Yi Yin was the prime minister of the Shang Dynasty, a famous chef of Shang Tang generation, and was known as the "Saint of Cooking". The "Yi Yin Soup" was celebrated for thousands of years.

Yi Ya, also known as Diya, was a famous wizard and chef in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was good at frying, boiling, burning and roasting, and was also an expert in seasoning, and was favored by Qi Huangong.

Taihe Gong: A famous chef of the State of Wu in the late Spring and Autumn Period, he was proficient in aquatic dishes, especially the fried fish.

Shanzu: a famous female chef in the Tang Dynasty. The famous foods in the book Youyang Zayu compiled by Duan Chengshi are all from the hands of the ancestors.

Fanzheng: a nun and a famous female chef in the Five Dynasties, is famous all over the world for creating a landscape platter called "Wangchuan Xiaoxiang", which integrates dishes with plastic arts, making dishes full of landscapes and poems

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Liu Niangzi: a female chef in the Gaozong Palace in the Southern Song Dynasty, the first female chef in the court in history, known as "Shang Shi Liu Niangzi".

song wusao: a famous folk female chef in the southern song dynasty. Zhao Gou, Emperor Gaozong, once tasted the fish soup on the Dragon Boat and West Lake, and was greatly praised, so he became famous and was regarded as the "grandmaster" of the fish.

Dong Xiaowan, a famous prostitute in Qinhuai in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, was famous for making vegetable cakes, especially peach paste, melon paste and pickled vegetables. Now Yangzhou is famous for filling fragrant Dong Tang and rolling crisp Dong Tang, which was created by her.

Xiao Meiren: a famous female pastry chef in Qing Dynasty, who was famous for making steamed bread, cakes, jiaozi and other snacks. Yuan Mei highly praised her and praised her snacks as "small and lovely, as white as snow" in Suiyuan Food List.

Yuan Mei is not only a famous litterateur in the Qing Dynasty, but also a gourmet with rich experience. The book Suiyuan Food List is an important literature on food materia medica in the Qing Dynasty, which systematically discusses cooking techniques and ordering tea and wine in northern and southern dishes. After 4 years of accumulation, it was published in the 57th year of Qianlong (1792). At present, the surviving editions in China include the Xiaocang Mountain House engraving in the 57th year of Qing Qianlong (1792), the Jiaqing Room engraving in Qing Qianlong (1892), the Jinglun Hall engraving in the first year of Qing Jiaqing (1796), and the Renchen engraving in the 18th year of Qing Guangxu (1892).

The whole book is divided into 14 aspects: information list, warning list, seafood list, jiangxian list, characteristic list, miscellaneous list, feather list, aquarium scale list, aquarium scale list, miscellaneous menu, small menu, snack list, rice porridge list and tea wine list. There are 2 complete and strict operation requirements in the instruction sheet, including the taste of food, the compatibility of ingredients, the methods of washing, blending and collocation, the mastery and remedy of temperature, color and fragrance, and even the attention to containers. Fourteen precautions are put forward in the warning list, and many of them are worth learning from. The book used a lot of space to describe in detail the popular dishes from the 14th century to the 18th century in China, as well as the famous wines and teas at that time. List 9 kinds of seafood menu, 6 kinds of jiangxian menu, 43 kinds of characteristic menu, 16 kinds of heterozygosity menu, 47 kinds of feather menu, 45 kinds of aquarium menu (including scales and scales), 47 kinds of miscellaneous menu, 41 kinds of small menu, 55 kinds of dim sum menu, 2 kinds of rice porridge menu, 16 kinds of food and wine menu, and 327 kinds of * *. In addition, although "Suiyuan Food List" says to order tea and wine, there is no lack of food therapy. For example, the medicinal functions of food are recorded as follows: "Steaming chicken with astragalus to cure furuncle", "Malantou, awakening the spleen after eating greasy food" and "Pickled sauerkraut, awakening the spleen and relieving alcohol when drunk". In addition, in the "Braised Sparrow" list, it is recorded that "Xue Shengbai often advises people not to eat what is kept in the world, and wild birds are delicious and easy to digest", and so on. When it is recorded that a light diet is good for health, it is said that "rich people are more vegetarian than meat", and it is introduced that "bean sprouts with bird's nest are extremely expensive to accompany them at a low price" and "kohlrabi can be fresh when it is added to meat dishes".

