Chapter 491 Mystery
"Zhang Dashao" explained it quite clearly.
Based on reality, Ning Weimin really understood it.
No wonder the dishes at the two existing palace restaurants are commendable only for their shape and taste, but they are average in taste.
I only have the knowledge of how to arrange dishes and make calligraphy in the palace.
However, most of the raw materials are of mediocre quality, and they do not adopt the palace's demanding standards for raw materials and production methods.
In production, only Zhuangguan thickening and oil-spraying techniques are used to cover up the deficiencies of raw materials.
However, the cooking skills of the chefs are not as good as those of time-honored restaurants such as Cuihualou and Fengzeyuan, and the prices are several times more expensive than ordinary Shandong cuisine.
In the eyes of people in the capital who are accustomed to Shandong cuisine, it is natural to feel that it is flashy and just that.
If you spend the public money, that's fine. If you spend it yourself, you will definitely feel bad and think you are cheating.
"Master Zhang, if we put it this way, the palace cuisine that has been passed down is just in name but not in reality. In essence, it is not palace cuisine, but Zhuangguan cuisine with the flavor of Shandong cuisine. So as long as I am willing to pay If the cost is increased, the texture of the raw materials is increased, and real various soup stocks are used in the production, is it considered a real palace cuisine? "Is this the essence of palace cuisine?"
Ning Weimin asked. These words made "Zhang Dashao" nod with approval.
"You are closer to understanding. The royal family is worshiped by the world, and strives for perfection in both raw materials and production, and details are carried out in every step, even in name only. The ingredients in the meal menu have been carefully considered by the royal doctors and should not harm health. The first hurdle in making a royal meal is the cost. "
"But how easy is it to overcome this hurdle? The food is relatively cheap, but it’s easy to put it into practice. The difficult part is the soup stock. Although the words "original soup and original food" are simple to say, it means that thousands of pounds of various meats are consumed every day. "
< br>"Sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, from all parts to all internal organs, as well as mushrooms, fresh mushrooms, and mixed cans of soup. In total, nearly a hundred kinds of broth have to be made, and what about coal fires and labor costs? ”
"This is every day. Even if you can try your best to reduce some unnecessary soups, there are still fifty or sixty kinds. This is why no matter how big a restaurant is, it is difficult to imitate the Imperial Kitchen. Not counting manpower, Not counting the transportation of tribute and meal items, the cost of raw materials alone is terrifying."
Ning Weimin lowered his head and said nothing. With just a rough calculation, he could realize how much this cost to the people. Incredible.
In this era, there were no chicken wings, chicken wing roots, pork knuckles, ribs... meats cut according to their positions were sold.
If you want to buy meat raw materials, you have to buy them whole.
So just making soup stock for a day costs a little over 2,000 yuan. Isn’t this scary enough?
What's more, "Zhang Dashao" then gave him a more difficult question.
“Even if you really do it, you have to be careful not to spend money in vain. Because theory is theory, and in the end it depends on how it is implemented in practice. If there are really problems with management, then everything will be in vain. Ah. I can say that if you compare the Qianlong Dynasty with the late Qing Dynasty, the situation of the palace dining room is very different. Regardless of the cooking level and skills, the imperial chefs in the late Qing Dynasty have made great progress compared to the imperial chefs in the past. But due to loose management, all aspects are not done well. The dishes produced in the imperial dining room in the late Qing Dynasty are really not as delicious as the dishes in the restaurant. How could it be so bad?"
Ning Weimin couldn't help but be surprised and asked, "If the imperial kitchen is so strict, problems can occur. Isn't this a feudal society that is afraid of beheading?"< br>
"Zhang Dashao" laughed and gave it a try.
"Can't you figure it out again? Okay, then I'll explain it carefully so that you don't make the same mistake again."
Then he started to explain it formally to clear up Ning Weimin's doubts.
"Yes, the rules in the palace are the strictest. But all the rules must be enforced by people. First think about what it was like in the late Qing Dynasty? Orphans and widows, hens and chickens in the morning, wars and wars. , the sun is declining, and it cannot be compared with the heyday of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the whole country and society were dominated by private individuals, corruption and fraud, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which controlled all the expenses of the palace, could still survive. Is Qingming okay? It’s just more extreme.”
