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Home
where life begins
is also one's ultimate safe harbor
Under the same roof
they cook together, eat together
They use food to unite
and consolate family members
Though pots and pans are everydayness
they are symbols of Chinese living style
and more of a reflection of the Chinese ethics
People grow up
in love
be apart
reunite
In some sense, enjoy home cooking
is also an experience of various tastes of life 17 00:02:22,780 --> 00:02:23,920 T'ai-hang Mountains
known as the geographical boundaries of the eastern China
are canyons created by geological movement
Quartzite stones from a billion years ago are exposed here
Valleys are connected and arable lands are scarce
Xiaoyou Zhao and his son must seize the time
to complete the harvest before the white dews
Corn is the only kind of grain they are planting
Summer heat
makes the corn mature too early
The land at the cliff edge
occupies a total of 1000 square meters
The land is used for corn planting
which only can bring 2000 yuan annual income
In the ancestral house 5 kilometers away
Xiaoyou's wife Ronghua Cheng's work is also toilsome
Corn originally comes from the South American
but enjoys a 400 years of cultivation history in China
People use stone mill that weighs about 300 kilograms
to grind corn into powder
in order to make food
The youngest daughter-in-law comes back home with potatoes she digs
The eldest daughter-in-law comes home to help
Under the lead of their mother-in-law
They three together is going to make lunch for the whole family
Flour needs to be added in to corn powder to increase stickiness
In the old China, flour is very precious and expensive
Sometimes people have to use tree bark to replace flour
It is with such kind of method
and thought
that Ronghua Cheng feeds the whole family
Since harvest is a major event for the Zhao family
every family member has to do something to help
The tunnel hanging on the cliff
connects the village to the world
The tunnel takes 30 years
of the whole villagers to build by hand
Corn batter and leek sections
together can make delicious steamed buns
which win favor of all the family members
Based on the lever principle, people squeeze dough into strips
Northerners name those strips---Hele
Hele bad stands by the side of the cooking bench
therefore strips can go directly into the pot
As long as the grain be grounded into powder
Every ShanXi man is gifted with cooked wheaten food making
Huozhou city is in the central of Shanxi Province
People make more
delicate cooked wheaten food there
Thanks to their sophisticated techniques of making cooked wheaten food
days and food seem
no longer tedious
There is a tradition that newlywed daughter has to return to her mother's home on the third day of the wedding
Her mother's side of the family will make steamed jujube buns to welcome their daughter
The number and pattern of the bun
are said to reflect how much the daughter is loved by the family
Therefore every mom takes it very seriously
Steaming is one of China's most classic form of home cooking
In Tianmen City Hubei Province
Housewives know how to make full use of the heat Tianmen City Hubei Province
Housewives know how to make full use of the heat
to finish cooking vegetables and rice at the same time
These dishes can not only retain their original taste and flavor
but also maintain their original shape
Hele itself is plain
so it must go together with strong sauce to reach its best taste
After this meal
more onerous labor is waiting for the husbands
Long before tables and chairs are invented
Chinese people are serving meals individually
After about 1400 years
Chinese people begin to sit around the table to have meals together
Four generations reunite to celebrate the harvest
Common as the home-cooked meals might be
the order and orientation of the seat arrangement are paid special attention to
Grandpa is 90 years old
and being a farmer in most of his life
The seat facing the courtyard door is always saved for him
This is the respect that traditionally the young shows to the old in China
With the food planted and made by themselves on the table
the whole family enjoys the contentment and joy comes from the tillage
No matter where they are
as long as there is an important occasion
every one will come home and sit around the table
to appreciate the kinship
and mutual support of the family members
That
is why a family can prosperous continuously
under such harsh environment
1000 kilometers away from
the farming land
is China's most prosperous city---Shanghai
Ziyu is 16 years old
Five years ago
she came to Shanghai from Henan to attend school
The mother is preparing dinner
The mother and the daughter rent a 15 square meters apartment
near the school
There is no private bathroom
and four households have to share one kitchen
The good news is the rental fee is cheap
This is the home they have in Shanghai
Most of these teenagers have similar experience
They come from all over China
They have learnt musical instruments for more than 10 years
and all go through a strict selection
Their goal is to become professional performers
Ziyu began to learn viola since she was 4
She had been to Wuhan
and Beijing to attend a better school
