First, delicious buns
This afternoon, the Xianfeng Emperor felt a little tired after approving the recital, so he left the Yangxin Hall to walk around at will. Unconsciously, I came to the palace where Mei Was always present.
The overjoyed Rose often came out and knelt down to greet her. Xian Feng helped Mei Chang to be there, and the two of them talked and laughed and entered the door. After walking a lot, Xian Fengzheng felt a little hungry in his stomach, and suddenly a seductive fragrance wafted in, and he asked what it was.
Mei Chang smiled and said, "The emperor has come by coincidence, and I am preparing to eat a snack." Saying that, Mei Chang led Xian Feng to the outside of the house, only to see a small charcoal stove steaming a cage drawer, and the fragrance came from the cage drawer. When I opened the cage drawer, it turned out to be three snow-white buns.
Seeing that the heat was almost over, Mei Chang took the bun out of the pot and sent it to Xianfeng. Xian Feng saw that the three steaming buns were small and cute, not to mention that the stomach was really hungry, and he was not polite, so he took it directly by hand and sent it to his mouth. When I took a bite, I only felt that my mouth was full of raw incense, and I cried out delicious, and soon, all three buns fell into my stomach. After eating and wiping his mouth, Xian Feng said endlessly: "Such a delicious bun, I have never eaten it, I didn't think that Mei'er's skills were even more skilled than the chefs in the imperial dining room!" ”
Mei Chang smiled and said, "Concubines are not rich from a wealthy background, in the past, the family often ate this kind of cabbage pork buns, but today on a whim, I made a few nostalgic for the taste of my hometown, I didn't expect the emperor to like it." ”
Xian Feng smiled: "The food of the Imperial Family is not necessarily more delicious than that of ordinary people." ”
Since eating mei's buns, XianFeng often remembers this seemingly ordinary but not ordinary taste, and has come more times. Mei is often proud of the spring breeze, not only from Chang Zai to noble, but also not long pregnant.
Once this cabbage meat bun was favored by the emperor, it became a rare item, and other concubines could not help but blush and wanted to learn, but Mei Gui also guarded against this trick, every time he made the bun, he hid in the room to complete it alone, chopping stuffing, rolling noodles, and never letting people interfere. She didn't make much buns, only three small ones at a time, just enough for the emperor to eat, not to mention that no one knew the process of making buns, and even the taste of buns was not tasted by a third person.
Second, the yellow dog grabs food
On this day, Mei Guiren made a bun again and waited for the emperor to come. A short time later, the bun was steamed, and when the bun was being taken out of the cage drawer, a large yellow dog popped out of nowhere, barking, frightening her hand, and a snow-white bun fell to the ground. The big yellow dog rushed over and bit the bun and turned around and fled, Mei Guiren was shocked and angry, and quickly told the eunuch palace ladies to chase it quickly, but how could the two-legged person run past the four-legged dog, and the big yellow dog quickly disappeared.
Mei Guiren scolded everyone for not doing a good job, and said that the next time no matter who saw this dog, he would immediately arrest it and beat him to death!
The palace maid approached Mei Gui's ear and whispered, "The master is angry, and the slave recognizes the dog, but it is the pet of the big brother." ”
Mei Guiren was frightened and said, "Nonsense, the eldest brother is not yet two years old, how can he raise such a leper dog as a pet?" ”
The palace maid explained that this big yellow dog was originally raised by the eunuch who kept vigil in the palace of Yi Guifei, and once the big brother woke up crying at night, how to coax it to stop, who knew that the dog's bark came from outside, and the big brother listened to it, and actually did not cry. From then on, as long as the big brother cried, he would lead the dog to amuse it, and the big brother would be sure to approve it.
Mei Guiren understood that it must be Yi Guifei who saw that she had been favored recently and deliberately got a dog to take the bun to vent. However, it is said that beating the dog also depends on the owner, Yi Guifei since giving birth to the eldest brother, the value of a hundred times, Mei Gui people know that they can not afford to offend, had to endure this breath. Moreover, the meat bun entered the dog's mouth, and if there was any leftover, she did not worry about being learned by Yi Guifei.
Then the big yellow dog, spreading his feet, ran into a bush in the southeast corner of the palace. After a while, a skinny eunuch came and called out "wolf teeth", and as soon as the tail of the big yellow dog was wagging, it fell to the eunuch's feet, so that it was not intimate. This eunuch is the real owner of the big yellow dog, the night watch eunuch Zhang Gui.
Zhang Gui had a very good set of dogs, only to see that he stretched out his hand, and as soon as the big yellow dog let go, the meat bun in his mouth fell on his hand. Zhang Gui patted the head of the big yellow dog, threw another piece of beef into the dog's mouth, and then took the bun and turned around and went to the imperial dining room.