“The imperial kitchen of Yangxin Palace, which was the first in Tianzi, became overstaffed and engaged in nepotism. This is actually very understandable, as it is like serving the emperor. Except for some who came from Zhejiang during the Qianlong Dynasty, most of the imperial chefs were bannermen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As professionals who require the most security, they are all hereditary. The salary is not high, the salary of a chef is only a seventh-grade salary, and ordinary people only receive five or six taels of silver per month. However, as a special class, they have the opportunity to control most of the raw material trading opportunities, and their income is stable, so this job is still quite enviable. . In order to stabilize their status, the imperial chefs arranged for personal appointments and formed cliques. From generation to generation, the imperial kitchen became increasingly unable to tolerate outsiders. ”
"It's actually easy for the imperial chefs to try to outsmart people from outside. Since the palace tributes are available in all provinces across the country, the chefs outside the palace generally have limited knowledge. Most of them only know how to cook traditional dishes and don't know how to cook products from all over the world. The hereditary imperial chefs take advantage of this. This makes it easy for outsiders to lose face and leave in frustration. Therefore, all the people hired from outside the Baohuo Bureau are incompatible with the old people of the Imperial Kitchen and cannot stay for a long time."
"In this case. As the palace only knew the Queen Mother and no one knew about the emperor, the situation became more and more serious, and the imperial chefs became more and more greedy and bold. Finally, they became so serious that they could exchange bad things for good ones and adjust the seasonings at will. and vegetables, and sold most of the emperor's goodies to Huixiantang. To save trouble, the imperial chefs even went so far as to cook the emperor's two meals a day at once."
"Think about it, although in order to meet the emperor's need for food to be eaten at any time, the palace has always used the method of sandwiching a casserole between two hot iron plates to keep it warm. But the time was too long, and most of the dishes were unbearable. It's impossible to stew it like this without affecting the taste. Especially for dinner, the steaks are so chewy, the dishes are not bright, and the porridge and rice have no flavor at all. It is difficult to guarantee the standard of cooking due to the deterioration of the quality of the raw materials and the nepotism of the staff in the imperial kitchen. "To be fair, there are people who want to make progress in any field, especially when cooking for the emperor, they have to read the chef's name. Yes. Who doesn’t want to get some rewards for doing good work? But at this time, the places to cook for the emperor are all designated by the chef. If you don’t give money, you won’t have the chance to show your face, and the raw materials will not be used, and all the good things will be sold. It can be said that most of the imperial chefs at this time have become worms waiting to die."
"Even the emperor expressed dissatisfaction with such meals. It's useless. Because the imperial chefs and eunuchs who are in power are related to each other and have people behind them. As long as their backers go to the Queen Mother to plead for mercy, there will be no real punishment. If it is like this, it will be useless no matter who it is. If you want to correct it, it will hurt the vested interests of many people, especially the unlucky Emperor Guangxu, who is not as close to the Queen Mother as Na Tong and Zeng Chong. Minister of the government. It's just a decoration..."
Well, the inside story of the palace disclosed by "Zhang Dashao" is simply shocking. This is completely the following, using slaves to deceive the master.
Ning Weimin has never seen any news disclosed by any channel. But it is so reasonable and well-founded that it is difficult to question it.
"Then...it doesn't mean that all palace dishes are no longer good, right? And what about the people who serve Cixi's ladies? Is the Queen Mother of the West also willing to eat dishes of this level?"
After thinking carefully for a while, Ning Weimin finally found an entry point to ask questions.
But it’s not that he wants to overthrow “Zhang Dashao”, he really doesn’t understand and wants to ask for advice.
The old man gave him the answer without even thinking about it.
"The Queen Mother of the West is of course different. The longevity dining room and tea dining room are dedicated to serving her, and the chefs there still maintain the basic environment of being outstanding with their craftsmanship. But it is precisely because of the , the chefs there are quite frustrated, but they are all useless."
"You have to know that no matter how good the food is, you will get tired of eating it every day, not to mention that the Queen Mother of the West is violating the national law. The most powerful person did not take the Dharma into her heart. She was famous in Chinese and foreign history for her extravagant lifestyle. As a result, because she was not satisfied with only eating palace food, she set up a small kitchen specifically for her. Let the Baohuo Bureau hire external chefs to cook restaurant dishes for her every meal.”
