The table in winter is the home of cabbage.
Steaming, stir-frying, boiling, salting, mixing, braising... Each cooking technique can stimulate the different taste of cabbage; Sichuan, Lu, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Xiang, Hui, Su, all major cuisines have classic dishes with cabbage as the main ingredient. As the proverb cloud: "a hundred vegetables are not as good as cabbage", as the "darling" of the winter table, cabbage can bear such a reputation.
In the era of material scarcity, the basket of Beijingers is always the same as the old three: Chinese cabbage, potatoes, radishes, especially Chinese cabbage, which are the main dishes of Beijingers for winter. Boiled cabbage, pickled sauerkraut, vinegar slip cabbage, cabbage tofu... It's not greasy to eat.
Wang Zengqi wrote in "Hutong Culture": "The cabbage that everyone eats all their lives is stacked up, which is about as high as the North Sea White Pagoda." ”
Although cabbage is available all year round, the cabbage after frost is delicious. In ancient times, there was no vegetable greenhouse and greenhouse planting technology, and the winter mainly relied on "autumn vegetable winter storage" to meet the needs of the table. "Autumn vegetable winter storage" originated in the Zhou Dynasty, and the Zhou Li records: "In the mid-autumn month, the fate of the people to converge and store vegetables." This tradition continued into the 1980s.
As soon as the waxing moon comes, the old Beijingers will push on the board, bicycle, pull a cart of cabbage to rush home, dry, store, in the corridor, in the yard, on the windowsill, on the balcony, there are cabbage figures everywhere, a family to buy five or six hundred pounds is a normal thing.
In the past, winter storage of cabbage was also an important work of the government leadership, was a first-class event in society, "to fight the battle of winter storage cabbage", the people of the whole city and even the whole country are in action. Beijing Television also specially filmed a documentary "The Story of Chinese Cabbage", which shows the importance of cabbage to old Beijingers.
The history of cabbage can be traced back to 6000 to 7000 years ago, archaeology found that in the Neolithic village ruins of Banpo Village in Xi'an, there is an urn containing cabbage seeds. However, before the Yuan Dynasty, the name of cabbage was more elegant, called "PineApple".
The "Pi Ya" records, "Green and white are elegant, the nature of the pine is not withered, it is common at four o'clock, and there is a pine exercise." "Cabbage, which has endured a harsh winter without withering, is as unyielding as a proud pine tree, hence the name "PineApple." ”
After Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang, he built the royal vegetable garden "Guangfeng Garden", which has all kinds of seasonal vegetables. There were envoys from Southern Liang who came to Luoyang, and Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei rewarded him with a boat of "pineapple" dishes. After Tasting the delicacy of "Jing", Xiao Tong, crown prince of Southern Liang, wrote two thank-you remarks with a stroke of his pen, "Xie Shu Lai Henan Cai Qi" and "Xie Shu Zhao Da Xiang Qi", praising "Jing" as "Zhou Yuan Ze Qia, taste and shame", saying that Luoyang cabbage is more delicious than Jiangnan lettuce and bashu sunflower, celery and other dishes.
After the Tang Dynasty, cabbage has been planted in Luoyang folk, and since then it has become increasingly popular, and gradually developed into the vegetable with the highest "appearance rate" on the winter table in the north.
In ancient times, from the kings and grandsons to the cloth people, they were all captured by the delicacy of cabbage, and the literati and inkers also left many popular poems chanting "Chinese cabbage".
According to the Southern Qi Book of Zhou Yuan, Prince Huiwen asked, "What is the most victorious taste of the dish?" He replied, "Early spring leeks, late autumn leeks." "Leeks in early spring and cabbage in late autumn are the most tender and delicious, and since then, these two dishes have been regarded as the best of the dishes, the most delicious in the world."
The Tang Dynasty poet Han Yu has a poem: "The evening pineapple is finely cut into fat tripe, and the new bamboo shoots first taste the tender horseshoe", the stored cabbage is finely cut into strips and slowly stewed, full of a bowl like braised silver wire, and then accompanied by newly dug winter shoots, everyone tastes the bamboo shoots, boils wine and discusses poetry, how comfortable.
Yuanren Xu Youren wrote in the "Shangjing Ten Yong QiQi Seven Cabbage Poems" that "the breeze teeth and cheeks are ringing, and the true taste of Shifu knows", a few words, the crisp and delicious taste of raw cabbage is about to come out.
In addition to painting shrimp, Mr. Qi Baishi also loves to paint cabbage, and he inscribed in the "Cabbage Chart": "Peony is the king of flowers, lychee is the first of fruits, no matter cabbage is the king of vegetables, why not?" Since then, the reputation of cabbage as the "king of vegetables" has not gone away.
"Cabbage" is pronounced "hundred wealth" and "swing wealth", and at the same time has the meaning of "innocence", so it has become a common theme of royal calligraphy and paintings and carving works.
△ Qing Dynasty FengXijue bamboo carving cabbage pen holder Collection of the Palace Museum
"Feng Xi Jue" is a famous bamboo carving artist, and very few works have survived. This pen holder is cabbage-shaped, the barrel wall carved vegetable leaves 4 times, the inside is like cutting out the heart of the dish, the veins of the vegetable leaves are clear, the knife marks are like a shape, the edges are rolled freely, the charm is quite high, and it is a rare bamboo carving product.
△ Qing Dynasty Jade Cabbage Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
This jade cabbage is rumored to be the dowry of the Guangxu Emperor's concubine Concubine Jin when she entered the palace. The material is Burmese jade jade, the jade carving master adopts the craftsmanship of beautiful color carving, the white vegetable body and the emerald green vegetable leaves are interesting, the vegetable leaves are also cleverly carved with two ants and locusts, the cabbage harmonic "Hundred Wealth", the ant also has the meaning of "many children and many blessings", this carving theme is deeply loved by the royal family.
Cabbage is not only the table memory of a certain era, but also the carrier and witness of Chinese food culture. In the winter of Beijing, you can't do without cabbage.