Chapter 488 True Buddha
“Hey, you are killing me like this. What can I say?”
“Zhang Dashao” sighed, closed his eyes, and couldn’t help but Sent a sigh of relief.
“You kid, you have been respectful to me since you rented my room. Not only did you do everything you promised me, you also gave me things during holidays. Please bear in mind, I have kept these in mind. "
"What is a craftsman doing? It is just to make a living and earn a living by his craftsmanship. As the old saying goes, learning martial arts is a good thing. Selling the emperor's family. The emperor does not need it, but he knows the family and does not need it. In today's words, it is to apply what he has 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 possible, which can be regarded as staying. Something. Since you don’t dislike me and you want to do serious things that are beneficial to the country, I have to be worthy of you and stop pretending to be a small person in front of you.”
“We. I have never made a name for myself in my whole life, but this is not because of my lack of ability. Although I can't cook the dishes for you, I do have some say in the royal cuisine, and I know a lot about it. There are more people around. If you are willing to listen, I will talk and give you advice as best I can..."
"Zhang Dashao"'s tone brought out the desolation of the twilight of life, revealing a sense of desolation. Feng Tang Yi is old, and Li Guang is hard to seal.
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 advice.
"Everyone is probably curious about the food that 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 Fake Food and The Tingli Restaurant in the Summer Palace is quite lively, but they are really not authentic. It’s just half and half, it’s just a taste.”
(Note: It’s a taste of things, not that good. (things)
My dear fellow, this is not surprising at first glance.
Although I have already 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 relegated to such a low level by him!
Ning Weimin was still extremely surprised.
So I couldn't hold it back and blurted out "Ah...".
But his reaction was exactly what the old man wanted.
"Zhang Dashao" raised his eyebrows and his conversation became more interesting.
"Don't scream, 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. They were not called restaurants, but just teahouses. The main business types were also palace pastries and snacks, such as minced meat sesame cakes. , Xiaowotou, pea yellow, Aiwowo and so on. There are not many stir-fried vegetables, and they were added later. Do you know the reason? "
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. Among these royal chefs, except for the 'King of Capture', who can cook a few times on the stove, the others are not Those who work in the dry food store are those who have never even touched a frying spoon. In addition, the operation mode of the palace kitchen is too expensive to maintain, even if it is the largest in the capital. Restaurants can’t imitate this, so think about it, how authentic are their dishes?”
"How big is the real palace dining room? Let me tell you, it is collectively called the 'Imperial Tea Dining Room'. It is a huge institution that covers everything from storage to production, serving and storage of food and drinks. It is known as the 'dining room' There are "forty-eight offices". There are at most tens of thousands of people working inside and outside the palace. The branches at the lower level of 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. , eight warehouses. "
"There are more and more details further down. Let's not mention anything else, just the inner dining room that provides food and drinks for the emperor, queen, and empress dowager, also called the imperial dining room. . It is divided into five rooms: the Chonghua Palace Imperial Dining Room, the Zhai Palace Dining Room, the Longevity Dining Room, the Tea Dining Room, and the Yangxin Palace Imperial Dining Room. "
"The "Tianzi" is the Yangxin Palace Imperial Dining Room. Of course, the "No. 1 Dining Room" is the most important, with almost 400 kitchen workers. It is divided into five departments: meat and vegetable bureau, vegetarian bureau, dinner bureau, hanging stove bureau, and snack bureau. In addition, there are also rumors that chefs from outside the palace come into the palace to cook. The Yeyi Bureau is also called the Baohuo Bureau. "
"The five Bureaus are divided into several categories. For example, the "Red Case" of the Meat and Vegetable Bureau includes stir-frying, stewing, frying, and cooking. Braising, cooking, frying, boiling, braising, stewing, etc. The chef is responsible for stir-frying, and he only handles frying. He does not care about other tasks such as braising, frying, 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, except for some daily needs, every place has the obligation to pay tribute to the palace. Chai', the tribute is food, so it is called "Gong Chai Shan Xiang".
"It can be said that all year round, convoys of tribute food 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. "
"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, the real difference is huge. The food eaten in the palace is called "Feiluo Noodles". Every year, new wheat comes out and is finely ground. Generally, the noodles that ordinary people eat are ground twice. But Feiluo Noodles have to be ground six times. The breeze blows everywhere, and the flour flies like dust. "Baixue."
"Feilao noodles are offered as tribute to the palace, among which the ones from Linfen, Shanxi Province are the best. The fried white belly trout meat comes from Liaoning. , bell wheat (buckwheat), and barnyard rice come from Jilin. Kelp, seaweed, and lotus seeds come from Shandong. Rock sugar, red oranges, and oranges come from Fuzhou. Candied dates from Zhejiang and white fungus from Lingtong were once regularly delivered to the capital as tribute.”
“Although the price of anchovies in Jiangnan is higher than gold, in old age, the first thing to catch anchovies is every spring. It must be sent to the palace. After the anchovies are caught, they are transported to the capital by ice boat and fast horse. The journey 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 people who deliver the fish will not stop during the journey and are only allowed to eat eggs to satisfy their hunger. Can you imagine what this is like? "
"So, in terms of manpower, the manpower is insufficient. In terms of ingredients, the ingredients are wrong. So to you, isn't this kind of imitation meal a fake? It's too different from the real thing. It’s simply impossible to get close to the real palace diet. I’m being polite when I say half or half...”
Experts will know if there is one as soon as it is exported.
With these words, Ning Weimin was sincerely surprised.
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 come this old man knows so much detail.
But what he cares more about at the moment is that he is sure that what the old man said must be extremely valuable.
So I was full of energy and sat upright, never willing to miss a word easily.
(End of this chapter)