There is a classic passage in the traditional cross-talk strip "Reporting the Name of the Dish", and whenever I see the one-shot performances of the cross-talk actors, in addition to admiration for their art, I am also full of yearning for the food spoken in it.
Let's also take a look at a menu first: four large bowl dishes: bird's nest 'ten thousand' word gold and silver duck, bird's nest 'nian' word three fresh fat chicken, bird's nest 'such as' word pot roast duck, bird's nest 'meaning' word assorted chicken shredded; huai bowl dish four products: bird's nest slip duck strips, silk pigeon eggs, silk wings, slip duck loin; dish dish four products: bird's nest fried oven duck shredded, fried pheasant claw, small fried carp, meat shredded scrambled eggs; slice plate two products: hanging stove duck, hanging stove pig; dumpling two products: sugar oil cake, ruyi roll; bird's nest eight immortal soup. This is the Chinese New Year's Eve december 30, 1861, the imperial dining room for the little emperor Zaichun prepared a dinner, it can be seen that the court is also pay attention to auspicious meaning, but also mostly based on chicken, duck and fish meat, but the use of ingredients and ingredients and cooking skills is a top one. These dishes could only be enjoyed by the emperor alone, and as much as a small child could eat, some were given to the eunuch palace ladies, and some were sold by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Qing emperors usually ate as 'chuan shan', 'jin' or 'eat'. Its location is also not fixed, mostly in the emperor's residence or place of frequent activity. And the emperor's daily meal was only divided into two meals, morning and evening, mostly around six or seven o'clock; dinner was between twelve o'clock in the afternoon and two o'clock in the afternoon. In addition, every night around 6 p.m., there is also a late snack, mostly snacks and snacks. Of course, as long as the emperor feels hungry, the imperial dining room will also have special preparations. Whenever it came time to pass on the meal, the eunuchs first set up a dining table at the place where the meal was passed, and when the meal was transported from the dining room, it was quickly arranged on the dining table according to the regulations, and if there was no special will, no one could eat at the same table with the emperor. Empresses, empresses and concubines generally dine in the palace.
There are dozens of meals on a table, many things are used to pose, adult emperors and queens eat the rest of the meals, generally given to concubines, princes, princesses, ministers, etc., and the remaining meals of concubines are mostly given to palace women and eunuchs, and the internal affairs department in the middle and late Qing Dynasty always has a way to sell money.
The concubines of the empress dowager in the palace, including the crown prince and Fu Jin, needed for daily meals, which were prepared according to a certain number of routines in various places. The emperor's daily courtesy examples were: twenty-two pieces of meat on a plate, five pounds of soup meat, one pound of lard, two sheep, five chickens (including three chickens of that year), three ducks, cabbage, spinach, parsley, celery leeks, etc., a total of nineteen pounds, a total of sixty pounds of large radish water radish and carrots, one pound each of melon and winter melon, five pieces of amaranth and dried closed cabbage, six pounds of green onions, four pounds of jade spring wine, three pounds of sauce and clear sauce, and two pounds of vinegar. In the morning and evening, there are eight plates of food, thirty per plate, and each plate of dumplings requires four pounds of fine white noodles, one pound of sesame oil, five spoons of sesame seeds, three pieces of chengsha, and twenty-two pieces of sugar, walnut kernels and black dates. In addition, the imperial tea room also prepared tea, milk, etc. for the emperor every day. The emperor used fifty cows, each cow paid two catties a day for a total of 100 catties, and used twelve cans of jade spring water, one milk oil, and seventy-five packets of tea leaves (two or two per pack) every day. Whatever the reason, this royal grandeur is always there.
Of course, in the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor's pomp and circumstance was more atmospheric. Even in the middle and late period when the national strength is weak, it is necessary to maintain the above level. During the Guangxu Emperor's period, the biggest pomp was empress dowager Cixi, even more exquisite, each meal size dishes more than a hundred dishes, then winter also prevailed to eat hot pot, a variety of tricks; and Guangxu side is much lighter, the dishes are at least halved, sometimes have to thank Grace to eat Cixi leftovers. It is said that when the two palaces fled and returned to Beijing, Cixi's attitude towards Guangxu was extremely poor, and she even gave Guangxu a delicious meal to eat, and even the grand eunuch Li Lianying could not see it, which was really pitiful.
Many of the meals and snacks in the former imperial palace have now flown into the homes of ordinary people, reminiscing about the past and thinking about the present, and the happy life is not easy to come by.