Shanfulu 膳夫錄

Shanfulu 膳夫錄 "Records of the chef" is a cookbook written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Zheng Wangzhi 鄭望之 or Zheng Wang 鄭望 (1077-1161), courtesy name Gudao 顧道, from Pengcheng 彭城 (today's Xuzhou 徐州, Jiangsu). He obtained the jinshi degree in 1106 and won merits in the battle of Kaifeng 開封 against the Jurchen army. Later on, he was Vice Minister of Personnel (libu shilang 吏部侍郎).

The brief texts consists of 14 entries with descriptions of the processing and preparation of delicacies, such as "five carpaccio dishes" (wusheng pan 五生盤): mutton, rabbit, ox, bear, deer – meats that are all finely treated – or queen mother's rice (wangmu fan 王母飯), a dish of rice covered with a mixture of flavours and a layer of egg yolk.

The paragraph Bianzhong jieshi 汴中節食 lists festive delicacies of Kaifeng (Bianjing 汴京) through the year in great detail: On the seventh day of the first month (1/7), people use to eat a kind of dish made of seven ingredients (liushang cai 六上菜). The Lantern Festival on 1/15 is celebrated by eating oil dumplings (youdui 油䭔). On 3/3, people eat "kitchen in the hand" (shouli xingchu 手裏行廚). The Cold-Food Festival is accompanied by cold congee (dongleng 冬凌) of wheat. The Buddha's birthday on 4/8 is celebrated by "Heaven's pointer cakes" (zhitian junxian 指天餕餡). On 5/5, the Double-Five Day, people eat "as-you-wish circles" (ruyi yuan 如意圓). During the dog days in summer, people use to eat green lotus buns (lühe baozi 綠荷包子). The period of sacrifices to the deities of the soil in spring and autumn sees the enjoyment of hot chicken slices (laji luan 辣雞臠). On 7/15, the Ghost Festival, filled avalambana or All Souls cakes (yulan bingxian 盂蘭餅餡) are eaten. On 8/15, the Mid-Autumn Festival, "full moon broth" (wanyue geng 玩月羹) is eaten. On 9/9, the Double-Nine Festival, "rice brocade" (mijin 米錦) cakes are eaten which are filled with chestnuts and dates. The last month of the lunar year is accompanied by lily pastry (xuancao mian 萱草麵) filled with citron daylily (jinzhen cai 金針菜). All these are important references for the study of food culture during the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126).

The text can be found in the series Shuofu 說郛 (Wanwei shantang edition 宛委山堂), Gujin shuobu congshu 古今說部叢書, Zhongguo pengren guji congkan 中國烹飪古籍叢刊, and the Japanese series Chūgoku shokkei sōsho 中国食経叢書.