Text | Lin groaned softly
Edit | Lin groaned softly
Preface
There are many kinds of cuisine in our country, and there are many ways to cook them, such as steaming, braising them, frying them, stewing them, stir-frying them, etc., and there are dozens of cooking methods.
With the development of science and technology, microwave ovens, ovens, air fryers and other cooking tools are becoming more and more abundant, but the most commonly used iron pot is still the iron pot, because it not only has a large capacity, but also steaming, frying, frying and cooking, which is very convenient to use.
In ancient times, the iron pot was only developed during the Song Dynasty, and before that, what did the ancients use to cook?
Early cooking utensils
In ancient times, there was neither a pot nor a fire, and everything that humans ate was raw, which was not tasty and prone to produce all kinds of bacteria that were harmful to health.
In the Stone Age, humans learned to use fire, and gradually learned to roast food and eat it, which tasted much better than eating it raw.
Cooked food will exude its own fragrance, and most of the bacteria on it will also be killed by high temperature, and it will taste hot, and it can add a lot of nutrients and calories to the human body, which greatly improves people's living conditions.
At that time, there were no utensils to hold food, and everyone used branches to skewer the food and grill it, which was equivalent to the most primitive barbecue.
It is said that "the people take food as the sky", food is very important from ancient times to the present, and only when the basic satiety conditions are reached, can we have extra energy to develop other new things.
Later, the ancients discovered that clay could be made into the shape of utensils, which could be used to cook and serve soup after firing, so they made a variety of utensils with different shapes and various uses, which also greatly facilitated the daily life of the ancients.
However, this kind of utensil also has many disadvantages, such as being easily broken when it is bumped, so you have to be careful when using it, if the bottom is broken, you can't use it.
Later, bronze appeared, and people found that the utensils made of bronze were strong and particularly durable, so bronze gradually became the mainstream utensils, and as the smelting technology became more mature, ingenious craftsmen made a variety of utensils out of bronze.
In the Qin Dynasty, there were more and more types of eating tools, not only pots, but also plates, tripods, cases, etc., which were quite exquisite.
The iron pot appears
The iron pot was really popularized in the Song Dynasty, at that time, the country's economy and culture were very prosperous, the people's lives became better, and the quality of life was also higher.
In fact, in the beginning, iron was not found in large quantities, so it was still very precious, and most of them were smelted into weapons for the army, or used to make iron plows, sickles and other agricultural tools to improve agricultural production efficiency.
During the Song Dynasty, with the improvement of smelting technology, iron was also widely used, because iron has good thermal conductivity, it can save a lot of time and materials when cooking, and it is more durable than bronze, so it has developed to almost every household has an iron pot.
There are two kinds of earliest iron pots, one is called "wok", and the other is a small iron pot used by ordinary people, which is not much different from our current stir-fry iron pot, and the appearance of the wok, which is similar to the iron pot we use to make big pot rice, is big and deep, and can make a lot of food at a time.
During the Song Dynasty, the nomads were also very fond of the iron pot, and they also began to abandon the previous various cooking utensils and cook with the iron pot.
However, with the change of dynasties, Zhu Yuanzhang began to prohibit the sale of iron pots to the outside world in order to prevent external forces from using the iron pot trade and secretly smelting the iron pot into weapons.
After the popularization of iron pots, people have more and more ways to cook ingredients than the food that was made at the beginning.
Early ways of cooking
After the appearance of the iron pot in the Song Dynasty, stir-fried vegetables gradually began to prevail, so when there was no stir-fried vegetables, what did the people eat?
It took a long time from the beginning of fire roasting to the later learning of human beings to use utensils, and it was only after the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period that cooking methods began to increase.
Although stir-frying is the most commonly used cooking method for the public, in the early days, due to low productivity, oil was also scarce, and there were no suitable utensils, so everyone used steaming, roasting, stewing, boiling, pickling, and other ways to cook.
"Steaming" is very simple, you only need to put the food in a pot with water, and then steam it with fire, someone once invented a cooking tool "retort", this tool can put water at the bottom, and the top is the place where the food is placed, which is the steamer of the early days.
"Roasting" has been learned to cook food in this way since the Stone Age when humans could use fire, and it has continued until now, many people like to gather three or five friends in the summer, eat barbecue and drink beer in the food stalls.
"Stew" and "boil" are both about putting food in a pot with some water and then cooking it over a fire, but generally stewed dishes are stewed with many ingredients and some condiments, and the taste is also very good.
"Pickled" is actually a bit similar to the current pickling, but its production time is much shorter than pickling, if you are cooking, you only need to prepare the seasoning in advance, and then cut the dish into small pieces and stir the seasoning together, soak it for a while and you can eat, and if you make meat, you need to add wine to remove the smell, and then stir it with the seasoning.
The method is to cut the meat into very thin slices, such as pork slices, fish slices, etc., which are convenient and easy to cook.
During the Tang Dynasty, the people discovered more cooking methods, such as "stewing" and "simmering", which also made the food richer and more delicious, and some of the methods were still unique skills studied by some chefs and could not be passed on.
In the Song Dynasty, stir-fried vegetables began to be popularized, at that time, lard was also the most commonly used oil, with the development of oil extraction technology, people gradually used vegetable oil, and stir-fried vegetables also developed faster and faster, and special dishes emerged in endlessly.
With the continuous development of the times, people's cooking methods and cooking tools have also developed more and more, but it is undeniable that the wisdom and crystallization of the ancients are indispensable, because of their continuous attempts and research, our country will have a rich and colorful cuisine.
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