After the two different flavors of pancakes are ready, make the hot and sour soup.

There are many ways to make hot and sour soup, but the only constant is the pepper and five-spice powder. Just use these two seasonings well.

Prepare the bean tendons, green vegetables, black fungus and day lily, and pour all the ingredients except the green vegetables directly into the boiling water. Wait for the pot to boil again, thicken and add seasonings. One of the necessary seasonings is white vinegar, which brings out the sour taste of the hot and sour soup. Then slowly pour in pepper powder, five-spice powder and chicken powder.

When the dish is almost ready, pour the vegetables in. The thickened soup will have a rich aroma, and the sour and spicy taste created by the pepper and white vinegar will be particularly prominent.

The side dishes used are also flavor-absorbing side dishes, but the hot and sour soup still has that rich and fragrant taste, and the sour and spicy taste is really satisfying.

At this time, the old manager of the treasury and the manager of the treasure banknote department finally understood why the other managers wanted to watch Su Wan cook.

Watching Su Wan cook is a pleasure.

And they can also see the delicious food they are about to eat for the first time.

It's because everyone is still concerned about their reputation, otherwise they would definitely start eating right away.

Two different flavors of pancakes, plus a bowl of hot and sour soup, they felt that the meal was enough!

But Su Wan hadn't stopped yet. The cold noodles that had just been steamed had already cooled down. She folded them a few times and started cutting them. On the other side, Yu Shu also took out the gluten that had been steamed long ago.

But Yu Shu didn't know how to cut it, so she started to cut the cucumber into shreds and then blanched the mung bean sprouts in hot water and spread them out to cool.

The cold skin is cut and placed in a large bowl. The gluten on the other side is also cut into thumb-sized cubes. Other side dishes such as cucumber shreds and mung bean sprouts are placed in the large bowl.

Finally, add the seasonings prepared in advance. These seasonings are not originally available, but are prepared by Su Wan in advance.

First comes the sauce, which is the sauce soaked with many spices, followed by garlic water, vinegar and salt water, and diluted sesame paste and peanut butter.

Sprinkle some fried peanuts on top.

Stir the seasoning water evenly in a large bowl, and the aroma of the sauce and the faint aroma of the cold noodles will slowly come out.

The evenly mixed cold noodles have the color of peanut butter and sesame paste, and are topped with green cucumber shreds, with a hint of red chili on top.

Su Wan did not add too much chili pepper, it all depends on personal taste. The chili pepper now is just for flavoring.

Su Wan poured the mixed cold noodles into a white bowl, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.

What should I do? I feel like this bowl of cold noodles is no worse than any other food.

"What kind of food is this? I've never seen it before." The two food-loving stewards of the Shangbaojian said in unison.

"Liangpi is also made from noodles," Su Wan explained. "It's been eaten a long time ago, but it hasn't become popular in recent years."

Su Wan had Yan Pei remind her, and she had already found an excuse: "It's not difficult to make. I guess there are some traditional methods in Shaanxi."

As long as it tastes good, there’s nothing more to say.

Naturally, the people present did not ask any more questions because they were already prepared to eat.

This lunch seemed very different from other lunches.

The sun was high in the sky outside, but fortunately the new manager of the Baochao Department brought some ice, so it was relatively cool here.

But when I carried the food to the side hall, I felt the heat after just walking a distance outside the house.

Now that it is late May, the weather is indeed getting hot.

Soon, the large table in the side hall was filled with food.

Yu Shu was still a little nervous when she sat down. Most of the people at the table were the heads of various departments, except for the young eunuch in charge of the old prison and Wei Jun and Zhuo Hui, who were of lower status.

But even the three of them have been in the palace for several years. Unlike her and Su Wan, this is only their first year in the palace and they are the lowest-ranking palace servants.

That’s not right. Su Wan is an excellent craftsman and is highly regarded by the female officials. She is much better than me.

But apart from Yu Shu, no one noticed this. Most people were looking at the delicious food on the table.

Originally there should have been cold noodles, which were cooked with alkaline noodles.

