The Qianlong Emperor rewarded the ministers with a pig's elbow, but this pig's elbow was thrown away by some officials. This incident is not recorded in the main history, but comes from some wild history. Of course, since the history of the wild has this record, it is naturally not empty. According to my own experience, combined with the historical situation at that time, I think the reason for this incident should be caused by the difference in the customs of the Manchu Han people. Of course, it is also related to the material prosperity at that time.
First, the Manchus who like to eat pork.
Personally, I like to eat pork knuckle the most. The pig's elbow on the general banquet is something I will not let go. Friends around me know my hobbies, at the banquet, the pork knuckles that the female guests do not eat will be delivered to the table where I am, and I will not refuse. In my daily life, I would also buy an elbow every five minutes and cook it myself. Pork knuckles should be the kind with bones, so that they can taste when cooked.
I like to eat pork, especially elbows, because I grew up in a Manchu family. Although I am a Han Chinese, I am also contaminated with some of the habits of the Manchus. For example, speaking and doing things is bold, beijing dialect with a northeastern accent, eating meat naturally follows them. Being able to eat pork is a Manchu tradition and a criterion for judging others' health. Over time, I thought that pork knuckle tasted the best and loved eating it.
Usually during the New Year, there must be meat on the table of the Manchus. However, this is also the reason why I have the biggest headache for the New Year. Because the manchus' most solemn dish is white cut meat. The meat is boiled in white, cooled and cut into large pieces. And this kind of meat is fatter and thinner, and the taste is a world away from the fat but not greasy elbow. However, it is this kind of meat that everyone is still rushing to eat. This is because this meat represents a blessing for the coming year. The more he eats, the better luck this person will have in the coming year.
To be honest, I'm not used to this kind of meat. If I use this meatloaf to serve bread, plus other dishes to mention the taste, I can still eat a few pieces. But like the Manchus who chew a lot and eat large pieces of white boiled fat meat without using it as a material, I am willing to bow to the wind. This is probably one reason why I have a penchant for eating elbows.
Second, the Custom of the Manchus eating boiled meat.
In fact, the Manchus have great respect for the customs of the New Year. At the time of the New Year, people with conditions attach great importance to the pork used to worship their ancestors. They not only used boiled pork to worship their ancestors, but also did not forget to leave food for the crows outside. This is because of the legend that the crow once saved Nurhaci.
In the imperial family, it is even more exquisite, generally led by the emperor, to entertain the imperial relatives and nobles for the New Year dinner. Among them, the dish is indispensable to boiled meat. In front of the emperor, these imperial relatives and nobles accompanied by meat, which was a supreme honor. However, these royal relatives and nobles are pampered on weekdays, and it is difficult to swallow this kind of boiled meat without any seasoning.
So they prepared the silver and secretly stuffed it for the eunuchs who were waiting for them. The eunuchs put paper soaked in soy sauce in their bowls, poured broth on them, and made a bowl. In this way, these imperial relatives and nobles barely swallowed the soup. Of course, the emperor also knew it, but just opened his eyes and closed his eyes.
After eating, the emperor would also distribute the remaining meat. In the Manchu saying, this is called the blessing of the ancestors, which is to let more people contaminate the blessings of the ancestors. As for the claim that Han officials got pig's elbows, it may stem from this. However, it is estimated that there will not be many Hanchen who can get the pig's elbow reward from the emperor. Therefore, throwing away the pig's elbow given by the emperor should not be a common phenomenon.
Third, the attitude of the Han and Manchus towards the meat.
In Chinese history, since ancient times, sacrifice has been attached great importance. If we look at Confucius's Analects, we will see several places where we talk about gizzard meat. Confucius was in charge of the State of Lu and was disturbed by the design of the State of Qi. His disciples, believing that there was no hope for the state of Lu, persuaded Confucius to flee. Confucius also had one last glimmer of hope to see if the monarch respected the upcoming ritual sacrifices. As a result, after the sacrifice, the monarch did not even distribute the meat and hurried to enjoy it. Therefore, Confucius was completely dead-hearted and began the journey of traveling around the world.
Therefore, in this history, hanchens, who were deeply educated in Confucian thought, attached great importance to the meat. This represents not only identity, but also faith. Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that such a thing would happen by throwing away the pig's elbow that the Qianlong Emperor had rewarded. However, the phenomenon mentioned in the history of the wild is not empty. Then, there is only one reason for the loss of pig's elbow. That is the difference between the customs of the Han and the Manchus.
In Manchu families, it is impossible to waste the meat of ancestor worship. One is that manchus like to eat meat, and the other is that there is a custom of scattering blessings. Give the leftover meat to your subordinates, let everyone eat it in a scattered way, and contaminate the blessings of the ancestors. In this way, although the imperial relatives and nobles could not eat much meat, his men ate the rest of the meat. After all, not the people below can eat meat every day.
There is also a small story about Sanfu eating meat. It was this custom that gave birth to a famous hotel in Beijing, "Casserole House". This hotel, which was opened in the sixth year of Qianlong, was opened by the wangfu. One year, these men ate Sanfu's meat and wanted to open a restaurant to sell it. So they colluded with a chef in the palace, cooking meat and selling it during the day and going to fight more at night. As a result, the business became bigger and bigger, and they got a large casserole from the palace, just enough to cook a pig. In this way, this restaurant is named "casserole house" and has been passed down to the present.
We can see that due to Manchu customs, it is impossible to throw away pig's elbows. Then, the matter of throwing pig's elbow is something that only Han Chen can do. However, according to the customs of the Han Dynasty, out of the influence of Confucianism, they attached great importance to the meat, how could they throw the meat away?
The problem lies in attaching importance to two words. This was because it was absolutely impossible for Han Chen to share the pig's elbow rewarded by the emperor with his subordinates. We know that the meat cooked by the Manchus themselves is boiled in white, and without ingredients, this kind of meat is difficult for even the Manchus with good living conditions to swallow. It is conceivable that those Hanchen who got this kind of boiled pork knuckle could not get off the fence.
The gizzard meat rewarded by the emperor represented glory, which was supreme in the minds of Han Chen, and could only be enjoyed by those who had status. Those who are not enough are not entitled to eat. Therefore, Han Chen would not distribute this pig's elbow to the next person as the Manchus did. In this way, those who are qualified to eat cannot eat, and those who can eat are not qualified to eat, and this pig's elbow is only left. In the end, this bad pig's elbow has only one end, that is, to throw it away. Of course, this kind of behavior is also done behind people's backs, not so blatantly.
Epilogue:
In the history of the wilderness, Qianlong rewarded the ministers with a pig's elbow each, but some ministers discarded it as soon as they left the palace. Such stories are rare. However, since no shi has such a record, it is estimated that it is not empty. This reason is actually due to the cognitive contradiction between Han Chen and Manchu.
The Manchus did not waste meat, and due to the custom of scattering blessings, they would distribute the remaining meat to the next person to share. Hanchen, on the other hand, attached great importance to gizzard meat, which in their hearts represented not only glory, but also faith. Therefore, they will not let this unpalatable meat be eaten by the next person. Therefore, this meat can only be put bad, and eventually thrown away.
However, doing this kind of thing will not be blatant, but also secretly thrown away. If you throw it away as soon as you leave the palace and are accused of being accused of being disrespectful, it is a matter of not being able to eat and walk around. Noshi's statement is a bit exaggerated. However, this also shows from the side that the material was already very rich at that time, and people with status were accustomed to eating meat, which is why they could not eat this meat.