In The First Half of My Life, the last emperor Puyi described the royal dining in detail. He said that the most costly ostentation and extravagance is eating. When it was time to eat, the emperor just ordered a meal, and the little eunuch in charge of the command said a meal to the eunuch in front of hall of mental cultivation, and then passed it on. Before the echo disappeared, the dowry-like team had already walked out of the royal restaurant. Dozens of well-dressed eunuchs carried a single table and entered the main hall in turn with red lacquer boxes. Before the emperor, the eunuch had to taste and say that the long list was to test whether anyone had poisoned this dish. After the emperor sat down, a eunuch shouted to smash the lid of the bowl, so the emperor began to eat. There are many problems hidden behind this series of seemingly solemn and dignified battles. For example, one day, the emperor ordered that goodness be preached earlier than before. The emperor will not wait until the kitchen is ready, as diners do today. If he waits for a long time, he will move his head carefully.
So the servant of the chef can only wait for the food and others, and never wait. In order to let the emperor eat hot meals at any time, they can only prepare dishes and staple foods in advance and put them in special heat preservation containers to ensure that the emperor can eat at any time wherever he goes, but this will cause a big problem. First of all, you can't choose those dishes that pay attention to temperature and taste for these meals prepared for the emperor in advance, because these dishes will be very unpalatable if they are kept for a long time. After the expiration of time, its own nutrients and taste will be greatly reduced, so many royal meals look good, but the real taste is not flattering, which is why the last emperor Puyi described the royal meals as almost like serving food to the dead. In his original words, it's really not delicious, the same, and it tastes bad. Therefore, Puyi said that he never eats food cooked by the chef. Most of the food in this form is actually used for arranging.
According to Puyi's account, he actually ate the dishes sent by Empress Dowager Cixi, because Empress Dowager Cixi or the imperial concubines all have their own kitchens, and they all use the dishes cooked by senior chefs, which are delicious. Each meal has 20 dishes, which are placed in front of the emperor, while the dishes cooked in the kitchen are placed far away, just for show.
It is not easy for an ancient emperor to eat a fruit after a meal. According to historical records, 40 lychees arrived in Fujian on June 29th, 25th year of Qianlong. Except for Empress Dowager Cixi, these 40 lychees were given to two, and none of the other concubines were favored. Naturally, these 40 lychees were given to the concubines in the harem, and the ministers in Taiuterus could not ignore them.
Is the imperial meal really delicious? what do you think? Please comment below.
Ancient emperors ate well because the ingredients were precious, but the cooking method was simple. They did nothing but cook, steam and barbecue, delicious food and seafood, the Buddha jumps over the wall, and the Manchu banquet. They also killed 500 ducks in a plate to get duck tongues. This is how the emperor eats every day. When Cixi fled, every steamed corn bun ate a thief's incense. If she sees what we are eating now, it may be greedy, accompanied by marine debris, and fried swordfish with fish fillets in a spicy pot.
I can only say that the ingredients are rich, but I can't say anything delicious. Today, there are so many delicious foods, mainly because various spices and condiments improve the taste. But in ancient times, most spices and condiments have not been discovered and invented, and the taste of food is very monotonous.
In addition, cooking methods also have a long development process. In Qin and Han dynasties, there were only several methods such as boiling, roasting and boiling, while in Tang and Song dynasties, there were methods such as steaming and scalding, and frying appeared more. Then imagine, is a dish with no seasoning and monotonous cooking method delicious?
Thousands of dishes lined up under the command of "delivering meals". Imperial cuisine can be said to represent the highest level of cooking in China. In that era of high autocracy, the emperor's diet must be extremely elegant. If you haven't seen the colorful dim sum soup in Empresses in the Palace and yongzheng emperor, at least you must have heard the famous cross talk-the name of this dish. So what's the level of imperial food of the emperor today? Today, I will show you around the Royal Kitchen!
We ate royal meals in YY for a long time in those years.
