The south is a land of fish and rice, and the weather has been good for the past two years. Under the policy of reducing corvees and reducing taxes, there is still a small surplus of food. In the north, there have been severe droughts year after year. Although Tanggu is near the sea, the crop yields have decreased a lot, not to mention the severe drought in the northwest.
The south-to-north grain transfer is a wise decision of today's emperor to open up the national treasury, purchase a large amount of grain from the south, and transfer it to the north through sea and river transportation to stabilize grain prices and minimize disasters. This is also one of the reasons why there have been no large-scale refugee refugees in the north despite years of drought.
Prince Jing is the uncle of the current Holy Majesty. Although his qualifications are mediocre, he has a kind and loyal heart. Since he was in charge of shipping, he has done it by himself many times, and has personally escorted the sea ships to transport grain to the north many times, and sent the grain to the north.
The sixth brother is going to receive his capable generals. If he wants to continue to take over the shipping business, it is necessary to establish a good relationship with him.
In order to keep the dishes hot and fresh, Sixth Brother asked Xiaocao to stand by in the restaurant's kitchen, and Xiaocao readily agreed. For the job of selling stewed vegetables at the pier, her father alone is enough.
It was past breakfast time when the grain convoy docked. Steward Wu of Prince Jing's Mansion has long been tired of the life on the ship, but he has been to Tanggu Wharf more than once, and he knows the conditions there very well. Steward Wu came to this simple restaurant under the leadership of the six sons, with the mentality that he would set foot on the land early and have a mouthful of hot food.
"Call the kitchen to serve the food!" Although the six sons were enthusiastic, they were not eager, natural and unaffected, which made Guanshi Wu feel very at ease.
"Okay!" Not long after Xiao Er went out, he brought up a bowl of green and golden egg drop soup, and said the name of the dish: "A bowl of 'opening soup', two guests, please take it easy!"
One of the guests in the private room is full of style, and anyone with a discerning eye can tell that his identity is extraordinary. Although they didn't order food from the store, they were rewarded with money. From the shopkeeper to the waiters in the restaurant, they all worked hard to entertain them.
"Huh? Is this a small green vegetable? The green vegetable is already on the market at this time?" Guanshi Wu had just landed and felt his feet were still shaking. When he saw the green vegetable leaves in this bowl, he immediately felt refreshed and had an appetite. .
The sixth brother was also very surprised. At this time, the vegetables should not have been planted. This little grass, where can I get the vegetables to make the soup. But he calmly helped Guanshi Wu to serve a bowl of vegetable soup, and said with a smile: "Guanwu Wu, how does this soup taste..."
"Open Soup" is light and refreshing, with tender vegetable leaves and golden egg flower, it melts in your mouth. This fresh taste suits Guanshi Wu's taste. He drank two big bowls in a row before stroking his beard and saying with a smile: "Good! Good!! It tastes great!"
The second one came was stewed dried bean curd, fragrant old stewed, delicious dried bean curd, although it was a vegetarian dish, Wu Guanshi, who liked all kinds of meat, still tasted several chopsticks before stopping.
The third dish "Pearl Balls", the glutinous rice grains are crystal clear, exuding a pearl-like color, the round balls, one bite, not only the mellow aroma of pork, but also the fresh aroma of duck egg yolk, plus the flavor of glutinous rice It is fragrant and delicious, even Wu Guanshi, who has eaten all the delicacies in the north and south, is full of praise:
"Six! This 'pearl ball' tastes good, and the name is elegant. This small restaurant has changed chefs? Where did the chef come from? It is no less inferior than the Zhuangyuan Building in the capital! Let's just say it's simple. The dried tofu can actually make such a taste... Tell me, if I poach him away, will the shopkeeper here fight me hard?"
Sixth Brother smiled and said, "Wu Guanshi is absurd. You have traveled all over the country with His Highness Prince Jing. What kind of food have you never tasted? It's just that you have been on the boat for a long time, and you are in a good mood when you go ashore, so you don't want to eat anything. I think it’s good—this is braised pork with pickled vegetables, you can taste it, can you still eat it?”
"Meicai Pork" Xiaocao is the evenly fat and thin part of the selected pork belly, and the oil has been removed. It is delicious but not greasy. Guanshi Wu also had a hard time when he was a child. He just took a bite and ate several yuan before stopping his chopsticks. It turns out that pork can also be made so high-end...
After eating meat, Xiaocao served a vegetarian dish - "Hot and Sour Cabbage". Wu Guanshi was tired of eating radishes and cabbage when he was a child, and he seemed to be very displeased with this dish. After trying it with chopsticks, he found that the taste is sour and spicy, and the taste is really good. I sighed in my heart: to be able to do this with cabbage, maybe only the imperial chef has this skill
The following "Shredded Pork with Beijing Sauce" surprised him even more. The small thin dough, rolled with shredded pork and green onion, has such a texture and incredible effect! Wu Guanshi couldn't stop at all.
Don't underestimate this shredded pork with Beijing sauce. The sauce process alone requires seven or eight steps, but Xiaocao is so hard to do. It took countless trials and errors before it was prepared to achieve the effect she wanted. However, her efforts were not in vain. If it wasn't for his status, Manager Wu would have asked the chef for the recipe for this dish!
