The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

After Min Xi and Yun Ji went back, Gail and the others became more active and gathered together to discuss how to take over the Chinese restaurant.

It's not that they haven't thought about starting their own business and opening a restaurant, but everyone knows that opening a restaurant abroad will definitely not have the same customer flow as a Chinese restaurant. After all, this restaurant is already famous in Lisbon and the customer flow is stable.

If you open a store of similar size and quality, the investment cost will be at least 200 to 300 reais, and the customer flow will definitely not be that large. Now everyone also invests 200 to 300 reais, and has a net income of about 1,000 reais a year. After deducting the cost, you can still make several hundred reais. This is like buying a hen that lays golden eggs. Those who know how to use an abacus know how to choose.

In fact, according to the market price, the transfer fee of the Chinese restaurant is definitely more than 1000 reais. Min Xi and Yun Ji offered this price for the sake of their employees, and also wanted them to continue to maintain the image and reputation of Chinese cuisine.

In early August, Baron Fernando's Jazz returned from the New World. Min Xi and Yun Ji finally put their worries aside, and they could finally return to Ming Dynasty smoothly.

It would take some time for the Jazz to unload, load and rest. They were scheduled to depart for Ming Dynasty in September, but the exact time had not yet been determined.

Min Xi and Yun Ji became increasingly busy. In addition to entertaining the endless stream of diners from Luo Yi, the corn, peanuts and rice in the fields were ready to be harvested.

Corn was easy to deal with. I broke off the half-dried corn on the stalk and dried it in the sun. After it was completely dried, I packed it into cloth bags. I didn't know how to preserve it best at sea, so I brought corn cobs and corn kernels without the cobs.

Min Xi gave some of the remaining seeds to McCallion as seeds, and also gave some to the Baron as seeds.

There was still a lot left, Min Xi not only used it to make popcorn for Diego, but also ground it into cornmeal to make some corn snacks. Yun Ji liked the aroma of cornmeal very much, and when making steamed corn bread, he could eat five or six while it was still hot, without any dishes!

In addition to steamed wowotou, Min Xi also used cornmeal to make corn rolls, baked corn tortillas, and even used a frying pan to make a rough version of cornmeal pancakes. Anyway, Yunji and Diego were very supportive and said everything was delicious.

Peanuts are also harvested in August. Last year, I harvested a bag of peanut seeds, but I couldn’t bear to eat a single one. This year, I used them all for sowing and grew a basket of peanuts.

Min Xi first saved some seeds, gave some to McCollum, and ate the rest.

If you add some salt and spices to the tender peanuts and cook them, they will become salt-boiled peanuts.

After the old peanuts are dried, they are fried a little and the original peanuts taste delicious.

Peel the remaining peanuts, fry them in oil, sprinkle some salt on them, pour two glasses of beer, and two people sit opposite each other and can drink for half the night.

"Peanuts and wine, this is a golden combination." Min Xi said.

Yun Ji picked up a peanut and put it in his mouth, chewing it until his mouth was full of fragrance. He took another sip of wine and said, "It's really good, suitable for killing time."

"Your family must have a restaurant. When the fruits are grown, you can sell them in the restaurant. They will definitely be very popular." Min Xi said.

Yun Ji nodded: "I think so too."

Harvesting rice is hard work, it is different from harvesting wheat. When harvesting wheat, the wheat stalks have already turned yellow, and the wheat and the stalks are brought home, placed on the ground, and threshed with a stone mill.

When the rice is harvested, the straw is still green. Wet rice straw is heavier than dry wheat straw, so it is not suitable to be moved back. It is best to dispose of it in the field.

Min Xi asked the carpenter to make a large square wooden barrel in advance, and also released the water from the rice fields more than half a month in advance, and stopped irrigation. It happened that the summer in Portugal was hot and rainy, and the rice fields dried up quickly, at least they were no longer paddy fields. When harvesting, there was no need to work in wet mud.

The harvested rice was threshed directly in a wooden barrel. This was strenuous work and had to be done by Min Xi and Yun Ji, mainly Yun Ji. He seemed to have endless strength and never got tired. Most of the rice in more than an acre of land was threshed by him.

The threshed rice was brought back and placed in the yard to dry. Since there were no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, only a small amount of farmyard manure, the rice yield was very low, and only about 300 to 400 kilograms of rice were harvested from more than one mu of land.

After drying, Min Xi took the rice to the windmill pounding room, which was used to husk wheat. In order to make the rice finer, Min Xi pounded it three times, but still failed to achieve the desired effect. He could only give up, there was no other way. This was a technical problem, and it was very troublesome to solve. Besides, they would leave Portugal soon, and they didn't have the energy to do this, as long as it could be eaten.

