What is a special dish?

This shows that the special dishes are very attractive to the guests. Many years ago, Jing 'an Hotel in Shanghai made its catering business flourish with the specialty of "Crystal Shrimp". Without characteristics, there is no vitality, which has become an unwritten law in the industry. Therefore, in order to improve the market competitiveness, creating special dishes has become a top priority for chefs in hotels and social restaurants. I am also working hard and exploring for this. The following is my summary of the creative methods of special dishes for peer reference. First, the choice of special raw materials (special cooking raw materials) The so-called special dishes are generally divided into two categories. One is a local specialty. Local specialty dishes are dishes with local flavor made with local cooking materials or local cooking methods, so they are also called local flavor dishes. According to the above attributes, cooking dishes with local unique food raw materials should be the first choice. Because people travel to other places on business, they always want to taste the delicious food and local specialties that are not available in their hometown. Therefore, as long as chefs try their best to explore and develop local unique cooking materials to create dishes, even if the cooking methods are ordinary and the taste is average, better results will be achieved. For example, shad, hairy crabs and Taihu Lake in the south of the Yangtze River; All kinds of seafood in coastal areas. Just use steaming to keep your original flavor, which is a local specialty. Another example is to explore the use of some raw materials that people don't often use to cook, which can also become a local specialty. For example, Sheshan Forest Hotel in Shanghai is a hot dish of Sheshan tea shrimp, which is cooked with precious Sheshan tea powder and green leaf vegetable juice. With the introduction of Sheshan tea allusions, it has become a special dish deeply loved by guests. Another example is "Roasted Rabbit Head", which is a special dish of Quzhou Hotel in Zhejiang Province. It is processed and cooked with rabbit heads abandoned by ordinary people and has a strong local flavor. Due to the special selection of materials and outstanding local flavor, this dish is deeply loved by all guests and has become a brand dish of the hotel and a special flavor dish in Quzhou area. The other is the specialty of hotels and restaurants. It is in the same area that several dishes cooked by this restaurant are of higher quality, newer methods and purer taste than the same dishes cooked by other restaurants in the same area, so these dishes have become the specialty of this restaurant. For example, most hotels and restaurants in Shanghai will cook "braised river eel" and "braised three lines". The "Braised River Eel" and "Braised Three Lines" made by the time-honored restaurant in Shanghai Yuyuan Mall are the most famous in Shanghai in terms of shape, color and taste. Therefore, "Braised River Eel" and "Braised Three Slices" have become the specialties of this restaurant. The same examples are "instant-boiled mutton" in Donglaishun, Beijing, "Beijing roast duck" in Quanju, "Dongpo meat" and "West Lake vinegar fish" in Louwailou, Hangzhou. Dim sum "Mao Mei Su" in Shanghai Lubo Gallery. The other is several dishes cooked by this restaurant, which have unique styles and are not available in other restaurants in the same area, so they have become the specialty dishes of this restaurant. For example, the dish "Sheshan Bamboo Fragrant Meat" in Shanghai Sheshan Forest Hotel is made of pork belly wrapped in blue bamboo shoots and cooked with bamboo leaves outside. This dish is unique in the local area, so it has become the specialty of this hotel. On another occasion, Shanghai Xinya Cantonese Restaurant created a unique dish "smoked pomfret" which combines Chinese and western cuisine. Because no other restaurant could cook it at that time, it became the specialty of this restaurant. Second, innovative cooking methods (unique cooking methods) Generally speaking, most hotels and restaurants use ordinary raw materials, but if the cooking methods are unique, they can also become the specialties of our restaurants. For example, there is a traditional "three fresh rice crust", that is, when serving, the hot three fresh pot-stewed vegetables are poured into the freshly fried rice crust, and the crackling sound brings auditory stimulation to the guests, which is also called "the sound of spring thunder" by the guests, thus becoming a special dish at that time. According to this principle, there were also "iron plate series dishes" a few years ago, that is, the cooked dishes were poured into hot iron plate containers, and the effect was better; Now it is developed to pour grass shrimp and seasoning soup into a wooden container filled with hot pebbles, and suddenly the soup in the container boils and the hot air rolls. This scene is like grass shrimp taking a sauna, so people call this dish "sauna shrimp". Sauna Shrimp is more interesting than the first two dishes, so it has become a special dish. Now there are some things that do the opposite, such as "chilled grass shrimp", which is to boil grass shrimp and pour it into a container covered with edible ice particles. This dish is more popular in summer. You can also cook some dishes on the spot, that is, the dishes that were originally "operated behind closed doors" in the kitchen, such as boiled shrimps, are cooked on the spot in front of the