The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

After crossing the city, we arrived at McCaw's yard. McCaw's water dog barked at the carriage and the Little Bully.

When the little bully saw the big dog, he quickly hid behind the carriage and wagged his tail very obediently to show his goodwill.

When the water dog saw that the puppy was showing weakness, it stopped barking and came over to sniff the little bully. The two dogs quickly recognized each other and ran aside to play.

The McCaughlins were working in a nearby field. They heard a dog barking and looked up. It was Min Si's carriage. McCaughlin quickly put down his work and came back: "Sir, you are here?"

Min Si stood at the edge of the vegetable garden and said to him, "Mr. McCaughlin, we are going to dig potatoes today."

"You can put it away now, right? I'll find you some tools." McCollum came over with something curved like a shovel, but it looked like a rake head and had three iron teeth.

Min Xi took the tool: "Give it to me."

Yun Ji said from the side: "How about I come?"

Min Xi tilted his head and looked at him: "I am better at farming than you are. You can pick it up with a basket."

Min Xi opened the fence gate, walked into the vegetable garden, tidied up the branches and leaves on the side that had not yet completely withered, inserted the tool into the soil, and then pried it hard. The loose soil was pried up, and a light yellow potato was brought out with it.

"Haha, there are potatoes, and they're this big!" Min Xi shouted excitedly, turned over the soil, threw down his tools, and squatted down to pick up potatoes. "There's more than one, there are more underneath!"

Min Xi was so excited that he used both hands to dig in the soil. He found one, two... five, six. Three of them were big and three were small. The largest one was almost as big as Min Xi's fist, and the other two were as big as duck eggs.

"Wow! So much from just one plant! I'm rich!" Min Xi laughed happily.

Yunji and McCaw were both waiting to open the blind box, and they were surprised and delighted to find that the results were quite good.

Yun Ji said, "Let me try next?"

Min Xi stood up and said, "Okay, you come. Be careful not to get too close to the roots, or you'll damage them."

Yun Ji dug one up. This one didn't produce as many fruits as Min Xi's, only four. However, two of them were quite big.

McCallion also came to try it. The three of them all satisfied their addiction to digging potatoes. Of the more than 20 potato plants, two died for some reason and only had three or four small potatoes. The others were harvested. The smallest one even had a big one. After all, when they were planted, their seeds were only the size of pigeon eggs.

They dug up more potatoes than they had expected, and the baskets they brought couldn't hold them all.

Min Xi picked up a basket of potatoes, and gave all the potatoes that couldn't fit in the basket to McCaughlin as seeds. He also gave him the damaged ones: "You can cut off the damaged parts, then boil them in water or roast them in the fire, and then you can eat them. Taste them and see how they taste."

"Okay, thank you!" Mrs. McCaughlin had also returned. She picked up the remaining potatoes with a basket, including the damaged ones.

McCaughlin said, "Sir, if you want to continue planting next year, please come back to me."

Min Xi hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Maybe we won't come to plant next year. We are going back home this year."

The McCaughlins were stunned: "Are you going back?"

"Yes, we have been away from home for too long, and our family members are very worried about us. We have earned enough money for the trip back home, and it is time for us to go back," said Min Xi.

Mrs. McCaughlin said, "That's right. You still have relatives at home. It's time to go back. It's okay. If you need to plant more, come to us."

Min Xi smiled and nodded: "Okay. If we go back, you can also grow your own. I will teach you a few ways to cook potatoes. Just remember them and try more ways to eat potatoes in the future."

"Okay, thank you!" Mrs. McCaughlin agreed readily.

McCaughlin said, "What about all those other things you grow?"

Yun Ji said: "We will not leave until we have harvested the harvest."

"That's good! That's good! What a pity that windmill is no longer needed after only one year of use." McCollum is a farmer and he is quite thrifty.

Yunji said, "After we harvest the rice, we'll leave you some seeds. You can continue to plant them next year and sell them to Chinese restaurants in the city. They might want to make paella with them."

When McCaughlin heard this, his eyes lit up: "Really? Then I'll try to grow one. Do you still want to open that restaurant?"

"After we leave, the restaurant should still be open. There are several chefs trained by us in the restaurant, and they all know how to cook Chinese food."

When McCollum heard this, he felt relieved.

Today was a fruitful day. When they packed up and got in the car, Min Xi thought of the little Overlord. It seemed that he had not seen it since he entered the yard, so he called out, "Overlord, let's go home!"

After calling out, there was no response. Min Xi frowned and asked, "Where did he go? He must be lost."

Yun Ji said, "Never mind, let's go!" After saying that, he flicked the whip, drove the carriage away.

At the crack of the whip, the little bully ran up from the nearby stream and soon reached the side of the carriage, wagging its tail happily at its owner. It was wet all over and had a small fish, two fingers wide, in its mouth.

