Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 202 014 Pickled Herring is a Horrible Thing
Louisa was sleeping soundly, and Natalia saw that she was not going to wake up this morning, so she held her in her arms again and put a pillow on her thighs to let her continue to sleep well. There was a subtle feeling between the two of them, but she was going to get married and could not serve in the palace in the future.

When she held Louisa in her arms, she thought of her fiancé, but the "little" Prince Golitsyn came this time mainly to be responsible for negotiations, and even the menu was involved.

But he didn't know much about Swedish cuisine, so he pulled Solovyov over.

Solovyov wanted to hide in the garden to bask in the sun, but was called up by the prince.

And the clever little prince noticed that although Solovyov was in high spirits, he was still a little tired.

"What did you do last night?"

"Night patrols and duty are tiring. Do you think it's that easy?"

When Solovyov heard him say this, he became alert, but the prince always went to bed early and got up early, but he definitely didn't get up as early as the officers on duty, so there was no need to worry too much.

"So you went off to sleep in the garden?"

"Absorbing the sun's warmth, that sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

"Interesting. You are not only an expert in Oriental studies in the palace, I heard that you also know a lot about animals and plants."

"Of course. You have to know that Sweden has many famous dishes that are made from various wild fish. After all, it is the country of Mr. Linnaeus, so they use a lot of wild fish ingredients."

"Then come with me to discuss what dishes will be served at the banquet!"

“Is there any necessary connection?”

"If there are any dishes that don't suit Her Royal Highness' taste, wouldn't that be a big deal? At least a diplomatic incident. After all, the Queen of Sweden is still Her Royal Highness's sister, so it's best not to have such a thing happen."

Although there was no necessary connection, after Prince "little" Golitsyn said so, Solovyov had to go.

You have to know that Louisa has a delicate body. Sometimes I really wonder if she is the reincarnation of a ginseng fruit. It’s been fine during this period. When she was in the palace before, there were several times when the indoor temperature changed and she would start to get sick. But she was fine when she walked barefoot, which is also very strange.

You know, marble floors are sometimes very cold. Even when the Queen was young, she could not bear it.

Even after studying her body structure, one might still find it strange. Just as her parents thought, it was indeed a miracle that such a delicate and fragile girl could be raised.

Now these two are going to discuss the menu. If the King of Sweden is not smart and brings in some special dishes that are not to his taste, it will be a lot of fun.

In particular, "little" Prince Golitsyn brought the menu over, and Solovyov saw it clearly and saw that there was pickled herring on it.

"Damn it, why did this thing come out again?"

"Major, this is indeed a famous dish of our country. If you think the smell is too bad, you can wash it with clean water before serving it."

"Her Majesty the Queen of our country has always been in a delicate state. Although she loves to eat fish, she'd better forget about pickled herrings."

A spoiled herring can be very damaging to the stomach, especially Swedish style.

"Well, this dish needs to be removed. I think it can be replaced with grilled fish. Herring and cod are both suitable."

"That's fine too. Another dish is rose hip cream soup. This one should be fine. Your Highness likes cream soup very much."

"Little" Prince Golitsyn looked at Solovyov and actually thought that if he was not a Guards officer and had served for a long time without a suitable reason to retire, he should be the palace steward, after all, he was very familiar with these places.

If Solovyov knew what he was thinking, that would be it. However, in the eyes of active military personnel, although being a court eunuch sounds good, it does not have much future.

There are many young military officers who would not have chosen to retire from active service if their fiancées had not asked them to do so when they got married. You know, civil servants are sometimes more troublesome.

The most dangerous enemy for a young nobleman, apart from encountering a sharpshooter during a duel or having to resort to a roulette duel, may be the mountains of official documents.

However, there might be some minor problems in the eunuch's position one day.

Solovyov knew very well what Louisa liked, easily digestible dishes and desserts, cream soups, fresh fruit and vegetable salads, fish soup was also very good, and the requirements were not too high. It looked like a dish that an ordinary rich lady would like, and it was not like some places that insisted on pomp and circumstance, and it would not be wasted.

And generally don't add alcohol. Louisa sometimes drinks, but her alcohol tolerance is very limited. She prefers black tea most of the time.

"That's about it. When you go back to serve the dishes, you should also pay attention to it. Because there are many people sitting at one table, I suggest using the 'Russian serving method', which can be solved on a long table."

"Yes, Prince, what you said makes sense, and His Majesty the King will like it."

In addition to the Swedish royal couple and the Russian queen inviting each other to the dinner this time, there will also be the Crown Prince and Princess of Baden and their family, the Russian ambassador to Sweden, and the Swedish uncle, the Duke and Duchess of Southmanland, so it does require some careful consideration.

"By the way, don't serve ice cream with the main meal. Her Majesty the Queen has a bad stomach."

"Of course, the same is true for our queen. They are sisters after all."

In this friendly atmosphere, the landmines in the menu were finally eliminated, and the clever Prince "little" Golitsyn was kept very busy.

"Fortunately, seven dishes were changed for this meal, which is really unbearable."

"Sasha, it's just a matter of taste. That pickled herring thing is horrible."

"Is it?"

"Especially when you're canning it. If it's in a closed environment, the fermentation will continue even more... Sorry, I'd better not say it. It would be terrible if it affects your appetite at dinner."

"Yeah, let's put this matter behind us. Misha, can you recommend me some Swedish specialties?"

"I think snuff would be more suitable, but I am not used to that stuff, and it is less harmful to others."

