Chapter 98

Xu Yi was studying how to cook wine alone in the kitchen, and A Xu didn't dare to disturb him there.

After he came out, he propped up his chin and looked at the location of the kitchen.

Ah Jin squatted next to him and asked in a low voice: "Brother, Lang Jun has been in for an hour."

"Yes." Ah Xu nodded silently.

Ah Jin asked again: "Should we go in to help?" A Xu shook his head: "Lang Jun is busy. We

don't know anything. We will only disturb Lang Jun's thinking.

"

Put the prepared wine into a bottle, put it in a steamer, and boil it until it overflows.

The wine cooked in this way can make the wine clearer and increase the concentration of the wine.

The shape of the steamer here is divided into upper and lower layers. The bottom of the upper layer has many holes for steam penetration, while the lower layer is more like a clay pot and is used for filling water. After the steamer is placed on the stove, you can add water and place it on the steamer to cook various foods.

The purpose is very similar to a modern steamer, but Xu Yi did not have a steamer at home, so he used large and small clay pots instead.

In the kitchen at this time, Xu Yi stared at the burning charcoal stove, his body motionless for a long time.

The clay pot on top of the stove was half filled with well water. Across the well water, Xu Yi placed a powdered dustpan on top to create separate upper and lower layers. Next, there are small clay pots for wine.

Xu Yi poured a corner of the sake he bought into it, then divided out a dose of crushed medicinal materials and added it to the sake.

The sake you can buy today is not particularly high in alcohol content.

Xu Yi took a sip and estimated that the temperature was no more than 20 degrees.

However, after an hour of cooking, the aroma of wine gradually overflowed from the gap in the lid of the jar. After another half an hour, the aroma of wine filled the room.

Even the medicinal fragrance gradually overflowed.

Xu Yi saw that it was almost time and the wine inside was boiling and flowing out, so he took down the small clay pot.

He opened the lid, and the strong aroma of medicine mixed with the aroma of wine came out. Xu Yi inhaled the smell in the air, took out the medicine package with chopsticks, and scooped a cup into the bowl with a spoon.

Xu Yi took a sip and calmly analyzed the taste of the medicinal wine. The taste was strong, but the taste was astringent and sour. The overly strong medicinal taste masked the mellow aroma of the sake.

He poured some water into his mouth, waited for the medicinal wine to cool down, took another cup and tasted it...

Xu Yi was silent and sighed regretfully. His first attempt at brewing wine seemed to have failed.

...

Xu Yi came out of the room, and A Xu and A Jin surrounded him, looking up at him.

"Lang Jun."

"Lang Jun, have you brewed the medicinal wine?"

Outside the yard, they smelled the delicious aroma of the medicinal wine, and they felt happy in their hearts.

As a result, looking at Xu Yi's indifferent expression, he blinked and felt a little unsure.

Xu Yi said: "It didn't work."

A Xu and A Jin opened their eyes wide, looking like they couldn't believe it.

Xu Yi: "..."

He coughed twice and said, "There is still wine to try, don't be in a hurry."

"Lang Jun, that wine smells so good, better than the wine sold in the wine shop, why did it fail? " Ah Jin asked in confusion.

"The wine smells good, but the taste is not good." Xu Yi said, but did not dare to let them try drinking.

Although this wine failed, it was not impossible to drink.

He added drugs that promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis. After cooking, the medicinal effects have been forced out by the high temperature, and the wine has the effect of activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis.

Xu Yi sealed the medicinal wine and put it on the shelf. When he came out of the room, he saw Mrs. He peeking her head towards them.

"Brother Yi." Madam He shouted through the wall.

Xu Yi came over slowly, called "Ms. He" and asked her what happened.

Mrs. He said that she had nothing to do. She just smelled the aroma of wine coming from the Xu family and asked, "Brother Yi, are you cooking wine?"

As Yuan Day was approaching, Mrs. He had been preparing for Yuan Day these days. She wanted to go out to a liquor store to buy wine, but she smelled the aroma of wine from the Xu family first.

She had never smelled the aroma of this wine in any other wine shop. After thinking about it, she felt that Xu Yi was cooking the wine.

After all, it is winter now, and it is not uncommon to warm wine at home.

