Wen | bai capital, authors | Zhongcheng, Zhao Xinnan
"The country is based on the people, and the people are destined for food."
—Emperor Taizong of Tang (598-649), Zhenguan Politicians, vol. VIII, On Farming
"The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", which takes Tianbao Sanzai Shangyuan Festival as the background of time and space, is being broadcast, in addition to Li Bi's immortal appearance and exquisite historical details, the Tang Dynasty cuisine in the series has also inadvertently become popular on the Internet, becoming the focus of attention of the audience of the pot drama.
Zhang Xiaojing eats water basin lamb at a roadside stall, and the right xiang mansion prepares steamed pork, duck and silk sheep 丨 Screenshot of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an"
Male pig's foot Zhang Xiaojing can be called the first eater in Chang'an, under the blessing of the protagonist buff, the northwest famous water basin lamb and Lintong specialty fire crystal persimmons have almost become the most dazzling peripheral food in the "Twelve Hours". It is said that in order to eat a bite of Zhang Xiaojing's same style, some fans even flew to Xi'an to experience the authentic water basin lamb, and the fire crystal persimmons that could not be matured and shipped until September had already been booked on various fresh platforms. (Ah, probably because mint leaves are too hard to chew...) Whoever tries knows).
Food Eat Broadcast Bo advocates Xiao Jing online to perform a screenshot of "Chang'an Twelve Hours" for you to perform persimmon 丨
Sure enough, in our foodie country, compared to the sudden rise and fall of Chang'an City, the water basin lamb and a twisted fire crystal persimmon are the real focus! With the popularity of the series, the various cuisines of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty also began to receive people's attention, and contemporary people who did not have time to buy vegetables and buy more than to do began to be curious about the eating and drinking of the Tang Dynasty, eager to immediately cross back and eat all the delicacies again.
You look at the bowl, it's big and round, eh, as if some fat artist has messed into the | Screenshot of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an"
However, unfortunately, due to the limitations of the agricultural production level and logistics infrastructure of the Tang Dynasty, most of the Tang Dynasty people were actually unhappy with many delicacies that made people feel happy today. If you want to eat fresh food in your daily life, it is actually much more convenient for modern office workers living in the cubicle than the dignitaries of the Tang Dynasty.
Due to the limitation of the supply level of raw materials and the backwardness of logistics infrastructure, although the Tang Dynasty had high gastronomic skills, most of the Chang'an residents still had no connection with delicious fresh food in their daily lives.
Chang'an City Chang'an City 110 Fang, North and South Eleventh Street (about 8000 meters), East and West Fourteenth Street (about 9000 meters), with Suzaku Avenue as the main axis divided into east and west counties, east is Wannian County, west is Chang'an County 丨 @ Chang'an Twelve Hours Guanwei
Even Zhang Xiaojing in "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", eating delicious water basin lamb and fire crystal persimmons in the episode takes a lot of trouble. For Zhang Xiaojing, who does not master the art of big cases and does not have an app to retrieve nearby restaurants, eating the water basin lamb of his dreams relies on nature to be familiar with the functions of chang'an's urban areas.
Zhang Xiaojing Chang'an County prison real-time search Jing'ansi food results 丨 based on Ma Boyong's "Chang'an Twelve Hours" system
For Zhang Xiaojing, who was released from prison and served as a lieutenant in the Jing'an Division, eating water basin mutton in the shortest possible time, the area around the West Market Bureau with a large number of imported goods is undoubtedly the best choice, a large number of spice shops provide convenience for the production of water basin lamb, but it is said that Zhang Xiaojing is lucky to be able to eat fire crystal persimmons at the lamb stalls near the West Market.
As a specialty of today's Lintong District of Xi'an, fire crystal persimmons also had a similar origin in Chang'an at that time. At that time, most of the high-quality fire crystal persimmons were planted at the foot of Lishan Mountain located in the eastern suburbs of Chang'an City, and an excellent fire crystal persimmon needed to start from the eastern suburbs of Chang'an City, enter Chang'an City through Tonghua Gate or Chunming Gate, and then come to the East City Office of Dongshi to handle customs declaration procedures, so as to officially start circulation in the market.
Vendors selling fire crystal persimmons are transported along the street, and they need to cross most of Chang'an to send fire crystal persimmons to the lamb stall near Yuzhenfang in Xishi, thus entering Zhang Xiaojing's belly.
An excellent fire crystal persimmon needs to cross most of Chang'an from Lintong in the eastern suburbs to Zhang Xiaojing's face 丨@Xiaobian?
At that time, Zhang Xiaojing was already a lieutenant of Jing'an Si Zhang Du, who had a good colt and held great power, and under the constraints of time and geographical environment, it was still a matter of luck to eat a portion of water basin mutton and fire crystal persimmons at the same time. For ordinary residents of Chang'an, it is not easy to eat freshly slaughtered lamb and freshly transported fire crystal persimmons.
