Chapter 15 Talking about Qing Palace Meals from Hong Kong Manchu Banquet

Recently, a Japanese TV station, in order to make a Chinese cooking film, booked a table full of Han people at the State Guest Restaurant in Hong Kong. It was hosted by the famous model Lisa Damulisa, and the banquet was attended by TV star Mihama, movie star Tianji Minoru, and writer Kobayashi. Xixing, cartoonist Dong Hailin, and seven senior staff members of TBS TV station have a total of twelve people.This feast was eaten for 48 hours, and the total cost was 100,000 yuan (equivalent to 20,000 U.S. dollars). It only took three months to purchase rare materials everywhere, mobilized 22 famous chefs, and configured seven Ten famous dishes, divided into two days and four banquets.

The lunch on the first day is called "Yutang Banquet". There are nine dishes of "Jia Chuanlu" and "Dragon Luck and Auspiciousness"; the dinner is called "Dragon Gate Banquet", and the recipes are "Inscription on the Wild Goose Pagoda", "Scent from the Royal Fan", "Royal Crown Crown", "Big Wings in the Wok", "One Palm of Mountains and Rivers", "Snow Chrysanthemum Ruilong", "Full house auspicious celebration", "Fulu mandarin duck", "Langji deer preserved", "Jiuru Xianrui" ten dishes.

The next day's lunch is called "Golden Flower Banquet", and the recipes are "Fengchi Bonuan", "Weiyang Jingjing", "Mengbi Shenghua", "Panshui Celery Fragrance", "Tai Chi Grand Picture", "Li pulls the thousand jun", "Guier sparrow tongue" Ruyi Double Chicken, Dragon Boat and Sea Cucumber, nine dishes; the dinner is called Luming Banquet, and the menu is "Dragon and Phoenix Crossing Brilliance", "Purple Belt Apron", "Golden Hairpin Covered by Sleeves", "Peony Phoenix Wings", "Kunlun Net Abalone" Ten dishes of Haiwu Tianchou, Roasted Clams, Songhe Xialing, Moon Shadow Ganoderma, and Juhaihuangxian.

There are a total of thirty-eight dishes for the four-table banquet, plus "Queen Mother's Pantao", "Shanglin Chunjing", "Fishermen and Woodcutters", "Juelu Fenghou", "Hehe Ersheng", "Sanxing Gongzhao", "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea", "Five Blessings". "Rui" eight colors kneaded with flour offerings, in addition to Sijingguo, Sishengguo, Siguo, Simiguo, Sikanguo, a total of 70 dishes.The person in charge of the restaurant said that all the recipes were verified from ancient books, and the tableware was specially imitated from the ancient times, all of which were plated with gold. Unfortunately, monkey brains blindly conformed to Hong Kong laws and regulations, and could not be eaten by people...

According to the above statement, if the Manchu banquet was really so extravagant and desperate, then wouldn't our China become a nation that only wants to enjoy and spend money, instead of a great country that understands the art of drinking and dining. Let's first look at the menu of the Manchurian banquet in the Hong Kong State Guest Restaurant, which has caused a sensation both at home and abroad.As far as the dishes are concerned, it is like reciting a happy song and celebrating a birthday.Whether it was proposed by the Guanglu Temple or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whether the Manchu and Han banquets can be named as the name of the dish is really unquestionable.Back then, in Cantonese restaurants in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Kowloon, and Shanghai, when someone ordered a banquet to treat guests, diners who liked to name dishes with nondescript names, so that diners who were good at drinking were confused, and they had to hire church attendants, otherwise they would be chickens. For duck, it is not clear whether it is meat or vegetarian!

This Man-Han Banquet has nine courses for both lunches and ten courses for two dinners.As far as the current general situation is concerned, there are nine or ten dishes at a banquet, which is not too many dishes, but there are some uncommon delicacies, such as elephant trunks, sparrow tongues, whales, shark belly, and deer tail. Waiting, eating one after another, making people dazzled and unpredictable.As for the blindness of monkey brains, it is regrettable that the laws of Hong Kong have not been able to cure the guests. According to the legend of ordinary people, if you eat monkey brains, you have to shave the monkey's head, wear brocade clothes, open a hole in the center of the table, insert the monkey's voice tightly, and draw the hammer With one blow, everyone drank blood; can such a horrible live drama be included in a solemn state banquet?

