Datang First Chef

After the social day ended, the sage recruited Mo Wenyuan and others to enter the palace. Before entering the palace, Mo Wenyuan met Huikong and the others for a chat, and they all said that it was comfortable to go back to their hometown, and it was very peaceful to sleep on the couch these days .

All the things they saw and heard along the way, as well as what they gained in Tianzhu, have been written in letters and sent back to the capital as soon as possible. This time they entered the palace is just a live demonstration.

Wang Xuance is the envoy, sitting closest to the saint, with the others behind.

The sage was the first to hear about the sugar refining method and the sugar cane planting method. Although the lord of Magadha did not allow the sugar refining craftsmen to go back to the Tang Dynasty with them, there was no restriction on the sugar cane farmers. He simply paid a lot of money to dig a The old farmers went back to Datang to explain how to grow as much sugarcane as possible on land with limited fertility and limited area.

After the planting problem was over, it was finally the turn of the more critical cotton problem. Li Shimin knew about Baidiezi, and not only did he know that people from the Western Regions gave it to him as a tribute. He also lamented that this flower has a very long flowering period. , I have no other ideas.

He didn't expect this thing to have such a magical effect.

Wang Xuance thought more comprehensively. How to really feel the warmth of the cotton padded clothes, of course he had to wear them himself, but it would be disrespectful to let the saints wear the clothes they had worn. saint.

Just as he thought, Li Shimin put on the clothes curiously. He also knew the temperature and temperature, and after putting it on, he said in surprise: "This clothes is very warm."

"How many white stacks do you need to do this?"

Wang Xuance explained in detail: "It takes about five taels of cotton to make a large cotton garment."

Li Shimin pondered, five taels of cotton, this number is much less than he imagined, and his clothes are relatively loose, only five taels are needed, if it is for children or women, the amount of cotton is probably even less.

What needs to be considered now is where the cotton will be planted. The farmers of Fanyana country have some experience. One of the farmers came back with Wang Xuance and the others. Li Shimin summoned him. Although he is from Tianzhu, he also listened Having passed the prestige of the Tang Dynasty, his expression was serious at this time, and he explained how to plant in Sanskrit ji li gua la.

The monk Huiyuan translated: "The land is flat and the water source is abundant. The weather should be hot. It should be hot in the morning and cold in the evening."

The sage fell into deep thought after hearing this. The Tang Dynasty is vast and rich in resources, but there are not many places that meet these conditions at the same time. For example, it is adjacent to the Western Regions. In the future, the temperature difference between day and night will be very large at the location of Anxi Governor, but the water source there is not very sufficient.

The water source in the south of the Yangtze River is sufficient, but the sunshine time does not seem to be long enough.

Saint Xin said that this matter needs to be resolved as soon as possible.

He can't wait to see the first year's cotton harvest.

Mo Wenyuan also received a few words of praise, all for his outstanding performance in the Kucha Kingdom and the discovery of new uses for Baidizi. He is humble and calm, and the sages praised him again and again, saying that he is "a boy born of a hero" .

After the court meeting, everyone went back to their respective homes.

……

After returning home after two years, Mo Wenyuan only felt that the business at home was more prosperous, and the furnishings in the store had also changed a lot.

The big black sheep lay leisurely on the first floor of the store, enjoying the admiration of the people around him. Those voices and eyes were heard and captured by him, which made him feel very good.

Mo Wenyuan walked into the store, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Is this not in compliance with the rules?"

Their shop attaches great importance to hygiene, and it would be too much to let a living animal like a sheep lie here.

Li Sanniang was even more dumbfounded than him: "I don't want to do this either, but it's because the guest officers in the store insisted."

"What are you demanding?"

"It depends on the sheep."

"Ok."

The guest officer approaching heard the conversation between the two, and couldn't stop laughing: "Not only the sheep, but what I want to see more is obviously you, Mo Da."

Mo Wenyuan bowed and said, "Thank you so much."