Xu Yi nodded and said with a smile: "I tried to cook some medicinal wine, but the proportion of medicinal materials used was wrong, and the effect was not good."

"Why do I smell it? It smells great." Mrs. He Wan Er smiled and said, "I bought wine for your Uncle Yu a while ago. The best wine in that wine shop doesn't have this fragrance."

People in Song Dynasty love to drink wine, even if it is a young lady in the boudoir or a married woman. People, when the mood strikes, they will have a few drinks.

Madam He also likes to drink wine, but wine is expensive. A dime of low-quality wine costs about 20 pence.

After talking about this, Mrs. He asked: "Brother Yi, do you want to drink the wine yourself?"

Xu Yi shook his head, and then said to her: "I haven't worn my mourning clothes yet, so this medicinal wine is boiled and sold."

Mrs. He After hearing this, he asked with some excitement: "Can you sell it to me? I am short of wine here. If Brother Yi, the medicinal wine you cooked is for sale, you can give me a dime of it. Is that okay?

" Of course." Xu Yi said, "But I haven't cooked it yet, so I can't sell the wine to Mrs. He today."

Mrs. He said yes with a smile, and asked Xu Yi to remember to keep her share.

When Mrs. He returned to the house, Xu Yi turned around and went to the kitchen. Seeing that A Xu was already making dinner, he gave up the idea of ​​trying again.

For dinner, we had glutinous rice, bacon, beans and rice. The beans were red beans. A Xu first stir-fried the red beans with lard, then added them to the pottery jar and simmered them together.

When it's almost cooked, put the bacon on top of the rice, pour a circle of soy sauce on it, and simmer for another quarter of an hour. The glutinous rice, bacon, beans and rice are ready.

"Lang Jun, this bacon braised rice is so delicious!"

A Xu's eyes were full of surprise. He didn't expect that Lang Jun, who couldn't cook, actually knew how to eat it.

Xu Yi taught A Xu this method, which is actually clay pot rice, commonly known as clay pot rice.

In fact, in the "Commentary on the Book of Rites", there are records of the Central Plains region more than 2,000 years ago. It is said that the first and second delicacies among the eight delicacies of the Zhou Dynasty were eaten in this way, but using rice. and yellow rice. Later in the Tang Dynasty, according to Wei Juyuan's "Recipe", there was "Yuhuang Queen Mother Rice". At this time, noodles covered with shredded pork and eggs had already appeared. [Note 1]

However, in Shu, this way of eating is still rare.

A Xu has never been exposed to it before, so he will naturally be surprised.

"This is clay pot rice, covered with bacon. After simmering, the aroma of the bacon will be absorbed into the rice. When you eat like this, you can taste the aroma of the bacon in every mouthful of glutinous rice." Xu Yi told him.

Then he told him where this clay pot rice came from.

After listening to this, A Xu and A Jin admired Xu Yi even more.

As expected of a gentleman, he knows so much!

Jiangmi is glutinous rice and is not easy to digest. Xu Yi was afraid that if they ate too much at night, they would accumulate food, so he only allowed them to eat one bowl.

A-Xu and A-Jin held the bowls and ate them carefully. The glutinous rice tasted soft and glutinous. It was drizzled with seasoned soy sauce and had a shiny color. Each grain had the salty aroma of bacon.

After eating a few mouthfuls, the two of them couldn't hold back any longer and started chattering.

Seeing how delicious they were eating, Xu Yi's appetite suddenly improved. Not satisfied with a bowl of glutinous rice, bacon, beans and rice, he drank another bowl of cabbage and shredded pork soup.

...

Early the next morning, the Xu family had an uninvited guest.

It was Feng Jiangliang whom I had just met two days ago.

After Feng Jiangliang entered the house, he didn't stop looking around. When he saw the medicinal materials drying in the yard, he was slightly surprised at first. He didn't expect that what the classmate said was true.

Entering the main room again, Feng Jiangliang saw that the main room was divided into two nondescript parts of different styles. He couldn't help but laugh in his heart. Sure enough, it was still as vulgar as ever.

He smiled and said: "Xu Yi, why did you make the main room like this? It looks very unattractive." Is

there still a discussion about the beauty of a thatched house? Saying this makes it even more difficult to understand.

