Food starts with Mapo Tofu

Chapter 368 The Good Show Begins
This person is not easy to satisfy. If you have 100 yuan, you want 1000 yuan, if you have 1000 yuan, you want 1 yuan, and if you have 1 yuan, you want 100 million yuan.

Now Chen Nian has a deep understanding of this truth. Originally, when he was in Yangzhou, he lived a simple life, and he was a good guy who did his duty, but after arriving in the capital, he now wants to serve sour plum soup in a transparent white porcelain bowl. up.

See what this environment has corroded yourself into?
But obviously, I can’t find any white porcelain bowls now. Although I can afford it, I can spend money to buy a yard, or spend money to make some more expensive tools. Those are all for improving productivity. And it's a bit inappropriate for me to buy such a bowl just for enjoyment.

"Forget it, Fu Xin is a big dog, he must have this kind of high-end tableware at home, so go to his house to drink by himself some other day."

After making up his mind, Chen Nian took out the sour plum soup and gave Lu Ke a few sips. Lu Ke suddenly felt astonished!

She knew that Chen Nian had been making sour plum soup all the time, and she drank some in the middle of it, but Chen Nian made it every day and she got tired of drinking it, after all, no one can bear to drink this thing every day.

One bowl in the morning, one bowl in the afternoon, and one bowl at night every day, the stomach is starting to become acidic.

So she didn't drink this a few days ago, that is to say, she just had a sip of hot and sour noodle soup and her mouth was a bit salty.

"It's much better than what I'm selling now!" Lu Ke said carefully, and now she's used to her younger brother bringing her different surprises every day.

It would make her a little strange if Chen Nian didn't do anything.

But for Chen Nian, the sour plum soup he is making now has reached the standard, and the next step is to control the details a little bit, and increase or decrease the amount of some ingredients as appropriate.

As for the time, there is not much difference between 1 minute more and 1 minute less. This is different from cooking. When cooking for 1 minute longer, the food is likely to be overheated.

But if it's sour plum soup, it's not something worth paying attention to.

And in ancient times, the heat was not as accurate as it is now. If you set the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes, it would only bake for such a long time. If you set the temperature on the induction cooker, you can also watch it Time to precisely control.

Even in a restaurant, the stove can easily adjust the temperature and size of the fire at any time.

This is equivalent to what Chen Nian said before that cooking is actually a roughly quantitative process. Maybe those old masters can grasp a little salt accurately to the gram, but it is by no means possible to be so precise every time. The video shows the grams of each seasoning required for cooking, but they just marked it for the convenience of the audience to understand.

This thing is more of a habit.

In the next few days, Chen Nian’s daily work turned into perfecting puffs and teaching Lu Ke how to make cream and cake embryos for birthday cakes. During this period, he also tried making gelatin powder.

Gelatin powder was not available in ancient times, but it can be made with things that existed in ancient times. Generally speaking, it can be made with beef bones, fish bones, or even pig skin. However, cattle in this era are still strategic livestock. There is also legislation prohibiting the random slaughter of farm cattle, otherwise they will be imprisoned.

The pork has not been improved yet, and it tastes unpalatable, so it is made of fish bones, fish skin and fish floats for old age.

First of all, put these materials into the pot for aging, add green onion and ginger slices and a little wine and cook until the fishy smell is gone, then take it out.

Then crush all these things and mix them with water, stir them until they become a paste, then put them into a pot, stir them over low heat, and cook them until most of the water evaporates, then take them out and put them in a container Among them, cover the lid and go down into the well.

After one night, the paste has completely solidified, and when taken out, it has become a hard jelly.

In this way, the gelatine is ready.

When I went in and smelled it, the fishy smell was gone, and it was cold to the touch.

But if you want to make it easier to store, you need to dry the gelatin and then grind it into powder, and take it out with a spoon when you use it.

Then Chen Nian told Lu Ke all about how and how to use the gelatine, because he knew that he might have to go back after a while, and the next time he would come back might not be the exact time.

But Lu Ke obviously didn't realize this.

On the eve of Mr. Hai's birthday, Hai Mingxian visited the dim sum shop again. He went back and thought about it, but he never thought of how to deliver the cake from Lu Wanxing dim sum shop to their house safely.

