Not to mention the atmosphere of Wang Ning and Mo Xiaobei's family, in the hot back kitchen of the Beijing Hotel, the hotel lobby manager suddenly walked in briskly, and shouted to the head chef who was checking the chef: "Lao Li, Lao Li, come here!" ”

Manager Li is around forty years old, with an image similar to that of other chefs, with big shoulders and a round waist, plus he is always smiling, and he looks like the Maitreya Buddha in the temple. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Some familiar guests liked to joke with him, saying that they were worshipping Maitreya Buddha while he was alive. He didn't bother either, just laughed and joked. As the head chef of the Beijing Hotel, his status in the hotel is also not low.

To be able to occupy a place in the Beijing Hotel, where famous chefs gather, in addition to his culinary skills, the main thing is that he is a family of culinary artists, especially good at Beijing cuisine.

Beijing cuisine, also known as Beijing cuisine, is based on northern cuisine and is formed after incorporating local flavors. With the special status of the capital, the capital integrates the culmination of the country's cooking technology, and constantly absorbs the best drinking from all over the world.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was mainly peony people who ran restaurants in the capital, so peony cuisine was dominant in the market. It has absorbed the court flavor of Han and Manchu and other ethnic groups and the Tan family cuisine formed on the basis of Cantonese cuisine and the flavors of various places, which has also brought luster to Beijing cuisine.

Among the dishes in Beijing, the most distinctive ones are roast duck and mutton shabu. Roast duck is a famous dish in the capital, and the earliest roast duck restaurant is moved from the ancient capital in the 14th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1614 AD), indicating that it originates from the south of the Yangtze River; However, the Beijing duck is an excellent breed of artificial breeding, and there is a difference between the open furnace and the stewed oven in the roasting, so the Beijing duck is far from being comparable to the Nanjing roast duck. Shabu mutton, roast beef, roast mutton was originally the food method of the northern ethnic minorities, and there is a picture of people eating shabu mutton around the hot pot in the murals of the tomb of the Liao Dynasty. Today, the ingredients used in shabu mutton are so diverse and delicious that the method of making it is almost a household name.

In addition, there are a lot of commendable famous foods in the capital, such as: the mille-feuille cake (88 layers) that was originally a snack of the Qing Palace, the delicious Saqima that appeared with the construction of the capital of the Qing Dynasty, the famous radish cake of "Zhimei Zhai", the famous mochi bun in the Tan family cuisine, the pastry of "Zhengming Zhai", the sauce beef of "Yuesheng Zhai", the sauce elbow of "Tianfu", the pickles of "Liubiju" and "Tianyuan Sauce Garden", the autumn pear paste of "Tong Sanyi", the sour plum soup of "Xinyuan Zhai" and so on. Although not every citizen can eat these foods, let alone become people's daily food, it has added luster to the dietary life of the people in Beijing.

In the past, there were many kinds of restaurants in the capital, large and small, south and north, and some west. There are about five types of Chinese restaurants: one is the noodle shop, bun shop, dumpling shop, wonton shop, etc., which sell noodles alone. The second is the second meat shop, "Old Beijing Trivia" cloud: "The second meat shop is a place where the common people are hungry." The so-called "two meats", that is, only pork and mutton stir-fried vegetables are sold, and the staple food sells steamed buns, flower rolls, pancakes, and ramen noodles (noodles).

The third is a small-scale restaurant, with special dishes, the name of the store is often called a certain Xuan, a certain spring, such as "Sanyi Xuan", "Sihai Spring" and so on.

The fourth is a medium restaurant, also called a rice village, there are many elegant seats, you can set up ten tables, eight tables of banquets, generally called a certain building, a certain spring, a certain residence, etc. The fifth is the big rice Zhuangzi, which specializes in the business of various large-scale banquets such as red and white ceremonies, birthdays, and official receptions. There are often several large courtyards, large canopies, and stages where you can sing and play.

There are dozens or hundreds of tables at the banquet. The name is always called a certain hall, such as Fushou Hall, Tongxing Hall, etc.

