<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > "steamed lamb with cow's milk" that has not seen the light of day</h1>
Ding Zhiyong
"Steamed lamb with milk" is found in the forty-ninth episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in "Glass World White Snow Red Plum Fat Powder Fragrant Baby Cut Fishy". When the sisters came together, Bao Yu only cried out that he was hungry, and he even urged for food. It's easy to wait for it to be served, and the first dish is steamed lamb. Jia Mu then said, "This is the medicine of our old people, I haven't seen anything in the day, but unfortunately you little children can't eat it." There is also fresh venison today, and you are waiting to eat it. This "steamed lamb with cow's milk" in the text of "Dream of the Red Chamber" Cao Gong is a stroke and does not explain the selection of materials and production methods, so that today people take the meaning out of context, directly believing that cow's milk is milk, lamb is small lamb, on top of this added a variety of seasoning accessories or stewed or steamed, it is called "milk steamed lamb". However, the author is difficult to agree, thinking that Cao Gong painstakingly and painstakingly created "Dream of the Red Chamber" for decades, any character, a set, a poem, and a delicacy arranged by him are full of deep meaning, and cannot be analyzed in a literal sense, and the same is true of this "steamed lamb with cow's milk". So, what kind of dish is this? Cao Gong's seemingly simple brush strokes have hidden what kind of connotations that people do not know?
Let's first look at what Jia Mu said, after this "milk steamed lamb" was on the table, Jia Mu said: "This is the medicine of our elderly people, I have not seen the day, but unfortunately you children can't eat it." From this sentence, we can know that Jia Mu said that it was medicine rather than a dish, that it was something that had not seen the light of day, and that children could not eat it. It can be seen that this dish is used by the elderly to nourish, so Jia Mu called it medicine. Jia Mu also said that it is something that has not seen the light of day, which is not difficult to understand, this so-called lamb is actually an unborn sheep fetus, China since ancient times believes that things that are related to the mother's birth of new life have a tonic effect, such as: deer fetus, placenta, hairy eggs, etc., these things have a common point, that is, they are all hot things. The elderly need to eat these supplements because of the weakness of qi, and the children are still tender, eating the big supplement and the hot things the body can't stand, it is easy to catch fire, it is Jia Baoyu who stopped Jia Baoyu and said that the children cannot eat. So, what exactly is this dish of "steamed lamb with cow's milk"? And how to choose the material to make it?
In fact, "steamed lamb with milk" was not the first creation of Cao Gong, it can be found in the Song Dynasty's "Kaihe Record", and it is also recorded in the "History of the Sui Dynasty Emperor Yan" written by Qi Yedongren in the Ming Dynasty. In the "Book of The Open River", it is written: Uncle plots to take the lamb for half a year, kills and takes the cavity, and takes the medicine, and the medicine is not exhausted and the illness has been cured. Since then, each order to kill lambs, several times a day. With apricot cheese and five flavors steamed, placed in its cavity plate, and eaten with a hand, it is said to contain crispy. Thousands of lambs are sacrificed in the countryside every day, and they are generously rewarded. The "History of the Sui Dynasty Emperor Yan" is described as follows: It is said that Ma Shumou was seen by Chao Yuanfang to see through the source of the disease, and even called him a divine doctor. Because he asked, "The student is mean, the old man has seen the lungs and liver, but he doesn't know what medicine can cure it?" Chao Yuanfang said, "Gui Qi is shot by ghost qi, which is different from other diseases, it must be steamed with a newborn tender lamb, accompanied by the last medicine, and eaten several times a day before it can be removed; if you use the bait alone, I am afraid that it will be stained with yin wind and will recur." Uncle Ma listened to the great joy and went to the people to find lambs, while curing wine and entertaining Chao Yuanfang, he stayed in the camp to live. The "History of the Sui Dynasty Emperor Yan" is a collection of books by the Qi Ye Dongren of the Ming Dynasty, including the "Miscellaneous Records of Daye", "Sui Testament", "Haishan Records", "Kaihe Records", and "Lost House Records", which are rarely fictionalized. The book is full of examples and clouds: "Although the book "Yan Shi" today, although it is a cloud novel, it is quoted from the truth, and the history of The True Observance is not coincidentally borrowed from the matter, and a word is added in vain to nourish the confusion of the world. From this, it can be seen that these two books are very respectful of historical facts, not empty, and the method of adding lambs into medicine described in the book is sufficient to be accepted.
We look at the method of lamb medicine described in these two books, a cloud of half a year lamb and a cloud of newborn young sheep, the difference is not big, can be understood as the newborn mother's lamb. And in "Dream of the Red Chamber", Yi Jiamu said that "things that have not seen the light of day" indicate that this lamb should be unborn. Legend has it that during the Mongolian Yuan Period, the Mongols living in the Mongolian steppe invented an extremely cruel dish, called charcoal roasted milk sheep, that is, the ewe that is about to be produced in the pot is thrown into the charcoal fire alive, and when the ewe is fully roasted, the fetus is taken out by caesarean section, it is said that the skin crispy meat is tender and delicious, but its preparation method is indeed too cruel, there is a wound to the heavens, Cao Gong in the "Dream of the Red Chamber" described in the "Cow Milk Steamed Lamb" in the day, it is very likely to be taken from the ewe that is about to be potted, and it is creepy to think deeply. In "Dream of the Red Chamber", there is actually another thing that has not seen the light of day, that is, the "first tire Purple River Car".