guests on the operating car, which dispels all kinds of doubts that the guests are afraid of using dead shrimps and crabs instead of live shrimps and crabs in the kitchen, and greatly improves the fun of guests' dining. There is a hot pot restaurant in Shanghai, which processes "spicy crab" on the guest's table, thus winning the trust of the guests and winning the business. There is also a "flame shrimp" that is directly operated on the desktop. All of the above are through changing the cooking form, using sound, fire and ice to produce a novel and peculiar effect to stimulate the guests' hearing, vision and touch, thus becoming the characteristics of dishes. Another way is to learn cooking techniques and make special dishes with unique cooking methods. For example, the cold pot chef of Sheshan Forest Hotel in Shanghai skillfully brewed pine eggs and salted duck eggs and made a unique "special double yellow egg", which surprised the guests and won the gold medal in the municipal competition. Eating Chinese food in the west is also one of the typical ways to create special dishes. For example, Jiangsu Wuxi Roast Duck Restaurant changed the traditional practice of duck slices with bread, and superimposed the duck slices with lettuce, mango slices, bread and kraft sauce to make the "fragrant mango duck slices" eaten by westerners, which achieved miraculous results; The chef of Sheshan Forest Hotel in Shanghai put sliced mandarin fish, mango slices and crispy noodles with Thousand Island Juice into the oven, and then put lettuce on it, which became a "crispy roasted mandarin fish with fragrant mango" combining Chinese and western styles, and also achieved good results, winning the second place in the national freshwater fish cooking competition. Third, pay attention to taste characteristics. People who travel abroad on business always try local specialties, and local guests like them, because they have been used to them since childhood. The formation of specific tastes is related to regional geography, climate and cultural customs, which takes a long time to form and is difficult to change. If there is no pepper in several dishes, people in central and southwest areas such as Sichuan will not be able to stand it. Northerners can't stand eating garlic all the time. There are also the sweetness of Su Xichang, the "smelly" of Ningbo and so on. Therefore, when creating dishes, we should keep these specific local flavors, otherwise foreign guests will not recognize them and local guests will not like them. For example, in a restaurant in Hefei, Anhui Province, a Guangdong chef was hired to take charge of the kitchen. The chef's cooking is good and the food is good, but the local guests don't like it. Later, the operator had to change the chef. It turns out that local guests are used to eating Anhui cuisine and have long developed a strong spicy taste. However, although the dishes cooked by Guangdong chefs are good in color and shape, and the guests like them, they are not used to eating because of their light taste. So the next batch of chefs learned their lesson. They retained the advantages of Guangdong cuisine in color and shape, improved the light taste, and integrated the taste into the flavor types used by local guests. Therefore, they were greatly welcomed by local guests. Another example is jiaozi, where northerners like to eat leek stuffing and Jiangnan people like to eat shepherd's purse. Therefore, when creating special dishes, we must pay attention to the taste characteristics of guests in this respect. Fourth, launch a series of varieties When a special dish is successfully created, it is necessary to extend the characteristics of the dish to a series of dishes with the help of the word-of-mouth of the dish to form a brand effect. For example, after the successful creation of "Sheshan Bamboo Fragrant Meat", we can use the principle of this dish to create a series of bamboo fragrant dishes such as "Bamboo Fragrant Fish" and "Bamboo Fragrant Chicken". For another example, after the success of "Spicy Crab", which was popular in the south of the Yangtze River at that time, spicy series dishes such as "Spicy Shrimp" and "Spicy Fish" could be launched while it was hot. There are 108 varieties of jiaozi in Shanghai Chang 'an Dumpling House, and dumpling banquets are also created. This gives the guests a choice. For example, some guests like the cooking method and taste of "She Shan Zhu Xiang rou", but they don't eat meat. Then he can choose to eat "bamboo fragrant fish", "bamboo fragrant chicken" and so on. Another example is that guests like the taste of "spicy crab" but don't like crabs. Then he can choose to eat "spicy shrimp", "spicy whip bamboo shoots" and so on. Fifth, skillfully match the dish container. When creating special dishes, you can also use utensils to make brands. Some restaurants will put a big urn in the store if they want to make a brand of soup. The urn is filled with this soup with instructions for making it. This urn is the brand image of soup. Some dishes are directly named after the vessel name, such as "casserole fish head", "rotten bowl head", "pot beef brisket", "steamed shrimp slices" and "bamboo rice". There are restaurants named after utensils, such as red clay casserole. Now all kinds of special-shaped pots, folk coarse pottery, artistic vessels and pictographic vessels are very popular, which also shows that chefs also attach great importance to using vessels to create special dishes. If you choose utensils, you can highlight the characteristics