In Zhongxiang, Hubei Province, there is a famous dish that is well-known throughout the country, Panlong cuisine. Panlong cuisine, also known as panlong vegetables, roll cut, commonly known as chopped vegetables, known as one of the "three gems of Zhongxiang", is also one of the top ten classic dishes in Hubei. Today, Panlong cuisine has been included in the "Chinese Recipe", and its production techniques have been included in the "List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hubei Province". However, behind the dragon dish, there is a very interesting story.
In the sixteenth year of Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty, in 1521 AD, Emperor Zhengde of Mingwuzong died, because emperor Zhengde had no children, according to the Daming succession law, "the father dies and the son succeeds, the brother dies and the brother dies", so Zhengde left a testament before his death, and made his cousin Zhu Houxi the heir to the throne. After the death of the Zhengde Emperor, Empress Zhang issued a decree to send the zhengde emperor's will to Anlu Prefecture, ordering Zhu Houxi to enter the capital to succeed to the throne. At the same time, the empress dowager also sent the edicts of the Zhengde Emperor to Zhu Youjue, the King of Shouding, who was enfeoffed in De'an, and Zhu Youju, the King of Ru'an, who was enfeoffed in Weihui, and ordered them to enter the capital to succeed to the throne, and stipulated that "first to be a king, then to be a subject".
After receiving the edict, Zhu Houxi can be described as sad and happy, sad that his cousin Emperor Zhengde died; happy that he will inherit the throne of the Ming Empire and reign in the world. However, in addition to the surprise, Zhu Houxi was even more nervous, and Zhu Youyi, the king of Shouding who was sealed in De'an, and Zhu Youjian, the king of Ru'an, who was sealed in Weihui, would compete with him for the throne, and what was more fatal was that Anlu Prefecture was more than 3,000 miles away from Beijing, and De'an and Weihui were only hundreds of miles away from Beijing, and if they could not arrive in Beijing before Zhu Youxi, the king of Shouding, and Zhu Youjian, the king of Ru'an, they would lose their hands on the throne. Just when he was in a hurry, his aide Yan Songxian said: "Only Shizi (Zhu Houxi's honorific title) pretends to be a Qin criminal and sits in a prison car, so that he can travel day and night, neither dare to stop nor respond, but he can reach Kyoto on the 20th." Thinking of the King of Shouding and the King of Ru'an, thinking that the road is near and worry-free, it will be made a big show, and officials from all over the world will rush to greet and send them off, and a small feast in 20 miles and a big banquet in 30 miles will surely be delayed. After listening to Yan Song's suggestion, Zhu Houxi was ecstatic and decided to pretend to be a prisoner and rush to Beijing in a prison cart to succeed to the throne. However, after a short period of joy, Zhu Houxi thought of a new question, sitting in a prison cart must eat prison meals, how can Zhu Houxi, as the king of the clan, eat it? If he does not eat the prisoner's meal, once he is seen to be flawed, he will not only lose the throne, but also worry about his life. After urgent consultation with his staff, Zhu Houxi ordered that all the local chefs in Anlu Prefecture be summoned to make him food on the way to Beijing, requiring that the food "contain meat but not meat." Therefore, all the cooks in Anlu Prefecture gathered at the Xingwang Mansion to discuss how to make food that "contains meat but does not see meat", but in the middle of the night, everyone still has no clue.
At that time, among the cooks who were ordered to cook, there was a chef named Jendo who had just gotten married, and that night, his wife brought him baked sweet potatoes to eat, but Jando could not eat it, and asked his wife to throw away the sweet potatoes. Seeing this scene, Zhan Duo had a clever move and thought of a way. According to his instructions, the chefs took the best white pork, lean meat and fish meat and chopped them into meat paste, added salt, chives, ginger and other spices to mix, and then added starch egg white to stir evenly, and finally wrapped with sweet potato skin steaming, after the food is made, it is like sweet potatoes, which is actually meat fish. After that, Zhu Houxi pretended to be a prisoner and took the "sweet potato" made for him by Chef Zhan duo on the road. After a long journey, Zhu Houxi arrived in Beijing and successfully inherited the throne as the Jiajing Emperor.
In the second year of Jiajing, the Jiajing Emperor invited Chef Zhan Duo to the imperial palace and appointed him as the imperial cook to improve the "sweet potato". After that, Chef Jando made the "sweet potato" into a cylinder that was one and a half feet long, one and a half inches wide, and seven and a half inches thick, in addition, he replaced the outer layer of sweet potato skin with egg yolk and edible red pigment, steamed and cut into thin slices, plated in a bowl, re-steamed, upside down into the plate, red and yellow, like a dragon. Since then, this "sweet potato" dish with full color and flavor has won the exclusive love of Jiajing, and then Jiajing has named it "Panlong" Imperial Dish. Because this dish was invented by chef Zhan Duo, in Zhongxiang locality, this dish is also called "multi-dish", and because this dish is placed in the shape of a dragon, it is also called "Panlong Dish". In July 2011, "The Technique of Making Dragon Vegetables" was selected into the list of intangible cultural heritage of Hubei Province.
From the imperial court meals of the Ming Empire to today's traditional famous dishes, panlong cuisine has been a traditional food loved by the Chinese people for hundreds of years. Nowadays, an industrialized production base of Panlong cuisine has been established in Zhongxiang, and perhaps in the future, Panlong cuisine will be on the table of more families.