The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

After getting on the bus, the Marquise sighed and said, "I still think that double skin milk is delicious. It would be great if I could eat it whenever I want."

Lord Melo said, "That's easy. Whenever mother wants to eat, I will buy it for her."

Marquis Melo glanced at his son and said, "You don't do anything serious every day. You just eat, drink and have fun. If you were to ask me, you should be familiar with the boss and spend some money to buy the secret recipe of the milk from him. Then you can make it at home whenever you want."

Lord Melo was stunned: "That's someone's secret recipe, can we buy it?"

Marquis Melo said, "The money is in place, what's wrong with that? When he opens a shop in Fulangji, we just don't let him spread the news. They won't stay here forever, right?"

Lord Melo's eyes lit up: "Father is right, let's buy the secret recipe, and we can still eat it after they leave."

Min Xi didn't know yet that his secret recipe for double skin milk had been spotted by Melo's family. He was currently settling today's bills with Yun Ji, and today's income exceeded 20 reais.

Hotpot is very popular, and the revenue on this day is not less than that of cooking. Although customers spend more time eating hotpot than cooking, they don’t have to wait for Min Xi to cook. The hotpot can be served immediately after ordering, which greatly saves customers’ waiting time for cooking. The turnover rate is even higher than that of cooking.

Yun Ji especially likes to invite guests to eat hot pot, because in this way, Min Xi doesn’t have to work so hard.

Diego came over with the account book and the money bag. He handed them to Yun Ji and said, "Boss, we made 5 reais today. A customer ordered four big cakes for 200 reais."

After hearing this, Min Xi was surprised and asked, "Why did you order so much?"

Diego said: "The guest seemed to have returned from overseas. He has seven or eight children at home and missed several birthdays. Today he gave them birthday gifts to make up for it. He ordered four big cakes and bought a lot of other snacks."

"That's a really big customer." Min Xi said with a smile, "Did you give the guest any gifts?"

Diego nodded: "Yes, I gave him four small cakes."

Min Xi couldn't help laughing out loud: "Okay. You decide. By the way, Diego, come over tomorrow night and I'll teach you how to make double skin milk. You can sell double skin milk in the store in the future, but you can't take it out, you can only eat it in the store."

"Okay!" Diego quickly agreed.

Jasper, who was standing by, heard this and quickly asked, "Boss, can I learn it too?"

Min Xi looked at him, thought for a moment and said, "Jasper, I have something to say in advance. In China, apprentices do not receive any salary. The master only provides food and lodging. It takes three years for an apprentice to become a master, and during these three years, he or she must serve the master wholeheartedly. I have not made such a request to everyone in Fulangji. You are my employees. I pay you normal wages and do not restrict you from learning skills. But I have a request. You can learn skills, but I require that you cannot resign from my restaurant within three years. If I have to fire you for force majeure, you cannot open a store in Lisbon, and you cannot reveal the secret recipe of your skills to the chefs and bosses in Lisbon. Can you do it?"

After hearing what Min Xi said, Jasper agreed without hesitation: "I can do it!"

In fact, the situation of apprentices in Europe is similar. They have no wages and have to work like slaves for their employers. After he came to the Chinese restaurant, he found that the boss actually took the initiative to teach people how to cook and make dim sum, and even promoted Diego directly to the position of store manager. He thought that the rules for apprentices in China were different from those in Fulangji, but it turned out that the boss just didn't have such requirements.

Diego said, "Boss, I don't know how to run a store myself, so I'll help you run the store."

Min Xi touched Diego's head: "Of course I know you." He was not on guard against Diego because Diego was an orphan and had nothing. He was willing to teach him these things so that he would have a skill once he left in the future, so he did not ask for anything from Diego.

When we went to bed at night, Yun Ji said, "Why did you suddenly think of asking Jasper for something today? I thought you didn't plan to ask them for anything."