In the past, restaurants that sold Western food were called "Fancai Restaurant" in Beijing, selling bread, soup, vegetables, etc. The restaurants run by the people of Toei are called "Western cuisine" for Western food and "Shi-Na Judgment" for Chinese food.

The court diet is the most special part of Chinese food culture. Although it is very different from the diet of the common people, it is not in the air. It is generally believed that the imperial diet of the Qing Dynasty was based on peony dishes, Suzhou and Hangzhou cuisine and the inherent diet of the Manchus, and developed on this basis.

The Imperial Dining Room was a dining institution for the emperor. There are two places in the Qing Palace, one is the dining room outside the Jingyun Gate, also called the outer dining room, the imperial tea dining room. It does not prepare meals for the emperor on weekdays, but only makes "Manchu and Han full banquets" during the feast of the ministers, and also prepares meals for the ministers on duty.

The other is the "Ouchi Imperial Dining Room" dedicated to serving the emperor, which is located on the side of the Yangxin Palace. In addition, there are also "garden rooms" in imperial gardens such as the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace. The emperor has to bring an imperial catering team when he travels. Cixi once toured Mukden, prepared a train of 16 cars, of which 4 cars were used as temporary imperial dining rooms, the carriage alone was equipped with 50 stoves, and the kitchen miscellaneous servants set up five bureaus under the 1,200 imperial dining rooms: meat bureau, vegetarian bureau, hanging stove bureau, dim sum bureau, and dinner bureau.

The dishes in the imperial dining room have strict requirements: first, there are strict regulations on the ingredients, and they cannot be arbitrarily added, decreased or replaced. Second, the relationship between primary and secondary is strictly distinguished, and the original flavor of the main ingredient cannot be affected. For example, when making chicken, no matter what kind of seasoning is used, it must not affect the original taste of the chicken. Third, it is not allowed to use seasonings arbitrarily. For example, when making chicken soup, no other meat is allowed. The concubines had a separate dining room, and there was a strict hierarchy. For those with high status, the regular meal fee is 50 taels of silver, and the low "nobles" and "Changzai" also have ten taels of silver.

Concubines can enjoy the following treatment: "10 small animals (referring to chickens and ducks, etc.) per month, 15 plates of mutton, and 14 taels of Lu'an tea (16 taels in the old system is 1 catty, which is about 500 grams in the metric system.) The following are the same), 8 taels of Tianchi tea, 9 catties of pork per month, 1 liter of japonica rice 3 in 5 spoons, 3 catties of white flour 8 taels, 3 taels of sugar, 1 tael of walnut kernels, 1 tael of dried dates, 6 taels of sesame oil, 1 kg of tofu 8 taels, 8 taels of powder pot residue, 6 taels of sweet sauce, 2 taels of vinegar, 10 catties of fresh vegetables, 8 eggplants, 8 pieces of king gourd (cucumber). ”

In the Qing Dynasty court, the emperor had two meals a day, breakfast and dinner, breakfast from 6 to 8 in the morning and dinner from 12 to 2 noon. In between meals, there are also snacks that can be served at any time.

In general, 100 bowls of dishes are used for the main meal, and 20 to 50 bowls of snacks are used each time. The emperor's daily diet, Aixin Jueluo Puyi has such a memory in "The First Half of My Life": "The biggest pomp that consumes manpower, material and financial resources is eating." Regarding the emperor's meal, there is another set of terms, which are absolutely not allowed to be said wrongly. Rice is not called rice, but 'meal', eating is called 'eating', opening rice is called 'passing meal', and the kitchen is called 'imperial dining room'.

When it was time to eat, a team composed of dozens of neatly dressed eunuchs, carrying seven dining tables of all sizes, holding dozens of vermilion lacquer boxes painted with golden dragons, came straight to the Palace of Nourishing the Heart.