Seeing Mo Wenyuan coming, Yang stood up leisurely, stretched his waist, and rubbed his head under the man's hands: "Baa baa baa baa baa."

The name of us and others spread in Chang'an City, and many of these people came to see you and me specially.

He was still happy when he said this.

Mo Wenyuan could see clearly the vanity of the big black sheep. He was quite speechless, but he didn't say anything. He touched the sheep's horns and led him out. Li Sanniang said that he would take Mo Wenyuan to see her latest achievements.

One day after the social day ended, Chang'an City resumed its previous busyness. Mo Wenyuan found that more than half of the various windows that originally covered half the street were missing, and a two-story building rose up instead.

I saw such a big change on the first day, but after seeing it, I have to see it for myself.

Sanniang heard that he wanted to see it, so she should put down the work in hand and take a special trip to lead Mo Wenyuan, which made him feel embarrassed: "Mother, please be busy, I can see it by myself at my age."

"Forget it, there are a lot of mysteries in this store, which can really reflect the wisdom of my mother, if I don't take you to see, explain a little bit, how can I sit down?" To put it bluntly, Li Sanniang also wanted to show off a little. one time.

Her character is very young, and now she can reflect the girlishness in the details. According to Mo Wenyuan, Li Sanniang has a young heart, which is obviously very good. I am afraid that her amazing creativity comes from this .

The big black sheep followed up with "baa baa baa baa" and said: "What about me, can I go with you?"

Li Sanniang, who understood his words, looked embarrassed and said: "I really want to, but your figure is too big, and I'm afraid it will be too crowded when I come into the store with you."

How can it be so rare that our omnipotent big black sheep, accompanied by the sound of bleating, his body shrinks rapidly, and he can be held in the palm of Mo Wenyuan's hands.

Mo Wenyuan's expression was serious. He gestured and found that the size of the big black sheep was just right for him to put in his pocket. He only needed to lift his front paws to rest on the edge of the pocket. It was a veritable pocket sheep.

After carefully placing the sheep, his heart was beating fast, and Mo Wenyuan finally felt what it meant to be "so cute that his liver hurts".

The pocket sheep is too cute!

……

There are quite a lot of people coming and going in the second floor. This building has been repaired very large. Compared with the restaurant next to it, the volume has swelled a circle. Mo Wenyuan looked outside, not knowing what was going on inside. Under the urging of Li Sanniang Just entered the door.

As soon as he entered the door, he was stimulated by the turbulent flow of people. There were too many people in the shop, and he could only see taller shelves and crowded heads. Li Sanniang pointed to the door and said: "There are many A rattan basket of the same size, anyone who wants to buy something in the store can take a basket." A few children stood beside the frame, responsible for watching the baskets, and handed one up when people came.

Li Sanniang explained in a low voice: "It's the refugee children in the city, and the little beggars taken in by Ren Xia."

"Why use a beggar?" And Ren Xia took him in?

As long as the people in Chang'an City know that if someone loses money in the city, most of them are beggars, so few merchants hire them to do things.

"I found Liu Ming, the Ren Xia who took in beggars. Since he runs a shop with a lot of people, it is inevitable that there will be thieves patronizing. It is more useful to find these beggars who are already familiar with it than to find those burly men."

Mo Wenyuan's mood was fixed on shouting, he had countless questions, how did A Niang find Ren Xia, why did she think of using poison to fight poison to find the thief, and how was she sure that the beggar would not guard himself?Too many questions lingered in his mind, but seeing Li Sanniang's confident expression, these questions suddenly turned into soot in the air, and they were easily solved.

"How about after taking the rattan basket?"

"Naturally take what you like."

Li Sanniang took Mo Wenyuan into the door to the second floor. He saw the items on the shelves, and he couldn't help being stunned. There were food and drink, everything, and dehydrated dry goods were placed together, such as fried glutinous rice balls, vermicelli sticks, Gluten, etc., soft tofu, etc. are also in the water, and the bottles are exquisitely displayed. The low counter is surrounded by the wall and there are many people busy behind the counter. Among them, you can choose to eat at the vacant place on the first floor, or you can choose to take it away.

