The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

When Baron Hofstadt heard this, he was already beginning to doubt whether it was necessary to ask Min Xi to cook. It was too much trouble.

Min Xi had already seen the other party's reluctance, so he suggested: "I know my request is a bit too much. Your Excellency Baron, how about this, you come to my restaurant tomorrow to try the food, and if you think it's okay, you can decide whether to ask me to cook."

Langdon also said, “Yes, Uncle Jacob, I also suggest that you go to Mr. Min’s restaurant to try the food first.”

Hofstadter shrugged. “It seems that this is the only way.”

Min Xi asked, "Your Excellency the Baron, how many of you will be coming to dinner tomorrow? I can arrange the dishes for tomorrow."

Hofstadter thought for a moment and said, "Three or four."

“Add me,” Langdon said. “I’ll lead the way.”

After hearing this, Min Xi said: "For five people, let's order a meal for four. It should be enough."

Langdon nodded. "I think that's enough. If it's not enough, add more."

Min Xi asked again: "Is there any special dish you want to eat?" Usually if the customer has his own request, he will follow it. If he has no request, he will decide the dishes.

Langdon looked at the Baron. "Uncle, is there anything you would like to eat?"

Baron Hofstadter shrugged. "Whatever you like."

Langdon said, "Let me choose a few dishes. I suggest a roast chicken and a three-piece duck."

"Santaoya didn't order the ingredients in advance, so they may not be available tomorrow."

"It doesn't matter if you don't have it, roast duck is also good."

When Min Xi returned home, Yun Ji had already returned and Brett was also there. Min Xi did not keep Langdon for lunch and let him go back first.

Brett heard about Baron Hofstadter's banquet and said, "This is a banquet chosen by Her Majesty the Queen. All the nobles in London will attend. This will give your restaurant a good publicity. You won't have to worry about customers in the future."

Min Xi and Yun Ji looked at each other. In fact, they no longer cared about the source of customers. It was impossible to do business in the UK for a long time anyway.

Min Xi asked Brett: "Does Mr. Brett know what is happening in France now?"

Brett shook his head. "I suggest you try not to go to France. France is in chaos right now, with riots everywhere. The Calvinists and Catholics are fighting each other, and it has been going on for many years."

"Is it so chaotic? Is the war on a large scale?" Min Xi couldn't help but frowned.

"It's not a big scale, but who knows where the riot will happen. If you run into one, that would be unlucky, right?" Brett said, "If you want to go back to Portugal, you can wait in London. There will always be a ship going there."

Min Xi and Yun Ji could not help but fall silent. They had not expected that coming to the UK was not easy, and leaving the UK was even more difficult. This was even slimmer than their chance of waiting to return home in Lisbon.

Yun Ji reminded Min Xi: "Ninth brother, don't think about it, just cook first, and things will work out when the time comes."

Min Xi came back to his senses: "Okay, I'll go cook."

During the meal, Brett asked a lot of questions about the trip to Oxford. The two talked about the interesting things, and of course did not forget to thank him for his help in making the connection. Professor White's letter of introduction was indeed a great help.

After Brett left, Yun Ji asked Min Xi: "France is not peaceful now, so should we still go?"

Min Xi frowned, "I don't know when he got the information. Ask more people, didn't you meet Hopson today?"

"No, he seems to be out on business. I'll go find him next time. How about you? Did everything go well for you today?"

"I told him that we needed to share the cooking task with others, and he was reluctant, but he still agreed. But when I told him that we needed to make cooking utensils and stoves, he thought it was troublesome, and he probably blamed us for being too busy. They will come over for lunch tomorrow to see if our cooking skills are worth the trouble. They want to eat three sets of duck, which is too complicated. I am afraid that after they eat it, they will want to make it for the banquet. I don't want to make it, so I will say that there are no wild ducks and pigeons for sale tomorrow."

Yun Ji frowned: "Since they don't want to go through so much trouble, why not just not let them do it, and save us the trouble."

"But you've already brought us here. If you say you won't do it now, wouldn't that be too disrespectful to your friends?"

Yun Ji shook his head helplessly: "It seems that we have to do it. In the past, several people worked together, but now there are only two of us. You will have to bear the burden again."

"We can't help it. Europe is a food desert. The soy sauce we brought is almost gone. This is a problem. We can only cook dishes that don't require soy sauce."

I originally planned to stay in the UK for only two or three months, so I didn’t bring much soy sauce with me, especially since we only opened a one-table restaurant. Otherwise, I would have used it up long ago.

“Even without soy sauce, it’s still a hundred times more delicious than what they cook,” said Yun Ji.

When Min Xi heard this, he couldn't help laughing. It seemed that he hated British food.

