Fast forward to the end of the year. This morning, looking at the warm winter sun outside the window and the only remaining dark gray tone in the community, a chill welled up in my heart. Then I suddenly remembered a series of colorful foods I tasted in the cultural and creative exhibition area of the National Museum of China at the end of last year, and that experience is still fresh in my memory.
In this cold winter, only the heart of a foodie can not be disappointed. And these beautiful pastries in the picture are related to the "Dream of the Red Chamber" that we have been discussing.
<h1>1 Start with "eating."</h1>
When it comes to "eating", "Dream of the Red Chamber" describes countless exquisite meals and pastries in great detail. At the very beginning, Cao Xueqin mentioned a beautiful food in the "Immortal Realm",honey green fruit.
Do you remember? A monk had a conversation with the stone under the Qinggeng Peak, presumably explaining that Jia Baoyu's predecessor was the divine attendant of the Chifeng Palace, while Lin Daiyu was a fairy cultivated by the Three Shengshi Pan Daizhu Grass, and finally descended into the mortal world. The Daizhu grassland was about to wither, but later it was irrigated and carefully taken care of by the daily nectar of the attendants of the gods, and finally became a human form - "all day long in the sky of hate, hungry to eat honey and green fruits for food, thirsty to drink seawater for soup."
What is this honey green fruit? Literally, it seems to be inseparable from "cyan", and it is still very sweet, probably as sweet as "honey". The current popular explanation is that "Honey Green Fruit" is pronounced "Secret Love Fruit", implying Lin Daiyu's past life love for Jia Baoyu. It is not impossible to say this, but when the Daizhu Fairy or daisy grass is still a daisy, it relies on the "nectar" irrigation of the divine attendant, and if you want to survive, you must always have food or water to nourish it, right? What's more, after the Daizhu Fairy broke away from the form of grass and trees, she would inevitably have to eat the things of the Immortal Realm to maintain her life and form, so she relied on the "honey green fruit" to fill her hunger.
When I used to read Dream of the Red Chamber, I was curious about the various foods in it. Therefore, when I have the opportunity to consult various historical materials, I will also explore the identity of "honey green fruit". One year in Guangdong, when I followed my friend to pick lychees in the lychee garden, and when I was picking and eating, I suddenly had a sudden thought: Is this "honey green fruit" not a lychee?
With this speculation, I conducted a research on the origin of the lychee.
China is the earliest country in the world to cultivate lychees, especially in the Lingnan region. The earliest record of lychees is probably the Shanglin Fu written by Sima Xiangru in the Western Han Dynasty: "Hidden Husbands and Dragons, Answers to the Branches". "Leaving the branch" means leaving the branches - the ancients at that time had realized that this fruit could not leave the branches and leaves, and if it was picked together with the branches and leaves, the shelf life would be longer. In the Han Dynasty Liu Xin's notebook novel collection "Xijing Miscellaneous Records", it was mentioned that when Liu Bang became emperor, he received a lychee from Zhao Tuo, a lieutenant of the South China Sea, from the Lingnan region, and was very happy. Later, after Liu Che attacked Southern Guangdong, he transplanted hundreds of lychees planted in Lingnan to Shaanxi, and also built the "Fu Li Palace" for this purpose, cultivating lychee trees for several consecutive years. Unfortunately, because the climate and water and soil are not suitable for lychee growth, this cultivation can only end in the end. However, lychees have also been a tribute to the palace since then, and have been transported to the north after a long journey.
Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty also recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "According to Baiju Yiyun: If you leave the main branch, the color changes in one day, and the taste changes in three days." Then leave the name of the branch, or take this meaning also. ”
Regarding the taste of lychee, there are also many records in ancient texts. Tang Zhang Jiuling's "Lychee Endowment Sequence" said: "The shape is very strange, the taste is special and sweet, and among the hundred fruits, there is no comparison." And the great poet Bai Juyi also said in the "Lychee Diagram Sequence": "The flesh is as white as ice and snow, and the slurry is sweet as liquor." In the "Guangzhi" written in the Western Jin Dynasty, there are clouds: "Lizhi, the height of the tree is five or six zhang, such as the laurel tree, the green leaves are fluffy, and the winter and summer are lush." Qinghua Zhushi, real as big as a chicken, core yellow and black, like a ripe lotus seed, real white as a dish, sweet and juicy, like ann pomegranate, there are sweet drunks. The summer solstice day will be over, and it will be edible. And the "Chronicle of Foreign Objects", which was very popular in the Han and Tang Dynasties, said: "Lychee is different, juicy, sweet and tasteless, and small acid, so it becomes its taste." Can be eaten, not bored. When born, it is as big as a chicken and its skin is shiny. The skin is eaten in the middle, and the dry is scorched, and the muscle nucleus is not as good as when it was born. Ripening also begins in April. ”
In terms of taste and sweetness, lychee is very much like "honey green fruit". So, what is "qing"? This brings us to the different varieties of lychees.
