Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Although Jiang Wangri and Xia Zhenying were very excited when they saw the crabs, they were very sensible and ate them with restraint.

With every bite, they used their teeth to pick out every shred of crab meat, and they didn't take more than they could take. Each person would stop after eating two pieces and would not even look at it again.

Jiang Shangxian didn't go to eat either. One reason was that she had already eaten at Lexianlou during the day, and the other was that the crabs at this time only had roe but no roe, and she hated eating roe the most!

Her favorite paste would only be available when the weather turned cooler and the autumn wind blew.

Seeing that she didn't eat it, Mrs. Xia thought she was sensible and reached out to take a piece and put it in her bowl, but she quickly dodged to prevent the yellow from getting on the Hu pancake.

Seeing this, Jiang's mother knew that she really didn't want to eat: "Aniang, Zhenying, Erlang, just eat by yourselves. She is in Lexianlou, and there is nothing she can't eat."

Are you kidding? Their Nian Nu is a cook now!

How can a chef be without oil and water? If even the chef is without oil and water, the world will be in chaos!

Jiang's mother felt that if Jiang Shangxian continued to eat at Lexianlou until she got married, she would definitely gain two or three pounds!

After dinner, the whole family was in the yard, each with a small stool. Xia Zhenying sat by the water tank, rolled up her sleeves, and skillfully used a bamboo brush and wood ash to scrub the dishes. Jiang Wangri was responsible for using the remaining water from washing the dishes to water the vegetables.

(At that time, there was no loofah, so there was no loofah pulp. Loofah was probably introduced to China from India in the late Tang Dynasty and early Song Dynasty.)

"Nian Nu, tell me what kind of food you want to eat. I can also calculate how much money I need to prepare." Perhaps because she was full, she felt a little sleepy. Mother Jiang spoke slowly, and the movement of waving the palm fan in her hand was also nonchalant.

This palm fan made of palm leaves has been mass-produced since the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Due to its low price, it has become a must-have item for ordinary people to cool down and fan themselves in the home.

At this time, except for the two younger ones who were working, Jiang Shangxian and the other two, each held a handful of mosquitoes, mainly to drive away mosquitoes. Although they lit a handful of mugwort, there were still mosquitoes, and they bit their faces, leaving red bumps, which was quite annoying.

Catching fireflies with a light silk fan is not common in the Jiang family. Using a large palm leaf fan to swat mosquitoes is the norm.

Mosquitoes are really creatures with strong vitality.

Jiang Shangxian sighed, slapping his fan across his face quickly. "Zhenying, I've been thinking about it. How about making mutton ramen?"

Beef is absolutely not allowed. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the protection of oxen for farming reached its peak. No matter whether they were adult cows, calves, or old cows that were about to die, they were no longer allowed to be slaughtered or bought. Even cows that died of natural causes had to be reported to the county government for inspection before they could be sold publicly or used at home.

"What is ramen?" Xia Zhenying asked.

The most common noodle food eaten by the Tang people is 馎饦, which is wide, thick and chewy.

It is somewhat similar to the modern Northeastern noodles, or it can be said to be the ancestor version of pulled noodles.

Of course, this thing has been extended to many varieties in modern times, such as Huozhou's dog tongue noodles, Shaanxi's steamed noodles, Jilin's water pulled noodles, Shanxi's pian'er soup, Sichuan's bate'er, Guizhou's mai'erduo, Guanzhong's old crow sa, Henan's stewed noodles...

After all, food has evolved over time and in different regions into countless similar yet different things.

Ramen is made with flour and corn starch. Modern ramen shops will add ash water, which is actually grass ash made from burning ash grass. It can be used to extract alkali and grows in arid areas such as Gansu, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Shanxi.

No one grows this thing on purpose, but it's abundant in sandy land, hillsides, and riverbanks. However, at this time, it's treated as a weed, and adding it to noodles can make them more chewy.

This is added to modern Lanzhou ramen.

During the process of making, the dough needs to be oiled twice, and it takes longer to rest than steamed buns.

The ramen made in this way is thin and chewy, long and sticky, and extremely delicious.

After she finished speaking, she saw that they all looked confused. After a moment's thought, she said, "It's too late today. Zhenying, go out and pick some firewood tomorrow. Mother, ask the mutton shop to send some mutton bones, meat, and offal tomorrow. The next morning, I'll make it for you. Zhenying, follow me and see if you can learn."

"Yes! Thank you for your trouble, cousin."

Xia Zhenying's eyes sparkled, and she clenched her fists as she promised, "I will definitely study hard!"

Jiang's mother's cooking skills were just mediocre. Every time she made futu soup, the noodles were as thick as orange peels and took a long time to cook thoroughly. "According to you, this thing needs to be pulled out and cooked?"

How much does this cost?

They make their own braised mutton, which means they cook it at home and then push it over to sell. There is no need to cook outside. As for ramen, it must be cooked and eaten fresh, right?

Otherwise, wouldn't it be a mess?

Jiang Shangxian had also considered this question: "Let's set up right at the entrance to the inner square. We'll definitely need a table and four small stools. People need to sit down to eat, or they can take their own bowls home. We can actually move this from home every morning and bring it back when we close the stall, but it's a bit more troublesome."

Jiang's mother nodded. "It's such a short distance, it won't be a big deal to move it. What else?"

It's always better to put in some effort than to spend money.

"I'm afraid the bowls we have at home won't be enough. We need a big bowl for this, and two bowls for the chopped green onions and cilantro, Erlang. Go get some bamboo tomorrow and cut three pairs of chopsticks that are two or three times longer than the ones we usually use."

This is Jiang Shangxian's selfishness. It would be fine if the family's rice bowls were washed and used, but it would be very annoying if so many people outside were using them.

Of course, she actually ate out quite often, and the food had been used and washed by countless people. To put it bluntly, it was just awkward.

As for chopsticks, shouldn't you use long chopsticks when cooking noodles? She wasn't worried about the chopsticks for the guests. The chopsticks for her own use were all shaved by this guy. If she got bamboo, he would make sure there would be no waste and he could shaved a lot.

"Okay, I get it. What else?"

"Well, we need one large clay pot and two small ones. After we make the soup at home, we can take the large one out, and use the two small ones to store the mutton and mutton. We also need a small clay stove. When people come to buy, we can use the clay pots on the small clay stove to cook noodles and heat the soup."

This is the only way to save money while ensuring the taste of the ramen to the greatest extent.

Although it cannot be like the modern Lanzhou ramen restaurant where a cow can be sold for a year and still only has a slight loss, it cannot put too much meat either, as too much will increase the unit price.

Of course, if you think there is not enough meat, you can spend money to add more.

"That's not bad." Jiang's mother silently calculated the money in her mind and felt that it was similar to what she had originally planned.

"We also need a table for Zhenniang to put her things, such as pulled noodles."

Although it's not as exaggerated as Lanzhou ramen, where the noodles are thrown on the steel plate with a "dong dong dong" sound, we don't know how the business will be. If we knead the noodles at home and take them out, we will be in trouble if we can't sell them, right?

It would be better to knead the dough and then tear off a bowl when someone buys it. It’s very fast anyway, so you just need to tear off several portions in advance.

Jiang's mother had her own decision on this matter: "The table in my room is useless if it's empty. Take it first. If you can really make money from it, we'll talk about it later."