Shashen decoction
There was no emperor in the Ming Dynasty who didn't make love. Even an emotional emperor like Chongzhen had the misdeeds of "stealing spring". He and Chen Yuanyuan, a Jianghu geisha, met only once, and once they had sex, they fell in love.
I really don't know if this Chen Yuanyuan came, but the emperor is serious anyway.
One evening, Chongzhen went down to the court and visited the Palace of Kunning, ready to have a showdown with the Queen, and asked Chen Yuanyuan in the troupe to be his concubine. The queen welcomed Chongzhen into the palace, and the husband and wife ate together. Chongzhen said, "Empress, has your singing and dancing class been in the palace for more than ten days?"
The queen said, "Yes, counting today, it's been 18 days. What, the emperor is a little tired of watching them perform every day? "
Chongzhen smiled and said, "Ha ha, how can you be bored? Since watching their performances, my mood is getting better every day, and my spirit is much better. This is all thanks to you. It is really a blessing to have a virtuous queen like you. " In order to achieve the goal of possessing Chen Yuanyuan, Chongzhen even kowtowed to the queen.
The queen was flattered and said, "The emperor praised me so much, but I don't deserve it. As long as you are happy, I think I have done my best."
Chongzhen went on to say, "It's really not easy to say these women. It's been more than ten days, and every day's performance has fresh content, not heavy, especially that Chen Yuanyuan, who is born with beauty and excellent color and art, has this stunner in the dust." It is really rare. "
Chongzhen's words have implicitly made it clear that he has a crush on this Chen Yuanyuan. If the queen is smart enough, she should go down the slope and suggest that the emperor accept this woman. However, the queen was ignorant. When she heard Chongzhen praising Chen Yuanyuan, she immediately became alert and deliberately interrupted, saying, "Your Majesty, how about this Radix Adenophorae? Is it delicious?"
How can Chongzhen have the mood to drink? He just took a sip casually, nodded and praised, "Well, this soup made by Chen Yuanyuan is really good, and it beats those royal chefs." The queen leaned forward and left sadly.
In the following days, Chongzhen has always had a soft spot for "Radix Adenophorae". In his eyes, this soup is Chen Yuanyuan's "work" and it was cooked for him. In fact, it is true that this soup was made for the emperor, but the "chef" was not Chen Yuanyuan, but the queen tried to cook it in the harem.
After this soup was affirmed and appreciated by Chongzhen, the imperial chefs after the palace followed suit and soon spread to the people.
Production process
Ingredients: Radix Glehniae, Duck Meat, Polygonatum odoratum, Ophiopogon japonicus, ginger slices, bone soup, refined salt and monosodium glutamate.
Practice: Wash the prepared Radix Glehniae, lily and fat duck separately, put them into the pot together, add appropriate amount of water, first boil them with strong fire for 20 minutes, and then stew them with slow fire for 50 minutes until the duck is cooked and rotten.
Features of the finished product: drinking soup and eating duck meat, nourishing yin and moistening lung, clearing heat and resolving phlegm.
Whole duck with cordyceps sinensis
This dish has been circulated for thousands of years, and it is famous for its delicious and beautiful appearance.
It is said that during the reign of Wu Zetian, she was unable to get up in bed, especially in winter, and did not think about tea and rice. Although she was treated by the doctor too much, she still had no great improvement. Wu Zetian began to curse every day, and there was not a day when the palace was quiet.
Chef Kang Sanben was the chief chef appointed by Wu Zetian in those days, and it became his top priority to make Wu Zetian eat. At this time, he remembered that the old people in his hometown often used the local native stewed chicken with Cordyceps sinensis to supplement their health, but the chicken was a hair product, which might be bad for Wu Huang, so he made a fresh dish of "whole duck with Cordyceps sinensis" instead of chicken to honor Wu Zetian. Unexpectedly, this dish invented by Kang San almost made him lose his head.
When Wu Huang saw the black insect-like thing in the bowl, he was frightened to disgrace. He asserted that Kang San was going to harm her, and he was furious. He threw himself into the prison and waited for the punishment.