"Yes, it is indeed not easy to get used to having someone smoking next to you." Moreover, the harmfulness of snuff as a pathogenic factor has been greatly reduced, and it does not bring secondhand smoke to others. However, since it passes through the nasal cavity, it is difficult to say whether it is a pathogenic factor of nasal cancer.

All forms of tobacco are harmful to health, and this is something we really need to pay attention to.

"If you marry Natasha, I would advise you not to use a pipe or smoke cigars."

"I know, you are really interesting. Many girls in the palace treat you like sisters."

"Like you, I care about them very much, but you have really made His Highness very sad this time. Everyone knows that Natalia Shakhovskaya is the closest sister of Her Highness the Queen. Except for the time when she was sick at home in the winter of 1800, she and Her Highness were inseparable."

It was during that time that Solovyov and Luisa had their first intimate and deep contact experience. However, even now that Natalia has returned, she is always coaxed by Luisa to rest first. This kind of thing is inevitable.

And "little" Prince Golitsyn also knew that this time he had stolen the heart of Louisa's favorite sister, but he didn't know that the boy next to him had stolen half of the Queen's heart.

"So what? Girls have to get married, and we don't live far from the palace, so we can come over and keep Your Highness company."

"Yes, they all need company, but we also need to be careful, because there are many people suffering from tuberculosis recently."

If we ignore the environment, tuberculosis bacteria can be said to be equally prevalent among everyone and anyone can be infected, especially in harsh environments.

Solovyov thought about how to solve this disease, but the possibility of drug synthesis was not great. Without Mendeleev and the periodic table, many contents of inorganic chemistry could not be discussed, not to mention Markovnikov and organic chemistry.

The only method he could think of was probably BCG, but that would also require a lot of detoxification experiments on bovine tuberculosis bacteria. Biology was not developed enough, so it would also be very troublesome, and the conditions were not mature at the moment.

There is only one way now, which is to strengthen ventilation and carry out large-scale disinfection of people’s living environment.

There is no other way.

As for the banquet in the evening, Gustav IV wanted to turn it into a relaxed family dinner, and someone was serving dishes on the side.

It is of course good for the sisters to be reunited, especially Frederica, who is also present this time.

But the queen was also worried about one thing. She hoped that her husband, the king, would not start talking nonsense after drinking some strong liquor. There have been precedents before, and even in these places in Northern Europe, there are many drunkards.

However, Gustav IV did make some progress today. After all, his father-in-law, mother-in-law, uncle and Russian queen were also at the table, so he restrained himself a little.

Of course, he also mentioned the itinerary he was going to have next.

"We can go to Lake Mälaren together and taste the delicious Nordic lobsters."

That is, European crayfish, which is considered a Swedish delicacy.

"And we need to use some special cooking methods. If we just follow Swedish dishes, it won't be very interesting. We can catch fresh crayfish and find some new cooking methods."

Speaking of which, his proposal today is much more reliable than his usual ridiculous remarks.

Naturally, everyone applauded this event, and Gustav IV had already arranged a trip to the castle.

Louisa was also very happy. This time on the trip to Lake Mälaren, she could not only eat crayfish, but also other fresh fish, which were also good for her nutritional supplement and physical health.

To go to the lake, one still has to take a boat. Gustav IV sent two galleys to participate in this journey. When sailing in the Baltic Sea, this type of galley cannot be completely eliminated. After all, it is still useful in some places.

The oared boat is also a Nordic tradition and is a must-try. The Vikings used it to travel very far, even to Vinland. They themselves may not have realized that they had discovered a new world.

These boats move slowly on Lake Mälaren, allowing you to take in the scenery on the lake. In addition, the number of fish in the lake is quite astonishing in this era.

After all, there are not so many people, and the table does not need a huge supply. Just where the oars pass, you can see many fish jumping out of the water.

"The scenery here is so beautiful! And the lake is very calm, unlike Lake Ladoga."

"Your Highness, you also have to consider that the environment in these places is different from that in Lake Ladoga."

Louisa really likes the environment here, and she is really satisfied with the trip on the lake. The environment of St. Petersburg and Stockholm is similar, but there are also many differences. It looks calmer here, unlike St. Petersburg.

Solovyov knew that Louisa liked the environment here very much. There was also a king here who was seeking death. Maybe one day, something would change in Finland.

It is better not to go to war. In fact, Sweden poses no threat to Russia at this time. Since Queen Elizabeth, Russia has not placed its main military forces in this direction as long as Sweden does not cause trouble.

But the Swedish Top Hat came once, the King came again, and who knows when the next time will be.

After arriving at the castle, everyone has to arrange their own room.

Solovyov once again accompanied Prince "Little" Golitsyn to negotiate the itinerary for this lake trip.

Gustav IV planned to arrange his next stop on Björk Island, where the environment was good and there were some recently built villas on the island, which also provided a very suitable environment.

"It's nothing, it's just that our Queen likes to be alone."

"All villas here are like this, Prince, you can rest assured. As for the ingredients you need, if you have any needs, we can arrange them when the time comes."

Solovyov actually likes spicy food very much, but it is not easy for him to make some by himself, so he had to ask for more sweet peppers, and Gustav IV also prepared a lot of ingredients and preparations according to the Russian and Baden flavors.

If he had always handled state affairs as he handled family affairs, he would not have given away his throne to outsiders for nothing.

Of course, these Swedish nobles did have some serious problems. They rebelled against the original kings very strongly, and when Bernadotte came, they quickly raised the white flag.

Sometimes it seems that foreign monks are better at chanting and foreign kings are better at ruling. This kind of thing has become a daily routine in Europe. Otherwise, why would they invite princes of German vassal states to be kings in their countries?
(End of this chapter)