One day in 1952, the young chef Cheng Ruming was secretly transported to Zhongnanhai, and then he was told that cheng Ruming would prepare meals for Chairman Mao. Excited and nervous, Cheng Ruming finished his first meal for Chairman Mao in Zhongnanhai, and while packing up his kitchen utensils, the guards approached him and demanded that he destroy today's menu. For a moment, he was confused about the guards' request, but he obediently complied.
Who is Cheng Ruming? Why did he become Chairman Mao's royal chef? And why destroy the menu after cooking? Let's unveil this dusty history and step into the life of National Treasure Chef Cheng Ruming.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > juvenile learning art</h1>
In 1926, Cheng Ruming was born into a poor family in Laizhou, Shandong Province, with an older sister and four younger brothers, and because of the large population of the family, it was difficult to survive on the income of his parents' labor alone.
Young Cheng Ruming
As the eldest son, Cheng Ruming was well aware of his responsibilities, and at the age of nine, his father asked him not to study anymore and let him work in the fields together, and Cheng Ruming accepted this arrangement very sensibly, all in order to maintain the family.
When Cheng Ruming was 13 years old, Cheng Ruming decided to go out to work. After 4 years of hard work, his physique is stronger and more precocious than that of his peers, and he believes that he can go out into the outside world alone. At that time, Japan had already launched an all-out war of aggression against China, most of the eastern coastal area had fallen, and the war was still spreading on the land of Shenzhou. Therefore, when the parents heard Cheng Ruming's decision, they subconsciously opposed it, although the family life was difficult, but the family concentrated on farming can still barely make ends meet, there is no need to let Cheng Ruming go out to make a living in the situation of soldiers and horses.
When He left the academy that year, Cheng Ruming secretly swore that although he gave up studying, he would also walk out of a kangzhuang avenue of his own, and when he saw that his heart had been decided, his parents would no longer keep him, so he had to send his son away with tears.
Past Tianjin Wei Wharf
After Leaving home, Cheng Ruming went all the way north to Tianjin. Tianjin as an important treaty port in the north, river transport, shipping, water transport must pass through the place, the merchant ships of other countries want to enter Beijing have to circulate in Tianjin, so that Tianjin's commerce is very prosperous, the dock culture is also very prosperous, Feng Jicai's "Strangers in the World" vividly described a capable craftsman in Tianjin Wei at that time. However, on the other hand, Tianjin had already fallen at that time and belonged to the enemy-occupied areas, and Japan also implemented a high-pressure policy on this, and the lives of ordinary people could not be well guaranteed.
After weighing the pros and cons, Cheng Ruming still chose to stay in Tianjin, in line with the idea of "not going into the tiger's den to get the tiger", he believes that Tianjin is full of dangers, but also full of opportunities, here, he is more sure to achieve his ideals.
Fortunately, under the introduction of fellow villagers working in Tianjin, Cheng Ruming entered a restaurant founded by foreigners "Huizhong Hotel" as an apprentice, although the apprenticeship salary at that time was very small, and most of the rough and tiring work was done by apprentices, but fortunately, he ate and lived, and there was no need to worry about going hungry when working in the hotel.
But the life of an apprentice is still very hard. According to Cheng Ruming's later recollection: every morning before dawn, he had to get up, chop wood and make fire, and pre-treat the purchased ingredients, and when these busy work were finished, it was almost time for dinner. The kitchen is busier at the time of the meal, not only to pass on ingredients and kitchen utensils to the chefs, but also to brush the dishes, clean up the kitchen waste, and meet the bad-tempered chef, as long as the action is slightly inappropriate or dull, it is a stinky scolding. And every night, you have to stay up late into the night until all the guests have left before you can rest.
Such a stressful life overwhelmed the apprentices, "getting up earlier than chickens and sleeping later than dogs" every day, and having to work for more than ten hours before and after the hall, tired people with back pain and foam at the soles of their feet. Many apprentices could not stand such a high-pressure environment, they left the hotel, watching their companions change batch after batch, Cheng Ruming's heart did not have a ripple, he knew that he was not only here to mix food, but more importantly, to learn a craft.