“So for every dinner the Queen Mother has, the palace chefs and the external chefs will show off their talents. When the meal is passed, the eunuchs of all ages line up to wait, and the dishes are immediately placed. A few special dishes are served on three or four dining tables. There are often more than a hundred varieties, including hot and cold dishes. There are all kinds of barbecue food and snacks. After the food is served, she will take a look at it and leave it if she doesn't want to eat it. "
"Needless to say, this old lady is from the palace. The only person who can decide what to eat based on personal preference, she has eaten too much of the menu dishes that require the same taste for two hundred years, and has long since lost their freshness. She is a reward. Almost all of them were hired by external chefs. Even the external chefs thought that the chefs in the palace were of inferior quality and were no match for them. This spread made people misunderstand the imperial chefs. ”
"In addition, as we have said, the palace dining room is a very large institution. In addition to several dining rooms for the emperor, queen, and queen mother, whether it is an external dining room for entertaining ministers or a meal for the prince, He, his son', or the main dining room where meals are prepared for the concubines, or even the place where Kunning Palace prepares meat for sacrifices to the gods, or the people in the inner and outer cooking rooms, as well as the tea room and tea room, Anyone can claim to be an imperial chef. "
"It is conceivable that after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, these people suddenly flooded the society with excuses for their uneven and specious cooking skills, and they would have trouble with the reputation of the imperial chef. How much impact and damage has been caused, so the evaluation of imperial chefs and palace cuisine has always been in the clouds. If they think it is good, they really say it is good, and if they think it is bad, they really say it is bad. Almost no one can make an objective evaluation. Ah. It’s because what most people have access to and understand is only a one-sided situation.”
“As for the advantages of palace cuisine, in addition to the quality of the raw materials, cooking skills and matching methods. In addition to being extremely particular and pursuing pure and strong taste, the most important thing is that it is an eclectic collection of talents. The range of recipes of palace cuisine is unmatched by any other cuisine. It is a collection of products from all over the world. Cooking collection. "
"For example, it is normal for the unique ingredients of the north and the south to complement each other, and the cooking methods of famous dishes and royal dishes from various places can also be learned. At the palace banquet, whether it is Manchurian dishes, game, soups, seafood, flower and fruit vegetables, hot pots, Manchurian and Mongolian barbecue, dim sum, and pastries, it is all available."
"It can really be said that it is palace cuisine. It is the refinement and collection of cooking methods from all over the country. Although the words "Manchu-Han Banquet" have never appeared in the palace, there is a certain truth in calling it that way. Even these four words seem a bit stingy, I guess. It is said that it is almost the same as the banquet of the five ethnic groups from Manchuria, Mongolia and Tibetans who returned to the Han Dynasty..."
What a guy!
Being given a real history lesson by "Zhang Dashao", Ning Weimin was greatly inspired.
On the one hand, he felt more and more that "Zhang Dashao" was unfathomable and had a deep connection with the imperial cook of the Qing Palace. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to understand the inside story so thoroughly.
While admiring the old man, he couldn't help but be curious.
On the other hand, it also made him feel that his understanding of palace dishes and cooking methods had reached a new level.
I can actually view cooking from an unprecedented height, and even feel that I have the ability to judge the quality of dishes and the ability of the chef.
Needless to say, he also had more ideas about how to run a restaurant, and he was excited and excited at the same time.
At the same time, he felt that his thoughts were confused. There were many things that he urgently needed to think about clearly, but it was difficult to have a clue at the moment.
As a result, at this moment, the last gift "Zhang Dashao" gave him was thrown out, and he could no longer help but be moved, and he had to acknowledge the old man's sincere friendship for helping each other.
"Okay, since you have been patient enough to listen to my nagging for so long, I have to give you something practical. Listen, there are some things that I can't solve, and I can't figure out how to solve them. For example, if the cook does not steal, the grain will not be harvested. You have to rely on yourself in this aspect, but I can help you do a few more things that are beneficial to you and can directly see the results.”
"First, I can help you compile a menu. There are some Manchu and Manchu-style dishes, and even game dishes, such as venison, which are indispensable for the palace. You can then introduce them as a feature to distinguish others. Food. "
"Secondly, I can also help you contact a few capable people, including chefs and purchasers, who are all about to retire. With them, your restaurant will be more confident. A bit stronger. But when you hire someone to help, you can’t be too stingy with the price, otherwise you will lose face.” If you don't know someone from the service bureau, it won't be difficult for you. Even though Fengzeyuan has only about fifty years of history, their "old noodles" are hundreds of years old. It was brought out by Luan Xuetang from the old proprietor "Xinfenglou". With this thing, your pastries can easily surpass those of ordinary places."
"Finally, I have a makeshift solution that can barely solve your soup stock cost problem. Just wait for me..."
Said "Zhang Dashao" and left the house, ran to the kitchen, and waited. He took out a bottle of noodles, which were gray and woody red.
"Ouch, Master Zhang, what is this?"
Facing Ning Weimin who was as curious as a baby, "Zhang Dashao" couldn't help but play with the mystery.
He is such an old naughty boy that he doesn’t say anything directly.
"You want to know what it is? Go home and cook some green vegetables. Listen to me. Just boil them in plain water. After cooking, add some of this powder and a little salt. You will know the secret. If you think this thing is good, I'll tell you what's going on..."
(End of this chapter)