Some time ago, he ate a lot of longevity peaches made in the old age, and he also found that this snack was very inconvenient to transport. Even if the wheels were wrapped with cotton cloth, the smoothest horse in the house could not completely guarantee that there would be something in the middle of the journey. Bumps and bumps.

Once broken, their previous hard work will be in vain.

Therefore, he came over to discuss whether he could directly ask Chen Nian to go to their house to make it. At the same time, he also promised that if he needed help when Chen Nian was doing it, then his Hai family could also provide help. If he didn't need help, Then he will also screen everyone away in advance, leaving only Chen Nian alone.

After thinking about it, Chen Nian finally agreed. After all, he didn't want his hard work to be ruined for other reasons. It would be best if he could do it directly in the other party's house.

So in the evening, Chen Nian packed up some of his daily necessities and went to the Hai family mansion, and then asked for a kitchen to make cakes.

The Hai family's house is huge, I visited it once before the old age, and from the front to the back, there are about seven or eight kitchens alone.

Needless to say about the other rooms.

Moreover, all kinds of kitchen utensils in their home are very complete, which must have been prepared in consideration of the fact that such a big family in the capital might occasionally think of something new to eat.

Even if you don't use it once a year, you must have it when you use it.

But after years of observation, I found that the oven here is actually not that big, even slightly smaller than the one in the store, but it is basically just enough.

On the second day, Chen Nian got up early in the morning. At this time, all kinds of materials and tools needed by the old people had been prepared in the kitchen. It could be heard that the outside was already busy, but the place where Chen Nian was located He was the only one in the kitchen.

Due to the limitation of the mold, there is no way to directly make a cake as big as a longevity peach, and there is no corresponding mold, so it can only be made layer by layer.

Make all the cakes, and then spread a layer of cake and put a layer of fruit and jam to form a square cube, and then trim it with a knife to make it look like a peach .

After this step is also completed, the aging begins to apply cream on it.

Apply layer by layer, treat the cake with care, he is like facing a work of art, after all, if the cake is accidentally damaged, it will be over, and the remaining materials and time are not enough for him Do a second one.

In this way, Chen Nian was made in the back, and Lu Ke did not bother Chen Nian, and completed all the work in the store silently.

For this huge longevity peach cake, it is necessary to make the appearance smooth and uniform and control the shape well, otherwise a good peach will become a deformed flat peach at that time, and it will be a joke.

In addition, there should be no mistakes in the upper color. The transition from the pink on the top to the white below should be even and not abrupt.

He kept busy like this until the birthday banquet was about to start at noon, when Chen Nian finally finished this big birthday peach. After carefully looking at it from front to back, left, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, left, right, front, back, front, back, front, back, front, back, front, back, front, back, and right and left, right, left, right, right, right, right, left, right, right, left, right.

At first glance, it looks pink and tender.

The final color is the powder made from aged fruits and glutinous rice. After sprinkled, it looks a little grainy, which is more in line with the texture of peach itself.

After reading everything, Chen Nian opened the door and asked the boy at the door to ask Hai Mingxian to come over.

Seeing the door opened, the young man sneaked a peek inside, and saw the incomparably huge peach. He couldn't help but secretly admired it. Sure enough, Mr. Hai specially invited the master of the mansion to make a move, but it was different.

Look at someone who has already become a master at such a young age, while I am about the same age as the other party, but I am still a servant.

With a final sigh, he trotted away to find Hai Mingxian.

Not long after, Hai Mingxian hurried over with four people. When he saw that the longevity peach presented to him this time was twice as big as the one he ate before, his eyes were straightened, and he couldn't help but feel that he was eating it. Can't move!

If it weren't for the longevity peaches prepared for his grandfather today, he would have to go up and eat them to his heart's content.

"Young Master Hai, luckily you didn't disgrace your life." Chen Nian said, cupping his hands.

"It's amazing, it's amazing. Lu Wanxing Dim Sum Shop will probably become the hottest object in Chang'an City from today onwards. It is estimated that when these people who came to Haifu today go out and talk about it, Brother Chen, you will probably become the hottest thing in Chang'an City." He is a character." Hai Mingxian said sincerely, there are many dim sum masters in Chang'an City, and there is even a group of masters in the palace who make all kinds of exquisite dim sum for the emperor.

