People pay attention to color, fragrance and taste in cooking. Not only should the taste be delicious, but also the shape and color should be beautiful, so people should have an appetite. Then, delicious dishes are indispensable to the addition of condiments, precisely because there are many condiments. So, did people in ancient China cook with condiments? What did ancient people add to cooking? What are the tastes of people in different dynasties? Let's look at the details.

The traditional food culture in China has a long history, and food cannot be separated from color, fragrance and taste. During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, people began to use sour plums to remove peculiar smell. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, artificial condiments, especially sauces and vinegar, were widely used.

"Sour taste" was popular in the pre-Qin period.

According to Sima Qian's Historical Records, as early as the early Shang Dynasty, people were very particular about the taste of food. There is such a record in Historical Records Yin Benji: Yi Yin "failed to make a pot, told the soup with taste, and made himself king". Yi Yin was a minister in the early Shang Dynasty. In order to persuade Shang Tang to rule the world by kingly way, he came to see Shang Tang with a cauldron on his back, and persuaded Shang Tang with the truth that cooking should be delicious.

It can be seen that it is necessary for the people who cooked in those days to make the dishes delicious. Yi Yin is a gourmet who is good at cooking, so he is known as the originator of chefs and has been regarded as a god in the catering industry. When I lived in Yi Yin, there were few condiments. What was used to flavor cooking at that time?

Ancient cooking

Salt is probably the earliest condiment discovered by human beings. Salt is indispensable to vegetables, so salt has the reputation of "the king of all kinds of flavors". However, salt, as a basic universal condiment, is not omnipotent. If you encounter food with a fishy smell, salt will not play much role. According to historical records, besides salt, plums are the earliest condiments used by China people.

There is a saying in Shangshu Shangshu Ming Shou Xia: "If you make a harmonious soup, it will only be salty and sour." This is what Wu Ding, king of Shang Dynasty, said to Fu, a worthy minister. It means that when I make soup, you need salt and plums. The records in Shangshu have been confirmed by modern archaeological excavations, and meishi has been found in many Shang tombs. For example, according to the Report on the Excavation of Tombs in the Western Area of Yin Ruins written by Yang Baocheng and Yang Xizhang (1969- 1977), a plum pit for seasoning was found in a bronze tripod unearthed from the Shang tomb numbered M284.

In the archaeology of Shang tombs, a large number of animals, such as dogs, sheep, pigs and chickens, as well as fish, birds and animal-shaped objects, were also found, which showed that human food was already rich at that time. However, these fishy and strong meats are delicious only when they are cooked, which requires condiments. Plums are sour, and the dishes made are naturally "sour".

Judging from the widespread use of plums as condiments in the pre-Qin period, "sour taste" should be a popular taste at that time, which is proved by people's liking to drink sour soup, otherwise Wu Ding would not take "if the soup is mixed, plums are only salty" as an example. When plums are used as condiments, plums are usually used. In addition to cooking soup, you also need plums to remove fishy smell when cooking fish and meat. The so-called "harmony with soup, fire, water, acyl salt and plum to cook fish" in Yanzi Chunqiu tells the fact that people used plum as seasoning to cook fish products in the pre-Qin period.

The diet in Qin and Han dynasties highlighted the "salty taste"

According to the literature, in the Han Dynasty stone relief "Kitchen Map" unearthed from the balcony of Zhucheng, Shandong Province, most of the modern cooking materials used are from the pre-Qin period, such as pepper, cinnamon, ginger, onion, mustard, onion, leek, etc., all of which are the table ingredients of China people. "Book of Rites Neize" said: "Spring onions, autumn mustard. Dolphin, leek in spring, Polygonum hydropiper in autumn. Use onions as fat, onions as paste, oysters as three beasts, and acyl as beasts. "

It can be seen that in the pre-Qin period, the development and use of various natural condiments, mainly spicy, set off the first wave of "flavor" revolution in the history of China cuisine. However, today's seemingly ordinary condiments were not enjoyed by ordinary people in the pre-Qin period. It was not until the invention and widespread use of artificial condiments, especially sauces and vinegar, in the Qin and Han Dynasties that ordinary people really enjoyed themselves.

Artificial condiments invented in Qin and Han Dynasties mainly include soy sauce, clear sauce and fermented soybean made of soybean and flour. Once invented, it brought another wave of "taste" revolution: previously unpalatable and inedible food can be eaten because of the sauce; Moreover, the dishes made with sauces are "beautiful", so the food has the cooking requirements of "color, fragrance and taste"-China people can't live without sauces from now on.

From the Western Han Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, Huang Menling's children's enlightenment book "Set of Nine Articles" described the common condiments in the diet at that time: "Sunflower leek with ginger, radish with salt and soy sauce. In the dogwood, the garlic and mustard are fragrant, and the old cucumber lotus is stored in winter. "

There was no sauce in Qin and Han dynasties, but it existed as early as vinegar, but in the pre-Qin period, sauce was called "sugar" and vinegar was called "acyl". Taking meat as raw material, that is, "meat sauce", so Shuo Wen Jie Zi said in explaining the word "sauce": "From meat, from unitary. Wine is mixed with sauce. " Why was it later rewritten as "sauce"? When Yan Shigu, a scholar in the Tang Dynasty, noticed the word "sauce" in the Collection of Nine Articles, he thought: "You said the sauce, but you ate it. If an army needs to lead it, use it as a guide. " It means that you can't eat without sauce, just like an army can't fight without commanding generals.

