Su Shi (8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (苏東po), courtesy name Su Dongpo, was a Han Chinese from Meishan, Meizhou (present-day Meishan, Sichuan), a Northern Song Dynasty writer, calligrapher, gourmet, painter, and historical water ruler.
When it comes to Su Shi, many people's first reaction is to degrade officials and Dongpo meat.
Indeed, Su Shi's official fortunes were very poor. In 1057, Emperor Renzong of Song (1022-1063) Jiayou was a 20-year-old Su Shijinshi and the first, and began his official career, and his life went through the five dynasties of Renzong, Yingzong, Shenzong, Zhezong, and Huizong, but he was frequently degraded, degraded in more than ten places, and more than three-quarters of the time spent in the forty years from Shi shi was spent in degraded land.
But in terms of food, in the history of Chinese cuisine, it is rumored that 66 dishes were invented by Su Shi, and the first taste was Dongpo meat. Dongpo meat is constantly degraded with Su Shi, so that the color and flavor are good and famous throughout the country.
Xi Ning changed the law, the 35-year-old Su Shi was degraded for the first time, and the prototype of Dongpo meat- Xuzhou's "gift meat" was baked.
Song Shenzong (1067-1085) Xi Ning 4th year (1071). Su Shi wrote a letter to discuss the shortcomings of the new law, and Wang Anshi, who was in charge of the government, was quite angry and arranged for Yushi Xiejing to complain about Su Shi's faults in front of Emperor Shenzong.
In April of the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1077, Su Shi went to Xuzhou zhizhou. On August 21, the flood besieged Xuzhou, Su Shi led the people of the city to build an embankment to fight the flood to protect the city, Xuzhou City was finally safe, the people were all rejoicing, in order to thank the good Zhizhou who breathed for the people, slaughtered pigs and carried vegetables to the house to comfort.
Su Shi could not resign, and after accepting it, he personally instructed his family to make pork into braised pork and give it back to the people. After eating, the people feel that this meat is fat but not greasy, crisp and delicious, called "return meat".
Since then, "giving back meat" has been circulated in the Xuzhou area, becoming one of the "Four Treasures of Dongpo" in Xuzhou and becoming a traditional famous dish in Xuzhou. This is recorded in the "Xuzhou FengwuZhi" and "Xuzhou Literature and History Materials".
In the Case of Wutai Poetry, 44-year-old Su Shi was degraded for the second time, and the cooking method of Dongpo meat was formed - simmering over a slow fire.
In 1080, in the third year of Emperor Yuanfeng of the Song Dynasty, Su Shi was transferred to Huzhou Zhizhou. After taking office, he wrote a "Huzhou Xie Table" to Shenzong, which was a routine event, and he did not expect to be misread and sentenced to death row. Wang Anshi was retired in Jinling at that time, and wrote to the Divine Sect to intercede: "An has a holy world and kills talents? This phrase is a quote from the national policy of zhao kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, not to kill the master. As a result, the poetry case was decided by Wang Anshi's words, and Su Shi was demoted from light hair to deputy envoy of the Regiment of Huangzhou (present-day Huanggang, Hubei).
In the face of adversity, Su Shi quickly adjusted his state, visited Chibi Mountain outside Huangzhou city many times, and wrote famous works such as "Chibi Fu", "Hou Chibi Fu" and "Nian Nu Jiao Chibi Huaigu", in order to express his thoughts and feelings when he lived.
In addition to his official duties, he led his family to reclaim a slope in the east of the city, and the nickname of "Dongpo Resident" was born at this time. At the same time, Su Shi patiently studied the cooking art of pork.
He cooked braised pork himself and wrote his experience into the Ode to Pork: clean the bell, less water, firewood smoke can not burn. When he is self-familiar, he is not urged to urge him, and when the fire is full, he is self-beautiful. Huangzhou good pork, the price is as cheap as dirt. The nobles refuse to eat, the poor do not cook, get up in the morning to play two bowls, and are full of their own family.
From Su Shi's "Ode to Pork", the core sentence can be found at a glance: the firewood head smoke is not enough - this is the meaning of emphasizing the use of a low fire to cook stew.
Slow simmering is the essence of Dongpo meat, without this method of simmering with a slight fire, the soul of Dongpo meat will be lost. This is the result of Su Shi's continuous exploration in practice, if it is used in a rapid fire, it is easy to cook the pork, and the taste of meat and ingredients cannot be cooked all, only with a low heat, gradually boiled, eat, good digestion, good taste.
Hangzhou Su Causeway, 54-year-old Su Shi cooked "Dongpo meat" - famous throughout the country.
In 1089, emperor Zhezong of Song (1085-1100) came to Hangzhou to serve as zhizhou after a fifteen-year absence. In May and June of the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty in 1090, heavy rains continued in the Hangzhou area, and large areas of crops were flooded. Because Su Shi took effective measures as soon as possible, organized migrant workers to dredge the West Lake, build embankments and bridges, so that the people of Hangzhou passed through the most difficult period, and the old appearance of the West Lake changed into a new look. The people of Hangzhou were very moved, praised him as a wise parent official, heard that he liked to eat pork the most when he was in Xuzhou and Huangzhou, so everyone carried pig wine to express their gratitude, Su Shi received it, he personally cooked and cooked, burned red crisp, distributed to the people to taste, everyone was surprised after eating, so it was affectionately called "Dongpo meat".
