The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi and Yun Ji quickly picked a bunch of bear onions. Min Xi knew they were edible, so he picked as much as possible, at least enough for one meal.

Yun Ji said, “Is that enough?”

Min Xi said: "If we pick some more, maybe we can eat them, and then we can make real chive dumplings. It would also be good for making chive dumplings."

Yun Ji smiled and said, "I noticed that you are particularly keen on finding food."

"I'm a chef now and I'm going to open a restaurant, so of course I want to find more edible and delicious things. We're in Fulanji now. If I were in Daming, would I still have to consider these things? I could just go to the market and buy them." Min Xi said.

Yun Ji agreed. There were too few types of vegetables here. All they had were cabbage, spinach, onions, carrots, and beetroots. The beetroots were too sweet and totally unsuitable for cooking, so he and Min Xi directly excluded them from the menu.

Spring is coming, and there should be some other vegetables to eat. So they were both very happy to find familiar and delicious dishes.

When Min Xi brought the bear onion back home, the locksmith's wife next door saw it and said, "Wow, the bear onion has grown so deep, it's ready to eat."

Min Xi quickly asked: "Madam, this is edible, right?"

"Of course it's edible. It's called bear onion, and bears that have just ended hibernation love to eat it. It seems that the bears have woken up too." said the locksmith's wife.

Min Xi said to Yun Ji excitedly: "Seventh brother, it is really edible. It is said that bears love to eat it, so it is called bear onion. We can make fried chive dumplings today!"

Yun Ji also smiled: "Look how happy you are."

Min Xi said: "Whenever you want to eat them in the future, just pick them. That's great. It's another vegetable that can be eaten."

Diego ate chive dumplings for breakfast and said, "This is better than putting onions in it!"

Min Xi nodded: "Of course, this is the most authentic vegetable box. It can also be used to make dumplings, but we have used up all the ones we picked today, so let's do it next time."

Diego volunteered: "I'll go pick them. I know where they are. After I finish cleaning, I'll go pick some bear onions."

"Okay! Then I'll leave it to you." Min Xi raised his hand and touched his head.

Little Diego was very excited because he could also be useful.

After dinner, Min Xi and Yun Ji went to the renovated restaurant on Magellan Street.

Because it is a Chinese restaurant, the interior decoration is as close to Chinese style as possible.

In addition to the Chinese-style furniture, the kitchen must also be Chinese-style. This time it is fixed in the kitchen, so the stove was built by Min Xi and Yun Ji themselves. For convenience, they did not use a wood stove, but a coal stove.

Min Xi also decided to make coal briquettes himself, so that he wouldn't have to arrange for someone to make fire, nor would he have to buy firewood frequently. Although the cost was a bit higher, it was more efficient.

Min Xi also built a bread kiln and a tandoor in the yard behind the house. The bread kiln is used to bake meat and pastries, and the tandoor can also be used to bake meat and make pasta, such as pot cakes and steamed buns.

The cooking utensils also need to be customized. The most difficult part is the tableware. Chinese cups and plates are completely different from Western ones.

Europe at this time had not yet mastered the porcelain firing technology. It was precisely with basic daily necessities such as silk, porcelain, and tea that China exerted a huge attraction and temptation on the Western world.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty had just lifted the maritime ban, and the amount of porcelain that could be shipped to the West was extremely scarce and extremely expensive. Only the royal families and a few nobles in European countries owned it, and it was far from being able to appear on the tables of ordinary people.

So, it was impossible for them to have a piece of porcelain in this Chinese restaurant. They couldn't use porcelain for tableware, silverware was too expensive and easy to lose, and pottery didn't look classy. Glassware could be fired, but it was hard to withstand high temperatures these days. Chinese food is basically hot food, and hot oil and soup would crack as soon as they poured it in. After much thought, they could only use wooden utensils.

Wooden utensils are the most common tableware in Europe today. The more exquisite ones are all made of precious wood. They want to open a mid- to high-end restaurant, so they have to choose good wood, and the shape needs to be carved by carpenters according to their needs, and they try to make it as exquisite as possible. All the pictures are drawn by Yunji. After all, he was born in a wealthy family and has really seen good things.

The soft decoration inside the hotel had to be done by the two of them themselves. Fortunately, they had Yun Ji, a real Ming Dynasty man, who had practiced music, chess, calligraphy and painting since he was a child. Although his calligraphy and painting skills were not yet at the level of proficiency, for a modern man like Min Xi, his skills were already very high and more than enough to fool foreigners.

It was just that the paper, ink, and brush were a bit troublesome, and they had to make them themselves. It happened that Sanvis had hunted a few rabbit skins in his spare time, and the two of them found some rabbit hair from the rabbit skins and made a crude rabbit hair brush.

Brushes can be made, but it is too difficult to make paper for painting, so they looked for silk cloth as a substitute. Silk cloth was also imported from the Ming Dynasty, which was expensive and hard to find.

