National Tide 1980

"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 also sent me things during the holidays. Please remember these things. I keep it all in mind."

"Besides, what does a craftsman want? It's nothing more than to make a living and earn a respectable life with his craftsmanship. 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, he sells it to know the family, and he doesn't use it to know the family, but he is a chivalrous person. Use it. Nowadays, it’s all about applying what you’ve 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 are doing serious things that are 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 whole life, but this is not because of my lack of ability. Although I can't cook the stove for you, I do have some say in the palace meals. You know There must 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 advice.

"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're really not authentic. If you have to say it reluctantly, it's half and half, it's just a taste."

(Note: It’s a tasteless thing, not a very good thing)

Good guy, the first time I opened my mouth, I just couldn't stop talking about it.

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 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 his 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 tea house. 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 cooking dishes, and they were added slowly 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 either working in the kitchen or in the tea kitchen, probably I haven’t even touched a frying spoon. 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 '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' The saying "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."

"Further down, there are more and more details. Let's not mention anything else. Let's just talk about the inner dining room that provides food and drink 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 vegetarian dining room. There are five places: the palace dining room, the longevity dining room, the tea dining room, and the imperial dining room in the Yangxin Hall."

"Among them, the "No. 1 dining room" in the Yangxin Hall is of course the most important. There are almost 400 cooks. It is divided into five bureaus: meat bureau, vegetarian bureau, dinner bureau, hanging stove bureau, and snack 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 case' 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', if the tribute is food, then it is called 'meal item'. Collectively, it is called 'gongcha meal item'."

"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, it is not the case. The real gap is huge. For example, white noodles are called 'flying noodles' eaten in the palace. For flour, new wheat comes out every year and is finely ground. Generally, the flour that people eat is ground twice. But Feilao noodles need to be ground six times. When the breeze passes by, 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 Province is the best. Deer tail, deer tongue, and deer sausage come from Liaoning. Fried white belly trout diced meat, bell wheat (buckwheat), and barnyard rice From Jilin. Kelp, seaweed, and lotus seeds come from Shandong. 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, rapeseed from Henan, candied dates from Zhejiang, and white fungus from Lingtong, etc. , all used to be 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, they are transported to the capital by ice ships and fast horses by water and dry routes. 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, and the anchovies will be cooked as soon as they arrive. 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 there is one 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 such details?

But what he cares more about at the moment is that he is sure that the old man's content must be extremely valuable.

So I was full of energy and sat upright, never willing to miss a word easily.