The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Sanvis was skeptical: "Will we be able to make it in time for the guests to come for lunch?"

Min Xi said, "It's still in time. Can I take a shower first?"

Seeing that he still needed to take a shower, Sanvis said, "Will you still make it in time?"

Min Xi was full of confidence: "Don't worry, sir. I will definitely not delay your business. I haven't taken a bath for several months. Wouldn't it be disrespectful to your guests to cook for them like this? How about this, I will prepare the food first, and let little Diego come over to boil water for my bath."

"Okay," said Sanvis.

Min Xi said to Yun Ji who was standing at the kitchen door, "We'll all take a bath later. You take our clothes to the attic first."

Yun Ji asked, "Is it possible?"

Min Xi turned his head to look at the cooking utensils, frowned slightly, and said, "The cooking utensils are not very handy, but they can be used as is. I don't think they have eaten anything good. If we take out the delicacies of the Ming Dynasty and cook them casually, they will swallow their tongues."

"I believe in your level." Yun Ji was very confident in Min Xi's cooking skills. When he was on the ship, he conquered everyone on the ship with his cooking skills. The conditions were far worse than this.

After Yun Ji left, little Diego went into the kitchen and started to boil water for Min Xi to take a bath.

Min Xi began to prepare a few cods. The Chinese have countless ways to eat fish, and a few cods are more than enough, but the problem is that there are not enough cooking utensils here, and various ingredients are also in short supply, so they can only make some simple dishes.

Fortunately, this is Lisbon, the largest port city in France, where spices from the East are least scarce.

Min Xi decided to steam one, fry one, and roast one, and also make them a vegetable cod soup. This method was not available anywhere else, and it was something Min Xi came up with on the spur of the moment. Anyway, this group of people had never eaten anything before, so how would they know whether cod was suitable for making soup?

Min Xi also found wheat flour in the kitchen. Although it was not as fine and white as the flour he had seen before, it was much better than rye and oats. After obtaining Sanvis's consent, he decided to use the flour to make a staple food.

When Min Xi was processing the fish, Sanvis watched from the side with some concern. Seeing his skillful technique, he felt relieved and left the kitchen: "Min, I leave all this to you. These guests are very important to me. Don't mess it up."

"Don't worry, leave everything to me." Min Xi said very calmly.

Sanvis was not afraid that he would ruin his banquet. The current situation could not get any worse. If he couldn't make it, he would just go out to eat.

Min Xi prepared the fish, rubbed it with salt and marinated it, then began to prepare the vegetables. He stewed the carrots first, then scooped out some flour, kneaded some dough, and set it aside to rise.

Little Diego came to him and told him: "Sir, I have heated the water, do you want some?" The child was very grateful to Min Xi for saving him, so he sincerely wanted to repay him.

"Thank you. I'm going to take a shower now. You come and help me watch this carrot soup. When the soup boils, turn down the heat." Min Xi reminded Diego, "There is another person who wants to take a shower. When I run out of water, you can continue to help me boil a pot of water."

"Okay." Diego agreed readily.

Min Xi climbed up to the attic and saw Yun Ji mopping the floor. When he saw Min Xi, he smiled and said, "Are you done?"

"It's still early. I just killed and marinated the fish. I'll go take a shower first. I'll ask Diego to boil some water for you to take a shower too. Don't clean the room yet. Wait until I'm done and then we can clean it together." Min Xi said.

"It's okay, it's not like I haven't done it before. I found that we are still missing a lot of things, and we need to buy some bedding." Yun Ji said.

"Yes, let's go out again in the afternoon. We'll write down whatever is missing and buy them all together." Min Xi took the clothes for changing and went downstairs.

During this trip, I only took a bath when I docked at the southern tip of Africa for supplies. It wasn't a hot bath, I just washed in the sea water and then rinsed with fresh water, which didn't mean I was clean at all. Today was the first time I took a hot bath in a few months, but there wasn't enough water, so I could only wash it barely, and couldn't even wash my hair. I had to boil some water to wash it, and I had to boil more water for Yun Ji later.

