Source: Flavor Hunter
Author 丨 Li Nong Editor 丨 Deng Shiyan Planner 丨 Wang Zhenyu
"Breakfast is two bowls of rice porridge, three sugar bags, lunch is fat chicken fat duck, less than dinner on the use of snacks, if I did not stop at night, I am afraid that the whole bowl of ham stew elbows will all go to your stomach, if you are still hungry, and eat supper." 」
It has been ten years since the premiere of "The Biography of Zhen Huan". Zhen Huan smiled and counted chun'er's words, which are still vividly remembered.
Over the years, I have read the lines over and over again, and the memory of the unknown mane is accurate to the costume and hair bun. But there are still some mysteries about food that have never been solved.
In the seventh episode, Wan chang has just experienced a slight rain of apricot blossoms, and with an excellent whistle and good conversation, he is promoted to a nobleman by exception. The next day, when the emperor came, she brought this "Three Friends of the Cold Year".
According to Huan Huan, this tea is based on Yuezhou han tea, and is cooked with pine needles, bamboo leaves and plum blossoms. Qi's water in cooking tea:
"The water is the dew on the lotus leaves before the sunrise in summer, so that it can be so fresh." The concubines received two urns last year and were reluctant to drink, so they specially brought an urn into the palace, and buried it under the pear tree behind the hall, which was only revealed two days ago. ”
Every time I see this, I can't help but sigh: what a Yaxing! The concubine is really different.
Then again, collecting dew and cooking tea is not the first initiative of Huan Huan, but the life interest of ancient literati.
Bai Juyi "melted snow and fried fragrant tea"; Su Shi boiled rain and praised the rain as "sweet and slippery, boiling medicine with tea, all beautiful and beneficial"; Qianlong cooked tea with dew, lamenting that the charm of the mountain village was just like that.
There are also those buried in the ground. For example, Miao Yu in "Dream of the Red Chamber", she entertained Dai Yu and Bao Chao, using "the snow on the plum blossoms harvested five years ago", which was also "always reluctant to eat, buried in the ground, and only opened this summer". Even if Dai Yu couldn't taste the water, she would be scolded by the layman.
Can the "Three Friends of the Cold Year" really drink it? As the junior high school physics teacher said, rain and dew are produced by the condensation nuclei of particles in the air, and all kinds of dust impurities are in this particle; long-term preservation provides a good growth environment for microorganisms. So the highest thing, or leave it to the ancients.
In the twelfth episode, it is the height of summer, and the emperor takes the harem people to the Yuanmingyuan to escape the summer. At that time, Sister Mei was sitting and chatting with Huan Huan, so she invited her to drink sour plum soup:
"I think the sour plum soup they made in the new moon is good, better than the one in the imperial dining room."
As he spoke, he drank another bowl of pain. If it weren't for the side of the lady Caiyue stopping and saying, "The little lord drank four or five bowls before going to bed, and carefully hurt his stomach", and he was ready to drink it again.
Is this sour plum soup really so delicious? From this point of view, Sister Mei loves sour food, in fact, it is caused by drugs, the ancients said that sour children are hot women, Huafei is jealous of her favor, so carefully set this "fake pregnancy to compete for favors" trap.
However, Beijing's sour plum soup is also delicious. From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the most famous is the Xinyuan Zhai opened in Liulichang. The Republic of China writer Tang Lusun wrote:
"The only feature of Xinyuanzhai's sour plum soup is that it is particularly thick, boiling a jar and never seeping ice water into it. Whenever you drink, it is thick and sour, pays attention to hanging bowls, and the ice is extremely transparent. You enter the house from under the big sun and a bowl of sour plum soup under the belly, it is really cold in the tongue and teeth, cool in the heart, even drink a few bowls as if the old drink is not enough. ”
At that time, it was not unusual for The People of Beiping to drink ten bowls and eight bowls in one go. Once, two opera actors came to make a bet, Zhang Zepu drank fourteen bowls of sour plum soup, the most powerful Zhang Ling, and even drank twenty-six bowls in one breath without changing the color of his face.
