Chapter 6 Yuan's innovation

Yuan Shikai's staple food has distinct Henan characteristics, and his recipes are almost the same, except for noodles, steamed buns, and porridge.His favorite porridge is mung bean paste, which is made from ground mung beans.Dinner is usually done step by step, and on Sunday night it is a family reunion. The dishes are much richer, and the aunts and wives of each room will often bring out good dishes for everyone to taste.Yuan Shikai liked the smoked fish made by his second aunt very much. The practice of smoked fish is to soak the carp that has been deep-fried into golden color with scallions, ginger, cooking wine, soy sauce, and white sugar, then mix it with brown sugar and flour, and smoke it in an iron pan.

The third aunt is not good at cooking, but playing the piano.When Yuan Shikai lived in seclusion in Huan, he often went boating in the mansion to enjoy the moon. The third concubine accompanied him by playing the piano.When he is in high spirits, Yuan Shikai can also compose poems. There is a poem "Looking at the Moon in the Late Clouds": "The boat catches the bright moon, and the toad sinks to the bottom of the water. Scratching one's head to ask the sky, the moon is hidden in the mist." Elegant, his poems are full of arrogance. There is a poem "Climbing the Tower": "The building is small enough to accommodate the knees, and the eaves are high and the old trees are full. Open the pavilion and level the Big Dipper, and feel that the Taihang is low." Ascending the tower and looking far away, I feel that the Big Dipper is short and the Taihang Mountain is low. , showing his arrogance.

Yuan Shikai asked his children to raise fish and crabs in Zhongnanhai and catch them for food in autumn.Every day, Yuan Shikai's sons and daughters would come to greet him. The format was: "Father, eat well and sleep well." Yuan Shikai would ask in a stylized manner what he has done recently and whether he has read a book, so he should read it carefully.Then say "Go ahead" to end your answer.The sons bowed and walked backwards out of the house.It's very royal. The young wives also pay their respects every day, and the time is around 11:00 noon every day.The housekeeper would first go to each room to shout, saying: "The president is going to eat!" The young ladies came together and asked: "Father, eat well and sleep well." Yuan Shikai generally replied: "Okay, let's go." Then eat.

Yuan Shikai often asked his sons to eat together, which was very painful for the sons, because there was no freedom when eating.Once Yuan Kewen accompanied Yuan Shikai to dinner, and the meal was almost finished, and Yuan Shikai handed him a big steamed bun. At that time, he paid attention to: "Give it to the old and respectful, and the young and the humble cannot refuse." Yuan Kewen had no choice but to continue. No, I broke the hot steamed bun into pieces and pretended to eat it, but actually hid it in my sleeve, and my arm was burned a lot. When encountering the "Four Seasons and Eight Festivals", the etiquette system of the Yuan Mansion is still similar to that of the former Qing royal family.On New Year's Eve, the chef prepared both Chinese and Western dishes and moved them to Ju Ren Tang in Zhongnanhai.Seats are very particular, arranged according to the order of honor and inferiority, Yuan Shikai must sit north facing south, and his tableware is also one size bigger than others.After the reunion dinner, concubines, children and young grandmothers will come to worship in turn to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new and congratulate the new year.The order of prostration is that aunts, sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, nephews and nieces, and finally male and female servants come to prostrate in several groups.

After that, everyone came to draw the lottery, and the prizes were small gifts and small ingots.Afterwards Yuan Shikai would take the lead in pushing Pai Gow, capped at 500 yuan. Yuan Shikai would bet until the 500 yuan was lost. If he couldn't lose, he would let his sons take it away at will.This habit may be related to Yuan Shikai's long-term service in the army.Mahjong is more elegant, and Pai Gow is popular in military camps.From the first day to the fifth day, Yuan Mansion could gamble and play cards, but after the fifth day, it was banned. As mentioned before, Yuan Shikai's tableware is one size larger, such as large porcelain plates and bowls. He likes to use large tableware, so that he can eat happily and enjoy the original taste of food.Yuan Shikai eats a lot. In addition to eating chicken noodles for breakfast every day, he also eats a large plate of white steamed buns, a large plate of eggs, a large cup of coffee or tea, and several slices of biscuits.In addition to the normal food intake for lunch and dinner, four eggs should be added.When he was almost sixty years old, Yuan Shikai could still eat whole chickens and ducks.

When he was training in Tianjin, Yuan Shikai especially liked to eat Goubuli's steamed buns, and even offered them to Cixi.Cixi also loved food very much, so Yuan Shikai sent a fast horse from Tianjin to Beijing for Cixi.Since then, Goubuli steamed stuffed bun has become famous and has become a representative of famous food in Tianjin. The first time I ate Goubuli steamed stuffed buns, I wasn't particularly surprised. It wasn't the best steamed stuffed bun I've ever eaten in my life.For the current Goubuli steamed stuffed bun, two suggestions for improvement should be made: discard soy sauce and use salt, and discard sesame oil and use lard.Because soy sauce sometimes spoils the taste, and lard can enhance the flavor.

The best steamed stuffed bun I have eaten so far is the "Huangmen Banquet" at Huang Ke's home in "Mengchangjun in Beijing". Chives, added to the soup, make the filling.Among them, the soup is boiled with chicken feet, pig skin and pig spine, cooled into jelly, and added to the stuffing.Then steam out on high heat.I just waited by the side of the pot and ate it while it was hot.Huang Ke ate four in a row.After I ate four, I decided it wasn't enough and risked skipping dinner for the night and ate three more, a personal record indeed. When Yuan Shikai went to Hebei to serve as the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang, the local feast was received.Knowing that Yuan Shikai loves to eat sea cucumbers, the local officials created a new way of eating sea cucumbers. They brewed Zhuozhou tribute rice into the belly of sea cucumbers, added green onions, ginger, pepper, vinegar, and egg skins, and simmered them.This method is soft and fragrant, the egg skin is soft and crisp, hot and sour and appetizing.Yuan Shikai liked it very much, and named it Zhili sea cucumber, which became a famous dish in Hebei.

Yuan Shikai also likes to drink tea. He has a high position and authority, so it is natural for people to please him. Around 1905, Zhu, a businessman in Lu'an County, Anhui Province, often courted Yuan with special products from his hometown. He spared no expense in choosing one or two young leaves of each spring tea tree and frying them into tea.The tea quickly became famous.Because it is shaped like a melon seed slice, it was later called "Guapian" and became one of the famous teas, which is still very popular today. Yuan Shikai also likes to eat a famous Henan dish, iron pot eggs. This dish is characterized by its red and yellow color, oily and bright, tender and soft fragrance.

In fact, this dish was originally made in a copper pot. Later, Yuan Shikai often went to Houdefu, a Henan specialty restaurant in Beijing, to eat. He pointed out that the tin on the copper pot was not good for the health. Delicate and delicious eggs, named "iron pot eggs". Mr. Tang Lusun, a gourmet master in the Republic of China, also described the iron pot eggs as follows, which made people drool after reading: