Mao Manling Transmigrates to the Song Dynasty to Make Good Food

Modern five-star hotel chef Mao Manling had just won the prestigious Golden Spoon Award when a kitchen accident sent her tumbling into a pile of ancient books. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a poor alley in Bianjing during the Song Dynasty.

Holding a coarse porcelain bowl worn smooth with age, she stared at the clumped brown rice on the stove. Despite her mastery of molecular gastronomy, she couldn’t even make a pot of broth with precise temperature control. New to this unfamiliar world, she scraped by in the marketplace by improving street snacks: recreating pepper-salt pork ribs with coarse salt, and using wood ash instead of baking soda to make fluffy flatbreads.

By chance, the “Emerald and White Jade Soup” she cooked for a down-on-his-luck scholar, a clear, savory spinach and tofu soup, caught the attention of the proprietor of Fengle Tower, a famous restaurant in Bianliang. From then on, Mao Manling brought modern culinary principles into conversation with Song Dynasty food culture. She reinvented braised meat with soy sauce to enhance its flavor and improved candied fruit by mastering the art of simmering sugarcane syrup. Step by step, she went from a street vendor to the “Culinary Wonder of Bianjing,” a chef whose dishes made nobles and officials queue for a taste. Amid the bustle and charm of the ancient city, she began her own legendary culinary journey in the Song Dynasty.