"Huihe Hotel" is a restaurant specializing in Western cuisine. Usually, when working in the back kitchen, Cheng Ruming would be distracted to observe the cooking techniques of the chefs. If there is extra rest time, he will also have the courage to ask the teachers about the heat, steps, etc., they like this studious primary school apprentice, in the question of not involving exclusive secrets will patiently answer For Cheng Ruming, Cheng Ruming will also study cooking in private. According to Cheng Ruming later, sometimes if he can't understand the cooking heat of a dish, he will not be able to sleep at night.
Under the double blessing of talent and hard work, Cheng Ruming has made rapid progress. Since then, he has worked and studied in many Chinese and foreign restaurants such as "French Club", "Jewish Club", "Qi Shi Lin Hotel", "Victory Hotel", "Convergence City Restaurant" and so on, and has mastered a variety of Chinese and Western cooking techniques, and has his own unique achievements in The cooking of Western food series such as Russian, French and British. From apprentice to head chef, Cheng Ruming grew from a poor teenager from the countryside of Shandong to a culinary master known as Tianjin Wei, completing the transformation of his life.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > shine</h1>
In 1952, China hosted the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on the Defence of Peace in the Asia-Pacific Region, a branch of the World Peace Council. This is the first time that China has hosted a large-scale international conference, because the conference requires foreign experts to take a special train to go to various parts of China for investigation, so it needs to be considered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Railways, and it may be necessary to arrange for foreign experts to dine on the special train, which is bound to hire a chef who is familiar with Western cooking to preside over the matter. As a result, Cheng Ruming, who was famous at that time, was transferred to a special train of foreign experts to preside over the work.
With excellent skills, Cheng Ruming completed this special task with ease, and foreign guests praised Cheng Ruming's craftsmanship after tasting it, after which Cheng Ruming's name of "Pastry Master" became even louder.
Soon after, Cheng Ruming was assigned a new task. Since the "Five-Year Plan" was in full swing throughout the country, Chairman Mao needed to go to various places to inspect the achievements of construction, so he often took a special train. At that time, Chairman Mao actually had a royal cook, Li Xiwu, but Li Xiwu was too old to reach the age of imminent retirement, and he was also a little powerless for this job, so he transferred Cheng Ruming to Chairman Mao's special train to assist Li Xiwu in his work.
Cheng Ruming was naturally ecstatic to be able to transfer to Chairman Mao's side to prepare food for him, and he has always regarded this chairman who led the broad masses of the people to a new life as an idol, and being able to cook for him was one of Cheng Ruming's lifelong wishes.
Chairman Mao's meals are biased towards Chinese style, although Cheng Ruming mainly focuses on Watercress, but in order to make the meal more in line with Chairman Mao's appetite, he is willing to spend more effort to specialize in Chinese food, with solid basic skills, his Chinese cooking techniques have improved rapidly, and have also been appreciated by Chairman Mao.
In June 1956, Chairman Mao inspected the south, just as the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was completed, Chairman Mao was very excited, swam the Yangtze River three times, and wrote the magnificent famous article "Water Tune Song Head Swimming":
Only to drink Changsha water, but also eat Wuchang fish. Thousands of miles of the Yangtze River crossed, extremely eye Chu Tianshu. No matter the wind and waves, it is better to walk idly, and today it is more than enough. Son in Kawakami: The deceased is like a sif! The wind is moving, the turtle and snake are quiet, and the grand plan is raised. A bridge flys north and south, and the graben changes its path. More erect the stone wall of the West River, cut off the clouds and rain of Wushan Mountain, and the high gorge comes out of Ping Lake. The goddess should be unharmed, and be amazed by the world.
The "Wuchang fish" in the word is from Cheng Ruming's hand. On that day, the special train planned to sail to Wuhan, passing through Changsha for a short time. As they were about to arrive at the meal, Cheng Ruming and Li Xiwu prepared Chairman Mao's lunch, and the local logistics department provided them with ingredients, including Wuchang fish.
