Introduction: Gongting cuisine is a classic and master of China's ancient cooking skills, and has become an outstanding representative of Chinese cuisine. As a chef, if he can cook palace dishes well, then his cooking must be superb. As for court food, what is it? Let's take a look at some introductions about court food I prepared for you!
concept
Palace-style dishes in China are mainly represented by several ancient capitals, which are divided into southern flavor and northern flavor.
South latitude is represented by Jinling, Yidu, Nanlin and Du Ying.
Wei Bei is represented by Chang 'an, Luoyang, Kaifeng and Jingshen.
Its * * * feature is luxurious and exotic, and the side dishes have certain specifications. This tradition has been preserved since the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Such as the Book of Rites? In the internal rules? Bazhen? (There are different opinions. Longgan, Fengsui, Leopard Fetus, Carp Tail, Roast, Red Lip, Bear's Paw and Crispy Cicada are the eight treasures of later generations), which have been used for more than two thousand years. However, the specific content is constantly developing and changing. What are the eight treasures of land and water in Tang Dynasty? The red hump was brought from the jade broiler. That crystal scale? In a word, there are not only land products but also aquatic products. In the future, the eight treasures in the north and the eight treasures in the kitchen will be dominated by game. In the Qing dynasty, it was further developed, jumping out of the palace and appearing in shops, with names such as Shan Babao, Hai Babao, Shang Babao and Xia Babao. Since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, palace cuisine mainly refers to Beijing palace cuisine, which is characterized by strict selection of materials, fine production, beautiful appearance, fresh and crisp taste. Famous dishes include fried chicken breast, pork tenderloin, four kinds of gravy, four kinds of sauces, four kinds of crisp, small sugar corn, pea yellow, kidney bean yellow and so on. Now Beijing's imitation food still manages this traditional court-style dish. Xi 'an also successfully copied the court dishes of the Tang Dynasty and supplied them to the outside world. There are mainly three kinds of banquets, including Chang 'an Eight Scenes, Dragon and Phoenix Banquet and Shao Weiyan, with more than 50 varieties.
Classification of court dishes
Influenced by the geographical location of the capital, the flavors of court dishes in past dynasties are divided into two styles: southern flavor and northern flavor. However, although the flavors of court dishes in past dynasties are divided into north and south flavors, they all have a common feature, namely, luxurious and rare dishes with exquisite standards. Nowadays, what people call palace cuisine generally refers to the court-style dishes in the Qing Dynasty. The court dishes in Qing Dynasty were mainly developed on the basis of Shandong flavor, Manchu flavor and Suzhou-Hangzhou flavor.
Gongtingcai raw materials
Palace cuisine has incomparable advantages over other cuisines in raw material selection. It can choose folk top-grade cooking materials at will, pay tribute to famous products all over the world, and widely collect and obtain rare treasures in all things in the world. But there are strict requirements on the origin, texture, size and location of these raw materials. Sometimes in order to adjust the taste, some common raw materials are also selected, but the delicious cooking and expensive accessories are not comparable to folk dishes.
Palace cuisine also attaches great importance to the plastic arts of dishes, and the design and modeling requirements are as beautiful as bonsai.
The methods used in modeling mainly include "surrounding, matching, embedding and brewing". "Wai" means that vegetarian dishes are surrounded by meat and small meats are surrounded by meat. Pay attention to the different characteristics of vegetarian dishes in terms of color, texture, taste and nutritional components, so as to adjust the color and fragrance of dishes, set off the main ingredients and highlight the main flavor, so that the two can complement each other in taste and nutrition. "Matching" refers to matching two raw materials with different shapes in pairs, thus giving a specific meaning, such as "Huang Kui with Xue Mei" made of shrimp balls with meat and egg dumplings. "Embedding" refers to embellishing a raw material with another specially processed raw material to make the dishes more vivid. For example, "Goldfish Beats Lotus" is made of green peppers, peas and shrimp tails. , inlaid on a fish-shaped embryo made of whole shrimp and mud. "Brewing" is to fill all kinds of finely processed raw materials, such as minced meat, silk and grain, into plastic raw materials, so that the appearance of dishes is more complete and full, and the taste is more mellow and delicious. In the cooking process of the same dish, various methods such as surrounding, matching, fixing and brewing are often used, so they are often inclusive and have both.
Palace cuisine generally requires a combination of two or more dishes to avoid the simplification of raw materials. There are also special requirements for the size and specifications of raw materials. Not too big or too small, neither too much nor too little, and the entrance is just right. This is the principle of cutting and matching raw materials for court cuisine. When serving, try to be full, flat, loose and round. In the processing and collocation of raw materials, court cuisine has strict and subtle requirements for knife workers. In addition to modeling factors according to the characteristics of raw materials, attention should also be paid to making raw materials easy to taste when cooking. Exquisite and rich knife skills, strict processing requirements. The taste of court food is said to be "998 1 mouth", and each taste is named after a wonderful vocabulary. Palace cuisine is not only very particular about the shape of dishes, but also the tableware used is luxurious and quaint. There are gold, silver, jade, crystal, agate, coral, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, ivory and so on. And a large number of exquisite porcelain specially produced by the official kiln. In addition, the court food also pays attention to the season, ordering more cakes, pasta, dried and fresh fruits and barbecues.