As far as the author knows, most of the records of court diet in the past dynasties of China are vague and unclear. In recent years, the "Diet Chapter" published in the Folklore Series, although it is said to be a collection of tea, wine, delicacies, vegetables and fruits since the Tang and Song Dynasties, it cannot be regarded as A set of detailed and complete monographs (because the memoirs of drinking and food in the Qing Dynasty are not included in this article). Professor Wu Xiangxiang said that he had seen the Qing Dynasty food archives collected by the Forbidden City, and most of them were complete since Qianlong.The time when the emperor eats the royal meal every day, the name of the meal, the name of the cook who cooks the meal, how much the meal is, the name of the meal that is temporarily added, and who is rewarded for the rest of the meal are all listed in the file in detail.In addition, there is a record in the Qing palace food file, which is that the Qianlong Dynasty paid tribute to Koryo for various seafood, including 200 catties of sea cucumbers. Appreciating people, it can be seen that in the Qianlong era, shark fins and sea cucumbers were not used as food in the heavenly kitchen.So some people say that shark fin was included in the menu of upright officials after Qianlong, which may be true.The Kangxi and Qianlong eras were the heyday of Wufu and Minfeng in the Qing Dynasty. The vassal state paid tribute to the pilgrimage envoys, and there was an endless stream. Of course, the number of state banquets was also the most. Now, the national power is already frayed, even Zhang Zhang's state banquet, if the banquet comes, I'm afraid it will not surpass Kang Qian.

Some people say that Cixi was extremely extravagant in her later years, and there were as many as 128 bowls of dishes for one dinner.Mu Zong ascended the throne on the ninth day of October in the first year of Tongzhi, and it coincided with the longevity of Cixi. At that time, she was the mother of the world. The imperial dining room served a table of dinner in the Hall of Mental Cultivation on the second day of Shenchu. A yellow menu is placed on the table.The second product of hot pot: stir-fried spinach with shredded pork, game sauerkraut; the fourth product of large bowl dishes: red and white shredded duck with the word "wan" in bird's nest, three delicacies fat chicken in the word "nian" in bird's nest, eight immortals duck in the word "ru" in bird's nest, and "yi" in bird's nest The word shredded brocade chicken; four dishes in a medium bowl: duck strips with bird's nest, shrimp balls,.Braised duck waist, sea cucumber; dish six dishes: stir-fried shredded duck with bird's nest, chicken with radish sauce, fried wings with shredded pork, duck in sauce, fried wild rice stem with pickled vegetables, and scrambled eggs with shredded pork.Judging from the table of birthday banquet, the materials used, except bird's nest is more used, all kinds of dishes are kept on the chicken and duck, no one eats fish, and the shark's fin is only included in the dishes.In all fairness, it is not as good as the current table of abalone-fin seats.

Although the author has never seen the meal archives of the Qing Dynasty, there are often records of banquets given by the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the notebooks of famous officials of the past dynasties.Every year and longevity, all kinds of honors and honors are celebrated. As usual, all civil and military officials will have a banquet in the Hall of Supreme Harmony to celebrate together.A grand state banquet is held grandly only when two major national events, such as paying tribute to the DPRK and presenting captives to celebrate the rebellion, are met.Saishang A’s "Seven Records of Yunji" describes the strangeness and beauty of the state banquet, saying: "The decorations are paved with brocade and embroidered, and the swords and halberds are dazzling; Dome, the heavenly music plays. Show off the majesty of heaven, cherish the softness of people far away.” It can be seen that the state banquet at that time was full of water and land, and the silk and bamboo went hand in hand, which had a deep meaning.As the saying goes, it is to put on a show and let them have a look.

