Immortal Meals #18: Breakfast in the Forbidden Palace December 17, 2014
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
The month is March 1912, the day unspecified, but you walk into the dining room in the Forbidden Palace in Peking and one breakfast is much like any other. The sole guest is about to have breakfast and the twenty five dishes for this important meal have just been laid out by the eunuchs. Beach is relying on the menu quoted by Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the last Manchu Emperor and the last Chinese Emperor, unless the Chinese Communist Party has some curious trick waiting up their collectivised sleeve. He was six when these wonders were placed in front of him, though he didn’t get to taste any of them.
Imperial Mushrooms with Four Hour Steamed Whole Chicken
Duck of Triple Delight (duck, ham, chicken with mushrooms and a special sauce)
Slived Chicken Meat with Garden Vegetables
Steamed Whole Ham
Slow Simmered Tripe and Lung
Sliced Beef with Hearts of Out-of-Season Cabbage
Spiced Stewed Mutton
Mutton with Young Spinach, Peas and Mushrooms
Sweet Fresh Southern Cherries with Potatoes
Steamed Meat and Vegetables in Chafing Dish
Sea Urchins in Duck Stock
Glazed Spiced Duck
Imperial Rice with Southern Potatoes
Fried Mushrooms
Cubed Pork with Broccoli
Thinly Sliced Lamb with Out-of-Season Spiced Vegetables
Fried Egg Rolls
Scallions with Sliced Meat
Cold Tripe Marinated in Spices and Wine
Ben Curds Sprinkled with Spices, Soya Sauce and Dried Vegetables
Smoked Dried Bean Curd with Bean Sprouts, Ginger and Other Spices
Sautéed Out-of-Season Vegetables
Spiced Cabbage
Spiced Dried Game
Ancestor Meat Soup
As noted Aisin-Gioro Puyi never actually ate any of these dishes that were there simply for show: it cannot have been a job that gave much sense of vocation to the chefs involved. Instead, some simple rice and condiments would be placed in front of him. Indeed, after the meal, a eunuch would go to report to the High Consorts, the regency council with the simple formula: ‘Your slave reports that the Lord of 10,000 years consumed one bowl of rice, one sesame bun and one bowl of congee. He ate the viands with relish.’ And the wonderful foods that were not touched? This is so often the question with these incredible, impossible meals put on through the Middle Ages and up into modern times: memories of full up in Ferrara; and food orgies on twelfth night. There are broadly speaking two possibilities: the food was thrown away; or the serving staff ate incredibly well. Other immortal meals: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com And this is idle curiosity, but what is ancestor meat soup, it sounds nightmarish?
