I can't sleep anyway. After carefully reading it in the middle of the night, I saw that the word was "mutton"-yes, the favorite of the Song Dynasty Palace was mutton.
In the first episode of Qingpingle, when Zhao Zhen of Song Renzong returned to the palace, the palace prepared dinner for him-roast mutton. Roasted mutton is roasted mutton, which is tender outside and fresh inside, and has no smell. This is a good dish to go with wine. However, all mutton should be eaten hot, otherwise it will not smell good when it is cold. Therefore, the royal chef in the palace is very intimate to heat the mutton with words.
Song Renzong was a good emperor who loved the people and lived frugally. He has no hobbies and is not picky about food. One of the few hobbies may be mutton.
A widely circulated story says that once, Song Renzong worked overtime until late at night, tired and hungry, and suddenly wanted to eat a bowl of hot mutton soup. According to the normal situation, Song Renzong wants mutton soup. As long as he orders, the 24-hour chef will bring it to him soon. Song Renzong, however, was afraid of wasting food, so he just held back his hunger and didn't give orders to the chef.
Of course, compared with Song Shenzong, Song Renzong is weak.
Vae, a famous geographer in Qing Dynasty, mentioned in the Collection of Manuscripts of Song Dynasty that during the Song Shenzong period, the palace ate 444,463 Jin of mutton every year. Eat mutton 12 17 kg every day on average, almost a dozen sheep. Although most of the 440,000 Jin mutton is eaten by the royal family, if Song Shenzong is not interested in mutton, it will never have such a huge consumption.
The question is, if everyone eats mutton like this every day, will there be a strong mutton smell in the palace? If the emperor calls a meeting of ministers, will he invite everyone to smell the mutton as soon as he opens his mouth?
Of course not. In the Song Dynasty, although pepper, an "artifact" to inhibit the smell of mutton, had not yet entered China, the royal chefs in the palace had been able to skillfully use spicy spices such as Cornus officinalis, preserved flowers, ginger, mustard and Fu Liu to cook mutton. In addition, there are many cooking methods of mutton, such as stewing, frying, stir-frying, steaming, boiling and roasting ... There is always one that can minimize the smell of mutton and make it more delicious.
Why did the imperial palace in Song Dynasty like to use mutton?
The most common domestic animals in ancient times were cattle, sheep and pigs. Cattle is one of the most important means of production in the farming era, and it is not allowed to be slaughtered easily. Pigs are considered inferior animals. Therefore, sheep will become the first choice food for the palace. The Long Edition History of Continuing Education as a Mirror records: "The diet is not expensive, and the chef does not need mutton. This is the family law of all ancestors, leading to peace. "Sheep are very common and not expensive. Eating mutton instead of beef or delicious food also saves people money to a great extent.