When Qianlong ascended the throne, the treasury of the Qing Dynasty was abundant, and the whole country was basically stable, but he enjoyed many blessings. As the emperor of the world, for eating, the first thing in life can be regarded as doing whatever you want, loving what to eat. In many film and television dramas, when Qianlong dined, he was full of dazzling food in front of him, filled with all kinds of delicacies, and the meal was full of Han Chinese. But in fact, although Qianlong is extravagant, he does not eat so many dishes every meal.
According to the real recipe recorded in the "Meal Bottom File", Qianlong's dinner recipe in January 1784 had a total of nine dishes and three noodles, which was not very much. From the recipe, it can be seen that Qianlong's diet is mainly chicken and duck.
The nine dishes are: wine stew duck hot pot, fat chicken fat sautéed cabbage hot pot, bird's nest red and white duck south fresh hot pot, bird's nest fat chicken shredded, duck waist mushroom pot roast duck, winter bamboo shoot fried chicken, spread eggs, steamed fat chicken deer tail plate, hundred fruit duck save plate. The picture shows an example of stir-fried chicken with winter shoots.
The three noodles are: elephant eye small steamed buns, duck stuffed buns, and chicken stuffed hot noodle dumplings. Pictured here is an example of a chicken stuffed hot dumpling.
Moreover, when Qianlong dined, he had his own tableware for royal use.
In addition to the above dishes commonly used in the court, Qianlong also loved the donkey meat fire in Hejian. It is said that he once wrote a poem: Donkeys are everywhere in the river, and the clever women roll out the noodles like paper. Make a fire with donkey meat, a gust of wind to a burst of incense.
When Qianlong was 18 years old, it was popular to drink bean juice in Beijing, and Qianlong issued a royal decree to the imperial dining room and also began to make bean juice. Since then, the palace has also become popular to drink bean juice. However, the name is no longer called bean juice, but "bean foam porridge", or "bean foam rice". From the Qianlong Emperor all the way to Puyi, the emperors' menus had the dish "bean juice".
In addition, Qianlong also has a great love for soy products. The imperial dining room often adds bean sprouts to the tofu in the firing, which is very similar to the jade ruyi in ancient jade, so it is called ruyi back to the dried brine. This dish is often eaten by every family.