In this way, sister Mei drinking sour plum soup is also commonplace.
In episode 26, Zhen Huan is pregnant, and Chun'er comes to her palace to eat snacks. Zhen Huan was touched by Chun'er's pure mind, so she invited her to be the aunt of the child in her belly. Chun'er then said:
"Baby, baby, you're going to grow fast." When you grow up, your aunt will give you the best food under the heavens. What peach blossom ji, glutinous rice cake, bean paste roll, and lychee good Lang Jun, absolutely do not rob you. ”
This is probably the most innocent and moving scene in the whole play. At the same time, there is also a question that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the majority of Zhen scholars: Peach Blossom Ji refers to Ejiao cake, glutinous rice cake, bean paste roll are ordinary things, then this "lychee good Lang jun", what is the treasure?
If you look for it from the literature, "Lychee Good Lang Jun" is probably from the Song People's elaborate "Past Affairs of Wulin". The book writes that when Emperor Gaozong of Song cruised to the residence of the Qinghe County, Zhang Jun offered a banquet, and the menu of "Long TangGuo Line" had the name of "Lychee Good Lang Jun".
The so-called "long winding", according to the Northern Song Dynasty Wang Zhuo's "Frosting Spectrum", refers to the process of dipping sugar frosting with dim sum. Therefore, "Lychee Good Lang Jun" is more or less a candied fruit made of lychee.
In addition, the Song Dynasty Meng Yuanlao's "Tokyo Dream Hualu" records a "Lang Junyu", which refers to the salt-salted yellow fish in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Cai Xiang's "Lychee Spectrum" of the Northern Song Dynasty also mentions that people often used two methods of red salt or honey frying to store lychees. Then "lychee good lang jun", said to be salted lychee, is not wrong.
In short, whether it is frosting or salting, it is probably not the jelly of Kinoro.
The snow top is green, which can be called the tea drink with the most drama in the whole play.
In the twelfth episode, Cao Guiren's Diligent Government Hall is a fragment of the accident, and the emperor drinks the snow top Hancui that the King of Guojun has worked hard to send.
In the thirty-fifth episode, Prince Fujin of Dun drank the rare snow top hancui, which was unusual, which also became an important opportunity for the emperor to decide to get rid of it quickly.
In the thirty-seventh episode, Zhen Huan's mother visited the palace, saw the snow top hancui, and repeatedly said, "I dare not drink such a precious tea."
What kind of tea is so precious?
According to the explanation in the play: "The snow top is verdant, growing on the steep peaks of the bitter cold land in the far north, extremely difficult to pick, and there are only more than ten plants in the world." Nourished by snow water all year round, the tea taste is fresh and cold, which is extremely rare. ”
However, searching through the literature has never been fruitful. The only thing that can be found is the new name that the tea merchant has given to the hot spot after the TV series was broadcast.
In general, tea plants prefer warm, humid and shady environments, most of which grow in subtropical and tropical areas, and it is doubtful whether they can grow in the bitter cold places of the far north. From this point of view, the possibility of fiction is still greater.
Finally, if Baidu "snow top contains cui", the search engine will tell you: "Snow top with cui, is a home-cooked side dish, the main ingredients are broccoli, garlic." ”
Also fictional is the pickle of "Three Must-Live".
In the first episode, the empress dowager carried the supper to see the emperor pick the lamp to read at night, brought mung bean lily porridge, and Longkeduo beat Yangzhou to give the empress dowager a new pickle, "said to be more refreshing than the three mustju". The so-called "Three Biju" is probably the use of the famous "Six Biju Pickles" in Beijing.
In the twenty-seventh episode, Concubine Qi, who is good at real-name poisoning, summons her own maid and brings a plate of chestnut cake to Zhen Huan. This dish has a close-up of chestnut cake, which seems to be unassuming, but in fact, it is hidden.
