The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi and Yun Ji borrowed the Green family's carriage and rushed to the Ford family early in the morning. They brought a steamer and various spices that Min Xi had prepared in advance. When eating barbecue, the most important thing is naturally the spices.

Yun Ji had only seen Min Xi roast duck, and occasionally roast beef jerky and some lamb skewers, but he had never seen him roast anything else, so he was very curious about how Min Xi roasted a whole lamb: "Have you ever roasted a whole lamb?"

"Yes. When I traveled to Inner Mongolia, I roasted a whole lamb with the local herdsmen. Have you ever eaten roasted whole lamb?" Min Xi asked curiously.

Yun Ji said, "I have. After our relationship with the Tatars eased, cattle and sheep from outside the pass were often sold to the interior of the country, and we can often eat beef and mutton from outside the pass in the capital. Some restaurants will roast whole lamb, which has a unique taste."

"It's still delicious when eaten while hot. The fun of eating a whole roasted lamb is actually eating roasted lamb," said Min Xi.

When Min Xi arrived, the Ford family's sheep had not been slaughtered yet. The cook did not dare to do it, and the person invited to slaughter the sheep had not arrived yet. Yun Ji took over the job, slaughtered the sheep, and skinned it. According to Min Xi's instructions, he removed all the unnecessary parts, then applied the seasoning prepared by Min Xi and waited for it to be marinated.

The dinner is scheduled for the evening, so the roasting of the lamb will not start until the afternoon, and the marinating time will be almost over in a few hours.

Ford was quite greedy and actually prepared two sheep. By the time they finished their work, it was almost noon.

Fortunately, they didn't have to kill the chicken themselves, as the cook and servants had already done it. Min Xi and Yun Ji also marinated the chicken and waited until the time was right before starting.

Min Xi asked the servants to clean up the mutton offal and stewed it in a big pot to make mutton offal soup.

After the mutton offal was stewed, he and Yun Ji started to make dumplings and custard buns. Just after two o'clock, Min Xi asked people to light a fire and started to roast a whole lamb to make beggar's chicken.

When the guests arrived, two large grills had been set up in the Ford family's yard, and a whole lamb was being roasted. Two servants were also assigned to watch the fire and turn the lamb over.

The guests looked at this and thought it was unusually fresh. Could lamb be roasted whole? It didn't look special. The white flesh didn't look appetizing and made people feel it was too barbaric.

Min Xi was too lazy to explain and just did what he was supposed to do.

The moisture in the mutton is slowly roasted dry, and the white mutton turns light yellow, then slowly turns golden, and finally turns brown. The fat is roasted out and drips onto the charcoal fire, making a sizzling sound and emitting an enticing aroma. When the seasoning is brushed on, the taste becomes even more tempting.

The guests witnessed the transformation of the mutton. They went from being indifferent at the beginning to swallowing their saliva involuntarily. It was so delicious that everyone gradually gathered around, and the children even asked eagerly when they could eat it.

Yunji pulled the beggar's chicken out of the fire, knocked open the soil, and revealed the lotus leaves inside.

Everyone then realized that the clod of earth could actually be food, and that the two Chinese people's way of cooking it was really strange.

Yunji took the beggar's chicken out of the lotus leaf, placed it on a silver plate, and cut it into pieces with a knife. The fragrance spread along with the hot steam.

Ford quickly called out to everyone, "We have to wait a while for the roasted lamb. Let's eat the chicken first. Come and try this chicken. I tell you, it's the most delicious thing you've ever eaten in your life."

Seeing Ford's exaggeration, everyone tried a bite with some doubts, and were amazed by the result. It was smooth, juicy and delicious. It was truly a delicacy that they had never eaten before. It was incredible that chicken wrapped in mud could be so delicious!

The eight beggar's chickens were quickly eaten up by everyone. Everyone felt a little regretful as they had just tasted them and they were gone. At the same time, they all began to look forward to the two roasted whole lambs.

Everyone looked at the roasted lamb. Min Xi was brushing the secret seasoning on the lamb. The bright red lamb meat looked so tempting that people couldn't help but swallow their saliva just by smelling it.

After Yun Ji distributed the beggar's chicken, he went to fry dumplings. The filling of the dumplings was beef and onion. After all, it was boring to eat all mutton, so he wanted to change the taste.

The fried dumplings were served on the table, and the guests who were waiting for the mutton were finally diverted and started eating the dumplings. It must be said that both the chicken and the dumplings were delicious beyond their imagination. These two Chinese people were really amazing. How could they cook so well?

When Min Xi saw that the mutton was almost cooked, he beckoned to Yun Ji to help. The two of them lifted the whole lamb from the rack, placed it on the table, sliced ​​the meat with a knife, and placed it on a plate for the guests to enjoy.