A chef surnamed Li who is very close to Kangsan in the Imperial Kitchen sympathizes with Kangsan's misfortune. He knows that only by curing Wu Huang with Cordyceps can Kangsan be innocent.
One day, while washing the duck, he pondered. When he washed the duck's head, he suddenly had a brainwave: he slowly picked out the bones of the duck's head from the duckbill with chopsticks, and then filled them with Cordyceps, so that there was no flaw in the appearance. He carefully cooked and steamed the whole duck for use in Wu Huang. Wu Huang didn't see the "bugs", only thought that the duck cooked by Chef Li was particularly delicious, and he would try to eat it every now and then. After such a period of time, Wu Huang not only looked better and stopped coughing, but also went for a walk in the imperial garden to enjoy flowers.
Later, Wu Huang realized that he had wronged Kang San, and immediately sent a decree to pardon Kang San and seal his palace chef. Kangsan's "All Duck with Cordyceps" has also become an "imperial dish".
Later, it was said among the people that "rotten boiled old male duck is more effective than ginseng", so "whole duck with cordyceps sinensis" was handed down.
Production process
Ingredients: light fat duck 1 bird, Cordyceps, ham, salt, monosodium glutamate, Shaoxing wine, ginger slices, shallots and soup.
Practice: 1. Boil the duck in a boiling water pot for a while, remove the fishy smell and blood, and wash it out. Wash cordyceps sinensis. Slice the ham. 2. Put the duck in a container, add Cordyceps, ham slices, onion ginger and Shaoxing wine, add soup to taste, then cover it with cellophane paper and steam it in a cage for about 2 hours until it is crisp. Take out, remove onion and ginger, and insert Cordyceps into duck.
Features of finished products: original flavor, delicious and refreshing.
Longfengtui
Empress Dowager Cixi is very particular about the diet of beauty. If she doesn't eat well, she will lose her temper and arrest the chefs one by one.
One day, the little eunuch served several Beijing-style dishes. She glanced at them, snorted in her nostrils and waved her hand and said, "It's the same old story again. You are starving to death!"
In a word, the chef was trembling with fear, and hurriedly made several famous dishes of Huguang again and served them. But she shook her sleeves again and said, "Take it down, Ai Jia doesn't eat these things!" " This is even more difficult to kill a group of chefs in the imperial kitchen. After discussing it, they can't think of any good tricks.
At this time, there was a Su Gang chef in the royal chef, whose surname was Wang Ming Kun. He had a brainwave and thought, what should the queen mother do if she wants fresh food and doesn't eat it? This word "fresh" is "fish" and "sheep". Why not try to make a fresh dish with fish and sheep?
So, he gave priority to fish and mutton, accompanied by mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots and various seasonings, mixed them together and steamed them in a steamer; Then use the net oil to form a chicken leg shape, then roll a layer of egg powder, put it in the oil pan, and then insert the thin head of each one with cooked bamboo shoots. At first glance, it looks like a chicken leg, and the chicken skin is shiny and bright, even the pores are faintly visible.
Empress Dowager Cixi tasted this dish and found it interesting and beautiful. When she tasted it, she felt bitter in the dry and soft in the crisp. As soon as she was happy, she personally named it "Dragon and Chicken Leg".
Unexpectedly, Ah Kun is also an impatient person. He can't stand Cixi's behavior. He is worried that he will lose his life if he contradicts Cixi one day. He set up a plan, first hold it for a few days, and then apply for retirement. When Cixi allowed him to play, Ah Kun took the cooking skills of this dish back to Suzhou and passed it on to a restaurant.
In order to attract customers, the owner of this restaurant hung up the brand of "Dragon and Chicken Legs, a famous dish from Cixi", which has since become a famous dish. However, folk people have raised questions: since it is a "dragon and chicken leg", why not use chicken instead of sheep, and it tastes more pure? Wang Akun trial-produced according to this, and found that it was really better than the palace's practice, and it was more recognized by diners. So the reformed "Dragon Leg" has become a more authentic famous dish and has been passed down to this day.
Production process
Ingredients: shredded chicken, lard, chicken leg bones, eggs, sugar, spicy soy sauce, salt, Shaoxing wine, monosodium glutamate, onion, pepper, starch and peanut oil.