Because the traffic is not convenient and fast enough, there is no fresh-keeping equipment such as cold chain refrigerator. In addition, the demand for ingredients is also relatively large. In general, where the palace is built, the imperial kitchen will purchase a large number of ingredients from nearby to make dishes. The principle is to make as many dishes as possible with the simplest limited ingredients (mostly to make up the number)
According to the menu of Imperial Restaurant left by Qing Dynasty, half of the meat dishes in Imperial Restaurant are ducks in various ways, because Beijing roast duck is a local specialty. Zhu Yuanzhang's dining table is also full of Huaiyang fish, while Liu Huangshu's Sichuan pepper makes people want to stop. It is not difficult to imagine that Zhuge Liang cut Zhang Chuan's cake twice and told Liu Bei: "In the future, the world will be divided into three parts, one belonging to Cao Cao, the other to Sun Quan and the other to Liu Huangshu. This piece is my snack, so don't move, I still want to eat ... "
From the present point of view, the ingredients of the emperor's royal meal are not very precious and rare. Bear's paw and deer's tail can't be served until the big sacrifice. Even the legendary wine pool meat forest that people yearn for is a simple salt barbecue without cumin pepper because of the lack of condiments. With sake as light as running water (after reading my last article about China ancient wine, you must know what the level of ancient wine is), the whole is the rhythm of barbecue by the pool. From the present point of view, it is really too simple.
Seeing this, you can't help but ask. Didn't you say the world belongs to the emperor? Then I want to eat Huaiyang food in Beijing. What did you say?/Sorry?
You can rest assured that the emperor won't think so. There is a saying in the ancestral training of the Qing Dynasty: "There are not enough dishes for three bites", which means that delicious dishes should be put away after eating three chopsticks, which is very educational. After eating three chopsticks, the eunuch shouted "withdraw!" " If you want to eat again, you may have to wait for more than 1000 days. You can take it out on eunuchs, but you can't change the rules set by your ancestors. This is because you are worried that if you eat delicious food, the chefs in the palace will not be able to make it, and that courtiers will flatter the emperor when they know his taste. Why did Song Huizong joke with treacherous court official Cai Jing? Grab the emperor's stomach first!
It is said that when Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, the emperor didn't eat the dishes carefully cooked by the local salt merchants. Salt merchants are very confused. He asked the eunuch and replied, "I added an extra spoonful of sugar to the dish before you served it." I am afraid that long live the grandfather will eat it, and I will not be a waiter when I arrive in Beijing. "
So is the meal cooked by the chef delicious?
The Imperial Chef can be said to be the kitchen with the most rules in China. Chefs are forbidden to play freely and invent and create. How much salt and vinegar should be put in the recipe. Cooking the wrong food is a sin. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the chef was beheaded because the sacrificial claws were not steamed according to the recipe. Killing chickens as an example is also an example, teaching me a bloody lesson. Long live the country of great etiquette! Besides, bears are cute, so don't always think about licking your hands.
Due to the limitation of cooking technology and cooking equipment (even wok didn't appear until the Ming Dynasty! ), every big banquet in ancient palaces, dishes should be prepared in advance. There is no microwave oven and refrigerator, so the finished dishes need to be simmered on the stove. When the time comes, it will be served with steaming hot food, which is more face-saving. But do you think this stewed dish can be delicious even with bear's paw and deer's tail?
Why did grandpa four go to Xiaozheng Palace when he was in the palace? Why does eating a glutinous rice duck feel delicious? That's because there is a small kitchen in the concubines' palace, which can cook some local dishes that are fried now. It can be seen that the emperor himself doesn't like to eat rice in the imperial kitchen.
Because the dishes in the imperial kitchen are all the same, it is always annoying for individuals to eat the same dishes every day. Then can you eat outside the palace?
No, you are the emperor. You should pay attention to your identity in everything you do. There are bean jelly, Chinese hamburger and stinky tofu outside the palace.
Mala Tang is on sale, and people still want to eat it. But if the incense flies to the emperor's nose ten miles away. That's too bad for you. The eunuch's chamberlain will soon leave the palace to check your water meter. It is even more difficult to eat something more foreign, either paying tribute to the country or waiting for a gift.
On behalf of visitors, travel back to your belongings.
What is the emperor's budget for eating?
If the emperor's food expenditure is increased, I'm afraid most emperors in China will be unhappy. All of China is yours, and every grain of millet on the king's soil is no exception. Friends who have read "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" must know that the most economical emperor in the Ming Dynasty was Chongzhen. Even for such a thrifty emperor, the average daily food cost is as high as 16872 taels of silver, which is equivalent to about $520,000 now! ! ! In China's richest Song Dynasty, Song Renzong, known by historians as "diligent all his life", could easily eat 65.438 million yuan in one meal, equivalent to the sum of the monthly incomes of five middle-class families at that time. So much money is spent on food. How big is the emperor's stomach?
