A delicacy

A legend

A piece of culture

According to legend, a general in the Song Dynasty was defeated in a fierce battle. In desperation, he had no choice but to take off his armor, put on common people's clothes, and quietly walked back. Because he was afraid of being pursued by soldiers, he did not dare to take the main road, so he took the trails and found places that were inaccessible.

It was winter, with strong wind and heavy snow. A few days later, he was cold and hungry, and collapsed in a ruined temple. Suddenly, he felt a pain in his ears in a hazy state. It turned out that a mouse thought he was dead and came to eat his body. When he saw the mouse coming to bully him, he couldn't help but get angry and immediately chased the mouse. The mouse quickly ran into the hole. The general was still angry, so he took the opportunity to dig out the mouse's cave and found eight kinds of rice, millet, red dates, lotus seeds and so on. He was very happy after not eating for several days. He immediately found an incense burner to make a pot and started cooking. It was because of this incense burner rice that he survived.

To commemorate this event, the general will use these eight kinds of grains to cook at this time every year. Later, it spread to the people and became the current eight-treasure rice.

West Lake Fish in Vinegar is the most famous dish in West Lake, Hangzhou. It was first made during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty. According to ancient records, the dish of West Lake Fish in Vinegar comes from "the treasures passed down by uncles and sisters-in-law". ?

According to legend, in the Southern Song Dynasty, there were two Song brothers who were quite knowledgeable but did not want to be officials, so they lived in seclusion and made a living by fishing. There was a local bully named Zhao Daguan. Seeing that Song's wife was young and beautiful, he plotted to kill Song's brother in order to occupy Song's wife. At this point, the Song family's uncle and sister-in-law were distraught and grief-stricken. In order to avenge their brother, the uncle and sister-in-law went to the Yamen together to complain. Unexpectedly, the government and the evil forces at that time were in conflict with each other, and the complaint failed. Instead, they were severely beaten and kicked out of the Yamen. After returning home, the sister-in-law had no choice but to let her brother flee away from home. When her uncle and sister-in-law broke up, Song's sister-in-law specially cooked a bowl of grass carp with sugar and vinegar, and said to her brother: "This dish is sour and sweet. I hope you will succeed in the future, and don't forget the bitterness of today." Later, Brother Song went out to fight against the Jin Dynasty and defend the country, and made great contributions. He returned to Hangzhou and punished the villains, but the whereabouts of his sister-in-law were never found. Once when I went out to a banquet, I learned about this dish. After questioning, I found out that my sister-in-law was working as a cook here incognito, and the reunion began. As a result, the delicious dish "Uncle and Sister-in-law Chuanzhen" has been spread among the people like a legend. ?

Fang Hengtai of the Qing Dynasty wrote a poem "West Lake" about it, saying: "Five willows live by the Xiaobo Lake, and they lift the net to catch fresh fish at the banquet. Silver knife juniper is the most favorite when it tastes sour, and river carp and river bream are the most popular. Not as good as that." It describes the cooking and deliciousness of West Lake vinegar fish. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, West Lake Vinegar Fish was most famous for its preparation at Xihu Louwai Lou Restaurant, and it is still famous today.

At that time, Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, led an army to go south on an expedition. After many battles, he was exhausted and hungry. He suddenly thought of the mutton stew in his hometown, so he ordered his subordinates to kill the sheep and make a fire.

While the cook was slaughtering the sheep and cutting the meat, Tan Ma suddenly galloped into the tent panting and informed the enemy that a large group of men and horses were chasing them. They were only ten miles away. But the hungry Kublai Khan was waiting for the mutton. While ordering the troops to move out, he shouted: "Mutton! Mutton!"

Of course, he couldn't wait for the stewed mutton, but raw mutton could not be served. Come up and let the coach eat it, what should you do? At this time, I saw the coach striding towards the stove. The chef knew that he had a bad temper, so he quickly cut more than ten thin slices of meat, stirred it in boiling water for a few times, and when the color of the meat changed, he immediately took it into a bowl. In the middle, sprinkle with fine salt, chopped green onion and minced ginger, and hold it in both hands.

Kublai Khan grabbed the meat slices and put them into his mouth. After several bowls, he waved the bowls, got on his horse, and bravely led his army to meet the enemy. As a result, he won a victory and captured the enemy general alive.

At the celebration banquet, Kublai Khan specially ordered the mutton slices he had eaten before the war. This time, the chef selected high-quality sheep leg "big three fork" and "upper brain" tender meat, cut it into evenly thin slices, and paired it with sesame sauce, fermented bean curd, pepper, chive flowers and other condiments. It is tender and delicious after being rinsed , the generals were full of praises after eating it, and Kublai Khan was even more happy.

The chef hurriedly stepped forward and said: "This dish has no name yet, please give me a name by the handsome man."

While rinsing the mutton slices, Kublai Khan replied with a smile: " I think it’s called hotpot mutton! What do the generals think?”

From then on, hotpot mutton became a palace delicacy. During the Guangxu period, mutton-shabu-shabu gradually became popular among the people.

Yu Yue said: Late night revenge society series, O(∩_∩)O haha~~ Don’t hit me if you can’t sleep after watching this.

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