‘Spring Lotus’ is the name of a very exquisite and expensive Imperial Soup. Have you heard of ‘The Buddha Jumps Over The Wall‘ soup? The ‘Buddha Jumps..’ is the economy version, spin-offed from Spring Lotus Soup. Spring Lotus Soup takes one week to prepare and only by licensed chef after 20 years of practice. Lately, there’s been a lot of bogus Spring Lotus Soup chefs who claim they possess the original recipe passed down 14 generations ago from a grandmother. Don’t be fooled. No one can pass down a Spring Lotus Soup recipe and have it stay within the family. All chefs are killed when the emperor dies to serve him in the afterlife. Ah but then, the original recipe did survive. It was secretly documented by the imperial scribe who had frequent trysts with one of the emperor’s concubines in the Han Dynasty. Read on.
The benefits of Spring Lotus Soup are -
1. It allows one to show off one’s wealth to business associates, a popular practice among Chinese businessmen. The rare herbs costs more than a dozen magnums of the finest champagne and there are 50 varieties of rare herbs in Spring Lotus Soup. Chefs have to buy insurance to prepare this soup in case something goes wrong in the kitchen like if he mistook the ‘kei chi’ for the ‘kim chee’. It would be bankruptcy court instead of the Imperial Court Restaurant for him the next day. Many Spring Lotus Soup chefs have committed suicide over a Spring Lotus Soup gone wrong.
2. Spring Lotus Soup magnifies orgasms in women 100 times (spread over 5 screaming multiple Os). The concubines in the Han Dynasty swear by Spring Lotus Soup to get by the night. You must have read that the Emperors in the Han Dynasty were not well known for their looks or sexual prowess. For the concubine, it is not an easy job to ‘fake-it’ every night. One concubine quoted in a tragic Chinese tale “Spring Lotus Soup helped bring out the animal in me so I could see past the beast I was with.”
But one can easily be addicted to it as was told in another tragic tale of ‘The Hideous Concubine – The One With The Double Eyelids’. Back then, the concubines were abundant and the herbs were not, so the soup was rationed to only the concubine/s the Emperor would visit that evening.
Some concubines such as this most hideous one only got to see the Emperor once at most twice a year. She worked out a deal with the scribe (who was related to the chef) to steal the recipe so she could make it herself and to trade for jewels or favors with the other concubines in the imperial harem. The Emperor found out one day and ordered her death by Spring Lotus Soup. She ODed and died of exhaustion. Tragic indeed but not unpleasant at all.
Before her death, the recipe was smuggled out of the Imperial Concubines quarters to a distant relative. Thank heavens the lost recipe was discovered after the Cultural Revolution for the world to enjoy. But how do you know if the recipe is genuine? It can only be passed down from one male chef to another male chef (unrelated by blood) and because of the enormous burden on a family should things go awry, the cook has to remain unmarried for as long as he is a practicing Spring Lotus Soup chef, which is pretty much a lifetime.
You should all try it. Find a restaurant that serves Imperial Dishes (remember – not cheap) and ask for 1 bowl of Spring Lotus Soup, then ask for 10 spoons (if you are feasting with 10 friends). You must order 1 week in advance. In KL, I’ve only found Imperial Dishes served at the Shangrila Hotel. It’s to die for, trust me.
I also recommend:
Chinese Imperial Cuisines and Eating Secrets
The Healing Cuisine of China: 300 Recipes for Vibrant Health and Longevity (Paperback)
Chinese Natural Cures: Traditional Methods for Remedy and Prevention (Paperback)
