Su Dongpo’s Food Notes: Taking you into the Song Dynasty on the tip of your tongue

Su Dongpo

Born in the land of abundance - Sichuan

There is no doubt that

A person born in this delicious city

They all have a heart that loves to eat

A greedy stomach and a delicious mouth

And Meishan, where he grew up,

is even more so The heart of the birthplace of Sichuan cuisine

These conditions in the womb

naturally laid a solid foundation for him to become a standard "foodie"

And Throughout his life's journey as an official

In fact, it was also his journey to gourmet food as a foodie

This road

As soon as he walked, No intention of stopping

Everyone knows Dongpo Pork, everyone knows it. Know that meat is delicious. Although this poem was written by Su Dongpo in Huangzhou, the delicacy story of Dongpo Pork has to start in Xuzhou.

The two years Su Dongpo spent in Xuzhou were eventful times in the history of Xuzhou. In the autumn of 1077, the Yellow River burst and flooded Xuzhou. Su Shi did not flee in panic like the common people. Instead, he took the lead and built embankments with the people in the city to protect the city. After more than seventy days and nights of hard fighting, Xuzhou City was finally saved.

The city was saved, and the people were all rejoicing. They slaughtered pigs one after another to thank this Haozhizhou, who had a good leader and lived and died with the people of Xuzhou. Slaughter the sheep, carry wine and vegetables to the house to express condolences. Su Shi couldn't refuse, so after accepting it, he personally instructed his family to make braised pork and gave it back to the people who participated in the flood fight. After eating it, the people all felt that the meat was fat but not greasy, crispy and fragrant, and unanimously called it "return meat". Since then, "return meat" has been spread in Xuzhou and has become a famous traditional dish in Xuzhou.

On February 1, the third year of Yuanfeng, Su Shi was demoted to Huangzhou as deputy envoy of Tuanlian due to the famous "Wutai Poetry Case". He opened up wasteland and farmed his own land, so he called this place "Dongpo Layman". Hence the name "Su Dongpo". While in Huangzhou, due to poverty, he cooked braised pork himself and wrote his experience in "Pork Eating Poetry".

However, the braised pork cooked by Su Shi in Xuzhou and Huangzhou was only influential locally and not very famous nationwide. The braised pork that is really famous and famous all over the country is "Dongpo Pork" when Su Shi was in Hangzhou for the second time a long time ago.

When Su Shi was appointed magistrate of Hangzhou for the second time, he was credited with dredging the West Lake. Everyone carried wine and meat to pay him New Year greetings. Su Shi ordered the pork and wine to be cooked and fed to the migrant workers. The family misunderstood that rice wine and pork were cooked together, but after eating, everyone found it more crispy and delicious.

At that time, there was a big restaurant owner in Hangzhou. He heard that people praised "Dongpo Pork" for its deliciousness, so he cooked it according to Su Dongpo's method and put "Dongpo Pork" on the market for sale. As soon as this new dish became popular, the restaurant's business quickly boomed and the restaurant was full of customers. For a time, "Dongpo Pork" was available in all restaurants in Hangzhou. Later, chefs in Hangzhou held a public discussion and designated "Dongpo Pork" as the first famous dish in Hangzhou, which has been passed down to this day.

Nowadays, whether it is in the homes of ordinary people or on the tables of high-end restaurants, Dongpo Pork is well known and praised by everyone. Although the recipes vary from place to place, some are sweet and some are slightly spicy, but they are all the flavors and memories of my hometown that I grew up with. And all of this must be attributed to Su Dongpo, a foodie.

The Wutai Poetry Case can be said to be the biggest turning point in Su Shi's life. This huge blow left him disheartened. What particularly made him feel cold was that some of his former friends distanced themselves from him like the plague.

Huangzhou in history is now Huanggang City, and its jurisdiction still covers the western part of the Dabie Mountains. Nowadays, this small city located on the Mekang River is only an hour's drive from Wuhan. It looks like a prosperous place. However, Huangzhou in the 11th century was still a little-known place with no long historical heritage. Yun is a desolate place.

Although there is nothing good about Huangzhou being desolate, at least it covers the Dabie Mountains, and rare birds and animals in the mountains are often found. Other strange things are inedible, but pheasants can be caught easily. This pheasant is also a pheasant. Before the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, pheasants were still a high-ranking annual tribute. After snowfall in winter, when the sky clears up, it is also a good time to go into the mountains to hunt pheasants. Of course, Su Dongpo would not miss this game.

