I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 51
As soon as he stepped into the Kunning Palace, Li Tian felt a burst of warmth coming from his feet. It seems that the weather is really abnormal today, and even the earth dragon used in winter in the palace was burned.

Wrapped into a ball, Wang Fu carefully patted Li Tian's dragon robe with peacock feathers, and whispered:

"Your Majesty, the Empress is talking to Concubine Hui, Concubine Shu, and Miss Qing Huan from behind."

Li Tian nodded slightly, turned to look at Jiang Bao, who was holding a small hand warmer, and said:
"Go and ask the Imperial Food Supervisor to bring over some copper pots. There are so many people here today, it's time to have a meal of hot-boiled mutton."

Jiang Bao made a promise, turned around and walked out of the palace with an oil-paper umbrella.

Empress Zhang, who was chatting in the back hall, learned that Li Tian was back, and hurriedly got up and led the three concubines to the front hall to meet him.

After seeing them one by one, Li Tian hugged Queen Zhang and Concubine Shu into his arms. Concubine Shu kept her head in silence, but Queen Zhang gently pushed Li Tian and said in a low voice:
"Your Majesty, Qing Huan hasn't left the cabinet yet."

Li Tian smiled awkwardly at the sound, quickly let go of the willow waists of the two, looked at Zhang Qinghuan and smiled apologetically.

Zhang Qinghuan's pretty face flushed slightly, but she probably knew her future destination in her heart, so she bowed and didn't say anything.

The concubines surrounded Li Tian and entered the apse. Not long after, Jiang Bao also brought the copper pot with Bao Shu, the head of the Imperial Cuisine Supervisor.

Arranging for the eunuch to bring the copper pot made of pure copper to the table, carefully light the charcoal fire, Bao Shu bowed his hands and said:

"Your Majesty, this copper pot is extremely hot, Your Majesty and all the ladies have to be careful."

Li Tian nodded, watched Bao Shu busy with interest, took a sip of warm tea and said with a smile:

"Light those two copper pots too. The palace people are at the same table, and Jiang Bao and the others are at the same table. It's freezing cold, and I don't want them to smell the aroma and be greedy."

Bao Shu was taken aback when he heard the words, and immediately responded, Jiang Bao and all the maids hurriedly knelt down to salute and thank them.

The copper pot contained the big bone broth prepared in advance by the Imperial Food Supervisor, and after a while it started bubbling and steaming.

Seeing the dense heat rising, Li Tianshun picked up a plate of fresh mutton that was still dripping with blood, poured it into the pot, looked at Bao who was still waiting, and said:

"It's fine for me and my concubines to clean up on our own, you can step back."

Bao Shu clapped his hands in response, and exited the hall in a small step.

A few plates of mutton were poured into the copper pot, and within eight or nine seconds, the tangy aroma of the meat wafted away. Smelling the aroma, Li Tian's appetite whetted, and he picked up his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

After taking a big mouthful of hot and tender meat, Li Tian let out a mouthful of steam in satisfaction. In a blink of an eye, seeing that the queen and the others hadn't moved their chopsticks, he urged:
"Today is my private banquet, don't mess with me, I won't have your share when I finish eating in a while."

"Your Majesty can talk and laugh. Shanglinyuan has raised thousands of sheep, and His Majesty can still finish a meal."

Empress Zhang knew that she was not taking the lead, and Concubine Shu and the others dared not put down their chopsticks, so they picked up a chopstick of mutton and joked with a smile.

"Hahaha, I forgot about this." Li Tianlang laughed while mixing the sauce in the jade dish:
"This hot-boiled mutton dipping dish is very particular. As the old saying goes, if you eat meat without garlic, the fragrance will be half lost."

Seeing that His Majesty is so easy-going today, Concubine Shu and the others gradually let go of their courage, and picked up the meat while responding to Li Tian.

After eating a few more mouthfuls of mutton, Li Tian felt warm all over his body, and even his forehead was sweating. He sipped his greasy herbal tea, smacked his lips and said:
"The hot-boiled mutton tastes good today, but there is one thing missing."