Mo Wenyuan was extremely shocked. What he saw was an ordinary ancient grocery store, which clearly had the taste of a modern supermarket.

In ancient China, there were grocery stores, and their names were various. Tang, Zhai, Bao, Dian, Pu, and Si could all be the names of the shops. Needless to say, restaurants are the same as modern times. But other stores are different, such as pharmacy and study, all are accompanied by the owner or the children in the store to inspect the goods, and then the shopkeeper pays the bill.

There is no free shopping, even if there is, the items sold in the store are of a single variety.

Li Sanniang's restaurant sells a lot of miscellaneous things. Although they are all related to food, bottled soy sauce, wine, soy products, and various snacks and cakes are too fast. Semi-finished products, unprocessed products, and cooked foods are sold together. And let the customers take it directly, it has long been separated from the nature of the grocery store.

Mo Wenyuan said: "If you act like this, can someone steal it?" Those pastries that can be stored for a long time are not very safe to be displayed on the shelves.

"Yes, but beggar Ren Xia does have sharp eyes. You can see that there are many people in the store, but there are some children I hired. If they find someone who can't do it, they will ask Ren Xia for help, and then directly turn it over to the government. , After doing it a few times, as an example to others, no one dares to do it."

Li Sanniang said it lightly, but she didn't even mention how many key points she needed to get through, and how she persuaded Ren Xia, who lived in no fixed place, to work for her.

Mo Wenyuan can know just by thinking about how much effort A Niang has put in to open this general store. He can only sigh: "A Niang's ingenuity is very comparable to others."

Pocket Sheep is not very interested in the way of business in the world. His pair of miniature bead eyes have already been locked in the counter that fascinates him the most in the store, that is the pastry counter.

Exquisite cakes are displayed on the stage, and there are staff guarding them. Even if they are selected, they must be carefully picked up by the staff. The water cakes, biscuits and other things are wrapped in paper and placed on the shelf. Pick it up at will, and the air is filled with With the aroma of sweets.

For pocket sheep with a keen sense of smell, he's in heaven here.

"Baa baa baa baa baa!" I, can I eat?

It was rare for Mo Wenyuan not to agree to his request, he said: "Let's eat later, I want to find Hong Da Hong Er later, teach them to make some new pastries, and I will give you the best pastries by then ,what do you think?"

What's more, it couldn't be better for Zhongheiyangna!

……

Two years later, the two sisters, Hong Dahong, are still not married. Seeing that they are of the right age, even Li Sanniang asked her several times, but found that they didn't mean anything.

Hong Da said bluntly: "My sister has already worshiped the master. If she married into his family after marriage, would she pass on her cooking skills to others?" The matchmaker has come to the door many times. There are many more, but after asking who they are from the He family, it turns out that most of them are nephews or parents of the owner of the steamed cake shop.

The two sisters were about to laugh angrily. Their family background was not obvious, and their appearance was mostly beautiful. If they could make these wealthy people propose marriage, what else would they value if they didn't value their craftsmanship?Everyone knows Sima Zhao's heart.

Back then, Mao Sui recommended Mo Wenyuan as his teacher because he was so independent back then, which proved that the two of them were different. Hong Er's character was a little quiet, and now he said in a soft voice: "I'm just married, not to mention finding acquaintances." Those who love each other should respect each other as guests, and not covet my handicraft."

After Li Sanniang told Mo Wenyuan about this, he sighed: "Although I taught them the skills, but the marriage was delayed, I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse."

When Li Sanniang heard this, she immediately glared at Mo Wenyuan and said, "How could it be a disaster! Regardless of whether a lady or husband stands in the world, isn't she relying on her handiwork? The two of them have learned the skill of making cakes, and they can gain a foothold no matter where they are. It can even leave some reputation in the wild history, the marriage of ordinary women can only leave the name of Zhenlie, and the comparison between the two will immediately see the superiority."

Among the crowd and stand out, the sisters chose the latter, what's wrong with that?

