The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

The next morning, Min Xi got up and went to the dock with Yun Ji to buy food. They ran into the old man who sold crabs yesterday. The old man was lucky today and caught a lot of shrimps. Min Xi bought all his shrimps, and the old man gave him a few crabs in the basket for free.

It’s a pity that there is no yeast powder, otherwise it would be perfect to use crabs to make crab meat buns.

Min Xi knew that when there was no yeast powder, the older generation used old dough to ferment the dough. He had only heard his master talk about the specific method but had never done it. Maybe he could give it a try and maybe he would succeed.

I don't know how crab meat works when making dumplings. I'll try it today. If it tastes good, I can sell crab meat dumplings. Crabs are much cheaper than shrimps.

After buying seafood, they went to a market to buy vegetables. Farmers in the suburbs would sell their own vegetables to make some money. Carrots, onions, cabbages, and beets were the most common. Fortunately, they also saw garlic and green onions, which was a pleasant surprise. With green onions, dumplings and dishes would be more fragrant.

Min Xi looked carefully, but found that the potatoes and sweet potatoes that should have been available in this season were completely missing. They were supposed to have been introduced to Europe a long time ago, but Europeans probably didn't know how to eat them, so they didn't promote their cultivation.

Min Xi found that getting some seeds back was not an easy task and he had to search carefully.

The two bought a lot of vegetables and returned to the tavern, and began to prepare the dumpling filling, take out the shrimps, and cut the vegetables into cubes.

While busy, Min Xi said, "I forgot one thing yesterday. I should get a Chinese kitchen knife. This small knife is really not very useful for cutting vegetables. I also need to get a wok and a spatula. Daming dishes should be cooked with Daming kitchen utensils to taste good."

Yun Ji said, "I'll go after I come back from selling dumplings."

Min Xi said, "What if we can't sell them all?"

"If you can't sell all of them, bring them back. Didn't Sanvis say that you can sell them for 1 reis each in his tavern?" Yun Ji didn't fully understand what Sanvis said. It was Min Xi who told him.

Min Xi gave Yun Ji a thumbs up: "Good idea!"

The two of them rolled out about 6 kilograms of dough yesterday, which is more than 400 dumpling wrappers. The quantity is not large, mainly to test the waters. If they can't sell them all, they can eat them themselves.

They worked all morning and made 350 shrimp dumplings and more than 80 crab dumplings. For breakfast, they had hand-rolled noodles. After steaming the cod, they took the meat out and mashed it, and used green onions as ingredients to make a fish soup, which was even more delicious than last time. The two Chinese stomachs could not eat the European black bread with butter at all, and the Chinese soup was more suitable for them.

After eating and drinking, they packed up and went out. It was already past breakfast time, so they were going to have lunch.

Min Xi also asked Sanvis to help him write a sign that read "Chinese Food".

Yun Ji carried the stove, while Min Xi carried the other things. As time was short and the cart was not in place yet, they could only carry them on their shoulders and in their hands.

Little Diego was sensible and knew that they wanted oak leaves, so he started preparing yesterday. He picked a lot of oak leaves, washed them clean, and prepared to use them to make dumplings for them. He also came with them today, with Sanvis' permission.

They rushed to the dock, which was bustling with people including sailors coming ashore, captains, merchants delivering and picking up goods, ship owners who came to view the goods, and coolies who carried the goods.

Min Xi looked around and picked a suitable location that was conspicuous and would not block the way for passers-by. They put their things in place, added some firewood to the stove, and put the frying pan on it. There was only one stove today, so they only sold fried dumplings, because fried dumplings were more fragrant and more attractive.

Steam the dumplings in the pub first, and then fry them here directly, otherwise it will take a very long time to fry the raw dumplings.

Min Xi waited for the pan to heat up, poured linseed oil on it, and began to pick up the dumplings and put them on the bottom of the pan one by one. Linseed oil is cheaper than olive oil.

