An indispensable condiment in people's lives. Legend has it that in ancient China, Yuncheng County, a man named Du Kang invented wine. His son Heita also learned wine-making technology from Du Kang. Later, Heita led the clan to move to Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. There, they felt it was a pity to throw away the distiller's grains after brewing, so they stored them and soaked them in jars. At the hour of 2 1, as soon as the jar was opened, an unheard-of fragrance came to the nose. Under the temptation of rich fragrance, Heita tasted it, which was sweet and sour, so it was stored as a "sauce". What is the name of this sauce? Heita added the word "one yuan" to 2 1 and named this sour water "vinegar". It is said that until today, the time limit for Zhenjiang Hengshun Sauce and Vinegar Factory to brew a batch of vinegar is still
It is 2 1 day.
salt
"Shiben" notes: "In the era of the Yellow Emperor, the princes had the surname of Su Sha, and began to boil milk in seawater and fry it into salt. Its colors are blue, yellow, white, black and purple. " The Han and Song Dynasties paid much attention to the Su Sha family, but Shi Ben was lost and later generations quoted it differently. "The History of Taoism" quoted Zhong Song as saying: "Su Sha was the vassal of Emperor Yan." "Tylan" is quoted as: "Su Shawei, Qi Ling. Qi Binhai, so Wei is the benefit of fishing and salt. "
Su Sha is a legend, but it shows that the earliest salt in China was boiled in seawater. The word "salt" was originally called "salt". At first, the word was like boiled salt water in a container. Those who are born with brine, cook it with salt. Shuowen: "Life, life." About 2800 years ago, salt was boiled between Shennong (Yan Di) and Huangdi.
oil
Huangdi Neijing: "The Queen Mother gave the emperor nine lanterns, poured ointment on them and lit them." This is a saying that oil was given to the Yellow Emperor by the Queen Mother of the West. To put it another way, see Lei Xin: "The Yellow Emperor got the river book, read it day and night, with grazing wood as oil, cotton as the heart, reading it at night, and oil as the beginning." According to this statement, the Yellow Emperor was inspired by the river books. Obviously, logging to extract oil is already oil extraction. However, the Yellow Emperor had no books and no oil extraction technology at that time, which was not credible. It was falsely accused by later generations. I made oil for Shennong to see things. According to this statement, oil started in Yan Di.
In fact, there was no word "oil" when there were words. In the early days, oil was called "paste" or "grease". According to Ming Shi, "those with horns are fat, and those without horns are ointment." Early oils were all extracted from animals. The earliest title, extracted with horns is called fat, and extracted without horns is called cream. "The Core Monument of Dai Yi's Life" said: "Those who wear horns have no teeth, that is, cows have no teeth, but touch without biting. Those without horns and front teeth are called tapirs. Those who have no front teeth have teeth in the back, not in the front. Fat with feathers and no back teeth. When the feathers are horns, they are called sheep and have more teeth than before. " "Kao" Zheng Note: "Fat people, cattle and sheep; The ointment belongs to it. " The appellation of the ancients was very clear. The same meat oil, butter sheep oil must be called fat, lard must be called cream; Both are fats, which are called "fat" in the spine and "fat" in the bones. And the fat of animals gathers together, which is also called "".
"Li Zhoutian Guan Yi People": "Where birds are offered, sheep and dolphins go for a spring outing and eat cream; Travel in summer and eat cream; Autumn calf, eating cream; Fresh feathers in winter, and paste. " You Ren was an official who served meat when the emperor was ashamed to eat it. Bird offering, the bird here refers to the general name of birds and beasts, that is, the four seasons birds and beasts dedicated to the emperor. The ancients killed animals for use and fried them for food, so this refers to cooked food. Lambs and dolphins: lambs and pigs. :, dried pheasant; Dried fish. Leg: leg, leg; , elk. Fresh: the genus of fish, turtle and crab. Feather: Goose, Goose. There are also rules for frying and using ointment for these things, one dose for each thing. According to the solemn note of the Eastern Han Dynasty: "The cream is fragrant, and the fat is also; I am ashamed of this and I am sorry. " According to Du Zichun's note in the Eastern Han Dynasty, "paste SAO, dog paste. Ointment has a fishy smell, and ointment is also used. The ointment is also sheep fat. "
"Book of Rites" recorded cooking at that time, "fat with onions, paste with leeks." Chen's note: "Those who coagulate fat are fat, and those who excrete fat are ointment." Grease refers to solidified oil, and ointment refers to melted oil.
This extracted meat oil is used in early cooking. According to Qi Shu Yao Min, the method of extracting fat is "using pig fat to obtain fat". That is, speculation. Peel off animal fat, cut it into pieces, fry it, refine it into paste, and then condense it into fat.
monosodium glutamate
It was invented by the Japanese. Professor Ikeda carefully studied the chemical constituents of kelp in the chemical laboratory of the University of Tokyo. Half a year later, he extracted a substance called sodium glutamate from kelp. The answer was finally revealed. It was sodium glutamate that greatly improved the flavor of dishes. Therefore, Ikeda named it "the essence of taste" and obtained a patent.
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were thousands of advertisements everywhere in China. Engineer Wu was very interested in this powder, so he bought a bottle to study it. He determined that the main component of the powder was sodium glutamate, so he wanted to create the flavor of China. After a year,10g white powder crystal was finally extracted, which tastes the same as that of Japan. Wu believes that "the most fragrant perfume is essence, and the sweetest taste is saccharin. Then, the freshest thing might as well be named "monosodium glutamate".
If you want to know more, you can read the book "Late for Examination". Renmin University of China Press.
In the form of notes, this book makes textual research and interpretation on the basic elements of China's food culture and local flavor diet. Starting with quoting, analyzing and sorting out a large number of literary classics, the author connects the contents of diet, folklore and broader mass cultural history together, which has both rigorous academic evidence and strong cultural purport. Stylistically speaking, this book begins with the "Kitchen God" worshipped by the people in China, then goes on to talk about the basic dietary elements such as water, fire, oil and salt, and then the staple foods such as cakes, steamed bread and noodles, and finally ends with a "Manchu-Chinese banquet", thus forming a self-contained version of "China's dietary history".