After taking a shower, Min Xi put on his newly bought clothes and felt like a human being again.

When he finished washing, the soup in the pot had already boiled. Diego stood by the pot nervously, and was relieved when he saw Min Xi come out: "Sir, you are here? The soup is already boiling."

"Okay, you go boil the water, I'll do it." Min Xi rolled up his sleeves and started working.

While he was busy, he chatted with little Diego. It turned out that Mr. Sanvis had hired a cook to cook. The cook lived in the alley behind the house. She had something to do at home, so she left after stewing the seafood soup, leaving Diego to watch the fire.

Diego was the only one helping in the tavern. It was his job to scrub the tables, chairs, and floor and wash the cups and plates. He also had to serve drinks to the guests at night. The little guy was growing up, so he went to bed late and got up early, and was so tired that he kept dozing off.

I overslept while watching the fire today, and ended up burning the pot. I got beaten up by Sanvis.

Min Xi looked at him sympathetically: "How old are you?"

"I'm 14," Diego said.

Min Xi looked at the child and saw that he was about the height of an 11-year-old. He guessed that he was older, but he was still under-guessing. This was a serious developmental disorder.

Diego added, "Sir, thank you for helping me today, otherwise Mr. Sanvis would have beaten me to death."

Min Xi glanced at the door and asked in a low voice, "Is Mr. Sanvis so mean to you?"

"No, no, Mr. Sanvis is a good man. I am an orphan, and I am grateful that he had mercy on me and took me in. It's just that he has a bad temper sometimes, and when I do something wrong, he will punish me." Diego raised the back of his hand and wiped his eyes.

Min Xi didn't continue the topic and focused on cooking. He saw that the carrots were starting to rot, so he added onions. Then he beat the eggs and flour together and mixed them together to coat the cod fillets with batter later, so that the fillets would not fall apart easily.

When the onions are cooked, add the spices and season well, then put the fish fillets marinated with salt and a little beer into the batter and put them into the soup. As soon as the fish changes color, take it out and pour it into the soup bowl. The first dish is ready.

Min Xi then started to fry the fish, which had been marinated long ago. He beat two eggs, coated the marinated fish with the egg liquid, and fried it in a frying pan brushed with olive oil.

Olives can be grown along the Mediterranean coast. Rich people eat olive oil, while poor people eat linseed oil. Since Sanvis can open a tavern, he is not poor. Especially when entertaining guests, he must use good ingredients.

Min Xi didn't know much about the cooking utensils in the pub, so he tried to make it as much as possible, after all, he had already made a promise, and he couldn't let his reputation down. If the pan wasn't level, he put more oil and added egg liquid to prevent it from sticking to the pan. Min Xi fried the fish smoothly without any sticking or breaking the skin.

The fried fish is served with onions. After all, there are too few ingredients and not much to do with it.

After frying, add some water starch mixed with flour and simmer it.

Originally, the fish can be eaten after it is fried, but because it is grilled, the taste of the two is somewhat similar, so it is better to distinguish between the two.

When the fish was done, Diego's water was boiling. Min Xi called Yun Ji down to take a bath, and used the other stove to steam and grill fish.

At this time, Sanvis, who had gone out to greet the guests, came back and walked into the kitchen. He smelled the fragrance and felt it was good. He asked, "Is everything ready?"

"Have the guests arrived? It will be ready soon." Min Xi turned the grilled fish over and brushed it with olive oil and spices. The aroma of the spices stirred up by the fire filled the entire kitchen. This was a fragrance that Sanvis had never smelled in his life. He was a little convinced that this young man from the East was quite capable and couldn't help but look forward to it.

Sanvis tasted the soup with a spoon and found that it tasted really good, much better than expected: "Not bad!"

Min Xi said to Sanvis, "The fish is already grilled, and the dishes are ready. You can eat first. There is another main course that will be served later."