Seeing the twenty-eighth time, Bao Yu said, "My wife gave me three hundred and sixty taels of silver, and I prepared a pill for my sister. Madame Wang said, "Fart, what medicine is so expensive?" Bao Yu smiled, "Seriously, my formula is different from others, the name of the medicine is also strange, I can't say it for a while, just talk about the purple river car, the humanoid with leaf ginseng, three hundred and sixty-two is not enough." Gui Da He Shou Wu, Millennium Pine Root Poria Bile, and such medicines are not surprising, only in the group of medicines, count the medicines that are kingly, and scare people. Brother Xue begged me for a year or two before I gave him this formula. He took the formula and went looking for it for another two or three years, and it took thousands of silver to match it. "Purple River car, refers to the human placenta, and this "first tire Purple River car", as the name suggests, is the placenta of pregnant women who are pregnant with the first child.
In ancient China, it has always been believed that the placenta is a great supplement, and it is very superstitious to eat the placenta, not only the placenta of people, but also the placenta of animals, and the price has always been high. According to Jia Baoyu, the first tire of the Purple River Car plus the humanoid strip leaf ginseng three hundred and sixty silver is not enough, which shows its preciousness. After all, the acquisition through normal means is limited, so in history, many criminals have taken the way of killing people to steal the Purple River car and sell it to rich people for huge profits, such as in "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness". It is recorded in Ming Xie Zhao's "Five Miscellaneous Tricks": "Purple River Car, it is better to have a man for the first child." According to legend, if the clothes are taken by people, the children will be sterile, so the anti-harvest concubines above the middle family are like anti-theft. However, the concubine is greedy and profitable, and it is easy to come out with a hundred potentials, and her work is only aphrodisiac, nourishing qi and blood, and she endures the son of a thief. Oh, the concubine is not noble enough, and the rich and noble are also alone. Cao Gong described these two things in "Dream of the Red Chamber", in fact, it is implied that Jia Fu is also a place of cannibalism, and the so-called "Zhong Ding Ming Food Home of the Shili Miao Clan" also has a dark and cruel side, but it needs to be explored by the reader himself.
The "cow's milk" in "steamed lamb with cow's milk" is actually not real milk, but the "apricot cheese" in the "same apricot cheese and five flavor steamed" mentioned in the "Kaihe Chronicle". Qing Yuan Mei has a practice of this apricot cheese in the "Suiyuan Food List": apricot cheese, pounding almonds as a pulp, removing the residue, mixing rice flour, and tightening the sugar to boil it. The apricot cheese made in this way is similar to milk, rich in sweetness and sweetness, and rich in nutrients. In the fifty-fourth episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", it is also mentioned: Jia Mu said: "The night is long, I feel a little hungry." Sister Feng hurriedly replied, "There is a prepared duck porridge." Jia Mu said, "I'll eat some light food." Sister Feng said busily: "There are also japonica rice porridge boiled by jujubes, which are prepared for the wives to eat." Jia Mu smiled and said, "Either it is greasy or sweet." Sister Feng said busily: "There is also almond tea, but I am afraid it is also sweet." Jia Mu said, "But this is it." "Apricot, sweet and warm, has the effect of moisturizing the lungs, coughing, and replenishing qi, which is very suitable for the elderly and weak people to eat, so as to co-steam and eat with the fetal sheep, replenish the qi and nourish the yuan, and complement each other." It is because Cao Gong arranged such a "steamed lamb with cow's milk" to reflect the extravagant and exquisite life of such a rich family as Jia Fu.
Anyone who has read the "Kaihe Chronicle" and the "History of the Sui Dynasty Emperor Yan", as well as the "Sui and Tang Dynasties", will be deeply impressed by Ma Shumou's person, who is really nothing to this person for taking the medicine of the newborn lamb, who was famous for eating people at that time. For example, there is such a passage in the "Book of the Open River": He who steals the children of others who are three or four years old, kills them, removes the head and feet, steams them, and sacrifices them to their uncles. Chewing is fragrant, very different from lamb, and admired. According to legend, Uncle Ma was a Hu man, and when the Sui Emperor opened the canal, he appointed this person as an overseer, and he was notorious for eating children, and was later beheaded by the imperial court. Because of its surname Ma, but also Hu people, when people called it "Ma Beard", at that time, there were children in the family who were naughty and disobedient, and the family often frightened them with "Ma Beard", it is not difficult to imagine how the people on both sides of the canal lived a dark and dark life at that time, and to this day, the author's hometown still has the legend of "Ma Beard". Whether it is Ma Shumou using lambs into medicine, or Jia Baoyu using the first tire Purple River car into medicine, or even Jia Mu using "steamed lamb with cow's milk" to nourish, it is all to reveal the dark side of the society at that time. Bainian Jia Fu is at the top of society, it relies on the cruel exploitation and oppression of the toiling masses at the bottom to achieve its own extravagant and rich life, which is a society that eats people. This dish of "steamed lamb with cow's milk" reflects the darkness of the feudal ruling system and the decay of the ruling class, and this dish written by Cao Gongyu in his careless heart has a profound ideological connotation and profound meaning, which is thought-provoking.