The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

You have to know that every ship returning to Europe from the colonies was packed to the brim, and all items were carefully calculated before being brought on board, leaving very little space.

The fact that the ship was willing to save Min Xi and the other two showed that the captain was a man of conscience. Although the weight of the food and water consumed by the ship was enough to carry the two of them, the captain had no obligation to save them and was acting purely out of kindness.

Bob on the side had a look of watching a good show. This little guy didn't know what he was talking about. How could Old Dick let people use his kitchen?

Hearing this, Old Dick's one eye flashed with surprise. It was unclear whether he was surprised by Min Xi's Portuguese or by his suggestion to cook fish soup. He looked at Min Xi for a long while before he said in an arrogant voice, "Little guy, you can cook?"

Min Jiu was only eighteen years old. He was malnourished to begin with and had been hungry for a long time. He was very thin. East Asians look young, so in the eyes of these rough guys, he looked like an underage boy.

Min Xi nodded: "I can, I used to cook for everyone on our ship." Min Xi is certainly not a chef, but he likes cooking, and he even found time to take a chef's certificate. When on the ship, he would occasionally cook to show off his cooking skills and improve the meals for everyone.

Old Dick mumbled a few words indistinctly in the local dialect, which Min Xi did not understand at all. After a while, Old Dick said, "Then let me see the skills of Chinese chefs." Of course, the Ming Dynasty was not called China at that time, but in Portuguese, this land was always called "China".

"Thank you, sir!" Min Xi was very happy to hear that. He first grabbed two handfuls of brown rice from the grain bag, found a stick, and pounded the brown rice in the jar to remove some of the rice skin on the surface of the brown rice. It's not that brown rice has no nutrition, but that brown rice is not easy to cook.

After grinding off the rice skin, he washed it, poured enough water into the jar, and put it on the fire.

Then he started to process the fish. He chose a fish weighing two or three pounds and cleaned the scales and belly. Old Dick looked at his craftsmanship and knew that he was not a novice, so he became more interested.

He cleaned the fish, sliced ​​the meat, and waited for the porridge to boil. When the porridge started to swirl and the rice began to bloom, he put all the fish slices into the pot, and when the pot started to swirl again, he took it out of the pot and stopped cooking. Although the fish slice porridge needed to be boiled until it was more delicious, he did not dare to use more fuel on the boat.

While frying the fish, Old Dick kept an eye on Min Xi's movements. Seeing that Min Xi was cooking fish with rice porridge, he curled his lips in disapproval. How could it not smell fishy if he put fish in rice porridge?

Min Xi added some salt to the fish porridge, tasted it, and when he felt it was just right, he found a large wooden bowl and poured it out: "Thank you, Mr. Dick, I've made it and will send it to my friend now."

Old Dick hummed and said, "There's some fried fish over there. Take some."

Min Xi hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you, Mr. Dick!"

"You should thank me!" a voice sounded at the warehouse door.

Min Xi turned his head and saw a well-dressed middle-aged man standing at the door. Min Xi smiled and said, "Thank you, Captain Reiss!"

Captain Reis is in his early forties. He has grown from a bankrupt farmer to the owner of half a galleon today. He still retains the simplicity and kindness of a farmer in his bones, which is why he is willing to lend a helping hand to Min Xi and the others.

Captain Reiss sniffed: "What delicious food did you make?"

Old Dick answered: "You know, fried fish."

Captain Race said, "What I'm asking is what he's holding in his hand?"

Min Xi was very tactful and quickly put down the big bowl in his hand: "It's fish slice porridge. I'll serve some to Captain Reiss to try."

After Min Xi gave a bowl of fish porridge to the captain, he took the remaining porridge to the cabin to find Yun Ji who was recuperating from his injuries.

The people waiting for dinner in the kitchen looked at the porridge in Captain Reis's bowl and asked, "Captain, try it. How does it taste?"

Captain Reiss didn't hold out much hope. He took a sip from the bowl and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. Everyone was familiar with the captain's habits. Seeing his reaction, they said, "It seems to taste very good."