Where did the emperor spend all his royal meals?
It's not delicious or enough to eat, but such a royal dinner costs money like water. Where did the money go?
I have mentioned a lot above, ostentation and extravagance! These imperial secretaries have been bothering you for so long, just to make dozens of dishes avalanche when the purple towel is withdrawn. What is the salary? Have you calculated it?
In addition, most of the emperor's food expenses, even a considerable number of prescribed ingredients, were pocketed by officials of the imperial kitchen and its superior department, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. So far, the income of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is a muddled account, and what was unclear at that time is even more unclear now. There was no invoice in ancient times, so prepare a pen and paper. An old hen sells for 20 taels of silver. Your majesty, can you check it?
Write it at the end
So what's the standard of ancient imperial cuisine in China now? This bacterium thinks that it is probably the level of home cooking that everyone can eat. Puyi, the last emperor, wrote in My First Half Life: Eating imperial food is the most troublesome thing, but it looks pleasant, but it is not delicious, just pretending that I don't like it. What you can swallow is the food in front of you. There are many royal meals, which are boring to eat.
Times have changed, and the Manchu-Han banquet in the past is now flowing into the homes of ordinary people. In the past, bear's paw, antlers, monkey's brain and dragons have now become national protected animals and cannot be cooked. As the hungriest person in China, even if you are an emperor and a general, you will not be interested in what kind of delicious food to eat without the pursuit of food and the seasoning of hunger.
Having said that, are you still looking forward to the legendary imperial meal?
Today, let me answer this question:
When it comes to royal meals, it is estimated that many people will think of the Manchu-Han banquet, which is super rich. As the king of a country, the emperor must eat well.
Let's have a look. What did Zhu Yuanzhang eat for lunch? It includes shrimp with pepper vinegar, roasted goose, roast mutton head and hoof, goose dam, salted black bean mustard lamb tripe, garlic vinegar white blood soup, five-flavor steamed chicken, mutton bone with yuan sauce, kidney paste with spicy vinegar, steamed fresh fish, five-flavor steamed gluten, mutton crystal jiaozi, shredded goose noodle soup, three-flavor soup, mung bean chess noodles, minced pepper mutton, fragrant rice, garlic cheese and so on.
Lunch is so rich, almost all the chicken, duck and fish are available, and it is really mouth-watering to eat. It seems that the emperor is really unusual. Even ordinary people may not have such a good lunch now. According to the "History of the Forbidden City in Ming Dynasty", "The world is salty here" seems to be true!
Since the emperor's royal meal is so rich, everyone thinks it must be delicious! Let's see what the emperor himself said. The last emperor Puyi naturally had the right to speak. After all, he is an emperor. In the first half of my life, Puyi summed up his royal diet in four sentences: "flashy, wasteful, unrewarded, tasteless." This? Doesn't that sound a little wrong? How can such a rich royal diet be flashy?
In fact, the emperor's royal meals are more symbolic and represent the face of the country's highest ruling class, so they should not be too shabby. However, although there are many dishes because of extravagance and waste, the emperor can't finish them all at once, and because many dishes are very complicated and cumbersome, they almost become cold food when they come to the emperor. Moreover, the emperor can't have personal preferences because he can't let others guess what the emperor likes to eat. Generally, when you meet something you like to eat, you can only eat two bites at most and then leave. It seems that the emperor is really pitiful. Moreover, the imperial meals that were taken back were basically given to concubines, officials and others.
Since Puyi himself said it was not delicious, what did the emperor eat?
Puyi said: "I actually ate the food sent by Empress Dowager Cixi, and after the death of Empress Dowager Cixi, four toffs sent it up. Because the Empress Dowager or the Toffees have their own restaurants, and they all use senior chefs, the dishes they cook are delicious, and there are always twenty kinds of dishes for each meal. This is the dish in front of me. Everything in the royal kitchen is far away, just for show. "
It seems that pot rice doesn't like to eat, and the emperor prefers to eat small stoves! The Royal Restaurant is just for display!
