In 1421, Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Cheng, moved his capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The reasons are varied, let's not press the table here. As soon as Zhu Di left on his front feet, the government immediately set up an "anchovy factory" in the old capital of Nanjing. For the "factory" of the Ming Dynasty, everyone is most familiar with the east factory and the west factory of the royal supervision secret service agency, as a direct subordinate organ of the imperial family, especially the west factory, directly obeyed the emperor, the authority is extremely heavy, and it has also left a very strong mark in history. But what is this little-known anchovy factory?
Zhu Di should like to eat anchovies, right?
First of all, it is naturally a functional institution that serves the royal family, but it is not for the fish, it is specifically responsible for paying tribute to the royal nobles in Beijing with fresh anchovies. For Zhu Di, moving the capital to Beijing is a very casual thing, after all, it is his own domain, which is the second hometown of the emperor, but for other members of the imperial family and harem beauties, rooted in the old city of Nanjing for so many years, accustomed to the customs and customs of Jiangnan, saying that moving the capital is moving the capital, and no one is comfortable.
Moving from the south to the north, all aspects of food, clothing, housing and travel have been greatly affected. Especially in terms of eating, Jiangnan people have their own style and persistence, and the anchovy, which is the three freshest of the Yangtze River, is the representative of the ingredients that the royal nobles could not give up at that time.
Farmed anchovies
The situation of anchovies is very special, as migratory fish, although juvenile fish live in freshwater environments, adult anchovies generally only live in the sea, and only in the breeding season will they go up against the river to breed eggs, and the breeding period of anchovies has also reached the peak of its taste. The only problem is that the anchovy season is too short, that is, a month or so in May, outdated, and more precious.
Because the preservation conditions at that time were limited, it could only be kept fresh with ice. The anchovies in the anchovy factory basically take the waterway, along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, departing from mid-May, the anchovy boat travels day and night, constantly changing ice, and can only reach Beijing in late June. I don't know that after a month, the taste of the anchovy, but for the Ming Dynasty royal family who left their hometown, the form is greater than the taste itself. This small anchovy factory consumes enough financial and manpower to be extravagant.
The prosperity of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is difficult to reproduce
Not long after, the royal family found that the anchovies of the Fuchun River, which were respected by the people, were better than the anchovies of the Yangtze River. No way, the anchovies of the Yangtze River gave way to the anchovies of the Fuchun River, becoming the target of the anchovy factory, and the change in the distance of this origin also made the cost of "Anchovy Express" rise a lot. In the past, there were Yang Guifei as lychees, and the Ming Dynasty royal family was not exempt from customs, for this annual season of anchovies, labor and hurt the people.
Although the folk pursuit of anchovies is not as shocking as the royal family, it has also developed a unique edible culture driven by the royal family and celebrities. In modern times, when there are still anchovies and fish floods, all families with some strength are competing to eat anchovies, especially those famous and prestigious families are quite experienced in eating tricks.
It is estimated that many anchovies have been lost in the way they eat Picture source network
Whether it is free love I don't know, anyway, the son brought the daughter-in-law into the door for the first time, and the mother-in-law must try how many pounds this girl has. The most straightforward thing to do is to let her cook a table of dishes to test it. Whether it is a folk custom or not, I don't know, anyway, a fresh anchovy will be in place immediately, and people are cats at the back kitchen door to see how the future aunt and grandmother will deal with it.
In the future, my aunt and grandmother began to scrape the scales of the anchovy, and even the people under the people knew that the scales of the anchovy were the essence, and they were immediately seen through by the next person. The next person in the mother-in-law's room immediately went to report when he saw this. The face of the mother-in-law after listening to it is naturally very ugly, and the big family girl in the son's mouth must have injected water, but it is not good to have a seizure, and she can only make plans after eating this meal.
There are too many things that large households pay attention to, and the picture source network
After entering the table, when the anchovies are on the table, everyone is shocked! The scales of the anchovy are crystal clear, strung with silk threads, and the strings are stacked on the fish, and the grease will not drip, which is unheard of. The mother-in-law immediately understood, this is the legendary big family that can eat anchovies! The taste in my heart is really more beautiful than eating anchovies.
Recently, I heard a news of anchovy, saying that a fisherman caught an authentic Yangtze River anchovy and appeared on the table of a private restaurant in Shanghai the next day. Whether it is an authentic anchovy or not we can no longer know. The historical anchovy has long been extinct in China, and there is not even an opportunity for artificial breeding. Although there are farmed anchovies for sale on the market today, this anchovy is no longer the Yangtze River anchovy or the Fuchun River anchovy of the year, but the long-tailed anchovy or the American herring in Southeast Asia. The only thing that is certain is that the vast majority of us who witnessed the historical situation of anchovies will never see each other again in this life.