As soon as the autumn autumn passes, the autumn wind gradually rises, and the hot pot returns to the streets and alleys - of course, for the people of Sichuan and Chongqing who are not spicy and unhappy, the hot pot has always been around and has never been far away.
Modern people have an almost fanatical love for hot pot. In fact, the ancients were also loyal fans of hot pot. According to research, as early as the Warring States period, hot pot appeared. It's just that people at that time used clay pots as pots. After two thousand years of development, by the time of the Qing Dynasty, hot pot was not only very popular in the folk, but also became a famous court dish.
The Qianlong Emperor liked to eat hot pot. According to the Qing Dynasty Imperial Palace Internal Affairs Office's "Meal Bottom File", on August 16, 1779, when the heat was still not subsiding, the Qianlong Emperor's table was quietly placed on the hot pot. In the month that followed, the Qianlong Emperor ate 23 different types of hot pot, a total of 66 times.
In order to cater to the Qianlong Emperor's hobby of eating hot pot, He Yan invented a yuanbao-style hot pot when he held a banquet of a thousand monks. This hot pot uses copper pots, which contain steaming chicken soup, pork, mutton, venison, roe deer, etc. are cut, cooked and eaten. Because this hot pot is larger, cooks more food, and is smokeless due to the addition of chimneys, the long-lived elderly people across the country eat a hot pot.
As a gourmet, Empress Dowager Cixi loved to eat hot pot as much as the Qianlong Emperor. The difference is that the hot pot used by Empress Dowager Cixi is more luxurious. This is a kind of silver shou character hot pot, hot pot silver, consisting of pot, lid, chimney, closed fire lid, pot with a stove, can be used to burn carbon. The closed fire cover of the hot pot is carved with a hollow "swastika" character pattern, and the pot body is covered with gold and silver circles with the word "shou", the long "shou" word, bat pattern, etc., which means "long life of happiness".
Empress Dowager Cixi had a soft spot for "chrysanthemum hot pot". According to Deling's "Records of Imperial Fragrance", Empress Dowager Cixi loved chrysanthemums, and the imperial garden and summer palace (commonly known as the Upper Garden) in the harem had three or four thousand pots of various precious chrysanthemums, and also liked to "drink chrysanthemums" and "eat chrysanthemums". "Chrysanthemum hot pot" is one of them.
How was Empress Dowager Cixi's favorite "chrysanthemum hot pot" made?
Deling's "Records of Imperial Fragrance" records that first, a white chrysanthemum called a "snowball" was harvested, the petals were carefully dismantled, soaked in warm water for one or twenty minutes, cleaned, and then placed in a bamboo basket to drain the water. Subsequently, the imperial dining room will prepare chicken soup or broth in the Silver Shou character hot pot. Then the peeled and bone-cut sashimi, raw chicken slices, etc. are placed in several silver plates, and then the petals of the white chrysanthemum are placed in two silver plates, plus the sauce plate containing sauce and vinegar and other spices, and placed on the dining table.
In this way, the production method of "chrysanthemum hot pot" is actually quite simple.
When Empress Dowager Cixi was eating hot pot, Xiao Dezhang, a eunuch who was waiting for her, lifted the lid of the hot pot and waited in her hand. Empress Dowager Cixi personally picked up some fish fillets and chicken slices with a silver spoon and put them into the soup, and Xiao Dezhang covered the hot pot. After waiting for a few minutes, Xiao Dezhang lifted the lid, and Empress Dowager Cixi put a plate of white chrysanthemum petals into the pot. Wait a few minutes and you're ready to eat.
Fish fillets and chicken fillets are cooked in chicken broth and taste delicious. The petals of the white chrysanthemum float in the soup and look very beautiful. Obviously, this is a full of color and flavor, how not to make people eat fingers?
When Empress Dowager Cixi enjoyed the "chrysanthemum hot pot", "the one who licks the lips, the one who serves the waiter drys his throat", which means that the eunuch with the plate licks his lips, and the palace maid who is hungry can only dry swallow saliva. Sometimes, Empress Dowager Cixi would give them the hot pot they couldn't finish eating, so that they could also enjoy a "chrysanthemum hot pot".
Of course, modern people want to eat chrysanthemum hot pot is not so troublesome, go to the nearby supermarket to buy a little fresh chrysanthemum, and then a package of authentic Sichuan Chongqing hot pot base, it is OK:
Zhenxian Sichuan Chongqing hot pot base super spicy 500g handmade butter spicy hot skewers skewers spice pot seasoning old Chengdu ¥29.8 10 yuan coupon
[References: "Meal Bottom File", "Imperial Fragrance Record", etc.]