Chinese cooking utensils have a wide variety and a long history, and are an important part of Chinese food culture. The development history of Chinese cooking utensils has a long history, so do you know what stages of experience the utensils have? The following is my experience I have compiled the development history of cooking utensils for you, I hope it can help you.

The development history of cooking utensils

1. The pottery period

(1) The emergence and development of pottery

1. The emergence of pottery

The use of fire to cook food is inseparable from the emergence of pottery. After the Neolithic Age, the ancestors discovered the law of "wood and wood rub together" when grinding tools, and then invented fire; In the cooked food activities, many food cooking techniques have been explored. [2] The original cooked food methods of mankind include fire cooking, bag cooking, stone burnt method and stone cooking. The bag cooking method uses grass, It is a method of wrapping food in mud and then simmering it in the fire until it matures. In the long primitive life, humans discovered that the mud wrapped in the food or the dried mud in the "wrapping method" became stronger and harder after being burned by fire. And it can be waterproof, so primitive pottery was produced by accident.

The emergence of pottery is also closely related to the way of life of human settlement. In the middle of the Neolithic Age, part of human production methods changed from the original gathering Agriculture, fishing, and hunting have evolved into farming. The staple food has evolved from meat to granular grains. These plant foods are no longer suitable for the previous barbecue processing methods of meat, and new cooking methods and utensils are needed to adapt. Therefore, based on their own long-term practice, human beings were inspired by the phenomenon of fire-burned clay becoming hard, and imitated the shape of natural objects, using clay to make stoneware. The invention of pottery marked the birth of cooking utensils and transformed human beings into Food life has been pushed into a new era of civilization and hygiene.

2. Development of the Pottery Period

Pottery is the first time that humans have used natural products and created them according to their own will. A brand-new thing. Judging from the currently known archaeological materials, the fine pottery includes gray pottery from the Late Paleolithic Age more than 10,000 years ago, red pottery from the Cishan Culture more than 8,000 years ago, and pottery from the Cishan Culture more than 7,000 years ago. There are painted pottery from the Yangshao Culture, eggshell black pottery from Dawenkou that is over 6,000 years old, white pottery from the Shang Dynasty that is over 4,000 years old, hard pottery from the Western Zhou Dynasty that is over 3,000 years old, and glazed pottery from the Han Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the production of porcelain developed rapidly, and The pottery industry is in decline, but some special varieties of pottery still have unique charm and have been made and used in various historical periods. To this day, pottery clay pots, teapots, teacups, jars, bowls, basins, jars, etc. It is still in use as a traditional cooking utensil.

(2) The development of cooking technology in the pottery period

The invention of pottery and the rise of the pottery making industry gave rise to true cooking utensils , with the use of these cooking utensils, new cooking techniques came into being. "Water cooking" became the basic feature of cooking techniques in this period. [3] Boiling, steaming and other techniques became the dominant cooking techniques in this period.

1. Boiling

Among the heat conduction techniques using water as the medium, boiling has the widest range of applications. A large amount of meat and grains may be cooked. Boiling is the process of cooking food and other raw materials A processing method of putting a large amount of soup or water together and heating it with fire to cook it.

The cooking utensils with the mature function of cooking during this period mainly include: pottery pots, pottery cauldrons, and pottery tripods He pottery pot. The main function of the pottery pot is to boil water and store water. It is used as both a cooking vessel and a food container. The shape of the pottery pot is similar to that of a pot, with a deep belly and a slight bulge, with the lower abdomen slowly retracting, and the bottom is a round bottom. Compared with pottery pots, the heating area is increased and the heating time is shortened. The pottery tripods and pottery kettles that appeared later are actually the result of the fusion of pots, cauldrons and supports. The pottery tripod is like adding a kettle under the cauldron or pot. It is made of three legs. The pottery Ke also has three legs, shaped like a tripod. The difference is that the legs are in the shape of a fat bag and hollow inside. The three-legged vessel has a larger heating area than the round-bottomed vessel, which shortens the food processing time and improves the efficiency. However, These utensils have a single function. For example, when boiling water, you cannot cook at the same time, and when cooking, you cannot boil water at the same time. This phenomenon was not changed until the emergence of steaming utensils.

2. Steaming

The earliest country in the world to use steam cooking was China, and it has been used throughout the entire Chinese farming civilization. Steaming refers to placing seasoned food ingredients in a vessel, and then placing them in a cage with holes at the bottom, using water The process of steam ripening.

With the rise of pottery, ancestors invented the steamer. The steamer is actually made by perforating the bottom of the original food container, which can be divided into one hole and multiple holes. Place the steamer on The cauldron or Li turned into a pottery pot, similar to today's steamer

Steamer. When in use, water is put into a cauldron or a pot for cooking. A ceramic grate is placed in the middle. Steam enters the pot through the grate and holes in the pot to steam the food. While steaming rice, it can also boil water and cook porridge. The emergence of pottery steamers marks the development of cooking utensils from single function to multi-function, which improves efficiency and saves energy.

