Yellow River Carp

[jhirshon]

I found this erudite discussion and excellent recipe at http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/kubilai_khan/recipes.html

hope everyone enjoys it - cheers, JH

[Kent Wang]

Awesome, I always love Chinese food legends.

[hzrt8w]

Back in 1275, in order to prepare Yellow River Carp, Kubilai Khan’s exacting cooks would have demanded a Yellow River carp caught at the very top of the Dragon’s Gate waterfall, on the utter edge of becoming a dragon.

For the Imperial Banquet to welcome Marco Polo, this very special, freshly-caught fish would have then been transported several hundred miles, on horseback, properly wrapped in salt and ice, as quickly as possible, to be cooked and served in the impressive dining hall at Cambulac.

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Excuse me??? Do carp spawn in the midst of winter? How did people get ice 700 years ago?

[Kent Wang]

Excuse me???  Do carp spawn in the midst of winter?  How did people get ice 700 years ago?

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Maybe the ice was preserved from the winter, packed in sawdust. This was used as rudimentary form of air conditioning.

[Qing]

Hundreds years ago, people dig a deep hole to store the ice they made during the winter, and sell the ice in summer. I saw a hundred years "Ice Box" in the Forbbiden City, Beijing, so the ice must cost a lot.

Like we can't figure out how did the Egyptian build pyramids, we are not that smart as we believe, sometimes...

[Dejah]

jhirshon:

We need you to post pictorials of all these delectable recipes you are sharing with us!

As I once said to another eGulleteer (and haven't been allowed to forget):

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

We all have enquiring minds and love drooling over our keyboards.

[jhirshon]

Dejah - I'll see what I can do.

cheers, JH