Wushi Zhongkuilu
Wushi Zhongkuilu (Chinese: 浦江吳氏中饋錄; pinyin: Pujiang Wushi Zhoungkuilu) is a late-13th-century Medieval Chinese culinary work on household cookery written by an anonymous author from the Pujiang region known only as "Madame Wu".[1] It is the earliest known culinary work written by or attributed to a Chinese woman and is believed to have been published in during late Song Dynasty or early Yuan dynasty.
Content
[edit]The full title of the work is "Song Dynasty Pujiang Woman of the Wu Surname Records on Household Essentials", which echoes the contents of the book as a detailed guide for preparing essential household dietary ingredients and dishes of the period.[1][2] This includes cooked items as well as various pickled and preserved foods that can be eaten straight or used as ingredients.
Wu's work consists of three chapters grouped according to the types of recipes and originating ingredients:
- "Preserved Meats and Pickled Fish" (脯鮓): 20 sections
- "Vegetable preparations" (制蔬): 38 sections
- "Sweet foods" (甜食): 15 sections
It is also the first published work that described the use of soy sauce seasoning in dishes (referred to as "醤油") along with the more typical soy, fish, and meat based seasoning pastes common during Medieval China.[3][4]
Bilingual translation
[edit]A bilingual Chinese and English version was published in 2023 as Madame Wu's Handbook on Home-Cooking: The Song Dynasty Classic on Domestic Cuisine, translated by Sean J. S. Chen, with extensive annotations, a glossary, and a foreword by Eugene N. Anderson and Miranda Brown.[5]
See also
[edit]- Shilin Guangji, another book on cooking written during the Yuan dynasty
References
[edit]- ^ a b Höllmann, Thomas O. (2014). The land of the five flavors : a cultural history of Chinese cuisine. Karen Margolis. New York. ISBN 978-0-231-53654-7. OCLC 868132659.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Liu, Haiyong; 劉海永 (2019). Da Song tao ke : cong zao shi xiao tan chi dao shen ye shi tang (Chu ban ed.). Taibei Shi. ISBN 978-957-13-8015-5. OCLC 1137609493.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Otsuka, Hideaki (July 30, 2021). "Soy Sauce in the Chinese Language" (PDF). Journal of the Kikkoman Institute for International Food Culture. 21. Koutarou Yamashit: 3–8.
- ^ Shurtleff, William (2012). History of soy sauce (160 CE to 2012) : extensively annotated bibliography and sourcebook. Akiko Aoyagi. Lafayette, CA: Soyinfo Center. ISBN 978-1-928914-44-0. OCLC 816134994.
- ^ Madame Wu (Anonymous) (2023). Madame Wu's Handbook on Home-Cooking: The Song Dynasty Classic on Domestic Cuisine. Translated by Chen, Sean J.S. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Linea Publishing. ISBN 9781777938727. OCLC 1409336503.
External links
[edit]- Text at Chinese Text Project