Min Xi said, "It just occurred to me. When we first opened, we were not noticeable, there were few people with ulterior motives, and it was easy to manage. Now that we have grown in scale and have more staff, it is easy for chaos to occur if we don't control it."

"Are you worried that some competitors might steal your skills?" Yun Ji asked.

Min Xi nodded, "Yes. It's actually quite difficult to learn cooking skills. We don't have woks here. Even if we had woks, it's not easy to make delicious food. The heat, knife skills, seasonings, spices, etc. are all very important. Unless you are extremely talented, you can learn it after just a few glances. But dim sum is different. It's easy to learn. They have all kinds of materials and tools. The key is the method and recipe. As long as you learn these, you basically learn it."

Yun Ji said, "Then I have to tell the other people tomorrow and make this request."

"Yes, especially the two in the dim sum shop." Min Xi said.

The next morning, Min Xi and Yun Ji went shopping for groceries and bought a lot of milk.

Yun Ji asked: "Is this much milk too much?"

Min Xi said: "Not much, I think it's too little. You need milk to make egg tarts, and you also need milk to make double skin milk. I plan to promote double skin milk as a dessert in the store today, and I think many people will like it."

Lord Melo arrived before lunchtime. He found Min Si who was busy and said, "Can I have a few minutes of your time? I have something I want to ask you for help."

Min Xi wiped his hands and walked out of the kitchen: "What's the matter?"

Lord Melo hesitated for a moment before speaking: "This request is a bit presumptuous. My mother likes the double skin milk you make very much. She hopes to eat it whenever she wants, so she wants to buy the double skin milk recipe from you."

Min Xi was stunned for a moment. He had just talked to Yun Ji yesterday about preventing others from stealing his skills. Today, Lord Melo was coming to ask for the recipe. He said with some embarrassment, "It's an honor that the Marquise likes it. But I haven't had time to launch this pair of milk. If your chef learns it and the recipe gets out, our loss will be huge."

Lord Melo said hurriedly, "I promise you that my chef will never tell anyone about this recipe. At least, the secret recipe of Shuangpi Milk won't be passed on until you leave Fulangji."

Min Xi thought that he would also teach other people in the store how to make it, so this condition seemed acceptable, and he could also do the Marquisate a favor, so he asked, "How much are you willing to pay for this secret recipe?"

Lord Merlot said, "100 reais."

When Min Xi heard this, he realized that the price was higher than he expected. He originally thought that the other party would give thirty or fifty reais. As expected, the Marquis's house was rich and generous, so he said, "Since the Marquise likes it, then I agree. You can bring your cook over to learn from me."

Lord Melo didn't expect him to agree so readily, and said happily: "Thank you, Min! You are such a good friend! When will I bring someone to learn?"

Min Xi said, "If he is free today, it would be fine if he could come over."

"Well, I'll go back and call them now so that mother can have double skin milk today." Lord Melo happily got on the carriage and drove back.

Not long after he left, Baron Fernando arrived: "Isn't that Simon's carriage? Why did he come here so early?"

Min Xi smiled and said, "The Marquis and the Marquise came to the restaurant to eat hot pot last night. I made a dessert for the Marquise, and she liked it very much and wanted to buy the recipe."

Fernando looked at him. "What dessert is so popular with the Marquise? Have I ever eaten it?"

Min Xi shook his head: "I haven't had time to make it for you yet. It's called double skin milk. I'll make it for you to try later."

Fernando said, "Min, you are a little mean. You didn't let me taste the delicious food first."

Min Xi said, "I just thought of this. Lord Melo said his mother wanted to eat dessert. I thought it was such an honor for the Marquis and the Marchioness to visit our shop for the first time. I must make a dessert for them myself. I haven't made desserts in my shop for a long time. It takes too long to make anything else, so I thought of this."

Seeing him explaining a lot with an embarrassed look on his face, Fernando said, "Well, I didn't mean to embarrass you. Go and make that new dessert for me. How delicious must it be to make them spend money to buy the recipe?"