The Wine Classic of North Mountain

The Song dynasty art of rice wine, from starter cakes to the warmed cup. Around 1117, a decade before the fall of Kaifeng, the retired scholar-official Zhu Gong 朱肱, a physician known for his Book for Saving Lives, wrote the Beishan Jiujing 北山酒經, "The Wine Classic of North Mountain." It is not a cookbook of soups and roasts. It is a careful, orderly account of one craft, how to turn grain into wine, written by a man who wanted to explain not only what to do but why. Book One is an elegant essay on the origins, rituals, dangers and virtues of wine and on the principles of brewing. Book Two gives recipes for thirteen named leavens, from Fragrant Spring Leaven to Jade Friend Leaven. Book Three follows a batch step by step: souring the rice water, steaming the mash, the mother mash and its feedings, pressing, storing and heating the wine. A final section adds flavored and medicinal wines: chrysanthemum, rose, grape, rehmannia and Wuling Peach Blossom Spring Wine. This edition includes: The complete original Chinese text of all three books and the added recipes, with a faithful new English translation Modern notes for every entry, clearly marked Cook it today, Needs a substitute, or Read, don't cook, with honest food-safety advice Color paintings and food photographs of dishes you can make today An introduction to Zhu Gong and wine in Song China, with notes on toxic herbs and the law on home brewing For food historians, home cooks, lovers of Chinese culture, and anyone curious about the history of the Chinese table. The Imperial Kitchen Library brings the forgotten cookbooks of imperial China to English readers, one complete text at a time. For readers of Chinese food history, home brewers, and lovers of Shaoxing wine and sweet fermented rice.