The original text mentioned a favorite food of the Jia family. This kind of food can only be eaten by elderly people like Jia Mu, but Baoyu and others can't eat it. This is steamed mutton with milk.
When all the sisters arrived, Baoyu only called him hungry and urged him to eat again and again. At last, the first course was steamed mutton with milk. Jia said; "This is the medicine that we old people take. It's a pity that you children can't eat it."
"Things that have never seen the sun" are sheep fetuses. Steamed mutton with milk is a good product for nourishing the body and invigorating qi, which is suitable for the elderly to eat, greatly inspiring their vitality and warming their lives. As for what Jia said, "It's a pity that children can't eat it", it's because this dish is spicy, so it's not suitable for young people.
Because Jia Mu is an old man, her blood circulation is not worse than that of young people. In winter, she needs to nourish heat to resist the cold and has the function of prolonging life, so it is just suitable for grandmother Jia to eat. Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage, once used angelica and ginger mutton soup as the best diet in winter.
As we know, the life span of the ancients was very short, and there is a saying in the poem that "life is 70 years old". According to historical records, the average life expectancy of women in the Qing Dynasty was about 50 years old, which was very high in all dynasties, but Jia Mu lived to 80 years old and still looked good. How do you know that steaming mutton with this milk has no merit?
From Jia Fu's delicious food, we found some interesting information: First, Jia Fu in A Dream of Red Mansions lives in Beijing, but judging from the recipes he usually eats, many dishes are Jiangnan dishes in his hometown. Secondly, some of these foods written by Cao Xueqin have the shadow of his family's past. Third, Jiafu is the official residence of Houmen, and the food is not all delicacies, but also home-cooked dishes, but its practice is "never tired of eating refined food, never tired of eating refined food", which is very particular.