The general manager of the imperial dining room looked at the bun brought by Zhang Gui, took out a bag of silver and stuffed it, saying: "This time, thanks to Zhang Gonggong, the trick of 'dog mouth grabbing food' is really wonderful!" "It turned out that the emperor liked to eat the buns of the mei nobles, and the most anxious person was not the concubines, but the people in the imperial dining room." The emperor felt that the imperial family's food was just like this, and of course the imperial dining room could not be blamed, and the position of the general manager of the royal dining room was also in danger. A few days ago, Zhang Gui bragged in front of a group of small eunuchs how the big yellow dog he was taught was obedient, except for what he gave, no one would eat it, this scene was just seen by Wang Guan, the speaker had no intention of listening, he had a clever move, he thought of this idea.
When Zhang Gui left, General Manager Wang couldn't care less about getting dirty, broke open the meat bun and sniffed it, and licked it with his tongue, before putting the meat filling into his mouth. This meat filling is oily but not greasy, and it has the refreshing taste of cabbage, and it also has a strange aroma. The scent was so layered that even Wang Guan, who had a keen sense of taste, couldn't taste what kind of spice it was for a while.
Third, the familiar taste
On this day, Wang Guan went out of the palace to purchase ingredients, and it was still early to buy things, he had heard Zhang Gui say that Wangfujing had opened a new hot pot restaurant, and the business was so good that he let the little eunuch return the freight back to the palace first, and he went to the hot pot shop to taste the fresh.
The shop was full of diners, and Mr. Wang had to wait for a table, ordered a clear soup pot, and ordered a few dishes. After a while, the bottom of the pot came up, and the aroma was strong. The hot pot is delicious, a large ingredient is delicious on the soup base, Wang Guan is an expert, he took a spoon to skim off the oil slick, scooped a spoonful of soup shallow taste, only to feel that all kinds of tastes converged on the tip of the tongue, very delicious, can't help but taste another bite of soup. Suddenly, his heart was shocked, this taste seems to be familiar, is the bun of the Mei noble not this fragrance?
General Manager Wang immediately called the treasurer to show his identity, saying that he wanted to inquire about the recipe of this hot pot soup. The treasurer looked at the waist card of The King Manager, a smile on his face, but how he refused to go through the bottom, saying that this hot pot bottom is his ancestral secret recipe, if the King Manager likes, you can come to taste it at any time, but the recipe must not be revealed.
Mr. Wang touched a soft nail, but there was nothing he could do. The secret recipes of the culinary world, like the martial arts secrets on the rivers and lakes, are all wary of each other. Mr. Wang thinks that his taste is first-class, he can't eat the bun of Mei Guiren, and he can't eat this hot pot, one day he can figure it out on his own.
On this day, The manager of Wang came to the hot pot restaurant again, or ordered the bottom of the clear soup pot, was about to eat, overheard a sound behind him, turned around to look, only to see a middle-aged man covering his stomach and shouting pain, before waiting for the crowd to react, the guest at the table by the window also said that after eating the hot pot, it was uncomfortable, and one of them threw up on the ground. In an instant, the shop was in a mess, the treasurer hurried out to appease the guests, and was arguing, and a group of servants who looked like an official came over and said that someone complained about the poor health of the hot pot restaurant and wanted to close the store for review.
After a while, the shop was also sealed, the treasurer was also taken away, the diners had long since dispersed, and the official changed his inhuman appearance and walked to The Wang Guan with a smile: "Wang Guan, how is this play performed?" General Manager Wang nodded approvingly, took out a silver ticket, and stuffed it into the other party's hand. Then he went to the back kitchen and examined the various ingredients on the desk. As long as you find that special spice, not only can you make the bun of the Mei nobles lose color, but also greatly improve the level of the imperial diet, and the promotion of The Wang General Manager to make a fortune is just around the corner. However, after turning the back kitchen upside down, he still found nothing, and General Manager Wang was greatly disappointed, and in a fit of anger, he raised his feet and kicked over the basket under the desk. With a whimper, some dried fruit shells were scattered from the basket, which was small, light brown, and had a faint fragrance. General Manager Wang didn't know what it was, but the official next to him shouted, "Oh hey, isn't this a big smoke shell, this is a forbidden object of the imperial court!" ”
Large smoke shells, also known as poppy shells, are less toxic than opium, but they can be addictive to long-term use. At this point, the truth came out, and in order to attract diners, the owner of the hot pot restaurant secretly added poppy shells to the hot pot soup base. In order to win the emperor's favor, Mei Guiren boldly added the powder of poppy shells to the bun.
