Zuixian Tower.
Cheng Chumo was sitting alone in the lobby on the first floor, waiting for something in boredom.
He is waiting for Li Zexuan, oh, to be precise, he should be waiting for Li Zexuan's new dishes.
Because there were not many diners in Zuixian Tower today, Li Zexuan had no intention of going to the private room upstairs.
Li Zexuan had previously told Shopkeeper Liu that he had brought several new things to Zuixianlou, not just Wenrouxiang and Shenxianzui. He also wanted to teach Wang Erhu some new dishes to compete with Yunxilou's palace delicacies.
In the kitchen of Zuixianlou.
"Erhu, do you have pork here?"
Li Zexuan wanted to make braised pork first, but he remembered that in the time-travel novels he had read in his previous life, it was said that the pigs in the Tang Dynasty were not castrated, were extremely fishy, and were regarded by the nobles as cheap meat that only commoners could eat, so he was a little worried. asked.
"Sir, of course there is pork!" Wang Erhu replied strangely.
Li Zexuan was a little surprised and said, "Then go and cut four pounds of pork belly for me."
"Yes, Sir."
After a while, Wang Erhu came over carrying a large piece of pork belly.
"Sir, do you think this is enough?"
Li Zexuan nodded, curiously went over to smell it, then frowned and murmured: "It doesn't smell fishy, it's unscientific."
Wang Erhu looked confused: "Sir, what are you talking about? What kind of study?"
"Nothing, Erhu, was this pig castrated before it was born?" Li Zexuan asked, changing the subject.
Wang Erhu said with a naive smile: "Hey, Sir, this is a sow."
Li Zexuan: "..."
"Are all the boars sold in the East Market castrated?" Li Zexuan continued to ask, resisting the urge to speak out.
Wang Erhu said with a smile: "Hey, sir, look at what you said, of course they have been castrated. If this boar was not castrated, how smelly it would be."
Li Zexuan patted his head. Sure enough, the stories in those time-travel novels were all lies. Some authors were simply irresponsible.
In fact, according to records, castrated pigs have appeared as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. "Zhouyi·Da Zhu Gua" has the saying "The teeth of pigs are lucky", which means that castrated pigs are no longer aggressive and their teeth are not scary. , so auspicious.
The reason why pork declined and became a cheap meat is entirely due to specific historical reasons.
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, a large number of northern nomads moved southward. After more than three hundred years of war, they were unified first in the Sui Dynasty and then in the Tang Dynasty.
Although the Li family who founded the Tang Dynasty were Han Chinese, they had already been severely barbarized.
This is true for the royal family, and it is also true for nobles and bureaucrats who can afford meat. Naturally, the Hu people preferred to eat mutton, and pork gradually declined. It was not until Su Shi invented Dongpo Pork in the Northern Song Dynasty that pork became popular again.
Since pork doesn't have that fishy smell, Li Zexuan plans to make a few more famous dishes about pork. He has been in the Tang Dynasty for so long and has never eaten pork. The Li family is a wealthy family, and Mrs. Li will certainly not give it to him. My son ate pork.
An hour later, Li Zexuan looked at the four famous pork dishes of braised pork, braised lion's head, Dongpo pork, and twice-cooked pork, and nodded with satisfaction. The only drawback was that there were no vermicelli in the Tang Dynasty, so he couldn't make pork stewed vermicelli!
"Erhu, I heard that Yunxi's off-plan property hired you at twice the price. Why don't you leave?"
Seeing Wang Erhu sweating profusely from exhaustion, Li Zexuan asked seemingly casually.
When Wang Erhu heard this, his expression immediately became serious. He was no longer joking as before. He wiped the sweat on his face with his sleeves, bowed his fat body very seriously and said:
"Sire, although I, Wang Erhu, have never read a book, I will definitely not be able to do anything ungrateful.