of dishes, such as "pot bass" in fish-shaped pots, "fish balls in clear soup" in glassware, and "Buddha jumping over the wall" in bowls with Buddha's head statues. The use of these utensils can fully show the theme, shape and color of dishes. Sixth, create side dishes allusions. Traditional specialty dishes generally have some allusions and legends, which makes the dishes more legendary and allows guests to appreciate the culture while tasting these dishes. Therefore, when creating special dishes, chefs should not forget to dig up the allusions, legends and cultural backgrounds corresponding to these dishes, and sort them out or rewrite them. For example, the special dish "Shrimp with Sheshan Tea" we created has a legend about Sheshan Tea. The special dish "She Shan Zhu Xiang rou" contains allusions about Emperor Kangxi and Lan Sun. If there are no allusions and legends, explain the characteristics of raw materials, cooking characteristics and nutrition knowledge. If there is no story to tell about the dish "Special Double Yellow Eggs", let's start with the cooking characteristics, let the guests guess how to make it first, and then explain the secret of cooking when the guests are excited to guess, so that the guests can not only taste the special dishes, but also know how to make it, which greatly increases the interest of food. Similarly, the snack "Wowotou" has no allusions. Because the shape of dim sum is corn and the stuffing is also made of corn, let's explain its raw material characteristics and nutritional value. At the same time, it can also let guests taste this snack and gain food nutrition knowledge. At the same time, guests will spread out these special dishes and make free advertisements for you. Sometimes, we can make use of local cultural background to make special dishes. For example, based on Notre Dame de Sheshan, a western religious culture, we create a series of special dishes that Chinese food is eaten in the west and western food is eaten in the west. Such as "steamed duck clip with pineapple", "crispy baked mandarin fish" and "sweet potato egg tart". Seven, keep up with the food fashion to create special dishes should also conform to the food fashion in society. For example, in the past, people's living standards were low and they needed food and clothing. At this time, the dishes are full of oil and heavy taste. Later, public funds ate and drank too much and asked to eat well. At that time, the dishes paid attention to high-grade raw materials, seafood and soft-shelled turtle. Now people's living standards have improved, and they pay more attention to nutrition and health care, so they pay attention to the use of green food, which is low in sugar, sodium, fat and protein. Therefore, the current special dishes should be designed and created according to modern food fashion to meet the dietary needs of modern people. For example, our special dish "Yuanyang Crispy Wonton" is made of pumpkin and wax gourd, stuffed with wild shepherd's purse and free-range chicken. Because it meets the requirements of the current food fashion and has a beautiful shape, this dish was very popular with guests as soon as it was launched. Then there is the popular "farm food" all over the country. Although their cooking methods and tastes are very common, it is because the raw materials used are all grown and raised by themselves, which are fresh and pollution-free. Moreover, it is eaten in farmers' homes, and the local flavor is very strong. It caters to the modern popular diet fashion of returning to natural nutrition and health care. Therefore, it is also welcomed by people and becomes a feature. Another example is the popular wild mushroom dish, aloe dish and saffron dish, which are all developed to meet the needs of modern people's diet fashion. Eight, adhere to the quality first to create special dishes. It is also important to maintain the quality of special dishes. It takes some time to create a brand, so that guests can understand and agree with it. During this time, the food can always maintain its quality, and there must be no time difference, so as to become a real brand food. Therefore, we should pay attention to the collection, sorting and archiving of all kinds of materials of special dishes, and make quantitative determination, formulate standard recipes and standardized operating procedures to ensure the quality of special dishes. Restaurant managers should establish a strict quality management system, from the purchase of raw materials to the production of dishes, strict management at all levels. Otherwise, no matter how creative the dishes are, they will not succeed. Nine, pay attention to advertising. After the creation of special dishes, it was still unsuccessful. Need publicity to let the guests know. It used to be "the smell of wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley", but now it is "good wine will shout" Because of the fierce market competition, many hotels have been opened in the alley, and the hutongs are also crowded with wine stalls. The aroma of your wine has long been masked by other alcohol. In order to succeed, we must put billboards at the alley mouth, let the brothers shout, and even sell from door to door. Otherwise, no matter how good your wine is, the guests don't know, and they can't buy it. Therefore, after the creation of special dishes, we should make full use of all media for publicity and introduction, and also carry out decoration and publicity in various places in the store to recommend them to guests.