But as soon as the cold noodles were ready, everyone obviously wanted to eat them, so Su Wan had no choice but to serve them on the table.

But the food now is rich enough.

As soon as everyone sat down, they started eating.

The first thing that the chief guard of the Shangbao Palace took was, of course, the meat-filled pancake.

The pancake is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The soft core is filled with chili oil and chopped braised meat.

When buying the braised pork, Su Wan specifically asked for some broth to pour over it. Now when she eats it, the crispy skin on the outside is wrapped in the juicy braised meat. The braised meat is originally made of pork belly, and the aroma of the fat has now completely permeated the pancake.

No other side dishes are needed, this bite of braised meat pie is enough to satisfy the taste buds.

The chief guard of the Shangbao Palace didn't even look at the rice beside him.

It’s not that he doesn’t like braised pork rice, but he ate it almost every day in the past few days and thought he was tired of it.

I didn’t expect that the braised meat sandwiched in pancakes would have such a different flavor.

After eating the meat sandwich, I actually lost interest in the vegetable sandwiches next to it.

After all, it was made by Su Wan, so why not try it?

Wait, how come pancakes with vegetables are so delicious?

They have completely different flavors. Eat a meat pie and then a vegetable pie and you will find that they are not different at all?

It’s definitely not bad. The dishes are fresh and delicious, and they taste great no matter how you cook them.

After finishing the two pancakes, everyone was still hungry, except Su Wan who was still eating slowly.

She really couldn't finish two pancakes! One pancake with vegetables was enough to fill her up.

But the other people at the table were staring at her remaining meat sandwich, and they didn't know who to give it to!

Finally, after looking around, Su Wan closed her eyes and gave it directly to the old steward of the old prison. Last time, he even brought her some snacks!

The rest of the people were subconsciously disappointed.

Su Wan said: "Try the hot and sour soup and cold noodles, they taste good too."

The chief eunuch of Shangbaojian has already tasted it and can't stop eating the hot and sour soup.

By the time the cold noodles are served, many people are almost done.

Just now I ate oily food, then sour and spicy food. The taste of this food must be inferior, right?

No!

There is absolutely no comparison!

Why is this thing called Liangpi so chewy and smooth? It’s even more chewy than the rice noodle rolls I had this morning.

The sauce on the cold noodles is just the right flavor. If you use chopsticks, you can pick up the cold noodles, bean sprouts, cucumber and peanuts and eat them together.

This rich layering allows people to taste a variety of different flavors.

There is also something called gluten in it. Because of its layers, it can absorb all kinds of sauces. After biting it, the various seasoning aromas are very satisfying.

After taking a bite of the cold noodles, the heat from the hot and sour soup just now immediately subsided, replaced by a sense of comfort.

This is the right food for summer!

No wonder it’s called a summer recipe!

When you have no appetite on a hot day, eating something called Liangpi must be very suitable.

And that gluten, they could eat a few more plates!

After lunch, everyone was full, but still felt like they hadn’t had enough.

Even the new chief steward of the Baochao Division, who had seemed a little unfamiliar before, seemed a little relaxed at this moment.

He was not familiar with everyone at first, but after two meals, he gradually became familiar with them. After all, there are many topics to talk about when discussing food.

Otherwise, many people like to talk about things at the dinner table, which is a bridge of communication.

As for Wei Jun and Zhuo Hui, they had already felt hungry and wanted to take a nap.

Have a good meal and have a good sleep, it’s better than a life in heaven.

The second meal of the summer menu was also a success.

Several managers were even discussing whether to have this as well in the evening.

But when I saw the order for the evening, I was instantly satisfied. Su Wan was thoughtful and would have cold skin and gluten for dinner, so that was fine.

The evening menu is not cold-mixed cold noodles, but stir-fried cold noodles and a cold dish of sesame sauce gluten.

The same cold noodles have different flavors when fried and mixed, and each has its own way of eating.

Needless to say, sesame sauce gluten is a dish that cannot be missing from night market stalls in later generations. It is very suitable for evening consumption.

