A mouthful of fried rice at a sky-high price, Old Tang apprenticed on the spot

Chapter 683 Chef Yiya
In the space of the wooden monument, Li Yi's figure slowly emerged.

Looking at the wooden monument in front of him, his eyes were complicated.

Quietly waiting for the memories to peel away from his mind, he reviewed the memories in the space of the wooden monument.

He never expected that this time he would stay for 75 years before coming out.

Just as he had guessed, this time he was possessing the head chef of the imperial kitchen, Zhang Dongguan, who was also the strongest cook in the palace and even made a Manchu-Han banquet.

But he didn't expect that he would actually be possessed from the day Zhang Dongguan was born.

This is the first time he has possessed a baby.

Perhaps the baby's brain capacity is not enough to carry his memory. After he possessed the infant Zhang Dongguan, most of his own memory disappeared, and it was not until he was three years old that he began to remember it gradually.

At that time, he was in great pain because of the mismatched memories in his mind. He often complained of headaches and fainted at every turn.

So much so that his parents took him everywhere to seek medical advice and pray to gods and Buddhas, and even his elementary school education was delayed.

However, after the age of 12, his memory fully recovered and the disease was cured automatically.

After his memory recovered and he recalled his identity and mission, he took the initiative to mention to his parents that he wanted to learn cooking.

His parents had loved him since he was a child, and although they were reluctant to let him go after learning about it, they still helped him contact him to become a disciple.

But because he had been treated since childhood, the family's savings had been exhausted and they were still in debt.

Without money to give gifts, no chef would accept him.

So, he went directly to Deyuelou, the most famous restaurant in Suzhou, ordered a table of dishes, and returned every dish.

The chef of Deyuelou was furious and came out to look for him, but he picked out a lot of faults, which made the chef speechless. Then he became furious and kicked him out of the restaurant.

He wanted to make a name for himself and attract other restaurants to contact him.

However, after being kicked out of the restaurant, he unexpectedly met an old man selling medicinal candies on the streets.

The old man stopped him and said that he would accept him as his disciple.

He originally sneered, but after the old man let him taste a piece of the medicinal candy he made, he directly accepted the old man as his disciple without saying a word.

The old man's business was very poor, and the medicinal candies he made tasted terrible, and not many people were willing to buy them.

But he has an emperor's tongue and a keen sense of taste, but he found that the taste of the medicated candy is sour, sweet, bitter, salty and fresh, and it is extremely balanced. No one can overpower the other.

This is something that only a very high level of cooking skills can do, and even he can't do it to this extent.

Seeing him becoming a disciple, the old man told him his title.

The old man's name is Yi Xiang. He is from Xuzhou. He has no father, no mother, no wife and no children.

He invited the old man home and worshiped him as his master in the presence of his parents.

After that, he studied cooking with Master Yi at home, and he studied for ten years.

Ten years later, he went to a newly opened restaurant called Songhelou with a letter written by Master Yi, and became the head chef of Songhelou.

In just one year, Songhelou has successfully overtaken Deyuelou and become the largest restaurant in Suzhou, with an endless stream of customers every day.

In this way, 18 years passed.

Eighteen years later, during Qianlong's first southern tour, he was hired by the Suzhou Zhizao Mansion with a large sum of money to cook a famous Songhelou dish [Squirrel Mandarin Fish] for Qianlong.

After Qianlong tasted it, Long Yan was delighted and greatly appreciated it.

Six years later, Qianlong made his second southern tour. After arriving at Zhizao Mansion in Suzhou, he asked for [Squirrel Mandarin Fish].

However, Qianlong failed to do so because he accompanied Yi Shi back to his hometown to visit relatives.

Five years later, Qianlong made his third tour to the south and once again ordered "Squirrel Mandarin Fish".

However, because the eunuch Chuanshan accidentally knocked over the [Squirrel Mandarin Fish], Qianlong was furious and immediately wanted to behead the eunuch Chuanshan.He couldn't bear it, so he made another dish called "Sounding Oil Eel Paste", which made Qianlong feel comfortable and spared the life of the eunuch who passed the meal.

Three years later, during Qianlong's fourth tour to the south, he asked Zhang Dongguan by name to prepare royal meals.

He prepared a banquet, which made Qianlong Longyan very happy, and he immediately issued an order to recruit him into the palace.

Since then, he has become Qianlong's favorite imperial chef. When he entered the palace, he served as the chief chef of the imperial kitchen and stayed there for 19 years.

In the past 20 years, Qianlong gave him many awards. Among all the imperial chefs, he was the most favored one.

The reason for this is, on the one hand, his excellent cooking skills, and on the other hand, it is because he presided over the first Thousand Old Banquet held during the Qianlong period, which was later known as the Manchu-Han Banquet.

During the reign of Kangxi, although there were two Thousand-Sou Banquets held, they were all held by Kangxi to celebrate his birthday, and the participants were all officials from the DPRK and the emperor and relatives of the emperor.

The Qianlong Banquet held not only invited relatives of the emperor, Manchu and Han officials of the imperial court, but also veterans of the previous dynasty and long-lived elderly people among the people.

It was also this banquet that was called by the literati at the time as "an unprecedented act of kindness and courtesy, and a common marriage between Manchu and Han Dynasty." Therefore, it was passed down to later generations as the Manchu-Han banquet.

The scale of the banquet was grand, with more than 3000 people attending. Eight hundred tables were set up for the banquet, and all kinds of delicacies, including chicken, duck, and fish, were served.

The imperial dining room also tried its best to present almost all the dishes.

Because his old parents and Master Yi were both over ninety years old, they also participated in the Thousand Old Man's Banquet.

However, due to the exhaustion of traveling and traveling to Beijing, his old father contracted the cold and passed away on the way back to his hometown.

After returning to his hometown, his old mother also worried too much and passed away a year later.

When he closed his eyes, his old mother called him to the bedside and told him.

Because he never married a wife, his mother still felt heartbroken when she was dying.

However, she did not try to persuade him again, but said that his cooking skills should be praised by the world.

The emperor can only feed one person, and he can only please one person's mouth.

Only if you can please the mouths of people all over the world can you be considered to have immeasurable merit.

If these words were spread, they would be regarded as treasonous words and could be punishable by beheading.

But the old mother was about to die, so she couldn't care so much.

In her opinion, her son has brought shame to his ancestors by never marrying a wife or concubine and leaving no sons and a half daughters.

But if the art can be passed on to benefit others, praised by the world, and leave a legacy behind, it can be regarded as a comfort to the ancestors.

After explaining these things, the old mother also passed away.

He buried his parents back in his hometown and decided to observe mourning for three years.

During his filial piety, Master Yi found him and revealed his true identity to him.

Yi Xiang is a descendant of Yi Ya, the ancestor of chefs, and he is also a chef in the world of cooking.

Li Yi had actually already guessed about his identity.

His surname is Yi, and he is from Xuzhou. His cooking and seasoning skills are superb, and his identity is already obvious.

Yi Ya is from Pengcheng, which is the area where Xuzhou is located.

He was also the first chef to use blending in cooking. He was especially good at seasoning and created Shandong cuisine, one of the four major cuisines.

He was also the first person to open a private restaurant, so he was the founder of the kitchen industry.

As for Si Ke, it was the official position in charge of the world's cooks during the Zhou Dynasty.

Yi Ya is the number one chef in the world.

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(End of this chapter)