Just as the two were preparing to start cooking, the conductor informed them that the train was going to leave early, and the two had no choice but to put away the ingredients and save them. But ingredients like Wuchang fish had to be frozen to ensure freshness, and there was no refrigerator on the train at that time, so Cheng Ruming was in a hurry, found a bunch of ice cubes and put them in the box, relying on this "homemade refrigerator", the fish did not deteriorate along the way. After arriving in Wuhan, Cheng Ruming used his own unique barbecue technique to cook Wuchang fish, Chairman Mao feasted, and after swimming the Yangtze River in the afternoon, he still felt that there was a lingering fragrance in his mouth, so he wrote down the sentence "Eat Wuchang fish again", but in fact, this "Wuchang fish" was caught in Changsha.
Chairman swims the Yangtze River
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="33" > Zhongnanhai Imperial Kitchen</h1>
1956 was the most proud year of Cheng Ruming's life, a year in which he was not only named a national model worker and a first-class chef, but also officially transferred to Zhongnanhai to be responsible for Chairman Mao's diet, so there was the opening scene of the article.
At first, Cheng Ruming was still surprised by this behavior, but after following Chairman Mao for a long time, he gradually understood the reason. If this menu is obtained by people with hearts, or falls into the hands of foreign spies, they can simply discover Chairman Mao's eating preferences by comparing the menus, which is likely to be detrimental to Chairman Mao.
In addition, Cheng Ruming also found that the chairman had some special eating habits.
Nowadays, we can often see the dish of "Mao-style braised pork" in restaurants, and when we hear the name, we may mistakenly think that like "Dongpo meat" to Su Dongpo, "Mao-style braised pork" was invented by Chairman Mao, but in fact, this dish was invented by Cheng Ruming.
Shortly after Cheng Ruming became the chairman's imperial chef, he brought braised pork to the chairman's table for the first time. But what he did not expect was that the chairman of this braised meat did not even eat a bite, which made Cheng Ruming, who had always been quite confident in his cooking skills, anxious, so Cheng Ruming seized an opportunity to ask the doubts in his heart: "Chairman, why did you not move a chopstick of braised pork?" Is there something wrong with my cooking technique? Please correct. ”
Chairman Mao was stunned, he was the first time to see this usually old and stable Chef Cheng rushed into this, and then explained to him with a smile: "I don't eat soy sauce." This time it was Cheng Ruming's turn to be stunned, he had worked in various restaurants for many years, what kind of guests had met, and xiang Xiang, who was jealous of soy sauce, was still the first time he had met, so he asked curiously for the reason, and the chairman also told the past.
Originally, Chairman Mao's family ran a soy sauce workshop, and the soy sauce process at that time was quite primitive, that is, after a simple treatment, it was placed there to wait for the natural fermentation of soy sauce. Once, the chairman observed some white spots in the soy sauce, and thought that something dirty had fallen into it, so he went up to look at it, only to find that it was a series of curled maggots tumbling in the soy sauce, and the chairman was disgusted, and from then on he did not stick to the soy sauce at all.
Soy sauce process
After hearing Chairman Mao's explanation, Cheng Ruming finally understood. But at the same time, he also wondered in his heart, is there a way to make braised pork without soy sauce? He listed a variety of solutions and experimented with them in the kitchen, and finally found that adding salt to the sautéed sugar colored could not only color the braised meat, but also ensure that the saltiness was appropriate, and Chairman Mao also liked this unique braised meat.
Many years later, someone interviewed Cheng Ruming, and the old man was also very proud when he talked about the allusion of this dish. He also pointed out that the Mao-style braised pork in restaurants is actually not authentic, and most of them are still colored with old soy sauce, which cannot be confused with what he made for Chairman Mao.