Su Wan felt that she was being lazy, and it must have been hard work to prepare the sumptuous meal for lunch.

So I just use the ingredients from lunch in the evening, which is both convenient and delicious.

She thinks she's lazy, but others don't think so.

It's obviously a completely different approach.

After seeing off the stewards, Yu Shu cleaned up the small kitchen and went back to rest. After a while, she saw Yan Pei coming over.

It seems that what the Right Master said was right. Buddhism is more important than Taoism in the palace. It is not appropriate for Yan Pei, a young disciple serving Taoism, to appear in front of everyone too often.

Naturally, Yan Pei could only praise here, and his praise was sincere.

Waiting until the evening to stir-fry the cold noodles is indeed much easier for Su Wan and Yu Shu. They can just stir-fry the extra cold noodles made at noon.

The gluten is cut and served cold directly, and even the sauce is the same one used at noon, the only difference is that there is a little more sesame paste.

The first day's meals ended immediately.

The several stewards were eating with great smiles on their faces, which made the palace servants in other palaces extremely envious.

They were still eating the previous menu, but the stewards had already eaten the new menu. Looking at their expressions, you could tell that what Su Wan cooked was absolutely delicious.

But they have to wait until June to taste it, and there are still several days left, so they are so anxious.

The Western Kitchen is more concerned with matters in the inner palace.

If the amount of food distributed this month is still too little, the western kitchen will probably have a hard time, as fewer people come to eat because of the amount of food distributed before.

There are now 1,500 to 1,600 people feeding us. If there is still not enough food, I’m afraid that by the end of the month, there will be a complete shortage of food.

There was barely enough food in May, thanks to some subsidies from the Treasury Department, otherwise we would all be starving by now.

A good cook cannot cook without rice.

Even Su Wan was waiting for news from the inner palace.

Fortunately, in the evening, when Su Wan and Yu Shu came out of the small kitchen, they saw Deputy Prime Minister Xi and the Right Chief Minister, both of whom were smiling. They were holding long lists in their hands, which were obviously the list for next month. It can be seen that the harvest this time was very gratifying.

Yes, the person in power has just done something wrong, and if he makes the same mistake again, it will be ugly.

For the sake of face, we have to give some benefits to the western kitchen.

March with the West Kitchen has already entered the second month.

Needless to say, the Western Kitchen had certainly done it in the first month. Now that the ingredients are so abundant in the second month, Deputy Prime Minister Xi has a sure win.

As long as these three months are over, the powerful people will have to give them one hundred taels of silver every month to buy food this year.

I feel that the food in the West Kitchen will get better and better in the next few months.

The Right Hand Man looked at Deputy Prime Minister Xi and saw that he did not interrupt her fantasy. Su Wan also smiled and said that it was only the second month and there was a long time.

But for now, it’s enough to have some useful ingredients.

You can now cook without any worries!

Apart from anything else, tomorrow's menu does require a lot of poultry.

I made wonton noodles in the morning which required meat.

One of the dishes at noon is twice-cooked pork, which still requires meat, and at night it is old duck vermicelli soup. The duck is boiled in the morning, and the vermicelli soup is just right for eating in the evening.

With plenty of ingredients in hand, cooking feels smooth!

If there is one thing Su Wan is most looking forward to, it must be the old duck vermicelli soup.

Duck is good for replenishing yin and promoting salivation, making it very suitable for consumption in summer. It can also help you sleep better at night.

Speaking of stewing soup, it is not suitable in summer. After autumn, Su Wan plans to make more bone soup, and simmer it over low heat continuously.

No matter what dish you cook, you can always have a spoonful of broth.

Whether it is chicken rack, duck rack or large bones, you can use them to cook the soup. The longer it is cooked, the more fragrant it will be.

Good cooks a spoonful of soup.

If you change the soup base from water to broth in your cooking, the taste will be improved by more than one level.

Su Wan knew that there was a broth that had been boiling for years in the inner palace's small kitchen and was available at any time for use in any dish.

I don’t know if the Xiwai Palace can do the same.

