Imperial Cuisine in Qing Dynasty

Imperial cuisine in Qing dynasty, as the imperial cuisine that is remained relatively completely, gathers the famous dishes from north to south in all ages. And its variety is up to two or three hundreds. With an extensive influence on the areas covering all over the China and even the world, the imperial cuisine in Qing dynasty is the very treasury of the culinary art of China.

The Fangshan imperial cuisine in Beijing derives from the imperial cuisine in Qing dynasty which was the achievement through the searching of generations of emperors in Qing dynasty and the creation of the chefs. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi and Qianlong, people lived peacefully and resources were abundant. During this period, the culinary underwent a considerable amount of development, and the imperial kitchen also combined many famous dishes together such as the meat sacrificed to the god, instant-boiled mutton in North, the roasted duck in stove, and the roasted pig in stove in south. Qianlong has been to the regions south of the Yangtze River, and was fond of the food there. He selected many famous dishes, as well as some promising cooks to send back to Beijing. until the end of Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi, who lived a luxurious and immoral life, was eager to taste all of the delicious food all over the world, and ordered an expansion of the imperial kitchen. The feature of exquisite cooking, beautiful colors and forms, fresh taste, tenderness, and delicacy was shaped during this time.

The imperial cuisine during the Qing Dynasty possesses not only exquisite cooking, but also many experiences, legends or anecdotes of twists and turns. For instance, the distinguished four pastes (i.e. Fried carrot paste, fried cucumber paste, fried pea paste and fried filbert paste) have their own stories. It’s said that the Manchu army invaded the Central Plain but encountered the tenacious resistance of the Hans in the early years of Qing Dynasty. It was a fierce war. And due to the frequent battles, the soldiers usually didn’t have enough time to cook the meals, so they roasted the meat on the fire, diced the cooked meat up and put them into the bowl. They then added some chopped vegetables, and mixed in some yellow soybean sauce thoroughly and then they began to eat the finished dish.

Later, the cooks in the imperial kitchen improved the dish by changing the method of mixing to frying, thus the taste turn out to be more delicious and fresh. The dish became a home cooked favorite in the royal family during the Qing Dynasty.