As an authentic Hunan native, Chairman Mao liked to eat bacon, but also liked to eat chili peppers, all kinds of chili peppers. He also often said: "How can a person who cannot eat peppers and bitter melons do the revolution?" "But we know that this bacon can be cooked without soy sauce, but the pepper is not, and if it is only spicy, it will be difficult to swallow." After trying a variety of condiments, Cheng Ruming invented a new dish, he cut the pepper and roasted it on the fire, and then coated the surface of the pepper with tempeh to taste, which was also welcomed by Chairman Mao.
Cheng Ruming also noticed that when the chairman eats, he often likes to eat while holding a book in one hand, and sometimes he even forgets that he is still at the dinner table when he sees that he is fascinated. For this situation, Cheng Ruming will specially add some soup to the meal every time, which can achieve the effect of heat preservation.
Later, in an interview, Cheng Ruming recalled: "In Zhongnanhai, the chairman's recipes are generally formulated by the guards, health care personnel, life managers and chefs around the chairman. Everyone strictly grasps the dietary principles that are conducive to prolonging life: reasonable combination of varieties and balanced diet; reasonable cooking, pay attention to dietary hygiene; light food; cooked and soft food; and balanced cold and hot food. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="45" > frugality</h1>
From 1959 to 1961, the country fell into a three-year period of difficulty, agricultural production was seriously reduced, and famine was frequent throughout the country. At that time, Chairman Mao and other national leaders set an example and took the lead in promoting the frugal style of life, hoping to encourage the people to tide over the difficulties together in this way.
During this period, the zhongnanhai royal chefs, including Cheng Ruming, were seriously required to prohibit the addition of meat and eggs to their meals, and only eat vegetarian dishes. This made Cheng Ruming feel difficult, the chairman was old at the time, and he had to correct his official duties until late at night every day, how could he replenish his energy without eating meat, in case he fell ill because of physical weakness.
Cheng Ruming thought left and right, inadvertently glanced at the green onions in the kitchen, and he suddenly had an idea. Since the chairman cannot be allowed to see the meat in the open, it is invisible.
Like most Shandong people, Cheng Ruming likes to eat green onions, it is best to dip the sauce with the pie to eat, a bite of green onion and a bite of the pie, for Cheng Ruming is better than most of the world's delicious. After entering Zhongnanhai, Cheng Ruming has been trying to sell green onions to the chairman, but the chairman has waved his hand and refused. Chairman Mao was a southerner and was still not very accustomed to scallions, which were the favorite food of northerners. Cheng Ruming saw the opportunity to move, since the chairman did not accept green onions, then use other methods to let him taste the taste indirectly.
He put the green onions in the bread, and then added spices to flavor, when presented to Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao frowned when he saw the burnt cake embellished with green onions, and was trying to refuse, but looking at Cheng Ruming's eager eyes and unable to say it, he picked up a piece of cake and tasted it, and after tasting it, Chairman Mao's eyes lit up, and he finished eating the cake three times and five divisions, and said to Cheng Ruming: "The taste is really good, and then another piece." Although Chairman Mao still did not accept green onions after that, he did not resist the green onion cake at all.