Tracing back to the source, "Dongpo meat" was first created in Xuzhou, further improved in Huangzhou, and famous throughout the country when it was in Hangzhou. From 1077 to 1090, a full 23 years.
The third time he was degraded, the 58-year-old Su Shi was not tolerated by the old and new parties, but he was loved by his favorite food oysters in his later years.
In the fourth year (1097) of Emperor Zhezong of Song,61-year-old Su Shi was sent by a lonely boat to Dan (dān) Prefecture on Hainan Island, a desolate place on the edge of the border.
In the Song Dynasty, Hainan Island at that time was a primeval forest filled with miasma, and there were still uncivilized indigenous people. Exile to Hainan is a punishment that is only one degree less severe than the crime of copying the door.
When he first went to the island, Su Shi was extremely uncomfortable, and he said in a letter to a friend: "When I go to Hainan today, I will treat it as a coffin first, and then I will be buried overseas when I die." ”
Soon, the haze in Su Shi's heart was swept away, was it the emperor who summoned him back to Beijing? Of course not, but Su Shi found a human delicacy - oysters.
After eating oysters once, it is like opening the door to a new world. From the Palace Museum's Collection of Ming Tuo's "Su Ti of Tuberose Hall", we felt the temperature brought by oysters to Su Shi's sense of taste.
This is a gastronomic passage written by Su Shi to his younger son Su Guo (1072-1123) 922 years ago. First of all, a loud praise: "The sea man sacrifices oysters, cuts them, gets several liters, and the meat and pulp are boiled together with the wine, and the food is very beautiful, and there is no beginning." ”
Then the words turned sharply, and he whispered: "Don't say anything about it, I am afraid that the gentlemen of the north will hear about it, and I will strive to do what Dongpo does, and I will ask hainan, and I am beautiful." ”
The oysters here are delicious! Son, don't let those officials know, and fight to be relegated to Hainan and rob me of oysters.
Su Shi also wrote himself a "Lao Food Fu", which means "gluttony" (饕) means "gluttony", which is "Old Foodie Song" in modern Chinese.
This meal should have the best chef in the world, the most appropriate heat, the most beautiful tableware, the purest water, and there must be beautiful women dancing, and the top wine - wine to help entertain. Eat pork, choose only the small piece of the best meat at the back of the pig's neck; eat crabs, choose only the two large claws of the fattest crabs after autumn; eat cherries, put the cherries in a pot and cook them into honey; eat lamb, steam them with almond pulp to make exquisite lamb; eat clams, and eat them with wine when they are half-cooked.
In "Old Food", Su Shi conceived the world's most perfect meal, and expressed Chinese cooking and diet very exquisitely.
From this point of view, Su Shi is a god of food. The god of food is a blessed god, with extremely appropriate language control ability and performing arts ability, giving people the feeling of a spring breeze. For the heart of the good and simple, the heart is straightforward and bold, what ideas and propositions, will express what propositions.
Su Shi, the god of food, was extremely sensitive to politics. You see, Su Shi opposed both Wang Anshi's new law faction and Sima Guang's abolition of the new law, advocating the use of the strengths of the people, and as a result, he was attacked by both the old and new factions, and it was difficult to settle down in the dynasty and escape the fate of being frequently degraded.
Therefore, Su Shi, the god of food, did not see the official star in his fate, became a poet, and became a painter, all of whom were gifted talents, and if he had to be an official, it would be difficult for him to be strong.
In January of the third year of the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song in 1100, Emperor Huizong of Song (reigned 23 February 1100 – 18 January 1126) took the throne. In April, the imperial court issued a general amnesty, and the 64-year-old Su Shi was reinstated as a dynasty fenglang, and was also transferred to Lianzhou Resettlement, Shuzhou Regiment Training Deputy Envoy, and Yongzhou Resettlement. On his way back to the north, Su Shi died on August 24, 1101, at the age of 65 in Changzhou (present-day Jiangsu) on July 28, 1101, the first year of the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song.
Su Shi's "Wooden Stone Diagram", ink on paper, hand-scrolled painting length 26.3 x 50 cm, painting inscription length 26.3 x 185.5 cm, full volume framed total length 27.2 x 543 cm, Liu Liangzuo, Mi Fu, Yu Xilu, Guo Wei inscription, a total of 41 pieces of Tibetan printing.
On the evening of November 26, 2018, at christie's autumn auction in Hong Kong, Su Shi's only surviving authentic "Wooden Stone Diagram" was auctioned for 300 million yuan and finally sold for 463.6 million Hong Kong dollars! Immediately following Huang Tingjian's "Pillar Inscription", it became the second most expensive work in the auction of Chinese painting and calligraphy.
The "Wooden Stone Diagram" is just like "Qu Ping's resignation is endowed with the sun and the moon, and the Chu king Tai Xie is empty of hills." ——Li Bai, "On the River"