Ming Dynasty: At the beginning of the game, Lao Zhu resigned and retired.

Chapter 519: Old Zhu and Queen Ma are full

The chef in the palace's imperial kitchen who was now in charge of cooking for Zhu Yuanzhang was the one from the Hu Mansion.

For them, there is actually no benefit in working in the palace.

I can neither learn any skills nor be as comfortable as living in Hu's house.

At most, he had the title of imperial chef and had more rare ingredients on hand.

Other than that, there’s really nothing else.

However, precisely because they came from the Hu Mansion, their knowledge was much better than that of ordinary chefs.

Just then, Zhu Yuanzhang and Mao Xiang, master and servant, just came to the imperial kitchen. When they told him about it, he immediately frowned and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your Majesty, could you tell me in detail the usage and taste of this seasoning?"

"Your Majesty, you should know that you cannot use any seasoning randomly, otherwise what you make will not be a delicacy but poison."

"Some seasonings are not processed properly, and they are really hard to eat!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned when he heard this, then turned to look at Mao Xiang and gave instructions.

"When Weiyong gave you this chili pepper, did he tell you anything about it?"

Mao Xiang originally wanted to keep this matter secret and show off his achievements later.

But since Zhu Yuanzhang had already smelled it, he naturally didn't dare to hide the credit of Mr. Hu.

He swiftly took out from his sleeve pocket all the information he had frantically recorded when Master Hu was explaining it.

"This thing is called chili pepper. It is extremely spicy. When you eat it, your face and ears will turn red, your mouth and tongue will become dry, and your body will feel hot. But as a seasoning..."

Mao Xiang methodically recited the words he had previously written down.

These things, one by one, are what Master Hu can instruct on.

There were even quite a few things that he was specifically asked to write down and pass on to the cook.

After all, when it comes down to it, these peppers still have to go through the hands of the chef before they are used.

In fact, many of the dishes are unique to the Hu family.

Others might have sounded confused, but the imperial chef from the Hu Mansion in front of them nodded repeatedly as if he had suddenly understood.

He was very familiar with the situation where Master Hu did the work while he talked.

Especially those dishes specifically mentioned in the "Minutes" that are suitable for marrying into the Hu Mansion are indeed unique to the Hu Mansion.

Although there is a palace now, who would dare to add such unclear things into it without the order from Master Hu?

"Do you understand? I understand. Hurry up and make us a dish to try!"

Zhu Yuanzhang listened to the two of them talking in a weird way for a long time and became annoyed, so he just started to urge them on.

Zheng Laosan thought about it for a while, and then asked Zhu Yuanzhang for instructions.

"Your Majesty, I think that if you want to try the taste, the dish recommended by the master in the notes just now is actually the most suitable."

"It goes well with rice, is delicious, and is very appetizing. Why don't you try making it yourself? Would you like to give it a try?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was delighted when he heard this: "Great, great, great!"

"Since it was recommended by Wei Yong, it must be good!"

"Well, you hurry up and we'll wait on the side!"

Zheng Laosan was not vague and immediately started to follow the recipe in the record, starting with washing, preparing and cutting vegetables.

The production of Zhu Yuanzhang’s special cuisine began in an orderly manner.

Not long after, along with waves of slightly pungent aroma, a red and green, steaming dish was served in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your Majesty, according to what the master said, you'd better have a bowl of rice."

"Master has already said that this dish is meant to be eaten with rice!"

"You try?"

In fact, what Zheng Laosan made at this time was not really a high-end dish.

This was his first time eating chili peppers, so he didn't dare to make any fancy dishes.

Instead, he directly served the simplest dish of fried pork with peppers.

This thing can best show the flavor and characteristics of chili peppers. The key is that if this thing is fried with heavy oil and salt, it is really delicious with rice. After Zhu Yuanzhang took the first bite, he couldn't stop eating this meal.

"Yeah, delicious!"

"Weiyong's chili is indeed reliable."

"I just ate two bites and I felt uncomfortable without a few mouthfuls of white rice."

"Well, and this dish is not like the ones made in the palace before."

"Those things are so exquisite that we can't bear to eat them."

"This dish, on the other hand, may look ordinary, but it tastes good and goes well with rice. It's pretty good!"

Given Zhu Yuanzhang's background, his pursuit of food, especially dishes, was fundamentally different from that of the wealthy and powerful.

To put it bluntly, he actually still has the most simple understanding of the common people.

That is, don't do anything fancy, just see if it's appetizing.

If it has meat and goes well with rice, it’s a good dish!

After eating two large bowls of rice, Zhu Yuanzhang wiped his mouth and then explained with a smile.

"Third brother, hurry up and make us another serving of this fried pork with peppers that we just had!"

"Then serve it together with the rice. We have to let the queen taste it."

"It just so happens that she has been recuperating recently and her appetite has not been very good. Let's let her try this."

For Zheng Laosan, as long as Zhu Yuanzhang is satisfied.

Not to mention cooking another serving, even cooking ten servings would just be a matter of adding more ingredients.

Don't be too simple.

Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang personally carried the food box to Kunning Palace.

"Girl, girl, come quickly, we got you something good!"

“Hahahaha, this is delicious food I got from Weiyong!”

"We just tried it, it's absolutely delicious!"

"You just don't have an appetite, come and try it!"

Queen Ma was at a loss whether to laugh or cry when she saw her noisy husband, the emperor.

But Zhu Yuanzhang cared about me so much, I couldn't just turn a blind eye to it.

Therefore, even if Queen Ma had no appetite at this time, she would be willing to eat a little.

It was not for any other reason, just to live up to Zhu Yuanzhang's efforts.

But she felt something was wrong after just taking one bite.

"Zhongba, what do you think this is?"

“Why does it taste so good?”

"This tastes great with rice!"

Listening to Empress Ma's praise, Zhu Yuanzhang felt very proud, as if Empress Ma was praising him just now.

"Haha, sister, you don't know."

"This seasoning here is the good stuff that Weiyong has grown recently."

"There's nothing else like it anywhere else, he just grew some in his backyard."

"As long as you like it, we can ask the eunuchs in the palace to go to Weiyong's mansion to buy some every day."

"Not only should we eat fresh food, we should also learn a few more recipes and try different dishes when the time comes!"

"I heard this thing can be made into many dishes."

"And the most important thing is that this stuff can dispel dampness and cold. Your body is too cold, so eating more of this chili will be just right!"

Upon hearing this, Queen Ma looked at the dish in front of her with surprise.

It turns out this pepper has so many uses?

(End of this chapter)