Chapter 35 2. Court meals

The world's delicious food entered the court, and the Qing emperor enjoyed the gourmet food culture.How did the court emperor and empress eat?This section will be discussed separately. Royal meal time.Emperor Ming ate three meals a day, working at sunrise and resting at sunset. This is the custom of three meals in farming culture.Emperor Ming attached great importance to dinner, and in addition to eating, drinking, enjoying music, watching dances, etc., he also appointed the family members who served as bed attendants to eat together.The emperor of the Qing Dynasty ate two meals a day, which originated from the custom of his ancestors going up the mountain at sunrise and returning home after noon, which was the custom of two meals in the fishing and hunting culture.The Qing emperor had meals at a fixed time.The emperor of the Qing Dynasty had two meals a day, morning and evening, at two quarters of Maozheng (6 o'clock) for breakfast, and two quarters of noon (12 o'clock) for dinner. ("Yangjizhai Conglu") The time of imperial meals changes with the seasons.In summer and autumn, when the days are long and the nights are short, the breakfast and dinner should be half an hour earlier; in winter and spring, the days are short and the nights are long, so the breakfast and dinner should be delayed by half an hour.In special cases, there are also workarounds.In addition to dinner, if needed at any time, we will undertake it separately.

Royal meal location.Before Yongzheng, the emperor's dining place was mainly in Qianqing Palace and its vicinity, and then he often ate in Dongnuan Pavilion of Yangxin Hall.But the meal follows the emperor, and the location is not fixed.Wherever the emperor went, Chuanshan followed him.There are always a few attendants who "carry the table" around the emperor.The emperor wanted to eat, and he gave the order of "pass the meal", and the attendants immediately set up three dining tables one by one.The Chuanshan eunuch held the meal box in his hand, trotted from the imperial dining room to the place where the emperor dined, and filed in one file, and put the rice, vegetables, porridge, soup, etc. prepared by the imperial dining room on the dining table.There are pictures to prove the meal outside the palace.For example, the Yongzheng Emperor's "Pleasure Map" drawn by the court painter of the Qing Dynasty is 206 cm long and 101.6 cm wide, with bright colors and harmonious layout.It depicts the scene of Emperor Yongzheng and his princes playing in the garden in the season of warm spring and flowers, and they are about to serve a meal.On the rocks on the right are food carrying boxes, holding boxes, fruit boxes, holding pots, wine glasses, teapots and bowls, chopsticks (chopsticks), etc.Magnolia, crabapple, peonies, etc. are in full bloom among the stacked stones, implying "the jade hall is rich and honored". (Wan Yi editor-in-chief "Life Utensils in the Qing Palace") The emperor had a meal list when eating, that is, recipes, menus, food used for the imperial meal and the chef who cooked it.Before eating every day, the meal list must state that a certain dish was cooked by a certain chef for verification.A summary of the meal list is made into one volume per month.

Royal cuisine features.Ming Palace is mainly based on Shandong cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine and Anhui cuisine.There are five main characteristics of Qing court food: (1) Manchurian style, (2) both north and south, (3) steaming, stewing, and roasting, (4) Western food after Kangxi, (5) beef and dog meat are avoided.In short, it combines the strengths of Manchu and Han, North and South, and Chinese and Western, reflecting the feelings of the Qing court to integrate multiple food cultures. Manchurian flavor mainly Manchuria belongs to the northeast forest culture. Its ancestors lived between the white mountains and the black waters. species (such as sturgeon, carp), picked mountain delicacies (such as mushrooms, fungus) and so on. "Beijing Zhuzhi Ci" wrote: "Kandong goods began to arrive in the capital, and all roads opened roe deer sheds. Deer tail carp has a unique flavor, and the origin of the water and soil wants to accompany Beijing." After the rise of Manchuria, it absorbed Han Chinese food.The Qing emperor entered the Central Plains and absorbed the food in the pass.Manchurian-style dishes, after Puyi left the palace, chefs from the Forbidden City passed on their culinary skills to restaurants such as Beihai Fangshan and Summer Palace Tingli Restaurant.

Most of the staple food is noodles, and the non-staple food is mainly meat.Cooking is mainly boiled, stewed, steamed, roasted, roasted and fried.For example, Emperor Qianlong once had a breakfast in his later years, including a hot pot of stewed duck with bird’s nest, a hot pot of duck with bird’s nest on a stove, a hot pot of shredded duck with bird’s nest, white duck with bird’s nest, pork with mushrooms and duck in soup, etc.There are so many hot pots because the climate outside the customs is cold, and it is easy to heat and keep warm. Especially in winter, they can be simmered on the fire or in hot water for a long time, so that the emperor and empress can pass meals at any time.

The northern and southern flavors are combined with the original Ming palace chefs, including Shandong and Jiangnan people. In the early Qing Dynasty, the emperors and empresses tasted the delicacy of Shandong cuisine and Jiangsu cuisine.Shandong cuisine, such as Quanjude roast duck, entered the court.Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty made six tours to the south each, and local officials picked them up and presented them with Huaiyang cuisine and Suzhou-Hangzhou cuisine for tasting.After returning to Beijing, Emperor Kangxi "changed burnt burnt rice soup" (Volume 88 of "Manuscript of Qing History Li Zhi VII"), and the cooking method changed somewhat.Utensils include both large bowls and plates, as well as small bowls and dishes.During the Qianlong period, there were "Suzhou chefs" Zhang Cheng, Zhang Dongguan, Song Yuan and others in the imperial dining room, who cooked delicious Huaiyang, Suzhou and Hangzhou delicacies.Since then, the imperial cuisine of the Qing Palace has tasted both from the north and the south.

