Chrysanthemum pot, have you heard?
While chatting with a friend, I suddenly mentioned a delicacy from Beijing "Chrysanthemum Hot Pot", to be honest, the editor heard about it for the second time, and I really didn't have a chance to try it. Today I will talk to you about the story of this "chrysanthemum".
The chrysanthemum pot has not been made now, anyway, it is definitely impossible to eat it in Beijing at present.
Can chrysanthemums also be used to make hot pot? Yes, you heard it right, it's chrysanthemums! Don't think crookedly, it's a chrysanthemum in botany! According to records, this was still Empress Dowager Cixi's favorite taste. In the old Beijing period, chrysanthemum pots were generally eaten in winter.
Image source: Sina Weibo @Forbidden City Corner Tower Restaurant
Many online popular science articles say that Chrysanthemum hot pot is the first initiative of Cixi, and this time it brings you into the routine of the "Hall of Fame", that is, who is famous is the routine of the inventor.
Let's first say that eating chrysanthemums is already an old tradition of mainlanders, it is said that Qu Yuan likes it very much, Tao Yuanming also loves it, and Fu Xuan of Jin even wrote in "Jufu": "Those who serve live long, and those who eat are enlightened."
Image source: Sina Weibo @Forbidden City Corner Tower Restaurant Image source: Sina Weibo @Forbidden City Corner Tower Restaurant
Ouyang Xiu, a famous writer and poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a story about drinking chrysanthemum tea in "Chrysanthemum Tea"; Yue Fei, a famous military strategist and politician of the Ming Dynasty, liked to drink a cup of chrysanthemum tea after eating during war, believing that it would help digestion and relax the mind.
And the chrysanthemum evolved into a hot pot was the first initiative of friends in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as for who invented it is not clear, anyway, it will not be Cixi. However, when the chrysanthemum hot pot reached the "chrysanthemum idiot" Cixi Lafayette, it became particularly famous, and it was carried forward by her, because the chrysanthemum hot pot she ate was somewhat luxurious.
According to Deling's "Records of the Imperial Incense Ethereal", because Cixi loved chrysanthemums, the imperial garden and the Summer Palace (commonly known as Shangyuan) in the harem, there were three to four thousand pots of various precious chrysanthemums alone, and more than 20 eunuch florists were responsible for watering, fertilizing, replanting, pest control, and the management of the chrysanthemum shed. In autumn and winter, the chrysanthemums full of rare and exotic gardens are in full bloom, which is very beautiful.
That year, the chrysanthemum-loving Cixi learned that there was a chrysanthemum called "green peony" and sent people to look for it, at this time, a good deed offered four pots, but within a few days, the color of the flower faded and gradually turned white. After careful examination, Cixi realized that he had dyed the white chrysanthemums with green to mix the reward, and in a fit of anger, he almost imprisoned the chrysanthemum offerer.
Some people say that this Cixi is really a female devil, didn't she make a pot of chrysanthemums, as for inviting people into cells? If you put it in ordinary people, getting a pot of fake flowers may not really be such a big deal, but in Cixi, it is looking for death, because chrysanthemums are a plaything and food for her (chewing the fake in her mouth, if you are not careful, it is equivalent to murdering the "monarch").
First of all, let's talk about how Lafayette plays chrysanthemums.
Whenever Cixi was free, she used to take gold scissors and lead a group of concubines and female officials to Juyuan Middle School to work as a gardener, cut the chrysanthemums that she wanted, and leave the juice to make cosmetics, or give the embroidered palace maids as specimens.
De Ling served as a close female official of Cixi for two years, serving day and night, and although Cixi was already an old woman at that time, her body skin was more fair than that of a girl. This is because Cixi has the conditions and pays great attention to maintenance.
When bathing, in addition to the famous rose soap, winter-resistant flower dew, etc., Yi Lao's hand washing is also used for chrysanthemums - not that her hands are dirty, but she will "wash and play" at any time. When washing, she first disassembled the chrysanthemum, then rubbed it in the palm of her hand, rubbed the petals into slag before discarding it, and then opened her hands, allowing the juice to be sucked dry on the palms, and then sniffed with her nose for a long time. Over time, the hands will also become tender due to the nourishment of flowers.
In addition to playing, as mentioned earlier, she also likes to take chrysanthemum shabu-shabu.
The chrysanthemum hot pot enjoyed by Cixi is derived from a white chrysanthemum called "Xueqiu".
First pick one or two white chrysanthemums called snowballs, probably because the petals of snowballs are short and dense, and very clean, so they are particularly suitable for cooking; Always eat as you go. After harvesting, the petals are plucked together, the burnt yellow or dirt-stained petals are picked out and thrown away together, and then the remaining petals are rinsed in warm water for one or twenty minutes, then taken out, and then rinsed in warm water that has been dissolved in alum, and at the end they are scooped up and placed in a bamboo basket to drain, so that they are considered to be in order.
——Deling, "Imperial Incense Ethereal Record"
When eating chrysanthemum hot pot, the western dining room will also prepare a small silver hot pot to hold the soup base. The soup base is also exquisite, chrysanthemum pot soup, must not use chicken and duck hanging soup, fat. Instead, use a good rib hanging broth, fresh but not greasy, clear as water. The ingredients of the pot must be mandarin fish, raw chicken, small live shrimp, pork belly, pork loin, each of which has to be cramped and sliced, so it is cooked as soon as it is hot. The vermicelli and dumplings are fried in a head pot, so there is no smell of smoke. The chrysanthemums are carefully selected, washed, and then placed on two silver plates, of course, there are flavored dishes containing sauce and vinegar and other spices.
Image source: Sina Weibo @Forbidden City Corner Tower Restaurant
When it was time to eat, the little eunuch opened the lid of the pot, Qing was carefully waiting in his hand, and Cixi used silver chopsticks to hold some fish fillets and chicken fillets into the soup, and the little eunuch hurriedly covered the pot. A few minutes later, he stepped forward to open the lid, and Cixi put in the chrysanthemum petals, only to wait for the fragrance of the chrysanthemum flowers to penetrate into the soup, wrapped in fish fillets and chicken slices and cooked together, delicious and delicious.
Unlike the spicy and fragrant hot pot, the sweetness of the chrysanthemum hot pot gives people a refreshing feeling.
No matter how supreme Hong Yan is, she still has a natural human nature, and she will still be attached to a warm breath in winter.
As Deling writes:
Like ordinary people, she loves all kinds of creatures,
Like flowers, trees, cats and dogs, etc... ”
The salty chrysanthemum hot pot is suitable for eating in any season, but the taste is naturally best in autumn and winter when the chrysanthemums are in full bloom. Meet up with friends and drink a few sips of sweet milk soup to bring a warmth to your throat. The warm current sweeps through the whole body, which is the fullest satisfaction of the heart. And the ingredients dipped in the sauce, accompanied by the steaming heat, is another kind of happiness in cold weather.
"Under the eastern fence of picking chrysanthemums, leisurely see the South Mountain." Green plums can be boiled wine, chrysanthemums can be edible, this pot of chrysanthemum hot pot, I don't know if you are interested?