The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi woke up from his afternoon nap and found that it was raining outside. He looked out of the attic window and saw the cold wind and rain hitting the window. Although the rain was not heavy, it made people feel inexplicably cold.

"It's raining. Seventh brother, I think it's time to eat hotpot." Min Xi said to Yun Ji who was studying mathematics at the table.

Yun Ji raised his head: "Hot pot?"

Min Xi said, "It's just hot pot."

Yun Ji understood: "Oh, yes, the weather is cold, it's suitable to eat something hot."

Lisbon has entered winter, but the temperature here is not bad. The lowest temperature is around zero degrees, and it won't last long. It's usually around 10 degrees during the day. The only bad thing is that the wind is strong and there is a lot of rainfall. When it rains, it feels even colder. Eating hot pot is the best choice. Of course, dry pot is also good.

When the dim sum shop was renovated some time ago, because a batch of pots and kitchen utensils needed to be customized, Min Xi specially spent a lot of money to have the blacksmith make 14 copper pots for him to prepare for hot pot. These copper pots are not cheap, one costs nearly two reais, but Yun Ji did not stop him.

Thanks to the fact that the Fulangji brought back a lot of gold and silver from overseas, the Fulangji no longer relied entirely on copper coins. The price of copper dropped, and they could afford to make copper pots.

In addition, he customized a batch of small peat stoves and clay pots. The small stove in the tea room was made together this time. This small stove and clay pot can also be used to make dry pot, which is also suitable for eating in winter.

Min Xi said, "Then I'll go downstairs and get ready. We'll have hot pot tonight."

Yun Ji originally wanted to dissuade him because eating hot pot takes too much time, but when he thought about how every meal since they opened the restaurant was like a war and they had never had a good meal, he swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

Min Xi had just gone downstairs and asked Greta to wash the copper pot when he saw Baron Fernando pushing the door in, wrapped in cold and damp clothes.

He took off his hat and shook off the water on it, then took off his outer cloak and shook off the rain on it, complaining: "It's so cold! It's so cold and I have nowhere to go. It's even more miserable just thinking about it!"

Min Xi looked at him and asked, "Why do you say that, sir?"

Fernando said, "I wanted to go sit in the teahouse and spend the afternoon, but it was full. It's raining and I have nowhere to go. So I had to come to your place. Please light a fire and warm yourself."

Min Xi smiled and said, "Please wait a moment! I'll get you a stove."

Fernando didn't wait for Min Xi to prepare the small stove. He went straight into the kitchen and sat down by the stove. Amanda, who was lighting the fire, was startled. How could such a distinguished guest enter the kitchen?

Min Xi didn't care, but just reminded: "There is a lot of smoke here, please be careful not to dirty your clothes."

Fernando didn't care. He warmed himself by the fire and almost put his hand into the stove. "This damn weather is really cold."

"It will be colder on rainy days." Min Xi replied casually.

"It was raining, but the wind was so strong that it almost blew my hat away," said Fernando.

Min Xi put the coals from the stove into the small stove and said, "Okay, sir, go outside and warm yourself by the fire. The kitchen is narrow and dirty, not suitable for warming yourself by the fire."

Fernando went outside at Min Xi's urging and looked at the stove in Min Xi's hand: "This is too small."

"It's enough to keep you warm. I'll put the stove under the chair, and you won't be cold when you sit on the chair and warm yourself." Min Xi taught him how to warm yourself by the fire.

Fernando said, "Why don't you have a fireplace here, too? Like a tea room."

Min Xi said, "I just didn't have any experience before. Besides, the hot food warms my whole body, so there's no need to warm myself by the fire."

Fernando said: "I don't think so. It's so cold, the food will get cold while we are eating it."

Min Xi smiled and said, "Of course I have a way. Otherwise, do you think I made such a small stove just to warm the guests?"

Fernando was puzzled and asked, "What is that for?"

Min Xi said, "Of course it's to heat up the food. I'll serve you a new dish tonight, and I'll make sure you eat it hot."

Fernando couldn't help but look forward to it.

Min Xi walked out the door and wrote the name of today's new dish with a charcoal stick: hot pot.

