the Yuan Dynasty
It is said that Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan made an expedition to the south. When he was exhausted, he ate boiled mutton, which was very delicious. After the war, Kublai Khan asked the chef to cook again. The chef sliced the mutton evenly and served it with various condiments. After rinsing, it was tender and delicious, and Kublai Khan named it "instant-boiled mutton". There is also a saying that Genghis Khan suddenly missed the cooked meat in his hometown when he went south, so he called the military chef to cook it, but the enemy suddenly arrived. The military chef who just killed the sheep and couldn't catch up with the pot sliced the mutton and rinsed it in boiling water. Genghis Khan ate and went to war. After the victory, Genghis Khan asked the military chef to do it again. After the generals ate it, everyone was full of praise, so Genghis Khan named him "instant-boiled mutton".
Early Qing dynasty
Instant-boiled mutton, also known as "mutton hot pot", began in the early Qing Dynasty and rose after Manchu entered the customs. As early as18th century, Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong held several large-scale "Thousand Banquets", including mutton hotpot. Later, it spread to shops and was run by Muslim museums. "One Hundred Stories of the Old City" said: "Mutton pot is the most common delicacy in cold years, so you must eat it with mutton restaurant. This way of eating is the research and evolution of the nomadic legacy in the north and has become a special flavor. " It is said that it was not until Guangxu that the old shopkeeper of Donglaishun Mutton Restaurant in Beijing bribed eunuchs and stole the seasoning formula of "instant mutton" from the palace, and "instant mutton" was sold in famous urban restaurants.
Song Liao
Instant-boiled mutton is one of our favorite foods in winter, so when did China have instant-boiled mutton? Archaeological data show that the murals unearthed in Aohan Banner, Zhaowudameng, Inner Mongolia, describe the scene of Khitans eating instant-boiled mutton 1 100 years ago: three Khitans were sitting around a hot pot. Some are cooking mutton in a pot with chopsticks. There are iron drums filled with mutton and plates filled with ingredients on the Eight Immortals table in front of the hot pot. This is the earliest information known to describe instant-boiled mutton.
A little later than Liao, the Southern Song Dynasty people also involved instant-boiled mutton in the book Shanjia Qing Palace. It turned out that he was full of praise for the rabbit meat he had eaten. He not only recorded the rinsing method of rabbit meat and the types of seasonings in detail, but also wrote a poem to describe it. The poem says: "The storm is clear and the wind turns rosy clouds." This is because the color of hot soup rabbit slices is like sunset glow, so there is this poem. Therefore, Lin Hong named rabbit meat "breaking shrimp". It should also be noted that he said "both pigs and sheep are ok" after rinsing rabbit meat, which became the earliest written record of mutton hot pot. According to Lin Hong's records, at that time, the meat was sliced, soaked in wine, sauce and pepper to make it tasty, and then boiled in boiling water, which is somewhat different from today's rinsing method.
Obviously, the direct materials about instant-boiled mutton can be traced back to Liao and Song Dynasties, but we still have reason to believe that people began to eat instant-boiled mutton at the same time as hot pot appeared, but there was no seasoning at first.