Emperor Qianlong's sinology culture is deeply rooted. In addition to his good handwriting and Chinese poetry, he is also a gourmet. He is well informed and is a "foodie". He can judge the truth, discuss ideas and come up with "difficult problems". This "one brother in the world" left many allusions to food when he visited Jiangnan three times.

Plum Blossom Cake

Taizhou, Jiangsu Province is located between the north and south of China, and it is inclusive. It is mixed with Taizhou's unique taste, made of special copper mold, and mixed with superior flour, yeast powder and water to form a slurry. It is injected into the roasted plum blossom mold, filled with various fillings such as bean paste, fresh meat and vegetable lard, and then filled with the slurry, sprinkled with sesame seeds, red and green melon shreds, and covered with a hot iron plate.

According to legend, when Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, he saw plum blossom cake with attractive color, pretended to taste it, and it was sweet but not greasy, soft and crisp, with endless aftertaste, which was better than the imperial palace. He praised it greatly. Because of its plum blossom shape, it was named plum blossom cake, so it has been passed down to this day.

"King of dried beancurd, eye-catching and refreshing"

Qiqiao dried tea is a bean product specialty in Funing County, Yancheng City, which is brown, round, square and flaky, similar to "Gusu Xiangfu" in Chaozhou.

according to legend, emperor Qing Qianlong occasionally suffered from cold and tasteless diet when he visited the south incognito. The latter local official presented Qiqiao's "crooked son" dried tea. After tasting it, Ganlong felt delicious and had a great appetite. He happily wrote the eight characters "King of dried bean curd, eye-catching and refreshing", which has since been designated as a palace tribute.

"the best in the world"

It is said that when Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, the Yangzhou magistrate sent people to buy clams along the coast of Dongtai, Yancheng. Fried clam. This dish is clam shell simmered soup, supplemented by mushrooms and diced bamboo shoots, which is delicious and refreshing. Emperor Qianlong, who was tired of eating delicacies, had never tasted such delicious food, and even said, "Beautiful! Beautiful! " Impromptu wrote the words "the best in the world". Since then, as a tribute, Meretrix meretrix has become a delicacy in the palace and gained great fame. It is said that if you go to the seaside to taste the picnic flavor, put an iron plate on the beach and roast the live clam on the red-hot iron plate, it will be original and interesting to eat!

vegetarian chicken

"Lianshui vegetarian chicken" is not a chicken, but a cake.

It is said that when Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River and passed by Lianshui, he was hungry and asked if there was any vegetarian chicken to eat. Chicken is meat, where did you get vegetarian chicken? This question is "tricky" enough. It happened that a master surnamed Yao in Lianshui City racked his brains and really made a plate of "vegetarian chicken" that was crystal clear and tender as crisp, and the emperor Lao Zi was full of praise for eating it. Lianshui chicken cake became famous from then on.

Chicken cake is also called "vegetarian chicken", which is elegant in taste and bright in color. Everyone thinks that "it's lucky to eat", and there is a strange feeling that "perch can be eaten". Why is chicken cake tender and crisp, delicate and catchy? Originally, chicken cake was made from chicken breast meat and more than ten kinds of condiments. The main process was to soak chicken breast meat and mandarin fish meat in clear water to remove blood, make them white as jade, then take them out and dry them, cut them into paste, put the egg white in the paste, then put the crushed yam and fresh shrimp together with fresh powder and condiments, and fully stir them to make them uniform and white and sticky, and press them for about an inch. Spread the egg yolk evenly on the meat paste in the cage, steam it over low heat, take it out and cool it to make chicken cake. Cut it into pieces for later use. When cooking, cut it into thin and transparent films, put it in a pot with boiling water, and serve it as soon as it rolls.

The emperor's difficult problems in those years promoted the chef's innovation and made a century-old famous dish.