What does Emperor Qianlong eat for the New Year?

How many dishes are there in a New Year's Eve dinner of Emperor Qianlong?

Today is New Year's Eve. I wish you all a happy New Year and all the best! As the saying goes, "Food is the most important thing for the people". As the most important festival of the Chinese nation, every family will prepare rich dishes to welcome the arrival of the New Year. Today is the Spring Festival, so let's talk about the Qing Emperor's New Year's Eve dinner. As the ruler of the world, the emperor is rich in every corner of the world. They live a gaudy life every day, so what delicious food will they eat during the Spring Festival?

The eating habits of Qing emperors were different from those of today. They only eat two meals a day, namely breakfast and dinner, but the latter is usually earlier. Among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, one enjoyed life the most. During the Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty was a powerful country, with a treasury of more than 80 million taels of silver. Let's look at Emperor Qianlong's New Year's Eve dinner according to the court archives left by the Qing Dynasty.

In fact, the imperial meals of the Qing emperors were far less abundant than they are now. Shrimp, abalone, sea cucumber and shark's fin are rarely eaten, and chickens, ducks, sheep and pigs are the main meat. During the Qianlong period, great attention was paid to the proportion of ducks, such as bird's nest mushrooms, red and white ducks braised with cabbage, hell ducks, green pepper ducks and duck meat ducks. Hanging lotus seeds from bird's nest, yam duck soup, shredded duck with bird's nest and mushrooms, fried shredded duck with winter bamboo shoots and mushrooms, duck Dongpo pork, fried tofu with diced duck, and vinegar duck loin.

Deer meat also appeared on Emperor Qianlong's New Year's Eve, such as boneless chicken with deer tendon, mutton stewed with deer tendon wine, and deer tail sticking meat. In addition, Emperor Qianlong will eat some game, such as pheasant feet and roasted roe deer meat. As for the staple food of New Year's Eve, there are mainly japonica rice, steamed bread and jiaozi with various fillings. In fact, Emperor Qianlong's New Year's Eve dinner is not much different from what he usually eats, but it is more ceremonial. At the end of the dinner, Emperor Qianlong will distribute the extra royal meals to the princes and ministers. 、、、、、