Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Jiang Shangxian asked them to buy twenty-five black fish. The guards thought that the breakfast dishes were not enough, so they bought thirty on their own.

There were thirty fish. Jiang's mother didn't know what she felt like, but she felt that she could go to RT-Mart to work smoothly - hold down one fish, hit the fish's head hard with a wooden stick, then release some, cut off the fins, scrape off the scales, chop off the head, cut open the belly, and clean out the internal organs. Her method was ruthless and quick!

After rinsing, cut into fish pieces about seven millimeters thick. The processed fish pieces filled two basins.

Fortunately, the Dali Temple only provides two meals a day, otherwise we really won’t be able to make it to Lexianlou’s usual lunch time.

What Jiang Shangxian wants to make is a sweet and sour dish - sweet and sour smoked fish.

Rinse the processed fish pieces, add ginger slices, green onion segments, soy sauce and rice wine and mix well, then spread them into a flat bamboo basket and place them in the yard to dry.

Because they could go home after finishing this meal, but Cui Bianxu still had to work overtime, Jiang Shangxian specially ordered a relatively rich lunch menu. After all, there were limited manpower and she was the only one who cooked.

Huang Niangzi and Xu Niangzi had already finished washing the dishes, but Jiang Shangxian didn't let them idle at all. One of them peeled the bamboo shoots and cut them into slices, while the other peeled garlic, minced it, and cut the pickles.

Jiang Shangxian herself was boiling glutinous rice noodles with boiling water. In addition to the Hu pancakes bought from outside, the other staple food for lunch was these small sugar pancakes made of boiled noodles. However, these were sweet, so she probably couldn't eat too many. She decided to make eighty of them and stop there.

(There is no conclusive evidence of the origin of glutinous rice, but existing documents and archaeological data show that it existed very early and was widely spread. There are records of glutinous rice in the Book of Songs.)

When it comes to boiling noodles, people who have never done it will definitely feel a little unsure, but once you have done it, it will be very clear: just be brave and boil it directly!

The glutinous rice dough kneaded in this way is smooth and soft. Jiang Shangxian actually likes to add white sugar to this cake, which is now called malt sugar, a substance similar to malt sugar. However, this substance is more expensive than sucrose, so she still chose cheap sucrose, which is about eight or nine cents per pound.

Mixing sugar and sesame adds a touch of flavor to the filling. Wrap it with a spoon, fry it in a pan until both sides are golden brown, and then you can eat it.

She moved quickly, and soon palm-sized pancakes piled up on the chopping board. This had to be done last, while it was still piping hot. The sugar inside had melted, and she gently bit through the soft and glutinous pancake crust. At this time, she had to be very careful and move quickly, otherwise she would be burned and blistered by the sesame sugar water that suddenly flowed out.

After drying the fish, Jiang's mother came in and wanted to help her. She was then directed to cut cabbage. At this time of year, there were still too few cheap vegetables. Only those that could be stored for a long time, such as cabbage, were the cheapest.

She planned to stir-fry the cabbage with lard residue. Stir-fried cabbage always lacks flavor, but it can be paired with the lard residue left over from boiling lard. The crispy and delicious cabbage paired with the lard residue is so fragrant that it is oily, not greasy at all, and especially refreshing!

Compared with cabbage, in modern times she prefers to use Shanghai green to stir-fry oil residue. Shanghai green has thick flesh and a sweet taste, and stir-frying them together is simply a match made in heaven!

It's a pity that there is none at this time. Fortunately, even if the cabbage has been frosted and left for a while, after peeling off the outer layers, the inside still has a sweet taste, so it's acceptable.

Jiang's mother couldn't hold back her words and started another small talk with her: "I originally thought it would be respectable for you to work as a chef at the Dali Temple. But now it seems that being a chef at the Dali Temple is too tiring, having to cook for so many people by yourself."

The most important thing is that the people who come and go to eat in the Dali Temple are all the same group of people, and they are all court officials. It is better than the mixed crowd in Lexianlou.

Jiang Shangxian was actually quite bored when repeating the same operation. His mind was usually blank or he was lost in random thoughts. Now that Jiang's mother wanted to chat, she was quite happy to do so. "That's not necessarily true. Look at this place. It's so big, and there are so many people. I heard that only one-third of them haven't come to work yet. If they do, it would be a big deal. They must have assigned several people, maybe five or six."

Jiang's mother nodded in agreement. "That's about right. Luckily we're only doing it for four days, otherwise we'd get sick from exhaustion."

The two people from the Wang family who came to help in the kitchen were obviously used to a good life in the mansion. They were too slow. It took them so long to wash those dishes...

"This chef from the Dali Temple must have some background." Jiang Shangxian muttered softly.

Jiang's mother pricked up her ears, expecting some accurate gossip: "What do you mean?"

"This place is much more lucrative than Lexianlou. When I was in Lexianlou, the most I could get was some food. But here, besides food, you might even get money for the ingredients."

Jiang's mother was very quick-witted in this regard. She quickly came to her senses, slapped her thigh, winked, and lowered her voice: "That's right, if we squeeze it into the food money, won't we save money?!"

Jiang Shangxian also had this experience in modern times. There were four aunties in the cafeteria of her mother's unit. One of them earned 3,500 yuan, and the remaining three each earned 3,000 yuan. Even so, they were reluctant to leave.

Because everyone's meals have a standard fee, the food money is allocated to the aunties based on the number of people every month. The aunties only need to prepare the standard three dishes and one soup after receiving the money. No matter what the dishes are, as long as they are cooked, it's done, and the money saved is theirs.

Jiang's mother had never been to school, and all her math skills were honed in daily life. She lowered her head and calculated for a while, then licked her lips with a silly smile on her face: "What do you think, Aunt, come here to help in the kitchen?"

Jiang Shangxian:......

"Mother, even if we make money, it should be the cooks who make it, right?" Although Jiang Shangxian didn't know the details, in modern times, the leader would get the biggest share, and the rest would just get a small amount of hush money, not to mention now.

Jiang's mother felt a little regretful. Yes, her cooking skills were only good enough to cook for the Jiang family at home. After all, her best dish was braised lamb.

After wrapping the sugar cakes, the chickens outside were also cleaned up. The guards' skill in plucking the chicken feathers was obviously much worse than their skill in killing the chickens. There were only fifteen chickens, but it took so long!

Jiang Shangxian, who was sharpening his knife and waiting to cut the chicken, secretly put the chicken into a large steamer, covered it with ginger slices, green onion segments, and rice wine, and steamed it. These chickens were prepared to make scallion oil chicken. It happened that the steamer was not needed, and scallion oil chicken was the easiest to make and it was especially delicious.

There were no farms at that time. All the chickens were raised at home and sold. They were all free-range chickens. If you wanted to eat enough, you had to work hard to catch insects. The chicken was delicious without even having to be blanched.

When she put the eggs on the steamer, she found that there were unhatched eggs in the stomachs of several chickens. They were yellow, small, and in clusters. She picked them all off and put them on the same plate.

She wants to eat these herself!