Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

The prototype was created in Fuzhou around 1876, when the Shaoxing-born wife of a local mint-bureau official cooked it for a banquet honoring Zhou Lian, the provincial administration commissioner; Zhou's chef Zheng Chunfa then refined it (more seafood, less meat, sealed with lotus leaf and slow-stewed over charcoal) and made it the signature dish at his Juchunyuan restaurant. The original name was 福寿全 (fu shou quan, "complete fortune and longevity"); a poet at a banquet improvised a couplet — "the aroma jumps the wall, even Buddha leaps for it" — and the new name stuck. It was originally a year-end banquet dish for wealthy households where each ingredient was rare on its own.

Created circa 1876 by Zheng Chunfa at Juchunyuan in Fuzhou; a poet at the banquet improvised 'the aroma jumps the wall, even Buddha leaps for it' and the name stuck. Each ingredient is cooked separately, then sealed with lotus leaf and dough for a 4–6 hour final steam.

A sealed clay jar lifted to the table; lid pulled off and the steam alone tells you what's inside — abalone, sea cucumber, fish maw, scallop, quail egg, ham, mushroom, all stewed in chicken-pork-ham stock for hours. The broth is the dish: amber, viscous from collagen, deep enough that each ingredient tastes of the others. Eaten in small porcelain spoons.

Each ingredient is cooked separately to its proper doneness before assembly — abalone slow-braised, sea cucumber rehydrated for days, ham steamed for stock, mushroom soaked. They are layered into the jar with stock, sealed with lotus leaf and dough, and steamed for another 4–6 hours. The point of the long final steam is to fuse aromas without overcooking the seafood; rushing it gives a soup that tastes of nothing in particular.