After the Dragon Boat Festival, Linglong found that the princess had changed a lot.
For example, when she got up this morning, the princess was giggling with her pillow in her arms, and then suddenly rolled back and forth on the bed.
For another example, during lunch, the princess was eating, and suddenly she held her chin in thought, her face gradually turned red.
Another example is that if you mention a word about the prince, the eyes of the princess will light up, and the whole person will... be inexplicably turbulent
When the Crown Princess smirked again at the ordinary red rope on her wrist, Linglong finally couldn't help but stepped forward, "Princess Princess, has something good happened to you?"
Tao Ti's eyes were shining brightly, and she grinned, "That's right!"
Linglong wanted to ask more questions, but she saw the princess got up and pulled her out, "It's getting late, let's go to the dining room, make some delicious food, and send it to His Highness later."
Linglong was startled, "Oh..." hurriedly followed.
In the dining room, Tao Ti walked around slowly, and finally set her sights on the hanging stove in the corner. This hanging stove is mostly used to prepare bacon and barbecue for banquets, and it is not easily used on weekdays.
She rubbed her chin, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the quacking ducks in the cage, and suddenly had an idea—
She picked a plump and plump duck, and asked the servants to pluck and wash the duck, cut a small hole under the duck's left arm with a knife, took out the internal organs and washed it, and then filled the duck's belly with boiling water. , Use a rope to tie the small hole. After some treatment, the duck has a complete shape, white and fat, and bulging.
It was the first time that the kitchen chefs on the side had seen this kind of practice, and they whispered:
"Is the princess wanting roast duck? Isn't the roast duck just cut open and skewered with iron skewers before roasting?"
"That's right, I don't know if the inside can be cooked through this way of roasting."
"Why is the duck's stomach still filled with water? Could this water be used as soup?"
Everyone was wondering, when they saw the princess coming over, she explained softly, "Pour water into the duck's belly, firstly, to prevent the duck from dehydration due to being roasted, causing the meat to become woody and taste like chewy wax. Secondly, , the hot water stretches the skin of the duck, so it will not become soft when roasted, but thin and crispy, and the taste is better.”
Hearing this, the kitchen chefs suddenly realized that this is the truth!
One by one, they bowed to the princess again and again, thanking the princess for clarifying the confusion.
Tao Ti smiled and said politely, then turned around and mixed honey with water, and poured the honey water all over the duck while it was still hot. After the first layer of honey water dries up, pour it again. After two processes, the white and tender duck is coated with a layer of light golden yellow, which is also beautiful to look at.
After this treatment, the hanging furnace is almost ready to be roasted. The roast duck is made of fruit charcoal, which has no smoke and a faint aroma of fruit wood. When the furnace wall is bright and red, Tao Ti puts the duck in In the hanging furnace.
Pointing to a palace guard to watch the fire by the stove, Tao Ti went to deal with the duck viscera and duck blood that had been taken out.
The cook originally wanted to throw away these internal organs, but when he suddenly heard the Crown Princess asking for it, he was surprised, "What is the Crown Princess doing with these filthy things? They can't be used for food, right?"
Although the Crown Princess is good at cooking, these things... poor people don't have any meat to eat, so it's okay to cook and eat casually, but the Crown Princess and His Royal Highness are both valuable, and they never lack meat, so why bother to eat these? Hey, it looks scary.
Tao Ti took the bowl of duck offal and said with a smile, "The duck is full of treasures, you can eat it no matter what you eat. Don't underestimate the duck offal and duck blood, whether it's stir-fried, braised, or soup, Don't have a taste."
She knew that some people couldn't accept offal, so she didn't explain much, just said, "These are just right for duck blood vermicelli soup."
This duck blood vermicelli soup is a special snack in Nanjing. It is generally made from duck blood, duck intestines, duck liver, duck gizzards, etc. It tastes light and delicious, and is suitable for all ages. Although Tao Ti has a strong taste, she also likes this duck blood vermicelli soup. Even Qiongqi, who doesn't like to eat offal, ate more than half of the bowl after a bite.
Tao Ti has already made a plan, one duck, the duck body can be roasted to eat, the duck offal can be used as duck blood vermicelli soup, the duck wings, duck neck and duck feet can be used as braised meat, and the duck bones can also be made into salt and pepper duck racks.
On her side, she is doing everything in an orderly manner, and the royal chefs in the dining room are secretly learning while helping.
…
In the Tongming Hall, Fu Xirui also found that the prince was a little different today.
Every time he finished a job, he would habitually touch the red string on his wrist, and then move on to the next job.
Fu Xirui pondered in his heart, could this red string have any effect of blessing the smooth government affairs
I changed to another cup of tea, and it was getting late.
When Fu Xirui was about to ask if he would go to the Crown Princess for dinner, an announcement sounded outside the door - "The Crown Princess is here."
Fu Xirui was stunned, and looked at the prince, only to see the prince put down the Langhao brush in his hand, with a gentle smile on his brows and eyes, and ordered, "Please come in quickly."
Fu Xirui responded and hurried out.
Not long after, Tao Ti, who was wearing a long taupe-colored dress, walked in, followed by four little eunuchs holding food boxes.
"Ah Ti, you're here." Pei Yan got up from the table, went forward to meet her, stopped her salute, and naturally took her hand instead, "In the future, when you and I meet, there is no need to be too polite. "
Tao Ti still remembered the confession last night, her cheeks became hot, and she whispered, "Okay."
Pei Yanman casually glanced at the little eunuchs behind her, "Did you just come from the dining room?"
