The dietary customs of old Beijingers were deeply influenced by Manchu and Banners, and even today they still see the legacy. Eating white meat was the earliest Manchu custom, and sacrificial plates and ornaments in the court and palace, as well as the popular white cooking seats among the people, were all related to eating white meat. Casserole house is the only restaurant in old Beijing that deals in Manchu cuisine. Its business history of two and a half centuries explains the food custom culture of eating white meat in old Beijing. [2]
After entering the customs, the royal class in the capital of the Qing Dynasty still maintained the "legacy outside the customs". No matter the court or the palace, there is a sacrifice every five days. There are various kinds of sacrifices, such as the morning sacrifice, the evening sacrifice, the back lamp changing, the willow tree praying for happiness, the Wulin sacrifice, the fresh sacrifice at four seasons, and so on. According to the regulations, two or three pigs must be saved for each sacrifice. The meat used for sacrifice is processed and sacrificed by Manchu's unique method. Because it is not a daily sacrifice, the meat sacrificed at each time is not necessarily nailed and riveted, and there is often some surplus. These leftover meat can't be eaten by people in the house, but there are regulations in the house that sacrificial meat is not allowed to go out. However, sometimes the master's control is not so strict, and people often steal the leftover meat and goods out, reward the bellman or sell them cheaply.
At that time, there were many palaces along the street from Xuanwu Gate to Xinjiekou in Beijing. Courtesy Wangfu, Zheng Qinwang Mansion, Zhuangqin Wangfu, Shuncheng Wangfu, Keqin Wangfu, Qingwangfu, Yaojun Wangfu, etc. The mansion of the first son of Emperor Gaozong of Qing Dynasty is located in the east of Gangwa City, Xisi South Street, and south of Reward Hutong, with an area of about 4 mu, and its west wall is adjacent to Gangwa City Street. Because the palace often holds sacrifices at intervals, there is often leftover white meat. So someone opened a hole in the west wall facing the street, and sold or invited people to eat God's surplus (the offerings that were offered and withdrawn from the street were called "God's surplus", also called "offering tips").
During the Tongzhi period, a Han watchman surnamed Liu had an old relationship with Song Qi, the steward of the palace. Songqi often sells leftover meat and goods to Liu cheaply, and the price is almost white. In the early years, Xisigang Washi Street was a street selling jars, pots and crocks. In the middle of Qing dynasty, the market was depressed, and there were many old houses for storing cylinder tiles on this street. So the bellmen rented a few empty houses and got a "magic pot" from the palace, which was said to be a sacrifice for the Ming Dynasty emperor to cook food. It was four feet in diameter and three feet deep and could cook a whole pig at a time. In the future, they used this magic pot to cook white meat. The raw materials are almost free of charge. It takes no effort to fry and cook a little, so the price is extremely low. Most of the people who come here to eat white meat are ordinary people's clothes and peddlers. This place where people eat white meat is called a "water shed". Enxi is the name of Prince Li's mansion, which specializes in "white work". One day, Enxi happened to pass by this small restaurant specializing in cooking white meat, and he was curious: "White work is a special job for the royal chefs in the palace and the government. Is there any capable person in this folk shop?" So I stopped to watch and saw that there were many people in the shop, which was quite lively, and I pushed the door and entered. I saw a huge casserole in a small shop stewing white meat and launching water. Although the operation method is simple, it is also full of fragrance. Eun-hee sat down and talked to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper in the casserole house is a man of heart. Seeing that Enxi is so good at guessing that he must be a good cook, he has an idea. In a few days, the shopkeeper in the casserole house turned to the trustee to intercede, hoping for Enxi's advice and teaching skills. In the end, Enxi couldn't save face, and passed the authentic "white work skills" to the casserole house alone. Since then, burning and cooking have become the exclusive skills of the casserole house.
According to Master En's teaching, the casserole house divides cook the meat into two categories. One kind is to directly boil the meat in white water without barbecue, which is called white meat. One kind is to roast the meat slightly with charcoal fire first, and then boil it in water. The cooked meat is called simmered meat, and the elbow is called simmered elbow. Slice white meat or simmered meat, and eat it cold without any seasoning. Burning and boiling in white is the authentic way to eat Manchu meat. Burning refers to frying and braising in soy sauce. Liao refers to baking and baking; Then there's white cook the meat, so it's called "burning, burning and boiling".
