Sea Cucumber-Venison Banquet海参鹿鸣宴

In Qing Dynasty, the most famous gentleman in Lijiang was named He Gengji who had passed the highest imperial examination. Naturally he should have been lucky to be present on the “number one scholar” banquet held by the emperor where he could have a taste of many delicacies like sea cucumber and deer lip. Later he held office in Sichuan , the most gastronomic province in China, which greatly enriched his experiences and knowledge of food.

The Chinese people have a strong sense of family consciousness which was the foundation of ideology from ancient times and produced great influences on the trend of Chinese history. Family status was always closely tied with one’s official position.

It was a big event in China to have grandchildren, especially in those rich families. When He Gengji arranged a feast celebrating the first month of his grandson, he requested cooks to used sea cucumber and venison as major food material in the feast. Nobody in Lijiang had ever seen what sea cucumber looked like, but He Gengji knew how to do. According to his advice, the cooks first cut pig skin into pieces of two or three square inches and then made skew lattice slightly on the skins by knife. The latticed skins curled in hot water with many bulgy spinous shoots same as cucumber. After painting in brown sauce, it mixed with quick-fry lean venison. He Gengji named this dish as “ Sea cucumber and deer mince”, which became a famous course thereafter in Lijiang. Now, one harsh words in Lijiang to those who like to show off having delicacies is “ Can it be Sea cucumber and deer mince?”