"Recalling the heyday of Kaiyuan yesterday, this small city still hides thousands of families. Rice is fat and white, and public and private warehouses are rich. " The poet Du Fu wrote a poem "Recalling the Past", which described the prosperity and prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. Political clarity, economic development and cultural prosperity-this is what a prosperous age should look like.
As a foodie, if you live in the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the capital Chang 'an, then you should spend the day like this.
one
A beautiful day, of course, begins with a steaming breakfast.
Breakfast in Chang 'an is quite simple. Count these three kinds: porridge, noodle soup and bread.
Porridge is a simple and nutritious food, and it is the favorite of people in the Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi said, "It's very cold in spring now. Ask yourself what you want. Su Wen Bai Hua Wine Milk Rehmannia Porridge A bowl of fragrant milk porridge is an excellent thing to keep out the cold. Bai Juyi's milk porridge means adding milk to porridge. There are also vegetables, meat, fruits and dried fruits added to porridge, which are all-encompassing. There is only what you can't think of, and there is nothing that people in the Tang Dynasty can't add. The great poet Wang Wei likes to add sesame seeds to porridge, "royal soup and stone marrow, fragrant rice into flax."
There is a technical term for noodle soup, which is to tear the dough into small pieces the size of a thumb, cook it with quick fire, and add seasoning, and you're done. The noodle soup is "not straight, white and lovely, but also slippery and beautiful", which is delicious and makes people's index fingers move. It is said that this kind of pasta was also spread to Japan through the Japanese embassy in the Tang Dynasty and became the prototype of the famous Japanese snack udon noodles.
You can't just eat a thin breakfast, you need something real. Then eat bread. Bread can be divided into three categories. One kind is steamed pasta, including steamed bread and steamed buns, called steamed cake; One is pasta cooked in an oven, including pancakes and oil cakes, called sesame cakes; One is cooked pasta, including wonton and jiaozi, which is called soup cake. Among them, sesame cakes are the most popular. According to the six codes of the Tang Dynasty, sesame cakes are presented in the palace every year on the seventh day of the first lunar month and the third day of March. Imagine that everyone is eating sesame cakes in their hands.
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Eating goods belongs to the train-shopping and eating. After shopping for a whole day, I counted my fingers and sat down in a restaurant at dinner time: "Xiao Er, order!" " "
People's dinners in the Tang Dynasty will be colorful.
There is mutton. People in the Tang Dynasty, from emperors to ordinary people, all like to eat mutton. According to records, Li Chenggan, the eldest son of Emperor Taizong, loved to boil mutton in white water and cut it with a knife after cooking. Wu Zetian's way of eating is much more particular. Slice sheep's hind legs, cook them in water with seasonings such as onion, ginger and dried tangerine peel, take them out and lay them flat on a plate; Pour the marinade into a plate, cool and eat at any time. Wu Zetian wrote a poem after tasting it: "Zhen Lang served the country with his own body." Taking "Zhen Lang" as a metaphor for sheep shows Wu Zetian's love for mutton.
There are fish. In the Tang dynasty, people ate fish, and the usual practice was to "pickle" the fish and slice it, similar to today's raw fish. Du Fu's poem says: "The snow falls silently, and the onion has been chopped." I'm talking about cooking fish. In order to make thinner fish fillets, people in the Tang Dynasty also invented professional tools for making fish fillets. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty gave An Lushan a knife to make fish. During the Tang Dynasty, there were many kinds of fish, including crucian carp, bream, snakehead, snapper and perch. Interestingly, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty was surnamed Li, so people were forbidden to eat carp, and offenders were sixty sticks. However, this can't stop the foodies, and everyone still secretly eats carp. Wang Wei mentioned eating carp in Song of Luoyang Girls: "There is a girl from Luoyang across the hall who can only be over fifteen years old. Master riding a fast horse, jade bridle; I am riding a silver carp. "
There is beef. In the Tang dynasty, cattle were an important means of production, and the government was not allowed to eat beef. Of course, as mentioned above, foodies will still eat by mistake, and they also invented a famous "tauren pot". The practice of "Niutoubao" is to roast the cow's head and cook it with various seasonings such as wine, black beans, onions and ginger. Then put it in a big jar, seal it with mud, bury it, and bake it slowly with a fire. How does "Niutoubao" taste? Everyone who has eaten it says it is better than bear's paw.