white meat in casserole is both white cook the meat and sliced white meat, that is, cook the meat with white water in a big casserole. Only spices such as spices and pepper are enlarged in the soup. Take the white meat out of the pot, cool it, slice it, then put it on a plate and dip it in seasoning. Later, White cook the meat developed further. The cooked white meat and the goods are then processed into special dishes, which is called "small burn". Because the dishes are served in a six-inch shallow dish, they are called "burning dishes". There are only eight kinds of earliest dishes, such as fried pork ribs, fried kidney flowers, fried fat rolls, fried tenderloin, fried pork intestines, fried liver tips, fried dumplings, fried noodles and so on. Later, it developed to 24, 32, 48 and 64 burning dishes. In its heyday, there were as many as 13 kinds of burnt dishes. There are whole tables, half tables and one corner (that is, 1/4), and the number of small saucers on each table can be as many as 72 and 48 colors, and generally it is 32 and 24 colors. This kind of mat is a typical full-style dish, which eventually forms a white meat mat. Yuan Mei, a poet in Qing Dynasty, said: "This is a dish that northerners are good at, but southerners can't do it.". Casserole house was not famous in Kyoto in its early years. Nave, a flag bearer, was famous for hosting a birthday party at home during the Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, and was famous for receiving a "fan in the room" (the eunuch was called "fan in the room" in old Beijing).
One day in the early years of Guangxu, a flag bearer, nave, celebrated his birthday. And the protege subordinates rushed to fawn on. On the day of the birthday celebration, six senior officials, government officials, the commander-in-chief of the Eight Banners, and the Hanlin bachelor came to congratulate him. In the birthday hall, there were double lights and candles, decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and weddings in the big grid was full of friends. Several eunuchs also came to offer birthday felicitations, and sat at the top of the table, pointing fingers and talking loudly. On the occasion of the opening ceremony, the tea master went to the eunuch as usual, invited Shuang 'an (please ask an Ann and another Ann, which is called please Shuang 'an), and said that the gentlemen in the fan room were invited to order food. It turns out that eunuchs have a bad habit. Every time they sit at the table, the host family prepares rich and delicate dishes. The eunuchs shake their heads and wave their hands, saying that they can't eat well. They must order their own food and ask for a certain dish in a restaurant by name. In fact, what they order is not better than that prepared by the host family, but the eunuchs have to do so. This is called "putting on airs". At that time, several eunuchs noisily asked for dishes from several restaurants. One of the eunuchs said casually, "I want the fried dishes in the casserole house." The host family immediately invited the chef in the casserole house to prepare for the service. It doesn't matter if the eunuch's nonsense makes the host family spend money and trouble. Now it can take the "water shed" that has been difficult to get elegant for decades to the sky. When the prime minister's father celebrated his birthday, he used the seats in the casserole house! This spread like wildfire and immediately spread throughout Beijing. Since then, the official families in Beijing Banner, as for the well-to-do flag families, held weddings, funerals, birthdays, moons, etc., all of which were mainly cooked in a casserole house. Whoever set up a shed to handle affairs without 72 burned dishes would be more humiliated than anything else. Casserole house has gained a great reputation since this birthday party. During the Republic of China, the sale of casserole houses was even more popular.
Many businessmen saw that the casserole house was doing well, so some people came up with the idea of imitating the brand name and opened a white meat restaurant to participate in the competition. For this reason, the casserole house poked two signboards on both sides of the facade: a piece of "famous in Kyoto for 3 years, with a taste of white meat in North China", which was personally inscribed by the famous calligrapher Mr. Jiang Zhi; The other piece is "Only this one, no semicolon". All the old shops and famous museums in old Beijing, where the font size is established, are basically a plaque for each family. Can casserole house "a color", a restaurant with three plaques, called "a strange". According to the book "The Search for Imperial Cuisine", in the sixth year of Qianlong (1741), the changing room of Dingwangfu was expanded into three frontispiece residences, three frontispiece residences and three plaques. Among them, "Shunju" is in the middle, "White Meat Restaurant" on the left and "Casserole House" on the right. One store and three plaques, which was puzzling at that time. In fact, the reason is not complicated.
During Tongzhi period, there was no name for the casserole house, so people called it "launching shed". Later, during the Guangxu period, the famous calligrapher Zheng Hongqi was invited to assist the third master Bai (word Songnian, Manchu Shaji Fucha) to write a plaque of "living in harmony", from which the casserole house entered the restaurant; Let's talk about "casserole house" because there are many people who eat white meat here at the beginning of the business, and it is also a big casserole cook the meat. People are used to naming it by its image, and it has become a "casserole house" for a long time; The "white meat restaurant" said something else. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty (1821-185), there was a white meat restaurant called Heshun Restaurant in Dongsi Pailou, and its business declined. When the shopkeeper saw that the business of casserole house was very good, he found someone to match it and merged with it.