"What's missing?" Empress Zhang said.

"Lack of chili!" Li Tian swallowed his saliva as he recalled the hot pot of later generations:
"It's not that I'm bragging to you, if there's chili in the dipping dish today, I'd eat half a sheep."

"Chili?" Empress Zhang didn't know how many people were there, so Concubine Shu put down her silver chopsticks curiously, propped her chin and said:
"What is a chili pepper? This is the first time I have heard such a strange name."

Li Tian grinned, chili is a characteristic product of the Americas, and it was only introduced to China at the end of the Ming Dynasty. If you know, you will be damned.

"How should I put it, chili is actually similar to cornel, both of which have a spicy and spicy taste, but cornel is a bit sour, which is naturally inferior to the pure spiciness of chili."

"It turns out that Your Majesty wants to eat spicy food. It's easy to handle. I will ask the Imperial Catering Supervisor to pass on a few bowls of spicy spicy food." Empress Zhang said.

"Spicy oil?" Hearing this familiar word, Li Tian only felt his tongue itch, but there is no chili at the moment, so where is the spicy oil:

"Quickly pass it on, I want to taste the oily and spicy food you mentioned."

The emperor ate boiled mutton in a copper pot, so Bao Shu naturally had to wait outside the palace.

After all, if the emperor is too busy to do anything, he, the head of the imperial food supervisor, can't shout no, and when he heard the rumor that he wanted to be oily and spicy, Bao Shu hurriedly ordered the little eunuch to go to the imperial food supervisor to fetch it.

Talking about the spicy oil, Li Tian lost his appetite when he looked at the boiling mutton. After all, mutton dipped in chili is more delicious than mutton dipped in garlic.

Not long after, the oily hot pepper arrived. Looking at the shiny red oil in the porcelain bowl, Li Tian swallowed his saliva, and hurriedly mixed it into the dipping dish.

Li Tian's eyes lit up when a chopstick head of mutton was submerged into the dipping plate and put into his mouth.

Fuck, this oily and hot pepper is no different from the later generations.

"Bao Shu, tell me quickly how this oily and spicy pepper is made?"

Bao Shu kept in mind that His Majesty loves to eat oily and spicy food, so he bowed his hands and said:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this oily and spicy pepper is the hometown handicraft of Liu Erding, the chef of the imperial kitchen supervisor.

In Sichuan, almost every household uses dogwood and mountain pepper with lard to make this kind of spicy pepper. The specific recipe is in the imperial food book of the Imperial Food Supervisor. If your majesty wants to see it, the old slave can get it now. "

Why is it still cornel?Li Tian was a little puzzled, and said:

"I remember that the cornel has a sour taste. How can this oily and spicy pepper have no sour taste at all?"

"Your Majesty remembers correctly, the dogwood is indeed sour. The dogwood here is not sour, because the dogwood in it is a unique dogwood in Sichuan;
The second reason is that there are dozens of ingredients such as ginger and jujube skin in this oily spicy pepper, which masks the sour taste. "

Listening to Bao Shu's eloquence, Li Tian gradually realized that it turned out that he was so ignorant, and waved his hand to signal Bao Shu to step down. Li Tian couldn't wait to look at Empress Zhang and the others and said:
"Try it quickly, I guarantee that the mutton dipped in this oily and spicy sauce is absolutely extraordinary."

Unable to stand Li Tian's kind recommendation, Empress Zhang and the others put down their chopsticks one after another, but just after swallowing for a while, they hurriedly drank tea, and Concubine Xu Hui looked at Li Tian with complaints and said:
"Your Majesty just wants to see me make a fool of myself. I didn't feel anything in my mouth when I first ate this spicy oil, but after a while, I just felt like my mouth was on fire."

"Hahaha, it's because you are not lucky, but I can't blame it."

Seeing the embarrassing appearance of these beauties, Li Tian couldn't tell whether to laugh or cry.

(End of this chapter)