"Practice economy and oppose waste."
"Customs, the great things of the world." In order to make it a common practice to practice strict economy and oppose waste, we must establish the value orientation of "waste is shameful and thrift is proud" in the whole society. Diligence and thrift are the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, and they are also an important cornerstone for officials to start a business and rejuvenate the country.
The attitude of the ancient sages to extravagance and waste is quite clear, whether it is "the rich and the rich are luxurious, the widows are frozen" in "Mozi", or "go to the end, go to luxury, go to Thai" in "Lao Tzu", all have a negative attitude towards luxury behavior.
However, the words of the saints did not affect the extravagant behavior in China's history, and by the peak of the feudal society of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the phenomenon of extravagance and waste intensified, and the phenomenon of "Zhumen wine and meat smell" has become the norm.
The most emblematic of the extravagant phenomenon of the Qing Dynasty is the world-famous "Manchu Han Full Seat". The Manchu Han full table originated from the "Prosperous Era of Kangqian", which was an extremely grand and extravagant banquet.
One is that the Manchu Han full seat was created by the Yangzhou master, and the other is that the Manchu Han full seat was the handiwork of the imperial kitchen of the imperial palace. However, it is certain that the Manchu Han Dynasty appeared after the Qianlong Southern Tour, and there was no such saying before that. Although there is a "manchu" in the Manchu han whole table, most of the dishes in the Manchu Han whole table are classic Chinese dishes. The reason why the banquet was named "Manchu" and the word "Manchu" was taken is obvious. This is to highlight the irreplaceable dominance of the "Manchu Qing".
To this day, the Manchu han seat still exists, but it no longer represents the declining feudal dynasty, but the essence of "enjoying the supremacy of the spirit of all things". There are a total of "six banquets" in the Manchu and Han banquets, each of which is a qing palace banquet, which integrates the most famous dishes of the Manchu and Han ethnic groups. Whether it is running on the ground in the sky or swimming in the water, the full han has everything. The version of the Manchu Han Quan table that is circulating today has a total of 196 hot and cold meat dishes and 124 dim sum items, for a total of 320 items.
If you want to eat a full meal, you must accompany a full set of pastel longevity tableware and eat with silverware, which is luxurious. In addition, the dining etiquette of the Manchu Han whole table is quite elaborate, and it is necessary to have a famous teacher playing ancient music to accompany the meal, and there must also be a waiter to serve the school, so as to fully display the week of the court.
Back then, when the Manchus entered the customs, the Manchu Rulers who grew up in the White Mountains and Black Water did not pay attention to diet. At the time of the banquet, only the meat pieces were cooked and boiled, and the monarch sat on the ground and cut the meat with a knife. If a sacrifice is made, a whole head of chicken, duck, cow and sheep is served on the table.
After the Manchu Qing Dynasty capital beijing, the manchu food culture gradually blended in a subtle way. At that time, the eight flags disciples, in their frequent interactions with the Han people, were attracted by the exquisite food culture of the Han people and began to try to integrate the food culture of the Manchu Han, so there was the prototype of the Manchu Han full seat.
According to folklore, in the early years of Suzhou, there was a commoner Zhang Dongguan who liked to ponder cooking, and by virtue of the merits of inventing the Manchu Han Full Seat, Zhang Dongguan was promoted from a cloth to the head of the imperial dining room of the imperial palace, becoming the first person in the culinary world at that time. In other words, Zhang Dongguan's skills are mediocre, originally he did not have too superb cooking skills, but he had two talents:
First, Zhang Dongguan's hands are flexible, and he has a hand comparable to acrobatic cutting skills;
Second, Zhang Dongguan's sense of taste is sensitive, he can taste the taste of the world, and he is also good at clever words, and he can exaggerate the dishes he makes.
After Kangxi Zhi captured Ao, he began to ponder the way of manchu and Han co-prosperity. After touring the north and south of the great river, Kangxi decided to take the "appetite of the mouth" as the starting point to promote the prosperity of the Manchu and Han dynasties. On this occasion, Zhang Dongguan, who knew how to meet him, was selected by Kangxi as the "first chef in the world" and summoned to the imperial dining room to study a dish that manchus and Han Chinese were happy to accept.
As everyone knows, Zhang Dongguan's eloquence is greater than his ability, and although he has a lot of tricks in cooking, his taste is not as good as those chefs who have real skills. Zhang Dongguan was a small and uninformed citizen, and he caused a lot of chaos in the palace because he did not understand the rules. In order to save his life, Zhang Dongguan had to escape from the palace and began to hone his cooking skills in the process of escape.
Finally, he gathered the strengths of a hundred families and integrated the cooking techniques of famous dishes from all over the world and became a generation of famous artists. After being re-summoned to the imperial palace, Zhang Dongguan developed the "Feast of a Thousand Sorrows", which was appreciated by the emperor. Since then, Zhang Dongguan and his one hundred and eight dishes have become the original version of the Manchu Han full table. Later, Zhang Dongguan left the imperial palace to open a restaurant in the capital and began to spread Manchu Chinese cuisine to the people.
To this end, Kangxi also specially gave a sign called "Man Han Lou", since then Zhang Dongguan has become a legend, and the Full Table of Man Han has also been enshrined as the first banquet in the world.
Of course, the legend is only a legend after all, and whether the Manchu Han Quan seat was invented by Zhang Dongguan remains to be examined.
Although the Manchu han whole table is exquisite, it is a luxury made up of the fusion of the people's fat and the people's anointing. Don't forget, Cixi, who likes to be full of Han, spends a year's food expenses on a warship. It is precisely because of these deformed products from high society that the late Qing Dynasty, which was already full of ills, became weaker and weaker.
Thinking of the manchu and Han dynasty, the author can't help but think of the story of the King of Lu and the ivory chopsticks, who can deny that these luxuries that have poured out the blood and sweat of the working people are not part of the corruption of the feudal dynasty?
Resources:
【"The Customs and Customs of Old Beijing", "Yangzhou Painting Record", "Manchu Han Full Table Recipe"】