National Tide 1980

right?

"Zhang Dashao" stared when he heard these three words.

Ning Weimin didn't expect that "Zhang Dashao" didn't say anything further, but instead got angry.

"What's wrong? Are you impatient now? You can't eat hot tofu if you're impatient. Stop using this false trick with me. You're encouraging me openly and secretly. Who are you trying to hit with your words? Am I talking nonsense? You think you don't like me? Are you talking about it? If you want to make your business a success, and if you want the dishes to taste better than others, of course you must first understand what palace cuisine is. Then you have to understand where you can easily make mistakes. I haven’t told others this yet... "

Hey, indeed.

After listening to it for a long time, Ning Weimin was really a little impatient.

I just wanted to get straight to the point and get the truth on how to improve the quality of the dishes, so I used flattery as a whip and secretly urged her like a sheep.

It turned out that Jiang was very old, and the old man really had no eyes for it, and all his little thoughts were seen through.

Okay, this is embarrassing.

Needless to say, we must quickly correct the sloppiness and correct our attitude.

Otherwise, if the old man was unhappy and stopped here, wouldn't his intestines be full of regret?

"Oh, Master Zhang, of course I understand that you are doing it for my own good. How can I think that your words are useless? I am just a young boy. I always want to learn to be calm, but I always can't. In fact, I am anxious, too. Because of the light your words allowed me to see, I was able to see Hunter Heart Joy. I was wrong, and I will definitely change this. Don’t be as knowledgeable as me..."

As he spoke, Ning Weimin handed over a "Greater China" stick and rushed to light it for the old man.

Seeing that he was so knowledgeable, "Zhang Dashao" didn't take it seriously and let him go.

"Hmph, as long as you know what's going on, let's continue..."

"Since the Republic of China and the fall of the Qing government, palace imperial cuisine has always been an attractive and desirable part of the capital's cuisine. Dazhaimen and large restaurants have been scrambling to hire imperial chefs to cook. Restaurants with the palace brand have become even more famous in recent years, and they are quite popular. Popular with official banquets and foreign guests.”

"But it is a pity that even though it has been so long since palace cuisine has been introduced to the people, the world still has no idea what palace cooking is, and no one knows the relevant palace affairs. So much so that rumors are passed down from generation to generation. Most of the things spread in the world are not based on imagination. Yes, it’s just a wild guess. And because it’s easy to use this gimmick to make ends meet, chefs who use the name of palace cuisine are becoming more and more dishonest and do whatever they want for granted.”

"Actually, the most criticized aspects of palace cuisine, and the most confusing ones, are nothing more than two points. That is how luxurious and luxurious the palace cuisine is, and whether it is delicious or not."

"Some people say that the emperor has one hundred and eight dishes in a meal, the queen has ninety-six, and the imperial concubine has sixty-four. Every meal is filled with delicacies from the mountains and the sea. What are the eight delicacies of the mountains, the eight delicacies of the water, and the eight delicacies of the land. Gathering famous chefs from all over the world Serve. The so-called 'Heavenly Kitchen's True Food, with Ten Thousand Taste'. No matter how poorly made it is, it is still much better than the food of ordinary people."

"Some people also say that the emperor never leaves the palace, and eats warm meals cooked half a day in advance. An egg is worth two taels of silver. In fact, he is the one who has been taken advantage of. He is deceived by his subordinates and has suffered a lot. He has no idea what to do. The food is not delicious. Some people even say that the imperial chefs are not good at cooking and they just make fake food. Just like what your master described, when you ate imitation food before liberation, the dishes all tasted almost the same."

"I can only say that these diametrically opposed opinions, even if they are experienced by many people personally, are untrue. Because they are all taken for granted and one-sided personal opinions, and they are all based on personal subjective inferences. So. I need to explain to you what’s going on with these noodles, it’s very meaningful.”

"If you think about it, at least you have to figure out why there is such a big controversy over the imperial cuisine. How are these problems caused? Only then can you know how to manage your business and avoid some avoidable problems. Only then can you Make your palace dishes both authentic and delicious, and truly stand out from others. Isn’t this the truth?”

These words are so true.

Aren’t these two questions the core of palace cuisine? This is what Ning Weimin is puzzled by and really focuses on.