First, let's see what your definition of food is. Take the Qing Dynasty as an example. During the Qing Dynasty, the members of the royal family were mainly Manchu, and the rest were Mongols (Mongolian tribes), as well as the customs of some Han people, Koreans and nomadic people. Their snacks and snacks are mainly milk cakes, milk tea and cheese. Even if these things are carefully made by the chef, I'm afraid modern people don't like them. What's more, due to the different eating habits, customs and spices of other dynasties, different tastes may be difficult for everyone to feel delicious.
The second is the use of spices. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, the Central Plains had a certain connection with the surrounding areas. Food is constantly enriched in different periods, and spices are also enriched with border trade. For example, if modern people want to eat spicy food, it is estimated that they can only rely on spices such as mustard, pepper, pepper and ginger. If it was the Tang Dynasty, pepper was a precious medicinal material and spice, which ordinary people could not afford. Moreover, mutton was very popular at that time. Long Fu liver can only increase the spicy taste (to put it bluntly, it is a kind of soil) ...
Therefore, the ancient imperial cuisine can only be said that the ingredients in the past dynasties were constantly enriched, but the taste was really bad.
Having said these factors, let's talk about the third point, that is, eating habits. Most food is cooked and eaten now, so it has flavor. However, sometimes the emperor doesn't really eat on time, and it doesn't mean that the chef cooks what the emperor eats. Although most banquets have certain ceremonies, there are no special circumstances, such as midnight snack, morning tea and snacks. It takes time to cook now, but the emperor may not really need it. Many times, some standing foods are basically prepared and put away, and they are served when they are passed, or poured with juice. Therefore, some dishes have lost their taste, or some dishes have gone bad, which may not be very good (but they are also more delicate than some folk foods), so the taste is hard to say.
When I was in Tomb-Sweeping Day, the spring breeze was blowing.
Go on an outing to worship our ancestors.
The origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day,
It is said that it began with the "tomb sacrifice" ceremony of the ancient emperor.
Later, people began to follow suit.
On this day, we worship ancestors and sweep graves.
"Be cautious and pursue the distance, and people's morality will be thick." Since ancient times, the state and people have attached great importance to sacrificial activities. In particular, the royal sacrifices in the court are more grand, and the sacrifices offered are naturally extremely rich and exquisite, all handled by Guanglu Temple.
Excuse me ~
What is Guanglu Temple?
The name of Guanglu Temple makes people feel like falling into a fog. Is it a temple or a government department?
In fact, although this Guanglu Temple has a "temple", which refers to an open central institution in ancient times, it can be said that its jurisdiction is only one word "eat"!
So which foods belong to Guanglu Temple? "From jade food, celebrations, ceremonies, official sacrifices, and four foreign feasts, the little guards are all out of this."
Ancient royal sacrificial activities
In fact, there are three main tasks of Guanglu Temple: offering sacrifices, attending meetings and receiving foreign guests.
Although the work content is not complicated, don't think this is a dispensable small department. Its head was a three-grade official in the Ming Dynasty (we are only familiar with the magistrate with four grades), which is equivalent to today's departmental cadres.
For the first generation of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the great ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, offered a sacrifice to the filial piety. According to the records of Taichang Temple in Nanjing, the things sent to Guanglu Temple, which is in charge of banquets (sacrifices), are different every month.
From this record, it is not difficult to see that the royal family attaches importance to ancestor worship.
Food is the most important thing for the people. Even Confucius said that "food is not tired of essence, and food is not tired of detail." I don't think the king of this open country should treat himself badly in eating. At the beginning, Qin Shihuang had an official who was in charge of diet. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a department was directly set up, and this department was Guanglu Temple.
Imperial plaque for officials of Guanglu Temple.
This plaque was presented by Aisin-Gioro Zaitian to the family of Guanglu Temple in the eighth year of Guangxu (1882). Fengtian has an imperial decree. Do you really understand it?
This plaque is actually a combination of two imperial edicts. The first imperial edict granted Guanglu Temple Division, and Yang Tingrui's great-grandfather (Yang Dongyue) was a court doctor, and his great-grandmother Zhu and Zhong were honorifics. The second imperial edict granted Guanglu Temple the title of Dr. Yang Tingrui's father (Yang Jinlun) as a loyal doctor and his mother Liao as a reverend.
notes
Since it is an institution specially responsible for the emperor's eating, everything in Guanglu Temple must be fat. This gentleman thinks that Yang Tingrui in this plaque, as the head of a department, must be a first-class chef, and his figure must be a big fat man. And the emperor, admired by thousands of people, must live a popular and spicy life every day.