In the narrative of the poem, we see that the Tang Dynasty was always a situation of singing and dancing, and the products were abundant, as if the residents of Chang'an City during the Tianbao years ate meat every day, opened up at night, and ate, drank, and had fun.
But the real scene is that although the Tang Dynasty did have a wide variety of delicious dishes, the residents of Chang'an City were not available to enjoy them anytime, anywhere. Limited by the supply level of the agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry industry in the Tang Dynasty, and compared with today's far backward logistics and distribution level, the various types of diets that frequently appear in Tang poetry are actually not common in the daily life of the Tang Dynasty.
Eating meat in the Tang Dynasty was not easy
Although Zhang Xiaojing ate the water basin mutton as soon as he left Jing'ansi, due to many reasons, the meat supply in the Tang Dynasty was actually not abundant, and eating a meal of meat in Chang'an City was a luxury.
Because cattle in the Tang Dynasty are important means of production, they were banned from slaughtering for a long time, and pigs were in poor meat quality for a long time due to the harsh feeding environment (the main feed of pigs was swill water and manure), so the main edible meat of the Tang Dynasty was actually mutton, and in the "Taiping Guangji" compiled by the Northern Song Dynasty, there were 105 meat accounts about the Tang Dynasty, of which 47 were described involving mutton, accounting for almost half of the meat.
According to the Song Dynasty ministry book "Yuan Gui, Bang Ji Bu , Funds" records that only after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Later Tang (923-936) imperial court, its meat and sheep consumption was "two hundred per day, more than seven million mouths per year", these muttons will not only be sent to the emperor's table, but also join the officials' luxurious lunch.
According to the "Six Classics of Tang", the food standard for officials of the Tang Dynasty with more than five pins was "three sheep per daily offering, plus one sheep on the day of the six ginseng", all officials who participated in the early dynasty could receive a noble royal lunch set in the outer corridor of the court, and officials above the five pins of the Tang Dynasty would receive 20 sheep per month as welfare allowances...
The government's mutton consumption was already so huge, and the army's food consumption was even more staggering, according to the Old Book of Tang and the Biography of Hui Qi, the Hui army alone who rebelled against the Anshi Rebellion had two hundred sheep in the daily food supply... Although the animal husbandry industry in the Tang Dynasty was relatively developed, it really could not help but eat this fiercely throughout the country.
Zhang Xiaojing's water basin lamb is even more noble, the broth of boiling water basin lamb not only needs high-grade lamb bones, but also sprinkles exotic spices such as green onions and coriander after the pot, and the exquisite people will also add the "pepper" specially provided by overseas Mogatuo to the sheep soup. This pot of lamb, which seems quite homely today, if it was not exclusive to the official family at that time, it must have been a high-end dish with a high price.
In addition to the water basin lamb, the food Bo advocated that Xiao Jing also brought us hot lamb, which shows that mutton was indeed the main meat of Chang'an at that time 丨 Screenshot of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an"
As an important supplement to meat, aquatic products such as fish and shrimp are also an important source of animal protein for the Tang people, who especially like to eat "fish soup" and "fish fish". For the fish that pays attention to the origin and freshness, the Tang people have an almost paranoid exquisiteness, and the sea fish river fish and perch crucian carp, on the Tang people's table, it is difficult to escape the fate of being cut into thin slices.
At that time, there was even a fairy cooking manual such as the "Book of Fish", which described the knife methods of various pieces of fish, "small shaky white", "big shaky white" and "dancing pear blossom", and there was a feeling of unconsciousness when listening to it.
Because the carp is stained with the royal "Li" surname, in order to avoid secrecy, Kaiyuan three years also issued a ban on "banning the harvesting of koi in the world". However, for foodies, the imperial court's repeated orders are of little use, and those who should appear on my family's table still have to appear. 丨 "Old Book of Tang", "Volume VIII, Benji Eighth Xuanzong Shang", photocopied edition
But unlike today, most of the fish cooking venues in the Tang Dynasty were adjacent to the waters in order to cook local ingredients. In the era of no cold chain distribution and all relying on human flesh transportation, eating fresh aquatic products is actually not easy for Chang'an residents in the inland.
Tang Dynasty desserts can not afford to eat
Not eating some fruit desserts after eating a meal is simply disrespectful to the stomach. Eating greasy with fruit to relieve greasiness, eating light with heavy flavor desserts to refresh the mind, not only is the choice of contemporary foodies, but also a must for Foodies in the Tang Dynasty.
In the twelfth hour of Chang'an, Zhang Xiaojing took a straw fire crystal persimmon is actually just the tip of the iceberg of the Chang'an foodie world, in addition to the fire crystal persimmon that is "fire like fire, bright as crystal, fine flesh, and no hard core", the popular fruits of the Tang Dynasty also include melons, oranges, lychees and grapes. Exquisite people can also eat the ancient ice cream that is desirable at once - crispy mountain. But unfortunately, most of these tearful fruit desserts are not ordinary Chang'an people can consume.
