The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

After the squirrel perch is fried and shaped, pour the starch on the fish and the dish is ready.

Baron Fernando was watching the dish in the kitchen. When he saw the fish slowly blooming in the pan, his eyes widened. It was so magical! How could a fish bloom into a flower?

He took the initiative to take over the task of serving the dishes, and carried the plate of squirrel perch up to the second floor and into the private room. The surprised expressions of his two brothers were no different from his: "Pedro, why are you serving the dishes?"

The baron put the plate down and said, "Just tell me if it looks good or not?"

"Is this a fish?" Lord Fernando asked skeptically, because the head and tail of the fish were still there, but the middle part did not look like a fish at all.

"Yes, sea bass. This dish is called squirrel fish. It really looks like a squirrel. Grandmother will definitely like it." The baron said proudly.

"It's a bit similar. It looks so good that I can't bear to eat it." said Lieutenant Colonel Fernando.

The baron picked up the fork and said, "Min said that the fish should be eaten while it's hot. If you don't eat it, I won't be polite." As he said that, he forked a piece and put it in his mouth. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, sweet and sour, and delicious beyond words.

After hearing what he said, the two brothers hurriedly started eating, and their eyes lit up after eating.

Lord said: "This is a dish that both grandfather and grandmother would love."

"I think everyone will like it," said Lieutenant Colonel Fernando.

The baron said proudly: "No one should dislike Min's cooking. By the way, there is another dish today, and it will take more than an hour to be ready, so we have to eat slowly. If you have something to do, you can leave first."

The Lord said: "I'm fine, I came here specially to try the food, how can I leave?"

Lieutenant Colonel Fernando asked, "What's the other dish?"

The Baron said, "It's a chicken dish. It takes four or five hours from preparation to serving. It takes four hours to stew in the pot."

"It looks like this chicken will taste special," the lieutenant colonel said, "I'll wait for it, too."

Fernando said: "There is another dish that can only be eaten tomorrow night. It is said that this dish will take more than ten hours to make."

"Wow! I'm so looking forward to it!" The two brothers were very curious, does it take so much time for Chinese people to cook?

There were quite a few people at noon that day, and the restaurant was almost full. After Min Xi finished cooking all the dishes, he served the boneless roast chicken to the three Fernando brothers.

When the chicken was taken out of the pot, everyone smelled a strong aroma. When placed on the plate, the chicken looked like it was about to fall apart, it was completely soft and rotten.

After the soup was drained, Min Xi personally carried the plate of chicken upstairs and delivered it to the private room: "Sorry to have kept you waiting. This is boneless braised chicken. Please enjoy it."

The three brothers looked at the chicken on the plate. It had not been cut into pieces, but was a whole chicken.

Baron Fernando said, "No need to cut it?"

Min Xi shook his head: "No, just eat it with a fork, it's already rotten and can be easily torn off."

Fernando picked up a piece of the cake with a fork and put it in his mouth. It melted in his mouth and tasted delicious. He squinted his eyes in satisfaction: "It's delicious!"

His two elder brothers couldn't wait to taste it, and they couldn't stop eating it after trying it.

Seeing this, Min Xi smiled, gently closed the door, turned around and left. He also left a chicken for himself, so he hurried to try it.

Yun Ji ate the braised chicken and sighed with satisfaction: "The taste of my hometown is so delicious. It tastes better than the braised chicken I had in Beijing."

Min Xi ate the braised chicken and said, "Not necessarily. The spices here are still not complete enough. It's just that you haven't eaten it for a long time, so you think this dish tastes better than before."

Yun Ji thought about it and didn't refute. So far, he felt that the most delicious food he had ever eaten was the simple bowl of fish porridge he had on the boat when his sense of taste was restored.

Diego and the other two also tasted the roast chicken. They couldn't help crying. How could there be such delicious food in the world?

There are many dishes in the restaurant, but actually they have never tasted them because they usually eat buns, noodles and the like. These things are of course very good employee meals for them, and the boss himself eats the same as them.

But every time I serve the delicious dishes to the customers, I am still jealous and curious about what they taste like. Today I finally got the chance to taste it. No wonder the dishes in the restaurant are so expensive, but there are still so many people coming here to eat.

After eating the braised chicken, Min Xi brought over the custard buns for dessert, and found that the braised chicken had been eaten till only the bones were left. It seemed that the three brothers all liked braised chicken very much.

"Any more chicken? It's so delicious, I can't get enough." The Baron was chewing a bone. He found that the chicken was stewed until the bones were soft and tasty.

"The chicken is gone, let's eat it after the banquet. This is the dessert prepared for the banquet, please enjoy it." Min Xi put the plate on the table.

The white, plump and round buns are very cute. Take a bite and they are soft, sweet and full of milk aroma. They are really the best.

Lieutenant Colonel Fernando said: "Now I finally understand why Pedrowi is always keen on finding delicious food. Delicious food is indeed a great enjoyment in life. I used to eat just to fill my stomach."

