Before Tang and Song Dynasties, what kind of meat was popular with people? In the pre-Qin period, Guoyu recorded: "The son of heaven was too eager to eat, and all cattle, sheep and tapirs were prepared. Princes eat cows, nobles eat sheep, doctors eat tapirs, scholars eat fried fish and Shu Ren eats vegetables. " It can be seen that in the pre-Qin era, upper-class people 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, the gradual popularization of Niu Geng made the importance of cattle in agricultural society soar. 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: "Kings 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." Therefore, people give up eating beef in their diet and eat mutton instead. Mutton gradually became the main meat food on the table of ancient people in China.
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 cattle that died naturally or died of 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.
Therefore, there will be no large-scale cattle raising activities. Therefore, there will be no beef in the Song Dynasty. As for the saying that heroes in Water Margin always need two Jin of sauce beef, this 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 output 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 will make people lose 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: "All pork is bitter, slightly cold and slightly toxic", and "South pig is rich in flavor and boiled juice, especially toxic". These wrong theories of traditional Chinese medicine also had a fundamental impact on ancient dietary patterns. Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, pork was a "cheap" food that some poor people would eat.
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 regards them as the family rules of his ancestors. This ancestral family rule has been strictly observed since Emperor Taizong. After the Song Dynasty, emperors didn't eat pork, and it was not until Xining period that the situation of mutton as the mainstay and pork as the supplement was formed in Table Mountain. In a word, pork was hard to be served on the table in Song Dynasty.
Third, chickens and ducks need feed. Raising chickens requires a lot of feed, and a big chicken needs feed once or twice 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 the Song Dynasty could only raise chickens and ducks in the harvest year.
Therefore, it is difficult for chicken to become the mainstream. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially before the Song Dynasty, dog meat was always a frequent visitor on people's table. However, after the Song Dynasty, its status gradually declined. However, because dogs are very 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, fresh fish can't be preserved for a long time except the land of plenty. 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, which is not common. So venison can't be the mainstream.
Secondly, mutton had many advantages in Song Dynasty.
First of all, 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.
Secondly, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin liked to eat mutton in his early years. It is said that in Zhao Kuangyin's early years, he wandered on Chang 'an Avenue, when he was poor. When he was starving to death, he asked the shop for a bowl of mutton soup and two cakes. It was at this time that Zhao Kuangyin never forgot the delicious mutton in his heart. 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 of 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, which leads to peace. "Mutton became the only designated meat in the court diet of the Song Dynasty. Song dynasty rulers had many other influences on mutton, and sheep existed among the reward officials.
When Song Renzong was in office, he also distributed mutton as an official salary to officials at all levels. Even the civilian class has been influenced by the royal family, and mutton is essential in weddings, winning lists and other happy events. Mutton on the market in Song Dynasty was also a hot-selling product 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 the middle energizer, calms the nerves, stimulates appetite, strengthens yang and tonifies kidney". When mutton and ginseng are juxtaposed, the position of mutton in the hearts of the ancients can be seen.
Fourthly, compared with other livestock, the Song Dynasty is more suitable for raising sheep, because sheep are good at climbing mountains and can be raised in areas that are not suitable for farming, such as wasteland and mountainous areas, 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.
In Dream of Tokyo, stewed sheep, soft sheep, tripe, tenderloin, beef offal, raw soft sheep noodles and so on are mentioned, which shows that the sheep are 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 very popular, it is difficult for ordinary people to enjoy it. In the Song Dynasty, mutton was not an ordinary thing. It was expensive and only the elite could accept it. However, the price of mutton in the Song Dynasty was high because the output of mutton in the Song Dynasty was not enough to meet people's living needs, rather than because people rushed to buy it and raised the price.
Although it is mentioned above that sheep can be herded in barren land or mountainous areas, the sheep raised in this way are obviously not as fat as those raised in grassland, and the number of sheep raised in grassland is also less. However, no matter 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, some cheap sheep offal were sold in the market. Even occasionally someone sells a whole sheep in the market, and this sheep is relatively thin, far less fat than Xu Jinguo sheep.
At the same time, the breeding of horses also needs grasslands, and the military strength of the Song Dynasty was inherently weak. Therefore, for greater interests, especially national security, the rulers also require that most of the limited grassland and forage be used for horse breeding. This further limits the growth of mutton production.
According to the collection of manuscripts of the Song Dynasty, in the Song Dynasty, more than 430,000 catties of sheep were used in the palace alone. How to meet the demand for mutton as big as that in Song Dynasty? Then there is only one way, "import". Even if the sheep bought in Jin Guo are very cheap, if we "import" fat sheep from Jin Guo, on the one hand, the price sold to us by Jin Guo 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 the sheep is transported to the south, it will have to rise again, and finally only the rich can enjoy mutton. In the eyes of ordinary people, mutton is a rare and precious jade.
"Yi Jian Ding Zhi" records that in Shaoxing, Song Gaozong, "Wuzhong sheep is very expensive, and a catty of meat is 900 yuan". Therefore, as mentioned in "Water Margin", when Song Jiang invited Li Kui to drink in Pipa Pavilion, the store said that "only mutton is sold, and there is no beef", obviously because Song Jiang and others can't afford mutton and despise Song Jiang and others. Therefore, there will be a scene where Li Kui jy beats the bartender.
Gao Hongsi, a poet in the Song Dynasty, also wrote a poem "Feeling about the High Price of Mutton in Wuzhong" to feel the high price of mutton: "How dare you buy it at Pingjiang?" I only eat two meals of fish in my spare time, and now my stomach is a small pond. "If we rank the salaries of ancient officials, the Song Dynasty will be the first. 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, so it can be seen 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.