There's a Full House in Old Sichuan Cuisine, Do You Want It?

The old Sichuan cuisine also has a full banquet

Do you want to eat it?

Food Talk | Sima Qingshang

Manchurian feasts are the pinnacle of traditional Chinese feasts.

Nowadays, there are only a few restaurants in Beijing that still serve what is known as a "full Manchu banquet," but it's a much-improved version of a banquet that's not the same thing as the one that was served back in the day.

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How did the Manchu banquet come about

The Manchu banquet, with more than 200 dishes

So many dishes, coupled with the complexity of the form

Rather than a meal

More like a show of loyalty show-off

Manchu Manchu banquet, through the evolution of the Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years in the Guangxu period, and finally finalized. The Manchu-Han banquet was finalized in the reign of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty after 200 years of evolution.

In the early Qing Dynasty, there were both Manchu and Han banquets. The emperor invited everyone to eat, Manchu people give full seat, Han people give Han seat. Full seat divided into six, Han seat divided into three, you are which level, eat the corresponding table, hall-level cadres absolutely can not eat the meals of ministerial-level cadres - the emperor is happy to make special exceptions. This is an extraordinary gift, the emperor invited you to eat you should not eat luxury meals, which represents the supreme honor, must be eaten in tears, eat while shouting long live.

Until the late Qianlong period, Yuan Mei, a talented scholar and a foodie, said in his book, "A list of food in the garden," that the Manchus invited the Hans to use the Han table, and the Hans invited the Manchus to use the Manchurian table to show their respect for each other's eating habits. In the same book, Yuan Mei mentioned the "Manchu-Han banquet" and called it "official banquet", which is about the official permission of public money to eat and drink. And Yuan big eaters of the same period of Li Dou, in his "Yangzhou painting boat record", also mentioned the term "Manchu-Han seat". Experts believe that this is the goblet of the Manchu-Han banquet - a table, both Manchu dishes, and Chinese dishes, is considered to be the beginning of the Manchu-Han combination of Manchu and Han as a table of Manchu-Han banquet.

The record of these two parties, there is a point of concern, that is, at that time, folk, official, are shamelessly eat and drink. "The Suoyuan Food List" says, "(The Manhan banquet) was used for the entrance of new relatives and the entry of superiors. "New relatives to the door", that is, folk relatives to the door to go, to feast; "superior entry" is a good explanation, the leader to inspect the work, or the leader passes by, have to set up "Manhan Seat "Otherwise, it is not enough to show respect. Li Dou told readers, "full Han seat" is mainly used for official ushering in, "yangzhou painting boat record" also recorded for the first time "full Han seat" a menu, there are more than 130 dishes, which is later and full Han feast scale is about the same.

Of course, the scale of many full-han banquets was not so exaggerated. Daoguang eighteen years (1838) handed down a "full Manchu banquet" menu, there are only 16 dishes, 2 dishes, 8 dishes, 8 hot food, 2 snacks *** 36 dishes, points, is not very exaggerated.

The Xianfeng years began, the court appeared "Tim An meal", which is the emperor's special, the Guangxu period, was fixed for 48 products, the Empress Dowager Cixi to enjoy two, that is, 96 products. Looks very grand, 96 dishes, set the table on the fear to set ten meters long it. In fact, Cixi's real menu is rarely more than 40 dishes, but also very luxurious. However, these dishes are often not the emperor or empress dowager eat alone. Usually the emperor or the empress simply moved her chopsticks and ate a few bites, and then they were given to the harem concubines, palace maids, eunuchs, princes and ministers, and the imperial guards, etc. Looking at it this way, it's still quite frugal.

At the same time with the Timan meals, folk appeared "Manchu Han feast" and "Manchu Han banquet" said. This is supposed to be a transition from Manchu-Han cuisine to Manchu-Han banquet.

The four words "Man-Han feast" first appeared in the late Qing Dynasty (1894) in the book "Sea Flower Biography", which was written in Wu language and was about the life of prostitutes in Shanghai's Ten Mile Ocean Park, and was later translated by Eileen Chang into the book "Sea Flower".

The word "Quan" in Manchu Han Quan Xi suggests that the banquet was the height of extravagance.

Some people say that the Manchu-Han banquet **** 108 dishes, of which 54 Manchu dishes, 54 Chinese dishes. In fact, this is a fabrication. Manchu-Han banquet has 108, there are more than 200, there are dozens of, the least Manchu-Han banquet only 20, so its dishes are not fixed, and inside the Manchu, Han dishes are not fixed, some dotted with a few, a dozen Manchu dishes, some are all Han dishes - Empress Dowager Cixi's The menu of the "Timan meal" of Empress Dowager Cixi was also basically Han Chinese.

The so-called Manchu dishes, most of the game, white flavor, and flavor type rich and varied compared to the Han dishes, taste is really not good, and occasionally change the taste can be, really want to eat a dozen consecutively, non-eat spit can not be.

After the Republic of China, the full Manchu banquet was changed to the politically correct "Dahan full banquet" in some places. The first thing you need to do is to eat the same food, but in order to show that we are also revolutionaries, so when you eat, the "full" word eliminated, leaving only a "Dahan", which is also a revolution on the table, right? Chongqing in the 1930s, there is such a "Dahan whole meal", in the memories of an American doctor, recorded that he ate "Dahan whole meal" process.