Mo Wenyuan and the Pocket Sheep retracted their necks at the same time, and Li Sanniang was so frightened that both of them were terrified. The Pocket Sheep even retracted its head into the bag, leaving only a pair of horns trembling outside.

And the former said with a chicken pecking at the rice: "Yes, yes, yes, you are right!" He should have known that Li Sanniang, a cross-generational woman with extremely new ideas, would never agree with the Tang Dynasty.

Although the Tang Dynasty claims to be the most equal dynasty in ancient times, it is still a little different from modern times. Even in modern times, many people have misunderstood the fate of women.

After the conversation was over, Mo Wenyuan went to find the sisters from the Hong family and Qian Mian, the fourth apprentice. Qian Mian was good at making pastry. In the past two years, he often exchanged skills with the two sisters, and their workplaces were quite close.

Mo Wenyuan went to the back kitchen first, and the three of them were busy working. When they saw the master coming, they stopped immediately, Qian Mian was the fastest, and when he bent his knees, he was about to salute. Mo Wenyuan had quick eyesight and quick hands. Stop it.

"Master!"

"Why do you do such a great gift?" Mo Wenyuan said with a smile, "Get up, get up."

When he just came back, he had already met with many apprentices twice, but then it was the social day, and everyone started to be busy, so until now he has no chance to talk to Mo Wenyuan properly.

The way their teachers and apprentices talk is to exchange all kinds of cooking experience, and it is the same at this time. Mo Wenyuan unexpectedly took out a book. The words on the cover are at most neat, but the name catches everyone's eyes.

"Tianzhu Gourmet Tour"

……

In ancient times, how to record what you saw, heard and experienced along the way, and pass it on to future generations?Of course, he wrote a book like Tang Xuanzang.Mo Wenyuan is a chef. Of course he couldn't write "The Story of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", but he also saw a lot of food with local characteristics along the way from Chang'an to Tianzhu. There are already rudiments of modern dishes, and some are the experience of using Tianzhu spices. Even Mo Wenyuan, a modern person, has benefited a lot from seeing these.

He spread the books on the low table amidst the petrified expressions of his apprentices: "In addition to what I saw and heard on the road, I also recorded some new dishes that I was inspired to make. I tasted them and they were very good. When the time comes I'll leave it to you to wait."

"This, this, isn't it good?" Qian Mian stuttered after hearing this. He glanced at the book cover and then moved his eyes away. It was obvious that he longed for this book, but felt it was not good.

Mo Wenyuan said: "What's wrong?" He smiled, "I will leave all my crafts to you, but now I just put together those ideas into a book, and let you have a look." He said, " In this book, I can prepare to advertise the famous chefs in the world, so that everyone can enjoy the delicious food along the way, of course, the new dishes I cook will not appear in the book."

That's amazing too, isn't it?The disciples were dumbfounded, as expected the master's ideological realm was beyond their comprehension.

Mo Wenyuan said: "Don't gossip, let's read this book first." He said suddenly, "I can't write well, so don't laugh at me."

"How could it be, how can I laugh at Master?"

Qian Mian even held the rough-bound paper with trembling hands, like a treasure.

Hong Da has already started to turn the pages of the book. She is a discerning person, and she stopped moving after turning a page. She pointed to the book and said to Mo Wenyuan, "Master, what are egg tarts?"

Naturally, egg tarts couldn't be the food on the westbound road, but in the Western Regions he saw delicious meringue similar to egg tart skin.

There are two kinds of food that are very developed in the Western Regions, one is dairy products, and the other is various baked pancakes.The unique fat pastures of the nomads make them naturally superior to the Central Plains people in grazing. Lamb, easy-to-carry scones and cheese dairy products have become the mainstream food.

Because of this, people from the Western Regions are better than people from the Central Plains in scones. Mo Wenyuan once ate a kind of flax cake here. The taste is very different from the sesame cakes in Chang'an City. The crumbs are flaky and fall down like snowflakes. This kind of crumbs are granular, harder than the granules of the egg tart skin, and softer than the granules of the peach cake.