After the rice was pounded, Min Xi gave McCollum 20 kilograms of rice as seeds, and also gave him 2 kilograms of rice, and told him how to make paella. After all, the West has never been the home of rice. Westerners don't know how to steam or cook rice. Only Spanish paella has a place. It's enough to learn this.

Min Xi still remembered to fulfill his promise to Sebastian I. When the new rice came out, he would make him a seafood paella.

So, accompanied by the baron, Min Xi and Yun Ji went into the palace again, cooked a delicious paella for Sebastian I in the royal kitchen, gave the king twenty kilograms of rice, and taught the secret of paella to the king's chef.

Anyway, this is a Spanish dish, so he is just using it to show his appreciation.

Sebastian I was delighted with the meal and said that Min Si had made a great contribution, so he rewarded him with 1000 reais, which was an unexpected surprise.

Min Xi also took the opportunity to present 50 kilograms of rice to the king, saying that people could plant it. As for the specific planting method, they could ask McCollum in the east of the city.

McCaughlin never expected that after helping Min Si to farm, he would be summoned by the king's envoy. This huge wealth fell on him inexplicably.

Min Xi and Yun Ji pounded the remaining rice, gave 20 kilograms of rice to the baron, and Lord Fernando and Lord Melo each gave 10 kilograms. They ate the rest themselves. They only left a little rice on the ship, because whether it was cooking rice or porridge, it would require too much fuel and water, which was a big burden for the supplies on the ship.

Food on the ship is difficult to preserve, so Min Xi made a lot of preparations for this voyage. In June, he cooked broad beans and made bean paste. He also helped the Chinese restaurant dry two jars of sauce. After all, many Chinese dishes cannot be fully cooked without soy sauce.

Min Xi made a can of bean paste with fermented bean paste and dried chili peppers, similar to Lao Gan Ma, and added chicken and pork to make chicken paste and pork paste respectively.

There happened to be an abundance of mushrooms in the summer, so he made a lot of mushroom sauce.

I plan to bring all of these on board, so they won't go bad. When there's nothing to eat, I can use these sauces as a substitute.

Of course, these are not vegetables and do not contain vitamins. To solve the vitamin problem, we still have to rely on vegetables. In addition to onions and carrots that are durable, Min Xi also made a lot of ketchup, which he put into glass bottles and sealed with corks, so that he could eat it instead of vegetables when the vegetables were finished.

Gradually, the bottles and jars prepared by Min Xi were piled up into a small mountain. Yun Ji looked at them and couldn't help shaking his head: "These are too easy to be damaged."

Min Xi said, "It's okay. Put it in a wooden box and stuff it tightly with cotton, cloth, etc. to prevent it from shaking. When you get on the ship, you will know how wise it is for me to bring these things."

Yun Ji could only smile and said, "Okay."

Min Xi spread his hands helplessly: "I can't help it. If Portugal had citrus or lemons, we wouldn't have to worry so much and wouldn't be afraid of scurvy."

For the crew of such ocean-going ships, the most feared thing is scurvy caused by severe vitamin deficiency. Fortunately, there are some islands and seaports on the route from Europe to Asia that can supply fresh water, vegetables and meat.

Now, except for sweet potatoes, all the crops they planted have been harvested. Sweet potatoes have a long growing cycle, so to be on the safe side, they decided to wait until the ship sets off before digging the sweet potatoes.

One evening in late August, Min Xi was in the kitchen preparing desserts for the guests when Diego ran in excitedly, calling out, "Boss, Boss!"

Seeing that there were still guests eating in the dining room, he quickly stopped talking and bowed: "I'm sorry, sir, I disturbed you!"

The customers were all regulars, and they knew Diego, as the dim sum chef of Oriental Flavor. Someone asked, "What's the good news for finding your boss?"

Diego said with a smile and excitement: "The Shark is back!"

Min Xi and Yun Ji, who were busy in the kitchen, heard Diego's voice and rushed out: "Really? The Shark is back? Have you seen Mr. Sanvis?"

Diego nodded vigorously. "Yes, he lives in the Melville Hotel. He is just very thin. I brought him some food and hurried over to tell you the good news."

Min Xi smiled and said, "Yeah, I said he would be fine. Let's go see him tomorrow."

"Yes, he's fine, thank God, he's finally back safely!" Diego quickly made a prayer gesture.

The guests were also very curious: "Boss, who is back?"

Yun Ji explained that the Shark, which had departed for Asia more than two years ago, had finally returned. Everyone became very interested when they heard this. They thought that it must have encountered some kind of accident if it had only returned after two years, so they all started asking about it.

Yun Ji briefly told them what he knew, and Diego added some more information. Then everyone knew what happened. They were very lucky to be able to come back safely.