THE Start of Autumn, usually falling between August 7 and 9, is the 13th of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar. In Beijing, winter is freezing cold, spring is often too windy, summer is scorching hot; autumn therefore becomes the most pleasant of four seasons with crystal blue skies and a bountiful harvest of crops and fruits.
In China, a farmer’s proverb says: once the Start of Autumn comes, the water become cooler. Although sometimes the last of the hottest days of the year come after the Start of Autumn and it is still hot during the day, both the mornings and nights are cooler.
Chinese people have a custom of gaining weight in autumn. As the hot summer days often dampen people’s appetites and people’s sleep quality is worse than that during the other three seasons due to long days, short nights, high temperatures, and humidity, many lose weight during the hot season. Thus, at the onset of autumn, people normally take this opportunity to eat more to replace any weight they have lost during the summer by eating red-braised pork and dumplings, or heading out to restaurants for roast ducks or grilled meat.
In bygone days, peddlers sold colorful commodities on the streets as autumn arrived. “Sweet grapes, red jujube, and big crabs!” Their cries would be accompanied by autumn breeze. At the turn of summer and autumn, the business of restaurants soars. Foodies have multiple choices in Beijing as the city has lots of renowned restaurants and their own well-known dishes, such as red-cooked chicken in Taifeng Lou; grilled lamb and steamed crabs in Zhengyang Lou; steamed pork with glutinous rice flour in Xingchun Ju; stewed pig’s feet and braised pork meatballs in Tongfu Ju; mutton hotpot in Dong Lai Shun; braised beef tendon in Xi Lai Shun; and braised pork shank with soy sauce in time-honored brand Tian Fu Hao.
Freshwater crabs were the preferred culinary choice for the nobility and wealthy families. Male crabs are the best in the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar and female crabs are best in the eighth lunar month.
Here are two dishes recommended for the season.
One is Tremella and Lotus Seed Sweet Soup. Prepare 50g lotus seeds without core, 50g rock sugar, 25g tremella, two wolf-berries, and some honey. Boil the soaked lotus seeds till they turn tender, fish them out and put them into a bowl of water, add the soaked tremella, wolf-berries, and rock sugar, and steam for 15 minutes. Cool the dish and garnish it with honey on top.
The other is Braised Pork Belly with Chestnuts. Prepare 400g pork belly, 200g chestnuts, oil, salt, soy sauce, rock sugar, Sichuan pepper, aniseed, cinnamon, cooking wine, scallion, and ginger. Cube the pork belly and then blanch in water. Put all ingredients except chestnuts into the boiling water, and steam in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Cool down the pork and add the peeled chestnuts, cook for another four minutes. It will be well done with a sumptuous chestnut aroma.
TONG CHANGYOU is a Beijing Cuisine master and a member of both the China Cuisine Association and the Beijing Cuisine Association.