The huge casserole with a diameter of 1.2 meters, a height of .76 meters and a weight of 218 kilograms has become the treasure of the town store where the casserole house witnessed history. The huge casserole with a diameter of 1.2 meters, a height of .76 meters and a weight of 218 kilograms has become the treasure of the town store where the casserole house witnessed history.
Today, the anecdote of the three tablets has long been history. At present, the plaque hanging at the door of the casserole house is inscribed by the famous calligrapher Bai Tao.
picking sapphires at noon and trading for half a day. In the history of Beijing's time-honored shops, there is a puzzling "strange management" in casserole houses. Strange from the beginning of the business, until the years of the Republic of China, it was always half-day, and at 12 noon, it took off the cover and rolled up the curtain to stop business. The folk allegorical saying in Beijing: "The sale of casserole house-not waiting after noon" refers to this matter alone.
there are two reasons for doing half-day business. First, at the beginning of the business, it was a business with the white meat left over from the sacrifice in the government. At that time, the palace was not offering sacrifices every day, but only every three times. Therefore, it is not every day that there are gods. The meat obtained every time must be sold evenly, so the casserole house has been operating for half a day since its opening, only selling for one morning and closing at noon. After a long time, it has become a practice and has continued. Later, it became famous and more people ate. In order to ensure the quality, even if the raw materials were abundant, it would be better to lack than to abuse. It must be a whipping pig weighing 1 Jin in Zhangjiawan, JD.COM. It was slaughtered the night before, cleaned up and processed overnight. It was cooked well the next morning, opened at 8 o'clock on time and sold out all morning. This half-day business is recorded in historical records: "There is a white meat restaurant in Gangwa City, Xicheng City, which attracts customers every day and doesn't involve other tastes. After noon, it is closed." This "strange management" of the casserole house lasted for 196 years, and it didn't change until 1937.
After the "July 7th Incident" in p>1937, Beijing fell under the Japanese puppet regime. Because of its unique flavor and famous reputation, the "casserole house" was often used by Japanese and traitors to eat, drink and entertain guests. No matter what the store rules and regulations are, these people often come here to eat and drink in the afternoon and evening. Shopkeepers are afraid of the arrogance of the Japanese puppet army and have to change their business habits for many years and open all day. From then on, the casserole house did not pick the cover at noon and added dinner. Lou Rui wrote in "Capital Miscellaneous Odes" that "breaking the old rules and selling late, and sacrificing for the times" is what he said. When the casserole house was first opened, it used the magic pot cook the meat from the Wangfu, and the "cauldron dish" lasted for hundreds of years. Beijingers really eat small casserole dishes after the founding of New China.
Originally, Bai cook the meat used to be white meat, with no side ingredients or auxiliary materials. In 1952, the old chef in the casserole house improved the casserole according to people's taste changes and needs. In the past, it was cooked in a big pot, and then it was changed to a small casserole. Casserole dishes are not only white cook the meat, but also some palatable auxiliary materials, such as homemade pickled cabbage, flexible and stiff fine powder, dried seaweed, dried mushrooms and so on. When eating, dip in the special seasoning, the soup is strong, the meat is tender, the fat meat is not greasy, and the lean meat is not firewood. At the same time, chicken, fish, shrimp, crab, ginseng, wings and shellfish can all be prepared by casserole method. After improving the casserole, some fried dishes were added at the same time. The style of dishes is not only luxurious and delicate in the court and palace, but also simple in Beijing folk dishes.
the improved casserole is more popular. On June 12, 1964, Premier Zhou and Vice Premier Chen Yi personally came to the store to taste casserole dishes, toasted and greeted the chefs and staff, praised the dishes well done, and encouraged them to maintain and carry forward your Beijing flavor and do a good job in service. Celebrities Wu Zuguang and Xin Fengxia often go to the casserole house to celebrate their birthday, and even the casserole house sends white meat to their homes.
The historical changes of the casserole house for more than 2 years have accumulated rich cultural connotations. Today's casserole houses are constantly developing and innovating on the basis of maintaining tradition. Traditional dishes are authentic and original, and new dishes are refined, showing the style of imperial cuisine alone. Good food, beautiful utensils and classic culture have created a strong casserole culture atmosphere. In particular, the real object standing in front of the door-the huge casserole with a diameter of 1.2 meters, a height of .76 meters and a weight of 218 kilograms, has become a treasure of the town store that witnessed history.