What I want to introduce to you this time are the dishes on the king's table, "Camel Cheese Porridge" and "Yuekouzi Soup". "Yuekouzi Soup" is also called "Fairy Stove". But before that, let’s first understand the big and small things about the king’s royal dining table (water bed). The word "Shui La" comes from the Mongolian language, which means "the meal enjoyed by the king and queen", and the imperial dining table (Shui La bed) is the dining table for the king. The place where meals are cooked is called Shuasama.

Records in "Taejo's Record" once mentioned that when the Gyeongbokgung palace was built, there were five main halls where the king conducted official business, and four Suirama rooms, which were no less than the main hall. quantity. It can be seen that the scale and importance of Shuilajian are quite large. However, in the "Eastern Palace Picture" painted between 1828 and 1830, it can be seen that the kitchen in the palace was not only a water room, but also a place marked as a cooking kitchen.

Although there are still some differences of opinion on how to distinguish between shuishajian and yakiniku, it can be roughly thought of as follows: fire is used to cook food in the shabukitchen, and then it is sent to the shuishajian before being presented. to the table. The yakiniku kitchen is divided into the inner yaki kitchen and the outer yaki kitchen. The inner yaki kitchen is the place where daily meals of the royal family are prepared.

And when holding large-scale banquets such as entering the palace, entering the title, entering the banquet, and receiving the title, or holding tea ceremonies, sacrifices, or memorials and other activities in Xuyuan Hall and other places, what is needed Food is prepared in the off-grill kitchen. There is also a place called the fruit room. In addition to the royal meals, all kinds of porridge, sweet rice dew, tea snacks, fruits, pastries, etc. that are eaten daily are made here.

Although the food is cooked in the kitchen, the work of personally serving it to the royal dining table is the responsibility of the chamberlain and the chambermaid. The eunuchs of the Chamberlain's House managed and supervised the dishes presented to the imperial dining table; the chef Shogiya, known as "Mizurama Tsujichi Shogu", was responsible for preparing the dishes for the king's imperial dining table.

The royal dining table enjoyed by kings and princesses

So when should the royal dining table be placed, and how many times a day should it be presented? The imperial dining table is served five times a day. In addition to the "first breakfast" early in the morning, the "morning water grill" for breakfast and the "evening water grill" for dinner, the snack served at noon is called "day tea small plate fruit" Or "lunch", the snacks prepared late at night are called "night tea small plate of fruit" or "night meal".

Early in the morning, breakfast such as porridge or rice soup will be served, and after ten o'clock, water will be prepared. Refreshments will be prepared for the small plate of fruit during the daytime tea at lunch, and the evening meal will be served early around five o'clock in the afternoon. Then late at night, a late-night snack called night tea with small plates of fruits is served. The meal usually consists of eight-treasure rice (medicinal food), sweet rice dew, or pastries.

However, a king who practiced frugality like Yeongjo not only reduced the number of dishes during the drought, he also did not prepare the royal meal table five times as per the rules, but reduced it to only three times.

The food served on the imperial dining table is based on twelve kinds of dishes. In order to serve the king, a large round table with basic dishes, a small round table called a holding plate, and a square table were all brought out together. There are two kinds of rice presented to the king, "white rice" refers to white rice, and "red rice" is rice made with red beans; there are also two kinds of soup, one is kelp soup called "huo soup", and the other is rice. The first is beef bone soup.

Of course, there are also standard regulations for the way food is placed on the large round table. On the left side of the front row is rice, on the right is soup, and next to it are two sets of silver spoons and chopsticks. At the back is a spit (spit) for spitting out fish bones or bones, as well as various sauces such as clear sauce, vinegar sauce, vinegar chili sauce, fish sauce, and mustard sauce.

In the center of the large round table are barbecue, white-cut meat slices (sliced ??meat), fish and shrimp paste, vegetables, pickles and other foods. Dried food dishes, stews, fried fish, vegetables, etc. are arranged in the middle row. The last row is filled with various kimchi, radish kimchi, and sauce kimchi, which were called "sink vegetables" at the time.

The small round plate table known as the holding plate is equipped with hot pot, red beans and rice, a set of silver spoons and chopsticks, Western-style spoons and ivory spoons. In the back, there are three silver bowls, including raw beef (roast meat) and steamed eggs (water eggs), which are flavored dishes. The last row contains heated utensils for rice cooker water and tea, as well as three porcelain bowls.

The front row on the square table contains beef bone soup, stew and barbecue, while the back row contains hot pot, chili sauce stew, fish sauce stew and other dishes.

In front of such carefully arranged various dining tables, the nobles will wait on the side to wait for the king to eat. In particular, Suirashang Palace, who was sitting in front of the bed tray (square table), would put the silver hot pot on the stove that lit the charcoal fire. After the hot pot was cooked, it would be presented to the king as an impromptu meal.

There is also the well-known Smell Shang Palace. She will sit in front of the small round table and is responsible for checking the quality of the food and confirming whether it is poisonous. Generally, it will be someone who has served the king or queen since childhood. to take charge of this work.