes
for banquets and can be served as a popular picnic food
for tourists.
Small Nanxiang Stuffed Dumplings
Situated in the northwest of Shanghai, Nanxiang is one
of the major market towns in Jiading County, where commerce
is brisk, restaurants and snack bars are numerous. Of
all the snacks, the small stuffed dumplings are a favorite
food for both Chinese and foreign gastronomers.
The small stuffed dumplings of Nanxiang are made of refined
wheat flour, lard, pork skin and other supplementary flavorings.
When tasting the hot dumplings, the gastronomers will
invariably say that the dumplings are juicy and the pork
fillings tasty.
Nnaxiang's small stuffed dumplings have a history of
over one hundred years. It is said that a man named Chen
He ran a snack bar in Nanxiang and the dumplings he made
were thin in skin, juicy in filling. What's more, he used
a filling mixed with sesame oil and other delicacies of
the season such as the tender bamboo shoots in spring,
shrimp meat in early summer and crab meat in late autumn.
The delicious dumplings attracted more and more gourmets.
Eventually the Nanxiang dumplings became increasingly
popular day by day. After liberation, this traditional
Chinese refreshment has made much improvement and become
much nicer in quality. A Japanese lady TV reporter, after
tasting the dumplings, said with high praise, "I have
been to over thirties countries in the world, but I have
never tasted anything like this. It's just delicious."
She filmed the whole process of the making of dumplings
and the scene of diners enjoying with great relish. Years
ago, dumplings of this type were exported to Hong Kong.
In short, they have become best sellers among the Chinese
and foreign customers.
Five-Flavored Beans
The production of the five-flavored beans by the City
God Temple Bazaar has a history of over 40 years. In the
early 1930's, someone used cassia bark and aniseed in
cooking green soybeans and found a good market in the
City God Temple Bazaar. Then, there was a small proprietor
in the neighbor- hood by the name of Guo Yunzhou who established
in that area in 1938 a bean shop called the " Xinglong(Prosperity)
Five-flavored Bean Shop of the Guo Family". He chose the
famous white broad beans from Jiading County, known for
their big size, chewiness and proper hardness, as material
for his products. The beans he cooked had a salt layer
on the skin which looked very much like sugar-creamed;
hence the name " sugar-creamed five-flavored beans" of
the City God Temple. Being fragrant and chewy , with a
slightly sweet taste out of the salty flavor, these beans
are very popular with tourists, who always like to buy
some here for themselves or for their friends. In recent
years, it has gained international fame.
Xin Chang Fa's Sugar-roasted Chestnuts
The sugar-roasted chestnuts of the Xin Chang Fa Fruit
Store are the best in Shanghai. All the chestnuts are
almost of the same size. When roasted, they look glossy
and do not get cracked or burnt and the shells easily
go off. As soon as you press your fingers on the chestnut,
the shell cracks and you get the meat. It is soft and
delightfully fragrant.
How can Xin Chang Fa's sugar roasted chestnuts be so
well prepared and unique in taste. The shop selects Liang
Xiang chestnuts produced in Fangshan County in North China.
The nuts produced there are similar in size, plump and
sweet. Before roasting the chestnuts, the shop sorts them
out first according to their sizes and roast them separately.
By so doing, all the nuts are done simultaneously, with
nothing overdone, burnt or half-cooked. The sand used
in roasting is rinsed and heated. Maltose and tea-sea
oil are added to moisten the sand while roasting to keep
the chestnuts from being stuck to the sand and to help
stirring the nuts easier. The shop pays special attention
to the control of the flames so that the chestnuts, when
roasted, look glossy.
Since the shop sticks to its orientation of putting quality
in the first place, it is always thronged with customers,
especially during the Mid- autumn Festival. As years passed
by, the shop gradually maintained a distinctive style.