"Hey, you are killing me like this. What can I say?"
"Zhang Dashao" sighed, closed his eyes, and couldn't help but sigh.
"You kid, you've been respectful to me since you rented my house. Not only did you do what you promised me, but you even sent me things during the holidays. Please remember these things.
I keep it all in mind."
"What's more, what does a craftsman want? It's nothing more than to rely on his crafts to make a living and earn a respectable position. As the old saying goes, if you learn literary and martial arts, you can sell your goods to the emperor's family. The emperor doesn't use it, but sells it to know the family. If you know the family, you don't need it, but to act righteously. Use it.
Nowadays, it’s all about applying what you have learned.”
"Think about it, I'm already this old, and I might climb the chimney of Babao Mountain in a few years. Rather than letting all the things I have learned in my life go up in smoke with me, I might as well help you as much as I can, which can be regarded as staying.
Something. Since you don’t dislike me and what you want to do is a serious thing that is beneficial to the country, then I have to be worthy of you. I won’t pretend to be a small person in front of you.”
"Let's open the sky and let's be honest. I have never made a name for myself in my life, but this is not because of my lack of ability. Although I can't serve you, I do have some say in the palace cuisine. You know
There have to be more than others. If you are willing to listen, I will come and talk and give you advice to the best of my ability..."
The tone of "Zhang Dashao" brings out the desolation of the twilight of life, with a hint of Feng Tang Yi Lao and Li Guang Nan Feng.
However, when Ning Weimin heard this, he was very excited, and even unhappy.
So he bowed deeply again, said "Thank you" in his mouth, and quickly stepped forward to fill "Zhang Dashao"'s tea cup.
In this way, "Zhang Dashao" finally started talking and gave Ning Weimin some pointers.
"Everyone is probably curious about the food the emperor ate back then. But not many people really know about it. I have to tell you first of all, there is no serious imperial food anymore. Don't look at Beihai Fangshan or Tingli Restaurant in the Summer Palace.
It’s quite lively, but they are really not authentic. If I have to say it forcefully, it’s half and half, which is just a taste of things.”
(Note: It’s a tasteless thing, not a very good thing)
Good guy, the first time I opened my mouth, my words were not surprising, but I couldn’t stop talking.
Although I have long concluded in my heart that "Zhang Dashao" is no ordinary person.
But I heard that these two well-known and famous palace dishes were actually let him be casually degraded to such a low level!
Ning Weimin was still extremely surprised.
So I couldn't hold it back and blurted out "Ah...".
However, his reaction was exactly what the old man wanted.
"Zhang Dashao" raised his eyebrows, and the conversation became more interesting.
"Don't yell, I'm not talking arrogantly. When Beihai Fangshan was established in the 14th year of the Republic of China (1925), the chefs were indeed imperial chefs. It was not called a restaurant, but just a teahouse. The main business types were palace pastries and snacks, and minced meat sesame cakes.
, Xiaowotou, pea yellow, Aiwowo, etc. There are not many cooking dishes, and they were added slowly later. Do you know the reason for this? "
Where does Ning Weimin know where to go?
As he shook his head in confusion.
"Zhang Dashao" showed a smile that he knew he would be like this.
"That's because the structure of the palace dining room is too big. Except for the 'King of Chaoshu', who can cook a few times on the stove, the rest of the royal chefs are either working in the kitchen or in the tea kitchen.
I have never even touched a frying spoon, but I know how to make this. In addition, the operation mode of the palace dining room is too expensive to maintain. Even the largest restaurant in Beijing cannot imitate it. Then you
Think about it, even if they put up the imitation food brand, how authentic are the dishes?"
"How big is the real palace dining room? Let me tell you, it is collectively called the 'Royal Tea Dining Room', a huge institution that covers everything from storage to making, serving, and storage of food and drinks. It is known as the 'dining room'
There are "forty-eight offices". There are tens of thousands of people working inside and outside the palace at most. The branches at the next level in the palace include the tea room, the tea room, the external dining room, the internal dining room, the fresh food department, the comprador office, and the stall office.
, warehouse eight."
