Shanxi businessmen's diet, one is the daily diet of the firm, and the other is the diet of business guests. There are large, medium and small stoves for eating in the office, so you don't have to pay for meals. The manager eats small stoves, and the buddies and apprentices eat medium stoves and large stoves. As far as the food standard of the big stove is concerned, it is also higher than that of the local middle-class families at that time. Liu Dapeng, a A Qing Dynasty man, said, "The business here is very luxurious, and all businessmen call it a light meal, but in fact, there are delicacies such as delicacies, giant turtles and fresh fish. Because of customs, no one does not take this as a mistake "("Diary of Reclusive Zhai ").
There are also two kinds of business guests eating: one is the place where shopkeepers and other people with status eat. For example, there is a small restaurant in Cheng Guihua (Hohhot) where such people eat. Small class restaurant is a high-class hotel with singers singing. Most of these restaurants are located in quiet streets. During the Guangxu period, there were three in the city, two of whom were from Shanxi. The small class restaurant doesn't open until after noon every day, and the cover of "Catering" and "North-South Cuisine" written in black cloth hangs outside the restaurant. Businessmen who come here for dinner all have their own big mule carts. Every time they eat, cars can park all over the street. After midnight, employees from all walks of life lit lanterns to pick up the boss. Banks and other enterprises in Cheng Guihua are very profitable, so they don't hesitate to spend money on social entertainment. Some companies spend a lot of money to entertain guests in small restaurants in order to borrow money from banks. Small-scale restaurants, according to the habits of Shanxi merchants, make and sell the favorite dish of Shanxi merchants-sugar cakes. A table in a small restaurant can seat 12 people, and each table needs at least 10 silver, sometimes as high as 20 silver. Chefs in small restaurants earn three taels of silver a month, and tips can be fifteen taels of silver, so Cheng Guihua concentrated a lot of catering talents in Shaanxi at that time.
There is also a large drama restaurant in Cheng Guihua, second only to the small one. This kind of restaurant sells rice and sings at the same time, so it is also called theater pub. Opera restaurants are seasonal in business hours. They usually open in winter, because at this time, fleeing businessmen return to Cheng Guihua, and all the merchants have to entertain them. For example, Dashengkui Business Firm, Yuanshengde Business Firm and Tianyide Business Firm run by Shanxi people treat customers to dinner for several days at a time, with 500 to 600 people every day. Small class restaurants naturally can't hold so many tables, so they must be held in a bigger place. At the same time, in winter, the troupe is not convenient to travel far, so it performs in restaurants, so drama restaurants are very popular in Cheng Guihua. At that time, 72 square tables could be placed upstairs and downstairs in the "Banquet Beauty Garden" located in Xiaodong Street, Guihua City, and 120 square tables could be placed upstairs and downstairs in the "Tonghe Garden" in Daxi Street. Each square table has two people in the middle and two people on the left. In order not to interfere with the theater and serving, there is only one person sitting on the right, and five people sit at a table. The food you eat is divided into "four or six seats" and "changing seats". "Four or six seats" are four dried fruits, four cold dishes, four big bowls and six medium bowls. Besides rice and rolls, there are "waist meals" like water chestnut cake. "Four or six seats" are worth about one or two silver per table. The "change food mat" is also four bowls and six bowls, except that nine bowls of meat dishes are replaced by seafood, and scallops and squid are added. Each table is worth about three taels of silver.
In addition to being "booked" by big firms, restaurants usually order food by table, arrange time and send invitations. When the guests arrived, the waiter took them to the reserved table and sat down. Sometimes family members are invited, but young women don't go. Most of them are old ladies with grandchildren. The banquet for female guests is usually located upstairs, with curtains hanging on both sides, separated from the male seats. Businessmen wear robes and jackets at banquets. When the host pours wine in front of the guests, the waiter in Shanxi often shouts, "Master, fill it up!" " "Young apprentices from various firms sometimes go to the Grand Theatre restaurant for dinner. It was the shopkeeper of the firm who asked the disciples to learn "manners and etiquette", so they dared not speak loudly, let alone applaud, and the theater was orderly. It is said that during the Guangxu period, "Jisheng Opera Troupe" sang in "Banquet Beauty Garden", with artists such as Shisanhong, Feilaifeng, Erqing Dan, Xingwahei and Xinger. Singing in Tongheyuan is the "Changsheng Drama Troupe", with artists rich in two reds, one flag, two-person duet, eight hundred blacks, two dolls and so on. They are all famous actors in Bangzi, North Road, our province (Inner Mongolia Literature and History Materials No.1 18).
