In Chinese history, the Song Dynasty was a dynasty of poverty and weakness, but the people of the Northern Song Dynasty became more and more rich in food they could eat.
The introduction of high-quality rice and the spread of deep plowing methods made food plentiful for the people of the Northern Song. Under the warm sunlight of the Tropic of Cancer, it became possible to grow more food, and it reached every region of the country through convenient water transportation. Gradually their eating habits changed from a two-meal system to a three-meal system.
Dongpo meat and ham were researched by the Song people
Su Shi, who was an official in Huangzhou, Hubei province, spent the first low point of his life here, when he was relegated to Huangzhou as a deputy regimental trainer because of the "Wutai Poetry Case". He was determined to discover the joys of life from the humdrum. So red meat came into his sights.
Braised pork, one of the most common dishes in Chinese cookbooks, is known for its rich flavor and juice, fat but not greasy, and sticky texture. This gourmet cooking technique, which successfully removes the grease from pork, was discovered by Su Shi, who named the dish "Dongpo Pork". Dongpo was originally a former campsite in Huangzhou, where Su Shi cultivated the land and farmed it himself, and called himself "Dongpo Jushi".
Which time the people of Huangzhou, never heard of this way of cooking, a piece of ordinary pork in the fire and wine under the mingling, can give off a tantalizing aroma. "The good pork of Huangzhou is as cheap as dung, the rich refuse to eat it, and the poor don't know how to cook it."
Dongpo meat practice, in fact, very see: the fat and thin pork cut into an inch or so square, add wine, local soy sauce marinade, into the pottery bowl, and then add a small amount of water, in the charcoal stove on the fire stew slowly, pay attention to grasp the fire. Su Shi used a poem "Poetry of Eating Pork" to illustrate the key to cooking Dongpo Pork: "Slow fire, less water, when the fire is enough he is beautiful. Every day, I get up and play a bowl, and I am full enough for my own family, so don't worry about it." In the long lonely time in Huangzhou, a bowl of braised pork every day, Su Shi's "a belly of anachronisms" into "a belly of deliciousness", psychological and physical satisfaction.
Subsequent gourmets gradually improved the braised pork based on their own experiences, such as adding chili peppers for flavor, but the key cooking steps have not changed much.
Ham, another delicacy from domestic pigs, is also rumored to have been discovered by Su Shi, whether it is true or not, but the word "ham" did come from the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Shi also made ham, and there is historical evidence to prove it: "Ham with pig pancreas two with the cooking, the oil is gone. Hidden ham in the valley, decades without oil." In the curing and storage process, the mysterious microorganisms in the pork protein decomposition, breeding a unique, wonderful flavor, than fresh meat is more unique.
Hotpot and bean sprouts were developed in the Song Dynasty
Lin Hong, a native of the Southern Song Dynasty, was another Song Dynasty gourmet. He claimed to be the seventh-generation grandson of Lin Hejing, a Northern Song hermit who was known as "Plum's Wife and Crane's Son," but unlike Mr. Hejing's modest lifestyle, Lin Hong was a passionate foodie and used to roam the mountains in search of special ingredients.
The book "Clear Offerings of a Mountain Home" is a record of Lin Hong's food, which includes a variety of delicacies made from wild vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, and animals produced in the mountains, and describes the ingredients and cooking methods of these things.
In an age when man and nature live in harmony, the abundance of mountain delicacies and wild foods is a gift from nature. Lin Hong caught a fat little hare in the Wuyi Mountains in winter, but there was no cook in the mountains, and Lin Hong didn't know how to make the hare into a delicacy. Until an old diner told him: "The mountains only use a thin batch, wine sauce and pepper ingredients Wo Zhi, to the wind stove on the seat, the water less than half Choshi. After a cup of soup, each of them will be divided into one tendon, so that they can be put into the soup, cooked, and eaten, and each of them will be served with juice according to their own needs." With chopsticks holding thinly sliced hare meat, scalded in the hot steamy soup, immediately cooked, and then dipped in the "wine sauce pepper" made of sauce water, the delicious flavor immediately let people linger.
Linh Hung called this cooking method "Poha-suk". Later, the word "shabu-shabu" spread from the mountains to the city, and people applied the word "shabu-shabu" to not only meat, but also other vegetables, which could be dipped in the sauce and eaten. That's how "shabu-shabu" came to be.
Lin Hong also recorded the method of raising bean sprouts in his "Qingsui Shanjia": "Soak the black beans in water, expose them to the buds, put the chaff in a pot, spread the sand and plant the beans, and press them with a plate. And long, then back to the barrel, dawn is sunshine, ...... the more three days out of the wash, blanch with oil, salt, bitters, spices can be Ru, rolled in hemp cake is particularly good. Color light yellow, the name of the goose yellow beans raw." In fact, soybeans, mung beans, peas, budworms, adzuki beans can be hair into bean sprouts to eat.
Doughnuts and soup dumplings also arose in the Song Dynasty
The Chinese grew wheat in the north and rice in the south very early. But for a long time, wheat flour and rice only served as staple foods. By the Song Dynasty, as crop yields increased, wheat and rice were gradually improved into more flavorful snacks.
The Song Dynasty has a wide variety of noodle snacks, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles, noodles. Steamed buns have mutton steamed buns, bamboo shoots steamed buns, fish steamed buns, crab steamed buns, sugar steamed buns, wrapped steamed buns. Cakes include lasagna, moon cake, scorched golden flower cake, milk cake, vegetable cake, hu cake, peony cake, hibiscus cake, cooked meat cake, chrysanthemum cake, plum blossom cake, sugar cake.
The doughnut was created in the Southern Song Dynasty. Its birth is related to the Song people's hatred of Qin Hui, who killed the famous anti-Jin general Yue Fei on "trumped-up" charges, and the Song people expressed their righteous indignation in a special way: they pinched Qin Hui's face with noodles and deep-fried them in boiling oil to relieve their hatred. So the doughnut is also known as "fried hinoki". The first time I've seen this, I've seen it in the past, and I've seen it in the present.
Rice is not just a staple food, the Song people also use it to make all kinds of cakes: sugar cake, flower cake, honey cake, patty cake, honey cake, chestnut cake, wheat cake, bean cake, small cauldron cake steaming, Chongyang cake ...... look at the good want to eat ah!
The famous Soviet-style confectionery, mostly flavored with osmanthus and roses, has a sweet taste and was already started in the two Song dynasties.
Soup dumplings, also appeared in the Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty lyricist Jiang Baishi has a poem wrote: "Lantern Festival competition to see the Cailian boat, BMW incense car to pick up the falling tin; wind and rain late at night people dispersed, the lone lamp is still called to sell soup dumplings." The Song people used to eat soup dumplings to send their love and look forward to reunion with their loved ones.
We need calories from food every day to maintain our body's metabolism. The development of human society began when our ancestors learned to cook food over a fire. The Chinese diet changed dramatically during the two Song dynasties, and the American sinologist Anderson wrote in his Chinese Food, "The great Chinese cooking methods also arose in the Song dynasty. Tang food was austere, but by the late Song a refined cooking method with local characteristics was well established." In 1998, the American Life Magazine had selected the one hundred events that had the most profound impact on human life in this millennium, and the restaurants and snacks of the Song Dynasty were selected as the fifty-sixth. In this regard, as a Chinese I am still very proud of drops.