Forget it, it’s something that will happen after autumn anyway, so it’s better to focus on the tasks at hand now.

The next day, it was May 22nd, and Deputy Prime Minister Xi and the Right Chief still had to go to the inner palace. Although the food portions had been determined yesterday, there were still some miscellaneous chores to do.

But around noon, the Shangshenjian delivered what Su Wan wanted.

Dinner plate.

Su Wan just gave the money for the drawings a few days ago, and the dinner plates came out today.

Of course, this is just a sample, for Su Wan to see if it meets her requirements, and at the same time the Director of the Food Department can also see if it is reasonable.

If you can, then you can start making dinner plates in batches.

Wouldn’t it be just right to wait until the menu changes in June and the plates are changed as well?

Su Wan looked at the ten plates that were delivered to her. They looked similar, with only some differences in details, but they were obviously made according to her requirements.

There are four grooves for dishes, one groove for staple food, and a place for soup bowls. This part was polished a little roughly by the craftsmen to ensure that the soup bowl would not slide easily when placed on it.

The entire plate is made of wood, but it is well polished, and the material used is similar to the wooden bowls we usually use.

Anyway, from Su Wan's point of view, it is completely qualified!

It just so happens that today's lunch is also four dishes and one soup. How about using this to serve the dishes and let the managers tell us what they think?

There is nothing wrong with wonton noodles in the morning, and the stir-fried vegetables at noon are perfect for this plate.

For lunch, we have twice-cooked pork and stir-fried assorted vegetables. This time we use seasonal beans and tofu. You can change the dishes according to the season.

There are also fried pork with garlic sprouts and lotus root slices with peppercorns.

These are all dishes that are suitable for summer and can be eaten with rice.

The staple food is naturally steamed buns and rice.

The chief steward of Shangbaojian wanted Su Wan to make Roujiamo for him again, but Su Wan directly refused.

Food tasting is the most important thing!

From now on, this menu will be served to the people in the West Outer Palace, so the more delicious it is, the better.

If it were before, there would definitely be four plates, a large bowl for soup, and four small bowls for rice, and then they would be placed on the table for the stewards to eat.

If it were an ordinary palace servant, she would probably have to take two bowls, one bowl for four dishes, and one bowl for soup after eating the staple food.

Not to mention how troublesome the latter is, just thinking about putting four dishes in one bowl makes Su Wan feel distressed just thinking about it.

After all, these were dishes she had worked so hard to cook, how could they be mixed up!

The meaty aroma of twice-cooked pork and the refreshing peppery lotus root slices? It ruined both dishes.

For example, the stir-fried yam and green pepper pork liver made in the kitchen today, the two dishes have a mixed taste when they are placed next to each other.

Although the palace servants did not dislike it at all and even praised its taste, Su Wan was always thinking about it in her heart.

Now that the plates have been changed, the dishes she cooks will never be put in a bowl again!

There are four grooves on the plate, just enough to hold four dishes. As long as you are careful, they will not touch each other.

Put rice or steamed buns underneath, then take a small bowl of soup and place it on the non-slip groove next to it.

One plate can solve all the above problems!

But the stewards who walked into the side hall of the small kitchen were slightly surprised, but the chief and deputy chief stewards of the Imperial Household Department, who often came into contact with objects, immediately discovered the benefits of it when they took a look.

"Hey, if I use this plate, can I wash less dishes?"

"And one person can take all the food, and the slot on the side can also be used to hold chopsticks."

As expected of the two chief stewards of the Imperial Household Department, they saw the benefits at a glance.

Su Wan nodded: "Yes, the plate that the western kitchen just made is also part of the food tasting."

This is completely using the general managers of the various departments of the Western Outer Palace as test subjects.

But they are willing to be test subjects!

As long as I can eat the food cooked by Su Wan, this is nothing.

The old chief steward of the old prison was helped to sit down by the young eunuch in charge and looked at Su Wan with a smile.

She seemed to have the same charm as the former head of the Imperial Food Department, or even better.

What a nice little maid.

The author has something to say:

It will definitely be early tomorrow!