Eating meat to worship the gods is the primitive religious custom of Manchu people. In the folk, when offering a single pole (sacred pole) in the New Year, it is necessary to make blood sausage (later white meat blood sausage); Sacrificing seven stars in the dark night, it later evolved into seven-star mutton. In Manchu sacrifices, pigs are often sacrificed, and pork is called "blessed meat" and "sacred meat". After the sacrifice, everyone shared food.
Manchu people like sticky food, honey, rice tea and other customs, which are also influenced by their long-term economic production such as hunting, gathering, breeding, farming and beekeeping. It is customary to identify them through sacrifices in sacrificial activities. Of course, the formation of this diet custom is also restricted by geography, climate and living environment.
After the Manchu entered the customs to unify China, although the dietary customs were greatly influenced by the Han nationality, they still maintained the traditional inertia. From folk snacks, three sets of bowl seats to the imperial palace in Qing Dynasty and Manchu-Han banquet, it constitutes a huge lineup of Manchu diet, which is not only an integral part of Manchu national culture, but also an important wealth in the cooking treasure house of the motherland.
First, a few Manchu snacks:
Cixi xiaowotou
When Eight-Nation Alliance went to Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi fled, and had cornmeal steamed corn bread, which was delicious. After returning to Beijing, one day, I remembered to eat Wowotou again, so I called the kitchen to make Wowotou. The workers in the kitchen make steamed bread with fresh corn flour and soybean flour, accompanied by honey that Manchu people like to eat. So Xiaowotou became a court snack in the Qing Dynasty.
Bean flour paper
Manchu people like sticky food and sweets. Bean flour rolls, or bean flour cakes, are mostly eaten in spring. The method is to steam the sticky rice noodles in a pot, roll them into thin slices, and then sprinkle the fried soybeans evenly on them, or add sesame salt, roll them into rolls, and cut them into one to two inches long, which is golden in color, sticky and fragrant.
Perilla leaf cake (sticky mouse)
This is also a sticky food that Manchu people like best. In summer, soak glutinous rice, grind it, press it into a round cake, put small peas in it, wrap it with fresh perilla leaves, and steam it. It is fragrant to eat without leaves (or with leaves).
sour soup
This is a kind of food that Manchu people like to eat in summer. The method is to soak corn, grind it into flour and ferment it. Squeeze the fermented noodles into a "soup pot" (or a pig halaba bone with a small hole) to make noodles and leak them into a boiling water pot. After cooking, add seasoning and serve. Honey and sesame can be added as sweets in summer. Sweet and sour, palatable.
Shaqima (also called sugar bag)
Mix white flour with water and eggs (or cream), beat into thin slices, cut into thin strips and fry until cooked. Boil with sugar or rock sugar, stir, pour into a wooden trough paved with sesame, green shredded pork and melon seeds, flatten, take out and cut into cubes, which is sweet and palatable. In the Qing Dynasty, the Three Mausoleums outside Guanwai were also offered as offerings, which shows that Manchu people attached great importance to them. Now it is a favorite pastry for people of all ethnic groups in China.
Xiaoroufan
That is, the traditional Manchu staple food Yangzi rice. Stir-fried diced pork with sorghum. Add some water and you'll get the shoe porridge.
Brother Rico
Rice cooked with rice, millet and adzuki beans. "Bean" is the homonym of "bean", and rice and millet are metaphors of dragons and tigers, so it is called "Long Hudou".
Rice and rice
Boil glutinous rice with water, take it out with cold water and soak it in cold water. Usually in summer.
Second, the Manchu-Han banquet uses allusions:
Nuerhachi golden meat
According to legend, Nurhachi worked as a policeman under Li, commander-in-chief of Liaodong in Ming Dynasty. Company commanders mansion's rule is: there must be eight dishes and one soup on the table every day. One day, the cook was ill. After each of the seven maids cooked a dish, they couldn't think of the eighth dish. Nurhachi told me the eighth course, and he cooked meat dishes with good color and flavor. Later, Nurhachi became the old man king, and golden meat became a famous dish of the Qing Dynasty symbolizing the industrial achievements of the empire.