There is pork. Pork that modern people are tired of eating is not common in the Tang Dynasty. This is not that the court forbids eating pork, but that people don't like eating pork. At the famous court banquet in Tang Dynasty, the dishes were dazzling, including fish, shrimp, crab, chicken, duck, goose, cow, sheep, deer, bear, rabbit, crane and even frog, but there was no pork. The practice of pork is also relatively simple. Usually steamed with garlic.
There are all kinds of vegetables. Spinach, lettuce, cowpea, eggplant, okra, leek, Chinese cabbage, shepherd's purse and carrot have appeared on the table since the Tang Dynasty. Wei Zhi, a famous minister in the Tang Dynasty, often remonstrated with Li Shimin, making him lose face. Li Shimin learned from the minister that Wei Zhi likes vinegar celery, so he invited him to dinner and invited him to eat vinegar celery. Wei Zhi saw it, his forefinger moved, and the vinegar celery was eaten before the meal was finished. Li Shimin immediately exposed his shortcomings and said, "Look, you said you didn't have any hobbies, and now I finally see it." Wei Zhi tactfully replied: "Your Majesty likes to govern by doing nothing, and the courtiers naturally dare not have any preference. I just want this bite (vinegar celery). " Li Shimin listened for a long time and sighed.
The best companion of delicious food is wine. Living in the Tang Dynasty, you must taste wine. After the demise of Gao Changguo in the Tang Dynasty, people obtained a method of brewing wine, which can produce aromatic wine. Soldiers in the war always have a drink before going out. "Grape wine luminous cup, want to drink pipa half cover your face." As for liquor, because the brewing technology is immature, the alcohol content is not high, and there are molds in it, which looks green. Therefore, Bai Juyi wrote a poem saying: "There is a ray of green in the old bottle and a trace of red in the static furnace. There is a feeling of snow in the dusk outside. How about having a drink inside? ? "Poetry is a good poem, so the taste of wine is unknown.
Men drink and women eat fruit. After dinner, a plate of fruit must also be excellent. Fruits such as oranges, lychees, pipa, longan, pears, peaches, dates and apricots all appear in the market. Seldom see cherry, this is a royal tribute, and ordinary people can't eat it at all. Once, Tang Xuanzong was in a happy mood and gave Wang Wei a cherry. Wang Wei is very grateful to him for writing a poem "A Cherry Poem for Guan Bai".
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Is there dinner after dinner? It doesn't exist. People in the Tang Dynasty only ate two meals a day, namely breakfast and dinner. However, for modern people who are used to three meals a day, it is absolutely unacceptable to eat only two meals. Then, can we have snacks in the dead of night?
If it was in the early Tang Dynasty, it would be impossible.
The Tang Dynasty imposed strict curfews and market rules. After the gate is closed at night, no one is allowed to enter or leave. At that time, people who were still wandering in the street would face "twenty" punishment after being caught by the night watchman. Powerful bureaucrats have to hold a banquet at home. The famous "Han Xizai's Banquet" depicts the banquet scene of Han Xizai, a famous minister in the Southern Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, but it can also be used as a reference for the Tang Dynasty.
In the late Tang Dynasty, the market system was relatively loose, and night markets gradually appeared in some economically developed places. The poet Wang Jian wrote in the poem "Watching Yangzhou at Night": "There are thousands of lights in the blue sky of the night market, and there are many people drinking tea in the tall buildings. Now, unlike usual, the wanderer sings and hears. " It's the scene of Yangzhou night market, which looks quite lively.