Chapter 56 Three flavors of breakfast and seven methods of health preservation

Chiang Kai-shek's breakfast has a fixed combination, which is called "three flavors for breakfast" by the people in the Shilin official residence: a slice of papaya, a scrambled egg and a pickled melon. These three kinds of food are actually not simple, they were determined after many adjustments by Jiang's attendants.Taking papaya as an example, it is only found in Guangxi and Yunnan regions in China.During the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek lived in Chongqing, and it was very difficult to transport materials. It was not an easy task to ensure the supply of papaya for his breakfast.

Papaya was not Chiang Kai-shek's favorite food from the beginning, and he even disliked its taste at first.But because eating papaya is very good for stomach problems, under the advice and supervision of doctors and Song Meiling, I insisted on eating it for more than half a month, and felt that the stomach problems that had plagued her for many years were much relieved. It became the opening fruit for breakfast.Papaya is also one of Soong Meiling's cosmetic magic weapons. She accepted the advice of American doctors to wash her face with papaya water. Knowing that both Jiang and Song liked papaya, during his stay in Taiwan, all places rushed to send papaya to Shilin's mansion, so that later "the melons were overcrowded", and Chiang Kai-shek had to often send papaya to his subordinates.

The last dish of "Breakfast Three Flavors" is "pickled melon", which is a food hobby formed by Chiang Kai-shek in his childhood.Chiang Kai-shek lost his father when he was young, and his family was poor. Whenever he was in trouble, he relied on pickles to deal with it. The production of pickled cucumbers is very simple. Boil the salt water in a pot, put the washed cucumbers into the salt water, then put them in a jar and seal them. After one winter, pickled cucumbers will be golden and crisp.This has also become Chiang Kai-shek's fond memories of his childhood. After arriving in Taiwan, since there were no small cucumbers locally, Chiang Kai-shek sent people to purchase them from Japan to ensure the supply of breakfast.The practice of pickled melons was also recorded in the Qing Dynasty, to the effect: "After pickling the melons, air-dry them into the sauce, just like the method of pickling ginger. It is not difficult to make it sweet, but difficult to make it crispy. Hangzhou Shilu Zhen's home makes the best. According to cloud, After the sauce, it is dried in the sun and then sauced, so the skin is thin and wrinkled, and the taste is crisp.” This is a unique technique for making pickled melons, which is quite magical.

When Chiang Kai-shek eats, the usual dishes are a bowl of chicken soup, a portion of salted bamboo shoots, pickled cucumbers, and Huangpu eggs.Soong Meiling pays attention to Western food. When she eats, she often eats pickled vegetables and chicken soup from Chiang Kai-shek's side, while Soong Meiling has vegetable salad, with a clear distinction between Chinese and Western food.The two sometimes tease each other.Chiang Kai-shek said to Song: "You are really a sheep fetus in your previous life, why do you love to eat grass so much?" Chiang Kai-shek usually eats fruits, but he doesn't like apples.And Song Meiling especially likes to eat apples.The couple usually have porridge for dinner, with salted bamboo shoots and sesame sauce. After the meal, they take a walk and chat.Law of life, health science.

Chiang Kai-shek is also very fond of bamboo shoots.After the fresh bamboo shoots are delivered to the official residence, Chiang Kai-shek will check them in person and play with them first.For dishes made of bamboo shoots, Jiang likes braised spring bamboo shoots in oil and stir-fried tofu with bamboo shoot tips. These can actually be reproduced and developed now.Stir-fried tofu with bamboo shoot tips The bamboo shoots must be tender. It is best to use gypsum tofu. The fried dishes are very tender.Bamboo shoots are crude fiber, which is good for gastrointestinal motility and convenience. In terms of aquatic products, in addition to the seafood in his hometown, Chiang Kai-shek also likes to eat fish, especially the West Lake vinegar fish in the "louwailou" by the West Lake in Hangzhou.The practice of West Lake Vinegar Fish is to boil the grass carp in a boiling water pot first, then add seasoning to the original soup of the boiled fish to make a thick sauce, and then pour the juice.Chiang Kai-shek had a chef named Zeng Xingkui. He had a way of making fish, which was to keep the original flavor of the fish and improve it on this basis.The West Lake Vinegar Fish is an authentic fish dish.

I also agree on this point, and oppose adding a lot of chili and peppercorns to cover up the taste of the fresh fish itself.This is also suitable for other river or seafood.Such as stir-fried crab meat, it is best to pull out the crab meat and add chives, fungus, etc. to stir-fry. In order to cater to Chiang Kai-shek's preferences, Shilin Mansion has developed many innovative dishes, such as tile fish, fresh yellow croaker, fried shredded eel, roasted sea cucumber, soy green clams, Buddha jumping over the wall, braised eel cubes, etc.Among them, braised eel cubes are one of Chiang Kai-shek's favorite dishes. The method is to kill the eel, cut it into pieces, braise it in soy sauce, and braise it with rice wine. It belongs to the practice of Hangbang cuisine.There is also fried eel paste. Chiang Kai-shek asked for bamboo shoots. This dish is a famous dish in Shanghai, and bamboo shoots were not added in the first place.

Chiang Kai-shek was also good at drinking when he was young, but after he was in his prime, he seldom drank alcohol, especially after marrying Song Meiling, he was greatly influenced by her, and his diet tended to be more scientific and Westernized. In terms of dietary theory, Chiang Kai-shek was a moderationist, and he often said "eat less, get more".He believes that many diseases can be caused by eating too much.This understanding was very rare at the time.At that time, the society was poor, and it was not known that eating and drinking would bring about the "rich man's disease".In today's society, the "three highs" are spreading, and we have only begun to emphasize the importance of diet in recent years.

Song Meiling was also a dietist in this regard. She kept reminding Chiang Kai-shek that she would rather eat less than go to frequent banquets.Song Meiling advocated the Westernization of diet, and Chiang Kai-shek also listened to it, but his nature was hard to change. The taste was determined in childhood and it was difficult to change. Generally speaking, from the perspective of diet, Chiang Kai-shek is a relatively rigid and boring person.But from the perspective of health preservation, he is still very successful. There are seven principles: Among them, the eating habits of the third article happened to be "tit for tat" with Mao Zedong.But Chiang Kai-shek also fell in love with chili peppers, and was also addicted to chili peppers when he was in power in Chongqing, which was later corrected by Soong Meiling.

Chiang Kai-shek's "harmony of dishes" is very advanced, which is very close to the popular "five colors and five nourishments" in recent years. Chiang requires black, green, white, yellow and red food on his table. Shilin Mansion’s tofu dishes can be regarded as a large series, with many patterns and innovations, such as tofu shrimp, tofu yellow croaker, tofu lotus seed, tofu sea cucumber, tofu abalone, etc. During the process of "gourmet evolution", Shilin Mansion has also learned a lot from Chinese traditional medicine and food classics, which can be said to have inherited and developed Chinese cuisine from another perspective.