Chapter 43 The family banquet in Meifu is light

Mei Lanfang especially likes Huaiyang cuisine, and his diet is mainly light.He specially invited Wang Shoushan, a master from Huaiyang. In order to maintain Mei's voice, body and complexion, Wang carefully developed more than 600 delicacies.Among them, the most famous mandarin duck chicken porridge, Mei Lanfang must drink almost every day. The practice of mandarin duck chicken porridge is to boil the chicken for 48 hours until the chicken is rotten into a paste, and then select vegetables according to different seasons, make vegetable juice, and adjust it into a Tai Chi pattern.This dish is light in taste, full of color, fragrance and taste.

Mei Lanfang would drink porridge two hours before performing on stage.Stop eating when the performance is approaching, which meets the standard of puffing and hungry singing.Among Yuan Mei's dishes is chicken porridge. The method is to choose a fat hen, peel the breast meat with a knife, scrape or planer, but don't chop it, it won't get greasy after chopping.This is done to preserve the fiber of the chicken from being destroyed.Then cook soup with other parts of the chicken, add fine rice flour and minced ham to make porridge. Another famous dish that Mei Lanfang likes is Farewell My Concubine.On the eve of the Anti-Japanese War, he went to Xuzhou to perform "Farewell My Concubine", which caused a sensation in the city.After the performance, the host hosted a banquet. One of the dishes was a few soft-shelled turtles floating on the soup, with white chicken underneath.The chicken nuggets are soft and melt in your mouth.Mei Lanfang liked it so much that he even ate two turtles.Asked the name of this dish, and replied "Farewell My Concubine".

Farewell My Concubine itself is a famous traditional dish, named to commemorate the conflict between Chu and Han. This story is familiar in China. The famous director Chen Kaige even made a movie of the same name. This dish is also recorded in "Tiao Ding Ji" recommended by Tong Yue in the Qing Dynasty, but the name is not Farewell My Concubine, but Chicken Stewed Turtle. Spread a layer of scallions in a large porcelain basin, put down garlic, aniseed, pepper, and ginger slices, cover with scallions, add liqueur, clear sauce, pickled honey, add soup, stew two sticks of incense, cooked and delicious.This dish can be made at home.

Duyi Shaomai restaurant is very famous in Beijing, and it is also a place that Mei Lanfang often goes to.He often performed in Guangde Building, and there is a store just opposite to the back door of Guangde Building, which has become a place where many Peking opera actors often go to eat.Duyiyi opened in 1738. It was originally a small hotel founded by Ruifu, a Shanxi native. It is characterized by cold dishes, wine dishes, and siu mai.Qianlong once went to Tongzhou for a private visit. When he returned to Beijing, it was already late and all the big restaurants were closed, so he went to a small shop to eat together.The host brought a large plate of siu mai and a large plate of cabbage. Qianlong ate very sweetly, so he asked what the name of the shop was.The boss replied that the small shop has no name.Qianlong said to Yukou that this is the only one in the entire capital tonight, so let's call it one.

Duyi's siu mai is very famous and delicious, and it is the best of the three types of siu mai together with Wuxi's crab meat siu mai and Shanghai's glutinous rice siu mai. When Mei Lanfang comes here, in addition to ordering siu mai, he must also order Qianlong cabbage and dry fried small balls.The chefs all know that Mei Lanfang likes a light taste, so he will use less oil and less salt, and the meatballs are served after draining the oil repeatedly. Because he likes light food, Mei Lanfang has developed a eating habit of "three nos and three fears": no alcohol, no animal offal, no too greasy food such as braised pork, afraid of phlegm, afraid of cold drinks before and after the performance, afraid of hot throat I'm dumb.

Mei Lanfang paid great attention to protecting his lungs and throat throughout his life. It is said that he would take a piece of pear to nourish his lungs and protect his throat when he slept, and he would take it out and throw it away the next day.