44 Hundred Flowers Crisp

◎Looking at this, none of them are reliable.◎

The next day, the three of them got up around noon and had breakfast and lunch together.

After dinner, Li He cleaned the yard, Xu Ruolan washed the dishes absentmindedly, and Song Jinyi took out the "secret weapon" from the house.

Li He held the broom handle with her face resting on it. Seeing Song Jinyi handing the box to Xu Ruolan, she asked curiously, "Sister Jinyi, what is this?"

Song Jinyi kept it a secret and only said it was something important, but did not specify what it was.

Xu Ruolan's eyes were numb, and only when she heard Song Jinyi say that there was something important in the box did her face show any changes. She blinked slowly and looked at the box in her hand.

Song Jinyi usually puts things, even account books, in the cabinet to avoid dust, but this time she put it in a box, which shows that it is really precious to her.

Xu Ruolan weighed the box gently. It was very light, as if it contained only a piece of light paper.

What is this?

Xu Ruolan slowly followed Xu Ruolan and Li He towards the Li residence. When they were almost there, she asked softly, "Will this Madam Li really help us?"

Xu Ruolan heard from Song Jinyi yesterday that she had been to Liuxiangju. The owner of Liuxiangju personally recommended her here, saying that as long as she could prepare this painting banquet well, the owner of the Li Mansion would help solve the problem this time.

Xu Ruolan has been grumbling about this matter. Even if the cook can cook well, he is still just a cook.

Especially in the eyes of these upper-class people, they are not considered human beings. At most, they can be given some rewards. How can they help solve the problem?

Song Jinyi may have sensed Xu Ruolan's worries. She gently patted the box in Xu Ruolan's arms and said, "Even if today's trip is not for my sake, it will be resolved smoothly for the sake of this treasure."

******

Led by a maid, Song Jinyi and the other two passed through the hanging flower gate, walked around two narrow paths, and came to the small kitchen.

The small kitchen had just finished preparing lunch, and the cooks were eating in a small room in the kitchen yard. There was only a small shared wooden table with a few dishes on it, and everyone was holding their own bowl in their hands.

The host wanted to hold an elegant banquet this time, but the cooks usually only knew some home-cooked dishes, such as braised shark's fin, roasted deer tendon and cherry meat... which were too tacky.

Especially when they learned that this banquet was held to "compete" with the Wang family next door, it was not allowed to be held on the table. The lady specially invited the tea master from Yunshang Tea House to make tea, and sent someone to ask the pastry chef.

I heard that more than a dozen tea chefs, big and small, were recommended, but during the food tasting yesterday, Baochang finally chose a little-known young lady.

How could this not arouse their curiosity? They all wanted to meet this young lady.

At this moment, a maid led three women in from the outer gate. They greeted with a smile: "Hello, Miss Ru'er. These three should be the tea and pastry chefs we invited, right?"

Their gaze passed Ru'er and fell on the three people behind her, scanning them from left to right. The first one had a round face and looked the youngest, with a confused look in his eyes.

The one in the middle was steady and young, and looked more like a daughter than a cook. The last one looked haggard and pale, and looked sickly no matter how you looked at her.

After looking at it, none of them seem reliable.

The cooks asked politely, "Would you like to sit down and eat something?" Song Jinyi and Xu Ruolan knew that these were just polite remarks, so they just said that they had already eaten and were not hungry.

Only Li He asked naively what was available. Someone agreed, and Li He actually walked over to take a look. She frowned, pouted, and looked hesitant.

Li He finally returned to Song Jinyi while touching her belly, and whispered to her, "It doesn't look as good as the dishes that Madam Song cooks casually."

Song Jinyi was a little glad that Li He was timid and knew to speak softly. If she spoke loudly, since this was someone else's territory, who knows what might happen.

After the cook finished lunch, Ruer gave a few instructions and left. An older cook in light gray clothes stood up, patted her thigh, and called on others to get up and work.

The cook pointed out the place to Song Jinyi, and Song Jinyi and Li He washed their hands and began to prepare.

Xu Ruolan saw that both of them had work to do, but she didn't know what to do. She bit her lip, looked at Song Jinyi several times, hesitated for a while, and walked up to her to ask what she should do.

Song Jinyi nodded and said, "Coming here for this banquet today is just a name. Li He and I are not the protagonists. This box is the protagonist. You just need to take good care of this great treasure.

Maybe it will be of great help to us later."

The cooks next to Song Jinyi were also busy. There were both ladies and gentlemen attending the banquet. The snacks were okay with tea and fruit wine, but anything else was not suitable.

So, at the host's request, they prepared more than a dozen refreshing cold dishes to go with the wine.

Someone craned his neck to look at Song Jinyi, and said as he looked, "The one coming today is not some peddler, but a teacher from Nanling Academy, a serious scholar. Scholars are the most picky. Madam Song, please be careful."

Song Jinyi raised her eyebrows. The other party's implication was that she usually fed the food to the country folk, and the scholar might not be used to it.

Song Jinyi knew that these cooks worked in wealthy families, so their skills were quite good and they were quite capable. Now that she, a greenhorn, had arrived and was the head chef, they must be dissatisfied.

But Song Jinyi didn't come here to steal their jobs, so she pretended to be ignorant and pretended to know the truth, and kept the matter secret.

