what did the Qing emperors like best? Favorite atmosphere. Eat ostentation and extravagance. So there was a Manchu-Chinese banquet. Who will be invited to dinner for Emperor Kangxi's birthday or festival? Emperor Kangxi initiated a thousand feasts and feasts for guests. A thousand banquets are quite representative. In the history of banquets in China, there is a record of "the best in the world": "The palace banquets hosted by the Qing emperor for thousands of old people all over the country are rare in the history of ancient banquets because of the long attendance and the fact that the emperor personally presided over them. The participants of the Millennium Banquet spread all over the country, and they were all personally determined by the emperor, and they were notified by the relevant government offices to start ahead of time according to the distance of the road. Those who were far away even had to go for a night trip two months in advance and go to Beijing. " (Li Dengnian) Kangxi wanted to have fun with the people, and to show his concern for many "retired veteran cadres", he held two banquets in three days, and nearly 3, people were invited by the elderly over 65. Nine years later, another thousand banquets were held, and more than a thousand old people were seated in two groups, Manchu and Han. It's really to see the sun, for all his glory. As for holidays, such as the New Year's Eve banquet, there are more than 12 dishes on the Ganlong lunch list. What's like supplying a person with food and drink?
all this is a problem for me. It is the remoteness that arouses my curiosity.
So when I visited the Forbidden City, I just glanced at the three halls and so on, but I just wanted to find two small places: the royal kitchen and toilet. What would it be like? Is it also finely decorated? What I am interested in is: how can the emperor remove the aura from his head and restore the instinct of mortals after he descends from the dragon chair and the clouds above thousands of people? Although he pretends to be the real dragon emperor, he is not a fairy after all, but also wants to eat and drink. No different from ordinary people. He pretends to be dignified and pretentious, and he can't avoid the closest worldly side of his personal life.
the kitchen of the Qing palace should be called the imperial kitchen. The person who cooks for the emperor must be a first-class chef and belongs to the "imperial use". There are two professions in the world that are most afraid of being "used by the emperor". One is the literati, and the other is the chef. Court poets can only sing praises, and the cook at the foot of the son of heaven can only change his tricks to please his master. And it must be trembling. I am afraid that putting more or less salt (and so on) will ruin the emperor's appetite and may even lead to death. This makes it impossible for them to relax absolutely. Both art and cooking must be in a relaxed state to be creative and effective. Manchu-Han banquet belongs to the "masterpiece" of palace cuisine in Qing Dynasty. It is said that "it is famous for its grand and formal etiquette, expensive and exquisite materials and various dishes, and it is unparalleled in the banquet at all times and in all countries." Tan Qian's "Journey to the North, Ji Wen Xia" describes its origin: "When a guest withdraws one seat and enters another, it is expensive to overlap ... When the king of England is here, he can taste the banquet, which can be 2 seats." Even eat for three days and nights. It's really hard for those chefs! They should try their best to avoid the similarity of dishes. Just like writing metrical poems, it is necessary to rhyme and be neat, and the words cannot be repeated. Isn't this making people dance in chains?
I spent the rest of my life late, and I didn't taste the Manchu-Chinese banquet. But I think that's all. In the end, I'm afraid it's all mechanical for both chefs and diners. There will be "aesthetic fatigue" to varying degrees. Once cooking becomes a thorough labor, it is not much fun. It actually needs inspiration and even a "stroke of genius". In my imagination, the style of Manchu-Han banquet is equivalent to decadent Han Fu, a kind of lame and artificial parallel prose with long sentences and flowery rhetoric in vain, but lacking soul. Too greasy will turn people off.
It can be seen from the Manchu-Han banquet that the royal family of the Qing Empire liked to show off their food, even to the extent of extravagance and waste. It's typical to sit on empty seats. Very similar to the fate of this dynasty.
from the northern qi dynasty in the southern and northern dynasties, Guanglu temple was in charge of all royal meals, and it was under the jurisdiction of the official, food storage, liquor collection and other departments. This system was followed from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Ming Dynasty. "In the Qing Dynasty, Guanglu Temple became a foreign court department, which was only in charge of the diet used for sacrifice. Although the organization was still large, it became a cold agency due to limited funds. The emperor's meals and drinks are the responsibility of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The tea room, tea room, external dining room, internal dining room, internal pastry room, external pastry room, wine and vinegar room, and food warehouse under the Ministry of Internal Affairs are well organized, with a large number of personnel and a clear division of labor. There are departments such as the meat bureau, the vegetarian bureau, the dim sum bureau, the dinner party, the oven hanging bureau, and the secretary's room under the inner dining room alone, and there are countless directors (chief chef), deputy directors (deputy chief chef), directors (chefs), kitchen service, and Sula (handyman). " This is what Mr. Li Dengnian, who is the author of "China Ancient Banquet", told me in his natural residence hotel. After listening to this, I sighed deeply: Alas, in order to take care of the emperor's mouth, a huge administrative organization had to be established-the corruption in feudal society in China was evident.