But this birthday peach is unique in terms of creativity, appearance, craftsmanship, materials, and production, and no one can replace it.

"Brother Chen, you can come with me in a while. I have already arranged a seat for you. I heard that you have a good relationship with Fu Xin, last year's number one scholar. He is also here this time. I made a special trip to assign you to a place on the roster." table."

It is obvious that Hai Mingxian has already treated Chen Nian as his brother-in-law.

But when Chen Nian heard this, he quickly waved his hands: "That's impossible. The seats are all court officials. How can I, a commoner, have the qualifications to sit on it? If Mr. Hai really has the heart, put me in the child with the servants." The table with more will be fine.”

Chen Nian didn't want to go into this muddy water, even if he would leave after a while, but sitting at the same table with those court officials would inevitably make them feel uncomfortable.

One must know that they can achieve this achievement today because of Han Chuang's hard study and continuous examinations to achieve their current status. How can He De, who makes dim sum by himself, sit with them?
"How can this be done..." Hai Mingxian instinctively wanted to reject him, how could he put his brother-in-law and servant together?

"It doesn't matter, Mr. Hai, it's fine if you want it. We do business, especially when we do food. What we like to see most is the smiling faces of customers. It would be even better if we could hear a few words of appreciation from them. Other than that, there is nothing else to be particular about.”

Seeing this, Hai Mingxian had no choice but to give up, but at the same time, the servants who had just arrived also began to speculate about the identity of Chen Nian, but even if they don't know now, they all understand that it is best to be more respectful to others .

In any case, he is also a master invited by the Hai family.

But at this time, Chen Nian first followed Hai Mingxian to the place where the birthday banquet was held. This is a courtyard of the Hai family. The place is huge, and the outside is full of tables. Delicacy.

Looking at these food, Chen Nian was not too greedy, mainly because he wanted to see how those people reacted.

At this time, the birthday banquet was almost ready. First, a hale and hearty old man stood up and bowed his hands to the guests and friends from all over the world. He first thanked the emperor for his kindness, and then thanked everyone for coming here to gather together today.

Finally, there was a crowd of echoing voices from below.

Immediately afterwards, some higher-status, apparently elderly ministers began to celebrate their birthdays, including Prince Jing.

But Prince Jing didn't notice that Chen Nian was standing behind.

After the guests and friends celebrated their birthdays, their own family members gave gifts. On the one hand, it was to show the happy scene, and on the other hand, it could also show the filial piety of many descendants.

The gifts that those people presented were all valuable, such as calligraphy and paintings of celebrities from the previous dynasty, or very valuable jade pendants.

Chen Nian watched from a distance from behind, and found that Mr. Hai's face was full of smiles, but he didn't show that he particularly liked the gifts as they passed by one by one.

That's right, there is a minister of the household department, which is the richest department in the entire imperial court. What kind of big storms and big waves have you not seen?

Compared with those jade pendants that the vassal state pays tribute every year, after all, they are still a little less interesting. Besides, at his age, he doesn't really like these things outside his body.

That is to say, he showed some interest in one of the calligraphy and paintings.

Soon it was Hai Mingxian's turn. Hai Mingxian knew what his grandfather liked, so he first took a long box up, which also contained a painting and calligraphy.

"Mingxian has a heart." Mr. Hai said with a smile on his face when he saw the calligraphy and painting, and patted Hai Mingxian on the shoulder.

But just when he thought that Hai Mingxian was ready to invite everyone to eat after delivering the gift, Hai Mingxian suddenly said: "Grandpa, I have prepared a special gift for you besides this! Xian guarantees that this gift is absolutely unique in the world today!"

"What is it?" Mr. Hai didn't show much expression on his face, and he was even thinking that his grandson usually seemed a little out of tune, so he didn't give him some expensive gifts this time, did he?
It is fine to accept some expensive gifts in his capacity, but if it exceeds the limit, it is not a joke, and now there are so many people below, although most of them are friends with themselves, but in the court In the world, no one can guarantee that someone will always be of one mind with themselves.

A mysterious look suddenly appeared on Hai Mingxian's face, and he raised his hand to take three consecutive shots.

Soon, three servants walked in on the side of the yard, carrying a huge birthday peach!
(End of this chapter)