Chapter 417 Jiajing passed the note again
Among the many buildings in Xiyuan, there is a building that cannot be ignored. You can smell the mouth-watering fragrance when you get close to this building.
This building complex is the Imperial Dining Room.
Emperor Jiajing practiced immortality and made alchemy day and night, but apart from granting himself one after another long immortal titles that people can't finish reading in one breath, there is nothing in his body that is connected with immortals. Three meals a day are inseparable from the wind and dew, so this imperial dining room is the key department in Xiyuan.
The imperial dining room was originally located in the southeast of the Forbidden City. According to the Eight Diagrams of the Book of Changes, the east is dominated by wood and the south is dominated by fire. However, after Emperor Jiajing avoided living in Xiyuan, the imperial dining room was moved from the Forbidden City to Xiyuan, and the direction was also in the southeast of Xiyuan.
The imperial dining room in Xiyuan is mainly the kitchen for Emperor Jiajing. Most of the most delicious delicacies in the world are produced here. Although the imperial dining room only serves Emperor Jiajing, the size of the imperial dining room is not small. The Imperial Dining Room is an independent hall. There are more than 30 large rooms. There are more than 20 imperial cooks in the Imperial Dining Room. , responsible for picking vegetables, washing vegetables, cutting meat and noodles and other manual work; in addition, there are 30 husbands and servants who do some manual work, fetching water, carrying vegetables, etc. In addition to these people, there were more than 80 eunuchs in the imperial dining room. The imperial cooks were not allowed to walk in Xiyuan.
In fact, it has to be said that Emperor Jiajing was a frugal emperor in terms of diet. The size of these personnel is generally less than a hundred people than his predecessors such as Zhengde, let alone compared with later generations of Manchus. Compared with the Empress Dowager Cixi who had more than one hundred dishes, Emperor Jiajing's diet can be described as simple.
It was past noon at this time, and the sun shone on the glazed tiles of the imperial dining room, reflecting colorful lights.
There were two cooking eunuchs at the entrance of the imperial dining room. The two of them looked out anxiously at the entrance of the imperial dining room, pacing back and forth with Buddha dust in their hands, sighing softly one after another. The two had been waiting here for more than an hour, but they had not seen the return of the young **** who had gone to deliver the meal order, and had already sent two young eunuchs to inquire about the news, and the news that came was only temporary.
"Your Majesty, I haven't eaten two meals here. What can I do if the dragon's body is starved to death." A slightly shorter **** serving food sighed while pacing.
"That's not true, our family's heart is agitated, it can't be that our imperial kitchen did something wrong." Another **** who was in charge of cooking was also anxious, with unjust worries.
"What are you talking nonsense, crow's mouth, you were rewarded for your meal last night." The slightly shorter cooking **** quickly waved the Buddha dust twice, as if he could shake off the bad luck.
"Yes, what Eunuch Liu said is true." Another **** serving food nodded repeatedly, feeling a little relieved.
No wonder he was worried at the beginning. Emperor Jiajing can be said to be the most severe emperor to eunuchs besides Emperor Yuanzhang and Emperor Yongle. Emperor Jiajing looked down on eunuchs very much. He felt that eunuchs were only worthy of cleaning toilets and toilets. However, if Emperor Jiajing found out that the **** had made a mistake, the punishment would be light.
"Dare to ask the two father-in-laws, has the meal order arrived yet? What kind of dishes are you going to make?"
While the two were waiting, Liu Yuchu, the chef of the imperial dining room, came out and asked the two eunuchs who were standing at the door.
"Lord Liu, our family is in a hurry than you, but today is not the same as before. The Holy Majesty has not eaten for two meals, and we have to ask for instructions before we can sit. If we do not suit the Holy Majesty's taste, we will be punished. It's a big deal for the holy majesty to starve the dragon's body." The **** Si Shan was also in a hurry.
"My Majesty has fasted for half a month and has been a vegetarian for half a month, so I need to supplement with meat and meat." Liu Yuchu said.
"Our family understands what Mr. Liu said, but the meal list has not been sent back, or Mr. Liu should prepare according to the meal list you mentioned first." The **** serving food thought for a while, and said to Liu Yuchu.
"That's the only way to go." Liu Yuchu nodded, and was about to return to the imperial dining room to prepare meals for the Holy Majesty.
Right at this moment, another **** who served as food chief suddenly heard an excited voice, "Hurry up, see Xiao Dezi is back."
The little Dezi that the food **** said was the little **** they sent to present the meal order. Xiao Dezi ran very fast, and ran over out of breath, like a general who had won a big battle, excited He solemnly handed the meal order in his hand to the **** who was waiting at the door.
The catering **** took the meal list and couldn't wait to read it. After reading it, his face was a little strange.
It was not until Liu Yuchu saw the meal list that he realized why the two eunuchs had weird expressions. The meal list sent back was completely different from what they submitted, and none of the dishes were the same.
Braised pork with bamboo shoots, steamed fish head, braised eggplant, braised chicken in oil, fish-flavored shredded pork, braised chicken legs, steamed crab (no salt), sweet and sour fish, spicy chicken wings.
The more Liu Yuchu looked at this menu, the more strange he felt. Generally speaking, these dishes are a bit unrefined. I don’t know why the Holy One suddenly wants to eat these dishes.
However, I finally know what to do.
Liu Yuchu took the meal list and quickly returned to the imperial dining room, passed the menu in his hand to the chefs, and then the gourmet machine in the imperial dining room started to work. The imperial chef is worthy of being an imperial chef, and the dishes on the menu are presented in front of everyone's eyes one by one quickly.
There are nine dishes in total on the meal list. It seems that nine dishes for a meal must be extravagant for ordinary people, but for the emperor, it is still too little.
In order to enrich the delicacies of the emperor, the imperial cooks also prepared six additional dishes, and made up 15 dishes, which were passed on by the food **** to the palace where Emperor Jiajing lived.
When Zhu Pingan was sorting out the tenth bookshelf, Zhang Siwei came again, saying that the Holy Majesty had sent another small note. Hearing that the Holy Majesty had sent another note, Zhu Ping'an put down the book in his hand and followed Zhang Siwei to the hall of the Imperial Academy.
This time, it was Xiao Huangmen who came to deliver the note on errands for Emperor Jiajing. It was Zhu Pingan's acquaintance Feng Bao, and it was no longer Huang Jin in the morning. That's right, Huang Jin was a big celebrity next to Emperor Jiajing, and he was also in charge of the East Factory for the first time, so how could he have so much time to do errands.
When Zhu Ping'an entered the hall, he felt that the atmosphere in the hall was a bit strange, and the Hanlin people in the hall were all looking at him.
"Lord Zhu, the Holy Majesty gave you this." Feng Bao unfolded the note in his hand and said to Zhu Ping'an.
Uh
for me?
No wonder the atmosphere in the hall is so weird, no wonder everyone is looking at me, it turns out that the Holy One gave me a small piece of paper this time. When I first arrived, I received a small note from Emperor Jiajing, so it's no wonder they let them do this. It's just, what kind of note did Emperor Jiajing pass on to him? He just joined the job, and Zhu Ping'an was very curious about the content of the note.
"Minister, take the order." Zhu Pingan knelt down and took the note.
After Zhu Pingan took the note, he opened it, and after reading the contents of the small note, he was a little bit dumbfounded, because there was only a simple sentence on it:
"Sweet and sour fish is better with rice."
(end of this chapter)