The History of the Palace of the State Dynasty in the Qianlong period: The imperial dining room "specializes in eating meals for the emperor, offering sacrifices in various palaces, seasonal banquets, sitting with attendants and so on." In the "establishment", there are three eunuchs in charge, ten eunuchs in charge, hundreds of eunuchs, and thousands of peripheral personnel (kitchen service and handyman). In addition, the Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager, Imperial concubine, etc. also set up their own kitchens, that is, private kitchens. For example, Cixi's private kitchen is called Western Restaurant. "Send many skilled kitchen service should be poor, and its regulation is especially worse than that of imperial kitchens. When Cixi dined, there were only a few hundred little eunuchs holding a meal box. It was conceivable that there was ostentation and extravagance in those days. In order to cater to Cixi's addiction, the chefs in the western dining room made great efforts to make all kinds of delicious dishes. According to reports, in those days, the chefs in the western dining room could make more than 4 kinds of snacks and more than 4, kinds of dishes, which can be described as various and varied. When Cixi is happy, she often gives names to some dishes. " (Quoted from Lv Yingfan's Notes on the Anecdotal Stories of Drinking in Qing Dynasty) Cixi's meal was as grand as a military parade, enough for eunuchs (honor guard? ) practice for a while.
Looking up the Archives of the Qing Palace Office, I found a series of food lists of the Emperors, which made people dizzy. Festive festivals are natural and delicious, and even the daily breakfast is unwilling to make up. Take Qianlong's breakfast menu as an example (it is the simplest): one product of bird's nest, red and white duck, south fresh hot pot, one product of wine stew and tofu stew, one product of steamed duck, pork and deer tail, the first product of bamboo roll bun, four products of Shu Fei, Ying Fei, Yu Fei, Jin Cai, two products of cake, one product of enamel sunflower box and silver enamel. In addition, there are four tables for extra food: four dishes of No.2 yellow bowl, one product of shredded mutton, eight products of milk and one table of * * * thirteen products; A table with fifteen products; A table with eight dishes of meat; Mutton has two sides and one table. This is just the emperor's breakfast (light meal), and there are 53 kinds of dishes. Dinner, and increased to seventy-five. As for holidays, such as the New Year's Eve banquet, there are more than 12 dishes on the Ganlong lunch list. What's like supplying a person with food and drink? How big is the mouth and belly of the emperor? It is estimated that many dishes are just a taste of chopsticks. There are also some purely as decoration, used to "feed" the emperor's eyes. In recent years, the Qing Palace drama has been popular, and every time you shoot a drink of emperors and princes, you can only symbolically arrange a few pairs of bowls and chopsticks, and the camera flashes by. You can't pursue realistic effects. On the one hand, we can't afford the cost, on the other hand, it also shows that contemporary people have a little knowledge of the imperial court banquet, and even can't imagine it at all. Therefore, in the Qing Palace drama, the real food is absent.
Alas, even if we can find the food list of the Empress, we can't find a great cook who can "write a thesis" based on it. Some palace dishes were lost in this way.
the emperor not only pays attention to his own meals, but also likes to feast his guests. A thousand banquets are quite representative. In the history of banquets in China, there is a record of "the best in the world": "The palace banquets hosted by the Qing emperor for thousands of old people all over the country are rare in the history of ancient banquets because of the long attendance and the fact that the emperor personally presided over them. The participants of the Millennium Banquet spread all over the country, and they were all personally determined by the emperor, and they were notified by the relevant government offices to start ahead of time according to the distance of the road. Those who were far away even had to go for a night trip two months in advance and go to Beijing. " (Li Dengnian's language) The founder of the Millennium Banquet was Kangxi. On his 6th birthday, he wanted to have fun with the people, and to show his concern for many "retired veteran cadres", he held two banquets in three days, and nearly 3, people were invited by people over 65. Nine years later, another thousand banquets were held, and more than a thousand old people were seated in two groups, Manchu and Han. It's really to see the sun, for all his glory.
Kangxi's pioneering work was deliberately imitated by Qianlong. In the first month of Qianlong's 5 th year, in order to celebrate his 7 th birthday, he had a grand banquet in the Imperial Palace. In addition to the royal banquet in front of the throne, * * * attended 8 tables and 3, old people attended. There are two kinds: first class and second class. The first class is: two hot pots, one pork slice, one roe mutton slice, one plate of roast venison with deer tail, one plate of roe mutton black fork, four bowls of meat dishes, one plate of steamed longevity food, one plate of oven longevity food, two small dishes with snail boxes, two ebony tendons, and rice with shredded pork. The second class is slightly inferior.
