Yuan Dynasty – 1271– 1368
The Yuan Dynasty was a multi-ethnic era, established by ethnic minorities, nomadic people eat more meat, so in this period people to meat as the main food, as long as there are conditions for people, every meal will have meat, some are raised and slaughtered, some are captured after hunting.
"Seven things to open the door, chai rice oil salt sauce vinegar tea." It was the words that came down at this time.
Dairy products were also very popular during this period, and basic households would drink milk such as mare's milk and goat's milk, and would also use milk to make wine to drink.
Stir-frying has become popular at this time, and people have begun to pay attention to meat and vegetarian collocation, and will cut the dishes into various shapes to fry, or cook.
"Wine sac" - nomadic people are informal, especially fond of drinking, whether it is wine, mare milk wine or mead are their favorite, in order to be able to drink anytime and anywhere, prepare a sac bag, specially used to hold wine, can be hung on the body, carried around.
"Spring plate noodles" – in the original noodles, lamb and a variety of favorite foods are added, plus pepper, ginger shreds, salt seasoning, aromatic and delicious.
Grilled dumplings (the predecessor of fried dumplings), shabu lamb, roast leg of lamb, roast duck, mooncakes, milk tofu, milk skin, Jinhua ham, groundhog barbecue and so on are all characteristics of this period.
Roast whole lamb
Ming Dynasty – 1368-1644
During the Ming Dynasty, the life of the people was still very good, the price was low, every household could basically eat enough to wear and warm, meat was no longer something that rich people could eat, economic development increased, and the price of many items was very low.
Three meals a day.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, came from a poor family, his ancestors were ordinary poor peasants for eight generations, from childhood to adulthood, he basically did not have enough to eat, especially when he was seventeen years old, his parents died of plague and he was homeless, he went up the mountain to the temple to become a monk, but not long after, there was a famine, everyone could not eat enough, and there was no extra food to give to him, he could only starve a full meal.
Until one time, he had to take less than a mouthful of food for three days and fainted on the street hungry. An old woman who begged for food looked at him pitifully, mixed the rotten vegetable leaves, tofu, the mushy rice pot and some leftovers that she had begged, cooked a pot of porridge, and fed it to Zhu Yuanzhang, who at that time felt that this was really the most delicious food in the world.
Later, after he became emperor, he made this dish (which was improved) a delicacy, and let the imperial chef cook it for him every day, and rewarded it to the meritorious ministers.
This dish is still the "big dish" in some hotels to this day - pearl emerald white jade soup.
In order to continue the virtue of thrift and thrift, Zhu Yuanzhang insisted on eating tofu every day, to remind himself not to forget the previous hard days, this behavior continued until after that, several emperors would eat every day, but the atmosphere slowly changed, and later, it actually became a bird brain that ate larks, and eating a meal required killing nearly a thousand larks.
The strange pursuit of food led to the fact that the emperor needed eleven thousand taels of silver a month for food, which was enough for an ordinary family to live for a lifetime. (A bucket of rice is only 20 yuan)
"Silver Ruyi" - When Zhu Yuanzhang first entered the Red Turban Army, he often went to the kitchen to help burn the fire, and he learned this snack, which is to use fermented flour and lye water to knead well, remove the sour taste and add sugar into the pot and steam it over high heat, shaped like a blooming flower, white in color, soft and sweet. (Similar to our current flowering steamed buns, it later evolved into flower rolls, sugar horns and other foods in the folk)
"Watermelon seeds" - "Zhi Zhongzhi" recorded in the Ming Shen Sect Zhu Yijun said: it is easy to use fresh watermelon seeds with slight salt to bake them. It shows that there are many people in the Ming Dynasty who sniff melon seeds.
"Chili pepper" - only introduced to China from the Americas in the late Ming Dynasty, at first it was also known as "pepper", "sea pepper", "Qin pepper" and so on.
"Corn" - In 1492 of the Ming Dynasty, Columbus discovered corn in the Cuban region, planted it throughout South America, and was brought into Spain in 1494 before it gradually introduced to China and became one of the most important foods. (The earliest recorded book is the 34th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty)
"Tomato" - native to the Andean region of South America, it was introduced to China in 1575 by the Ming Dynasty, originally cultivated as an ornamental plant, and only began to be widely cultivated and eaten in the mid-18th century.
"Potatoes" - transported by ships at the end of the Ming Dynasty, across the sea to reach China, at the beginning is a delicacy that only the dignitaries and nobles can taste.
"Sweet potato" - introduced from the Spanish colony of Luzon (present-day Philippines) in late May (1582) of the 21st year of the Ming Dynasty.
"Pumpkin" - During the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese (Flangji) colonists sought trade from Guangdong to Fujian and Zhejiang coasts, and pumpkins were introduced to China by this group of fan people.
