Needless to say, the hardships along the way, and the beauty along the way.
From 1954, I came to Chairman Mao. In these 22 years, what impressed him most was the chairman's smile on New Year's Day.
Cheng Ruming, 1 9261June1was born in a poor peasant family in Ye County, Shandong Province.
In that old era, Shandong was invaded by foreign powers, warlords fought in melee, and people's lives were extremely difficult.
In such a difficult environment, Cheng Ruming, from a poor family, became a family laborer at the age of 9, working in the fields and supporting his family.
Later, the life of farmers was very difficult. In order to make money, 13-year-old Cheng Ruming followed his fellow villagers to Tianjin.
When he came to Tianjin, his life began to turn, and he embarked on the road of becoming a chef.
In this bustling city, he worked as an apprentice in the Clock Club Hotel, Jewish Club and Li Zeyu Restaurant run by foreigners.
Being an apprentice is not that easy. At that time, craftsmen valued their craft very much and were unwilling to pass it on to relatives or friends.
As the saying goes, "Learn from an apprentice and starve to death a master". At that time, craftsmen regarded their disciples as thieves, fearing that they would learn their unique skills.
Even some masters with bad character regard their apprentices as cheap tools and abuse and beat them at every turn.
At the beginning, Cheng Ruming would get up at 5 am against the cold wind, work until midnight 1 1, and grope his way back to bed in the dark.
Besides the heavy work, we have to endure the hostility of our host.
Many people can't stand it and don't want to continue as apprentices. But Cheng Ruming endured it one by one.
He is brilliant, hardworking and meticulous. After ten years' experience, he finally became a chef who is proficient in western food practices and cooking various cakes in various departments.
In the second year of the founding of New China, Cheng Ruming signed up for railway recruitment and became a worker.
1952, Beijing held a conference to defend the Asia-Pacific region. As a well-known chef at West Point at that time, Cheng Ruming was specially arranged to take the train for foreign guests attending the meeting and was responsible for western food.
It was the early days of the founding of New China, and some hostile countries had been spreading propaganda about China's bad image.
This meeting is also an opportunity to establish a good image of China.
To maintain the national image, we must not let go of all aspects, including catering.
Cheng Ruming's exquisite and authentic western food conquered the foreign guests. After eating, they gave their thumbs up to show their approval. "I didn't expect to eat such authentic western food in China. It's amazing! "
This time, the food exhibition greatly praised the westerners who came here. Therefore, Cheng Ruming was praised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became famous in one fell swoop.
1954, this is the most unforgettable year in Cheng Ruming's life. This year, his cooking skills were recognized and he was transferred to Chairman Mao.
Nowadays, TV dramas often capture such a plot that Chairman Mao likes to eat braised pork. But in fact, Chairman Mao didn't like to eat braised pork at first.
At that time, Cheng Ruming had just taken office, and he wanted to show off his skills.
So, that night, a bowl of braised pork appeared on the dinner table. The meat is fresh and tender, crystal clear, which makes people move their forefinger at a glance.
Cheng Ruming waited for Chairman Mao's praise with joy, only to find that Chairman Mao did not move at all.
Cheng Ruming was surprised and asked, "Chairman, do you think it tastes bad? I will work harder to improve this dish. "
Chairman Mao smiled and said, "It's not that it's not delicious. I don't like soy sauce.
It turns out that when Mao Zedong was young, there was a soy sauce workshop at home.
Brewing soy sauce requires fermentation. One summer, in broad daylight and unbearable high temperature, Mao Zedong came to the workshop, but he accidentally saw some white spots floating in the soy sauce tank.
Mao Zedong walked in, only to find that these white spots turned out to be maggots when soy sauce was fermented.
Seeing this, he felt sick and never wanted to eat anything with soy sauce again.
Chairman doesn't eat soy sauce. Do you want to cook braised pork? Cheng Ruming felt a little embarrassed.
Of course, braised pork is a good dish, and New Year's Eve dinner is also a must, just a different cooking method is needed.
Can't put soy sauce, Cheng Ruming pondered for a long time, and finally thought of a way, that is, boiling sugar.
This method can not only replace soy sauce to color and flavor braised pork, but also add a sweet taste to cooked braised pork, which is salty and delicious.
Since then, braised pork has become the chairman's favorite dish. As long as the braised pork is served, the chairman is sure that there will be no left.
The chairman appreciates Cheng Ruming's skills, but he doesn't always have an appetite.
On New Year's Eve shortly after entering Zhongnanhai, Cheng Ruming was responsible for preparing the New Year's Eve dinner.
Before preparing dinner, Cheng Ruming specially asked several chairmen what stuffing jiaozi liked. The chairman replied, "Any stuffing will do. I can't eat much. "
Cheng Ruming felt that the chairman had a bad appetite today, and specially prepared his best Sanwei jiaozi.