A cook heard from the housekeeper, Aunt Zhou, that the snack that Madam Song had presented was called Baihua Su.

She asked curiously, "Madam Song, for this Hundred Flowers Pastry, do you have to make a hundred different kinds of flower pastry? That would take a lot of effort."

Song Jinyi smiled politely in response and explained, "We only make ten kinds, with about a dozen flowers in each. So, we call it Hundred Flowers Pastry just because it sounds nice."

The cooks who were eavesdropping nearby had different expressions on their faces. This flower pastry was not a difficult pastry to make. If they were asked to make it, they could certainly cook some.

They looked at Song Jinyi with contempt. It turned out that what she did was just commonplace. How did she get in? Madam Zhou brought her in.

This Auntie Zhou was brought by my wife from her family. She was said to be honest and considerate, but I didn't expect her to stumble this time. It's going to be a good show to watch!

Song Jinyi was so focused on how to tell Madam Li about her difficulties that she naturally had no time to look at the cooks' expressions, let alone take their speculations to heart.

Li He was even more ignorant and had no idea about the ways of the world.

The two of them were not affected by the environment and concentrated on making snacks.

Literati love elegance and refinement; ordinary snacks are too vulgar to attract their attention. This flower is a natural product, a carrier of noble qualities, and countless literati and scholars throughout history have praised it in poems and lyrics.

I think I would be curious to take a look.

However, most of these flower cakes are fried in oil, and a small part is baked in the oven. Although the taste is not bad, it is inevitable that you will feel sick of it if you eat too much. Therefore, she also thought of two other snacks to relieve the greasiness.

The key to making flower pastries is the water-oil dough and the crispy pastry. The amount needed to make a hundred flower pastries is huge, and it took them an hour to prepare the required dough.

Li He could handle the filling at the back by himself, so Song Jinyi let go and prepared the other two dishes.

She asked someone to bring a few turtledove leaves, washed them, drained them, and then scalded them in boiling water to soften them.

Then put the leaves in a stone scoop and mash them to release the pectin in the leaves. Put them back into the cooled boiled water and rub them repeatedly with your hands to release the pectin in the branches and leaves completely.

It looked like rotten leaves and leftover soup, and it really didn't look good.

A cook saw the green stuff in the basin, which looked like vomit and was sticky. She frowned and asked in doubt, "Madam Song, are you making chicken feed?"

Song Jinyi sensed the other party's sarcasm, but she didn't get angry and said, "Not really."

She put the green leaf paste into clean white gauze and squeezed it hard to squeeze out a paste-like dark green liquid.

Xu Ruolan took these people's expressions to heart. She had no expectations for today's trip, but she was also very confident in Song Jinyi's craftsmanship.

Now that she heard someone ask this, she couldn't help but feel uneasy and walked over to take a closer look.

Her face looked as ugly as the sticky green leaves in the pot. She moved her lips and asked softly, "I have always trusted your craftsmanship, but what are you going to do?"

The dish Song Jinyi is making now is a dish from her hometown in her previous life. It has a unique texture and a refreshing taste, and is rarely found outside. She didn't know how to explain this snack to Xu Ruolan for a moment.

Li He had already prepared all the fillings. Song Jinyi was about to move over to help after finishing her work. She didn't have time to talk to her in detail, so she could only simply comfort Xu Ruolan and tell her not to worry.

There is no gelatin coagulant here, but there is an ancient recipe that contains natural coagulant wood ash.

Boil the ash in water and filter it to get the alkaline water you need. The key to solidifying this green juice is to add it to the juice of the magic liquid, stir it evenly, and blend the juice and the ash water. After half an hour, it will completely solidify together.

Then just wait for it to solidify.

She looked up and wiped the sweat off her face. Seeing that Li He's face was also covered in sweat, she took a handkerchief and wiped the thin layer of sweat from Li He's temples.

Now the skin and filling are ready, and we can just wrap them.

The taste of the flower crisps is almost the same, it mainly depends on the appearance. This step is a slow job, and she and Li He are responsible for half each.

The shaping of the flower pastry looks simple, but it is actually a slow process that relies on experience.

For example, the magnolia flower pastry is the most troublesome to make. It is not like the peach blossom pastry, which you just need to use a knife to shape. Each petal needs to be carved separately.

The shape and size of the petals and the depth of the patterns determine the final product.

Song Jinyi relies on her old skills. She has accumulated many years of experience in her previous life and has a skilled craft. She can make a flower pastry with just a few strokes of a small scraper.

As for Li He, she is gifted. Although her hands are chubby, she is a dexterous person. The fine lines on the petals are different, and the shapes of the flowers are either in full bloom or in bud, each with its own merits and lifelike.

Song Jinyi looked at her with a look of both relief and sadness. She was relieved that Li He had such skills at such a young age, but she was sad that if Chun Sanniang had not stolen her achievements, her life would have been more colorful.

The naive Li He naturally had no idea of ​​the complicated thoughts in Song Jinyi's mind. When she was wiping her sweat, she caught a glimpse of the plate of green leaf liquid that Song Jinyi had just made, which had solidified.

She shook the basin curiously and saw that the contents were clumped together like tofu, with a surface as smooth as a mirror. She asked curiously, "What on earth is this?"