Xu Yi looked at him with an unchanging expression: "Why did you come here today?"

Feng Jiangliang said: "It's rare for you to be my classmate. When I met you a few days ago, I was thinking about how you were doing, so I came here. Yes."

Xu Yi looked at his empty hands and said "Oh."

Feng Jiangliang became uncomfortable again. This person was not thick-skinned, and he liked to show off in front of others. He didn't know how he had developed a brain.

Xu Yi couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking. He motioned for him to sit down and asked A Xu to bring two bowls of loose tea.

"I don't have good tea at home, so I can only serve you with this low-quality tea."

Feng Jiangliang immediately smiled and said, "It's good to have a bowl of loose tea at your place."

"It seems that your pursuit is very low. "Xu Yi said.

At this time, Feng Jiangliang stopped talking.

He lowered his head and pretended to drink tea, but found that the tea was very astringent and difficult to swallow.

But in front of Xu Yi, he couldn't spit out the tea he drank. After hesitating for a while, he still swallowed the tea with difficulty.

Then, he was about to put down the tea bowl.

Xu Yi suddenly asked: "Is this tea unpalatable?"

Feng Jiangliang's shoulders suddenly tensed up, and he looked at Xu Yi who was staring straight at him.

For some reason, he felt that Xu Yi was intentional.

"You..." Feng Jiangliang opened his mouth, "Xu Yi, why don't you drink it?"

Xu Yi said lightly: "I don't like drinking this tea."

Then he enthusiastically asked Feng Jiangliang to drink more and don't follow him. He was polite, "I still have it at home, Brother Feng, don't be polite."

Feng Jiangliang couldn't resist his sudden enthusiasm, so he could only nod his head and finish the bowl of bitter tea with difficulty.

"Do you want more?" Xu Yi looked at him with a smile.

Feng Jiangliang's breath was stagnant: "..."

"No, it's late, I have something to do, so I'll go back first."

Xu Yi looked regretful: "Brother Feng, go slowly. Next time I come, I will give you more." Prepare a few bowls of tea."

Hearing this, Feng Jiangliang stumbled and almost stumbled on the door sill of the main room.

Xu Yi looked at his back as he left in a hurry, raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.

Behind him, A Xu poured Xu Yi's portion of tea into the yard, and said respectfully to Xu Yi: "Lang Jun, will you prepare such tea next time?"

Xu Yi smiled: "No, he won't Will come again."

When Feng Jiangliang came to his senses, he would know that he had been tricked. If he came back, he would be too stupid.

*

After driving away the unhappy people, Xu Yi returned to the house and continued to study the ratio of the medicinal wine.

Today, he changed the method of cooking wine and added the medicinal materials that needed to be added into the wine step by step.

First put in Panax notoginseng and Angelica sinensis and steam them for a quarter of an hour. After waiting for the medicinal smell to develop, Xu Yi then added other medicinal materials such as Sappan wood, Myrrh, Chuanxiong and so on.

After the medicinal flavor of these medicinal materials is steamed out, Xu Yi adds the remaining safflower and salvia into the wine.

As time goes by, these herbs are tumbling in the wine, the hot steam rises, and the flavor becomes more and more intense.

The process of waiting for the steaming to be completed is boring, but this medicinal wine cannot be left behind.

At this time, A Xu happened to come in with a bucket, and Xu Yi called him to see the fire.

Watching the fire is also very particular. Xu Yi asked him to pay attention to the charcoal fire not to be too strong. The wine must be cooked for two hours. If there is less water in the clay pot, add water, heat the charcoal fire, and then extinguish it to the original level. The size of the flame.

When A Xu got it, he moved the wooden stool and stood guard in front of the small stove.

Xu Yi saw that he was well guarded, so he took the money bag and went out.

Just using this method to cook wine is too slow.

Xu Yi wanted to go to the grocery store and buy a pottery steamer.

The traditional ancient method of cooking wine uses a steamer, either pottery or copper, depending on the situation.

The copper retort was too expensive, and it was not something that ordinary civilians like him could use at will.

