In the Tang Dynasty, the division of north and south regions was similar to today, so the staple food characteristics were also "rice in the south and rice in the north". Rice was the main food in the south and pasta was the main food in the north. Chang'an City, too, belonged to the north at that time, but transportation from the north to the south was in all directions, and even domestic and foreign cultural exchanges had reached an unprecedented height. Chang'an was the political and economic center of the Tang Dynasty, so all kinds of local and foreign people from all over the world Food and drink are all gathered here. If you are a foodie, you have come to the right place! Let’s not mention anything else for the moment, just the staple food is a feast for the people of Chang’an!

There are two major categories of staple food that people in Chang'an usually eat, one is cakes and the other is rice. First of all, it is necessary to state that the cakes of the Tang Dynasty and the modern meaning of cakes are two different concepts. They called most of the formed pasta "cakes", and there are countless forms. There are Hu cakes recorded in the literature. , steamed cakes, pancakes, soup cakes, suo cakes, sugar crisp cakes, etc. dozens of kinds.

Among them, the most popular is Hu Cake. Hu cake is a kind of baked pasta. When you hear the name, you know that it was introduced from the Western Regions. People also like to add sesame seeds to it, so it is also called sesame cake. It tastes "crispy and oily". You can buy this kind of noodles in any restaurant in Chang'an.

Of course, having enough food and clothing by yourself and going to restaurants every day is probably a bit extravagant for you who are new here, so you might as well make it at home. You can refer to the grilled naan in Xinjiang today. You can also add other fillings according to your own taste. For example, rich people usually make a kind of Hu cake called "Gulouzi". The method of making it is described as follows in "Tang Yulin": "One with mutton" Jin, put it in layers on the giant Hu cake, put pepper and black bean in the middle, moisten it with crisp, and then put it in the oven to bake. This kind of cake is not small. You can eat it for several days by yourself. Of course, if you think that eating roasted Hu pancakes every day will easily cause you to get angry, it doesn’t matter, we can still eat steamed pancakes.

Steamed cakes have been around since the Han Dynasty. The ancients collectively called all steamed pasta steamed cakes. For example, our current steamed buns are all a type of steamed cakes. During the Tang Dynasty, steamed cakes with fillings were also called cage cakes. Just like today's steamed bun shops, Chang'an people also have fixed shops and mobile vendors selling this.

Not only popular among the people, in the palace, steamed cakes are also a common royal food, but the ingredients are more particular than those of the common people. For example, Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty liked to eat "use Xiaoxiong and Zhanlu as internal fillings" The steamed cakes are also named "Chujian Mantou". Most people can't afford this filling. They use bear oil, which is "Xiaoxiong", and venison. The deer is not an ordinary deer. Instead, they were deer carefully raised for the royal family, also known as "stack deer". As an ordinary Chang'an piao, let's eat some steamed pancakes stuffed with pork.

In addition, people in the Tang Dynasty also often eat a kind of pasta called soup cake, which refers to our noodles or noodle soup today. The method is to hold the prepared dough in your hands and tear it into pieces and cook it in a pot. It is also called "suo cake" or "boiled cake". Chang'an people are very good at eating. Don't think that today's various types of noodles were invented by later generations. Many varieties were already available more than 1,000 years ago, such as duck flower soup cakes, ginger soup cakes, mutton soup cakes, etc. wait. Including longevity noodles, which are a must-eat for birthdays, others also have them.

In addition, there are cold noodles, which were called "Leng Tao" at that time. They also appeared in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that they were invented by Wu Zetian. The most popular cold noodles in Chang'an are Sophora japonica Leng Tao. The specific method is as follows I also introduced it specifically in my "Interesting Talk about "Shanjia Qinggong"" series. Friends who are interested can also take a look.

After eating so much cake, let’s change the taste, such as going to have a "rice". Don’t think that northerners only like to eat pasta. You must know that rice was the original staple food of our ancestors. What do people in Changan like to eat? There are also a dazzling array of varieties, including corn rice, rice rice, carved wild rice, and green rice for cultivating immortality and Taoism.

Corn, now known as millet. This is a very ancient food. It was domesticated and cultivated by our ancestors as early as the Neolithic Age. It developed into the Tang Dynasty, and it was still the most common meal eaten by ordinary people. However, the processing of grain in ancient times was very rough. Unlike the millet we eat today, which is all finely crafted, the millet at that time was just the outermost grain. The shells are just ground off, and the texture is very rough. The relatively coarse corn rice is also called chaff food.

So people who are more luxurious don’t like to eat very much. What do they eat? For example, there is "Crystal Rice", which was specially made for the emperor. The rice must be cooked crystal clear to be qualified. I don't know the specific method, and I have never tasted it. Some modern restaurants also offer similar rice. As for whether it's authentic or not, it's hard to say.

Back to the topic, as a Beipiao tribe, we can’t count on those delicacies, so we should just eat some simple meals. If you think dry food such as corn, rice, etc. is too monotonous, You can also follow the example of others and make "water rice" or "vegetable rice", which is what we call soup rice or vegetable rice today, or add seasonings to make rice porridge, which is also a good choice.

Okay, we’ve just talked about the staple food, and there are many more delicious ones, such as wontons, dumplings, and various pastries, such as Yuliang cake, Double Ninth Cake, Crystal Dragon and Phoenix cake, There are also many pastry workshops in Chang'an City, such as flower-folded goose cakes, etc. You can eat all you want. Time is limited, so I won't go into details one by one. You can explore them yourself.