There are two tables of dishes on weekdays, another table of hot pot in winter, in addition to three tables of various dim sum, rice meals, porridge, and a small table of pickles. After these dishes have been put on the table through various formalities, they are of no use other than to show pomp and circumstance. I actually ate the dishes sent by the Queen Mother at each meal, and after the Queen Mother died, the four concubines followed up. Because the queen concubines have their own dining rooms, and they use high-level chefs, and the dishes they make are delicious and delicious, and there are always about 20 kinds of dishes for each meal, which is the dish in front of me. The Imperial Dining Room is all done far away, but it's just a show. ”

What Pu Yi recalled was basically the situation when the Qing emperor stayed in the Forbidden City after his abdication, which was much inferior to the emperor's diet during the "Qianjia Prosperous Era". Please look at a meal of Emperor Qianlong copied from the "Meal Bottom File" preserved in the Qing Palace: "On the 16th day of the first month of the 30th year of Qianlong, the second quarter of the first month, please serve the Hou, stew bird's nest with rock sugar, and cover the bell with Chunshou Bao." "At the moment, the East Warm Pavilion of the Yangxin Palace had breakfast, and the table was set with lacquer flowers: a hot pot of bird's nest red and white duck in the south, a product of stewed tofu with wine and meat (Wufu enamel bowl), a product of steamed duck paste pork and deer tail plate, and a product of bamboo roll and small steamed buns (yellow plate). Concubine Shu, Concubine Ying, Concubine Yu, and Concubine Yu have four dishes, two dumplings, one enamel sunflower box dish, and four enamel silver plate dishes. Accompanied by a noodle (served in the department), a product of old rice water food (soup bowl, five grains, Fengdeng enamel bowl, golden bell cover). Four tables of food: four dishes of No. 2 yellow bowl, one dish of shredded mutton (five blessing bowls), *** eight dishes, a total of thirteen products and one table; 15 products for a table; a table of eight dishes of meat; Lamb is a table of two parties. After the progress is completed, enjoy Concubine Shu and other sacrifices to the gods of cake, box, buns, small dumplings, hot pot, box meat, and vegetables. ”

In addition, snacks are served daily. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the most extravagant diet was the Empress Dowager Cixi. Her daily meal expenses not only far exceed that of Emperor Guangxu, but even Emperor Qianlong, who is the most good at eating, drinking and having fun, is difficult to match her. In her later years, Cixi ordered the imperial physicians to prepare various nourishing medicinal diets, which had a great influence on the preparation of medicinal diets for later generations.

The rice eaten by the emperors and queens includes "tribute rice" from all over the country, as well as "imperial rice" from real estate such as near Yuquan Mountain in western Beijing and Nanyuan in Beijing.

It is said that the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty once bred a kind of rice of excellent quality in the Fengze Garden of Ouchi, and the rice grains were red and often used for consumption in the palace. The delicacies of the mountains and seas eaten by the emperors and queens are mostly tributed from all over the world. The magistrates searched for exotic foods for the royal family.

Bear's paws, "flying dragons", anchovies from the town and river, lychees from the south, etc., are often transported to the capital through post stations and pegasus. Most of the general vegetables are supplied by vegetable farmers in the suburbs of Beijing. Vegetable farmers have a high level of horticulture. It is recorded in "Five Miscellaneous Works": "Beijing Normal University enters the palace, and every thing that is not time is treasured, there are peony flowers on New Year's Day, and there are new melons. Cover the pit, warm fire forced it. ”

In other words, vegetable farmers have long used greenhouses to grow fruits and vegetables beyond the seasons for the royal family's needs. The milk, beef and mutton needed in the court were provided by a special organization called "Keihoji".

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the emperors of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties specially drank the jade spring water of Yuquan Mountain. Yuquan Mountain in western Beijing is dozens of miles away from the Forbidden City, and the royal family needs fresh water every day, so dozens of waterwheels are used to line up in a long queue every day to transport water to the Forbidden City before dawn for the day's needs.

There are also four seasons and eight festivals in the court, and the most solemn festivals are the New Year's Day (Spring Festival), the Lantern Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Winter Solstice Festival. The most lively day of the Royal New Year is Chinese New Year's Eve. It is rare for the emperor's family to dine together on weekdays. Only on the New Year's Day did the concubines be allowed to accompany the banquet. On the morning of Chinese New Year's Eve, the emperor, empress, and concubines had breakfast together in Chonghua Palace.