He cooked this dish very well, and it was delicious, but the chairman only tasted it and never touched it again.
Cheng Ruming was surprised and asked the chairman if he didn't like the taste of Sam Sun.
Someone told him: "President may not like jiaozi, but southerners prefer to eat rice cakes during the Spring Festival."
Hearing this news, Cheng Ruming improved the menu again, and rarely gave the chairman jiaozi. On New Year's Eve of the following year, he specially prepared a stack of rice cakes.
At that time, the chairman began to eat several pieces of rice cakes, which Cheng Ruming always remembers.
Usually Cheng Ruming will put more soup when cooking, because it can keep warm. The chairman is very busy with his work. He always eats while reading documents. He eats slowly and the food gets cold easily.
But on New Year's Eve, Cheng Ruming won't put more soup when cooking. Because China New Year is a time of reunion and celebration, the chairman usually doesn't read books and documents when eating this rare meal.
From 65438 to 0960, natural disasters were very serious. Affected by the harsh environment, the country's economy declined this year, and many people went hungry.
In order to save government expenses, Chairman Mao specially ordered that his meals should be reduced.
Therefore, in this difficult period, he issued an order: "No meat is allowed in the future."
At that time, the situation was extremely serious, and it cost a lot of money to eat meat. The chairman thinks that this expense is completely unnecessary.
Now, Cheng Ruming is embarrassed. If you don't eat meat dishes and eat vegetarian food every day, the chairman's nutrition will not keep up, which will affect your health. The chairman's poor health also has a great influence on the country. As the chairman's chef, he has to take good care of the chairman's diet.
For the sake of the chairman's health, meat dishes should still be cooked.
But if the chairman can't find out, this meat dish will have to be hidden.
Cheng Ruming, a native of Shandong, likes to eat green onions, but the chairman doesn't.
He really wanted to share his favorite food with the chairman, so he made a scallion cake. Unexpectedly, the chairman tasted it, said yes, and began to appreciate the delicious chopped green onion.
Making a meat dish for the chairman, Cheng Ruming immediately thought of this chopped green onion cake.
On New Year's Eve this year, Cheng Ruming cooked a bowl of lard with fat pork, mixed the meat oil into the noodles, kept kneading the noodles, and then mixed some diced meat with chopped green onion.
Indeed, the chairman didn't notice, thinking that Cheng Ruming's skill was further improved, and repeatedly praised: "This chopped green onion cake made by Master Cheng is fragrant!"
But it wasn't long before the chairman found out that Cheng Ruming was forbidden to cook meat again.
From 1954, Cheng Ruming worked as the chairman's chef for 22 years until the chairman left.
For 22 years, the first thing he did every day was to make a menu and then destroy it.
When he first worked with the chairman, he was told a discipline: no employee should leave the menu.
At first, he was confused.
When he asked his colleagues about this discipline, they told him, "Eating habits are very important information. If Chairman Mao's diet menu is taken away by hostile forces, they will judge the chairman's physical condition on that day based on this information, and then use the chairman's poor health to directly attack our country, causing unexpected disasters. "
Hearing this, Cheng Ruming suddenly realized that this small menu in his hand was so important.
Since then, he has worked beside the chairman every day, and will report the menu of each dish first, and then take one to the kitchen after approval. When the food is ready, he will burn the menu in his hand, keep the chairman's menu safe and never reveal any information.
As the chairman's chef, Cheng Ruming is extremely cautious and will never reveal the location of his unit.
At the beginning, in order to keep secret, every time he wrote home and sent something, Cheng Ruming filled in the address "Zhongnanhai 10 1 mailbox". The family only knows that he works in Zhongnanhai, but they don't know the specific situation.
Later, Cheng Jiacai knew that this "Zhongnanhai 10 1 mailbox" was sent to his home.
1976, Chairman Mao passed away, and Cheng Ruming ended his 22-year work with the Chairman.
Those 22 years, which he often turned out to look closely, are a period that he will never forget in his life.
He remembers that the chairman lived frugally and never wasted money. Leftovers appeared on the New Year's Eve dinner, which is not a good dish, but the chairman will definitely eat it the next day. He remembered that the chairman loved fish, but a bowl of fish head and tofu was enough. It was purely a "fish" dish.
He remembers many things, such as the President's dedication to the country and people, the President's hard work day and night, and the President's lifelong dedication to the country.
In 20 12, this conscientious master died in Beijing at the age of 86.
After the death of the chairman, he also worked as a chef for later leaders, but what he will never forget is those simple 22 years. In his later years, he always said, "I have always been by the chairman's side, and this life is enough to be gratifying."