What kind of meat did people like to eat before the Tang and Song Dynasties? "Mandarin" in the pre-Qin era recorded: "The emperor ate too fast, and all kinds of cattle, sheep and tapirs were available. Governors eat cows, Qing eats sheep, doctors eat tapirs, and scholars eat fried fish and vegetables. " It can be seen that in the pre-Qin era, people in the upper class only ate beef and mutton, because beef and mutton were more precious at that time, so people at that time thought that only beef and mutton were superior meat. Therefore, in this period, beef and mutton are the welcome objects of people's meat diet.
During the Han and Wei Dynasties, with the gradual popularization of Niu Geng, the importance of cattle in agricultural society rose sharply. In order to maintain the development of productive forces, the rulers issued a clear imperial edict not to kill cattle for no reason. 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." So people give up eating beef in their diet and eat mutton instead. Mutton gradually became the main meat on the table of ancient China people.
Why did people in Song Dynasty eat mutton so popular? 1. There were not many kinds of edible meat in Song Dynasty.
First, in the Tang and Song Dynasties, following the wind of Han and Wei Dynasties, it was forbidden to kill cattle, and only natural death or illness could be sold or eaten. At the same time, raising cattle needs to occupy a lot of land as a source of feed, and a cow needs about 50 acres of grassland. This was impossible in the Song Dynasty when arable land was very tight.
So there will be no large-scale cattle raising activities. Therefore, there was no beef to eat in the Song Dynasty. As for the saying that the hero in Water Margin always asks for two Jin of sauce beef, it is only to highlight the rebellious spirit of Liangshan heroes, but it is inconsistent with history.
Second, before the Song Dynasty, people were not good at raising pigs and cooking pork. In ancient times, pigs were generally free-range, which led to small size, low meat production and strong smell of pork. In modern times, by adopting the methods of "captivity" and "castration", pigs can be fattened quickly, the meat production increases sharply, the fishy smell of pork is eliminated, and pork becomes the main meat source.
Sun Simiao, the drug king, said, "Eating pork for a long time makes people lose their sperm and get sick. Eating dolphin meat for a long time will make people feel weak and tired. " Li Shizhen, a medical sage, also wrote in Compendium of Materia Medica: "Pork is bitter, slightly cold and slightly toxic", and "South pig has a strong flavor and thick boiled juice, which is especially toxic". These erroneous theories of traditional Chinese medicine also had a fundamental impact on the ancient diet pattern. Therefore, in Song Dynasty, pork was a kind of "cheap" food, and some poor people would eat it.
One more thing, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, was a pig. He doesn't eat pork, and at the same time regards pigs as pets and makes them the family rules of his ancestors. Since Taizong, this ancestral family rule has been strictly observed. After the Song Dynasty, emperors did not eat pork, and it was not until Xining period that Table Mountain became a situation in which mutton was the mainstay and pork was the supplement. To sum up, pork was also difficult to put on the table in the Song Dynasty.
Third, chickens and ducks need feed. Raising chickens requires a lot of feed, and a big chicken needs one or two feeds a day. A chicken has used a lot of feed since childhood, and chickens are generally raised in groups. So is raising ducks. Therefore, people in Song Dynasty could only raise chickens and ducks in harvest years.
Therefore, it is difficult for chicken to become mainstream. Dog meat was always a frequent visitor on people's table before the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially before the Song Dynasty. But after the Song Dynasty, its status gradually declined. However, because dogs are small and difficult to grow up, in the Song Dynasty, the mainstream status was forced to give way to bigger sheep.
Fourth, fish is very good, but limited by geographical location, except the land of plenty, fresh fish can't be preserved for a long time. If dried fish was made, precious salt was needed in ancient times, so people still didn't eat much. So are other seafood. Venison is the first game, but deer can't be domesticated and is not common. So venison can't be the mainstream.
Second, mutton had many advantages in the Song Dynasty.
First, the ancients thought mutton was delicious. When Xu Shen explained the word "beauty" in Shuo Wen Jie Zi, he wrote: "Beauty is sweet. From sheep to big. " This shows how high the status of mutton is in the hearts of the ancients. At the same time, mutton is not only delicious, but also produces more meat than most animals, so it is deeply loved by everyone.
Second, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin liked to eat mutton in his early years. It is said that Zhao Kuangyin once wandered on Chang 'an Avenue in his early years, and was as poor as a church mouse. When he was hungry, he asked the store for a bowl of mutton soup and two cakes. It is at this time that Zhao Kuangyin will never forget the delicious mutton. Before the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin often went to Zhao Pu's house to "eat rice", and Zhao Pu also entertained him with roast mutton. After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin formulated the ancestral family law, and only ate mutton and no other meat.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, Li Dao talked about the methods of the ancestors in the Song Dynasty in the Long Edition of Continuing the History as a Mirror, and wrote: "The diet is not expensive, and the chef only uses mutton. This is the family method of all ancestors, leading to peace. "Mutton became the only designated meat in the court diet of the Song Dynasty. The rulers of the Song Dynasty had many other influences on mutton, and sheep existed among the officials.
