This is the menu of 196 1 banquet hosted by Chairman Mao for Marshal Montgomery in Jiashe, East Lake, Wuhan on September 24th. Chairman Mao met Montgomery that day and planned to talk for dozens of minutes, mainly discussing military issues. But unexpectedly, Chairman Mao and Montgomery chatted happily, so they decided to stay in Montgomery for lunch for the time being.
Cheng Ruming was told at that time that "the chairman invited foreign guests to dinner at noon".
"My grandfather said that he immediately thought of western food. But few western food materials were prepared in the kitchen that day. He thought about it and thought that the characteristic prawns in Bohai Bay were good, and westerners liked cheese, so he had a brainwave and invented a new dish. "
According to Liu Jian, Cheng Ruming cut the marinated prawns into cellophane-thin slices, rolled cheese in the middle, wrapped them with eggs, flour and bread crumbs, and then fried them in a pot. The difficulty of this dish is that it can't break the shrimp meat, so it's very tricky. Once the shrimp meat is broken and the cheese comes out when it is fried, it is a failure.
If it is cooked, then this dish is tender outside and tender inside. When eating, it is actually a very enjoyable dish to cut the shrimp and dip it in the cheese.
"Marshal Montgomery was 74 years old that year, but he had almost no food that day. After the luncheon, Montgomery said to Chairman Mao,' Thank you, Chairman Mao. I haven't had such a full meal for a long time. Your food is so delicious. Chairman Mao was very happy, because it meant that the conversation that day not only made Montgomery agree with Chairman Mao's military thoughts, but also had a good impression on the dishes cooked by China people. At that time, before we established diplomatic relations with Britain, Montgomery's attitude towards China would definitely have an impact on the relations between the two countries. "
At that time, Chairman Mao thought that this dish was not cooked by our chef, so he specially asked the head nurse Wu Xujun to inquire in the kitchen. When Chairman Mao learned that it really came from Cheng Lao, he gave a thumbs-up and said, "Master Cheng has good skills." Because this dish was made for Marshal, it was later named Marshal Shrimp.
"In fact, the changes in state banquets over the years can clearly reflect the development track of our country." Liu pointed to the photo of Cheng Ruming and said.
In Chairman Mao's time, there were not many places where we could eat western food in our country, and there were not many western food in state banquets, which had a lot to do with the preferences of * * * and national politics. So at that time, Cheng Ruming created many Chinese and Western dishes. Until the 1980s at the beginning of reform and opening up, western food was still rare in China.
According to Cheng Ruming, at that time, a plane from France delivered excellent steak ingredients every day at Beijing Airport, and only two cars were picked up, one was Maxim's and the other was Zhongnanhai.
"But in this batch of * * * in Deng Xiaoping, many people have the experience of living abroad, are open-minded and have a high degree of acceptance of western food. For example, Deng Xiaoping wants his steak rare. Moreover, when we opened to the outside world, we received more and more foreign guests, so we also need to introduce more western food. "
At this time, the state banquet began to be in line with international standards. After research, everyone thinks that the state banquet is not only a kind of etiquette, but also sanitary and feasible to ensure that everyone has enough to eat. From then on, our state banquet began to adopt the form of separate meals, which is what we often call "eating alone."
"This is undoubtedly an improvement of the state banquet itself, but it can also better reflect the development and changes of our country."
"Speaking of state banquets, there is nothing mysterious, just high specifications and heavy etiquette." Wang hong, head chef of state banquet and deputy head chef of Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, said in an interview.
The dishes of the state banquet gather local cuisines from all over the country, mainly Huaiyang cuisine, which has been carefully sorted, improved and refined by several generations of chefs, such as Sichuan cuisine, which is less spicy, spicy and greasy. Various cuisines have been improved on the original basis, and the recipes are generally light vegetarian.
A country's highest-standard banquet, in addition to dishes, can not be taken lightly on raw materials and materials.
Wang hong Fa said that all raw materials come from fixed channels and adopt strict standards. For example, vegetables are all organic vegetables, and no chemical fertilizer can be added to avoid the harm of harmful substances. There are also strict regulations on the location of raw materials needed for cooking, such as "boiled cabbage". This dish usually only chooses Chinese cabbage with three and a half inches high and thick green leaves. It needs to remove the stems to make its three leaves tender.
In addition, all materials for state banquets must be carefully selected from the place of origin. Such as bird's nest, non-Thai official swallow does not need it; Shark's fin, not a group of wings produced in the South China Sea, can't be served; Golden jujube is only available in Leling.
"Because it is a state banquet, these materials should be customized so as to be delicious."
These chefs come from all over the country. In addition to high political quality, it is also necessary to be "rooted and educated", to go through political examination, and to have high cultural quality requirements. In addition to learning the customs and cultures of various countries, we should also cook famous dishes all over the country. According to different customers, different people, different customers.
"Cooking must first figure out what can't be served. Different cultures, religions and beliefs in different countries have different dietary taboos. And the chef of the state banquet is not as simple as a bowl of soup and a table of dishes. We need to consider ethnic relations, regional characteristics, eating habits, hobbies, banquet forms and many other issues. A little carelessness may affect the overall political situation of the country. " Therefore, Wang Hongfa said, chefs should have all-round qualities, not only superb cooking skills, but also rich food knowledge, and understand the eating habits and taboos of various countries.
For example, the national flag and logo of the visiting country cannot appear in the dishes, and it does not contain chicken feet, internal organs and other ingredients; There must be no taboo food that violates the religious beliefs of the visiting country. For example, Indians regard cows as sacred, so steak can't appear on the table. The British regard goats and peacocks as ominous things, so they can't appear in the sculptures of food sculptures. French people don't like chrysanthemums and so on. The chef of the state banquet can be called the "ambassador of 100 countries" and should know the customs of all countries in the world like the back of his hand.
The cooking of state banquets is very elaborate, including stewing, roasting, boiling, steaming, frying, sliding, stewing, frying and roasting. In addition, in recent years, it has also borrowed and absorbed the cooking techniques of western food, making the cooking methods more diversified. When making recipes, chefs should fully understand the living habits and taboos, tastes, ages and physical conditions of Chinese and foreign guests as much as possible; Considering the season, climate, food raw materials, nutrition and other factors, it is mainly light in summer and nourishing in winter.
Cheng Ruming said that seemingly subtle differences in heat, such as stir-frying with fire, slow stewing with slow fire, and light burning with wax fire, will all produce different flavors and require repeated experiments and summaries by chefs.
"Many dishes are the best stewed in those two seconds. If you miss them, it is not a taste at all."
It is reported that the "Buddha jumping over the wall", which is loved by both US President Bush and Reagan, will continue to burn for at least three days and nights. Now with electrified cookers and new process management methods, the efficiency has been greatly improved, but the meticulous work attitude has not changed.