This time, Cheng Ruming's plan to transform meat into invisible was officially realized by relying on the green onion cake. He refined a piece of fat into a bowl of lard, and then mixed the lard in the process of making noodles, in addition to adding some minced diced meat, and made a special green onion cake. Sure enough, Chairman Mao did not find any difference in the scallion oil cake after seeing it, so he ate it in a big mouth, and after eating it, he also praised: "Master Cheng's cooking skills are really getting better and better." ”
Seeing that the chairman did not find anything unusual, Cheng Ruming was still very happy. But after a few times, Mao Zedong still sensed that something was wrong: Why does this green onion cake always have the feeling of meat dishes? He found Cheng Ruming, and under the chairman's questioning, Cheng Ruming still confessed the truth to him. The chairman said to him solemnly: "Now that the people of the whole country are suffering, why should Mao Zedong be special, and in the future you can no longer make big cakes." ”
In fact, it is not only a difficult time, the chairman's usual life is also very frugal. For example, Chinese New Year's Eve rice, the tradition of the chairman's family is to bring the leftovers of the previous day and eat them together. Moreover, although the chairman does not have any requirements for Cheng Ruming in terms of Chinese New Year's Eve meals, it is strictly forbidden for Cheng Ruming to use his state banquet skills on Chinese New Year's Eve meals, you know, although Cheng Ruming is the chairman's royal chef, he is also a master chef who has studied Chinese and Western studies, and is often invited to preside over the state banquet kitchen. As far as Chairman Mao is concerned, letting Cheng Ruming let go of his hands and feet on his own Chinese New Year's Eve meals can be regarded as extravagant and wasteful.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="55" > Zhongnanhai</h1>
Like the meaning of destroying the menu, the royal chefs in Zhongnanhai are required to abide by confidentiality agreements, such as Cheng Ruming, whose family has never known what cheng Ruming is doing, only that his unit is in Zhongnanhai, and every correspondence with Cheng Ruming is through an address called "Zhongnanhai 101 Mailbox", but in fact, this "101 Mailbox" is Chairman Mao's home.
Cheng Ruming often communicates with other royal chefs, but they only talk about the eating habits of their own leaders, and other aspects will tacitly avoid. For example, Premier Zhou liked to eat braised lion's head the most, but during the three-year difficult period, he responded to the call and refused to put meat, eggs and milk on his table, a measure that lasted until 1965, when the national economy improved. Deng Xiaoping, on the other hand, liked to cook by himself, especially on Chinese New Year's Eve nights, he would cook more dishes for the children himself, and if he couldn't finish eating, he would save it for tomorrow.
"The chairman has always attached great importance to the Chinese New Year's Eve night reunion dinner." Cheng Ruming recalled. As mentioned earlier, the chairman always likes to read books when he eats on weekdays, but on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve night, the chairman will put down his work to accompany the family to eat a reunion dinner no matter what, but after eating, the chairman will only sit with the family for a while, nag at home, and then go to work again. Only the year of 1976 was exceptional, and Cheng Ruming remembers it particularly clearly, that Chinese New Year's Eve that year, Chairman Mao unusually demanded fireworks, when the chairman's health was already very poor, and the light from the fireworks burned out to illuminate the gully on the chairman's face, and he smiled happily like a child.
After all, working and living in Zhongnanhai, Cheng Ruming will inadvertently come into contact with some secrets that others have not known. But Cheng Ruming knew that he had to keep his mouth shut, so he rarely communicated with others in depth. In order to relieve the pressure, he developed the habit of raising small animals, kittens, dogs, birds and goldfish, and he would talk to himself to the small animals in his spare time, which made him much more relaxed.
Successful
As Chairman Mao's royal cook, Cheng Ruming discovered early on that the chairman's health was declining. With the aging of the body, the chairman's appetite weakened a lot, in order to improve the situation, Cheng Ruming tried to put the chairman's favorite Wuchang fish and braised meat on the table, but he only moved a few chopsticks and did not follow.
On September 9, 1976, although he had been mentally prepared, when he heard the news of Chairman Mao's death, Cheng Ruming still wept bitterly, he cooked for Chairman Mao for 22 years, and this man who stood up to the sky like his father had become the closest person in Cheng Ruming's mind besides his family.
Although Chairman Mao died, Cheng Ruming's work was not yet over, and in the years that followed, he served deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and many other national leaders, and was named a special first-class chef of the state.
In 2012, Cheng Ruming's story was included in the book "National Famous Chef", which represents that the poor boy who came to Tianjin alone to break through has realized his ambitions and truly become famous in the world.
On March 14 of the same year, Cheng Ruming died in Beijing at the age of 86.
Cheng Ruming's life is full of peach and plum, some of his students show their skills at state banquets, some bloom everywhere in the folk, the honor he won can be called the grand slam of the chef's world, but in his heart, the proudest and proudest thing he has ever done in this life is not these, but he once served dishes for the chairman in the small kitchen in Zhongnanhai.