However, this is not the case. According to Pinzang Jun's access to relevant information, although some emperors have high status, they are miserable and can't eat a good meal every day.
Ming metabolism's "Nine Miscellaneous Matters Part III": "Today's big officials are imperial meals; No problem; But fish is a prison; It is better to burn it. "
It means that what the emperor eats today is nothing more than fish, pigs and cows, which are boiled and seasoned in a pot. Isn't this stew? Will it be delicious?
Let's take a look at the menu of Qingcheng Banquet after the second year of Yongle (1404):
Serve: press the wine five times. There are five fruits. There are five kinds of tea and food. Burning like five people. Three soups. Double steamed bread. Horse meat rice. Wine for five minutes.
Middle table: according to the wine. There are four fruits. Three soups. Double steamed bread. Horse, pig and mutton rice. Wine for five minutes.
Press wine with the general. Powder soup. Double steamed bread and pork rice. One minute wine.
Take a closer look at the dishes at the party. This kind of big fish and meat sounds really tasteful. But it doesn't feel so good in your mouth! I really want to ask Ming Chengzu: Can you come to Taiwan Province?
In fact, it is no secret that professional cooking institutions in Guanglu Temple make such jokes. Even ordinary people at that time knew that cooking in Guanglu Temple was terrible.
Nighttalk with Dai mentioned that there are ten legends in Beijing, including Guanglu Temple tea soup (tea soup means food), which is ridiculous.
What's so funny? You have to consult "Night Talk and Fight" yourself!
The dishes produced by Guanglu Temple are delicious. Why did they survive for such a long time in Guangxu thirty-two years (1906)?
The reason is that the system limits my appetite. You know, it was not easy to "reform" in ancient times. Therefore, the emperors in the late Ming Dynasty couldn't stand it any longer, so they asked the eunuchs to give them food, which was called "infighting".
Therefore, the specialized organization "Imperial Chef", which everyone is familiar with in costume dramas, did not exist in the Ming Dynasty, but was established in the late Qing Dynasty.
The emperor collects delicacies more to test his control over the world, while the golden bottles of wine displayed at the royal banquet are more to reflect the royal wealth, majesty and glory. All the pursuit of beauty has a political purpose. Taste is secondary, authority is primary. Imperial food tastes bad.
Ingredients are expensive, but not necessarily in season.
Cooking skills, but not necessarily original.
High in calories, but not necessarily healthy.
A large number of people must have a bad appetite.
What was the imperial diet of the Qing emperor like? Puyi: But it's really not delicious.
In the eyes of many people, the emperor, as the king of an ancient country, naturally enjoyed far more treatment than ordinary people in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, but is this really the case? Let's take a look at the description of imperial cuisine by the last emperor Puyi in The Secret of the Last Emperor.
From the time when Huang Taiji changed his name to Qing in A.D. 1636 to the generation of Puyi, Qing has been a country for more than 200 years. During this period, a perfect system has been formed in the court, which naturally includes the emperor's diet.
Unlike the popular three meals a day, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty usually ate two meals a day, about 8 am and 2 pm every day. In addition, the emperor can summon "extra meals" called fruit boxes at any time according to his own needs, mainly all kinds of cakes and soups, as well as seasonal melons and fruits paid tribute from all over the country, which is somewhat similar to afternoon tea that urban white-collar workers like. The emperor can't call it eating directly, but it should be renamed eating, and even eating has become a passing meal.
Although many people remember that the Qing emperor lived in the Forbidden City most of the time, in fact, many times the emperor moved to other places. For example, the tourist attractions we are familiar with now, such as Yuanmingyuan, Summer Palace and chengde mountain resort, are all places that emperors like to live. At this time, it involves a problem that the imperial dining hall, which is responsible for the emperor's diet, needs to provide food according to the emperor's "command".
In addition, no one can guarantee that the emperor will one day deliver meals at non-dining points on a whim. The emperor will not wait for the kitchen to serve food like diners today. If he waits for a long time, he will move his head carefully. So the chef's room can only wait for food, not food.