When Song Renzong was in office, he also distributed mutton as official food to officials at all levels. Even the civilian class is influenced by the royal family, and mutton is indispensable for weddings, lists and other happy events. Mutton on the market in Song Dynasty was also a hot item that people rushed to buy.
Third, compared with pork, ancient Chinese medicine recognized mutton more. The "Historical Emergency Materia Medica" rebuilt in the Northern Song Dynasty wrote: "Ginseng tonifies qi, mutton tonifies shape, tonifies middle energizer, relieves annoyance, stimulates appetite, strengthens yang and tonifies kidney". Put mutton and ginseng side by side, and the position of mutton in the hearts of the ancients can be seen.
Fourthly, compared with other livestock, sheep were more suitable for raising in the Song Dynasty, because sheep were good at climbing mountains, and they could also be raised in wasteland, mountainous areas and other areas that were not suitable for farming without occupying cultivated land. For a country with a small land and a large population in Song Dynasty, mutton is much more cost-effective than the same delicious beef.
"Tokyo Dream" mentioned stewed sheep, soft sheep, tripe, tenderloin, internal organs, raw soft sheep noodles and so on, indicating that the sheep were cooked from head to toe and from outside to inside. This kind of animal with small investment and high income was deeply loved by aquaculture in Song Dynasty.
Although mutton is popular, it is difficult for ordinary people to enjoy it. In the Song Dynasty, mutton was not an ordinary thing, and it was expensive. Only the elite could accept it. However, mutton in the Song Dynasty was expensive because the output of mutton in the Song Dynasty was not enough to meet people's living needs, not because people rushed to buy it and raised the price.
Although it is mentioned above that sheep can be herded in barren land or mountains, the sheep raised in this way are obviously not as fat as those raised in grasslands, and the number is also less than that raised in grasslands. However, whether in the Northern Song Dynasty or the Southern Song Dynasty, the country lacked a large area of grassland, so the mutton production in each county was very limited.
In contrast, the yield and quality of sheep raised in Jin pasture far exceeded that of Song Dynasty. At that time, it was very common to sell whole sheep in the market of Jin State. Sheep were fat, healthy and cheap. However, in the Southern Song Dynasty, there were some cheap mutton offal on the market. Even occasionally someone sells a whole sheep in the market, and this sheep is thinner, far less fat than Xu Jinguo.
At the same time, the breeding of horses also needed grasslands, and the military strength of the Song Dynasty was already very weak. Therefore, for greater interests, especially national security, the rulers also require that most of the limited grassland and forage be used for raising horses. This further limits the growth of mutton production.
According to the "Song Hui Yao Ji Draft", in the Song Dynasty, more than 430,000 kilograms of sheep were used in the palace alone. How to meet the demand for mutton as big as Song Dynasty? Then there is only one way, "import". Even if it's cheap to buy sheep in the kingdom of Jin, if we "import" fat sheep from the kingdom of Jin, on the one hand, the price sold to us by the kingdom of Jin will be higher, on the other hand, we will have a live sheep.
It took a long time to transport sheep from the remote northern grassland to the south. In that era of underdeveloped transportation, the cost of transportation was even higher. Therefore, when sheep are transported to the south, they will rise again. In the end, only rich people can eat mutton. In the eyes of ordinary people, mutton is a rare and precious jade.
"Jane Yi Ding Zhi" records that in Shaoxing, Song Gaozong, "the price of Wuzhong sheep is extremely high, and a catty of meat is 900 yuan". Therefore, it is mentioned in the Water Margin that when Song Jiang invited Li Kui jy to Pipa Pavilion for a drink, the store said that "only mutton is sold, not beef", apparently because Song Jiang and others can't afford mutton and despise Song Jiang and others. Then, there was the scene of Li Kui jy beating the bartender.
Gao Gongsi, a poet in the Song Dynasty, also wrote a poem "Feeling the high price of mutton in Wuzhong" to feel the high price of mutton: "Pingjiang sheep 9 1 1 kg, how dare you buy it?" I only feed fish twice in my spare time, and now my stomach is a small pond. "If the salary of ancient officials is arranged in a row, it will be the first in the Song Dynasty. Even so, if the official position is not high and the salary is not thick, mutton is also a treasure that cannot be cherished for many officials. This shows how expensive mutton was at that time.
Until modern times, mutton has always been the most expensive meat among common meats, which shows that the status of mutton in people's minds has not decreased. Even if someone doesn't like it because of its smell, it doesn't affect its position in the hearts of China people.