Existing comment:
Kublai Khan (1215-1294)
Meal for a Mongol Emperor
When Mongol ruler Kublai Khan became emperor of China in the late 1200s, he set the stage for a remarkable culinary exchange. Kublai Khan was born on the Mongolian steppe, but he modeled his rule on the customs of China. As the head of an alliance of Mongol rulers, he claimed power across the vast expanses of central and western Asia. At Kublai Khan's court, inventive cooks blended foods from these distant regions for a delicious array of exotic and original meals.
Asian Fusion:
To create an imperial meal like the one shown here, Kublai Khan's cooks combined techniques and ingredients from the far corners of the Yuan empire, as well as lands controlled by less powerful Mongol rulers, or khans.
Turkik Central Asia:
Noodles
Persia and Middle East:
Chickpeas
Safflower
Sharbat
Mongolia:
Mutton
Fermented mare's milk
Nettles
Oleaster fruit
China:
Carp
Mandarin oranges
Tsao-ko cardamom
How Do We Know?
No menus survive from Kublai Khan's court, but his diet can be pieced together from an imperial cookbook published not long after his reign. Titled Proper and Essential Things for the Emperor's Food and Drink, this book contains dozens of recipes for soup, the classic one-pot meal of the nomadic Mongols. |