Adding a large number of gastronomic elements to literary works can make the work more "grounded", and successive generations of novelists have deeply experienced this writing technique. In the divine work "Jin Ping Mei", there are many descriptions of diet.
The specifications of various types of banquets are different, and the prices are also very different. In the twenty-first episode of the novel, Ximen Qing's wives and wives make up a sum of money, each taking five pieces of silver, a total of three or two dollars, and everyone uses this money to invite the official and Wu Yueniang to a meal. Judging from the purchasing power at that time, "three two one dollar" was about 600 yuan.
Another time, Pan Jinlian bought a pot of Jinhua wine with three pieces of silver, and two pieces of silver to buy some pork head meat and hooves, so that Lai Wang's daughter-in-law would cook the next dish and eat it together with Li Bottler and Meng Yulou. Since Wu Yueniang was not present, they also left her some food. After all, this simple meal is about 100 yuan.
In the golden autumn, Wu Yueniang paid for her own pocket, bought some fat cream crabs with three pieces of silver, rewarded everyone, and ate all day before "eliminating" these crabs. The 60 yuan crab was enough for a large family to eat for a whole day, which showed that the price was very low at that time. Cao Xueqin mentioned the price of crabs in the Qing Dynasty in "Dream of the Red Chamber", according to the estimation of the novel character Liu Grandma, the larger crabs need five cents of silver per kilogram, which is about RMB.
In the family feast in Jia Province, a total of seventy or eighty kilograms of crabs were used, and the cost was less than four or two. Ximen Qing's family banquet is naturally not as good as Jia Fu, but the family must eat at least ten kilograms of crabs, which translates to one kilogram of crabs is about three cents of silver. It is speculated that the price of the Ming Dynasty was much lower than that of the Qing Dynasty. The reason why prices soared in the Qing Dynasty was because the merchants at that time imported a large amount of silver from foreign countries, so that the price of silver depreciated and the purchasing power declined.
In "Golden Plum Bottle", the most extravagant "light meal" is the table set up at the birthday of the Earl. At that time, ten worshippers gathered together and drank all day. During this period, Count Ying also summoned two artists who sang small songs to help the group drink. A table of wine and dishes, plus a tip for two artists, cost a total of five or two or four dollars, equivalent to 1100 yuan.
Of course, compared with Ximen Qing's banquet for entertaining high-ranking officials, the family banquet in Yingfu is a bit "cold". When Ximen Qing put wine to entertain the patrol salt Royal History, the scene was very generous, and the table was "inexhaustible to say that the delicacies are listed, the soup Is peach wave, and the wine is panned." Why does the drink glow with gold? It turned out that the tableware used at this table was all made of gold and silver.
The gentry are full of brains, and the toiling masses must also satisfy their appetites. However, it is obviously more important to fill the belly than to appetite. Ximen Qing's son-in-law, Chen Economic, had a big ups and downs in his life, from a "rich second generation" with a wealthy family to a street called Hanako.
Hou Lin'er asked Chen To economy to "beat the teeth" and took him to a small shop on the side of the road and ate a full meal. The two ate a total of "four plates and four plates", drank two large pots of olive wine, and one ate a bowl of soup noodles. The staple food of wine and vegetables cost a total of one dollar and three cents. After all, the meal cost only 27 yuan.
As mentioned above, most of them are related to the price of diets. In fact, what makes the novelist more interested is the content of the diet rather than the value.
In the thirty-fourth time, Count Ying came to visit him, and Ximen Qing ordered Xiao Wei to serve his friends to drink tea, and later left Count Ying to eat at home, and Count Ying chatted about one thing at the dinner table:
"Yesterday Mongo gave me two anchovies, I gave one to my brother, and there is one left in the house. I instructed the men to cut the fish in half and give half of it to my daughter. The remaining half, I cut it into small pieces, cultivated it with red mash, added some sesame oil, and marinated it in a jar. When eating or treating guests, I always take a plate. ”
Although these are trivial things, they show us that Count Ying has the potential to be a "gourmet". It is true that a person who loves food always has to know some cooking skills.
How exquisite is the food of the Ximen Qing family?
Once, Ximen Qing invited Count Ying to eat noodles at his home, only to see Xiao Wei respectfully bring out a food box, which listed four plates full of vegetable yards, which contained "ten melon eggplant", "five square tempeh", "flower peppers soaked in soy sauce" and "sugar garlic".
In addition, the food box contains a large bowl of pork brine and three plates of garlic puree. Count Ying only "two and three swallows" to eliminate a large bowl of noodles. It can be seen that the Food of the Ximen family is very exquisite, and even a bowl of noodles can make people enjoy it.
In the novel, a small snack called "butter bubble snail" also appears. Of course, the "snail" is not a conch field snail, but the shape of the snack is a spiral. According to modern scholars, the "bubble snail" snack should be made of cream.
In that era, sweets such as cheese cream were very rare in the Central Plains, and ordinary people had no chance to eat cream, and only the Ximen family could afford to eat this kind of freshness.
Resources:
【"Golden Plum", "Dream of the Red Chamber"】