There are different opinions about the history of Hu spicy soup. As its main ingredient, capsicum, was introduced into China only in the Tang Dynasty, its maximum yield should not be earlier than that in the Tang Dynasty, although folklore has it that Hu La Tang was created in the Zhou Dynasty and Cao Wei.
Pepper was introduced into China only in the Tang Dynasty. Song dynasty, it is quite credible. As a folk snack, Hu spicy soup is rarely mentioned in ancient books. According to experts' research, the ancestors of Hu spicy soup should be hot and sour soup and meat porridge. According to the prescription of Taiping Huimin Heji, which was widely circulated in the Song Dynasty, it was estimated that the social trend at that time was to add pungent and fragrant drugs to food, so Hu La Tang was improved on the basis of these two foods. I'm afraid the purpose of adding meat to hot and sour soup is to adapt to more people's tastes, invigorate qi and tonify deficiency, supplemented by spices such as ginger, pepper, star anise and cinnamon, soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen. Therefore, the taste of Henan Hula soup is mainly sour and spicy. Until the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, the Central Plains was in turmoil, and most of the rivers and mountains north of the Yangtze River were in the hands of Di Yi. Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, witnessed a great development of commodity economy, and folk snacks also flourished with a wide variety. At that time, popular medical works, such as Taiping Huimin Ji, all thought that adding pungent, warm, fragrant and dry drugs to food was beneficial to the circulation of qi, so spicy food was quite popular. A kind of meat porridge with the effect of sobering up and promoting digestion combined with hot and sour soup has become the embryonic form of hot and sour soup.
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During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Ge Lao Yan Song got a pair of seasoning medicine from a monk to help the emperor live longer, and gave it to the emperor to cook soup. The soup is delicious and the dragon's face is delighted, hence the name "Yutang". After the death of the Ming Dynasty, the chef Zhao Ji fled to Xiaoyao, Henan Province (now Xiaoyao Town, Xihua County) with this medicine and spread it here. The local people got spicy soup, so they renamed it "Hu Spicy Soup".
Legend has it that Hu spicy soup cured the cold of Yu Qian, a famous official in Ming Dynasty. According to "Selected Works of Memorial Hall for Yu Qian", Yu Qian was the governor of Henan and Shanxi provinces and lived in Kaifeng. One year, he celebrated his birthday in Zhengzhou, found a "Hu Ji" restaurant according to the frugal practice, drank a bowl of hot soup and spent his birthday. This unique birthday food made Yu Qian deeply remember its delicacy. On one occasion, Yu Qian came back from a trip to Shanxi and passed by Zhengzhou. Tired from the journey and busy with business, he caught a cold for several days and didn't get well. One night, Yu Qian suddenly remembered the soup of Hu Ji and sent someone to buy it. The shopkeeper of "Hu Ji" heard that the governor wanted to eat, so he put enough seasoning and made it carefully. Yu Qian broke out in a big sweat after dinner, and the next day he was light and healthy, and he was fine without knowing it. Yu Qian sealed twelve taels of silver, thanked the shopkeeper Hu for his kindness in treating diseases, and suggested naming Tang after Hu. Since then, this soup has become "Hu spicy soup".
After the Qing Dynasty, there were many people selling hot soup in Zhengzhou. However, because the Qing Dynasty was founded by Manchu people, people dared not say the word "Hu" more, and the soup looked mushy, and "Hu" and "paste" were homophonic, so Hu spicy soup was changed to Hu spicy soup, which has been used ever since. Nowadays, Hu spicy soup has been used to be called Hu spicy soup, also called "Palace Royal Brocade Soup".