Book of Days Tales

Beijing opera is said to have been born on this date in 1790 (or 1791) when the ‘Four Great Anhui Troupes’ brought Anhui opera to Beijing, for the eightieth birthday of Qianlong, sixth emperor of the Qinq dynasty.  It was originally staged for the court and only made available to the public later. In 1828, several famous Hubei troupes arrived in Beijing and performed jointly with Anhui troupes. Out of the combination, plus influences from other performance genres including acrobatics, developed what is now classic Beijing opera. Throughout the 19^th century Beijing opera grew in popularity from the emperor’s palace to the peasantry. Unlike classical Chinese performance forms, Beijing opera is readily accessible to everyone, with easy melodies to sing at home (for the Chinese!), action, comedy, and drama concerned with everyday situations.  It was generally banned as “decadent” during the Cultural Revolution, and for a time was performed only in Taiwan.  Now with more relaxed cultural rules it is making a comeback, and is popular with tourists.

I have chosen a recipe to celebrate Beijing opera based on an old legend: guo qiao mi xian过桥米线. It is said that the dish came about when a young scholar in Yunnan province retreated to a secluded place to prepare for the imperial examination of the Qing Dynasty, which would qualify him for an official position. His loving wife would travel daily to him to bring him his main meal. To do so meant she had to cross a lake by bridge separating the village from his hideaway. She would leave the meal for him, but he was so often lost in his studies that he forgot to eat. One day she made a soup with noodles and other ingredients from a whole chicken.  When she came to collect her cooking pot she discovered that the meal was untouched.  She expected it to be stone cold and was surprised to discover that it was still warm due to the insulating layer of chicken fat on top. From then on, she would serve the noodles and meat slices with the oily soup, and the young scholar could enjoy a warm meal every day. When he did well in the examination, he credited his success to his wife’s noodles, so the dish is now called guo qiao mi xian, which means “across the bridge noodles.” It is a popular dish nowadays with a great many variants.  You can choose pretty much whatever ingredients you want.  The essential elements are thick round rice noodles and fatty chicken broth. I have not given precise quantities for the ingredients because they are served communally for each guest to pick from to place in the soup.  For some of the authentic fresh ingredients you will need a good Asian market. 

Ingredients:

thinly sliced chicken breast

thinly sliced Chinese ham

squid cut in thin rings

cooked rice noodles

tofu skin

raw quail eggs

bok choy, shredded

Chinese mushrooms, sliced

spring onion, green tops chopped in long lengths

peanuts

cilantro, chopped

fatty chicken stock

Instructions:

Bring the chicken stock to the boil.

Place each of the ingredients in separate bowls on the table (crack the quail eggs in small individual bowls)

Serve each guest with a big bowl about ¾ full of chicken stock that is boiling hot.  Use deep Chinese ceramic bowls, not European soup bowls. It is vital that the stock be as hot as possible and retain its heat as long as possible. It should have a healthy film of chicken fat oil on top.

Each diner takes some meat, then eggs mushrooms and noodles, and lets them cook in the broth. This takes a few minutes. Then the peanuts, green onion, and cilantro can be added as a garnish.

Note: If you wish to serve this as a dinner dish to guests, I strongly advise you to experiment first to be sure you can serve the stock hot enough to do the job. All the ingredients should be at room temperature otherwise they will cool the stock too much.