In fact, he didn't prepare any special ingredients for hot pot today, but in winter, there are only a few dishes, so he just used the stir-fried dishes for hot pot. And he estimated that since it was raining today, there wouldn't be too many customers, so the ingredients should be enough.

Min Xi returned to the kitchen and began to prepare the hot pot soup base. He first stewed a pot of broth with chicken so that he could add soup to everyone at any time.

Then process the ingredients, slice the mutton, slice the fish, make shrimp paste, make some fish balls, and make some egg dumplings.

Ask Amanda, Gail and others to quickly make some dumplings with lamb and shrimp as the filling. This will be the staple food today and will also be cooked in the hot pot.

Yun Ji came down soon after. Seeing that everyone was busy, he asked, "Are you starting to prepare so early?"

Min Xi said, "Seventh Brother, can you help me fry some dough sticks?"

Yun Ji said: "Are you really eating shabu-shabu?"

"Of course. The only drawback is that there are fewer varieties of vegetables," said Min Xi.

It is winter now, and the most common vegetables are cabbage, spinach, carrots and white radish, which are all suitable for hot pot. I didn't plan to eat hot pot today, so I didn't prepare enough, but foreigners don't seem to like vegetables that much.

It gets dark early in winter, around six o'clock, so guests come to eat earlier.

Min Xi said to the busy crowd, "Let's have hot pot today. Let's save the dishes first. We'll eat after the guests leave. If you're hungry, just eat two buns first."

When everyone heard this, they instantly perked up. They were eating from the same copper pot as the guests, and there were so many dishes, so it was worth it even if it was late.

While everyone was busy preparing the dishes, Min Xi quickly prepared some dipping sauces, including spicy, soy sauce, and garlic. In fact, he thought the spicy ones were enough. The clear soup hotpot itself was delicious, and with the chicken soup base, anything would taste good.

The first person to eat hot pot was naturally Baron Fernando. The copper pot was placed in the middle of the table, and various meats and vegetables were placed around the pot in order. All of them were raw. It was the first time for the Baron to see this way of eating, and he was quite curious: "Even the meat is raw?"

Yun Ji said: "Yes, after the soup in the copper pot starts to boil, you can put the dishes in."

The charcoal fire in the copper pot was burning brightly, and the already boiling chicken soup soon began to boil. Yun Ji took off the lid covering the soup and said, "You can add the vegetables. What kind do you want to eat?"

Fernando asked curiously, "Any one will do, right?"

"Of course." Yun Ji said.

Fernando said, "What is this?" He pointed at the shrimp slider and asked.

Yun Ji said: "This is shrimp paste, made with shrimp. Let me put this in your mouth first." In fact, he didn't know what shrimp paste was, and Min Xi had never made it before.

Fernando nodded: "Okay."

Yunji helped him use chopsticks to slide the shrimp in. In order to eat hot pot, Yunji also cut many pairs of long chopsticks himself to make it easier to put food in and pick up food, but he didn't know if the foreigners would use them.

Fernando looked at the chopsticks in his hand curiously and said, "Why are these chopsticks so long?"

"This is specially made for hot pot." Of course, fried dough sticks can also be used.

After waiting for a while, the shrimp paste changed color. Yun Ji scooped it up with a spoon and put it in his bowl, saying, "It should be ready. Try it."

Fernando took a bite. The hot shrimp paste was chewy and delicious. He felt like he was in heaven. "It's so delicious!"

Yun Ji said, "You guys come and try how to serve the dishes." He told Gail and Jasper who were standing beside him that the reason he was serving the Baron personally was to demonstrate to the two waiters and show the guests how to eat in a while.

Yun Ji said, "When blanching food, don't scald it for too long, or the food will become old and lose its taste and flavor. Don't scald it too early, or it will be undercooked and raw. Generally speaking, wait a little longer until the meat has completely changed color. The dumplings are not cooked until they float out of the soup. There are three kinds of dipping sauces here, you can use whichever you want. If you don't want to use any of them, just eat the original flavor, because the soup base of this hot pot is chicken soup, which is delicious enough. You two, keep an eye on the soup base in the guest's pot at all times. If it's too little, add more soup in time, unless you see that the guest has basically finished his food and will not add any more food, and you are sure that no more soup is needed, then don't add more."