"Man-Han Banquet" is the essence of China's culinary art and a master of famous dishes and delicacies. It has a history of more than 200 years since the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Go inside. Foreign countries also enjoy a high reputation, which reminds people of the royal meals and feasts in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, when tourists come to Beijing, they often go to the imitation restaurant in Yilantang, Beihai, order names and taste the "Man-Han Banquet" to satisfy their eyes, which is one of the wonderful projects of tourism activities.
The name "Man-Han Banquet" first appeared in the garden menu of Yuan Mei during the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, which mentioned that there were banquets and Man-Han Banquets in officialdom. In the twenty-ninth year of Qianlong, Yangzhou Painting Boat recorded a menu of "Manchu-Chinese Banquet", indicating that "Manchu-Chinese Banquet" had become popular before this. After Jia's rule, officials and aristocratic families were proud to prepare a "Manchu-Chinese banquet" for every banquet.
Manchu banquet is a special form of banquet, which is related to the characteristics and development of Manchu diet. Manchu lived in the northeast for a long time before entering the customs. They are used to being happy and like to eat mutton and all kinds of game. The cooking is not special, and the taste is quite monotonous. After the Manchu entered the customs, with the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty, they gradually refined their diet and absorbed the characteristics of the Han diet. During the Qianlong period, in this vast land, political stability, economy and culture showed a prosperous scene. In order to show the royal demeanor, life is getting better and better, the diet is deliberately exquisite, and the etiquette is extremely luxurious. In the late Qing Dynasty, in order to meet the luxury consumption of Empress Dowager Cixi, she even collected rare scents in the world and made 1: more exquisite, making the court banquet more colorful.
By the Qing dynasty, most of the old systems of the Ming dynasty were still in use, but many reforms were carried out. The restoration of the important officials in the Han Dynasty was one of them. Whenever the imperial court held a grand banquet for Manchu and Han officials, it set up a "full seat" and a "Korean seat" respectively. This Manchu-Chinese banquet is the origin of the so-called Manchu-Chinese banquet. '
Guanglu Temple was in charge of national festivals in Qing Dynasty. The materials, specifications, grades and quotas of fruits at the banquet are recorded in detail, but the same menu and legend of the Manchu-Chinese banquet are quite different. Banquets in Qing dynasty are characterized by large scale, solemn etiquette and diverse dishes. However, the raw materials used in the seven-course banquet are relatively common, which can't be compared with the rare birds and animals used in the Manchu-Han banquet later. The quality, variety and practice of dishes are also dwarfed. It can be seen that "Manchu-Han banquet" is a unique banquet form that gradually develops, evolves and forms on the basis of imitating palace banquets and constantly absorbing the essence of folk banquets and daily meals, and has been passed down to this day.
Man-Han banquet has a history of more than 200 years, but there are few records and authentic menus are hard to find. According to the available information, the characteristics of Manchu-Chinese banquet in various places can be summarized as follows:
First of all, there are many different kinds of dishes.
Man-Han banquet is famous for its rich vegetables. The number of dishes in "Man-Han Banquet" varies from place to place, including 128 and 108, with a total of 64 dishes. There are ten western-style "foreign salt" dishes.
Second, materials are precious.
Man-Han banquet takes all kinds of delicious food as raw materials. Besides bird's nest and sea cucumber, there are shark skin, soft-shelled turtle, soft-shelled turtle, hump and fruit raccoon, deer tail, bear's paw and red lips in Yangxi. It is an excellent and precious food. In addition, there are so-called Shangba Town, Xiaba Town or Shanba Town, Bahai Town, Niaoba Town and Caoba Town.
Thirdly, Manchu cuisine and China cuisine have their own characteristics. Although Manchu people are not as mature as Han people in cooking, through continuous improvement, their meat and game have gradually developed into a unique flavor cooking, especially barbecue.
