Chapter 31 eat master
As the trend of the modern times, a big banquet and a drink always pay attention to which restaurant has a rich decoration, or which restaurant has pleasant hospitality. In just one corner of Taipei, there are a number of restaurants and restaurants that serve both north and south, and taste east and west. It's a veritable restaurant.However, there are only a limited number of masters of cutting and cooking, and some are unwilling to be lonely, and even travel across the ocean to earn foreign exchange. There are a few well-known Yi Yas who stay in Taipei. If you order a few dishes, the color and aroma are indeed up to the standard, but after eating a few times, the more you eat, the worse it becomes. After careful inquiry, it is sure that the master chef who is in charge of the spoon has been poached away with a lot of money.For example, there is a newly opened restaurant, and the newspaper advertises how grand its layout is, how thoughtful the waiters are, and how the dishes are updated. When you are seated, order a few dishes to try. From which big restaurant, the head chef was lured here at a high price.A few years ago, there was a famous French chef "Nash", Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom and the White House in the United States desperately fought for high salaries and favorable conditions, and newspapers all over the world were full of laughter.
Earlier in the mainland, they did not pay attention to eating restaurants, but paid attention to eating master chefs.All the master chefs are outstanding in knives and cooking. Nine out of ten master chefs are rich and good at cooking, and they are outstanding after years of careful training.For example, Tan Weigong's chef has a Hunan taste, Jiang Taishi's chef has a Guangdong taste, Guguyan Huang's chef has a Sichuan taste, Yang Guanbei's chef has a Huaiyang taste, and Peng Changgui, who is internationally renowned.In addition to the delicious dishes, the arrangement of dishes, the arrangement of thick and light, sweet and salty, and the order of serving dishes, which one is suitable for a small drink and which one is suitable for a big feast, have all undergone strict training. , it is inevitable that there will be jokes about fried eel with leeks and yellow rice.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there was a legendary figure in the kitchen business. His surname was Yu and his name was Shuangsheng. .Chef Yu was recommended by a Shanxi ticket shop to work as a chef in the big kitchen of the Yamen since the time when Prince Ye Gong, Prince Yisu, presided over the Prime Minister’s Yamen for National Affairs in the middle of Guangxu.Once, Prince Gong talked with Liu Kunyi, Li Hongzhang, and Zhang Zhidong about business affairs. It was late at night in the Xiaohua Hall of the Prime Minister’s Office. Some light dishes were prepared by Yu Shuangsheng himself. After the meal, several gourmet experts With the same voice, they praised the dishes for their well-prepared recipes, the original nine flavors, and the overwhelming flavors in the south of the Yangtze River.Not long after, Chef Yu became the foreman and became the head chef.Yu Chu is not only good at swordsmanship and fire, but also his reception and response methods are even more exquisite.He works as the chef in the Prime Minister's Office. There are dozens of red and white cases under his hands, as well as cutting, picking, washing, and scraping. When entertaining foreign guests, entertaining nobles and relatives, or drinking in spring festivals, he will definitely perform with his own hands.Because of his bright mind and cunning means, he accepted many princes and ministers in power, made friends with powerful eunuchs in the government, and later received donations to obtain Dai Hualing, the second rank of alternate Daoist rank.Whenever there is a festive banquet in the Prime Minister's Office, the Minister's Minister's House, he will also have a brilliant feather, and he will advance and retreat, and sit on an equal footing with princes, ministers, ministers, and celebrities.And those adults and gentlemen have been generously paid by Yu Chef for three festivals and two birthdays, so everyone treats them with respect and friendship.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Prince Qing Yixuan and Zai Xun and Zai Tao were the most important in terms of wealth and wealth. Some people joked that if they played mahjong and lacked one of the three, only Chu Yu could be considered equal. How rich is the family wealth.
In addition to Yu Shuangsheng's own donation, his young master Xiaoyu also joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a secretary, and worked as a cashier in the ministry. In name, he was his son's errand, and secretly the income and expenditure were all in the hands of the old man.For the powerful and useful officials, he not only shares with Yu Li, but also advances the salary, and borrows them for emergencies. The old man, the chef, is even more respectful and courteous.
