The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi and Yun Ji were busy in the kitchen all day, frying and cooking, just like when they first opened their own private restaurant overseas and worked in perfect harmony.

Yunlin was like a little bee. He would run into the kitchen every once in a while to see if there was anything delicious inside. Even if there was nothing to eat, he would come and check on the progress like a little adult.

If Min Xi and Yun Ji hadn't thought the smoke was too heavy and forbade him to stay in the kitchen, he would not have been willing to go out.

We were busy until the evening, when the lights came on and all the dishes were ready.

Today we have all the main dishes, including boiled cabbage, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, roast chicken, squirrel fish, Dongpo pork, Wensi tofu, braised lion head, sweet and sour pork ribs, etc. There are many people in the family, so two large tables were set up, one for the men and one for the women and children. My second uncle's eldest daughter Tao Qin, who is already married, happened to be back, so we had a great time.

The whole room was filled with the aroma of food. Min Xi picked up the wine glass and said, "In fact, I have wanted to cook this meal for you for a long time, but I have never found the right time. Today I finally have the opportunity to cook a meal for you and express my gratitude to you. Thank you for the teacher's teachings, and thank you for the grandmother and uncles for taking care of my seventh brother and Lin'er. Today, I toast to you all!"

Before he finished speaking, Yun Ji stood up and waited for him to finish speaking before Yun Ji took over the conversation: "I used to think that being able to cook was not something worth mentioning. A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen, so the kitchen would not be a place for me to use my skills. Later, I came to Europe and found that it was such a great thing to cook delicious meals. I am grateful to our ancestors for pursuing the spirit of 'never tire of fine food', which has given us such a rich variety of cooking methods and such delicious food. I am also grateful to my ninth brother for being able to cook, which has allowed me, who has nothing, to live a life of ease in Lisbon. So today I want to especially thank my ninth brother for his efforts."

Min Xi raised his glass and said with a smile, "We have finally waited for such a table of food to be ready to eat, and we have been talking so much nonsense here. Let's not talk about anything else, cheers, and eat!"

Everyone laughed and raised their glasses to clink with them. Min Xi drank it all in one gulp, put down his glass and invited everyone to eat.

Even though everyone had been waiting for this meal for a whole day and some people were already drooling, they were still very polite when they actually ate it. After all, the family education of officials and scholars was not exaggerated.

Actually, Min Xi hasn’t cooked a big dish for a long time, but he has remembered the skills and is very familiar with it. The taste is still the same as before and everyone praises it.

In the past two years, the Tao family has also gone to Yunxiang Restaurant to dine and ordered dishes such as boiled cabbage and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, but compared with what Min Xi cooked, they were still not as cooked.

Yunlin came over from the table with women and children, and snuggled between his two brothers, unwilling to leave. Yunji simply held him on his lap, feeding him while he ate. His younger brother hadn't seen him for a month, and was now clinging to him.

At the dinner table, everyone chatted about all sorts of things. Min Xi and Yun Ji had endless stories to tell. They talked about how they were surrounded by pirates on St. Helena Island, and how they managed to break out, causing heavy losses to the pirate group, but they themselves suffered very little. But they didn't mention how Yun Ji single-handedly challenged two pirate groups and almost lost his life.

Everyone was horrified. Tao Hong said, "The pirates are so rampant, and you still want to take the risk. Aren't you playing with your life?"

Yun Ji said, "So we won't go there anymore. But I think it was worth it. At least we brought back a galleon. We have already sent the ship to Longjiang Shipyard. The shipyard manager, Mr. Yu, promised to use this ship as a model to build our own galleon. We won't be afraid of any brutal pirates or enemies in the future."

My uncle Tao Lizhi was surprised and asked, "You have donated the boat?"

"Yes, at that time, the navy of Fujian Yongning Guard saw us returning in a galleon and was worried that we were enemies, so they surrounded us. I had no choice but to explain that the boat was donated to the navy, and they asked me for the boat. I didn't dare to give it to the navy alone, so I sent the boat to the Longjiang Shipyard." Yun Ji explained.

Tao Lizhi sighed: "You should at least go back to Beijing to go through the formalities before donating the boat."

"I wrote a donation letter and asked the person in charge of the shipyard to stamp it with the official seal. General Han Songhan, deputy commander of Yongning Guard, also witnessed it." Yun Ji said.

Tao Lizhi could only shake his head helplessly.

Tao Hong said, "That's fine, as long as there is evidence. This incident could have allowed you to show off your reputation in the capital, and it would have made your career smoother in the future. Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. Fortunately, there are always traces of what you have done, and you can bring it up at the right opportunity in the future."

Tao Yuan couldn't help but ask about fighting pirates: "Brother Ji, our Ming merchant ships don't have cannons, how did you fight them?"

Min Xixin thought, this kid is so meticulous, he should go to the Ministry of Justice to judge cases in the future.

Min Xi glanced at Yun Ji and said, "Didn't we come back last time on a ship of a Flanji noble? That ship was waiting to go to Europe with us. When we were in Malacca, we found three more Flanji ships and four galleons to go with us."

