In ancient eating habits, pork was not a tall meat for a long time. "The emperor eat too fast, cattle and sheep tapirs from soup to nuts. Governors eat cows, Qing eats sheep, doctors eat tapirs, and scholars eat fish and vegetables. "
Only cattle and sheep are the best meat. In the Song Dynasty, this dietary feature was fully developed. Beef and mutton are still more expensive than pork in the market today.
In the pre-Qin period, beef and mutton were tall and high in meat.
At a very early age, people in China knew how to domesticate six kinds of animals, such as horses, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs and chickens, to obtain meat. However, different meats have different positions in the food system, which even affects today's meat prices.
In ancient eating habits, cattle and sheep are undoubtedly the most aristocratic meat. "The Book of Rites" also said: "Governors don't kill cows for no reason, doctors don't kill sheep for no reason, scholars don't kill dogs for no reason, and Shu Ren doesn't eat treasures for no reason."
From the ranking, cattle and sheep are above pigs. Why is there such a difference in meat ranking in the pre-Qin period?
First of all, it is related to the preciousness of meat. Cattle is an important means of production in the farming era. In many dynasties, it was forbidden to slaughter cattle without permission. As the Book of Rites said, even princes would not kill cattle easily if they had nothing important to do.
As early as the Han Dynasty, cattle had been protected by legislation, and China law stipulated that "no less teeth should be slaughtered". The punishment for killing cattle in the Han Law is very severe. Those who violate the ban will be punished and they will pay the price of their lives.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, cattle were forbidden to be slaughtered regardless of their age, weakness, illness and disability. Only cows that die naturally or die of illness can be skinned for sale or eaten by themselves.
Rare things are precious, and beef naturally ranks among the best in the meat list. There are two unusually rich menus in "Great Tactics" and "Evocation of Soul" in Songs of the South, including: eight-treasure rice, stewed beef tendon, May soup, stewed turtle, roasted mutton, vinegar goose, roast chicken, mutton soup, twisted dough, roasted quail and stewed dog meat. Beef is at the top of the menu, and its importance is self-evident.
The development trend of meat in Tang and Song Dynasties-beef and mutton is still the mainstream.
This kind of eating habit was formed in the pre-Qin period and deeply influenced later generations. At the famous barbecue in the Tang Dynasty, cows, sheep, chickens, quails and even frogs were short of pork.
The diet culture of the Han nationality developed extensively and profoundly in the Song Dynasty. Because of the ban on beef, mutton became the main meat of the royal literati in this period.
Eating sheep in the Song Dynasty was a popular custom of the royal family. In Song Zhenzong, the royal chef slaughtered 350 sheep every day, while in Injong, he slaughtered 280 sheep every day, while in Yingzong, it was reduced to 40 sheep every day. In Zongshen, although pork consumption was introduced, the royal chef consumed "434,463 Jin and mutton 4 Liang" a year, and pork only used "4 1 365,438 Jin", which was less than mutton consumption.
The royal family prevailed, and naturally, from officials to the people, mutton became the first-class meat on the table in the Song Dynasty. Whether it's a wedding, a funeral, a scholar's award, or burning incense, the villagers are embarrassed to entertain guests if there is no sheep in the case.
Su Dongpo, a famous gourmet, was tired of eating sheep when he was an official in Beijing. Although he was "tired and fat for ten years in Beijing", when he was sent to Huizhou to live under surveillance, he was still attracted by the official sheep killing once a month. As a criminal, he can't eat mutton any more, but it's satisfying to get some sheep bones and bake them.
In Song Dynasty, pork was not the main meat of literati, or it was a kind of low-grade meat. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong dined in the mansion of Zhang Jun, king of Qinghe County. In the menu, everything runs on the ground, flies in the air and swims in the water, except pork. However, there were 3,000 kilograms of pork in Emperor Gaozong's travel ban recipe, which showed that the main consumer groups of pork at that time were indeed of low grade. So Su Dongpo said, "(Pork) The rich refuse to eat, and the poor don't understand."
However, pork is the staple food in the common old surname. According to Dream of Tokyo, tens of thousands of pigs are bought by traffickers from four towns and sent to Tokyo every day. Countless pork vendors and countless "Zheng butchers" slaughtered these pigs and sent the meat to the table of ordinary people.
It was Su Dongpo who really came into contact with pork with aristocratic spirit. In Hangzhou, because of the need to manage the West Lake and solve the problem of migrant workers' eating, he creatively invented the "small fire and slow stew" cubic fertilizer. This pork dish made of ginger, onion, brown sugar, cooking wine and soy sauce is named "Dongpo Meat".
Mutton is the most expensive place for Han people, but in the Liao and Jin Dynasties in the north, on the contrary, pork became higher. In Song Dynasty, envoys were sent to Liao and Jin, and northerners entertained envoys with the best pork. Pork in Liaojin is a "no big feast". Why does pork exist at the same time, and the treatment between North and South countries is so different? The reason is nothing more than "things are rare", there are few pigs in Liao and Jin, and pork is expensive; In Song Dynasty, there were few sheep, but mutton was beautiful. So when exchanging goods, the two sides exchange the goods they need. Liao and Jin exported fat sheep for pigs in the Song Dynasty, and both sides were very happy.
Ming and Qing Dynasties-Pork became popular.
During the Ming Dynasty, pork gradually became popular, at least in royal recipes. According to the History of the Forbidden City in Ming Dynasty, there are roast pork, pork sausage, pork arm meat and pork buns in the royal Chinese New Year recipes. It shows that the pork at this time can already be put on the stage of elegance.
But among the people, the popularity of pork is still not as good as that of beef and mutton. During the Wanli period, the price in Beijing showed that beef was 1.0 13 and pork was 0.0 18. In the twenty years of Wanli, pork rose to 0.02 taels, and beef and mutton 1 kg only needed 0.0 15 taels. It also shows that beef and mutton are still more popular meat than pork at this time.
In the Qing dynasty, pork finally reversed and became the main meat of the Han nationality. In the Gourmet Yuan Mei's Menu with the Garden, the pig was listed as a special sacrifice list, saying: "Pigs are used the most, and they can be called' religious leaders'. The ancients should have special dolphin feeding. "
Although the eating habits are gradually reversed, the status of beef and mutton cannot be shaken. 1840, when the green-eyed British put the cannon under the nose of the Qing Dynasty, Qishan was appointed as an imperial envoy to negotiate with foreigners. On the day before the talks, he sent food to the British fleet according to the old rule of the imperial court to entertain envoys, including 20 steer cows, 200 sheep, many ducks and chickens, one or two thousand eggs, but not a pig.