In a few minutes, the bottom of the pot began to sizzle. When the lid was opened, the sea breeze instantly brought the fragrance to half the dock.

Min Xi was not in a hurry to sell them. He picked up a few and put them on a plate, then handed them to Yun Ji who was standing beside him: "Seventh brother, try the fried dumplings and see how they taste. Diego, come and eat some fried dumplings."

Yun Ji had never eaten seafood-flavored fried dumplings before. He picked them up and blew on them before carefully taking a bite. They were burnt, fragrant, and juicy. He couldn't help but nod his head repeatedly: "Delicious!"

Diego picked one up and stuffed it into his mouth, but it was so hot that he quickly spat it into his hand, sticking out his tongue and grinning foolishly.

"Go slowly, be careful of the heat!" Min Xi said to Diego, and he also grabbed one and put it in his mouth, "It's delicious! I'm such a genius!"

The people on the dock watched the two strange-looking Chinese people eating food they had never seen before. They all stopped to watch curiously. Some people even gathered around them because it smelled so delicious.

"It tastes better than boiled ones!" Diego had already finished the fried dumplings in his hand and started to help greet the guests. "Come and try the delicious dumplings from China. They are definitely the most delicious thing you have ever eaten in your life. One serving has 14 pieces, 10 Reese's, and they are filled with shrimp. I guarantee you will want more!"

Everyone was a little interested in the fresh food, but when they heard the price, they all shook their heads. It was too expensive!

Min Xi was not in a hurry. He calmly fried the dumplings and took a few out of the pot: "These are free to taste. The quantity is limited. First come, first served."

When everyone heard that the dumplings were free, they immediately reached out and grabbed all the fried dumplings on the plate in one go.

Before Min Xi had time to remind them to be careful about the heat, those people had already eaten the dumplings impatiently.

Those who didn’t get to eat looked eagerly at those who had eaten: “How was it?”

People who have eaten it stick out their tongues and say, "It's too hot! But it's very delicious. It's really tasty."

Min Xi smiled and said, "You can buy some to try, 1 Reese each, if they taste good, you can buy more."

"What smells so good? Let me see what you are selling?" A bearded sailor carrying luggage pushed his way through the crowd.

Min Xi said: "Dumplings from China, 10 ris per portion."

The sailor yelled: "Oh my God, Lisbon is so expensive?!"

Min Xi smiled and said, "Not really. My dumplings are made of wheat flour and filled with shrimps. It is a unique Chinese method and tastes first-rate. If you don't believe me, ask someone who has tried it. Or you can buy one for 1 Rees and buy one if it tastes good."

The sailor said, "Let's try one first."

The sailor swallowed the dumpling in one bite. After eating, he said, "It's really good. Give me one!"

Min Xi quickly picked up 13 dumplings for him using a leaf-like blade: "Including the one you're eating, it's a total of one serving, 10 riels."

When everyone saw this, they thought, at least they didn’t spend a single dollar more.

The sailor took out a 20-rith silver coin and handed it to Yun Ji. Yun Ji took it and gave him 10 rith in change. He was responsible for collecting the money.

After someone opened a copy, the rest of the people also became eager to try it and soon sold another copy.

Min Xi quickly put the dumplings into the pot. Someone was reluctant to spend 10 shillings, so he asked, "Can I buy half a portion?"

Min Xi said, "Sure, 5 Reese and 7."

Immediately, three more people bought half portions.

After buying all the freshly fried dumplings, Min Xi discovered that the largest frying pan was still a little small. He would not have enough time to cook it in a busy manner. He had to add firewood in the middle of the process, which was far less stable than gas. He had to buy coal later as it had a more stable fire.

He had just put the dumplings into the pot when a group of ragged sailors came over and said, "I heard your food is delicious. Give me some, too."

"I want one too!"

Obviously he was the companion of the sailor just now.

Oh my god, Min Xi is almost too busy.