When the Palace Museum was open to visit, the Yongshou Palace once displayed a breakfast menu before Xuantong left the palace, including: mushroom fat chicken, three delicacies duck, five shredded chicken, stewed meat, stewed belly and lung, stewed cabbage with sliced ​​meat, braised yellow rice Mutton, mutton stewed with spinach and tofu, cherry meat with yam, stewed cabbage with hearth meat, sliced ​​mutton with boiled radish, duck strips with sea cucumber, duck diced, Gexian rice, roasted arrowroot, braised magnolia with sliced ​​meat, shredded mutton with stewed lumps, fried spring rolls , Stir-fried shredded pork with chives, smoked elbow flowers, small tripe, stewed fried tofu, boiled vegetables, fried shredded cabbage with pepper, five-spice shreds, sacrificial meat soup, boiled Sailer, boiled white meat.In addition to boiled Sailor, there are more than 20 other dishes on this menu, most of which are crude and ordinary, not in a pattern, not to mention there are no such precious things as hump, scorpion, and eight treasures, such as shark's fin, net abalone and other ordinary dishes. Seafood is also not seen on the menu.Most people always think that court food is extravagant and exaggerated, and so on, even the court banquets in the early years cannot be compared with Hong Kong's Manchu Banquet.

In the early Republic of China, the person in charge of internal affairs in the upright officials was still called the Minister of Internal Affairs.There was a handover between the old senior and the new successor, and there was a copy of Guanglu Temple's "Great Banquet Rules and Regulations" in the appendix. Although the Manyan and Han banquets were classified into different categories, even the Manchu and Han banquets were also divided into upper, middle, and third grades.There are 180 items for the upper banquet, 150 items for the middle banquet, and 130 items for the whole banquet.It's a pity that the friends who saw the list at that time looked through it out of curiosity, and only remembered the number of products of the three kinds of Manchu banquets in Shangzhongquan. In the 22nd year of the Republic of China, the author had a trip to Yangtai in northern Jiangsu. Senior salt merchant Li Zhenqing lived opposite the Jinguiyuan restaurant in Yangzhou. Mr. Zhen had a long scroll of Qianlong’s southern tour in his possession. When the author went to Jinguiyuan for a banquet, he made an appointment to taste it at his home.The previous generation of Li's family had a marriage relationship with Zou Yixiao, the official Tanhua of Qianlong Ding Chou, and the hand scroll was the betrothal gift of that year.Most of these long scrolls of fine brushwork figures were written by the inner court. As long as you look at the mounting of the paintings, the gold hooked plaice belt, and the jade shell hanging Huang, you can know that they are treasures of the inner court for more than a hundred years.In the painting box with engraved lacquer and gold, there is a single post on yellow dragon pattern paper.The words on it are all engraved on wooden boards, and then printed on them. It is a gift list for the imperial meal: Qianlong traveled to the south twelve times in his life, and went to Yangzhou three times. Although this gift list does not specify the year and month, it is undoubtedly provided by Qinglian’s southern tour. A food list for the queen.Since it was engraved on a wooden board, there must have been several copies printed, and it is expected that it will not be fake.Listed on the list: 10 pieces of big sea, 10 pieces of medium sea, 10 pieces of small sea, 10 pieces of barbecue, 10 pieces of stewed meat, 20 pieces of candied fruit, 20 pieces of hot-fried, 20 pieces of small and medium-sized cold pots, 10 pieces of dried fruit, and 10 pieces of fresh fruit 130 pieces in total.Note that there are also 20 pieces of watching DVDs. The so-called watching DVDs may be the result of watching the Hong Kong state guests.It's a pity that this list only lists the names of the items, and does not list the names of the dishes. From this, we can see how the Huaiyang salt merchants did their best to provide extravagant supplies during Qianlong's southern tour. Only more than nothing.The folklore about how luxurious and extravagant the Manchu Banquet is may come from this. This time, the Hong Kong State Guest Restaurant named the Manchu Banquet as "Yutang Banquet", "Dragon Gate Banquet", "Golden Flower Banquet" and "Luming Banquet", all of which are auspicious words for the success of scientific examinations in the imperial examination era.In fact, in those days, only the "Grand Banquet of Luming" was used "Luming Banquet", and the first and second best banquets were called "Enrong Banquet", and they did not belong to the scope of Manchu and Han banquets. Names such as "Yutang", "Longmen" and "Golden Flower" must be nouns that the restaurant is thinking about now.I was born too late, and I have never seen the Manchurian Banquet, let alone eaten it. All kinds of Manchurian Banquets are all things I have heard, so I hope you can correct me.