That night, accompanied by Mrs. Wells, they went to other families in the village to buy some chickens, ducks and geese to raise. There haven't been many guests recently, so they had some miscellaneous items. The consumption was not large, but they were always needed. They bought some to raise so that they didn't have to buy them again when they needed them.

The next day, around noon, Baron Hofstadter and his family arrived, accompanied by Langdon. The Hofstadters and their two children were all there. The two ladies were dressed in luxurious clothes and began to complain before they even stepped foot on the ground. They complained that the place was too remote, that the floor was not tiled and would stain their skirts, and that the door was too narrow and their puffy skirts could hardly fit in.

Langdon was embarrassed when he heard this and kept giving Yunji an apologetic smile.

Yun Ji politely invited everyone in, poured them tea, and asked them to wait a moment as lunch would be ready soon.

The two ladies also complained that they used cups instead of saucers to drink tea, and blamed Yun Ji for being a country boy who didn't know etiquette.

Baron Hofstadt's son, Hofstadt the Younger, lowered his voice and reprimanded his sister: "Come on, Amy, you have to know that tea came from China. The Chinese have the final say on the correct way to drink tea! Stop nagging, or people will laugh at us."

When Miss Hofstadter heard this, she finally shut up, but she still pursed her lips in dissatisfaction.

Min Xi cooked roast duck, roast chicken, beggar's chicken, fish and mutton, stir-fried beef with green onions and Kung Pao chicken today. The staple food was roast lamb buns and the dessert was custard buns. He tried to choose dishes that were easier to make to avoid causing trouble for himself, as these would most likely be the dishes that would be served at future banquets.

Before the dishes were served, the Hofstadter family, who were drinking tea in the living room, smelled the aroma. Little Hofstadter sniffed and said to Langdon, "It smells great. Do you eat here often?"

Langdon smiled and said, "I don't come here very often. You know, eating here is expensive. I can't afford it if I come here often."

"£1 a meal is a bit expensive, but it's not unaffordable. You should have called me earlier," said little Hofstadter.

Langdon smiled and said, "You are a busy man. You don't have time to eat, drink and have fun with me."

"There's always time for a meal."

As he was talking, Yun Ji had already started serving the dishes. The roast duck was sliced ​​into pieces, served with lotus leaf pancakes and cucumber strips, and the duck bones were made into soup. The roast chicken and beggar's chicken were also split and placed on the plate. After all, a whole chicken would not be served directly at a banquet, not to mention that the beggar's chicken was still covered with dirt.

Another reason for the direct split was that the two ladies were too picky, and Min Xi and Yun Ji did not want to listen to them nitpicking at the table.

Langdon looked at the plate on the table and said in surprise, "Why is there an extra dish?"

Yunji explained: "Roast duck is a dish that is prepared in two ways. The meat is sliced ​​and wrapped in lotus leaf pancakes, while the duck bones are used to make soup."

Langdon nodded. “That’s right. A new way to eat it.”

Little Hofstadter asked, "I think there are two chicken dishes here, right?"

Yun Ji explained: "Actually, there are three dishes, but each type of chicken is prepared differently. They are presented here for you to taste and make your final choice."

Langdon said, "Each of his dishes is prepared differently and tastes completely different. Uncle, try it and see if it's as delicious as I said."

Little Hofstadter was most willing to accept new things. He was the first to try it. He picked up a piece of beggar's chicken with chopsticks and put it in his mouth. His eyes suddenly lit up: "Is this chicken?" He tried another piece of roast chicken and found that the taste was really completely different, but equally delicious.

Little Hofstadter stopped and said: "It's delicious! Father, mother, you should try it too."

Hearing this, the Count and Countess also picked up their forks and tasted it.

Only Miss Hofstadter was willing to try it after her parents had tasted it. She found it was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted. She still said reluctantly, "It's not bad."

From the moment the Earl took his first bite of the dish, he decided to invite Min Xi and Yun Ji to prepare the banquet, no matter how much trouble it was. After all, there were no better chefs in the whole of Britain. If Her Majesty the Queen ate such food, she would definitely be very satisfied, and he would be very proud of it.

So after the meal, the Earl's attitude towards Min Xi and Yun Ji changed drastically, and he was extremely enthusiastic: "If you need anything, tell my son Charlie, he will cooperate with you. Just cook well, and if Her Majesty the Queen is satisfied, I will reward you."

"Thank you, Your Excellency. We will do our best. I will discuss the specific dishes with your son, and I will tell him if there is anything you need." Min Xi handled his affairs impartially and behaved neither arrogantly nor humbly.

Little Hofstadter said to Min Xi: "Mr. Min, I will fully cooperate with your request. If you need anything, just tell me."