After Ziyu had been admitted by a school in Shanghai
her mom quit the job and became a full-time study accompany of her daughter
All their living expenses are
supported by the father
To better support their daughter
to go abroad to compete and perform
The father never visits Shanghai in 5 years
For a better education of their children
parents are willing to leave their hometown and travel all cross the country
It is a common choice of
many one-child families in China
For Ziyu
Viola takes up almost all of her life
Her mother's life is more flexible
in order to buy fresh ingredients
she would go to big supermarket that is more far away
Although she has to live a frugal life
she does everything she can to ensure her daughter's nutrition
Ziyu is now a teenager whoes body is growing
besides that she has to stand to practice viola eight hours a day
The mother needs to provide her daughter energy supply in time
Meat is rich in fat
and the fat can be transformed into calories
which equals to twice the amout of
protein and carbohydrates
The best streaky pork is the kind of meat
that with the pig skin on it and layers of fat and lean in it
Ziyu's mom learn how to make
this dish from their neighbor
after they settle in Shanghai
In the Han recipes
bouilli does not have a long history
but enjoys the most popularity
Pork and soy sauce
are common ingredients
It does not require many advanced skills to make this dish
but only takes time and patience
This makes bouilli
a classic Chinese home-cooking dish
Gastronomers
will use high heat to bake the pork skin
The skin will contract quickly under the heat
so that the meat can still be tough and chewy
even stewed for a long time
The dark red color is the symbol of bouilli
To obtain this color
one can add
soy sauce
red kojie rice
or fermented bean curd to it
Every housewife has her own recipe of bouilli
Broth can not be wasted
No matter what ingredients you put in it
after saturated with soup
will all become bouilli's
best mix
Every household has its own favor of
the duration and degree of heating
and the taste of the dish
Compared to the techniques
it is the intention that matters the most
Set the table for dinner sweetheart
Sure
Remember to select the music you wanna listen at dinner
Mom dinner ready yet
Right away
Dinner's ready
Try this bouilli
Shanghai bouilli
Henan ramen
and Berlioz's music
together makes up mom's reserved recipe
Her body movements
are quite exaggerated
but the atmosphere has been lightened by her
You see
She totally rules the stage
Please have some too mom
Sure
The viola class is one on one
and once per week
Today Ziyu is having an extra class
Try it yourself
OK
Mr.Sheng is a very strict teacher
The international competition and solo concert is imminent
Ziyu must seize every minute to practice
This is the fourth notebook that mom has made for her daughter
ach one of them is 5cm thick
Her mom never misses
any of Ziyu's practice lessons
Good job
Well done
Welcome
Most Chinese believe
family should stay together
at full moon night of August of the lunar calendar
Mr.Sheng knows that Ziyu and her mom
can not go back to their hometown to celebrate the festival
We eat dumplings to celebrate the New Year
When guests visit
the best way to welcome them is to serve dumplings
Likewise
I haven't been home for several years
and I miss dumplings the most
I am sure those dumplings are very delicious
Mr. Sheng is also a northerner
Like Ziyu
Mr.Sheng traveled to many places to study
and finally he settled down in Shanghai
A family dinner cannot go without dumplings
and Shanghai bouilli
Ziyu eat some more
In order to apply visa
The mother learned how to write English letter
by refering to a dictionary
Except practicing viola
the mother takes care
of all the chores for her daughter alone
like collecting materials and tablatures
We haven't been back to our hometown even once
for five years
Grandmother is seriously ill this year
She has been under a dozen of chemotherapies
I am afraid to take her back home
For Ziyu I am a qualified mother
but for the entire family
I am nothing
I haven't done anything for
the family
my husband
and my parents
I feel like I haven't fufill any obligations of the family
In this 5 years
I
Just as passing down the mother tongue language
Mother deeply rooted the taste
into child's memory
This is an unconscious instinct
Once these seeds germinate
No matter how far the child goes
The familiar taste will remind the child
where the home is
Tong Wu's work is an emerging profession
He is the leader of Hiking Club
He never shies away from his personal life
After his parents divorced
when he was 10 years old
Whenever he remembers home
he remembers his aunt's pickle jar
His aunt leaves in Meishan City
Today she is going to welcome Tong Wu home
Pickle
which has a unique crisp and sour taste
makes signature dishes of Sichuan people
Sichuan cuisine is rich in flavor
To create complex flavor
pickle is one essential seasoning
In order to make authentic pickle fish
pickled ginger and chili are important
Hot oil can help extract the spicy flavor
and release acidic substances
which will not only make fish delicate in taste
but also wipe off the raw smell
The large mint leaves
add an exotic aroma
to the hot and sour soup