The baron said, "Isn't it? I still know how to enjoy life. But cousin, you are so lucky. I have been looking for so many years to find a good chef like Min, but you found him without any effort. If you want to enjoy a good meal in the future, come to the Chinese Restaurant."

Min Xi interrupted with a smile: "Excuse me for interrupting, are you satisfied with the dishes and desserts you tasted today?"

The Lord nodded: "Very satisfied!"

"I couldn't be more satisfied!" said the Baron.

"Very good! I like it very much, and I believe the guests will like it too." said the lieutenant colonel.

The Lord said: "I hope you can maintain this level at the banquet."

Min Xi nodded: "I will definitely do my best. By the way, today's ingredients require a lot of spices, and I want to buy them myself because it involves the secret recipe of this dish. I hope you can understand."

"That is understandable," said the Baron.

Min Xi said, "Because I need a lot of spices, and spices are relatively expensive, I would like to ask His Excellency the Baron to accompany me to buy them. After I buy them, please ask His Excellency the Baron to take them back for me to keep."

"No problem. When are you going to buy it?" asked the Baron.

Min Xi looked at the sky outside and said, "We can go now. It's right in the largest spice market."

"Okay, I'll go with you now. Wait until I finish my dessert." The baron reached out and grabbed a custard bun, finished it in two bites, and stood up, "Let's go. Big brother, you pay the bill."

Min Xi usually tries to exercise restraint when buying spices because they are too expensive. He can only buy a few commonly used ones, and buy very little. Most of the time, he just looks at and smells them and is reluctant to buy them.

Someone paid today, so he bought as much as he wanted.

After buying them, he couldn't help but sigh to the baron: "The spices here are too expensive. I usually can't bear to buy so many. Many dishes that require spices can only be simplified."

The baron suddenly said, "Why don't you buy some more and take it as my thank you gift."

Min Xi turned around and looked at the Baron: "Why thank me?"

The baron smiled and said, "Thank you for letting me eat so many delicious foods."

Min Xi said, "These are not cheap."

"It doesn't matter! After you buy it, make new dishes and let me taste them first." said the baron.

Min Xi hesitated for a moment: "Then should I go buy some more?"

"Go ahead, don't be polite to me." The Baron said straightforwardly.

Min Xi bought some more, mainly the commonly used star anise, cinnamon, bay leaf and fennel. Of course, he was still very restrained. After all, one should not accept rewards without doing anything, and one should not accept too much favor from others for free.

When they returned from shopping, Min Xi handed the large spice bag to the baron: "Sir, take these back and keep them. You can give them to me when you cook."

Fernando took a look at it and accepted it without saying anything.

There's nothing wrong with being cautious. After all, he's not the only one cooking. He can't afford it if something goes wrong with the food.

Min Xi added, "Your Excellency Baron, there is one last dish and staple food left that I haven't prepared for you. Because it takes a long time, you can only eat it tomorrow night. But the Duke's birthday party is approaching, and some ingredients must be prepared as soon as possible. I will tell you what you need now, and you can go back and ask someone to prepare it. If you don't know how to prepare it, bring it to me and I will teach you how to prepare it, and then you can go back and dry it yourself."

Fernando said, "Okay, what do you need?"

Min Xi said: "We need shark fins, shark lips and skin, fish maw of croaker or yellow croaker, dried shellfish, dried pig trotter tendons, and even better if we have deer trotter tendons, and dried mushrooms..."

"Stop, stop, it's so complicated, how can I remember it? You should prepare it." said Fernando.

Min Xi smiled and said, "I did prepare some, enough for you to taste, but not that much, as you have hundreds of guests. I also omitted a lot of ingredients because Fulangji doesn't have them."

"This dish is so troublesome, why not try something else?" said Fernando.

"The name of this dish is Fu Shou Quan, which has a very good meaning." Min Xi explained the meaning of Fu Shou Quan.

Fernando thought that the name of the dish was indeed auspicious and should be kept: "Okay, I'll arrange for someone to prepare it."

"Okay." Min Xi agreed and brought up another matter, "I have another personal favor to ask of you. Do you have any friends who are good at writing and have some free time? I would like to write our store name and address on the wooden boxes for snacks. I can pay you a reasonable amount."

Fernando listened and said with a smile: "Do you have a good handwriting style and are good at calligraphy? Look for Simão Melo."

Min Xi was surprised: "Lord Mello? This is not appropriate." He felt that it was impossible. Would the son of a marquis be willing to help him do such a thing?

Fernando smiled and said, "Others may not necessarily do it, but he is very likely to do it. Next time I meet him, I will ask him for you."

Min Xixin wondered if this was appropriate. He had been looking for an opportunity to get close to Yun Ji. If he asked him, wouldn't it cause trouble for Yun Ji? "Why don't we not talk about it for now? I'll go back and ask Yun to see if he agrees."

"what ever."