This pheasant only costs one hundred cents per pair, and the price is extremely affordable. Although Mr. Dongpo was short of money when he was in Huangzhou, the daily expenditure of the whole family was fixed at One hundred and fifty cents, but when I saw a hunter carrying a hunting fork on his shoulder carrying a pheasant for sale, I couldn't help but count out a hundred cents, buy it, and happily take it home. Pluck the hair, wash it and cut it into pieces, fry it slowly over low heat and eat it. It will be tender, crispy and fluffy, and will leave a fragrant aroma on your lips and teeth.

Or add slices of winter bamboo shoots, put it into the pot and make the soup. Don’t forget to put some celery on the bottom when it comes out of the pot. The mountain treasures are unique and mellow, and they are delicious without any seasoning. It is one of the great joys of life for a family to talk around the stove on a snowy winter night and take a sip of hot pheasant soup from time to time.

Dongpo Pheasant Soup has spread throughout southeastern Hubei and is still a traditional soup. In addition to this irreplaceable dish, Su Dongpo also invented another way to eat it, which is "Dongpo Spring Chicken". Although life in Huangzhou was hard, it is estimated that the Su Dongpo of thousands of years ago would become lively because of delicious food.

During more than four years of being demoted to Huangzhou, Su Dongpo traveled around He visited the famous mountains and rivers of Huanggang, enjoyed the magnificent scenery of eastern Hubei, and wrote 753 works. At this time, although Su Dongpo was at a low point in his life, he already had an open-minded and detached optimism.

Su Dongpo loved fish most of his life, but he often cooked it by himself, so he knew the secrets of making various fish dishes. He described his method of making carp in his poem "Yumanzi": "Breaking water to get bream and carp is as easy as picking up all the roads. There is no salt in the broken cauldron, and the green vegetables are covered with snow scales." He wrote " "Bream Fish" poem: "The dawn sun shines on the river, and the swimming fish is like a jade bottle. Who said that the neck should be shortened, and the greedy bait will be cooked every time. Mr. Du was thinking about it in the past, and he recalled Meng Sheng when he was about to leave. Now I am sad for my son again, and I burst into tears. ”

A kind of fathead fish is produced in the Minjiang River in Leshan, Sichuan. Su Dongpo and his younger brother Su Che used sesame oil, watercress, onions, ginger, garlic and other seasonings to make "Dongpo cuttlefish" by frying, cooking and collecting the juice. The taste was "unparalleled in fragrance". Su Dongpo also wrote in "Leaving New News to the Villagers to Ren Shizhong": "If you are strange, you will forget your hometown. When the rice is ripe and the fish is fat, the message is pure and beautiful." He even recorded it in the famous "Hou Chibi Fu" The story of cooking mandarin fish with "large mouth and thin scales, shaped like a Songjiang perch" to accompany wine.

There is a little story about Dongpo fish. It is said that Su Shi went to the temple to visit his good friend, the monk Foyin. As soon as he entered the door, he smelled a fishy smell and thought that this would be a blessing. Unexpectedly, the monk Foyin wanted to play a trick on Su Shi, so he put a plate of fish prepared in advance into the bowl next to him.

Su Shi was well aware of Monk Foyin's little thoughts, but he also deliberately kept his expression secret. Su Shi said to the monk Foyin: "I have a first couplet here, can you correct the second couplet?" After that, he chanted the first couplet "Spring is always there at Xiangyang Gate". Foyin responded to the second couplet without thinking: "People who have accumulated good deeds will have more than enough time to celebrate." After hearing this, Su Shi was overjoyed and said: "Since you have fish (surplus) in your celebration, why not take it out and share it with us."

Only then did Foyin realize that he had been tricked by Su Shi, but he I wanted to continue "teasing" Su Shi, but it happened that this steamed fresh fish had been scratched five times, so the monk Foyin had an idea and said: "This 'Wuliu Fish' might as well be called 'Dongpo Fish' From then on, people called "Wuliyu" "Dongpo Fish" and it has been passed down to this day.

