I once saw a feature film reflecting life in the Ming Dynasty, which had such a scene: a servant holding a plate serves food in front of the master's feast.
Just by looking at this scene, it can be asserted that the screenwriter or director of the film did not understand the living habits and feast customs of the Ming Dynasty. Because at that time, it was impossible for a servant to serve a dish with a plate, as evidenced by the Golden Plum Bottle.
"Jin Ping Mei" describes the Ximen Qing family, large banquets and small banquets, one after another, with many names, such as shou wine, wind wine, huiqin wine, Qingguan wine, public banquet wine, lantern wine, etc., of which "mind wine" is little known. According to the "Chung Tung Sketch", "When the winter moon guest arrives, put the meat and miscellaneous flavors in a large bowl, pour hot wine into the guest, called 'mind wine', cover to avoid the wind and cold," It turned out that this was the simplest wine dish for winter guests.
The size of the table top means the size and grade of the banquet.
"Golden Plum Bottle" tells people that the most noble guests are invited to use "eat and look at the big tabletop", followed by "patron tabletop" and "plug table", and again use "flat-headed tabletop of five fruits and five dishes". ”
The so-called "eating and looking at the big table" refers to a luxurious banquet that can be both watched and eaten. It is said that there are "clay sculptures of figures, painted silk dressed as landscape stories, listed on the feast to show the beauty." Of course, these exquisite ornaments, resulting in "a feast of costs, most to dozens of gold, decoration for a while, must be discarded", in fact, is a great waste.
The size of the table is also closely related to the dish plates, and it is written in the "Golden Bottle Plum" that Wu Yueniang feasted on Mrs. Qiao, "Each table has forty plates, all of which are all kinds of tea and fruit sweets, delicious vegetables and vegetables, steamed pastries, delicate oil shortbread and so on." From this, it can be seen that the forty plates are not all dishes, but also include fruits, sugar, cakes, snacks, and so on. This is mainly a fashion of expansiveness and the pursuit of luxury.
In addition to the size of the table and the number of dishes, the arrangement of seats should also be divided into old and young, respectful and inferior, and relatively alienated.
For example, the sixty-fifth time it is written that Song Yushi asked the six Yellow Taiwei to set up a banquet at Ximen Qing's house, and the Six Huang Taiwei was one person and one seat, which was a special seat; "The two small tables in the viewing table are patrolling and patrolling to sit together, and the two sides of the cloth are seated according to the three divisions, and the other eight officials are two steps in the shed outside the hall, but the five fruits and five dishes are flat table seats." As Zhang Dai recorded in the "Tao'an Mengyi Tai'an Zhou Guest House", at that time, there were special seats for one person and one seat in the guest house, and there were also non-special seats such as two people and one seat for three or four people, indicating that the feast in feudal society was strictly hierarchical and diverse.
"Jin Ping Mei" writes that Ximen Qing eats or feasts, without exception, the servants take the square box to serve food, first put the square box on the ground, open the lid of the box, and then the close servant or the small house bring the dish to the table. This custom was probably the same until the early Qing Dynasty, and it was written in the Dream of the Red Chamber that it was also written in a box rather than a plate for vegetables and food.
In addition, the dishes at the banquet are also graded.
The "Golden Plum Bottle" writes the highest and most luxurious feast, which must use the phrase "three soups and five cuts", or "cut all five ways, tang Chen three offerings". We can't know in detail what the "three soups" are and what the contents of the "five cuts" are. Only to know that one of the three soups is "Baibao Soup", and the first of the "Five Cuts" must be a roast goose.
According to the "Barnyard Banknotes and Barbecue Seats":
"The barbecue seat, commonly known as the Manchu Han feast, is the supreme quality in the feast." Bake and dry it over fire. In addition to the bird's nest and shark fin treasures, they will be burned with pigs and burned squares, and they will be burned in their entirety. On the third round of wine, the roasted pigs were eaten, and the diners and servants all entered in dresses. The cook waited, and the servant cut the knife he was wearing, and held it in the vessel, bent his knees, and offered the first guest. The special guests start to taste it, and the canopy begins to taste it, and the ceremony is long. The second is burned. The square, the pork side, is not the whole, but compared to the only roast duck, it is more expensive. ”
It is conceivable that the cutting of the Ming Dynasty is roughly the same. According to the "Wuqing Zhenzhi", "During the Wanli period, the tooth people took the business of attracting merchants. At the beginning, the tooth owner gave him abundant hospitality, cut the goose to feast, and invited prostitutes to act, which was normal. ”
This also proves that cutting the goose must be the first dish, and then cutting the duck, cutting the chicken, cutting the pig, cutting the sheep, and showing its honor to the whole.
The forty-first time in the "Golden Bottle Plum", it is written that Qiao Dahu Niang invited Wu Yueniang and others to a banquet, "On the soup and rice, the kitchen servant came up and offered the first crystal goose, and the moon lady rewarded two pieces of silver; the second way was a rotten roasted hoof, and the moon niang rewarded another silver; the third way offered roast duck, and the moon niang rewarded another silver." ”
It shows that every time a big dish is given a silver coin, which is equivalent to a tip for a dish, which is really a unique feast custom of the Ming Dynasty. It is said that it was between Zhengde and Jiajing that there was a "matter of the cook" (see Gu Qiyuan's "Guest Words and Nandu Guizhi Feast"), that is, the reward for serving food, which was later abolished.
In many places in the "Golden Plum Bottle", it is written that "sifting wine", which can be understood as pouring wine in general, such as "Water Margin" also often says "first pick up the wine to sift down" "Lin Chong told the bartender to only care about sifting wine".
However, in the sixty-first time of the "Golden Plum Bottle", it is written that Ximen Qing took out a pot of chrysanthemum wine sent by the Xia Ti criminals, "opened the bi indigo, sprayed the nose incense, did not sift, first put a bottle of cold water to remove its spicy nature, and then stored it in the cloth and sieved it." "This fully shows that the wine is still mixed with the lees, and it must be filtered with cloth or raw silk when drinking." Only then can the lees be separated. It should be said that this method of sifting wine was rare and not commonly used in the Ming Dynasty.
In the sixtieth time of the novel, Count Ying said: "I never eat dumb wine, you ask Zheng Chun to come up and sing a song, I listen, I just stopped." ”
"Dumb wine", also known as stuffy wine, refers to the dull way of eating wine without after-fun programs.
As we all know, on the occasion of the banquet, accompanied by singing and dancing, or performing liquor orders, or guessing boxing, or telling jokes, or beating drums and passing flowers, etc., are China's long-established ways of eating wine, only the Ming and Qing dynasties, especially the ming and qing dynasties, especially the excellent singing. Ye Mengzhu's "Reading the World Compilation and Banquet" records: "In the past years, when the banquet was strict, non-pear garden people would advocate harmony or use reciprocal gifts. If you are not a good person, you can play and sing with strings instead of drumming. Its welcome seat is followed by singers with drums. If they know each other' collections, they will not use any of the utensils, or they will blackmail one or two female prostitutes, or use one or two narrow guests to play the kota and drink heavily. "What is written in "Jin Ping Mei" basically belongs to this kind.