Among the many buildings in Xiyuan, there is one that cannot be ignored. When you approach this building, you can smell the aroma that makes you salivate.
This complex of buildings is the imperial kitchen.
Emperor Jiajing practiced Taoism and made elixirs day and night, however, apart from conferring on himself a number of immortal titles that were too long to read in one breath, there was nothing about him that was related to being an immortal. As a mortal, Emperor Jiajing naturally could not survive by drinking wind and dew, and he needed three meals a day, so the imperial kitchen was the key department in the Western Garden.
The Imperial Kitchen was originally located in the southeast of the Forbidden City. According to the I Ching Bagua, the east is dominated by wood and the south is dominated by fire. Wood gives birth to fire, and the Imperial Kitchen is of the fire element, so it was located in the southeast of the Forbidden City. However, after Emperor Jiajing took refuge in the Western Garden, the Imperial Kitchen was moved from the Forbidden City to the Western Garden, and its direction was also in the southeast of the Western Garden.
The Imperial Kitchen in Xiyuan was mainly a kitchen serving Emperor Jiajing. Most of the most delicious delicacies in the world were created here. Although the Imperial Kitchen only served Emperor Jiajing, it was quite large. The Imperial Kitchen was a large hall with more than 30 rooms. There were more than 20 imperial chefs in the Imperial Kitchen, all of whom were chefs in charge of cooking. There were also 50 kitchen servants, who were young chefs helping the imperial chefs, responsible for picking vegetables, washing vegetables, cutting meat, and making noodles. There were also 30 servants, who did some physical work, such as fetching water, carrying vegetables, etc. In addition to these people, there were more than 80 eunuchs in the Imperial Kitchen. The imperial chefs could not walk in Xiyuan, so these eunuchs were responsible for serving food and were specifically responsible for delivering food, accompanying, and sitting on guard.
In fact, it must be said that Emperor Jiajing was a frugal emperor in terms of diet. The number of staff was generally less than that of his predecessors such as Zhengde, not to mention the comparison with the later Qing Dynasty. If compared with Empress Dowager Cixi who often had more than 100 dishes for a meal, Emperor Jiajing's diet can be described as simple. ??.??`c?o?m
It was already past noon, and the sunlight reflected colorful light on the glazed tiles of the imperial kitchen.
There were two eunuchs at the door of the imperial kitchen. They looked out anxiously, holding Buddhist whisks and pacing back and forth, sighing softly. They had been waiting here for more than an hour. However, they had not seen the eunuch who went to deliver the menu return. They had already sent two eunuchs to inquire about the news, and the news they received was just a temporary wait.
"Your Majesty has not eaten for two meals. What if he starves his body?" A shorter eunuch in charge of food sighed as he paced back and forth.
"That's right. I'm really worried. Could it be that our imperial kitchen did something wrong?" Another eunuch in charge of the imperial kitchen was equally anxious, and had an unshakable worry in his heart.
"What nonsense are you talking about, you jinx? I even got a reward for the meal last night." The shorter eunuch in charge of food quickly waved his Buddhist whisk twice, as if to get rid of the bad luck.
"Yes, yes. Eunuch Liu is right." Another eunuch in charge of food nodded repeatedly, feeling a little relieved.
It was no wonder that he was worried at first. The Jiajing Emperor was the most severe emperor towards eunuchs besides the Yuanzhang Emperor and the Yongle Emperor. The Jiajing Emperor looked down on eunuchs and felt that eunuchs were only fit for the job of cleaning toilets. If the Jiajing Emperor found out that the eunuchs had made a mistake, a beating would be the least punishment.
"Excuse me, sirs, the menu hasn't arrived yet. What dishes are we going to make?"
While the two were waiting, the chef Liu Yuchu from the imperial kitchen came out and bowed to the two eunuchs standing at the door and asked.
