Vintage Recipes
Tofu and Rose Soup
ERA ：Southern Song Dynasty (1127~1279)
ORIGIN ：Mountaineers' Dinner Table
AUTHOR：Lin Hong
CUISINE ：🇨🇳
RECIPE : Click here
ORIGINAL TEXT ：Pick the cotton rose, remove the stamens and pistils, and briefly blanch them in hot water. Then, cook them with tofu. The red and white colors intertwine, resembling the rosy glow after a snowfall, and the dish is called “Rosy Glow After Snow Soup.” You can also add pepper and ginger for extra flavor.
ANECDOTE : The author Lin Hong, inspired by the colors of the soup, has named this dish “rosy sky after snow soup”.
ERA ：Kangxi era, Qing Dynasty (1661～1722)
ORIGIN ：Recipes from the Garden of Contentment
AUTHOR：YUAN Mei (1716~1797)
CUISINE ：🇨🇳
RECIPE : Click here
ORIGINAL TEXT ：Mash the semi-firm tofu and mix it with shiitake flakes, mushroom flakes, pine nut flakes, melon seed flakes, chicken flakes, and ham flakes. Then, stir it into a thick chicken broth and sauté until done. This dish can also be made from silken tofu. When eating, use a spoon instead of chopsticks.
ANECDOTE : The story goes that Kangxi gave this recipe to the official Xu Qianxue, who paid 1000 taels of silver (equivalent de $69525 nowadays) in exchange. Later, Xu disclosed it to one of his students, Wang Loucun, who happened to be the grandfather of a friend of the autor Yuan Mei. That’s how Yuan got the chance to taste this dish and learnt the recipe.
Silken Tofu and Shrimp Soup
ERA ：Qing Dynasty (1636～1912)
ORIGIN ：Recipes from the Garden of Contentment
AUTHOR：YUAN Mei (1716~1797)
CUISINE ：🇨🇳
RECIPE : Click here
ORIGINAL TEXT ：First, soak the douhua in well water three times to remove the beany smell. Then, cook it in chicken broth. When it’s ready to serve, add seaweed and shrimp.
Mushroom Braised Tofu
ERA ：Qing Dynasty (1636～1912)
ORIGIN ：Recipes from the Garden of Contentment
AUTHOR：YUAN Mei (1716~1797)
CUISINE ：🇨🇳
RECIPE : Click here
ORIGINAL TEXT ：When tofu is braised for a long time, it becomes fluffy, and the surface forms small holes, resembling frozen tofu… By slow-cooking the tofu with mushrooms, you can enjoy frozen tofu even in summer, and it’s very delicious. Be sure not to add any meat broth, as it would lose the delicate fragrance of the tofu.
