When it comes to the court cuisine of the Qing Dynasty, the first thing you may think of is the Manchu and Han banquets. In fact, the Manchu-Han Banquet is just a court banquet (sometimes just a gathering of the two) to entertain Manchu officials and Han officials. The composition of its specific dishes is not fixed, and many of the so-called "Man-Han Banquets" are mostly just gimmicks.
Today, let's talk seriously about the imperial meals in the Qing Dynasty~
Eating habits are different in each era, so the imperial meals in each dynasty will be different. Like other dynasties, the imperial meal in the Qing Dynasty had a huge impact on Chinese film and television culture. Royal Dining Room is responsible for the meals of the emperor, concubines and other members of the royal family in the palace, and these delicacies have attracted the people to follow suit.
The official positions of the imperial kitchen are all appointed by the emperor. The most senior is the Minister of Prime Minister Affairs, and there are other officials, cooks, and eunuchs below. There are about several hundred people who are responsible for the food supply and meal service in the palace. During the Daoguang period, the emperor reduced the number of dishes for himself and others, and then cut half of the staff in the imperial kitchen.
When the emperor left the palace, there would also be a chef and a cook who would accompany him to serve meals. The emperor's concubines also have the same rights, but they are not as pompous as the emperor.
When Empress Dowager Cixi came to power, she paid more attention to her "quality of life", and there were more staff in the pantry serving her than Qianlong, who was famous for his " extravagance " before. Moreover, because of the freedom of and of Empress Dowager Cixi, the difficulty of the work of the imperial kitchen has been greatly increased.
The Hall of Mental CultivationThe Imperial Dining Room (also called the Ouchi Imperial Dining Room) was specially designed to serve the emperor. In addition to preparing the emperor's daily meals, he also prepared banquets and festive meals.In addition to the imperial dining room of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, there is also an "external imperial dining room", where the well-known "Full Banquet of Man and Han" comes from, and it also prepares meals for the ministers on duty.
In addition, there are tea room settings, tea room is divided into two types, one is to prepare milk tea, the other is to prepare pure tea. In addition to tea, these teahouses also make snacks with tea.
The emperor usually dine in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Chonghua Palace or the Imperial Study Room. According to etiquette, the emperor needs to dine alone (of course there are exceptions, but certainly not as frequent as in movies and TV dramas).
The emperor of the Qing Dynasty ate two meals a day. According to the regulations, the emperor gets up at four o'clock every morning, and at this time he will eat something to support his stomach (such as rock candy bird's nest ). Then 6am-8am is breakfast time, which usually includes seven dishes, three kinds of pastries, three kinds of porridge and rice.
Lunch is the main meal of the day, served between noon and 2 pm, and the specific time is determined by the emperor.
In addition to the two main meals, the emperor also had some snacks, usually accompanied by tea, between 4:00 pm and before going to bed.
Each dish of the emperor's meal has been recorded and inspected, and the silver chopsticks tasting is one of the links, and then the eunuch who is trying the dishes will taste it first, and the emperor will eat it only after it is confirmed that there is no problem.
Here I would like to mention Emperor Qianlong and Empress Dowager Cixi again. Qianlong ate strictly according to the regulations in the palace, so his imperial meal would not be too extravagant. But it will be different when he leaves the palace. When Qianlong travels, he can enjoy more delicacies because he does not need to abide by the regulations in the palace (no wonder Qianlong likes to download Jiangnan so much).
Compared with the previous Qing rulers, Empress Dowager Cixi's meal cost was quite large, and she would order a hundred or more dishes each time.
The Emperor's meal is based on the principles of "grains" and "tasteless", a meal consists of hot and cold dishes, meat and vegetable dishes, sweet and savoury pastries, soups, dairy products, pickles, rice, desserts and fruit etc.
In spring and summer, meals are generally lighter, while in autumn and winter, meals are more "heavy". These are in line with the laws of human metabolism. And every meal offers hot pot, traditional Manchu dishes, and poultry such as roast duck and roast chicken. Other dishes are seasonal.
According to research, before Qianlong ascended the throne, the meals of the Qing court were relatively "heavy taste", and most of the raw materials were from Northeast China, including duck, fish, deer, deer, roe deer, bear, game, bird's nest And ham, etc., fruits and vegetables include small root vegetables, bamboo shoots, lily, yam and Yamanashi. At this time, the proportion of red meat is much higher than that of grains, vegetables and fruits.
After Qianlong came to power, more and more foods were made of glutinous rice, rice , purple rice, black rice, wheat, etc., as well as cereals and pasta foods, which were paired with some meat and fish dishes.
The emperors of the Qing Dynasty also ate some food supplements. There are many records in the dietary archives of the Qing Palace, such as: Songling Taipingchun wine, Guiling wine, Zhuangyuan wine for strengthening the spleen and nourishing the kidney, realgar wine, Bazhen cake and so on. These foods are used to nourish the body and prolong life.
And in order to ensure the royals have plenty of fresh and dried fruit to enjoy, all local governments are required to send their specialities and fresh fruit to the palace.
These include peanuts, jujubes, persimmons and lotus seeds from Shandong; pears, hazelnuts, hawthorns and grapes from Northeast China; persimmons, lilies and preserved peach from Henan; osmanthus from Shaanxi and Gansu and cantaloupe ; orange , lychee, orange and cardamom from Guangdong and Guangxi ; citrus, orange, rock sugar, betel nut and longan from Zhejiang and Fujian; fresh fruit from Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou, etc. .
Fresh vegetables are bought from the market, but pickles and pickles are offered as tributes.
There is a problem here. After the emperor's meal is ready, it will take a while to wait until the entrance, and there will be various delivery and cooking links in the middle. Therefore, in order to keep warm, Emperor Qianlong requires all hot main dishes to be placed in double-layer containers. Inside, the underside of the container is hot water, which keeps the temperature of the dish.
In the emperor's imperial kitchen, the chefs are almost always in the service of the royal family, so it is often the case that the son inherits the father's business. And in order to keep things fresh, the emperor will also appoint new chefs. For example, after Qianlong returned to the palace from Jiangnan, he not only brought his favorite Jiangnan delicacies back to the palace, but also brought back his favorite chefs. The famous chef Zhang Dongguan entered the palace because of such an opportunity.
interspersed with an interesting piece of knowledge. The emperor would also "turn over the brand" when he was eating, but this brand was not the brand of the concubine, but from the courtiers.
When the courtiers want to ask to see the emperor, they will present a meal card with their own name written in advance. If it is a prince, duke or member of the royal family, the plate is red, and if it is a high-ranking civil servant or military officer, the plate is green.And those officials of lower rank are some ordinary meal cards.
All in all, Qing court meals consisted of Manchu, Han, and southern and northern style dishes. These foods reflect the rich and colorful food culture and diverse ethnic cultures of the Qing Dynasty. Many of the dishes we eat today are a continuation of the food culture of the Qing Dynasty.
This is the end of today's special edition of the imperial meal in the Qing Palace. If you have any ideas, please leave us a message~