Adding elements of Western food Jesuits came to China, and Western food influenced the court.The French missionary Zhang Cheng and others were in Beijing, and Emperor Kangxi entertained them in the Changchun Garden. The food he gave them included "cold meat piled up in a pyramid shape" and "cold dishes made of jelly, bean pods, cauliflower or cabbage heart".Emperor Kangxi also invited missionaries to have New Year's Eve dinner together, and gave them "New Year's meal" twelve dishes and 21 kinds of fruits.Dishes and fruits are changed from Manchurian cooking methods, combining Chinese and Western food.Emperor Qianlong ate Western food.In the eighteenth year of Qianlong (1753), he was ordered to make "Western forks", Western knives, and Western cloth mats successively.In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, Pu Yi was interested in Western food.He asked chef Zheng Dashui to learn from foreign chefs how to cook western food and decorate the table, and he also set up a western food dining room in Lijingxuan in the Forbidden City.

There are two taboos in imperial cuisine.One is not to eat beef (you can use milk), and the other is not to eat dog meat. Why not eat beef?Qing outside the customs, attaches great importance to farming.There is a severe shortage of farm cattle, and the sale of them will be banned tomorrow.Therefore, it was stipulated in the early Qing Dynasty that, except for major sacrifices, cattle were not allowed to be slaughtered.After entering the customs, even the cattle sacrificed by the shaman are not slaughtered, but sold, forming the custom of not eating beef. Why not eat dog meat?According to legend, Qing Taizu Nurhachi was saved by a dog when he was in danger.Therefore, it is customary in Manchuria not to eat dog meat or wear dog skin.

Qing Emperor's meal, give a few examples. Emperor Kangxi was frugal.Emperor Kangxi, in view of the lesson that Ming Dynasty died because of extravagance, abstained from luxury and practiced frugality.He eats two meals a day, and each meal has one flavor, and he does not eat both flavors, and rewards others for the excess.After the two meals, "you can't eat at night, and you can go to bed when it's late."Advocate eating more vegetables, "Every time you eat vegetables, you will be less sick and beneficial to your body."For fresh fruits and vegetables, don't be too greedy, just taste a little.He does not advocate eating out-of-season fruits and vegetables, "you must eat them when they are ripe, which is also the key to keeping healthy." ("Ting Xun Motto") When traveling abroad, if you encounter local officials and people offering food, you only "take a pinch of rice and a piece of fruit", and you should not be gluttonous.Emperor Kangxi advocated frugality, "Ming Guanglu Temple sends more than 240,000 taels of money and food every year, but now it only uses more than 30,000 taels a year", which is one-eighth of the Ming Dynasty.Emperor Kangxi said: "The only way I adjust food is to have a regular diet and a regular life, that's all." (Vol. Vegetables should not be discarded in the ditches, but can be eaten with the servants; if they cannot be eaten by humans, they can be fed to cats and dogs; ("Decree in June of the second year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty")

Emperor Qianlong paid attention to health preservation.Emperor Qianlong paid attention to health preservation when eating, and he paid attention to the combination of meat and vegetables, high and low.It has been a hundred years since Manchuria entered the customs.People outside the Guan often eat venison and bear's paws with high calorie content, and the damp and heat fight together, which makes them easy to get sick.Emperor Qianlong adjusted the dietary structure and stipulated the standards for the emperor, queen mother, and empress: 48 full meals for each meal; 16 catties of plated meat, 10 catties of soup meat, 10 catties of pork, 2 sheep, and 5 chickens per day. Ducks, 3 ducks, 19 catties of vegetables, 60 radishes, 6 catties of green onions, 4 taels of Yuquan wine, 3 catties of green sauce, 2 catties of vinegar, rice, noodles, sesame oil, milk wine, ghee, honey, sugar, sesame seeds, walnuts , black dates, etc.Concubines below the queen, etc., are decremented according to the rank.

Emperor Qianlong was 89 years old. In addition to practicing martial arts, hunting, calligraphy, and fitness, he also paid attention to food, medicine and health care.Every spring, he wants the Qing palace to eat elm cakes, elm cakes, and elm cakes.He ate it himself, and used it to worship his ancestors, expressing that he did not forget his roots.In early summer, eat millet (made of tender wheat), eat rice dumplings at the Dragon Boat Festival, and eat flower cakes at Chongyang Festival.According to the season, eat vegetables - cucumber dipped in noodle sauce, fried fresh peas, garlic eggplant, mustard greens, pickled cucumbers, pickled leeks, rice with rice and so on.The dinner of Emperor Qianlong in Ruyizhou, a summer resort, was very interesting: this imperial meal included five kinds of meat, chicken, duck, pig, sheep, and roe deer, and five kinds of vegetables, cabbage, radish, lentils, eggplant, and fresh mushrooms; I also added jujube and bean stuffing, and ordered two farm vegetarian dishes-mixed tofu and mixed tomato puree.This kind of reasonable diet with meat and vegetables, both thickness and thickness, complementary food and vegetables, and various foods is good for health and longevity. (Li Guorong, editor-in-chief of "Revealing Secrets of Qing Palace Archives")

Emperor Daoguang was too stingy.During the reign of Emperor Daoguang, he was in financial distress and could not make ends meet.He was surprisingly simple. For example, Xia Tian felt that eating watermelon was expensive, so he ordered the eunuch to "abolish watermelon and only supply water".Emperor Daoguang's two meals a day, morning and evening, throughout the year, were limited to "five grades", that is, five grades each for main food and non-staple food; in the seventh year of Daoguang (1827), New Year's Eve dinner and Zhengdan breakfast the next morning were also five grades each.He proclaimed: "When I lived in my elder brother's place, I made a promise that I only bought five sesame cakes every night. Empress Xiaomu and I each ate two, and the other one was given to my elder brother." Meat is not allowed at the festival. ("Qing Palace Shuwen")