I used to be just an ordinary cook. Sir, you thought highly of me and taught me how to cook chicken. Shopkeeper Liu later gave me a lot of salary increase. My mother-in-law and my baby have new clothes to wear, and my mother also has meat. Eat, you, Sir, brought all this to me.
If I do something ungrateful like that, will I, Wang Erhu, still be a human being? Not only me, there are so many cooks in this Zuixian Building. If anyone dares to betray the Duke, I, Wang Erhu, will be the first to fight him! "
Wang Erhu became a little excited as he spoke, and every word he said was resounding. Li Zexuan was also moved by this simple man. He quickly patted Wang Erhu on the shoulder, calmed his emotions, and said:
"Erhu, you are good. Don't worry. You will never suffer any loss if you follow me. Your family's life will only get better and better in the future!"
Wang Erhu nodded solemnly and said, "Sir, we both understand."
… …
Li Zexuan took a few boys and brought out the four pork dishes, and of course a bottle of ice-cold Shenxian Zui, which Cheng Chumo brought from his house when he came over. According to him, he went to Zuixian downstairs. How can a restaurant not have good wine
"Xiao Xuan, what kind of meat is this? Why is it so fragrant?"
Cheng Chumo sniffed around the dinner plate with his nose like a lazy dog. Li Zexuan quickly pushed him away. He was afraid that the bastard's saliva would be left in it, and how could he eat in that case
"This is all pork. You must not eat pork, Ugly Cow, right?"
"Ah, this is pork? How can pork be so fragrant?" Cheng Chumo said in disbelief.
"Yes, this is all pork. Our eldest son, Duke Lu, will definitely not eat this cheap meat, right?"
Li Zexuan teased.
Cheng Chumo immediately shouted: "Fart, I don't care what kind of meat this is, such fragrant meat, it is rat meat. I also ate it."
Damn it, this bastard will kill me if he doesn't disappoint me when he eats. Li Zexuan really wants to kick him out.
"Uncle Liu, please come over and try this meat and this wine. We will launch this in Zuixianlou in two days." Li Zexuan greeted shopkeeper Liu.
Shopkeeper Liu was already drooling with greed. Hearing this, he quickly and excitedly thanked you profusely: "Thank you, Master!"
The three of them sat down, and shopkeeper Liu poured a glass of wine for Cheng Chumo and himself with a wink. He knew that Li Zexuan didn't drink, so he didn't pour it.
As soon as this divine drunkenness was exposed to the air, there was an extremely strong aroma of wine that filled the entire hall on the first floor. The aroma was so strong that it even overshadowed the famous pork dishes such as Dongpo Pork on the table.
Several diners sitting next to him were already extremely greedy when they smelled the smell of pork when they were brought out. Now they smelled the strong aroma of wine, and one by one they put down their chopsticks and looked at Here, swallow hard.
They wanted to come over and beg for something to eat, but they all knew Li Zexuan and he was a lord, so they really didn't dare to offend him, so they could only look on and watch.
The hall suddenly fell into an eerie silence, and the sound of the diners swallowing was particularly harsh. Li Zexuan looked up and saw the longing and fearful eyes of those people. Then he understood. He said to Shopkeeper Liu:
"Uncle Liu, there are still some unfinished dishes in the kitchen. Go and ask someone to share some with these diners. And our wine, each of us can share a glass with them. These are the most loyal customers of our Zuixian Tower. This is my treat for everyone."
Li Zexuan said this very loudly, and all the diners heard it. After reacting, they all raised their hands and thanked:
"Thank you Sir, we will definitely come to Zuixian Tower often in the future!"
"Yes, yes, we will definitely come here often in the future!"
"Your Majesty is so grand!"
… …
Thank you for your subscription, thank you for your two monthly passes, and thank you for your reward again and again.
Thank you to many book friends for their recommendation votes. Time is tight, so I have to continue coding. I won’t list my thanks one by one today. I will repay your votes with actions, and I will write more words.
(End of chapter)