When the baron learned that they wanted to write and paint, he actually provided them with rice paper and even took out his own collection of brushes and ink sticks, all of which were shipped from the Ming Dynasty.

These things were not cheap in the Ming Dynasty. After traveling across the ocean to come here, you can imagine how high their value was.

When the baron took out these things, he made a request, hoping that Yunji would write a few words and draw a few pictures for him. Yunji agreed.

He practiced for a long time with the brush he made, and only started writing and painting after the restaurant was halfway decorated.

The characters selected were all from famous poems, including Su Shi's "The best thing in the world is simple joy" and Du Fu's "Cutting spring leeks in the night rain, and yellow rice in the new cooking." Min Xi suspected that he was thinking of the time when they picked bear onions together, and Lu You's "The sea bass is fat, the cattail is crispy, and the soup is delicious; the buckwheat cakes are ripe and fragrant."

These sentences are all about food. Min Xi remembered the first two sentences, but had never heard of the last one. I don’t know how Yun Ji thought of it.

But he couldn't ask, because Min Jiu's character was illiterate and he couldn't read a few words, so how could he recognize these poems?

In addition, he also wrote "A bamboo stick and straw sandals are lighter than a horse, who is afraid? A raincoat will protect me throughout my life", "When life is happy, you should enjoy it to the fullest, and don't let the golden cup face the moon in vain", "The boat has gone from here, and the rest of my life will be spent in the rivers and seas", "When you reach the end of the water, sit and watch the clouds rise", etc., which are all particularly free and easy and happy poems.

In addition to the words, there are several freehand paintings of food upstairs and downstairs: a plate of fish, a group of shrimps, a basket of loquats, a persimmon tree, a few bunches of grapes, a cut watermelon, etc. The paintings are not long, but quite interesting.

There are four private rooms upstairs. Above the door hangs a small sign with the words "Plum, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum". Each room has a calligraphy and a painting. The calligraphy is poems related to plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, and the painting is a freehand painting related to the Four Gentlemen.

Yun Ji was not very satisfied with his calligraphy and painting and said that it was ugly.

Min Xi was very satisfied. Being so far away from China, it was difficult to restore the Chinese style in the hotel's decoration. However, once his calligraphy and paintings were hung up, the Chinese flavor was overwhelming and the whole hotel became lively.

"Seventh brother, your calligraphy and painting are simply the finishing touch!" Min Xi exclaimed.

"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, my ninth brother. When there is no tiger in the mountain, the monkey will become the king. Fortunately, there is no one who knows about this here, otherwise I would not dare to show these few strokes of my calligraphy to anyone." Yun Ji said.

"Seventh brother, you are too modest." Min Xi said, "Seventh brother is good at both literature and martial arts. In my heart, he is the best in both literature and martial arts!"

"Shame on you!" Yun Ji said with a smile.

Min Xi said, "Our Chinese characters are square, straight and level, and really beautiful, much better than those twisted tadpole characters in Fulangji. Brother Qi, if you have time, please teach me how to read."

Yun Ji readily agreed, "Okay." In fact, he had wanted to teach Min Xi to read for a long time, but was worried that it would hurt Min Xi's self-esteem if he brought it up directly. This time, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as his few calligraphy pieces aroused his interest in learning calligraphy.

"We have enough calligraphy and paintings in our shop. If you write a piece of calligraphy and draw a picture for the baron, it will be enough." Min Xi said.

Yun Ji said: "The calligraphy and painting for the baron cannot be as casual as in the store. I will think about it. The painting cannot be so simple either. Let's paint a landscape painting."

"He's not in a hurry anyway, so you can take your time to think about it. The decoration of the restaurant is almost done, and the ordered tableware should be ready in the next few days. After working so hard for so long, our restaurant is finally going to open!" Min Xi felt a sense of accomplishment as he looked at the brand new restaurant.

There are ten tables on the first floor, eight small square tables for four people and two round tables for eight people. There are two private rooms upstairs with round tables for eight people and two with round tables for ten people, so it is possible to squeeze in eleven or twelve people.

There are two small balconies on the second floor of the house. Min Xi planted two pots of peppers and tomatoes on the balconies, one for the appearance and the other for preserving seeds.

The attic above the second floor is the bedroom of Min Xi and Yun Ji. They asked the carpenter to make a bed. Originally, they wanted to make two beds, but they needed to put a wardrobe and a table in the attic, so in the end they only made one bed, and the two of them still had to sleep together.

Yun Ji also said, "Yes, it's finally done. Let's move in tomorrow."

"Okay. I'm a little reluctant to leave the tavern. Little Diego will definitely cry." Min Xi said.

Yun Ji said: "That kid is quite clever, it would be nice if we could call him to help."

Min Xi looked at Yun Ji and said, "Poaching Sanvis's girlfriend? Isn't that a bit unfair?"

Yun Ji smiled and said, "Forget it. We don't know how long we can stay here. After we leave, the child will still have to find a place to stay."