The uncertainty of place and time is a great test for the royal chef, so in order to let the emperor eat hot meals at any time, he can only prepare dishes and staple foods in advance and put them in special insulated utensils to ensure that the emperor can eat meals immediately wherever he goes.
However, this will undoubtedly cause a big problem. First of all, those dishes that are "prepared" for the emperor in advance can't choose those dishes that pay attention to temperature and taste, because it will make the dishes difficult to swallow for a long time, which inherently limits the optional range of the emperor's royal diet menu. Secondly, most vegetables will lose their nutrition and taste after long-term heat preservation. So many imperial meals look good, but the real taste is not flattering, which is why the last emperor Puyi described imperial meals as "just like providing food to the dead". In his original words:
But it's really not delicious, just the same, it tastes bad. ...
The "Wonderful Use" of the Emperor's Small Stove and Imperial Diet
It is precisely because the imperial meal is not delicious that since Kangxi, the emperor has not eaten the imperial meal at any time, but has changed to eat the "small stove" in the harem, commonly known as the inner canteen. This should also be a popular sentence in marriage:
If you want to catch a man's heart, you must first catch a man's stomach.
In order to let the emperor come to his bedroom more often, the concubines in the harem, including the queen, began to compete in cooking. Of course, it is unrealistic to make nuns who don't touch the spring water become beautiful chefs every second. It is more common to look for food recipes from people before letting trusted eunuchs or maids steal their experience.
Since the emperor doesn't like imperial meals, does that mean that imperial meals don't have to be cooked every day?
That is to think too much. Whether the emperor eats or not is one thing. If the chef dares to make a careless mistake when cooking for the emperor, it is to move his head again. Moreover, in the Qing dynasty, the emperor did not eat or eat the rest of the imperial food and had another important mission-reward.
Emperors often give royal meals that they don't eat or only eat a few mouthfuls to their favorite concubines, ministers in the DPRK and even guards or eunuchs around them in various names. At this time, the imperial diet has risen from a simple food to a "prize" with political significance, and those who get the prize are often proud of it. People around you will understand that this is a signal that the emperor attaches great importance to the imperial meal after seeing it given to someone. Whether in the harem or in the officialdom, it will play the role of "moistening things quietly". This favor lasted from the early years of the Qing Dynasty to the last generation.
Why is a chef a good job?
When the Qing Dynasty first entered the customs, it followed the imperial catering system of the Ming Dynasty to a certain extent, including many chefs from China. This is why there are some shadows of Shandong cuisine in today's imitation cuisine, because many imperial chefs in the court came from Shandong after moving to Beijing in the early Ming Dynasty. However, in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the royal chefs were basically banners, with only a few Han Chinese (for example, when Ganlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, he brought back some Huaiyang cuisine chefs).
Similar to the medical household system in the Ming Dynasty, these flag-bearer chefs are also hereditary. Laozi is a cook, and his son and grandson will also go to the palace to cook for the emperor. At that time, the life of these chefs was very rich, not because of their high salary, but because they had more profitable gray income as chefs, the most profitable of which was to buy royal meals.
I believe many people have heard this joke, which tells that the emperor asked his minister one day how his life was. The minister said that he only ate two eggs in the morning. The emperor was surprised to say that he always thought eggs were expensive. After all, one costs several taels of silver. The minister suddenly realized that he had slipped his tongue, so he explained that all he ate were rotten eggs, which could not be compared with the good eggs eaten by the emperor. There are similar records in the real history, according to the description of the imperial cuisine of the Qing court:
Cixi eats 2 ounces of eggs each, but in the folk, 1 2 can buy 150 eggs.
What is reflected behind the story is the phenomenon that the royal chefs colluded with eunuchs to make false accounts and embezzle silver in the middle and late Qing Dynasty. In addition to falsely reporting the purchase price, chefs often sell the remaining materials in the kitchen at high prices to make huge profits. Later, with the demise of the Qing Dynasty, many former chefs turned into local rich people during the Republic of China. It can be seen that these chefs had made a lot of money before they were driven out of the palace.
Unveiling the mystery of imperial cuisine, we will find that being an emperor is not as free and willful as we thought. On the contrary, it is not easy to eat delicious food because of the shackles of the ancestral system. No wonder Emperor Ganling visited the south of the Yangtze River six times. Finding food must be one of the reasons.