This pottery is just right, the price is not too expensive, and given his status, he will not be criticized for using pottery.

When he arrived at the grocery store, the waiter came to greet him warmly: "Doctor Xu, what do you want to buy?"

"Do you have a pottery steamer?" Xu Yi asked him.

The waiter immediately said: "Yes! Yes!"

This pottery steamer is also called a pottery pot. This cooking utensil existed in the late Neolithic Age, but at that time there were only clay pots with a single shape, only the upper part. , without the lower part.

The pottery steamers sold in grocery stores today are certainly not what they looked like in that period. They come with several patterns, and there are two curved handles on the top. They don’t feel rough to the touch. They have a smooth surface and exquisite workmanship. , the price is naturally not cheap for ordinary people.

The Xu family also had pottery steamers in the past. In order to raise money for medicinal materials, they sold all the furniture they could sell, and naturally the cooking utensils were not spared.

Xu Yi bought the pottery steamer and asked the waiter to bring him ten more ceramic bottles.

The smile on the waiter's face deepened. Xu Yi was a regular customer who frequented the store. He bought a lot of things, how could he not make people happy.

Coming out of the grocery store, Xu Yi happened to meet Uncle Pang who was buying door charms and peach charms in the market.

"Uncle Pang."

"Doctor Xu."

The two of them didn't finish their interview and went back to South Street together.

On the way, Uncle Pang took the initiative to mention the case of Wang Shun stealing and selling furniture.

"Wang Shun is just as doctor Xu said. He didn't go to the city to find relatives at all. He fled to Yinping County." Uncle Pang said meaningfully, "He was also unlucky. He happened to meet a newly appointed Jinshi in Yinping County. When the Han County Magistrate came across the county's rectification, he found out that Wang Shun's background was not correct, and he was severely investigated. "

The incident of Wang Shun's stealing and selling furniture caused an uproar, not only in Yanting County, but also in other counties. Several surrounding counties are also doing the same.

Magistrate Han thought of this case and immediately sent the county lieutenant from Yinping County to investigate the case thoroughly.

Sure enough, the investigation revealed the problem and Wang Shun was arrested and brought to justice.

Xu Yi was fascinated by what he heard. This new magistrate of Yinping County...he had heard about it from Zhang Tiegou last time.

"Uncle Pang, is Wang Shun still in Yinping County now?" Xu Yi asked.

Uncle Pang shook his head: "He has pleaded guilty. Yinping County sent officers to escort him back to Yanting County three days ago."

In a few days, Wang Shun will be sentenced in Yanting County.

The Song Dynasty punished thieves with heavy laws. If they committed the crime, they would be sentenced to imprisonment or exile, with a life span of five hundred miles, and one-third of the family property would be confiscated. [Note 2]

However, Wang Shun's property was almost all obtained from stolen furniture and mortgaged houses. It can be said that almost all the family property was confiscated.

Fortunately, the crime he committed was theft, and his crime was not as serious as that of his wife and children, but his descendants were not allowed to take the scientific examination for three generations.

Xu Yi saluted him and said, "Thank you, Uncle Pang, for informing me."

Uncle Pang quickly turned aside and returned the greeting, "Dr. Xu, you're welcome. Da Lang was also curious and asked a few more questions, so he told me to inform him. " Doctor Xu."

Xu Yi nodded slightly, which turned out to be Pang Yi's meaning.

With the outcome of Wang Shun's case, the matter has been settled. Xu Yi bought the former county magistrate's house, and the only hidden danger was solved.

He asked Uncle Pang to thank Pang Boyi on his behalf, and took the pottery steamer and ceramic bottle he bought back to conduct a new experiment.

Xu Yi placed the pottery steamer on the stove, poured the remaining sake at home into three newly purchased ceramic bottles, and added the medicinal materials in different orders... Time

passed little by little.

Xu Yi finished a new round of experiments, and the lid of the clay pot that A Xu had been guarding made a grunting sound.

Soon, the lid was lifted up by the heat, and hot wine flowed from the gap.

In an instant, the kitchen was filled with bursts of smoke, and the aroma of medicinal wine floating in the air became stronger.

Not only was the house filled with the aroma of wine, but even the neighbors around Xu's house could smell the aroma.