Sister aunt
I am home
You are home
Tong is back
Where have you been these days
I've been to Kangding
Kangding
Look at your hair
Meal is ready
Time to eat
the most beautiful fish I've cooked
Here comes the fish
Cheers
Come on cheers
Happy holidays
I lived in my aunt's home since I was little
She has the sharpest tongue but the warmest heart
She is so afraid that she can't take good care of me
and she could not explain to my parents
My aunt ask me what I wanna eat every time I come back
I say anything is fine
every time
That kind of feeling is
home cooking dishes are delicious no matter what the dishes are
Try this
Eat some more
If you come to Sichuan you will know what pickle means for Sichuan people
Every household has pickles
and the tastes vary from one to another
Each has its own advantages
Aunt's recipe of making pickle
involves the most tender and fresh seasonal vegetables
Wash them thoroughly before salting
Airing under the eaves
Make the vegetables slightly dehydrated
Salt and cold boiled water
mix together with the ratio of 1:50
Radishes
tender ginger
Cowpeas
add chili to enhance the flavor
garlic to sterilize
and pepper to improve the aroma
Everything is ready
It is time to put “old salt water” into the pickle jars
It equals to the yeast
With it
the harmful and bad bacteria can be suppressed
and the number of lactic acid bacteria will prevail
With the help of lactic acid bacteria
The sugar in the vegetables will turn into lactic acid
which creates the sour flavor of the pickle
Pour water into the edge of the jars
to block the air and bacteria
About ten days after microorganisms' hard work
vegetables are given new vigor
The bright color and greenness of the vegetables fade awayv
Clear crisp and sour pickles come into being
There is another kind of pickle
which is Tong's favorite
His aunt gets this recipe from grandmother
Put fresh vegetables and cooked chicken claws
into the pickle water
It takes only one day
to make an irresistible
tasty dish
Come here and taste this
The claw is the perfect picnic food
to bring outdoors to share with friends
I wanna have three
We haven't got any yet
Who
Me
Be careful
and take care of yourself
Got it
Good
Remember to take care
Sure
Be safe
Next time I will make more delicious dishes for you
I don't say much with my family
but when I am with friends
I can feel it
I am a totally different person
If my parents had not divorced
and I've been around them the whole time
I may have another kind of character
Starting again
Tong Wu suddenly decided to go to Leshan
to visit his father who lives alone
Tong
Yes Dad
These are chicken claws with pickle
Nice
Since Tong Wu has to be on his way shortly
he only has one hour to spend with his dad
In the on-call room
Simple dishes
Father and son that haven't meet each other for six months
Fall silent with each other
Thoughts can't help running through their heads
In the central Sichuan the weather is warm and humid
which makes it perfect place for making another traditional pickle
Sprouts
choose from nice dried mustard
That's it
Sprouts that have been marinated for over a year
have the best flavor
Yibin hot and spicy noodle is Yibin's special local product
Although oily and spicy
the sprouts smell can not be concealed
There is a kind of food
can be considered course and seasoning at the same time
Only a little of it
makes the rice taste amazing
This is what Chinese people
called dish goes with the rice
Here you go
On the sultry July
At the alluvial plain of the Yellow River
watermelons are ripe
One can enjoy the sweet taste of watermelons
for more than one season
Watermelon sauce
is a typical course that goes with rice
It can magically preserve
the taste of summer
The dog days of summer brings the best time
to make the sauce
Step one
make beans ready for making sauce
Grandma picks small soybeans
and make them crispy
It's done
Spread the soybeans
and wait for them to cool down
There are ten people in her family
The grandma have raised her children
and now she begins to raise the third generation
There are many things to do in this long summer
but grandma knows that
doing all these things just like making sauce
It can't rush
When soybeans become semi-dry
wrap them with fried flour
The protein and starch in the flour
will provide nourishment to soybeans' fermentation
Make a straw mat for those beans
This is a hotbed
Spread the soybeans
Quilt can control the temperature
and block bacteria all at once
With a 40 years of experience
grandma knows that the growth of the mold
determines the flavor of the sauce
I am 70 years old now
I have two sons
two daughters
and three grandkids
The young go to school
The elder busy for work
They all come back for
Spring Festival every year
As soon as one Spring Festival is over
she begins to look forward to the next one
Grandma seldom calls her children
She always tells them not to worry about her
Step two
Cut the watermelon
This is the favorite part for grandkids
The sweetest part of the melon left for the kids
The part that connects to the melon skin is not high in sugar
which is more suitable for making watermelon sauce
During the hottest 10 days in a year
Mycelium grows fast
shows the color of yellowish-green
Step three
Sprinkle with salt ginger pepper