2. The Bronze Age

(1) The emergence and development of bronze ware< /p>

1. The emergence of bronze ware

On the basis of constantly summarizing practical labor experience and pottery making experience, humans invented smelting and began to make bronze ware. Appeared in 1500 BC Bronze tripod is regarded as a symbol of the copper cooking era. Bronze ware in ancient China was mainly made of copper-tin alloy. As the second generation of cooking utensils in the history of Chinese food and drink, bronze ware has had a huge impact in history. Bronze has a low melting point and is easy to forge. , high hardness, and not easy to rust. Bronze has both the hardness of stone and the plasticity of pottery, making up for the fragility of pottery cookware. Therefore, with the advent of the bronze cooking age, bronze gradually replaced pottery.

　2. The development of bronze ware

Ancient Chinese bronze ware is the great contribution of our ancestors to human material civilization. Bronze ware can be divided into food vessels, wine vessels, weapons, musical instruments, etc. according to their uses. Food vessels can also be They are divided into two categories: cooking utensils and food-holding utensils. Cooking utensils include tripods, kegs, and pots; food-holding utensils include Gui, Dun, Dou, basins, etc. Judging from the development of bronzes in each dynasty, Jiuding was made in the Xia Dynasty, and wine vessels were recast in the Shang and Yin Dynasties. The Western Zhou Dynasty highlighted the development of food utensils, and the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were the heyday of bronze utensils when "bells rang, cauldrons rang for food, and gold and stone enjoyed music." Therefore, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties were typical periods for the use of bronze utensils, and the development of bronze utensils reached perfection by the Spring and Autumn Period. These bronze utensils It can be used to cook meat, steam rice, cook porridge, serve food, drink alcohol, warm wine, store water, wash hands, etc., almost everything. With the extensive use of bronze vessels, people have found that their food utensils have a certain degree of toxicity and are harmful to human health. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as ceramics and ironware played an increasingly important role in social life, bronze cooking utensils were gradually eliminated and were mainly used only as sacrificial vessels or sacrificial vessels.

(2) Bronze Age The development of cooking technology

During this period, there were various types of dishes, local flavors sprouted, banquets began to take shape, and the pomp and circumstance of "eating in rows and sitting in front of the table" appeared, which was consistent with the use of bronze cooking utensils. Use is inseparable.

1. Cooking

Because bronze cookware is beautiful, durable, and conducts heat quickly, it is conducive to the diversification of cooking methods. The application of bronze cookware , resulting in the high-temperature oil cooking method. Cooking is to lightly pickle the processed small-scale raw materials, directly powder them or hang them in a paste, put them into an oil pan and fry them (or fry them with a small amount of oil), and then return them to another place. In a hot oil pan (or leave a little oil in the original pan), cook the pre-mixed clear sauce and heat it at high temperature. The raw materials will quickly absorb the juice and become a dish with a rich aroma. At this time, the use of oil changes the flavor of the dishes in the roasting and water-cooking stages. Simple and rough, the cooking temperature has been greatly improved compared to the roasting and boiling stages, and the cooking technology has moved in the direction of exquisiteness. The most prominent applications of cooking techniques during this period are mainly deep-frying, frying and stir-frying. However, Because bronze wares are generally larger in size and heavier in mass, they are mostly fixed when frying, frying and stir-frying, which is somewhat different from the stir-frying techniques commonly used in Chinese cooking today.

2 .Knife craftsmanship

More than 3,000 years ago, the working people of our country have realized that by adjusting the proportion of metal components in cast bronzes, bronzes that meet the performance of different purposes can be obtained. With the continuous improvement of smelting techniques, the fetus of bronze utensils The body became thinner, and the use of thin copper knives enabled the formation of knife craftsmanship. By the Spring and Autumn Period, simple food carvings had appeared. The use of knife craftsmanship made the segmentation of primitive food more precise. Therefore, in the Bronze Age, The Chinese cooking technology system composed of three major contents: knife skills, heat and seasoning has been formed. [4]

III. Iron Age

(1) The emergence and development of iron tools< /p>

1. The emergence of iron tools

People in the Shang Dynasty used natural meteorite iron to make blades and ornaments. People gradually mastered the technology of smelting iron on the basis of smelting bronze. China’s earliest The written record of the use of iron tools is the Jin Dynasty cast iron tripod in "Zuo Zhuan". In the Spring and Autumn Period, China had widely used iron tools in agriculture and handicraft production. The iron tripod used for cooking appeared about

Before 475 BC, iron's high hardness, high melting point and high content of iron ore allowed iron to quickly replace bronze and become popular in the field of cooking. Iron tools are hard, tough and sharp, better than stone tools and bronze tools. Iron tools Widely used, human tool manufacturing has entered a new field, and productivity has been greatly improved.