Min Xi asked Yun Ji to stop the car: "How did you get yourself into this state? Aren't you cold? Where did the fish come from?"

He heard from the baron that the little bully was a hunting dog, and besides hunting, he could also catch fish, but he didn't expect it to be true. The little bully spit the fish at Min Xi's feet, and then shook his body a few times, and water splashed everywhere, even Yun Ji on the carriage fell into the water, not to mention Min Xi who was standing next to him.

Min Xi screamed out: "You are going to die, Overlord! You have spilled all the water on me."

The little bully woofed as if to seek credit, touched the fish with his nose, and signaled Min Xi to pick it up.

Min Xi had no choice but to pick off the slices of fish, wrap them up, put them on the carriage, and wait until he got back to give them to Overlord as dinner.

Yun Ji said, "Let's go. You are not allowed to get in the car. Just run away."

The little bully ran happily after their carriage. It seemed that he had enough exercise today.

After returning home, Min Xi took out the potatoes, wiped off the dirt, and placed them under the porch to dry the surface moisture. He planned to store them in bags after the surface dried. He didn't know how to store potatoes, but he knew that dry potatoes were better than wet potatoes, which would rot, and dry potatoes would not affect germination.

Yun Ji asked, "If we leave in August or September, will we be able to get home in February or March?"

"I think so. It has to go smoothly. We've encountered so many setbacks before, and this time we'll have a chance to turn things around. When you get back, take it to your farm and have someone plant it. I think it'll be ready for planting in the spring."

"Okay!" Yun Ji agreed readily, but thinking that he would be in Ming Dynasty by this time next year, he felt a little disappointed in his anticipation.

Min Xi took out all the potatoes and laid them out, then picked out a few that didn't look very good, and selected some potatoes with small grains, and said, "Let's taste the potatoes tonight."

"Okay, I also want to know what it tastes like." Yun Ji said.

Min Xi steamed the small potatoes with rice, stir-fried a plate of shredded potatoes with two and a half large potatoes, made a dish of roast chicken with potatoes, and cooked a soup with mushrooms and scallops. It was a simple meal of three dishes and one soup.

Min Xi smiled and said, "We'll have a potato feast tonight, but we can only eat it once. The rest will be saved for seeds."

Yun Ji looked at the unfamiliar dish, hesitated for a moment with his chopsticks, picked up a piece of shredded potato, put it in his mouth and chewed it.

Min Xi stared at him and asked, "How is it?"

Yun Ji said: "It's OK, there's no weird taste."

Min Xi also tasted it and found it crunchy and familiar, so he said, "The spicy and sour potato shreds are more satisfying without the vinegar. I'll make spicy and sour potato shreds for you when I grow them in Daming later."

"it is good!"

Min Xi picked up a steamed potato, peeled it, and put it in Yun Ji's bowl: "Try it. If you think it tastes bland, you can dip it in this."

He made a simple dip with chili powder, pepper salt and cumin powder to season it.

Yun Ji was flattered and picked up the small potato and put it in his mouth: "It has a strange fragrance, like eating sweet potatoes, but without the sweetness."

Min Xi nodded: "Yes, so it has another name, potato. Does it look like a bell?"

Yun Ji used his imagination: "It does look a bit like it."

"Even though few people know about it now, it will become the staple food of Europeans in the future and will be as important as wheat. However, in our country, it is only a supplement to food and is rarely used as the staple food. It is mainly used to cook dishes," said Min Xi.

Yun Ji peeled a potato, dipped it in the sauce, and put it in his mouth. It tasted different. The best dish was still the roast chicken with potatoes. The potatoes and chicken were stewed together, so the taste was even more fragrant.

"Stewed chicken tastes better." Yun Ji said.

"Of course. Potatoes can also be stewed with pork ribs and beef. As long as they are paired with meat, they taste great. There are many ways to eat it, such as potato chips, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato flour, etc. You can wait for everyone to discover them slowly in the future. I am only responsible for bringing the potatoes back." Min Xi said with a smile.

Yun Ji looked at his smiling face and couldn't help but laugh along with him: "When it comes to eating, I've never seen anyone better than the Chinese."

After harvesting potatoes, the first goal was achieved, and the next step was to harvest seeds of sweet potatoes, corn, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, etc. Tomatoes and peppers were fine, as they did not take long to mature, but sweet potatoes were a bit troublesome, as they had the longest growth cycle. In Min Xi's memory, it seemed to take about half a year to harvest.

His sweet potato seedlings were planted in April, so they can only be harvested in October after half a year. By then, he would probably have to leave Europe. If he left in September, he could dig them up and take them away, but they are not yet mature, so I don't know if it will affect the germination rate.

Fortunately, the sweet potatoes have been planted long enough, so they should be able to be harvested early.