Gan long dou fu bo Cai
When Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze River, he got lost in the country one day. It's already noon and my stomach is growling with hunger. At this time, I saw an old woman cooking, and the red, green, yellow and white peas were beautiful. So, I sent for a plate, and Qianlong ate it all at once. He even said that the food in the world is the best. So people ask, what is this? The old woman said with a smile, this is "Brother Red-billed Jade Seal Gold". So, a farm dish went into the imperial kitchen.
Tasi honey (mutton in honey sauce)
This is a common dish of the Qing court. Just because one day Cixi was enjoying herself, she asked the name of this dish. In order to please, the chef said that it was newly created by a slave and had not yet been named. She asked Lafayette to give it a name. Cixi was very happy. She said smoothly that this dish is as sweet as honey, so let's call it "as sweet as honey".
The first dish in the world (radish soup)
When Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty was on a southern tour, he happened to come to a blue brick house and saw a horizontal plaque on the door saying "No.1 in the world". Gan Long thought, what a big tone, want to ask. As soon as I entered the first door, I met an old man 150 years old; Entering the second door, I met an old man 120 years old; Entering the third door, I saw a 90-year-old man; Enter the fourth door and see a 75-year-old man. Strangely, these people are not in charge, but a teenager of 10 years old. Gan Long asked: What is the first one in the world? The child replied: My family has five generations under one roof, and each generation has a long life, ranking first in the world. Qianlong nodded and said yes.
After Qianlong returned to the palace, on a whim, he wrote an imperial edict and gave a radish to the first family in the world for everyone to eat. This difficult problem made the whole family tongue-tied, only to see the young master running over and saying, this is easy to handle. Some people put radishes in vats, mash them and stir them with warm water. Everyone will drink them. When the emissary in yellow clothes returned to Beijing to deliver the message, Gan Long admired him very much: "No.1 in the world" is a good master who cooks the first dish in the world. Since then, carrot soup has been served.
Third, Manchu's "three sets of bowl seats"
"Three sets of bowl mats" have been popular in Liaoning since the middle of Qing Dynasty.
"Three sets of bowl mats" are generally composed of sixteen (or eight) cold dishes (also known as cold dishes), three "big dishes" and twelve stir-fried and stewed dishes. Therefore, the dishes in the banquet are filled with three sets of bowls, namely, the pregnant bowl, the middle bowl and the seat bowl, hence the name.
The "three sets of bowl seats" in different places are basically the same, but the specific arrangement and combination are slightly different.
Fourth, the Manchu-Chinese banquet is well-known at home and abroad.
Man-Han Banquet is the most famous and largest classical banquet in China. Also known as the Manchu-Han Swallow Wing Barbecue Banquet. The name of the Manchu-Chinese banquet. This is a peak of the development of cooking technology in China. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, with the prosperity of the country, Manchu rulers paid great attention to diet. In the middle of Qing Dynasty, Manchu and Han officials often gave banquets to each other. Kang, Yong and Gan flourished, and there were already "full seats" and "Han seats". There are bear's paw, flying birds, Hericium erinaceus, clam snail, ginseng, deer tail, hump and so on, among which pork accounts for a large proportion. The practice is mostly burning, roasting, boiling and steaming. Hot pot, shabu-shabu and casseroles occupy a prominent position. Dishes based on dried and fresh fruits and candied fruit are essential. The staple food is mainly Manchu cakes.
In the Manchu-Han banquet, there must be barbecue dishes, and the dishes with pigs as raw materials also account for a certain proportion.
In the Manchu-Han banquet, hot pot, shabu-shabu and casseroles also occupied an obvious position.
Dried and fresh fruits and candied vegetables are also indispensable dishes in the Manchu-Han banquet. As for cakes and porridge, they are the staple foods of the Manchu-Han banquet.
In the Manchu-Han banquet, the game in Kanto is particularly rich. Bear's paw, Hericium erinaceus, flying dragon, ginseng and Hashema are all treasures at the banquet.
The Manchu-Han banquet is rich in dishes and varied in recipes, ranging from dozens to nearly 200. Often have to eat several times. It takes two, three or even six times to complete.
This kind of banquet is an important part of China's food culture.