The last "boiled fish fillet" completely conquered Wu Guanshi's taste buds. The eye-catching red pepper is bright and eye-catching, but it tastes spicy but not dry, numb but not bitter. The cooked fish tastes smooth and tender, oily but not greasy. It not only removes the fishy smell, but also keeps the freshness of the fish. Once people enter, there is a feeling of wanting to stop.
After eating a meal, Steward Wu touched his stomach which was so stretched that he could hardly bend his waist, and his heart was very complicated: since he was promoted to be the steward of Prince Jing's Mansion, what kind of food and what kind of scenes have he never seen? Even the best restaurants in the capital city have never made him lose his composure like today. The small and simple restaurant actually hides dragons and crouching tigers. There are such fresh and strange delicacies. When the master comes next time, he must bring him to try something new.
"The cook here is very skilled. Let him come here and he will be rewarded!" Steward Wu leaned back in his chair, sipped the tea he brought, and suddenly wanted to see what kind of magic could make something he had never tasted before. gourmet food.
The six sons poured a cup of tea for him, and said with a smile: "The cook is not the cook in the restaurant, I found someone else to treat you, an honored guest!"
"Oh? Liu Zi, you really have a heart! Okay, okay! I remember... I'm curious, where did you find this culinary master?" Steward Wu asked him with a meaningful look.
Liu Zi didn't hide anything, and said: "A girl selling 'one penny meat dishes' appeared on the pier these days. She can throw away ingredients that others don't eat, such as pig's head, pork belly, and small spiny fish. , to make a delicacy that everyone is vying for. I thought she must be very talented in cooking, so I asked her to come here to help today and entertain you, an honored guest."
"Little girl? You said these dishes were made by a little girl? That should be rewarded!" Steward Wu became more interested in the little girl he was talking about.
In the kitchen, after the last dish was served, Xiaocao honestly helped to clean the kitchen. Borrowing someone else's kitchen will naturally help restore it to its original state...
Just when she was packing up the things in the kitchen and was about to leave, the second brother suddenly caught up to her and stopped her: "Little girl, the distinguished guest inside wants to see you! He said he likes your cooking very much, and there is a reward for it." !"
Is there a reward? Don't be in vain! She racked her brains to come up with these dishes, and it was not easy to make. The uncle who was eating thought it was good, and if he rewarded him with some money, it would be more than what she could earn from selling stewed vegetables in a day.
Xiaocao hurriedly came to the only box, followed Xiaoer in, gave a nondescript salute to the middle-aged man in fine clothes inside, and stood there with his head down, waiting for the reward.
"Six... is that the little girl you mentioned who can turn simple ingredients into gourmet food?" Steward Wu stared at the seven or eight-year-old girl in shabby but neat clothes, with her hair combed into two braids, and a fair and thin face. , obviously don't believe that such a young child is the creator of this delicious food.
Liu Zi nodded solemnly and said, "It's her..."
After all, Guanshi Wu had seen the big world, so he quickly recovered from his surprise. He smiled and asked Xiaocao, "Little girl, where did you learn these dishes?"
Xiaocao raised her head slightly, glanced at him, and said neither humble nor overbearing: "I figured it out by myself. Sixth brother has saved my life. He wants to entertain distinguished guests. Of course I will try my best to help him."
Steward Wu said in surprise: "You came up with it yourself? It's not a good habit to lie to people at such a young age!"
Facing his almost reproachful tone, Xiaocao calmly said: "Our family is poor, and we have not been able to eat meat for many years, so when I saw the pig offal thrown at the meat stall, I thought, 'Pig offal is also from pigs. Some of them should be edible!' Back home, after two days of pondering, using many spices as seasonings, the stewed pig's head and pig's intestines were made. Not only did they not have any peculiar smell, but they were also very fragrant!
Since then, I have become interested in cooking, and there are always many strange ideas in my mind. Due to the limited ingredients available at home, I have not tried them. Yesterday, the sixth brother gave me money and asked me to cook a table of dishes. I went back and went back and forth all afternoon, and finally made this table of dishes. If you don't believe me, you can call my dad to ask. Our family used to be unable to eat, how could we have money to ask Master to teach me how to cook? "
Steward Wu took another look at the cotton-padded jacket she was wearing that was cleaner than a beggar's. Although he thought it was a bit unbelievable, he didn't ask any further, and only regarded her as a talented person with great talent for cooking.
Originally, he proposed to meet the chef because he wanted to see if he could dig back to Prince Jing's mansion. The old lady in Prince Jing's mansion has not had a good appetite recently and always wants to eat something new. However, seeing the skinny little girl in front of him, he stopped thinking about it. Seven or eight-year-old children still need adults to take care of them, how can they leave their hometowns and go to the capital. I feel homesick and cry, who will coax me
After rewarding Xiaocao with five taels of silver, Guanshi Wu went to a nearby inn to rest under the leadership of his six sons.
———————
I went to open my back today, and a lot of sand was scraped out from my shoulders and neck... The process was so sour! !