Then he truly realized the good intentions of "Zhang Dashao", and he no longer murmured in his heart.

I couldn't help but thank you respectfully.

"Master Zhang, it is my good fortune to be able to receive your guidance today. I am really lucky to get to know you. Thank you for your generous advice. I am all ears."

It’s not strange to be polite to many people, let alone whether it’s a real thank you or a fake thank you, “Zhang Dashao” naturally has a clear mind.

The old man felt relieved, so he stopped pretending to be pretentious and spoke frankly to clear up his doubts.

"First of all, I have to say that although the royal family's food life has been luxurious since ancient times. There is a saying that 'one meal for the emperor is enough for hundreds of people to feed every year'. But it is not what most people imagine. You are not allowed to eat anything other than delicacies from the mountains and seas. We eat whatever is expensive. As mentioned before, the emperor only eats rice, noodles, meat and vegetables. The only difference from the common people is that they come from various places as tribute and have the best quality. Moreover, every meal is hot and cold, sweet and salty, meat and vegetables, dried and fresh, and This achieves a reasonable combination of nutrition and a balanced diet.”

"Of course there are delicacies from the mountains and seas, but even the ordinary tributes are not eaten by the emperor alone. All the tributes have to be distributed to the harem and rewarded to the princes, ministers and guards. And since it is a precious food, it cannot be eaten every day. It has to be Save it for important banquets during special seasons.”

"In terms of treatment, there are eight levels of differences in the harem, which were the same in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Controlled by the "Palace Rules", living expenses have a certain budget, which was provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Qing Dynasty. Use professional In terminology, this is called 'empty portion'. Concubine is a very important boundary. Above the concubine, life is relatively independent. Below the concubine, life must be arranged according to regulations."

"The emperor, the queen mother, and the empress are the only three people who can truly live a relatively free and well-off life. Their living expenses are not fixed, but they have to be arranged according to the fact that the emperor has the most, the empress dowager comes second, and the queen takes the next step."

"The food portion is part of the free portion. The regular meal expenses in the harem range from fifty taels to ten taels. The lower the portion, the smaller the dining room, the fewer dishes, and the tableware used ranges from gold to gold. It’s different from silver to tin and porcelain.”

"The emperor must have the most. I still remember that every day is about twenty-two pounds of meat, five pounds of soup meat, one pound of lard, two sheep, five chickens, three ducks, cabbage, spinach, coriander, celery, and leeks. A total of nineteen kilograms, sixty radish, water radish and carrot, one each of melon and winter melon, six kilograms of green onions, four ounces of Yuquan wine, three kilograms each of soy sauce and clear sauce, and two kilograms of vinegar. Morning and evening There are eight plates of pastries, each with thirty pieces."

"In addition, the imperial tea room must prepare tea, milk, etc. for the emperor's daily use. The emperor usually uses fifty cows, and each cow delivers two kilograms of milk per day, a total of one hundred kilograms. He also uses twelve cans of Yuquan water and butter every day. One pound, seventy-five bags of tea, two taels per bag."

"As for the dining habits of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, they did not have three meals a day, but two meals a day. Breakfast was mostly after Maozheng, that is, six or seven o'clock in the morning. Dinner was at noon and before two o'clock, about the same Twelve o'clock to two o'clock in the afternoon. In addition, every night at Youshi, around six o'clock in the evening, you have to eat some snacks or snacks."

"The imperial kitchen does not go to the emperor for orders for every meal. The meal list has been drawn up by the imperial chefs and submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs every day. The menu not only has the name of the dishes, but also the list of all the people involved in the cooking. It can only be operated after the signature of the Minister of the Interior is postponed. Sometimes the emperor does not like to eat the food on the menu, so he can order it a la carte, which is called "Tianshan", which is usually a relatively simple meal. The chef responsible for making "Tianshan" is called " "Tatan in front of the emperor' is not fixed, but rotating."

