Food starts with Mapo Tofu

Chapter 842 The New Trick Your Majesty Wants
Chen Nian was chatting here. Originally, he wanted to do more work and pack up his things, but Song Qingzhou waved his hand and said that Chen Nian didn't need to do these jobs.

Just pack up and let the people under you come.

On the other hand, after the eunuch took the food box from the imperial dining room, he walked quickly all the way to the imperial study room.

Today, Li Xu, the emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty, was working here, and by the way, he called a few people to discuss matters.

"The envoy of the Great Food Kingdom will come to pay tribute to my Great Xia in a few days. Fu Xin, how are your preparations going?"

When Fu Xin heard that the emperor had called him, he immediately stood up and cupped his hands: "Your Majesty, all the arrangements for the courtiers have been properly arranged, and the arrangements for banquets, gifts, and seeing off have also been handed over a few days ago. Your Majesty also read it at that time. pass."

Li Xu nodded: "Well, I can rest assured that you do things, but don't make any mistakes when it comes to etiquette. You don't have to be stingy with what you should give, and you don't have to give what you shouldn't. The food is strong and the country is strong. In the past, I was called the Great Xia Dynasty as Tianchao Shang."

"Yes, this is all the effect of Your Majesty's mighty dragon. They will naturally bow their heads and bow their heads when they see my prosperity in the Great Xia." At this time, Prince Jing Li Zhao said compoundly, with obvious signs of flattery.

"There is no need to say such things..."

Li Xu waved his hand, looking a little helpless towards his younger brother.

This younger brother is good at everything, and knows everything, but usually he is clumsy, eating, drinking and having fun all day long. Only when he insists on calling the other party over like today, the other party will come to listen, but most of them are flattering.

Obviously he was able to secure the throne back then, and this younger brother also made great contributions, but now he always hides his talent because of avoiding suspicion.

After Li Xu said this, he heard the slight sound of footsteps outside the door, so he said loudly, "But the meal has been delivered?"

"Your Majesty, that's right."

The eunuch at the door said.

"Send it in, I happen to be hungry too."

Afterwards, the eunuch brought in the lunch box and respectfully placed the dishes on the table.

"Your Majesty, please have a meal. Today, the imperial dining room specially made roasted deer tendon according to your request."

Li Xu nodded: "Well, but who made today's meal?"

"Return to Your Majesty, it was Song Qingzhou who did it."

"What about Chen Nian, didn't I invite him to the imperial dining room earlier?"

"Your Majesty, I have sent someone to ask you before. Chen Nian was the one who helped Song Qingzhou."

"Come on." Li Xu thought for a while, "Ask him to cook a few dishes tomorrow, and send a copy to my side and the palaces of the other empresses."

"According to the order."

"Well, you go and get some empty dinner plates and share a point with the adults, they are also hungry here."

After hearing Li Xu's order, the eunuch responded, then turned around and trotted out to get the dinner plate.

Not long after, the eunuch came back and divided the dishes on the table according to Li Xu's request, and gave Fu Xin, Li Zhao, and the Minister of Rites each a portion.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Several people quickly thanked.

Among them, Li Zhao didn't have so many scruples, and started to eat after thanking him.

"Your Majesty, the roasted deer tendon is soft and delicious, and the taste is really good. This Song Qingzhou is really good at it."

Li Xu smiled: "That's right, this Song Qingzhou came out of Tan's residence and learned the true story of Tan's cuisine."

"really."

Afterwards, Li Xu looked at Fu Xin beside him again: "Chen Nian is your friend, you said earlier that he is talented, how does he compare to you?"

After seeing this dish, Fu Xin was full of thoughts about Chen Nian, and after listening to Li Xu's words, he thought about it first, and then said seriously: "Your Majesty, Chen Nian's talent is not inferior to that of my minister, even much stronger than my minister's. "

"In that case, why didn't he take the exam with you?"

"Your Majesty, I also asked about this, but Chen Nian said that he still prefers cooking in the kitchen."

Li Xu didn't say anything after hearing it.

After all, no matter how old Chen Nian was, he had never seen it before, but he knew that the food made by Chen Nian was delicious.

