In the Qing Dynasty, there was a fixed custom that during the sacrifice, the emperor would give the sacrificial pork to his concubines and ministers, of course, the emperor himself had to eat together. This may not seem like a big problem, but the focus is on the process of making this piece of pork, because this pork is not ordinary pork, but boiled in boiled water, and only cooked to seven or eight minutes, with a lot of blood on it, and without adding any spices, so it is very difficult to swallow. So why did the emperor do this during the Qing Dynasty?
Simple, to put it bluntly, it is because the elbows are so hard to eat! Of course, this is actually a record of wild history, which is not true.
It is said that the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were very fond of eating pork, and every New Year's Festival, they would let the imperial dining room kill pigs and eat pork, of course, the Qianlong Emperor was no exception. When the royal sacrifice was carried out, the Qianlong Emperor ordered the pigs to be slaughtered in public, and directly boiled them in the pot, without putting any spices, and when they were cooked until they were seven or eight minutes cooked, Qianlong meant a little, and then distributed the meat to the ministers to eat. Everyone was also very miserable, but on the surface they had to pretend to be very happy, and they also had to thank the emperor for their rewards, and if they ate and spit it out on the spot, it would be a great disrespect to the emperor, and it would be difficult to protect the head. Even Ji Xiaolan, who could eat fat meat, could not eat this kind of meat, and when he ate it, he was also bitter water in his stomach, and once during the sacrifice, Qianlong planned to treat one of his ministers and a more loyal bodyguard, and rewarded them with a pig's trotter.
The ministers are hardly greedy, the family property is also piled up like a hill, the days are very moist, every day is wearing silk silk, eating are mountain treasures and seafood, everyone thinks that once something becomes a habit, it is not easy to change. If you are accustomed to eating delicious pork, how can you easily eat the unpalatable gizzard meat? These pig's elbows, which were given by nature, were disposed of by them.
In addition, the strict hierarchical system in ancient times is also one of the important reasons for this phenomenon. The emperor loved meat, so he had to have meat every time he dined with his courtiers, and in order to carry forward the fine traditions left by his ancestors, he had to eat meat. But this gizzard meat is really unpalatable, and the emperor can't forget his ancestors, and he has to let himself eat well.
This has to say the taste of this pork, usually the ministers eat the meal is carefully prepared by the chef, the taste must be particularly good. But the pork sent by the emperor was only cooked with water, no oil, no seasoning, and the taste could be imagined. So the ministers superficially accepted it, but privately threw it away. It's just that some smart people will prepare some spices in advance to make them less unpalatable.