In recent years, the saying of "Manchu-Chinese banquet" has been circulating, saying that it is the imperial meal of the Qing Dynasty, and some people even listed the menu of Manchu-Chinese banquet. Spare no effort in publicity; It is said that it has spread overseas; In fact, this is pure fiction.

The name "Man-Han Banquet" comes from a cross talk. In the 1920s, Wan Manfan, a famous crosstalk performer who performed in Beijing and Tianjin, compiled a section of Guankou, which listed a large number of dishes and was well received by the audience. In the 1930s, I was in Beijing with a fool. Dai Shaopu, a famous crosstalk performer who performed on the same stage as Gao Deming, Xu Degui and Tang, was good at this kind of joke (Dai Shaopu died in Tianjin in the early 1940s), and then called this passage "the name of a newspaper". Later, it was falsely called "Man-Han banquet". There is no such thing as a "Manchu-Chinese banquet" in the dining hall of the Qing Dynasty. The man who opened a "imitation meal" restaurant in Beihai Park did work in the dining hall of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the imitation dishes were indeed the appearance of the products of the palace canteen in the late Qing Dynasty; But never mentioned "Man-Han banquet", but honestly made fried minced meat (with sesame cake); Wandou Huang Er and kidney bean rolls are also the appearance of restaurant products, which is true. Strictly speaking, the practice of imitating catering dishes and snacks is a legacy of the imperial cuisine of the Qing Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of Tongzhi, which largely adapted to the preferences and tastes of Empress Dowager Cixi. It is not only different from the modulation method in Daoguang era, but also different from the practice in Xianfeng era For example, Emperor Qianlong had a chef who made ducks, and Emperor Xianfeng liked to eat ducks. This is the tradition of Qing palace cuisine, but because Empress Dowager Cixi didn't like ducks, the catering room in Guangxu period was not very particular about cooking ducks. In the 1930s, the chef told me that there were 47 cooking methods for cooking "whole duck" in the early years, but half of them were lost. In a word, the title of Man-Han Banquet comes from "The Heartthrob", which is a kind of cross talk and is a household name in old Beijing. Now people over the age of 80 have heard of "heartthrob"; Anyone over 70 who has heard of Dai Shaopu can attest to this.

Statement 2

It is true that the "Manchu-Han banquet" originated in the Qing Dynasty, but it did not originate from the Manchu court, but from the official dishes in the south of the Yangtze River. According to Li Dou's Yangzhou Original Boat, "the temples around Shangmai Street are big kitchens for six officials to eat". The six official meals here are the prototype of "Man-Han Banquet"! Li Dou's "Fang Shu in Yangzhou" is the earliest record of a "Manchu-Chinese banquet". Judging from the existing written materials, "Manchu-Chinese banquet" originated in Yangzhou, which is actually one of the representative forms of diet that Han people have long had! It was only later stolen by the Qing dynasty as "the characteristics of the Qing court"!

As we know, the diet of Manchu before entering the customs is very simple. A general banquet, covered with skins in the open air, is full of people gathering and eating on the floor. Manchu people can't cook. When they have a party, they just cook large pieces of meat. Participants sit on the floor, take off their knives and eat, or just stay in the original diet! "Man Wen Lao Dang" records: "When Baylor gave a banquet, there was no console table, and everyone sat on the floor." Dishes are usually hot pot with stew, pork, beef and mutton with animal meat. There are only a dozen tables of the most upscale banquet, which are also the meat of cattle, sheep, pigs and animals, and are cut and eaten with a knife.