The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi sat on the deck fishing, looking at the blue water and sky, listening to the cries of seagulls. This was the sea he was very familiar with. After graduating from university, he joined a shipping company and became a seaman, traveling on the vast ocean for five years.

On the days when he went out to sea, he saw the sea in all its colors and shapes. The weather at this moment indicated that the wind was calm and it was the most suitable day for sailing.

"Shit! What a damn weather!" Obviously someone disagreed with his point of view.

Min Xi turned his head and saw a red-faced man with red hair and red beard coming up from the deck, cursing and speaking Portuguese. Since Min Xi became a seaman, he has been on the ship for many years. In order to kill time, he learned many foreign languages ​​so that he could interact with local people when he disembarked at ports in various countries.

Thanks to his talent for languages, although he is not proficient in any language except English, he can still communicate in daily languages ​​such as German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Russian, so he can understand what the big man says.

The red-faced man was wearing a ragged and shabby retro outfit, with obvious white sweat stains on his back. He smelled an indescribable foul smell when he was still several meters away from Min Xi. White people have a strong body odor, and they haven't taken a shower for a long time. They are soaked in sweat, which makes them completely pickled. Min Xi quickly held his breath, turned his face towards the sea, and then took a breath quietly.

That's why he would rather bask in the sun on the deck than stay in the cabin below. If this is the case for one white person who doesn't take a bath, then a group of white people who don't take a bath is simply hell.

He was not on his company's 10,000-ton cargo ship, but on a galleon, the most common ship in the 16th century. Galleons were large sailing ships invented by Spain, which dominated the oceans. Later, all European countries adopted galleons, which were the main ships in the Age of Exploration.

This sailboat called the Shark is not Spanish, but Portuguese.

The Shark set out from the Strait of Malacca, Portugal's colony in Asia, passing through the southern Indian Ocean, preparing to go around the Cape of Good Hope to the Atlantic Ocean and then return to Portugal. Why not go through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal? Because the Suez Canal had not yet been dug.

They met Min Xi and his companions who were drifting on the sea holding on to a sampan in the South Indian Ocean, and rescued them onto the boat.

The sea was the sea that Min Xi was familiar with, but it was also not the sea that he was familiar with. Instead, it was several hundred years earlier than the era he was familiar with.

Yes, Min Xi traveled through time!

Before that, their large cargo ship was loaded with wheat and soybeans from Russia. Just after coming out of the Red Sea, they encountered Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. When he was arranging anti-theft equipment on the deck, a very strange wind suddenly blew, which triggered the protective equipment and dragged him into the sea. The height of the water knocked him unconscious.

When he woke up, he found that the big freighter had disappeared and he was lying on a sampan. On the other side of the sampan was a strange young man. His clothes were very strange, he was wearing ancient costumes. Although retro style was popular these days, it was rare to grow long hair for hobbies. This man had long hair.

Soon, a large amount of unfamiliar memories flooded into his mind, and it took him a long time to accept the fact that he had traveled through time and space and arrived in the Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, he is a sailor named Min Jiu, a native of Yingtian Prefecture, an orphan, who grew up eating at many people's homes and mingling in the market since childhood, learning a lot of skills to make a living. This time, he was employed by Yunxiang, the largest merchant in Beijing, and followed Yunxiang's merchant ship to go to the West to do business as a sailor.

As a result, the fleet encountered a hurricane, and the boat he was on was capsized by the waves. He was knocked unconscious by the waves and was rescued by Yun Ji, the young master of Yun Xiang Trading Company, his employer on the same ship, who was the man at the other end of the sampan.

It was Yunji's first time going out to sea, and he encountered a shipwreck and was injured. It was really unlucky.

They hoped to be rescued by the fleet, but the hurricane dispersed the fleet and they disappeared without a trace. They drifted for several days, surviving on rain water and salvaged food. Just when they were about to give up, they met this Portuguese merchant ship.

Red Beard had already walked up to Min Xi. Min Xi couldn't hide away even if he wanted to. A hand as big as a palm leaf fan patted his shoulder: "Hey, man, how do you feel?"

Min Xi's small body trembled, and he smiled bitterly: "Much better than yesterday." Fortunately, he understood Portuguese. Although there were differences between ancient and modern languages, the spoken language was not as obvious as the written language, so they could barely communicate.

Red Beard asked, "Old Dick asked me to ask you what fish you caught? Any big fish?

Min Xi raised his chin towards the oak barrel beside him: "There are no big fish, only a few small ones."

Red Beard kicked the barrel and said, "It's just a small amount of fish. It's not enough to fill the gaps between our teeth."

There were more than thirty grown men on the boat, and this amount of fish was definitely not enough.

The fishing rod in Min Xi's hand suddenly sank, and he quickly pulled it and said, "Bob, come and help me, there's a big one!"

"Let me do it!" Red-bearded Bob was strong and quickly took the fishing rod from Min Xi's hand, then started to fish along the deck. These old sailors all knew how to fish, and Bob was an expert.

Before long, he and Min Xi worked together, using fishing rods and harpoons, to pull a tuna weighing forty or fifty kilograms onto the deck.

Bob was so excited that he danced with joy: "Haha, I don't have to eat the damn stinky meat today! I can eat Dick's specialty fried fish."

It is pitiful to say that there was no refrigerator in this era, and the crew's life was extremely difficult. The food usually only lasted for a long time, rye bread, beans and dried meat. After a long time, the bread and beans would be infested with insects, and the dried meat would rot and maggots would grow. Even the water could not be guaranteed to be fresh. The stored water would stink if it was stored for more than three weeks.

Fortunately, they were traveling along the African coastline, so they didn't have to drink stinky water. But they couldn't stop the ship at any time, and there were fixed supply points, so they still had to eat stinky meat.

Being able to eat fresh fish is much better than stinky meat.

Min Xi wanted to help lift the fish, but Bob waved his hand and said, "Leave it to me!" He then pinched the fish's gills with his big hands like pliers, lifted it up easily, and Min Xi was envious. Being nearly 1 meters tall was a huge advantage.

Min Xi picked up the remaining few small fish and just entered the cabin, a bad smell hit him in the face. He covered his mouth and nose with his hands. After a long time, he finally adapted himself to the polluted air.

Min Xi sent the fish to the kitchen, which was called a kitchen, but was actually a food storage room, which was mostly filled with cold food. After all, cooking on a ship was a luxury. However, Captain Leis was quite nice and was willing to set up a stove on the ship so that everyone could drink a pot of hot tea, because tea can supplement the vitamins needed by the human body and reduce the risk of illness.

A big fish was caught today, so Captain Reiss was willing to splurge a bit and let Old Dick fry some fish for everyone.

Old Dick is the cook on the ship. He has a bad temper and is very confident in his cooking skills. He never allows anyone to interfere in his kitchen.

When Bob handed the tuna to Old Dick, he praised Min Si and said that it was all thanks to him. Dick, who only had one eye left, looked at Min Si with his cloudy gray right eye and nodded.

Min Xi took the opportunity to say to Old Dick, "Sir, I would like to borrow your pot to cook some rice and fish soup. My friend is injured and he needs some nutrition to recover."

This ship came from Southeast Asia, where wheat is not grown but rice is grown. The staple food for the return trip is mainly rice. Fresh rice is not easy to store, so it is fried and brought on board. But some fresh brown rice was still brought. Now there is less than a bag of brown rice left, which is very precious, so Min Xi asked for it.

[This article has two male protagonists, not too many romances, and is mainly about careers. Don't read if you mind! This is my first time visiting your precious place, thank you for your support. ]