The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Fernando ate the freshly blanched mutton again: "This tastes absolutely amazing, so delicious. Why did you take out such delicious food only now?"

Yun Ji said: "Hot pot is suitable for winter, and the copper pot was made not long ago."

"Who says it's only suitable for eating in winter? You can eat it all year round!" said Fernando.

Yun Ji smiled but did not answer.

After Gail and Jasper had tried it, Yun Ji said, "Okay, you can blanch the rest yourself. Put whatever you want in it. You're eating alone. Try to put less in the dishes and add more after you're done, to avoid overcooking the meat."

Fernando was eager to try: "Okay, let me do it myself."

Yun Ji gestured to pass the chopsticks to the baron and said, "Sir, please move slowly. Be careful of the heat."

In order to demonstrate today, Fernando did not eat in the private room, but sat downstairs to eat. When customers came, it would be a good promotion. Fernando himself has a bit of a conspicuous temperament, so he readily agreed to eat downstairs.

After they finished demonstrating to Fernando, a customer arrived. Gale hurried over to serve and promote today's new dishes: "Hello, customer. Today we have launched a new way of eating, which is the hot pot on the table next to you. Everything is cooked and eaten immediately, fresh and delicious. Eating a hot pot in winter is guaranteed to warm your whole body. Do you want to try it?"

The guest looked towards the table next to him. The Baron was eating vegetables from a steaming copper pot with gusto. The way he ate was indeed novel and the steaming food was pleasing to the eye. "Then give us one of those pots."

Gail said, "Okay, what dishes would you like? We have lamb, fish, shrimp, shrimp balls, egg dumplings..."

The customer was a little confused after hearing him list a series of names: "No menu?"

"I'm sorry, this dish was just launched today, and we haven't had time to serve it yet..." He was interrupted by Yun Ji before he finished speaking: "We have a menu, and different dishes have different prices. Hot pot soup base is 38 riels, lamb is 25 riels per serving, and shrimp paste is 30 riels..."

When the customer heard this, he thought the price was not expensive, as a portion of mutton usually costs 58 riels. So he ordered as much as he wanted. But after he finished ordering, he found that the price was only over riels, which was not cheaper than a normal dish for two or three people.

But the guests found the food fresh and delicious, and felt warm after eating it, which was particularly satisfying and comfortable.

There weren't many guests tonight because it was raining and many people didn't want to go out, so there wasn't even a table change.

There are basically no customers before eight o'clock.

However, because they were eating hotpot, the guests' appetites grew a lot. The average amount of food per table was much larger than usual, and the per capita consumption was also much higher than usual. There were not many leftover dishes, and most of them were vegetarian. The guests didn't seem to like vegetables very much, but Min Xi liked them very much.

Min Xi cooked himself a spicy hot pot soup base with bean paste and dried chili peppers. This is not difficult to achieve. Eating hot pot without spicy food would be more than half the fun.

So when everyone was eating, two copper pots were placed on the table, one with clear soup base and the other with red soup base.

Min Xi put the meat into the boiling soup and said, "There are two flavors. If you want a light dish, eat the light one. If you want a spicy one, eat the spicy one."

The dim sum shop was closed at this time. Diego and two shop assistants came over. Nine people sat around the table. The big round table was just enough for everyone to sit at. The table was full of dishes. When it came to food, the two bosses, Min Xi and Yun Ji, did not treat their employees harshly.

Everyone stared at the copper pot, waiting for Min Xi's order to start eating.

Min Xi watched the soup in the copper pot begin to boil and the meat that had just been put in changed color. He said, "Okay, let's eat."

So six or seven forks stretched into the clear soup pot, only Min Xi calmly picked up the vegetables from the red soup. Yun Ji hesitated for a moment with the chopsticks in his hand, and finally turned to the red soup pot. Forget it, he decided not to compete with those people.

Min Xi looked at Yun Ji and smiled: "Seventh Brother, why don't you eat clear soup?"

Yun Ji laughed: "I can't win!"

Indeed, seven people scooped food from a copper pot, each with a fork, and the pot was empty. But hot pot is more interesting if you have to fight for it.

