Tokyo C 9 覓食記。: 二月的「為食會」煲仔菜｛Hong Kong’s Earthen-Pot-Casserole Home Party｝

Earthern Pot Casserole dishes, a very ancient and authentic part of Chinese cuisine. Tracing back my childhood memories, I remembered my dear grandma using mostly claypots in her cookings where stainless steel was never her choice of cooking ware.

Any double boiled Cantonese soups, stew-casserole dishes, etc... all were done with claypots. I ought to admit that those dishes cooked with claypots tasted better with stainless steel cooking ware.

Not that I don't like Fissler pressure cookers nor le Creuset cast iron pots, you can call me a very traditional Chinese woman (老"土"C9) as my passion to claypots doesn't fade with time.

According to Chinese's five elements theory (Wu Xing 五行), our digestive system (脾- spleen） falls under the category of "earth" (土). Not sure if it has any relationship or not, I always believe using claypots to cook will enhance our digestive system as spleen correspond with earth (脾屬土).

Tracing back the history books, the most well-known Chinese cooking method, "stir-fry" (炒) was not mentioned at the very beginning stage of written Chinese history. In Chou dynasty (周朝) more than 2000 years ago, in "The Rites of Zhou" (周禮), it mentioned the technique of boiling. "Keng" (羹), a soup or stew was the most common type of food cooked during that period.

In the Rites of Zhou (周禮), it said "三羹五齏七菹八珍”. Clearly, "Keng" had a prominent status in those days' cooking.

Further, in the same book, it also mentioned, "食醫：掌和王之六食、六飲、六膳、百羞、百醬、八珍之齊。凡食齊視春時，羹齊視夏時，醬齊視秋時，飲齊視冬時。凡和，春多酸，夏多苦，秋多辛，冬多咸，調以滑甘。凡會膳食之宜，牛宜稌，羊宜黍，豕宜稷，犬宜粱，雁宜麥，魚宜菰。" Pointing out the "Food Doctor (食醫), equivalent to today's "dietitian" 's duties.

At an very important archaeological disvoery made near Chang-Sha (長沙） in Hunan (湖南) in 1972, which is known as the "Mawangdui Han Tombs"(馬王堆漢墓陳列), the archaeologists found foodstuffs that give a good picture of Han dynasty （漢朝) cuisine and over 300 bamboo slips itemizing foods, seasonings, and cooking methods. Those slips indicated that "Keng"(羹) was the predecessor of today's "red-cooking) (紅焼), a way of cooking where simmering food in soya sauce until the sauce is thickened and giving out a pretty dark brown colour.

That's why I have been wanting to go to Hunan Provincial Museum (湖南省博物館) because The "Manwangdui Han Tombs" (馬王堆漢墓陳列) is one of their permanent exhibition.

Given the above, I have always been wanting to introduce earthern-pot-casserole to my friends in Japan.