The ancients thought that the seasoning function of sauce and vinegar was very important. Gu Tao's Qing Louis in Song Dynasty said: "Sauce is also the master of eight treasures; Vinegar, food manager also. " Salty acetic acid was added to the sauce. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, people's diet changed greatly because of the sauce, and the salty taste began to stand out in the Qin and Han Dynasties and later. With the abundance of raw materials, the variety and taste of sauce are also developing further. For example, after the Ming Dynasty, peppers entered China, and "Chili sauce" became a popular delicacy.

The ancients thought that "sweetness" was the most beautiful of the five flavors.

In the pre-Qin period, the concept of "five flavors" in China's traditional diet was deeply rooted in people's hearts, and the influence of flavors on human health was fully realized. There is a sentence in the article "Choosing a doctor" in Zhou Li Tianguan: "Every medicine nourishes bones with acid, tendons with softness, pulse with salt, qi with bitterness and meat with sweetness." Among the five flavors, the ancients thought "sweet" was the most beautiful, so there was the word "sweet". What condiments did the ancients use to sweeten dishes?

In the early days, there were mainly caramel, honey and sugarcane pulp. By the Song Dynasty, the commonly used brown sugar and white sugar could already produce high quality. Among the sweet seasonings, "pulp" was first used. Maltose, or maltose, or made. The production of preserved fruit should have appeared in the Shang Dynasty, and it was a common condiment and food in the Western Zhou Dynasty. There is a reference to "Yi" in the Book of Songs: "It is a beautiful place with pansies in full bloom." This means that Joo Won? has fertile land and bitter vegetables grow as sweet as maltose.

In the spring and autumn period, the use of honey with higher sweetness and better sweetness than caramel increased. Meanwhile, all sweet fruits can be used for cooking. The Book of Rites says, "Jujube, chestnut, pulp and honey are all sweet." This cooking method has been used to this day. Sweet seasoning also has the function of deodorization, which can alleviate the stimulation caused by spicy taste and increase the freshness of salty taste. The jargon is called "refreshing". In addition, sugar can also deepen the color of dishes when cooking. For example, coating sugar on barbecue can turn the appearance into attractive burnt yellow.

The method of making delicious food with sweet spices was mentioned in "Evocation of the Soul in Songs of the South". When making soft-shelled turtle and roast mutton, use sugarcane pulp to flavor and color, which is called "soft-shelled turtle roast mutton with some Zhejiang pulp"; However, "honey bait with glutinous rice is better" and "honey spoon with glutinous rice is better" indicate that bees and maltose were used in making sweet flour cakes at that time; Mix honey when drinking to dilute the bitterness and make the wine more beautiful.

Southerners such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Sichuan like to put sugar in their food. In Cao Pi's Letter to Courtiers, there is a saying that "Shu people eat it and take honey as their pleasure". This dietary preference has not changed so far, such as Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou in the south of the Yangtze River. The dishes are mainly sweet, which is obviously different from the salty in Qilu, the light in Huaiyang and the spicy in Huxiang.

"Spicy" was favored in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Among the five flavors, spices containing volatile components have the most direct stimulation to human nose and mouth, which can greatly induce appetite. The main materials in this respect are pepper, cinnamon, ginger, onion, Polygonum hydropiper, mustard and so on, all of which are local condiments originating in China. Among them, Zanthoxylum bungeanum and ginger are the most distinctive, which the ancients liked and used a lot. The spicy condiment that people can't live without in the pre-Qin period should be ginger, and people should have some when they eat it, which is the so-called "ginger can't be removed, and there is not much food" in the Analects of Confucius and the Rural Party.

When cooking beef and other dishes, ginger is always indispensable, and it is often used with pepper and cinnamon. According to Zhang Heng's seven arguments in the Eastern Han Dynasty, people in the Han Dynasty cooked meat as "fragrant with ginger and pepper, brushed with Gui Lan". But it is not only these local condiments mentioned above, but also "Hu flavor" that triggered a new wave of "taste" revolution. In the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian brought back garlic, coriander and so on. From the western regions. These "Hu flavors" first gave China people a taste of exotic flavor. The "Chili" that came in later was always a high-grade condiment in the eyes of the ancients, especially in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Pepper originated from the west coast of India and was introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty. Before that, it was introduced from Central Asia and South Asia. Pepper is more valuable than gold, and it was called "the messenger of the golden pill" in Gu Tao's Pharmacopoeia of Qing Dynasty. Gold is common, but pepper is hard to buy. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, having peppers at home was a symbol of status and wealth. One thing can explain the special position of pepper.

According to "Biography of Yuan Zai in the New Tang Dynasty", Yuan Zai, a corrupt official in the Tang Dynasty who was once the official to the prime minister, even copied "pepper to 800 stones" when he was looted by the court. Yu Qian, a famous patriotic minister in Ming Dynasty, once talked about this point. He said in the poem Untitled: "Pepper welcomes guests for 800 years and stinks for a thousand years."

Among the "exotic flavors", "spicy taste"-the taste of pepper-can have a revolutionary impact on China's diet after the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Pepper originated in America and was discovered by Spanish perfumers and transplanted to Europe and Asia. In the late Ming Dynasty, pepper was introduced to China as an ornamental flower. People in China who pay attention to taste soon discovered the edible value of pepper, especially Sichuan and Hunan, which have always loved spicy food, changed their dependence on pepper and ginger and fell in love with pepper, so "no food without ginger" became "no food without pepper". Since then, "spicy" has become the main flavor of Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine and other cuisines.