Wowotou and Cixi

Wowotou is made of corn flour or hybrid flour, and its shape is conical, which was originally the main food for poor people in Beijing in the past. In order to make it easy to steam and cook, people leave a hole under it (called Wowoer in Beijing), and because it is the same staple food as steamed bread, Beijingers call this food Wowotou.

There is an interesting legend about Wowotou. During the Gengzi period, on the eve of Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion, Empress Dowager Cixi fled to Xi 'an with more than 1, people. On the way, the Western Empress Dowager felt hungry and exhausted. The eunuchs searched around and finally found a cool wowotou from the home of a villager who didn't escape, and gave it to the Queen Mother. Cixi picked up Wowotou and wolfed it down. She felt comfortable and didn't feel hungry all the time. Later, when she recalled it, she felt that this Wowotou was many times sweeter than the delicacies in the imperial kitchen. After Yu Jia returned to Luan, he ordered the imperial kitchen to make a nest for her to eat. The chef in the imperial kitchen imitated the appearance of the folk wowotou, stirred it with fine corn flour, yellow bean, sugar and osmanthus with warm water, and kneaded it into 1 wowotou. After steaming, it was golden and shiny, shaped like a pagoda, sweet and delicious in the mouth, and was praised by Cixi. Xiaowwotou also became a famous snack in the Qing palace.

Xi Shi and stir-frying the tongue of Xi Shi

Xi Shi, one of the four great beauties in ancient China, has many folktales. In the history of cooking, there are many foods related to this beautiful woman.

there are different opinions about the death of Xi Shi. There is such a story in the historical legend of the famous Fujian dish "Stir-fried Xishi Tongue". Legend has it that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, after Gou Jian, the King of Yue, destroyed Wu, his wife secretly told someone to cheat Xi Shi out, tied a stone to Xi Shi, and then sank into the sea. Since then, there has been a kind of human-like tongue in the sediment along the coast (that is, clams). Everyone says that this is the tongue of Xi Shi, so it is called "Xi Shi Tongue". In fact, "Xishi Tongue" is a kind of coastal food, which belongs to valvulobranchial mollusk and bivalve shellfish. Its meat is soft and tender, and its delicious taste is unforgettable. When Yu Dafu, a famous writer, was in Fujian in the 193s, he also praised Changle's "Xishi Tongue" as the best product in Fujian cuisine.

Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, and the braised chop suey

In the northern Jiangsu area, whether it is an ordinary family or a star-rated hotel, there is an indispensable dish at the wine banquet, and that is the braised chop suey. Especially when holding weddings and funerals, this dish is pushed to the dinner table as the first of all dishes, so that all diners can feast. This dish is mixed with meat and vegetables, and fish are juxtaposed. Some dishes with different flavors are cooked together and mixed with various seasonings.

how did this chop suey come from? Su Beiren's unanimous view is related to Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu. It is said that Xiang Yu eats every meal the same, which breaks the brains of his cooks. In order to make the king who gallops on the battlefield and works hard on the pommel horse have a strong body, the cooks think about it. One of the little cooks came up with an idea. He put some chicken and fish into a pot, cooked it carefully and served it to the king. Unexpectedly, Xiang Yu ate the first bite, and his appetite was lifted. A large bowl of chowder was eaten up in an instant, and the chef was instructed to cook it in order to save time in the future.

from then on, his chefs are at your disposal, and every dish must be a hodgepodge. In order to make the chowder not too monotonous, the chefs try their best to improve the ingredients and try their best to make the chowder look fancy. Later, in order to remember the deeds of the overlord of Chu, "burning chowder" quickly spread among the people and has been burned to this day.