"They are actually willing to protect you!" Tao Yuan kept asking questions.

Min Xi said, "Because we have helped them before. When we were resupplying in Malindi and Phoebe Island, the locals didn't like the Europeans and didn't trade with them, but they liked us Ming people. So we helped them buy supplies, which was mutually beneficial."

Of course, he didn't tell them the important reason. It was because Yun Ji was good at fighting. Otherwise, who would be willing to fight the pirates for them? Based on the principle of reporting good news but not bad news, he didn't tell them the worrying facts. In short, they are back safely now.

By the time we finished our meal, it was already dark and well past curfew.

Min Xi and Yun Ji did not go home. They took Yun Lin to stay at Tao's house and did not go home until the next day.

They had no leisure that day, and they were going to Yunxiang Restaurant at noon to give Qiao Zhilian a farewell party. Last year, the new emperor had granted him a special examination, and Qiao Zhilian passed the imperial examination and was ranked third among the top three. He worked as a judge in the Ministry of Revenue for a year, which was equivalent to a year of internship, before he was appointed as the magistrate of Mizhi County in Shaanxi Province, and he would be going to Mizhi to take up his post soon.

Min Xi also went to the banquet. On the way, he asked Yun Ji: "Mizhi is a remote place. Why would Mingjie go to Mizhi?"

Yun Ji shook his head: "I don't know."

Min Xi thought of Mizhi, which was the place where Li Zicheng started the uprising in the late Ming Dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty, Shaanxi suffered from severe drought and poor harvests. The people had no food and starved to death everywhere, so they had to start the uprising. This was the direct fuse for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Unexpectedly, Qiao Zhilian went to Mizhi.

When they arrived at the restaurant, several friends had not arrived yet. As the host, Min Xi ordered the dishes. In addition to a few main dishes, he also personally cooked roast chicken with potatoes, spicy and sour shredded potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, and stewed pork ribs with corn. He ordered corn steamed buns as the staple food.

He didn't teach us how to cook these dishes because when he left, these crops were only planted on a trial basis and had not yet reached the stage where they could be mass-produced and served on the table.

Qiao Zhilian, Feng Hao, Sun Hua and others arrived one after another, and everyone exchanged pleasantries. After Yun Ji and Min Xi came back, they were busy dealing with the Yunxiang ship and soon started school, so everyone didn't have time to gather.

The friends didn't see Min Xi in the private room, so they asked Yun Ji curiously, "Why didn't we see Brother Min? Didn't he come back with you?"

Yun Ji smiled and said, "He is cooking in the kitchen."

Sun Hua rubbed his hands excitedly: "It turns out that I can taste the dishes made by Brother Min himself. I thought I couldn't eat them in the restaurant."

"He doesn't cook everything. He only cooks a few dishes." Min Xi cooked a few big dishes at Tao's house the day before and was busy all day, so he didn't want to cook again. That's why he didn't invite everyone to his home for dinner, but arranged for them to eat at a restaurant.

After everyone was gathered, Yun Ji asked the waiter to serve the dishes.

Min Xi also came upstairs, holding shredded potatoes in one hand and candied sweet potatoes in the other. As soon as he put the plate on the table, he attracted everyone's attention: "What is this dish? Is it a new dish in the restaurant?"

Min Xi smiled and said, "I made these dishes especially for Brother Mingjie."

Qiao Zhilian was flattered: "Thank you!"

After Min Xi put down the plate, he said, "It's been a while since I cooked for you. Let's try today's new dishes and see how they taste."

So everyone couldn't wait to taste the new dishes before they could even have a chance to drink. Sun Hua was the best at eating and he could comment on the taste of each dish, for example, "the corn and pork ribs soup has a special sweetness and freshness", "the hot and sour potato shreds are crispy and delicious, very appetizing", "the candied sweet potato is sweet but not greasy", "the roasted chicken with potatoes complements each other", etc.

After everyone had tasted the food, Min Xi put down his chopsticks and said, "Actually, these dishes are home-cooked. They are not presentable enough to be used as a farewell dinner for Brother Qiao."

Qiao Zhilian said quickly, "No, no, it's totally fine. These dishes taste great, and they're all novel foods. The portions are more than enough."

"Brother Qiao, do you know why I made these dishes for you?" Min Xi asked.

Qiao Zhilian shook his head.

Min Xi took out the potatoes, corns and sweet potatoes that he had prepared long ago and introduced them to them one by one: "These are the crops we brought back from Europe last time. This is yam, also called potato. This dish of stewed chicken with potato and spicy and sour potato shreds are all made with it. This is called rice, which I also call corn. This dish of stewed pork ribs with corn and steamed corn bread are all made with it. This is called sweet potato. This dish of candied sweet potato is made with it. These are actually the staple food of the New World. They can be used for cooking or as staple food. Brother Qiao is going to take up his post in Mizhi County. I heard that the place is full of gullies and mountains, and it is dry and rainy. The conditions are particularly difficult, so I recommend these crops to you and ask you to take them to Mizhi County."