"There are more and more details further down. Let's not mention anything else. Let's just talk about the inner dining room for the emperor, empress, and empress dowager. It is also called the imperial dining room. It is divided into the imperial dining room of Chonghua Palace and the dining room.
There are five places: the palace dining room, the longevity dining room, the tea dining room, and the imperial dining room of the Yangxin Hall.”
"Among them, the No. 1 dining room in the Yangxin Hall, the Imperial Kitchen, is of course the most important. There are almost 400 cooks. It is divided into five departments: meat and vegetable bureau, vegetarian bureau, dinner bureau, hanging stove bureau and dim sum bureau. In addition, there are
There are rumors from outside the palace that chefs come into the palace to cook food, which is also called Baohuo Bureau."
"The five bureaus are divided into several categories. For example, the 'red table' of the meat and vegetable bureau has functions such as stir-frying, stewing, pan-frying, stewing, braising, cooking, deep-frying, boiling, braising, stewing, etc. The chef is responsible for stir-frying,
He is only responsible for frying, and he does not care about other tasks such as braising, frying, boiling, braising, and stewing. The division of labor is very detailed."
"As for another key question, where does the palace's food come from? Let me tell you again, except for some daily needs that have to be purchased locally in the capital. Every place has the obligation to pay tribute to the palace. This is'
"Gongcha', the tribute is food, so it is called 'meal item'. Collectively, it is called 'gongcha meal item'."
"It can be said that throughout the year, convoys of food and beverage items enter the Forbidden City in an endless stream. From rice, noodles, fruits and vegetables to milk, wine, sugar and tea, from oil, salt, soy and vinegar to chicken, duck and fish, all kinds of items are in fixed quantities and numerous in count.
"
"You know, although on the surface, the ingredients used in palace meals are not much different from those of ordinary people. They are just rice, noodles, meat and vegetables. But in fact, it is not the case. The real gap is huge. For example, white noodles are called 'flying noodles' eaten in the palace.
"Loomed noodles", new wheat comes out every year, and they are finely ground. Generally, the flour that people eat is ground twice. But Feilao noodles need to be ground six times. When the breeze blows, the flour is like dust and white snow."
"Many places across the country offer Feiluo noodles as tribute to the palace, among which Linfen in Shanxi is the best. Deer tail, deer tongue, and deer sausage come from Liaoning. Deep-fried white belly trout cubes, bell wheat (buckwheat), and barnyard rice
From Jilin. Kelp, seaweed, and lotus seeds come from Shandong. Nanhua wild rice, betel nuts, and cardamom come from Guangdong. Rock sugar, red tangerines, and oranges come from Fuzhou. There are also bad oil from Jiangsu, rape from Henan, candied dates from Zhejiang, and white fungus from Lingtong, etc.
, were all tributes delivered to the capital on a regular basis."
"Although the price of shad in the south of the Yangtze River is higher than that of gold, in old age, the first net of shad must be sent to the palace every spring. After the shad are caught, ice boats and fast horses are used to divide the water and transported to the capital by land and road.
The distance from Zhenjiang to the capital is about three thousand miles, and the delivery time is limited to 22 hours (44 hours). The palace has already made preparations for cooking. As soon as the anchovies arrive, they will be cooked immediately. In order to buy time, the fish delivery man rested on the way.
People are not allowed to rest and are only allowed to eat eggs to satisfy their hunger. Can you imagine what this is like?"
"So, in terms of manpower, there is insufficient manpower. In terms of ingredients, the ingredients are wrong. So for you, isn't this imitation meal just an imitation? It's too different from the real thing. It's impossible to get close to it.
Real palace food. I'm being polite when I say half and half..."
Experts will know if it is there as soon as it is exported.
Just by these words, Ning Weimin felt a heartfelt surprise.
He never expected that he would be so lucky that he would accidentally meet the real Buddha today.
Frankly speaking, although I can't help but be a little surprised, how could this old man know so much in detail?
But what he cares more about at this moment is that he is sure that what the old man says must be extremely valuable.
So I was full of energy and sat upright, never willing to miss a word easily.