People in the Western Regions say that this kind of pancake is not very filling, but it is easy to store. They usually stack several pieces together and compact them for dry food.

Naturally, Mo Wenyuan would not make it into dry food. Desserts are different from ordinary food. Taste and texture are the soul, and they are indispensable. He has eaten this kind of pancakes, and the taste is not very delicious, but the texture is really delicious. It is suitable for matching with various other foods. He was so inspired at that time that he took a pen and recorded many thoughts on paper.

"Let me show you how to make this first."

Flour, eggs, sugar, and oil soup are always in stock, and they are piled up under the stove in front of the hall.

Mo Wenyuan noticed a detail, he said: "Compared to last time, the oil in the barrel has increased a lot."

Hong laughed and said, "If the oil price is low, there will be more oil in the barrel? With the current oil price, we can use it freely, and it doesn't matter much."

In the past two years, Shengren's oil refinery has grown bigger and bigger, and the sesame seeds planted extensively in the north have also had a bumper harvest. The oil in Li Sanniang's restaurant is squeezed from the soybean sesame seeds grown in the field, which is more than enough for all stores.Even if you don't make your own oil, you can buy official vegetable oil at a price that ordinary people in Bajing can afford.

While kneading the dough with oil, he said: "If there is a chance, the oil of milk is the best." The oil of milk he said is butter.

"But the oil made by the barbarians in the north?"

As early as the fifth century BC, the Huns, who mainly engaged in animal husbandry, were proficient in various milk processing methods, and butter was one of them.

After the Five Dynasties, Ten Kingdoms and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Xiongnu, like many ethnic groups, disappeared into the torrent of history. Some of them were integrated into the Han people, and some were integrated into the clan of the Hu people. By the Tang Dynasty, the Huns had already become history. nouns in .

Hu people in the north also used animal husbandry. They not only raised sheep, but also raised cattle. There are no dairy cows in China. They graze yaks and the like, and the milk production of these cows is not very high.

Butter is available, but it is so scarce and so expensive that it is not practical to use in large quantities for pastry.

Vegetable oil is actually not very good for snacks, but there is no harm.

"The oil is crispy, and when mixed with the noodles, the finished product will be very crispy."

"After that, I started to fold the quilt."

Make a quilt?None of the three knew what it meant.

Then I saw Mo Wenyuan fold the thin skin into a square shape, and then flatten it with a rolling pin, then fold it into a square quilt, and then flatten it.

Repeat this several times, press the rolled dough into a mold, and wait for it to cool.

Egg tart liquid is easy to make, even without Mo Wenyuan's teaching, everyone else can learn it by themselves, he said: "I just saw a jelly-like food on the counter, it tastes even delicious, who made it of?"

Hong Er said: "I did it."

She is very innovative, and after a long time with Mo Wenyuan, she also figured out how to make a new food. One day, she added asparagus to the egg liquid, and it condensed into a somewhat thin pudding.

It tasted so good that it was immediately put on the shelves and received rave reviews.

Mo Wenyuan said: "The method of egg liquid in the inner layer of the egg tart is similar to that." He continued to talk, beat the two whole eggs and goat milk with granulated sugar oil evenly, poured them into the cooled egg tart skin, and then put them on the iron grid to bake.

The egg tarts that come out are not very evenly heated, and the bottom is more burnt, but it is the best under this condition.

The egg liquid is coagulated, and the taste is soft and silky, without the slightest honeycomb hole.

If you say who is the most satisfied among the testers, it is nothing more than Pocket Sheep. His body is small, and the egg tart has become a Big Mac for him. He buries his head in it and eats it so hard stand up.

"Baa baa baa baa baa!"

There are benefits to being small too!

Mo Wenyuan heard his bleating and said dotingly: "When I have some free time, I'll build you a candy house."

In ancient times, there was the golden house of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to store delicate animals, and now there is Mo Dalang's sugar house to store sheep.

What a beautiful love story.