You may not know that Cai Xiang, one of the four masters of calligraphy in the Song Dynasty, once wrote a book called "Litchi Spectrum". In the book, Cai Xiang describes the history, origin, varieties, characteristics, planting and maintenance techniques, how to store lychees from many angles, and so on. Throughout the book, a total of thirty-two different varieties of lychee are introduced. At the same time, Cai Xiang has a poem "On the April Pond", which describes the appearance of lychees: "Lotus leaves are even double green covers, and lychees are like small green plums." And there is a kind of lychee that is also associated with "cyan" is "concubine laugh".
The alias of "Concubine Smile" is "Green Lotus Bag" or "Jade Lotus Bag", the skin is green and red, the flesh color is like white wax, crisp and sweet. The "blue" of this shell and the sweet taste of the fruit seem to be close to the "honey green fruit" in "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Since the reasoning has reached this step, we have to mention the "leaving the hateful sky" and "irrigating the sea" in the opening chapter of "Dream of the Red Chamber". These two very special phrases actually come from the legendary drama "Hall of Eternal Life" created by Hong Sheng in the Qing Dynasty. And this drama is written about the oath of the Immortal Hall, the chaos of An Shi and the death of Yang Guifei. What is Yang Guifei's favorite fruit? It was lychees. Therefore, it is not abrupt to associate lychees with "honey green fruit".
When I write this, I have to sigh again the "Sea Of Dreams" and "all-encompassing" temperament of "Dream of the Red Chamber".
<h1>2 Take advantage of the warm sun, a few more appetizing "turquoise"</h1>
Following the green color of "Concubine Smile", we will talk about the green color in "Dream of the Red Chamber".
As a "foodie", every time I read a specific chapter in "Dream of the Red Chamber", I can't help but secretly swallow. For example, in the thirty-eighth time of the original work, Jia Mu enjoyed osmanthus flowers and ate crabs with everyone. In just a few words, she wrote the sweetness of the crab feast: Sister Feng commanded, "Crabs should not be taken much, still placed in the steamer, take ten, eat and take again." Why can't you take more? Because the crab is cold, the fishy smell will be aggravated, and the hottest is the sweetest. When steaming crabs, in order to remove fishy, the crabs are specially placed on fresh lotus leaves and steamed together, which is simply too delicate and exquisite.
Aunt Xue said, "I eat sweet on my own, and I don't need anyone to let me." Why? Li Yu, a dramatist in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, once had such an opinion: "Whoever eats other things can be left to work, I enjoy its leisure, but I cannot eat crabs, and if people peel off my food, they will not only taste the same as chewing wax, but also seem to be crabs, as if they are eating other things." From this point of view, the pleasure of eating crab is to peel it by hand, and let others do it for them, and lose that delicious taste. And Ping'er? "I'm breaking a yellow crab in my hand", "I have already picked a shell of yellow and sent it." Feng Jie let people pour more ginger vinegar, and at the same time let people boil the wine and then take it with crabs to eat. Bao Chao mentioned a poem that reads: "The wine is not fishy and still uses chrysanthemum, and the sexual anti-accumulation cold ginger is fixed." The most interesting thing is that the water to wash your hands after eating the crab is "the mung bean noodles smoked by chrysanthemum leaves and osmanthus flowers". Why? Sun Simiao's ancient Chinese medicine classic "Qianjin Fang" wrote: Mung bean noodles plus soap horn, pig pancreas and other raw materials, dried and pounded into powder, and then mixed with precious spice powder for washing hands. This "handwashing powder" removes the fishy smell left on your hands after eating the crab.
Just read the details of eating crabs, you may feel tired, right? As a result, when I looked at the turquoise powder of this handwashing, I suddenly felt much refreshed. After washing your hands, with the faint scent of handwashing powder, you can eat a few more crabs, right?
Do you remember the sixty-second time, liu's sister-in-law, who was in charge of the kitchen, made something delicious for Fangguan? That's right, a bowl of shrimp ball chicken skin soup, a bowl of steamed duck stuffed with sake, a plate of marinated rouge goose breast, a plate of four creamy pine rolls, and a large bowl of steamed green rice japonica rice. Let's start with this "green rice japonica rice". It is made of japonica rice, which is a tribute of the Qing Dynasty, with slender particles, pale green color, and a faint aroma when cooked, produced in Yutian County, Hebei Province. In the city of Beijing in the Qing Dynasty, there was a famous snack breakfast, which was the "Jing Rice Porridge" cooked from japonica rice. The book "Historical Materials of Folk Food in Yanjing" written by modern scholar and bibliophile Zhang Jiangjie said: "Japonica rice porridge: commonly known as Jing rice porridge, pure green soup, delicious, accompanied by crisp twist flowers to eat with this, this is one of the early morning snacks in Yanjing." This fresh turquoise color and the fragrance that wafts from cooking porridge are enough to make readers salivate.
So what is shrimp ball chicken skin soup? To put it simply, it is to first wash the shrimp, fresh shellfish and pork fat meat, beat it with the back of a knife to form a fine mushroom; the tender spinach is only mashed with the leaves, leaving the vegetable juice, and then the minced meat is mixed with the nearly tender spinach juice and eggs and seasonings, and then mixed with the nearly tender spinach juice and eggs and seasonings, squeezed into balls, put into the clear soup, and cooked with the chicken skin. This tender taste can be experienced across the screen.