A few years ago, he had eaten dim sum made by Chen Nian, and it was Li Zhao who brought him into the palace at that time. At that time, he wanted to call Chen Nian to the palace to make dim sum, but who knew that he hadn't waited for it? When he mentioned this matter, he got the news that Chen Nian had gone out to travel, and he had been away for several years.

That is, one day not long ago, Li Zhao suddenly brought back some food from outside the palace, saying that Chen Nian had returned, and opened a small restaurant in Chang'an.

Li Xu felt very good after tasting it, and after a few days, someone invited Chen Nian to work in the imperial dining room in the palace.

It's not for anything else, there are a lot of imperial cooks in the palace, but most of them have nothing to do after entering the palace. After all, Song Qingzhou is usually in charge of the imperial meals.

Many of them are usually idle, only when Li Xu or other ladies in the palace suddenly want to eat a dish cooked by a certain imperial chef, Song Qingzhou will call them over.

Furthermore, when there are large-scale banquets in the palace, they will be asked to cook together.

And when he called Chen Nian into the palace, he simply thought that the dishes cooked by the other party were very good, and it would be more convenient for him to work in the imperial dining room, so that he would not have to send someone if he wanted to eat his food one day. If you buy it outside the palace, it will be cold when you bring it into the palace.

In this way, while they were eating here, they continued to discuss various arrangements for the envoys of the Great Food Kingdom to come to Chang'an in a few days.

Although in terms of domestic etiquette, it is best not to talk while eating, but this is in front of the emperor, and everything is based on the emperor.

While eating the dishes given by Li Xu, Fu Xin was thinking that when he had a rest after a while, he would invite him to his house to have a talk.

He knew Chen Nian better than anyone present. Back then, Fu Xin witnessed Chen Nian's sudden disappearance. For a moment, he even thought that Chen Nian was a true immortal from the sky.

But after a while, Chen Nian came back suddenly, and was still making dim sum with his sister in the capital.

When he saw Chen Nian again, he couldn't say how happy he was, but when he inadvertently asked about Chen Nian's sudden disappearance, Chen Nian was vague and refused to say it, and quickly changed to a new topic above.

Therefore, Fu Xin felt that there might be some unspeakable secrets about Chen Nian. After all, it might be an experience for the immortal from the sky to descend to earth, so it is naturally impossible to reveal his true identity.

So he still said to the outside world as he thought before that Chen Nian was just his friend, and he liked to study food more than to gain fame.

In this way, they continued to discuss this matter after the meal, but when the eunuch took away the used bowls and chopsticks, he asked casually what kind of dishes he would ask Chen Nian to cook tomorrow.

"Let's make some desserts. Now that he's in the palace, let him try something that he hasn't made before."

After taking the order, the eunuch left the imperial study, and then he told Wang Jin about it.

Because Wang Jin is also responsible for this kind of affairs in the palace, so it is natural for Wang Jin to convey it.

So in the afternoon, he found Chen Nian, talked about the matter, and left after finishing talking.

Only Chen Nian was left thinking about what to make for the emperor, and the other party asked for something he had never eaten before.

This made him feel a little embarrassed, what did the other party eat in the palace?

If you have to say it, it is some pastries that were invented by later generations.

"What's wrong? I don't know what to do for His Majesty?"

"Yes, Master."

"How about I think about it for you? Although most of the dim sum in the Tan family dishes have been eaten by His Majesty, but if you search carefully, you should be able to find some that His Majesty has never eaten."

Hearing this, Chen Nian shook his head, he didn't plan to make snacks for the emperor at this time.

"Then you'll have to think for yourself."

After much deliberation in the afternoon, Chen Nian finally decided on a dessert.

The corresponding ingredients are available in the warehouse of the imperial dining room, and in fact, there are not many complicated ingredients to make this kind of dessert. The only thing that may be more troublesome is to use the ice cellar in the palace.

But when he told Song Qingzhou about it, Song Qingzhou immediately said that there was no problem.

Looking back, you just need to talk to Wang Jin, and he is also in charge of the ice cellar in the palace.

In the palace, there is an ice cellar for the emperor and his concubines to cool down with ice in summer. Because of the low internal temperature, ice cubes can usually be stored for several months.

Most of the ice that was purely used for cooling was brought from the moat by the maids and eunuchs in the palace in winter.