"Tomato egg soup", "marinated duck, roast duck, roast duck", "crystal goose, bad goose paw, wax goose", "pickled crab", "wonton chicken", "bone-boned abalone snail", "braised tongyinzi fish", "fire bacon", "bao'er rice", "roasted reed pig", "poached rice" and so on, these are the dishes that the Ming Dynasty people would eat.
In terms of cooking technology, it is not much different from what we have now: burning, steaming, boiling, frying, roasting, brine, spreading, frying, frying, etc.
Ming Dynasty books record that there are more than 280 dishes with specific preparation methods and names.
The "Meal Shame" records the types of meals of the emperor's day: breakfast - suàn sub-noodles, fragrant rice, bó (stir-fried or roasted) meat, fried lamb, yellow cabbage stir-fried pork, steamed pork trotter belly, fried dragged (jī) goose, chicken soft soup, two cooked fresh fish, vegetarian stir-fried sauce, bean soup, tea.
Lunch - fragrant rice, garlic cheese, mung bean chess noodles, silk goose powder soup, mutton crystal dumplings, fire sheep's head hooves, salted soy mustard lamb tripe plate, yuan juice lamb bones, minced pepper lamb, garlic vinegar white blood soup, pepper vinegar fresh shrimp, steamed fresh fish, paste spicy vinegar loin, five-flavor steamed gluten, goose meat bar (dried meat), roast goose, five-flavor steamed chicken, three fresh soup, bean soup, tea.
Qing Dynasty – 1636–1912
The most famous one we've ever heard is definitely the "Full Han Table", to see which dishes are available.
Image from Baidu Encyclopedia
As can be seen in the picture above, the Qing Dynasty basically ate about the same things as we do now, and even some dishes were more complicated, and some recipes have been lost.
The manchu table is divided into six types to deal with different occasions.
Each kind generally has 108 dishes, of which 54 kinds of southern and northern dishes are each, the taste is salty and sweet, spicy and sour, a wide range of materials, mountain treasures and sea flavors are all available, and they are all treasures.
Longevity Feast (Birthday of the Emperor or Empress), Nine White Feast (banquet when the Four Tribes of Mongolian Outer Sacks pay tribute), Court Banquet (feasting on meritorious ministers on the day after the First Yuan Festival), Feast (banquet held during the Festival), Thousand Sorrows Banquet (the most grand banquet, the Qing Dynasty only held four times, used to maintain family affection, etc.), Mongolian Pro-Pan Feast (entertaining Mongolian relatives who married the imperial family).
Most of the people of the Qing Dynasty were composed of Manchu and Han ethnic groups, of which the eating habits of Han and Manchus were mostly different.
After the continuation of the Ming Dynasty, the Han nationality has become accustomed to three meals a day, and most of them use cereals as the main food, supplemented by vegetables, and will eat meat when conditions permit.
The Manchu and Mongolian ethnic groups continued the nomadic habit of eating two meals a day, breakfast at one o'clock in the morning (around 6:00 a.m.), and dinner at noon (around 12:00 p.m.). (The emperor also eats twice a day, but he will eat snacks and the like in the middle)
Every day, when the emperor is hungry or wants to eat, he will shout for food, and generally just after shouting the dish, it is certainly not possible to make it fresh.
The reason why they can be passed on is actually because these dishes have been prepared very early, and then they will be warmed in the pot, and when they are about to be served, they will be taken out and placed in the food box. (I don't know if the hot dish is good or not)
"Gongbao Chicken Diced", "Governor Tofu", "Henan Braised Noodles", "Lanzhou Beef Noodles", "Osmanthus Custard", "Mapo Tofu", "Zuo Zongtang Chicken", "Double Skin Milk", "White Chopped Chicken", "Beer Duck", "Donkey Rolling", "Mung Bean Juice", "Shabu Lamb", "Back to the Pot Meat" These are all delicacies that qing dynasty people are eating.
During the Qing Dynasty, there are many food brands that have continued to the present, such as: Liubiju, Wang Zhihe, Donglaishun, Quanjude, Yueshengzhai and so on.
"Gizzard meat" - remember the white boiled meat that will be eaten after the sacrifice of the gods in the Yanxi Raiders? Boil pork with water, without any seasoning, sometimes done or even raw, fishy, very fishy, it is difficult to eat. However, in the Qing Dynasty, after the memorial service, the monarch and his courtiers were asked to share the meat together, which means to remind their children and grandchildren to abide by their ancestral inheritance and abide by filial piety.
Gizzard meat
I saw that a netizen said that he liked to study the recipes of the ancients, and he also tried to make a variety of them, but the taste was very dull and not very tasty.
After all, the previous seasonings are not the same as we are now, plus in the past people should have a lighter taste, unlike contemporary people who eat more heavy food, for example, I like to eat heavy dishes, otherwise I can't eat it.
Now the logistics are developed, the characteristic spices and food types of various countries are more and more abundant, with a variety of cuisines, but in addition to gluttony, we must also pay attention to healthy eating!