The Baohe Bureau of the Royal Hotel in Qing Dynasty specializes in barbecue dishes. Yuan Mei also said that "there are too many dishes to cook" is on the vegetable collocation list. Most of the barbecue dishes at the palace banquet are "double roast", that is, hanging pigs and ducks. And highlight the skills of his film method. There are two products called "CDs". Today's "Manchu-Chinese banquet" has absorbed the characteristics of Manchu-Chinese banquet. Double roasting is also common at banquets. There are many kinds of baking pans, such as "four reds and four whites". "Roast suckling pig" is the most advanced barbecue dish on the table, with side dishes, sauces, onions and other condiments, as well as lotus leaf cakes. There are many dishes in "Yangxi", such as Liao Mao pork and mutton, boiled pork and mutton, steamed piglets, lamb chicken, ducks and geese, fried chickens, ducks and geese, etc., which are much richer than the later Manchu cuisine.
But in contrast, in the later popular "Manchu-Chinese banquet", the variety and quantity of China dishes accounted for a large proportion, but there was no regulation. Generally, it is boiled, fried, slippery and fried. There are also bird's nest chicken soup, sea cucumber stewed trotters, shark skin chicken soup and so on. In Yangxi, this embodies the characteristics of "more soup and more Chinese food".
Fourth, the local flavor is strong.
For more than 200 years, "Manchu-Han banquet" has been circulating continuously, especially in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. In the "Man-Han Banquet", restaurants all over the world maintain their own flavor and characteristics. Yangzhou shark fin crab soup, steamed shad and other famous dishes.
Nowadays, the "Man-Han Banquet" held by Beihai Imitation Museum has specially arranged some special dishes, such as sea red shark's fin, fish hide the sword and fried chicken meat stuffing.
Fifth, snacks are abundant.
Manchu people like snacks. They call snacks "hot cakes". On the "Yangxi", there are assorted fires, plum buns, white flour cakes, paper and so on. "Man-Han banquet" is mainly Chinese food here, so some people say that "Man-Han banquet" actually has some truth. The total capacity of Guangsi Temple is divided according to the amount of flour used to make snacks. Every seat is counted, as many as a dozen varieties. The Manchu-Han banquet handed down from generation to generation pays more attention to food, and snacks are the foil.
What is related to snacks is porridge. There is a saying that "the Manchu-Han banquet has eight scenic spots".
Manchu people like porridge. The Emperor's Diet as usual in the Palace Museum records several kinds of porridge that the emperor ate every meal, such as glutinous rice porridge, millet porridge, japonica rice porridge, barley porridge and cowpea porridge. Man-Han banquet must have several kinds of porridge, also in order to highlight the flavor of Man-Han banquet.
6. Strict etiquette, procedures and patterns
There is a set of strict etiquette rules before and after the banquet. Judging from the Shane area at the party, this is a surprising trouble. Besides kneeling for the emperor three times and knocking at the door nine times, he also took part in giving thanks from time to time.
Banquet mode refers to the number of people in each seat and the base of dishes. In the Qing palace, how many seats does a person have, and some are two people. Han people use high tables, while Manchu people use low tables. Later, in the folk, more than four people sat at a table, which was the Eight Immortals Table, also called the formal table. In recent decades, people began to use tables for eight or ten people and round tables. There are round tables and tables for ten, which is the form of modern banquets.
As for the basis of dishes, the popular "Manchu-Chinese banquet" is based on four or eight dishes and refers to the mode of folk banquet. According to the case of Guanglu Temple, there are 34 first-class bowls and 3 1 second-class bowls in China. According to the banquet level, 26 bowls of third-class seats were arranged. Yangxi has 1 10 dishes, which is a rare pattern formed on the basis of 10 dishes.
There are many opinions about the serving procedure of "Man-Han Banquet", which is not easy to generalize, but it is generally similar to other banquets, including cold dishes, starters, stir-fry, dinner, beets, snacks and fruits. Plus tea, dried fruits, candied snacks and so on at the door. Try all the dishes and porridge and highlight the barbecue dishes.
Man-Han banquet pays attention to stage art and exquisite tableware. It is said that the previous "Manchu-Chinese banquet" could not be withdrawn midway. There are hundreds of dishes that must be served to guests one by one with bowls and plates. They can be put together layer by layer. At the banquet held in the palace, there were