Min Xi said, "Seventh Brother, pour a bowl of soup. If it's too spicy, you can rinse it with water."

Yun Ji shook his head: "No more, if you can eat it, I can eat it too."

Min Xi ate the hot pot and exclaimed with satisfaction: "It's really delicious! This is the taste."

"It's really delicious." Yun Ji said, "It feels a bit like spending the winter in our hometown."

They were clearly sitting at the same table, but there was a clear division in how they ate: the two bosses ate the red hotpot, while the seven employees ate the clear soup hotpot.

There are seven people eating, so naturally, as soon as the food is put in, some people will start to pick up the food with forks before it is cooked.

Min Xi and Yun Ji could slowly boil the food and eat it slowly. Min Xi saw that they were having a lot of fun fighting for it and said with a smile, "Why are you all eating the clear soup? You can eat this one too. Come, Diego, let me give you some mutton to try." He picked up a piece of mutton for Diego with long chopsticks.

Diego looked at his boss and laughed, then lowered his head and took a bite. His whole face instantly became like an inflated red balloon: "It's so spicy!" He quickly got up and went to the kitchen to drink water.

Everyone burst out laughing.

Min Xi put the fried dough sticks soaked in soup into Gail's bowl and said, "Here, Gail, try this."

Gail was about to cry: "Boss, thank you, you don't have to pick it up for me, I can do it myself."

Min Xi smiled and said, "Eat it. You're welcome. It will warm you up."

Yun Ji was also laughing, knowing that he was definitely doing it on purpose. After all, as a boss he was not much older than these employees, and was even younger, so it was normal for him to be a little naughty.

Gale had no choice but to eat it. His condition was not much better than Diego's. Tears and snot were flying.

Everyone laughed even harder.

Min Xi said seriously: "Don't laugh, everyone come and try it. In fact, it's not spicy. Hot pot without spiciness has no soul. The spicy one is the most enjoyable!"

Everyone was so scared that they picked up their bowls and fled from the table, fearing that Min Xi would give them some meat.

Seeing them leave, Min Xi quickly used long chopsticks to scoop out two chopsticks of food from the clear soup pot and put them in Yun Ji's bowl: "Seventh brother, eat the food."

When Yun Ji saw it, he couldn't help laughing. His chopsticks were long and thick. With two chopsticks, he had eaten up half of the food in the pot.

Min Xi said seriously: "Did you see that? The soul of eating hot pot is actually chopsticks. If you use a fork and a spoon to eat hot pot, you are destined to lose to me!"

Yun Ji laughed even louder: "Ninth brother, what you said makes sense. As employees of a Chinese restaurant, you should all learn how to use chopsticks."

Min Xi was just teasing them, of course, and said, "Hurry up and sit down. I won't mess with you anymore. The food is already cooked. Eat it quickly. It won't taste good if it's overcooked. After you finish eating, serve it again."

So everyone sat down and started eating again. The hotpot was lively and satisfying. Everyone, regardless of status or age, was like a family.

The boss is not arrogant and does not criticize employees. This state is really ideal for workers. Therefore, the employees in the store are very lucky to find such a good boss. They work very hard and are more respectful to the boss.

By the time they finish eating, there won’t be much food left for the day.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they consciously cleaned up the mess and cleaned up before leaving get off work.

Diego didn't leave, he still had to settle accounts with Yunji.

In the past few days, Yun Ji went there to collect the bills and get the money after he finished his work. Today, he came over to have dinner after closing the shop, and brought the money with him.

While Yunji was checking the accounts, Min Xi asked Diego, "I heard that the tea room is full today?"

Diego said, "Yes, sir. The income of the teahouse today is not bad, a total of more than 800 reais, not counting the money that the guests spent on snacks when they left."

Yunji had already checked the accounts and said, "Today's revenue there is nearly 4 reais, which is not bad."

Min Xi said: "Not bad, the rain did not reduce the income there, but increased it."

Yunji put the account book away, counted out 1000 reais in change, put it in the purse and handed it to Diego: "Put these away and go to bed early."

Diego lifted up his coat, put the purse into the pocket of his underwear, then opened the door and left.