The sixty-first time in the book reads: "Even the former three girls and the treasure girl accidentally discussed to eat a fried goji bud in oil and salt, and now send a sister to give me five hundred dollars, and I laughed..." Goji buds are the young bud stems of goji berries. It is mentioned in the Ming Dynasty Zhou Lujing's agricultural book "RuCao Compilation": "Wolfberry Head: Yesterday there was a Taoist monk who said that the spirit hui can be eternal." Purple zhi yao grass is not expensive enough, and the wolfberries in the hill are raw. It shows that the goji berry buds are not easy to get, this dish can be fried, can be mixed cold, can also be made into soup, the taste is very refreshing. It not only nourishes the yin and tonifies the kidneys, but also has the effect of clearing the liver and clarifying the purpose.
In the thirty-fifth episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", Bao Yu has been recuperating since he was beaten, and one day he suddenly wanted to drink a kind of "soup of little lotus leaves and little lotus peng'er". What is little lotus soup? Let's first take a look at the molds made: silver molds that are more than one foot long and one inch square, and inside are models of chrysanthemums, plum blossoms, lotus ponchos, and diamond horns the size of beans. Put the good noodles in to make a pattern, simmer them with chicken soup and fresh lotus leaves, and a bowl of fragrant "gnocchi soup" is ready. Such a delicate approach, no wonder even Aunt Xue praised: "Your house is also desperate, eating bowls of soup and these looks." ”
<h1>3 Watch "Dream of the Red Chamber" and say that China's profound food culture</h1>
Chinese cuisine is now famous in the world, and it can be said that the shadow of Chinese cuisine can be seen in many corners. And the veritable Chinese cuisine is very particular about the five flavors, five colors and five spices. Why are they all "five"? This is very closely related to the traditional Chinese "Five Elements Theory of Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth".
Because the dishes we talk about today are based on color and focus on "turquoise", we will focus on this "five colors".
As we all know, when Western painting was introduced to China, it paid attention to the three primary colors, that is, red, yellow and blue. In China, the traditional "positive color" is five, namely red, yellow, blue, white, and black. Chinese believe that paying attention to the color and luster of the dish can stimulate the taste sensation through the vision, thus making people appetizing. For example, red, it is gorgeous, fragrant, full, nutritious, it is easy to think of fragrance; yellow bright, fruitful, sweet, crisp; orange is bright, fragrant, pleasant; green tender, crystalline, natural, full of vitality; white light, soft and tender; black is strong and intriguing; purple is subtle, elegant and vulgar. If these colors are cleverly matched, the dishes can be cooked that are not only pleasing to the eye, but also promote appetite.
Let's take an example of the importance of color for diet. There is a home-cooked dish called four-color stir-fry, the ingredients are yam, fungus, carrots, celery. In the "Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic", the five colors correspond to the five internal organs, green liver nourishment, black kidney tonic, red heart replenishment, yellow beneficial spleen and stomach, and white moisturizing lungs. Although there is one less color in the four-color stir-fry, it is rich in color and nutrition, and it can also be called a veritable health dish.
In the Song Dynasty, people were very fond of eating mutton, believing that mutton was "sweet and hot, and the Lord was weak and cold, replenished and replenished, and relieved to stop the alarm." In addition to lamb stew, mutton soup, roasted lamb, haggis, etc., people have also created a dish called "four-color lychee", that is, using eggplant, cucumber, radish, mutton these four colors of ingredients to make mixed vegetables, showing four colors, but also very tempting.
In the eighteenth episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", yuanfei provincial pro-princess changed the "red fragrant green jade" plaque named by Baoyu to "Yihong Fast Green". So do you know that in fact, "red fragrant green jade" is also a dish. In the Compilation of Qing Dynasty Palm Relics created by Xu Ke during the Republic of China, it is mentioned in the Qing Barnyard Banknote: "Those who are red and fragrant and green jade, with herbs leaves, dipped in thin pulp noodles, with water and noodles." Fry in oil, not too dry. Remove, place in a bowl and cover it with rose sauce and sugar for a fragrant finish. That is to say, wash and drain the herbs leaves, mix the thin batter, dip the herbs in a layer, fry them in hot oil until they are yellowish, and order rose sauce and sugar when eating. This pasta does not have the spicy taste of the herbs leaves, it is crisp and refreshing, and with the fragrance of rose sauce and the sweetness of sugar, the taste is very wonderful.
<h1>Write at the end</h1>
"The people take food as heaven". The topic of "eating" always occupies a large place in our minds. And now read "Dream of the Red Chamber", not only to see the fresh and beautiful colors of the clothing and home furnishings inside, but also to the fine work and color in the diet. I have always had a dream, that is, to make full use of my spare time to study "Dream of the Red Chamber", I dare not pretend to be "proficient", but I want to do my part, carefully consider all aspects of it, and share it with you.