When it came to eating, Tao Ti restrained her shyness a bit, and said, "Isn't it time for dinner, so I went to the dining room for a while. I made roast duck today, it was delicious! "
As she spoke, she turned her head and ordered the eunuchs to quickly set out the dinner.
"Come on, Your Highness, let's go and sit down."
She dragged Pei Yan to the table and sat down. On the small square table were two bowls of duck blood vermicelli soup, a salt and pepper duck rack, and a large roast duck with skin and side dishes.
The roasted duck was roasted into a bright maroon color, and the duck meat underneath was tender and white. Each piece of roast duck was evenly sliced, like clove leaves, neatly placed on the plate. There is also a plate of soft off-white lotus leaf cake, shredded shallots, cucumber strips, hawthorn strips, garlic paste, and sweet noodle sauce.
After cleaning her hands, Tao Ti first took a thin piece of lotus leaf cake and spread it on her hand, sandwiched three pieces of roast duck, added some side dishes such as shredded shallots and cucumber strips, and finally spread some sweet bean sauce on it, rolled it lightly, and put it on Roast duck rolls are ready.
She handed it to Pei Yan, her eyes sparkling with anticipation, "Your Highness, you should try the roast duck first, it tastes best when it's hot."
"This way of eating is quite new." Pei Yan took the roast duck roll and looked it over, as if hesitating what to eat.
Tao Ti said, "Your Highness, put it in your mouth vertically. This way you can taste all the ingredients at once."
As soon as it was handed to the mouth, the fresh aroma unique to the roast duck went straight to the nose. Bite down, the soft dough touches the teeth, and then there is the crispy and fragrant roast duck meat, with the sweet and spicy shallots, the crisp and sweet cucumber strips, the sweet and sour flour of the hawthorn strips, and the rich sweet noodle sauce The salty fragrance, the whole taste is extremely rich, fragrant but not greasy, the more you chew, the better the taste.
Tao Ti also rolled one and ate it. She likes to eat meat, so she put five pieces of meat in the lotus leaf cake, and the lotus leaf cake couldn't fit in one roll.
Her eating style is not as gentle as Pei Yan's. She opened her mouth directly and bit half of it with a single bite. Her cheeks were bulging, and the delicious and crispy roast duck mixed with sweet noodle sauce was full of taste, which greatly satisfied her appetite. The kind of physical and mental happiness is really hard to describe in words.
Seeing her shaking her head while eating, Pei Yan snorted, reached out and took a piece of lotus leaf cake, and rolled it up like her.
After rolling one, he gently placed it in front of her, and said softly, "Eat slowly."
Tao Ti said vaguely, "Your Highness, you can eat too."
Pei Yan smiled, rolled one and ate it, then turned his attention to the duck blood vermicelli soup on the other side.
I saw the duck blood vermicelli soup served in a large celadon bowl, the soup is rich and fragrant, slightly milky white, the vermicelli is crystal clear, the duck offal is finely chopped, and the duck blood is maroon, together with the emerald green onion and coriander powder , dotted with this fragrant flavor food.
"Ah Ti, what's on the vermicelli?" Pei Yan asked with a frown.
"It's duck offal, that is, duck liver, duck intestines, duck heart, duck gizzards..." Tao Ti picked up a piece of duck skin with chopsticks, instead of a burrito, just dipped some sweet noodle sauce and put it in her mouth, eating like this In this way, the crispy duck skin and the aroma of duck fat become more and more intense.
Seeing that Pei Yan was hesitant to move his chopsticks, Tao Ti raised her eyebrows, and urged with a bit of mischief, "Your Highness, would you like to try it? If you don't eat duck offal, you can try the soup and vermicelli first? This soup is made from duck bones After stewing for half an hour, it is delicious."
As if to prove her words, she picked up the bowl in front of her, first took a big mouthful of soup, then took a big mouthful of vermicelli, and said with satisfaction, "Delicious! Delicious! Delicious!"
Pei Yan was amused by her, with a smile on her gentle brows, "Okay, I'll try it too."
After tasting it, his eyes moved slightly.
This soup is really mellow and delicious, with a mild taste, but not too bland. Take another bite of the vermicelli. The vermicelli is soft and smooth, and it is full of the delicious broth. It is chewy and refreshing in the mouth.
As for those duck offals, he paused with his chopsticks for a moment, and looked up to see that the little girl on the opposite side had her head buried, happily eating mouthful after mouthful.
Pursing his lips, he tried to pick up a piece of duck intestine and put it into his mouth, his brows slightly raised, it was much better than he imagined....
The duck intestines are very clean, without any fishy smell, but because they have been marinated, they have a strange marinated aroma of spices, and they taste crisp and chewy.
If there is one, there are two. After tasting the duck intestines, he also tasted other duck offal, and they all tasted good.
The servants at the side watched the masters eat with gusto, swallowed hard, lowered their heads silently, and thought: If you don't watch, you won't be greedy for us!
Unknowingly, the dishes on the table were nearly wiped out by the two of them.
After eating and drinking for a while, the two held hands and walked outside to digest food.
"We're going back to Chang'an the day after tomorrow." Pei Yan said softly.
When Tao Ti heard this, she hurriedly asked, "There shouldn't be any farewell banquet this time, right?"
Seeing that she looked like a soldier, Pei Yan laughed softly, "No more."
He narrowed his black eyes, and his voice was deep and firm, "This time we will return to Chang'an safely..."
At that time, the good show will be on the stage.