Book of Days Tales

Another coincidence day.  On this date in 63 BCE, Gaius Octavius, later to be Caesar Augustus, first emperor of Rome, was born, and in 1215 CE, Kublai Khan, fifth Mongol emperor of China (and beyond), was born.  Shall we call it Emperors’ Day (plural)?  At minimum let’s have a pair of recipes: Emperor Chicken from China, and Rose (or Violet) wine from ancient Rome.  A tasty pairing. Good luck finding the herbs for the chicken dish if you do not live in China.

Emperor chicken

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

500 ml water

salt

24 gm Huai Shan 淮山 (Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae)

18 gm Dang Shen 党参 (Codonopsis Pilosulae)

16 gm Yu Zhu 玉竹 (Solomon’s Seal Rhizome)

22 gm Long Yan Gan 龙眼干 (Dried Longan)

10 gm Gou Qi Zi 枸杞子 (Wolfberries)

6 Hong Zao 红枣 (Red Dates)

3 gm Chuan Gong 川芎 (Szechwan Lovage Rhizome)

5 gm Tang Gui 当归 (Angelica Sinensis)

15 gm BeiQi 北芪 (Astragalus Membranaceus)

Instructions

Steam the herbs with 500ml water for 5 minutes.

Place the chicken on a large piece of aluminium foil (enough to enclose it).

Stuff half of the herbs in the chicken and place the rest around it.

Pour the water used to steam the herbs inside the foil with the chicken.

Wrap the foil up into a bundle.

Steam the chicken for 2 hours.

Add salt to taste, then serve.

Rose Wine (Loose translation from Latin)

Make rose wine in this manner:

Rose petals, the lower white part removed, sewn into a linen bag and immersed in wine for seven days.

Thereafter add a sack of new petals and allow them to steep for another seven days.

Again remove the old petals and replace them by fresh ones for another week.

Then strain the wine through a sieve.

Before serving, add honey to sweeten to taste.

Take care that only the best petals free from dew be used for soaking.

Violet Wine

In a similar way as the rose wine, violet wine is made of fresh violets, and tempered with honey, as directed.