Practice: 1. Put shredded chicken in a bowl, add eggs, sugar, spicy soy sauce, refined salt, Shaoxing wine, monosodium glutamate, chopped green onion and pepper and mix for later use. Rinse lard, cut into pieces with a square of 10 cm, put shredded chicken and shrimps on the net oil respectively, and put the chicken leg bones on one end of the net oil and wrap them into chicken legs. 2. Mix eggs with dry starch. When the oil pan is on fire, when it is heated to 70% heat (about 175℃), dip the dragon's leg blanks with dry starch one by one, then drag the egg paste, roll it with bread flour, put it in the oil pan and fry it until it is light yellow, move the oil pan to low fire and fry it for 1 minute until it is cooked, take it out with a colander and put it in a plate neatly.
Features of the finished product: beautiful shape, brown and yellow color, crisp outside, fresh and tender inside and salty taste.
walnut cream
A sweet soup walnut cheese in Yuhuatai is very popular.
One year, your late husband took our family to Yuhuatai for lunch. A full table, three generations. All the specialty dishes have been eaten, and finally there is a big bowl of walnut cheese, which is delicious in color and flavor, and everyone is amazed. Xian Ci said, "It's good, but how many bowls to sell a day requires a lot of production, so I can only do this. I'll try making them in a small pot at home and give you a taste." We jumped for joy when we heard it. When I got home, I made her do it every day.
My mother made walnut cheese based on her experience in making almond tea for my grandmother. My grandmother sometimes drinks almond tea for breakfast besides bird's nest, Hashema and lotus seeds. The almond tea sold in the street is not up to standard, so my mother has to make it herself. Although it is only a bowl, materials and procedures can not be lacking, and it will be skilled for a long time. Walnut cheese and almond tea are similar in nature.
Walnut comes from Qiang Hu, so it is also called walnut. It was introduced to Middle Earth in Zhang Qian, and it is abundant in the north. Take a handful of ready-made walnuts and soak them in boiling water. When Sima Guang was young, Qian people soaked it in boiling water so that it was easy to peel off the top layer of skin, but lied to his sister that he peeled it himself. This story is familiar to everyone. After boiling water, you need help peeling, although it is troublesome, but the number is small, and it will be done in an instant. It is said that it is brushed with a hard brush in the restaurant! Walnuts should be mashed, and the more crushed the better.
Take a handful of red dates, soak them in water until they swell, then cook and peel them. This is the most annoying procedure. Jujube trees are everywhere on both sides of the Yellow River, and the best is produced in Lingbao, Henan Province. Jujube is big and sweet. The red dates bought in Beiping are also quite fat, not as thin as those sold by Chinese medicine shops here in Taiwan Province. However, peeling jujube paste is still not easy. We use the simplest stupid method, scraping with a knife, and the jujube paste scraped out is absolutely free of broken skin.
Soak half a bowl of white rice in water for a day and a night, then take it out and put it in a larger cylinder bowl used for mashing garlic, and pound it with a mallet used for mashing garlic (of course, it should be cleaned to make it smell free, and it is better if it is not mashed garlic). If you want to mash the rice, add water as you mash it. The broken rice dregs together with the juice are poured into a piece of gauze, and the twisted rice pulp is left in a bowl for later use.
It is best to cook walnut cheese in a small thin pot. Reading is like hanging. Zhengzitong: "The kettle is small and has a handle and a flow." Americium is made of sand, and the material is like a casserole. It is primitive, rough and dark, but it is very clever and useful. Cooking something without losing its original flavor is far superior to copper pots and pans, but it has been eliminated recently.
Cook the rice paste, walnut crumbs and jujube paste together in a small thin pan, and watch it to prevent overflow. Soon a walnut cheese was cooked. Put in a little sugar, not too much. Divided into three or four small bowls (lotus seed bowls), each person doesn't get much, but look at the color, which is slightly purple, fragrant with dates and walnuts. It is sticky and sweet in the mouth, and I really can't bear to swallow it down my throat at once.
Conclusion: Whether the emperor really thinks that this soup of Radix Adenophorae and Lily is made in Chen Yuanyuan or not, this dish is also famous for it.