Fourth, delicious is sometimes simple
After Xian Feng learned the truth, Long Yan was furious. Since opium entered China, the Qing Dynasty lost silver and its national strength declined greatly, his father, the Daoguang Emperor, did not hesitate to go to war with the British Empire in order to ban smoking, and mei guiren actually coaxed himself into eating a big smoke shell for his own selfishness! Immediately, XianFeng decreed that Mei Guiren should be reduced to a palace girl, and from then on, he would never eat food other than the imperial dining room.
After a few days, Xian Feng's mood calmed down a little, and he remembered that Mei Guiren was pregnant, and he was extra gracious to restore the title of Mei Guiren. But after this toss and fright, the devastated Mei Gui was born prematurely, and the baby boy born died in less than a day. Mei Guiren cried darkly, and Xian Feng was also greatly distressed.
The palace was full of relatives, but the wang general manager was full of spirits. He discovered the poppy hot pot restaurant, exposed the means of mei guiren, and made a great contribution. Meritorious but not exclusive, he was grateful that Zhang Gui helped him get the bun of mei gui, and specially pulled Zhang Gui to his house to drink and chat at night.
At the wine table, General Manager Wang repeatedly advised the wine, but Zhang Gui changed his previous smiling appearance and frowned. General Manager Wang asked him if he had anything on his mind, Zhang Gui opened his mouth, but he never uttered a word, and before the dish was finished, he resigned and left.
Early the next morning, when General Manager Wang was still sleeping, the little eunuch stumbled in, saying that Zhang Gui had drowned last night when he was drunk and drowned, and that the body had just been salvaged and had been transported out of the palace to be buried.
General Manager Wang was horrified, Zhang Gui didn't drink a few drinks at all last night, how could he get drunk and fall into the water? He hurriedly got up in his clothes and planned to see what was going on. Just out of the door, I overheard a noise in front of me, and a woman pounced on her with her head in a shawl, it was Mei Guiren. Mei Guiren grabbed the sleeve of General Manager Wang's sleeve and refused to let go, crying and asking, "I have no vendetta against you, why did you frame me for adding poppy powder to my bun?" ”
General Manager Wang was stunned, and the palace eunuch next to him came and helped Mei Gui back to the palace. Mei Guiren's personal palace maid told Wang Guan that Mei Gui was greatly shocked after the loss of her beloved son, and her consciousness was also confused, hoping that Wang Guan would not be surprised.
Looking at the haggard-looking Mei Guiren and remembering Zhang Gui who died violently, General Manager Wang always felt that something was not quite right. The dog's whimpering sound was faintly heard in his ears, and it turned out to be the big yellow dog that Zhang Gui had raised. The beast did not know that his master had died, and was running around hungry because no one was feeding. General Manager Wang saw that the dog was pitiful, so he went to the kitchen and took a piece of beef and threw it to him. Who knew that the big yellow dog bit the beef and did not eat it, but turned around and ran. The wang general manager was afraid of being seen and said that he was abusing the imperial kitchen's food, so he quickly followed behind and chased him all the way to a hidden bush in the southeast corner of the palace.
The big yellow dog burrowed into the grass, spat out the beef in its mouth, and lay on the ground panting. General Manager Wang, who had chased all the way, suddenly remembered that Zhang Gui had said that this dog would not be fed by anyone except Zhang Gui. Just thinking, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a round and rolling thing on the side of the beef, and when I looked closely, it was actually a dried meat bun, and I don't know where it was lost for a long time.
Suddenly, General Manager Wang's heart jumped, and as soon as the causes and consequences were linked, he suddenly wanted to understand: the bun that Zhang Gui gave himself at the beginning was not the one that the big yellow dog had taken back from the Mei Guiren Palace, all of this was a set under Yi Guifei, in order to use the imperial dining room to take down the Mei Guiren! Yi Guifei's move was not to compete for favors, but to get rid of the fetus in Mei Gui's belly, so as to ensure that her son could sit on the throne in the future. Zhang Gui knew too much, and he was worried because he had indirectly killed the dragon species, so he could not escape the bad luck of being killed and killed.
Thinking of this, General Manager Wang broke out in a cold sweat and quickly ran back to the imperial dining room. From then on, except for delving into recipes to cook imperial meals, I didn't ask much about anything.
Later, he also wanted to understand that Mei Gui's bun was actually the most ordinary cabbage meat bun, and she didn't let others see the process of making her buns, but she was just making things up, for fear of being taken advantage of by others and dispersing Xianfeng's grace. Although the imperial family's food is rich, every time the meal is served, dozens of dishes are eaten from the pot to the meal, and the silver medal is used to test whether the meal is poisonous, and then the eunuch "tastes the meal" to determine that there is no problem before it is the turn of the emperor to eat. After such a tedious process, the taste of the most delicious dishes has been discounted. The buns of the Mei gui people are freshly basketed, and it is not surprising that the emperor shouts delicious after eating them.