Breakfast usually includes lala (yellow rice), dumplings, rice cakes, etc., with as many as 10 to 20 dishes, but this is not an official Chinese New Year's Eve feast. The Chinese New Year's Eve reunion dinner will be held at Shen Zheng (4 p.m.) at the Bohol Hall or Qianqing Palace. The cooking ingredients prepared at the family banquet are mainly Manchu traditional foods.

For example, in the dietary archives of the Qing Palace, the amount of materials used in the Chinese New Year's Eve banquet held in the 49th year of Qianlong was recorded, of which the amount of materials used in the Qianlong Emperor's imperial table banquet was: 65 jin of pork, 1 fat duck, 3 vegetable ducks, 3 fat chickens, 7 rookie chickens, 3 pork elbows, 2 pork belly, 8 small stomachs, 25 jin of wild boar, 5 Kanto geese, 20 jin of mutton, 15 jin of venison, 6 pheasants, 20 jin of fish, 4 deer tails, and 3 large and small pig intestines. In addition, 5 catties of white flour and 4 taels of white flour and 6 taels of sugar are used to make dim sum.

Most of these materials are produced in the "Kanto" region, reflecting the inherent food customs of the Manchus. In such an environment as Chinese New Year's Eve, tasting the flavors of hometown reflects the royal psychology in eating. At the Chinese New Year's Eve banquet, the emperor's banquet table was placed in the center, and a total of eight dishes were placed on it. According to records, in the 41st year of Qianlong, in addition to the fruit box, a total of 63 dishes were placed on the whole table and eight roads.

On the east side of the dining table, there are also dim sum dishes such as milk and four dishes such as southern side dishes, clear sauce, three kinds of sauce, and old pickles. Close to the emperor, there are golden spoons and forks on the left, spoons and chopsticks on the right, chopstick sets, hand cloths and paper flowers on the front.

The banquet table of the concubines is divided into two rows, left and right, and is set in front of the left and right front of the emperor's banquet table. The concubines are different in dignity and inferiority, and the tableware used is also different, and only snacks and side dishes are set on the accompanying table. At the second quarter of the first month, the emperor ascended to the throne in the music, and then the queen and others entered the banquet in turn.

First serve soup to the emperor. After the lid of the emperor's soup box was taken out of the palace, the concubine was served soup. The same is true for the order in which milk tea is served. After the tea table was removed, the "Turnaround Banquet" began.

The so-called transfer banquet is to turn all kinds of food and furnishings on the banquet (except vases, chopsticks, forks, and fruit boxes) from the emperor's table and turn around on the accompanying table, which means that the whole family can enjoy it together. After the feast, a banquet is held. The emperor's wine and food table is divided into five ways with a total of 40 products, and the concubine's wine and food is 15 products per table. The emperor entered the first glass of wine in the music of Dansheng Dadong, and the concubines entered the wine one by one. After drinking, the fruit tea is consumed, and then the concubine takes a seat, the emperor leaves the banquet, the music of praise is played, and the family banquet is over.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, on Chinese New Year's Eve, the emperor added a table of food for breakfast and dinner, and each table served dozens of dishes. On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, after the emperor accepted the congratulations of the hundred officials, he gave the princes and ministers a meal in the Baohe Palace, and in the afternoon, he feasted the ministers outside the Taihe Gate.

The banquet was very solemn, accompanied by ceremonial music and dancing. After kneeling down and shouting to the mountain, the ministers sat down to share the emperor's favor. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, there was nothing special about the Mid-Autumn Festival in the palace, generally in the Tianxiang Pavilion, and sometimes in the Yanbo Zhishuang Courtyard of the Chengde Summer Resort, a sacrificial table was set up. The offerings are moonflower cakes and a variety of seasonal melons and fruits. The moon cakes are stacked into a tower, small at the top and large at the bottom. The bottom cake is more than 70 centimeters in diameter, and it is decorated with Guanghan Palace and laurel patterns, which are exquisitely shaped. The small moon cake at the top of the emperor should be rewarded to the concubines of // pet// love, and the soft filling of the Ao Erhiha moon cake will be presented to the queen mother. The large moon cakes were chopped and distributed to the courtiers. (To be continued.) )