Another part of the ice used for eating is to freeze the drinking water in winter and keep it until summer.

In the current Great Xia Dynasty, although the emperor is a woman, and most of the empresses in other palaces are his father's concubines, even so, Li Xu still keeps them in the palace, and the daily expenses for food and clothing are also in accordance with previous specifications to provide.

In this way, on the second day, Song Qingzhou knew that Chen Nian was going to cook food for His Majesty and other concubines in the palace today, so he didn't ask him to work, and even reserved a special place for him to operate by himself.

But before doing it, he still asked Chen Nian what he planned to do.

He didn't hide anything from Master Chen Nian: "I plan to use milk, eggs and sugar to make a dessert. The finished product is more elastic, smooth in appearance, and the texture is a bit like...guiling jelly."

As a result, Song Qingzhou thought about it, and if it was made according to the method of aging, it would be more similar to a food he knew: "Egg custard?"

Chen Nian was stunned for a moment, and after careful consideration, he took a deep breath!
It seems that it is really this thing, but it is made of iron.

"Master, although the general approach is similar, there are still some differences in the middle."

"Hahaha, it's okay, you can do as you see, but remember to show me when you're done."

"Good master."

Song Qingzhou was quite at ease. After getting along with him these few days, he felt that Chen Nian was a very stable person, and the other party would not rashly try something unfamiliar in order to show himself.

But even so, he will have to take a look at it first. If the car really overturns, then he will have time to make up for it.

Although it is not so troublesome to make this kind of dessert in the old age, it still takes a long time, so he has to make it in advance.

The first step is to make vanilla extract. This step is very simple. You only need to squeeze out the juice from the vanilla, filter out the dregs and only take the liquid, put it in a container and let it stand. After the fine impurities settle to the bottom, you can take the above Use the juice.

Then boil the sugar. At this time, the sugar is already white, not like the yellow yellow in previous years.

Because during the period of aging, someone in the court invented a technique called yellow mud water decolorization method.

Put the freshly squeezed sugarcane juice in the tank, boil it with fire to make a yellow-black syrup, then pour it into another tank to condense into black sugar, then pour the brown sugar in the funnel with yellow muddy water, and the black slag flows from the funnel In the tank below, the hoarfrost left in the funnel is the white sugar at this time.

Although its purity is still not comparable to now, but the taste is not bad.

For aging, sugar and water are put into the pot at the same time according to the proportion, and then boiled slowly over low heat.

After simmering until dark brown, the old age added water into it, and with the sound of stabbing, the caramel was ready. Put the caramel in the plate and cool it for 1 minute. After the caramel After it cools slightly and becomes viscous, put it directly into a delicate small bowl for later use.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Nian poured palace fresh milk into another pot, and then added some sugar into it. After boiling, turn to low heat and stir while cooking. The boiled milk becomes thick and dense, with big bubbles. Turn off heat and let cool.

Immediately after aging, I went to make pudding.

Mix the milk with the previously made condensed milk, and add the eggs one by one, add a little sugar and the previously made vanilla juice for seasoning.

Then boiled some milk in the pot, skimmed off the oil skin on it, poured it into the pot and continued to stir.

After stirring and aging through a filter cloth three times, the remaining liquid is poured into the bowl that previously held the caramel.

The bowls are then placed directly into the oven.

Although the oven at this time can not directly set the temperature and time like the ovens of later generations, and cannot be automatically baked, but Chen Nian has fully mastered how to use it when he entered this dream and opened a dim sum shop with his sister. Stove oven instead of oven.

Constantly controlling the temperature inside, the humidity has been kept at around 150 degrees.

After about four or 10 minutes, Chen Nian felt that the inside should be almost roasted, so he took out the bowls wearing thick gloves, and immediately called several people to carry these semi-finished puddings to the ice cellar of the palace.

Put the food box directly in those ice cubes, tell them that the food box must not be touched, and then leave. He has to go back and make some more cream.

The method of cream is even simpler. First make butter, then use white sugar and egg whites together, and after a long time, a pot full of cream is made, and it is also placed in the ice cellar for refrigeration.

Otherwise, the cream will spoil if left out for a long time.

(End of this chapter)