An Lingrong took a bite and said it was not right. The usual chestnut cake is sweet, but this one has a bitter taste. Taste it carefully, it turns out to be full of oleander powder and juice:
"Oleander cold is poisonous and has the effect of dispelling stasis and relieving pain." However, my sister's chest tightness drinking guizhi soup is known to everyone. Oleander with cinnamon branches, the effect of activating blood and dispelling stasis is greatly increased, and it is a sharp weapon for injuring the fetus. ”
So, is the flower juice of oleander really poisonous?
According to the popular science of the "Naturalist" magazine, oleander is indeed poisonous. "The leaves, bark, roots, flowers and seeds of the plant contain a variety of cardiac glycoside compounds, which are extremely toxic, and people and animals may be deadly by accidental eating", and the effect is extremely fast, and gastrointestinal and heart problems will quickly occur after accidental ingestion.
In this way, Concubine Qi was waiting in the palace, anxiously asking why Cui Guo had not moved, but there was a scientific basis. As for the taste, some netizens said after trying: "It is very bitter, especially bitter, and I want to vomit when I enter my mouth." An Lingrong's tasting is also appropriate.
After reading "The Biography of Zhen Huan", there is no one who does not know Dong'e Ejiao. The frequency with which it appears is simply too high.
In the ninth episode, Princess Hua pushes her sister into the water, and then comes dressed up in the name of visitation to snatch the emperor. The reason for this is that "the concubine palace has prepared a yuan soup of Dong'e Jiao gui".
In the thirty-fifth episode, the emperor is angry because Prince Dun beat up yanguan, and Zhen Huan brings a stew: "This East Ejiao, the concubines are stewed with party ginseng." The emperor also tasted it, and it was best to replenish the qi and calm the spirit. ”
In episode 53, Zhen Huan decides to return to the palace from Ganlu Temple and ask Wen Taiyi for food that is beneficial to Qi and blood, and Wen Taiyi says: "Yi qi to replenish blood, with Dong Ejiao can be effective." ”
Even "Peach Blossom Ji", the "Peach Blossom Ji" that Chun Er chanted all day long and sent to Zhen Huan when An Ling Rong was favored, is also another product of Dong'e Ejiao.
So is Dong Ejiao really a harem with versatile taste and a hard currency for sending human dignity?
The answer is no. Although ejiao has long existed as a food, Shandong East Ejiao Factory was formally established in 1952. The ladies and ladies of the Qing Dynasty harem probably couldn't catch up.
In addition, add a hot knowledge, it is recommended that when everyone is moved by its function of "qi and blood", always remember: pull the progress bar to the end, and the thank you unit is impressively written -
Shandong Dong Ejiao Co., Ltd.
If you think about it carefully, most of the food in "The Biography of Zhen Huan" is given the color of scheming.
It can symbolize power. The empress rewarded Concubine Hua with a plate of peony rolls, with a "reward" word and a sentence of "peony", highlighting the honor of the lady of the palace. At that time, the arrogant Concubine Hua could naturally be knocked to the ground at will.
It is also possible to express an unspoken meaning. The empress could not bear the favor of Concubine Hua, so she advised the emperor: "The rules of the old ancestors cannot eat three." Although this duck soup is good, it is already the third bowl. Cao Guiren did not want to give the child to others to raise, so he sent a bowl of lotus seeds, "the heart of the lotus seed is bitter, and the heart of the pity is even more bitter."
It can even become the key to driving the plot twist, and the cup of "snow top with green" that Prince Fujin of Dun ignored became the last straw that overwhelmed Prince Tun's family.
Anthropologist Westminster said: "The first cup of tea with sugar added to the British is a major historical event, because it heralds the transformation of the whole society, and the social and economic foundations will be reborn." ”
Whenever I think of this, I am once again moved by Chun'er's pure mind. We add so much meaning to the act of eating that we forget why it came to be—
"Delicious. I was happy when it was delicious. ”