Most of the residents of Chang'an are keen to eat melons, not because other fruits are not delicious, but because they cannot afford the high logistics costs. Unless there is an inexplicable father in the family, most Chang'an residents cannot use the national express delivery system to transport lychees from distant Guangzhou people's flesh, so the melons that are widely planted in the northwest and the fire crystal persimmons produced in Lintong, Shaanxi Province, have become the best choice for Chang'an residents to cool off.
In addition to the bronze operation of eating fruit to cool off, the Tang Dynasty also had a king's choice: ice drink and ice cream. The natural ice cubes that make ice drinks and ice cream are mined from the lake in the winter and stored in the ice house, where they are not removed and used until the summer. This time-consuming and laborious ice cube was later affectionately known as "deep well ice".
Chang'an's summer limited ice cream - "Crispy Mountain" 丨 Tang Zhanghuai Prince Tomb "Lady Figure" mural
In the Tang Dynasty, ice cream was called "Crispy Mountain", which is an iceberg made of soufflé. "Crisp" is the key to the whole ice cream, it is introduced from the northern nomads to the Central Plains of the milky ghee, when making the crisp mountain, you need to heat the ghee to almost melt at the same time to add honey and sugar. Take another plate and spread the ice, drizzle the melted ghee on the ice, layer by layer, and finally decorate it with petals or colorful leaves... It's just today's ice!
Crispy Mountain occupies a c position in the whole table of food, which shows the love of the Tang people at that time 丨 Shaanxi History Museum "Wild Feast Map" mural
When natural ice is insufficient, there is also a "artificial ice" made using black technology. The Duyang Miscellaneous Compilation records the process of the Tang people making ice with hot water: take the container and draw water to heat it, so that the whole container is filled with steam, at this time! When the container is not ready, quickly seal and then put into a deep stream of cold water, the evaporation process takes away a lot of heat, and the remaining part of the container will quickly freeze.
This artificial ice is known as "cold feast ice", is the best in ice, Du Fu has a poem "Gongzi mixing ice water, beautiful snow lotus silk", to praise the beautiful and handsome men who can play in Chang'an City. However, it is conceivable that if it is not an ice warehouse or an ice technician is hired at home, ordinary people will not be able to eat fresh and delicious summer food in the hot summer.
As a foodie country with a history of 5,000 years, Chinese has a strong demand for fresh food since ancient times, and with the advent of the Internet era, the fresh food industry has exploded into a fierce growth trend.
According to statistics, since 2012, China's fresh market has maintained a growth rate of more than 6%, the fresh market size in 2017 was 1678.2 billion, and by 2018, the size of China's fresh market was close to 2 trillion. Fresh is the family's high-frequency just needs, in the three meals a day can not be separated from the fresh national foodies to promote, the future of the fresh market is expected to have a lot of growth.
Today, even if the fresh industry still has various problems in many dimensions such as suppliers, distributors, and logistics, the increasingly perfect fresh system has long allowed more and more people to enjoy Zhang Xiaojing's same water basin mutton and fire crystal persimmons without leaving home. And the fresh luxuries of the Tang Dynasty, such as melon and ice cream, are now within reach of daily diets.
Relying on the progress of technology, every foodie today can easily enjoy the happy life that Zhang Xiaojing can enjoy even if he is paralyzed on the sofa.
How to make the melon and flesh vegetables passed to us more fresh and fast, must also be a business worth paying attention to.
Text reference:
1. Bai: 2018 Fresh New Format Research, March 2019.
2. BAI: Comparison of fresh business models, March 2019.
3. david knechtges: graduallyentering the realm of delight: food and drink in early medieval china, journal of the american oriental societyvol. 117, no. 2, pp. 229-239, american oriental society, 1997.
4. Hui Yuan: Exploring the Diet of Mutton in Northern Tang Dynasty, Master's Thesis on Ancient Chinese History, Shaanxi Normal University, 2011.
5. Jia Pingwa: A Small Record of Shaanxi Snacks, Shanghai Culture Publishing House, 2015.
6. Water basin lamb, fire crystal persimmons, mint leaves, "Chang'an" food once to explain to you, fruit shell public number, July 2, 2019, browsing date July 9, 2019.
7. Wang Saishi: "Diet in the Tang Dynasty", Qilu Book Society, 2003.
8. Confessions of a Tang Dynasty ice cream lover: Do you think that in ancient times I could not eat ice cream without a refrigerator?! Smiley Childhood, March 14, 2019, view date July 9, 2019.
9. Yu Xiwen: Fresh Industry Research Series: How about investing in the fresh market? Noah Research Group, June 21, 2019, View Date July 9, 2019.
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