Chapter 4 Yuan Gong is good at "making up"

Yuan Shikai's daily diet started with a bowl of ginseng soup: he got up at five o'clock in the morning, drank a bowl of ginseng soup first, and had breakfast after six o'clock.The method of its ginseng soup is to put ginseng into a sand jar with a screw lid, fill it with water, tie the sand jar with a rope, put the sand jar into an iron pot filled with water, and when it is opened, drain the ginseng soup with gauze Come out and drink.This is rumored to be a habit Yuan Shikai developed when he was the governor of North Korea. Yuan Shikai's breakfast is basically the same chicken shredded noodles. This kind of noodles is "Huangchuan tribute noodles" (also known as "Guangzhou tribute noodles" in history) specially shipped from Huangchuan, Henan, and is still a famous food in Henan.According to "Guangzhou Chronicles", in the Tang Dynasty, Huangchuan had already produced dried noodles.According to legend, in the Song Dynasty, the officials of Guangzhou ordered the workers to remove the head and tail of this kind of noodles, take the middle, cut it into a length of about 20 centimeters, and roll it into a cylinder with red and green paper, half a catty per cylinder, as The gift was presented to the court. After Song Renzong ate it, he praised: "Beautiful, Gwangju tribute noodles!" Huangchuan tribute noodles are as thin as silk and hollow as tubes. , Long non-stick soup.Under clear water, it is refreshing and delicious; under soup, it is sweet and delicious.

In terms of food, Yuan Shikai was not extravagant compared with senior officials at the time, and the whole family had only one dining room.Each room is uniformly customized here. When necessary, there is a dedicated dining room, where the dishes are put in the drum and distributed to each room. The standard is "four dishes and one soup". Only Yu Shi, the original wife, has his own chef in the kitchen.The aunts and wives of each house also have their own small kitchens, but there is no special chef, and the maids who accompany them do it. When the son or daughter of the concubine in each room celebrates his birthday, it is customary to eat dumplings, stewed noodles, and noodles with fried sauce the day before.The method of dumpling is: the master chef sends the noodles and fillings to the room, and the waiter wraps them up, and then sends them back to the dining room for cooking.Whenever Yuan Shikai saw dumplings, braised noodles, or noodles with fried sauce on the table, he would ask: Whose birthday is this?After the concubine answered, Yuan Shikai would say: Oh, it turns out that the old couple has lost their tail!

Yuan Shikai, his one wife, nine concubines, seventeen children, plus his entourage, probably have hundreds of people eating every day. Yuan Shikai usually does not eat delicacies such as "Yan Bao Chi" and other delicacies from mountains and seas. His preferences are very fixed, and the placement of dishes is also very fixed-steamed duck must be placed in the middle, stir-fried shredded pork with chives and yellow is placed on the east side, and braised pork is placed in the middle. To the west, there are also hooves. Yuan Shikai's concubine often cooks special dishes for him.Yuan Shikai served as the governor of North Korea and married three Korean concubines, one of whom was from the Korean royal family.

Yuan Shikai's favorites are the eldest aunt and the fifth aunt. The fifth aunt is from Yangliuqing, Tianjin. She cooks well and is not only decisive in situations, but also a housekeeper, taking care of the daily life of her children. She is very talented.Yuan Shikai's favorite fried shredded pork with chives and braised pork was originally made by her. Later, she learned how to cook at home and became a regular dish of Yuan's family. The method of stir-fried shredded pork with chives is: cut the peeled pork belly into two and a half inches long curtain stick shreds, which is called two thick shreds in Sichuan cuisine.Wash the chives, cut them into inch sections, set up a 80% hot oil pan, first add shredded pork and stir-fry, add minced ginger and noodle sauce, stir-fry until cooked, then add cooking wine and soy sauce, fold the chives (pour the chives into the pot), turn over A few times, add salt to find the mouth, order soup, hang the gorgon, pour the pepper oil, and take out the spoon (that is, out of the pot).The dish is tender and delicious.