"Sir Liu, I'm more anxious than you, but today is different from the past. His Majesty hasn't had two meals yet, and we have to ask for permission before we can sit down. If the food we cook is not to His Majesty's taste, it would be a small matter for us to be punished, but it would be a big deal if His Majesty starved and damaged his body." The eunuch in charge of the food was also very anxious.
"Your Majesty has been fasting for half a month and has been a vegetarian for half a month. He needs to eat some meat." said Liu Yuchu.
"We all understand what Lord Liu said, but the menu has not been sent back yet. Why don't Lord Liu prepare the menu according to your proposal first?" The eunuch in charge of food thought for a moment and said to Liu the Imperial Chef.
"This is the only way." Imperial Chef Liu nodded, and prepared to return to the imperial kitchen to prepare meals for His Majesty.
At this moment, another eunuch in charge of food heard an excited voice. "Quick, look, Xiao Dezi is back."
The Xiao Dezi mentioned by the eunuch in charge of food was the eunuch they sent to deliver the meal list. Xiao Dezi ran very fast, gasping for breath, like a general who had won a great victory. He excitedly and solemnly handed the meal list in his hand to the eunuch in charge of food who was waiting at the door.
The eunuch in charge of food took the menu and read it impatiently, his expression looking a little strange.
It was not until Chef Liu saw the menu that he understood why the two eunuchs in charge of food had strange expressions on their faces. The menu that was sent back was completely different from the one they submitted, and not a single dish was the same.
Braised pork with bamboo shoots, steamed fish head, braised eggplant, braised chicken, fish-flavored pork shreds, braised chicken legs, steamed crab (do not add salt), sweet and sour fish, spicy chicken wings... ..
The more Chef Liu looked at the menu, the stranger it seemed to him. These dishes were generally not worthy of being served in a formal banquet. He didn't understand why the emperor suddenly wanted to eat them.
But finally I know what to do.
Liu Yuchu took the menu and quickly returned to the imperial kitchen, passing the menu to the chefs, and then the food machine in the imperial kitchen began to work. The imperial chef was worthy of being an imperial chef, and the dishes on the menu were soon presented to everyone one by one with good color, fragrance and taste.
There were a total of nine dishes on the menu. For ordinary people, nine dishes for a meal would definitely be a luxury, but for the emperor, it was still too few.
In order to enrich the emperor's cuisine, the imperial chefs prepared six more dishes, making a total of fifteen dishes, which were then served to the palace where Emperor Jiajing was by the eunuch in charge of food.
When Zhu Ping'an was tidying up the tenth bookshelf, Zhang Siwei came again and said that the emperor had sent another small note. Hearing that the emperor had sent another note, Zhu Ping'an put down the book in his hand and followed Zhang Siwei to the hall of the Hanlin Academy.
The person who came to deliver the note to Emperor Jiajing this time was a eunuch, an acquaintance of Zhu Ping'an's, Feng Bao, not Huang Jin from the morning. Huang Jin was a popular figure around Emperor Jiajing, and he was new to the East Factory, so how could he have so much time to run errands
When Zhu Ping'an entered the hall, he felt that the atmosphere in the hall was a bit strange, and the Hanlin scholars in the hall were all looking at him.
"Sir Zhu, this is given to you by the emperor." Feng Bao unfolded the small note in his hand and said to Zhu Ping'an.
Well
For me
No wonder the atmosphere in the hall was so strange, no wonder everyone was looking at him, it turned out that the emperor had given him a small piece of paper this time. He had just arrived and had received a small note from the Emperor Jiajing, so it was no wonder that they were like this. However, what kind of note did the Emperor Jiajing send him? He had just started working, and Zhu Ping'an was very curious about the content of the small note.
"Your Majesty, I obey your order." Zhu Ping'an knelt down and took the note.
Zhu Pingan took the note, opened it, and read the contents of the small piece of paper. He was a little amused because there was only a simple sentence on it:
"Sweet and sour fish goes well with rice." (To be continued.)
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