At that time, the servant Wang Daxie was known for his meticulousness in the yamen, and he never pretended to show his words to Chef Yu, so Chef Yu was a little bit jealous of Master Wang.Once, Prince Qing bestowed a purple rein on Ma Rongdian, and the officials in the yamen wanted to build a mansion to congratulate him.Before Wang Shengjie entered the room, he saw Yu Chu wearing a plume robe and gown, circling around with a blind smile in front of princes and dignitaries, flattering and courting him.In this situation, Wang Chu was in a dilemma. If he went in he didn't want to go, and if he retreated, he would lose his manners. In the midst of panic, fortunately, Chef Yu knew the general idea and hurried to another room.Wang Zeng wrote down this matter in his "Xi Jingzhai Notes", which is sure to be true.
The time when Prince Qing Yikuang was in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the time when Chef Yu was most proud. Yu's greatest strength was that he always maintained a humble and kind attitude towards people that "the villain deserves death, and the elder is promoted". There is absolutely no madness in the servants who are rich and powerful and bully others.So the relationship is getting wider and wider, and the eyelids are getting more and more complicated.In order to win over the Empress Dowager Xi and Li Lianying, the former favorite prisoner of the big celebrity, he worshiped his son under Li's sect as his adopted son and used it to show off.
After the withdrawal of the Eight-Power Allied Forces in the Year of Gengzi and the conclusion of the peace talks, Cixi returned from Xi'an and changed her xenophobic tactics. In order to maintain diplomatic relations, she prepared to have a grand banquet in Sanbeizi Garden for the wives of ministers from various countries, as well as the ladies of the East and the West who lived in Beijing. .The official banquet, with Cixi's generosity, and the fact that this imperial mission was hosted by Naqinxuan (Tong), naturally it is magnificent, luxurious and graceful.In order to please the empress dowager, Na Tong made all the extravagance and extravagance. He originally invited a famous chef from the British Legation to be the chef. Na Tong called to Yuqian and said: "We don't know how Western chefs are. If the taste of the dishes is not up to expectations, it will be a disaster. We can't reprimand foreign cooks. In my opinion, tomorrow's banquet , Let’s use the chef Yu from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!” From this we can see how the chef Yu is spinning around.Of course, this was Li Lianying's trick in front of Lafayette behind his back.Manager Li has always had no money and nothing to do. This kind of action that can save the world, and Chef Yu's tribute to Li, must be an amazing gift.Although Yu Chu spent a lot of money on this imperial mission, but Yu Chu had the best calculations, every time he went in and out, he earned several times more of his own ingots.In short, everyone is rich in the wealth of the Tian family, and the unlucky one is only the treasury of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In the beginning of the Republic of China, Tang Shaoyi became the first Prime Minister of the State, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was changed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Chef Yu was still able to control the big kitchen of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by virtue of his popularity, wide contacts, and tactful methods.When Lu Zhengxiang (Minister to Russia in the late Qing Dynasty) became the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yu Chu repeated his old trick and secretly selected a generous gift to go to the Minister's residence.Unexpectedly, Director-General Lu is a diplomat with a professional background. He has lived in Russia, France, and Belgium for more than 20 years.The next day I sent someone to investigate, and it turned out that it was a master chef in the ministry who was fired immediately in a fit of rage. Although the chef Yu ran around and tried his best to save him, but Chief Lu was honest and honest, and entrusted his favor to Yuan Xiangcheng, the second general Ruan Zhongshu , Yang Yunshi, and Lu Weixiang still didn't buy it.Chef Yu had no choice but to pack up his clothes and give up his old nest, which had been in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China for more than 20 years, and set up another nest.Chef Yu is a person who is not willing to be lonely. Not long after, he used the name of his apprentice to contract the large kitchen of the Ministry of Finance. Later, the officialdom called the "Little Liuguo Restaurant" of the Ministry of Finance, and it was Chef Yu's masterpiece!
Apart from the large kitchen of the Ministry of Finance, Chef Yu never forgot his love for Lafayette to host a banquet for foreign guests, so he hired the Binfeng Hall in Sanbeizi Garden for the whole banquet to have a drink.At that time, he lived in a garden house on the Street of the Ministry of Justice, and he went to the garden in a self-drawing carriage every three days to greet business.One year, Fan Fanshan presided over the Yinming Gathering, and went to Binfengtang to play poetry bells. There was a sub-chong of "Eating Master" and "Lilac Flower". Once in the limelight.It is said that Chef Yu's dishes do not have a certain pattern, and he can cook any famous dishes from various provinces and places at a glance, such as Yangzhou lion's head, Yangcheng's roasted purple abalone, the knife skills and the heat can be faked.It's a pity that Yu was born too late, only heard his name, never met his person, never tasted his taste, otherwise, from the mouth of this second-rank Dingdai master, I would have heard a lot of rare things from above!