Chapter 10 Section 3 Fashionable Diet in the Han Dynasty

Three menus representing the food varieties and cooking levels of the Han Dynasty can be found at present: one is found in underground excavations, and two are found in historical documents. The most representative ones unearthed underground are the food materials of the Mawangduihou family in Changsha. The food buried in tomb No. 3 alone has 38 bamboo stalks [sisi], and the identifiable animal food materials include deer, pigs, There are 13 kinds of cattle, sheep, dogs, rabbits, chickens, pheasants, ducks, geese, cranes, fish, eggs, etc.; spices include pepper, cinnamon, galangal, lemongrass, etc.; Olive, benevolence, water chestnut, etc.These ingredients can make a feast richer than the menu.

There are two menus recorded in the literature, one can be found in "Salt and Iron Lun·Sansuo Pian", and the other can be found in Mei Cheng's "Qi Fa". "San Zuo Pian" lists 20 fashionable foods that appeared in restaurants in the early Western Han Dynasty, translated into vernacular, including roast lamb, roast suckling pig, scrambled eggs with leek king, sliced ​​sliced ​​sauce dog meat, braised horsewhip, fried soy sauce, etc. Fish, boiled pork liver, cured mutton, sauced chicken, ghee, sour kumiss, cured wild boar leg, sauced belly, braised lamb, sweet bean curd, preserved abalone in clear soup, sweet and crispy pickled melon, glutinous millet and roasted pork rice.

"San Zuo Pian" also cited eight kinds of typical dishes for serving wine in the folk (referring to landlords and merchant societies) in the Han Dynasty: stewed soft-shelled turtle, braised carp slices, braised venison, fried caviar, fried quail mixed with orange shreds, and wolfberry sauce , meat sauce, puffer fish mixed with sour vinegar (commonly known as chicken soaked fish, puffer fish blood and viscera are highly poisonous, and the meat is extremely delicious) or mullet (ie black fish, also known as raw fish, with crisp and tender meat). There are nine flavors listed by Mei Cheng in "Seven Favors":

Fat beef brisket [nannan] meat, served with crispy bamboo shoots and cattail hearts; Braised fat dog meat with crispy stone fungus sandwiched between them; The fragrant japonica rice of Yunmengze, mixed with loose wild rice, is sticky and refreshing; Soft and tough bear paws, dipped in five-spice fresh sauce; Barbecued deer tenderloin, tender and sweet; Fresh carp slices, braised yellow and cooked basil; The vegetable moss that has been frosted is green and crisp when fried, which is really intoxicating; Use orchid wine to wash the teeth and cheeks, making people move their index fingers;

The stewed leopard fetus will give you endless aftertaste. Mei Cheng believes that these nine kinds of food are "the most beautiful in the world". The three menus of the Han Dynasty basically belonged to the delicacies of Wu, Chu, Baiyue, and also mixed with roast lamb, roasted horsewhip, cured mutton, stewed leopard fetus, horse cream, sour horse milk and other Northwest, North China, and Northeast cuisines, reflecting the A fusion of North and South food cultures.