"To be honest, cooking for the emperor is quite a troublesome thing. The main reason is that the rules are strict and the procedures are trivial. Just like a dish, as soon as the ingredients are prepared, it must be inspected by the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then a written menu is presented. The food is stored in the bottom stall. Then it is covered with a dragon bag before being sent to the stove. When the chef is cooking, there are also stove monitors assigned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to supervise. When the dishes are cooked, the stove monitor is responsible for inserting the poison test silver medal. Finally, there is also It has to pass the test of the chef. The chefs are all senior royal chefs. The dishes are sent here for inspection. If the taste is not right, it must be returned and remade. "

"So the actual situation is that it is pure nonsense to say that the emperor eats 108 dishes every meal. There is no fixed number of dishes for the emperor to eat, ranging from a dozen dishes to more than 20 dishes. This is not even a meal for people to appreciate. Count it in. If we really have to cook so many dishes, even if we only have two meals a day, even doubling the number of people in the kitchen won’t be enough.”

"Luxury mainly lies in the waste of manpower and materials. Not to mention the number of people to serve, because the emperor's daily quota must be used up and cannot be left to the next time. The waste situation is also quite serious. Fish heads, fish The tail, chicken head, chicken neck, chicken feet, chicken buttocks, pork crispy bones, pork stick bones, and pig cavity bones are all thrown away.”

"The same goes for vegetables. For example, when using bean sprouts, you don't just have to remove the roots. You have to pinch them at both ends. Remove all the roots including the heads and pinch them into strips of the same thickness and length to ensure a neat appearance and even heat. The root is crispy. If you fry it in a plate and throw it away, there will be a pot. The same goes for choosing leeks. Just use the upper half. Don't just remove the mud and old roots. Also remove the short leaves and thin leeks. Discard more than half. Only use the lower half of the green onions. The scallions should be white, and only the cabbage hearts should be used for sauerkraut, and the rest should be thrown away."

"To put it bluntly, from the perspective of ordinary people, it is particularly bad. And these scraps are almost all sold by the imperial chefs and eunuchs to restaurants outside. It can be regarded as an additional income subsidy. But those who can take advantage of this kind of glory must He is a powerful person, and ordinary cooks, eunuchs and servants Sulla can only pretend to be deaf and dumb."

"But having said that, it is also good for cooking. That is to ensure the freshness and high quality of the raw materials to the greatest extent. For example, even the golden hooks are selected one by one, and no bran is allowed in each one. Dishes made from such materials are natural tasty.

"If we take stir-fry dishes as an example, the biggest difference between palace dishes and folk dishes is. The techniques of thickening and drizzling oil in Zhuangguan dishes are all makeup, making a false appearance. Even if the meat is not fresh, add too little oil and fry it too much. It can cover the past. But Qinggong is different, because the ingredients are fresh and not sticky. First put the main ingredients into a boiling oil pan and stir-fry until five or six times mature. Add the ingredients, then add seasonings, and quickly toss a few times. It's good if it's cooked raw. This method of stir-frying has very little soup, no oil on the surface, and the green vegetables won't change color. It's called 'raw stir-fry'. It goes without saying whether it tastes delicious or not."

"The most important thing is that the broth used in the Qing palace is genuine and comes in a wide variety. The most distinctive feature of Qing palace cooking is that you use whatever soup you want. No matter whether the imperial meal is boiled, stewed, boiled or stewed, no water is used, only water is used. Use broth. For example, to make braised lamb liver, use lamb liver soup, to make pork knuckle, use elbow soup, and to braise kidneys, use kidney soup. Moreover, these soups are made of many kilograms of soup, and the cost is quite high. . After boiling it, you also need to use the purification method to remove the oil from the thick stock, making it like clear well water. This is the key to ensuring the original and delicious taste of the dishes."

"So the luxury of real palace cuisine is reflected in a very euphemistic and very practical way. It can be said to be dignified and upright. In terms of the advantages of reflecting the true qualities of the ingredients, it is far from being comparable to folk dishes. In terms of taste, palace cuisine The characteristics of the dishes are also the pursuit of purity and richness.”

"We might as well use a practical example to illustrate. For example, a plate of mutton and stir-fried cabbage was presented to the emperor. Does it look ordinary? But the cabbage is tender heart and the mutton is fresh tenderloin. If it is cooked raw and stir-fried, I'm afraid it will only be as long as After eating this kind of stir-fried cabbage, all other stir-fried cabbage tastes the same."