The production technique of Yanji sauce products originated in the 23rd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1885). Since the establishment of Yan Fusheng, a Hui Muslim, it has been passed down through five generations and has a history of more than 100 years. During this period, Yanji sauce products disappeared due to wars, public-private partnerships after liberation, and the Cultural Revolution. However, its production technique has not been lost, but has been well inherited under the careful care of several generations of the Yan family. Tianmu Village is a gathering area for Hui Muslims with a history of 600 years. The ancestors retained the lifestyle of their own ethnic group, making a living mainly by trafficking, slaughtering cattle and sheep, and steaming and boiling beef and mutton. Moreover, beef and mutton sauce products are the main food of the local people. The living customs of the Hui people are integrated with "halal". The religious meaning of "halal" is "clean and untainted", "truth is unique" and "pure and true". Therefore, Hui people pay great attention to the cleanliness of body and mind, and the quality is pure and authentic. The Yan family closely follows and consistently integrates this living custom into the production technique. "The Three Knives of Tianmu Huihui" refer to the beef and mutton knife, the tile knife and the cake cutting knife. Yanji's ancestors skillfully mastered the beef and mutton knife. Yan Fusheng, the founder of Yanji sauce product production skills, was born in the fourth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1865). When he was young, he traveled between Inner Mongolia and Tianjin to engage in beef and mutton business. Later, he tried to start a beef and mutton sauce product business. In 1885, in order to make the sauce products fresh and delicious, he continued to explore on the basis of traditional production, adding various Chinese herbal medicines, and gradually formed a set of unique production techniques. Yanji sauce products went from being unknown to being well-known in the village, and the business became more and more popular, and Yanji Sauce Store also got its name. The second-generation successor Yan Deming inherited his father's business and engaged in the Yanji sauce product business. Affected by war, public-private partnerships after liberation, and the Cultural Revolution, the Yan family's sauce product business was interrupted for nearly 20 years. The business was interrupted, but the sauce making skills were not interrupted. In order to pass on this craft, Yan Deming never left the "hard work" and worked as a chef for Wang Xueyan (a native of Tianmu Village and a former Kuomintang uprising general) and Zhengxingde Tea House. Yan Jinghai, the third-generation successor of Yan's, was born in 1931. After the reform and opening up, he not only returned to his old business but also regarded quality as his life. In 1985, on the occasion of the centenary of his ancestors' establishment of the sauce shop, he reopened the "Yan's Sauce Shop" in Tianmu Village Food Street. From the selection of materials to the finished product, every link was personally supervised and checked. Even the ingredients such as onions, ginger, pepper and Chinese herbal medicines were purchased by Mr. Yan himself. He also invented a new stove with a moderate bottom and fire area, so that the fire can burn fully and comprehensively at the bottom of the pot, ensuring that the broth is always boiling, more flavorful, and more tender, greatly improving efficiency. Yan Zhenlai, the fourth-generation successor, inherited his father's business, followed his father's teachings, behaved honestly, and did things honestly. The business of Yanji sauce products has grown bigger and bigger in the hands of two generations of father and son, from the original 1 store to the current 3 stores. In order to ensure that the skills of Yanji sauce products will be passed on to the next generation, the father and son taught the skills to 6 fifth-generation successors by word of mouth and by example. With integrity, the shop is always crowded with customers. In addition to diners from the city, it also attracted friends from Beijing, Heilongjiang, Hebei and other places, and many Southeast Asian Muslims came to taste and buy. As a century-old store, it can stand firm in the fierce market competition, which is inseparable from the traditional customs of Yanji sauce products that have been endowed since its birth. Today, the children and grandchildren have also mastered the production skills. This unique skill of sauce making is being passed down from generation to generation with the efforts of "Yanji" people. Yanji sauce products are brown in color, oily and shiny, moderately salty, crispy and refreshing, and are delicious dishes on people's tables. The basic production process is as follows: 1. Select ingredients. 1. Choose fresh beef shank that is neither fat nor lean. Soak it in cold water first to clean the blood clots, and store it according to the tenderness of the meat. 2. Prepare the sauce. Add clean water to the pot, warm it slightly, add appropriate amount of salt and homemade seasoning, the seasoning ingredients include green onion, ginger, garlic, pepper, etc., stir and boil, and put it in a container for later use. 3. Put the pot in place. First, put a grate on the bottom and around the pot to prevent the meat from sticking to the pot wall, and then arrange the meat in the pot according to the tenderness of the meat. The old meat is placed at the bottom of the pot and the tender meat is placed on top. 4. Make the sauce. After the meat is placed in the pot, pour in the prepared sauce soup. After boiling, add Chinese herbs such as bay leaves, cloves, and angelica, and press it with a pressure plate, add clean water, and cook it over high heat. After the first hour of cooking, skim off the foam on the surface of the soup, and then turn the pot over once every hour. According to the soup consumption, add appropriate amount of old soup so that each piece of meat can be immersed in the soup. After cooking over high heat for a suitable time, simmer over low heat to allow the aroma to slowly penetrate the meat. When simmering, turn the pot over once every hour to make the meat uniformly cooked. 5. Remove from the pot: Remove from the pot according to the degree of doneness of the beef, generally in 2-3 times. When removing from the pot, use a special iron paddle to gently shovel and place it flat. After scooping the original soup in the pot to rinse, place the meat on a sterilized tray, leaving space between the meat, and cut and sell after cooling. Yanji's main specialty foods are: braised beef, tripe, beef tendon, tendon, beef tongue, and beef eye. The production skills of Yanji sauce products are passed down orally and are still passed down within the family after hundreds of years. The series of production processes such as material selection, cutting, shaping, putting into the pot, ingredients, and steaming are all completed by hand. The seasonings are brewed by hand, and the condiments are made according to the characteristics of the four seasons. No preservatives and additives are added. The sauce products made are fresh but not greasy, moist but not permeable, chewy but not hard, rotten but not loose, and have good color, aroma and taste. They are different from other similar sauce products. Eaters will know it after tasting it, so they are loved by people. In order to ensure the purity and authenticity of Yanji sauce products, the Yan family also adheres to a rule that every link of Yanji sauce products from material selection to finished products is supervised and checked by the inheritor himself. There is not much supply every day, just to ensure the freshness of the products. During traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, purchase restrictions are taken to allow more customers to buy sauce products. In order to pass on their "treasures" well, the Yanji family has also formulated detailed protection measures for the production skills of sauce products: the sauce production skills left by the predecessors have been effectively passed on. In terms of inheritance from generation to generation, we ensure quality and quantity, and reputation first. On the basis of natural inheritance from the old, middle-aged and young, we focus on the training of young people. The inheritors plan to pass on the original taste of Yanji sauce product making skills to the next generation. There are five generations of inheritors of Yanji sauce product making skills: the first generation inheritor Yan Fusheng (1865-1926); the second generation inheritor Yan Deming (1888-1976); the third generation inheritor Yan Jinghai (1931-2012); the fourth generation inheritor Yan Zhenlai (1963 to present); the fifth generation inheritor Yan Shuang (1988 to present), Yan Lu (1989 to present), Yan Shuai (1993 to present), Sun Yue (1986 to present), Sun Ting (1990 to present), Mu Jingt (1993 to present). Information source: Tianjin Beichen Cultural Information Network (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) Information source: Tianjin Beichen Cultural Information Network (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)