Star anise bay leaves and other spices
Watermelon is fresh
and juicy
Constantly stir and mix them
All the ingredients
can absorb the sweet watermelon juice
I like Peking Opera
So my grandson bought me a radio
with a memory card in it
The card has many plays
He always go to school far away
He comes back once a year
What been sealed into the urn is not just delicious food
but also expectations
40 days later
When the urn reopens
a overwhelming sweet soy sauce aroma sweeps the room
and only a small portion can make people open the appetite
For grandmother
The real taste of watermelon sauce
is when the children come back home
and that is her happiest time of year
In the productive region
it is easy for housewives
to make a meal
for the whole family
But nature will not forget
some other places
China's cleverest housewives
are good at using local materials
Yuezhen Wu is looking for a wild cane shoot
locals call it pusun which is the stem of cattail
I began to pull the pusun since I was a child
Since I grew up along the Liaohe River
that riverside has never been out of pusun
It is something that grows naturally
it does not need special attention and fertilization
You just pick it up
and eat it
Before the next harvest season of pusun
and the last pick
Yuezhen Wu has her own plans
The upright young stems are edible parts
of pusun
The cane shoots that people are familiar with
are a variation of pusun
It has a large spindly and fleshy stem
only China and Vietnam
cultivate this vegetable
Shrimp roe stewed with cane shoots
Though ingredients are simple
after coloring
saturated with clear soup
simmered on low flame
becomes the most common dish in summer
Use fresh picked pusun
to make a braised pork with pusun
By Northeast words
Fresh and alive
Dry up the rest of the pusun
Air dry them so that they can be preserved for a long time
Smart housewives would make early preparations
In the reservoirs of Huaiyang region
People chase
another hard-core edible wild herbs
Although it has
the same growing environment
and similar name with pusun
they are two
completely different plants
It has its position in many cuisines
Chop cattail
and put it into the egg
Make it into a pie shape
This cooking method in Yangzhou
highlights crisp cattail
with egg’s soft
And make it into fillings
Make Dumplings
This is the famous snack in Huaian
Just one bite
and you will notice the exotic smell
Let the oral and nasal
together form a three-dimensional feel
Choose the most tender part of the cattail
to make a featured dish of Jinan-stewed cattail in milky soup
Ordinary people do not always prepare soup-stock
But using flour paste
it can also produce
a thick creamy white sauce
Add ham mushrooms and bamboo shoots into it
The amazing taste can be doubled
In the fall
Suaeda grass in Liaodong Bay
forms a red ocean
On the Yuezhen’s windowsill
Cattail has been dried up
Hot water
makes the cattail stretch up
Soup needs to be added
to the meat
so that the dried cattail can be fully flavored
Add a handful of reed
and simmer for a hour and wait for food to ready
During the ripen season of rice
Cattail is off the market in the South
But for Yuezhen Wu
it still has its value
Dried stems of cattail
can weave into various daily articles
Eight years ago
her husband suffered a heart attack
and almost died
She shouldered all housework and farm work
and took good care of her husband for five years
She is as tough as cattail
to sustain the whole family
When families come back home
Yuezhen Wu feels the most content moment of her day
I just want to take care of my old man
and let him have a happy life
As an old proverb goes you might not be the best but you are better than the worst
Look at my five family members
we are always united and happy
never argue or fight
The money is not important
family matters the most
My biggest hope is
everyone in my family can stay happy
For Chinese females
Thrifty
Has always been one of the traditional virtues
There is only one exception
Menglu Twenty nine years old
has been pregnant for seven month
and preparing for the baby’s birth everyday
My first reaction
is in fact an amazing feeling
Since I have my first fetal movement
I feels like there is a new member in the family
Zhuhai is a place where 90 percent population
comes from other cities
Her husband Hansheng is a native Cantonese
Menglu comes from Sichuan
In this particular phase of life
mother-to-be can legitimately
enjoy the meticulous care
The north port of Gongbei
connects Zhuhai and Macao
There is a stream of people in rush hour
at 9 o’clock at night
Mr.Pan
lives in Macao
In every two or three days
he will cross the border to Zhuhai to buy food
which has become
the habit of many Macao people
His 20-year-old daughter Peiqi
lives an independent life
but her father still worries about her
Are you ready to cook dad
yes
He stewed a pot of orange flavored red bean paste as dessert
Mr.pan originaly from Zhongshan City Guangdong Province
This is a hometown habit
and his daughter has been affected deeply
It is sweet and delicious
Sweetened water
has been regarded as a typical Chinese dessert
The dessert always comes in soup or rice paste form
Guangdong and Guangxi people’s evaluation to the sweetened water
can be concluded with two words and one of them is sweet which refers to the flavor