Captain Reis nodded. "It's much better than expected. Very delicious."

"Where's Bidick's fried fish?" Bob was simply dancing in a minefield.

Captain Reiss looked at Dick, thought for a moment and said, "It's almost as good as Dick's fried fish."

Although fish fillet porridge and fried fish are prepared in different ways, if Captain Reis had to choose, he would definitely choose fish fillet porridge. However, he didn't want to make Dick unhappy for an outsider, so he didn't tell the truth.

When Old Dick heard the captain say this, a smile appeared on his wrinkled face: "Captain, please wait a moment, dinner will be served soon."

When a ship is sailing in the waves, the hull is shaken violently due to the wind and waves. If people sleep on the bed, they will roll around and easily get bumped and injured. Therefore, in order to get a good night's sleep, sailors all sleep in hammocks.

Yun Ji was lying in a hammock at the moment. There was no ventilation in the cabin, and the air inside was very dirty. It was not a good place for a patient. But there was no better place to go. The conditions on the ship were like this, and it was much better than soaking in the water.

Min Xi entered the cabin and took a while to adapt before he could barely see. Only Yun Ji was resting here. No crew member wanted to stay here except during rest time.

Min Xi put the food on the ground and said, "Young Master, get up and eat. How do you feel today?"

There was a cough in the darkness, followed by a heavy sigh, but no words were spoken.

Min Xi lit the oil lamp fixed on the wall, and the darkness in the cabin was pushed back a little. He walked to the hammock, raised his hand and touched the other person's forehead: "Fortunately, you don't have a fever. As long as you don't have a fever, your body will get better as soon as possible." Then he helped the person lying down to stand up.

Yun Ji was unlucky. When the boat was capsized by the waves, he hit the mast and broke his left forearm, which made him completely unable to use his strength. It was a miracle that he saved Min Xi with just his right arm and held on to the sampan for so many days.

Of course, thanks to Min Xi's help along the way, every time he fell into the water due to exhaustion, Min Xi would pull him out, hold him up so that he could recover his strength, and then climb back on the sampan.

Yun Ji used his uninjured arm to get off the hammock with the help of Min Xi and asked, "What time is it?"

Min Xi said: "It's about noon. I made fish fillet porridge today, not fried rice porridge, you should get up and have some." The so-called fried rice porridge is fried rice soaked in water and drunk.

Yun Ji asked weakly, "You did it?"

"Yes, I made it. Try it and see how it tastes."

The two of them sat on the deck. Min Xi gave himself some porridge and handed the rest to Yun Ji: "Drink more, so that you can recover soon."

Yun Ji's left arm was swollen as thick as his leg. He took the bowl with his uninjured right hand and looked at the porridge in Min Xi's bowl: "Yours is too little."

Min Xi raised the fried fish in his hand and said, "I still have this. I caught the fish today, and this fried fish was made by Old Dick. I'll share some with you to let you taste his cooking skills."

Min Xi tore off a piece of fish and put it directly to his mouth. The light was dim, but it still couldn't hide Yun Ji's beauty. It was just that the beauty looked a little weak at the moment, and she looked pitiful.

Yun Ji looked at the fish meat beside his mouth, hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth to take it, chewed it, but didn't taste anything.

"How is it?" Min Xi took a bite himself. "The salt was not spread evenly, the marinating time was not enough, the fish was too thick, the outer layer was burnt, and the inside was still a little raw. It was because the fire was too strong. But it's better than rotten meat, so it's okay. The fish fillet porridge I made must be cooked, you can try it."

Yun Ji brought the bowl to his mouth, took a sip, and was stunned. At this moment, he felt like he was still alive.

Ever since the shipwreck, he had felt like a wandering soul, lingering on the edge of life and death. Even his sense of taste had disappeared. Until this moment, the fragrance of rice and the sweetness of fish fillets exploded on the tip of his tongue, becoming the most delicious memory of his life, overshadowing the taste of all the delicacies he had eaten before.