After the Manchu-Han banquet, the palace banquet in the Qing Dynasty also had a whole lamb banquet, which was the highest-level banquet specially for Islamic guests. "The whole lamb banquet is arranged and served in accordance with the Manchu-Han banquet, but the banquet hall requires that the characteristics of Islam be highlighted, and the tablecloth is sewn with the word" halal "in blue or white cloth." Li Dengnian can cook a series of special dishes with strange names and meaningful tastes from various parts of sheep, such as brain, ears, nose, tongue, lips, cheeks, eyes, eyelids, and even heart, stomach, intestines, waist and tail blood.
Empress Dowager Cixi, who spent money like water, pushed the "food culture" of the Qing Palace to the extreme. She likes to watch a play while eating. Changchun Palace, Ningshou Palace, Summer Palace, etc. all have seven or eight stages built for it. In addition to the western dining room, there is also a team dedicated to acting for Lafayette, which can be described as one-stop service. In the 1th year of Guangxu (1884), Cixi celebrated her 5th birthday. During the celebration, she booked a meal in Tihe Hall, with more than 1 kinds of meals per day. "There are fifty or sixty kinds of staple foods, twenty or thirty kinds of refreshments and more than one hundred and twenty dishes. Consume 5 Jin of pork and mutton and more than 1 chickens and ducks every day. One day's meals actually cost sixty taels of silver. Just cooking, making refreshments and serving meals in the kitchen, we serve 45 people, and there are as many as 18 eunuchs and maids who serve her every day. " (Zhang Yanan) She is really offered as an ancestor.
Empress Dowager Cixi often receives tribute from dignitaries. For example, in the 2th year of Guangxu (1894), on the 6th birthday of this year, Duke Yansheng Kong Lingyi (the grandson of Confucius' seventy-sixth generation) went to Beijing with his wife to pay homage to him, and his mother Peng Shi and his wife Dow each presented a table worth 242 silver to Cixi. You can't understand its color, smell and taste, so you might as well read this menu.
Two kinds of sea dishes: Eight Immortals Duck and Pan-roasted Carp. Four dishes in the middle bowl: steamed white fungus, gourd wings, duck soup with longevity characters, braised fish bones. Four kinds of big bowl dishes: bird's nest, gold and silver duck pieces, bird's nest, red and white shredded duck, bird's nest, three fresh shredded duck, and bird's nest, mushroom and fat chicken. Four kinds of Huai bowl dishes: fried fish fillet, stewed duck waist, stewed shrimp and shredded chicken. Six dishes: sweet-scented osmanthus wings, fried water bamboo, fried meat with chives, cooked fresh shrimp, golden legs with honey, and fried cucumber sauce. Two products: hanging pig and hanging duck. Two tables: four plates of steamed food, four plates of oven food, four plates of pig food and four plates of sheep food. Four products of Bobo: Shouzi oil cake, Shouzi osmanthus cake, Baishou peach, Ruyi roll. Bird's nest eight immortals soup. Noodles with shredded chicken.
-It is said that this is just a brunch. Let people see it, even if they don't eat it, they are still in a panic.
the food in the Qing dynasty is vast, and now it is only left on paper. We have no chance to enjoy it, so we read more palace menus left over, and read food as American literature, which is also an indirect addiction. This is the "secret history" in the secret history of the Qing palace.
I also looked up a series of paintings describing the food and drink in the Qing Dynasty, such as The Little Banquet in the Palace of Re-extraction, The Banquet in Ziguangge, and so on. On the screen, eunuchs are either setting the wine table, or carrying cold dishes and stir-frying like folk shopkeepers, shuttling between carved beams and painted buildings. In short, they are very busy. Compared with the menu, these paintings are more realistic and vividly show the lively scene that is infinitely far away from us. I think it was written by a court painter. Otherwise, who dares to "peek" and "sneak shot" the emperor's eating so boldly? Puyi, the last emperor, revealed his breakfast menu in March of the sixth year of the Republic of China in My First Half of Life. By then he had abdicated, However, it still retains the habit of eating in the palace and the luxurious grades:
fat chicken with mushrooms, three fresh ducks, five pieces of shredded chicken, stewed meat, stewed belly and lungs, stewed cabbage with sliced meat, braised mutton, stewed spinach and tofu with mutton, stewed cabbage with cherry meat and yam, sliced Sichuan radish with mutton, fried sea cucumber with duck strips, and fried Gexianmi with diced duck. Perhaps, for this embarrassing emperor, eating is purely a ritual. For others to see, but also for yourself to see. It is a kind of self-consolation: Oh, the "quality of life" has not declined!
Eating in the Qing Palace finally ended here in Puyi.
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