Another word is smooth which refers to the taste
There is a kind of sweet moment in one's life
Taipa
which is the favorite place in Macao to take wedding photos
Three years ago
Peiqi and Zhiming felt in love at first sight
Dad how long should I soak the dried beancurd-stick
A little longer
This is the first time that daughter help her dad in kitchen
Guests will come to visit today
When will he come
He is almost there
He just finished from work
He needs to hurry up
Nice to meet you Mr.Pan
There is a gift for you
Thank you
Make yourself at home
Try it
a bowl of sweetened water
melted father’s deep and silence love
At the first time to meet the future son-in-law
Every father’s feeling
may be more complicated than
a bowl of sweetened water
On the other side of the port of Zhuhai
the atmosphere is a little tense
Menglu is experiencing
the first throe before childbirth
We are waiting for you
You will see your mom and dad soon
It is very painful
Menglu and Hanseng’s parents all come to the hospital
You sweats a lot
Do not be afraid
Mom do not be afraid
Baby do not worry
Mom is not afraid
The pain lasted nine hours
so her strength declines quickly
But Menglu must stay strong
and the baby needs her help
Hansheng and Menglu’s child
is the second generation of China's one child family
Four parents
One pair of husband and wife
One child
This "421" family structure
has already become a mainstream phenomenon of Chinese urban society
This chuld affects three families
Congratulations sir
Here is your baby
Congratulations and it is a girl
She is seven pounds in weight
and fifty centimeters in length
Hansheng and Menglu had already agreed
on the daughter's nickname
Xiao Fuxing
which means happy little star
Fuxing's first meal does not go well
She still needs more practice
For Menglu
giving birth to a child
is just the beginning of her life experience
To be a good mother
perhaps is the bigger proposition
Hi baby
I am your mom
she is hungry
Kitchen quickly becomes a matching field
The competitors are their parents
Sishuan cuisine, Guangdong cuisine
Every dish comes to the spotlight
Everyone is determined to win
Instead of saying
it shows the cooking skills of elder people
Rather say that it expresses
the joy of welcoming a new life
Baby‘s home
Thank God Hope you can grow up quickly
Here you go
Come to take some water too?
The grandparents who came from Guangdong
are confident that they have
secrets recipes to take care of lying-in women
They believe that the soup made with spring water
is the best
The grandmother who came from Sichuan
brought the dried houttuynia cordata
Stewed chicken with it
is considered to be beneficial for healing wounds
and recovery
Papaya, sweet and rich in juice
cam stew together with carp
The Chinese traditional medicine believes
that those two food materials contribute to galactosis
This is the Guangdong way of cooking
Cantonese love to drink soup and they are skillful in making soup
The modern science considers that
any kind of processing of the food
will cause nutrition lost in some degrees
but this cannot persuade Cantonese
Double-stewed soup
is the pride of Cantonese
All kinds of food materials marked with health care function
are added in the clay pot
Simmered through several hours
the fragrance of the food material releases repeatedly
The stewing soup is strong and sweet
and been endowed with various tonic hints
Another kind of stewing soup
also emphasizes on slow
With help of the steam
The airtight stew pot locks the moisture
so that the cooking time is longer
Though the soup stews for a long time it doesn’t boil
The umami and flavor substances
can generate multiplied
The best stewing soup
has the color of tea
Grandpa is the soup ready yet
Almost
I stewed the soup for you
I stewed it today
Here is the soup of red dates with carp and papaya
Drinking soup is Meng Lu’s assignment every day
Her diet
not only concerns postpartum recovery
ut also concerns about providing enough nutrition for the little baby
Is mom ready?
Eat it quickly
Our baby has been ready
to feed
Guangdong is
1500 miles away from Sichuan
They are totally different in
language and traditional diet
But both sides of the parents are confident that
food can preserve people’s health
Facing the double care
Menglu feels like there is too much to take in
I’ve had enough
Are you sure
Fine I help you to eat it all
Don’t let our parents see it
I ate it up for you
OK
So as to not to hurt their feelings
Menglu and Hansheng are both born as the new generations
with higher education
Even though they understand the parents’ love
they have their own propositions
for raising their kid
Two months later
the happy story
has a dramatic ending
Hansheng is overweight
During spring
Yuezhen Wu sows new seeds in the soil
Zi Yu wins the champion in the international competition
and heads towards a higher level
Ronghua Cheng and Xiaoyou Zhao
expect good weather for the crops next year
and can have good harvest
One reason that
the human organize family
is to produce and allocate food
more reasonably
It is the home cooking and food sharing
that tie the family more closely
Although the home cooking dishes
vary from family to family
A writer says
that happy families are similar