Yuan Shikai likes to eat this dish with steamed buns, and it goes well with rice.Chives, also known as chive buds or yellow chive buds, are softened and cultivated leeks. This method began in the Western Han Dynasty. The best ones are produced in Chengdu, Sichuan, and sold overseas.Although leeks are softened leeks, if they are too soft, they will destroy the taste.The chives in Chengdu are characterized by maintaining a certain degree of crispness, freshness and deliciousness.Chives can be regarded as the daughter of leeks grown in the greenhouse. I once asked my poet friend Yang Li how to deal with chives. He is also good at cooking. His method is to fry them with only oil and salt.I once cooked with leeks and leeks in half, added meat, and made dumplings. The taste was smoother and more delicious than dumplings filled with pure leeks and meat.

Fifth Aunt is also good at making braised pork. Braised pork in brown sauce is a major dish in Chinese cuisine, and there are no less than a hundred ways to make it.The fifth aunt's method is local in Tianjin: cook the pork belly until it is five or six mature, then put it in a red pot, add a little sugar, cook it until golden yellow, call it an oil spoon, and then use high heat to heat the oil, and wear the meat with iron chopsticks , put it in the pan and fry for one minute, let the oil and water go away, remove the pork skin when it sees small bubbles, cut it into quarters long and one cent thick, put the ginger material in the bottom of the bowl with a medium bowl, and then put the braised pork on it, Add salt, add cooking wine, steam thoroughly, make a platter, turn it upside down and serve.This dish is very suitable for rice, and Yuan Shikai likes to eat it very much. He also likes to use gluten as a base.

This method is very similar to the roasted pork in Sichuan cuisine, and the pork with plum vegetables in Su cuisine.Although Tianjin cuisine is called braised pork, it is actually a steamed dish. In 1915, Yuan Shikai, who served as the president, intended to restore the imperial system. There were many people who were in favor and against, and there was a stalemate, and Yuan Shikai was also hesitant.But the eldest son Yuan Keding wanted to be the prince, and joined forces with the fifth concubine to encourage Yuan Shikai to proclaim himself emperor. September 16 of this year was Yuan Shikai's fifty-sixth birthday. They carefully prepared a feast. In addition to the eight treasures of water and land, there was a five-clawed little golden dragon made of flour on top of each dish.Yuan Shikai was very happy to see it, thinking it was a good omen.At the banquet, Fifth Aunt Taiji flattered Yuan Shikai, adding meat to Yuan Shikai and adding wine, saying: The old birthday star will soon become the first emperor after eating this Golden Dragon Banquet!All the people present, including Yuan Shikai himself, were shocked by it.

In order for Yuan Shikai to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, Yuan Keding also did a very despicable thing, that is, he specially made a fake "Shuntian Daily" to publish news supporting Yuan Shikai's proclaiming emperor to deceive Yuan Shikai.Finally, Yuan Shikai ascended the throne on New Year's Day in 1916.But more than two months later, he announced the abolition of the imperial system, and he himself died of illness.At the Golden Dragon Banquet, the fifth concubine's words "the first emperor" became a prophecy. Yuan Shikai likes to eat nourishing supplements such as ginseng and deer antler, but he does not decoct them with water like ordinary people, but puts them in his mouth in large quantities and chews them.In addition, he also drinks human milk from two nannies every day, thinking that this is helpful for nourishment.Occasionally, I would get a nosebleed from eating.

Yuan Shikai had one wife and nine concubines, so he established a system in which concubines and wives took turns staying on duty, and the girl in that room would move the supplies to his room when it was his turn.Although there are nine concubines, the fifth concubine, the sixth concubine, the eighth concubine, and the ninth concubine often live together. Each of them stays for a week, and they stay for one month in turn. Although several aunts took turns staying on duty, the fifth aunt still took care of the meals the next day.Although the fifth concubine was talented, she was the most favored by Yuan Shikai, but after Yuan Shikai's death, she was the first to take away Yuan Shikai's gold and silver treasures.