The legendary history of court cuisine
Although there were many palaces in many dynasties in the history of China, the palace dishes we are talking about now refer to the dishes in the imperial kitchens of the Qing Dynasty. According to Master Er Honglin, the ninth generation descendant of Nallard family, the imperial chef of Manchu Dynasty in Qing Palace, it also absorbed many dishes of court food in Ming Dynasty, especially Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong visited Jiangnan many times, and appreciated the southern food very much. Therefore, the dishes of the imperial chef in the Qing Palace absorbed many flavor dishes from all over the country and the flavor meals of Mongolian, Hui, Manchu and other ethnic groups. Palace cuisine, known as the best in the world, is a vivid history. It embodies the historical characteristics of Beijing's 800-year-old ancient capital and is full of aristocratic blood. The process of tasting court food is not only a process of enjoying food, but also a process of experiencing the noblest and rarest dishes in the world.
The secret achievement of court cuisine
Can the characteristics of court food be used? Rare, rare, quaint, weird? To sum up, it is particularly exquisite in color, quality, taste, shape and utensils, and has a royal and elegant temperament and rich artistic beauty. Judging from the experience of eating guests and the introduction of Master Er Honglin, what is the biggest feature of Gongting cuisine? Thick soup tastes strong? No loss? Soft and elegant? . To do this, many secrets are needed from material selection to operation. For example, many court dishes need to be hung with soup, and the process of hanging soup is extremely complicated: usually, the old hen raised in Tianjin Baodi is matched with other old ducks, chickens, chicken feet and various seafood, and then stewed at different times and added with different seasonings at different times according to the requirements of different dishes. Only in this way can the soup out of the pot be thick and mellow enough. Therefore, it is by no means a signboard. Even if it is a palace dish, the real palace dish can only be passed down from generation to generation with ancestral secret recipes, so as to restore its true colors.
Yu fo tiao Qiang
Ingredients: abalone, shark's fin, sea cucumber, fish belly, fish lips, deer penis, deer tendon, crab roe, lake shrimp, scallop, etc. 18 kinds of raw materials and secret recipe blending soup: After the famous Fujian dish "Fotiaoqiang" was introduced into the Qing Palace, it could not win the favor of the royal family because of its outstanding characteristics of southern cuisine and a large proportion of seafood. So the head chef asked Manchu chefs to improve their eating habits, and on the basis of preserving the production process, they added venison, birds and other game that Manchu royal families liked to eat. After many debugging and improvement, the imperial Buddha jumping over the wall favored by the royal family at that time was realized.
Braised shark's fin with yellow wine
Ingredients: secret court history such as yellow meat wings and Tibetan chicken soup in Luzon Island: Tan Zongjun and his son, bureaucrats of the Hanlin Academy in the late Qing Dynasty (the 13th year of Tongzhi), created a famous official dish because they were very particular about their diet? What is the most famous dish in Tan Jiacai? Braised shark fin? . At that time, whoever cooked delicious food went to the Forbidden City to invite Long Yan. Braised shark fin? In this way, it was absorbed into the court cuisine of the Qing Dynasty. Tan Fu sent this dish to the Imperial Chef in the form of a box lunch. After the emperor tasted it, he was full of praise, so this dish was included in the Imperial Chef's menu and has been circulated for more than 100 years.
Qin Yong palace roasted deer tendon
Ingredients: sika deer tendon, Chinese cabbage, medlar, pheasant and old hen thick soup. Secret History of the Palace: When Yong Zhengdi was a prince in the Qing Dynasty, he would take his troops to Changbai Mountain or Mulan paddock to hunt every year, and he would harvest a lot of prey every time. As a famous warrior emperor in history, Yongzheng's favorite food is deer tendon. He believes that men need to constantly strengthen their bones and muscles and replenish their physical strength. So Qin Bing stewed pheasant and deer tendon together, served them with Chinese cabbage and wild wolfberry on the mountain, and drank them heartily together. After Yongzheng ascended the throne, the chef handled this dish more carefully and included it in the menu.
Qing gong wan fu rou
Ingredients: Selected pork belly, Huairou chestnut, Shandong Jinsixiaozao, and the secret history of the West Lake Lotus uterus: At the birthday banquet of Empress Dowager Cixi's 60th birthday, the chefs in the Imperial Kitchen showed their magical powers and presented birthday products. This dish was created by Shandong chef Zhao according to the traditional auspicious characters in China. After steaming, boiling, boiling, frying and buckling, all the fat in the pork belly is extracted, making the pork belly fat but not greasy, and it will not make people fat even if they eat it frequently. Because the name of this dish means to have a baby early, it was deeply loved by Empress Dowager Cixi and her concubines and was nominated impromptu? Wanfu meat? .
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