In 1094, Su Dongpo, who was nearly sixty years old, was demoted thousands of miles away. of Huizhou. Huizhou, which belongs to Lingnan, was a wild land at that time, and the climate was completely different from that in the north. The living conditions there are extremely difficult, and it has always been regarded as a dangerous military state. Only officials with heinous crimes will be demoted here. When northerners move to this place, it is often difficult for them to survive, so when people mention Lingnan, they fear that they will turn into a tiger.

But in this place, Su Dongpo wrote odes and poems for wine, also tried brewing cinnamon wine, and invented a delicacy - roasted sheep and scorpions. However, in the Song Dynasty, the price of mutton was very expensive, and most people could not afford mutton.

Far away in Huizhou, far to the south and north, the commerce is even more backward, the markets are scattered, and the butcher shop only slaughters one sheep every day, so officials have to buy mutton to eat. So where did Su Dongpo get mutton to eat? Su Dongpo said, I am a relegated official, and it is impossible for me to compete with them for meat. So he secretly asked the butcher, "Leave some beam bones for me."

The beam bones are the sheep and scorpions we eat today. Su Dongpo could only buy sheep bones and roast them over a low fire until the bones and meat were slightly charred before eating. Su Dongpo spent all day picking the minced meat between the lamb spines, claiming that it felt and tasted like eating seafood, shrimps and crabs.

Su Dongpo also wrote to his brother Su Che, recommending the secret technique for making this dish. He said that he ate sheep spines about once every three to five days, and teased Su Zhe in his letter, "You live a comfortable life. You have eaten and drank with public funds for many years. You have eaten so much lamb that your teeth are sunk in and you can't touch the sheep bones. Why?" Can you understand this deliciousness?

At the end of the letter, Su Dongpo also humorously said that this way of eating is not bad, but every time he picks out all the meat on the bones, the dogs around him are very unhappy.

The villain in the court seemed to think that Su Dongpo was too relaxed and unrestrained in Huizhou, so Imagine a plan to demote him to Danzhou, Hainan, at the end of the world. This time, he planned to take the coffin with him and had no plans to come back.

Life on the island is more difficult than in Huangzhou and Huizhou. There is nothing here, no meat to eat, no medicine for illness, no room to live in, no friends to go out, no charcoal in winter, no cold spring in summer, no bathroom for bathing, and no books, pen, ink and paper. Su Dongpo, who has just arrived, feels extremely uncomfortable, and his days are really like years. feeling.

But it didn’t take long for Su Dongpo to look away and move towards food. Although Danzhou doesn't have much food, he can always find something that suits his taste. He wrote in a letter to his younger brother Su Che: "The natives eat potatoes every meal, and recommend smoking rats and burning bats. When I first heard the honey, I tasted vomiting, which is a bit close to the custom of toads."

In addition to these weird things, Dongpo also loves to eat his own rice dumplings. Not only that, he also has extensive research on the ingredients and production of rice dumplings. He taught the Danzhou people to use duck egg yolks that had been soaked for 100 days and add farm pork into rice dumplings. He also taught them to use Qiongzhou's specialty squid and shrimps and add beans into rice dumplings. The Danzhou people did the same thing, and after simmering, the taste turned out to be special. It has become a famous Danzhou delicacy.

To this day, when people look at the statue of Dongpo layman in Danzhou "Dongpo Academy", they will naturally think of Su Dongpo's relationship with the Dragon Boat Festival and Danzhou Zongzi.

Some people say that these delicacies can be found all over the country he has visited. It can be said that he ate them wherever he was demoted. In the end, he ate a piece of "The Bite of the Tongue" Song Dynasty. Come to think of it, why not? Su Dongpo wrote nearly 50 poems related to eating in his life: "Eating three hundred lychees a day, I will grow up as a Lingnan native"; "The ground is full of wormwood and reed buds are short, it is the time when the puffer fish is about to come up"; "Where and I I hate eating the same thing, I don’t know why I eat chicken and dolphins”… These are all verses that we are familiar with, and we can be said to be well-deserved gourmets!

Dongpo’s life

was an extremely splendid life

His soft heart saved the people from fire and water

< p> He also dared to argue with the ministers in the court room

He wrote eternal poems with great enthusiasm

He was also willing to risk his life for the taste of pufferfish

He is sincere and open-minded

He has been growing towards the sun all his life

Even if the clouds cover the sun

He can face life optimistically and calmly

Enjoy your own little life with one meal and one vegetable

On the road to accompany delicious food