2. The development of ironware

The history of Chinese cooking records the popular use of ironware since the Qin and Han Dynasties. , as a sign that the development of cooking has entered the iron cooking era. The iron cooking era can be roughly divided into the early iron cooking period from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the middle iron cooking period from the Sui and Tang to the Southern Song Dynasty, the heyday of the iron cooking period from the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and the modern period after the Revolution of 1911 to the present. Iron Cooking Period. The maturity of iron smelting technology during the Qin and Han Dynasties greatly promoted the use and promotion of iron tools. Since the Han Dynasty, there have been not only tripods, cauldrons, retorts, furnaces and other utensils made of pig iron, but also forged iron kitchen knives, thin There are small cauldrons for stir-frying, large-mouthed and wide-belly small pots, five-cooked cauldrons similar to compartment pots, and Zhuge Xingguo with sandwich heat storage, etc. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, various types of cooking ironware have been significantly improved, and heating appliances have changed from thick to thick. Thin, new shapes are constantly being introduced. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the production technology of various iron cooking utensils became more advanced and the styles became more diverse. To this day, iron utensils are still indispensable and important cooking utensils for cooking. Chinese cooking can prosper, and iron utensils Closely related to the use of cooking utensils.

(2) The development of cooking technology in the Iron Age

The good thermal conductivity of iron cooking utensils promoted the further development of stir-fried cooking techniques. The explanation of stir-frying in "Chinese Cooking Encyclopedia" is: "Stir-fry: a method of quickly stir-frying small raw materials into dishes with less oil and high heat. It is suitable for all kinds of cooking raw materials. Because they mature quickly, the raw materials are required to be small and large in size. It is necessary to change the knife into thin, thin, small silk, slices, dices, strips, minced or flower knife blocks to facilitate uniform ripening or flavor." [5] The frying technology has been continuously improved and improved along with the historical development of ironware. Improve. The technique of stir-frying matures quickly, and most of the raw materials require knife processing. The widespread use of iron knives has improved and made breakthroughs in knife skills. In order to meet the characteristics of rapid stir-frying, the heating appliance has evolved from the original iron kettle with a small mouth and a bulging belly. An iron pot with an open side and an oblique belly. It can be considered that the emergence of the iron pot and the invention of stir-frying are milestone achievements after the formation of the Chinese cooking technology system. The brand of kitchen cooking utensils

SUPOR

(400-8899-717, established in 1994, a famous trademark in Zhejiang Province, a pressure cooker industry standard drafting unit, a large cookware R&D manufacturer, safety pressure cooker/ball kettle IH rice cooker/uncoated stainless steel technology well-known in the market, Zhejiang Supor Co., Ltd.

ASD

(0576-86199888, founded in 1978, a non-stick/pressure cooker industry standard drafting unit, mainly engaged in a series of cookware and small kitchen appliances Zwilling Zwilling (400-168-2020, started in Germany in 1731, famous A global household and professional knife brand, a professional high-end kitchen appliance brand/manicure and hair clipper manufacturer, Shanghai Zwilling Henkes Co., Ltd.)

WMF Futonbao

( 021-26016308, founded in 1853, a world-renowned well-known kitchenware brand, Germany's top kitchenware and kitchen tableware brand, a large multinational company, Futengbao (Shanghai) Commercial Co., Ltd.)

Fissler Fissler

(400-608-8689, one of the top ten pressure cooker/tableware brands, founded in Germany in 1845, a world-famous pot and kitchenware manufacturer, a large multinational enterprise group, an advocate of a new healthy kitchen life and Advocate, Fissler Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.)

Lagostina Ragotini

(400-800-5757, started in Italy in 1901, a brand of Saibo Group , representative of the world's top kitchenware brands, winner of the Global Red Dot Design Award, Hangzhou Omeni Trading Co., Ltd.)

Lingfeng LINKFAIR

(0766-2956688, a famous trademark in Guangdong Province , Guangdong Province famous brand products, high-tech enterprises, large stainless steel series

Kitchenware provider, Guangdong Lingfeng Group Co., Ltd.)

CookerKing

(0579-87229301, founded in 1983, a well-known brand of healthy cookware in China, focusing on An enterprise specializing in R&D, production and sales of healthy cookware/electrical appliances, Zhejiang Cuidawang Cookware Co., Ltd.)

MEYER Meiya

(400-6760-560, founded in 1951 in the United States, worldwide The leader in the pot industry, an internationally renowned non-stick pan brand, and an excellent global tableware supplier, Meiya (China) Trading Co., Ltd.)

SHUNFA