He demonstrated and put down the knife: "Now everyone can do it yourself. Cut whatever you want to eat."

The people who had been waiting for a long time couldn't wait to taste it. The mutton had a crispy skin, and the meat inside was tender and juicy. With the secret seasoning, it was simply a feast for the tongue.

However, even if everyone could eat a lot, two whole lambs were too much for the guests who had already eaten beggar's chicken and fried dumplings, so after finishing one lamb, everyone couldn't eat any more. But they looked at the remaining lamb reluctantly, after all, after this meal, there would be no more for the next meal, and they felt sad just thinking about it.

Ford was hesitating whether to share the remaining mutton with the servants at home, when Min Xi suggested: "I will cut the remaining mutton into pieces for you. You can take it home and put it in the oven and roast it for a while when you want to eat it. It won't take too long. You can eat it as soon as it is hot."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was overjoyed, because it meant that after eating this meal, there would be more food to eat tomorrow.

Ford said, "But you haven't eaten yet." If you invite a cook to your house to cook, you have to make sure the cook is well fed.

Min Xi smiled and said, "It's okay, we just need to taste it. There's also mutton offal soup, we can drink that."

"What's haggis?" asked Ford curiously.

"It's a soup made from sheep's offal. If Mr. Ford and the guests don't mind, you can try it. I just tasted it and it's quite delicious. You just ate roasted lamb, so drinking some soup will help you digest it better."

Ford had never eaten offal before, as it was usually eaten by poor people, but he was willing to try the soup made by Min Shi. After all, there was nothing that Min Shi made that was not delicious.

Min Xi served him some soup, and Ford took a sip. Even though he was already full, he was still attracted by the deliciousness of the mutton offal soup: "Is this really made from offal?"

Min Xi nodded: "It's absolutely true. In China, there is almost no ingredient that cannot be used to cook."

"The key is that the offal is also cooked so deliciously," said Ford.

Min Xi said, "I will serve some soup to the guests, but I won't give them the mutton offal, in case some of them don't like it."

"I'll go and ask them first to see if they want to eat it, and then I'll serve them later." Ford said and left.

After a moment, he came back and said, "Serve them. Take both the mutton offal and the mutton soup. Everyone is curious and wants to try what it tastes like."

Min Xi then served out more than twenty bowls of mutton offal soup and took them out for the guests to taste. It turned out that everyone liked it very much. They became more convinced that Chinese chefs were amazing and their ability to turn ordinary food into something magical was truly amazing.

However, he ate very little of the dessert at the end. Although it was indeed delicious, he really couldn't finish it, so he had to share it all with the servants.

Min Xi and Yun Ji ate some roasted lamb and drank two bowls of mutton soup, which was considered their dinner.

When they finished the work, it was dark again. Ford had prepared a pass for them in advance. After receiving the wages from Ford, they drove the carriage back home in the dark.

They didn't know that on the day they went out to cook, three groups of customers came to place orders, but when they saw the words on the sign, they had to return empty-handed. So it was hard to say whether they made a profit or a loss by cooking at customers' homes.

The next day, just after breakfast, a customer came to order food. It was the same customer who had been turned away yesterday. After listening to the customer, I realized that quite a few people had come to order food yesterday.

It's a pity, but there's nothing we can do about it.

Yun Ji suggested: "When we go out in the future, should we find someone to look after the house and help entertain the guests?"

Min Xi thought for a moment and said, "Is there a suitable candidate? I don't want to hire any more people."

Yun Ji said, "Powell's eldest son is already about ten years old. He looks smart, so it shouldn't be difficult for him to pass on a message. When we go out, we can hire him to look after the house and give him a penny or two. I'm sure Mrs. Powell won't object."

Min Xi smiled and said, "That's a good idea. Leave a piece of paper and pen for the customer to write down any needs. It will be easier for us to arrange when we come back, so we won't miss the order. In order to avoid duplication of customers' order times, I think we can also draw a grid and mark the time on it, so that the customer can just fill in the time they want to order."

After hearing this, Yun Ji laughed and said, "You still have more ideas."

In the next few days, the store was full of customers. Not only did we have customers every day, but we also had customers for lunch and dinner.

The effect of the Baron's banquet was apparent. After all, the cooking skills praised by the Queen must be good cooking skills. Many guests did not attend the Baron's banquet, but heard about the banquet and came here.

Min Xi laughed: "It's different when the Queen endorses us. The effect is amazing!"

Yun Ji was puzzled: "With salt?"

Min Xi explained: "Our cooking skills have been recognized by the Queen. The Queen of England is more respected by the people than the King of Portugal. People who come to eat here are all looking for the Queen's recognition. This is like the Queen doing free publicity for us, and we are making a fortune."

Yun Ji finally understood what he meant and said with a smile: "Then I really have to thank the Queen."