In Shanxi merchants' family banquets, weddings, funerals and weddings are more ostentation and extravagance, and the general family banquet "eight bowls and eight dishes" is already a first-class banquet. But some wealthy businessmen are going to three stops. The so-called "three sets" means that in addition to "eight bowls and eight dishes", there are some kinds of food, such as heart, fruit, three fried and three stewed, one *** 124. This 124 food is divided into three sets, one set of chicken, one set of duck and one set of pig, so it is called three sets. There are three sets for ordinary banquets, and important people come to eat "official seats". Like the three official seats, there are 124 kinds, but the quality is higher and the dishes are laid out carefully. The dishes at each table must be placed in an auspicious glyph and conform to the identity of the seated person. For example, on the table where the bride and groom sit, 124 kinds of dishes should be put into the words "dragon and phoenix are auspicious". When the bride gets married, 124 kinds of dishes should be placed on the table of the man's guests, which reads "One product is in court". On the table where the woman sees the guests off, the words "Win back to Korea" should be put on 124 dishes. On the table where the parents-in-law fete their son-in-law, there should be 124 kinds of dishes, which read "No.1" (Two Hundred Years of Shanxi Merchants).
In Ding Cun, Xiangfen County, there was a Ding who donated his post that year. His younger brother Ding partnered with him and made a fortune in Ningxian, Sanyuan, Shaanxi and Jingyang in Gansu. Zhao and Zhao Ansheng used to be cooks at home. According to Zhao Ansheng's memory, there are rules for Shi Ding to have a wife for a family dinner. Marrying a wife and having children is different for men and women. The man usually has eight seats or six seats, and the woman has three sets or fifteen yuan. The man uses 68 as Yin and the woman uses 35 as Yang, indicating that Yin and Yang match.
The dishes for eight seats are:
Dining tables: (four dishes and four meats) antlers, foreign powder, Nostoc flagelliforme, yellow vegetables, head meat, beef, chicken nuggets, garlic paste meat.
Eight small: squid, pearl, glutinous rice, crab meat, coix seed and lotus seed, three fresh soup, moo Shu meat and chicken balls.
Eight: (eat with ebony chopsticks) fishbone, big squid, sea cucumber, fish belly, hibiscus meat, roast mutton, crispy whole chicken and meatballs.
The last dish of the eight small eight big plates is meatballs. At the same time, the meatball is jiaozi, not glutinous rice balls, which means that "the circle has ended satisfactorily." So why not emphasize eight instead of seven or nine? In addition to the above-mentioned accidents of yin and yang collocation, it is also unfavorable because of the homonym of qi and qi; Nine is supreme, not applied. So the banquet titles are all above 3568.
Say three more (in order):
The first type: five bowls, five tops;
The second stop: four ice trays with Fushou Kangning inside;
Table 3: Four bowls, smooth in all seasons.
Three sets of *** 13 pieces, also known as 13 flowers. Because it is a banquet specially designed by the woman's family, I wish my son-in-law a successful degree.
Fifteen yuan: this is a family dinner held by the newly married husband at the woman's house, which is divided into three units:
Unit 1: two bowls, first-class bowls and double-sided bowls, counting five pieces;
Unit 2: two bowls, an ice tray and two bowls, five pieces;
Unit 3: two bowls, first-class bowl and double-sided bowl, count as five.
Fifteen pieces in all. These fifteen dishes are fifteen dishes of different colors and varieties, all of which are served in round utensils, hence the name "Fifteen Rounds". It has two meanings: first, the fifteenth full moon every month, the fifteenth reunion, the full moon, and the beautiful moon; Second, it won the bid for the third consecutive place and won the championship. This is a wish of my son-in-law to be admitted to the top scholar as soon as possible.
Rich businessmen eat delicacies every day, but they can't solve their spiritual emptiness. After retirement, a chef who cooks for wealthy businessmen was born in Taigu County, and Zhao Tieshan, a wealthy businessman who was praised by Kang Youwei as the first calligrapher in North China, wrote a couplet for the retired chef:
Eat vegetarian and coarse tea when you are hungry, and sleep when you are sweet and sleepy. Although the wooden bed and grass pillow are quiet.
Shanxi merchants attached great importance to diet, and under their influence, they formed the catering culture of Shanxi merchants, which promoted the development of catering industry in Shanxi. However, this is just business profits and eating and drinking, which can't solve their spiritual emptiness. Zhao Tieshan's couplets just illustrate this point.
According to Shanxi Business Culture