4 chestnut shortbread
"I don't want any of this."
At the hour of Xu, dusk falls. Outside the window, the moonlight casts shadows all over the ground and the shadows of the trees sway.
The paper window of the east kitchen cast out warm yellow candlelight, and a graceful figure quickly passed by.
Song Jinyi put the lard borrowed from Aunt Zhang next door on the table, which was also filled with other ingredients: two pounds of raw chestnuts she bought in the afternoon, a bag of flour she asked the waiter to bring, and a basket of eggs.
She took out a little from each.
Pour the plump chestnuts into salt water and boil them, then take them out, cut them and peel them, and put all the golden chestnut meat into a small bowl.
Xu Ruolan happened to have finished her work and saw the kitchen light was on. She came over and saw the chestnuts on the table and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Chestnut shortbread." She answered while kneading flour, lard and hot water in a basin.
Xu Ruolan rolled up her sleeves and said, "I'll help you too."
Song Jinyi handed the basin in her hand to Xu Ruolan, added some sugar, and said, "Then please, Sister Ruolan, prepare this basin of dough. This basin of dough will be used to make the water-fried dough, and I will use another basin to make the oil-fried dough."
She took out a new basin and kneaded the flour and pork into a ball.
After kneading both doughs, press the chestnuts into granules with a rolling pin, add granulated sugar and lard, and knead evenly.
Flatten the pastry into a round shape and place the puff pastry in the center of the dough. Repeat the process of rolling it out and letting it rest twice. Then stand the dough upright and flatten it into a round shape. Use a rolling pin to roll it into a round dough sheet that is thick in the middle and thin around the edges.
Wrap the filling in the pan, pinch the opening tightly, bake in a pan, brush the surface with egg liquid, and finally sprinkle with white sesame seeds.
After a while, the pastry was formed, with the water-oil dough and the oil-flavored pastry dough evenly stacked. The layers of crispy pastry crust were gently shaking, and the egg liquid on top became golden and shiny. The addition of white sesame seeds made it even better.
The first thing you smell is the aroma of shortbread, the wheat aroma of flour and the meaty aroma of lard blend wonderfully together.
Song Jinyi took out a piece of pastry, broke it in half, and scattered the remaining pastry crumbs. Wisps of hot steam came out from the middle, and the chestnut filling was as soft and glutinous as sweet potato.
She handed it to Xu Ruolan and said, "These chestnut pastries should be eaten while hot, just like the sweet potatoes."
Xu Ruolan took it, pinched the edge of the pastry, took a bite of the crust, which was thin and crispy. She took a second bite and found the filling tasted like red bean paste, with the unique sweetness of chestnuts.
She and Song Jinyi had a meal outside when they went out to buy ingredients. She thought she would eat half a pastry at most to try it out, but she wanted to eat more after eating half of it.
This would be a trial run to prepare for tomorrow. Song Jinyi didn't make much, so she gave another piece of the pastry to Xu Ruolan, planning to keep two for breakfast tomorrow morning and the remaining four to give to Aunt Zhang who sold pork next door.
First, I borrowed a bowl of lard from someone, and I wanted to return the favor. Second, it is very necessary to maintain good relations with neighbors.
******
The next day.
At the hour of Yin, the night watchman beat the gong to announce the time along the street. This hour was the last time the night watch was sounded, so the night watchman inevitably quickened his pace, wanting to go home early and have a good sleep.
Walking in the opposite direction of his pace were vendors pushing their stalls, selling breakfast.
With the tarpaulin and the cart put down, and the heat added, after a while, the deserted stall became steaming hot.
On Qiaoge Street, there is an inconspicuous tea shop. A faint candlelight can be seen from the crack of the door. When I peek through the crack, I see three people running around inside.
Early in the morning, Song Jinyi prepared dozens of portions of the ingredients needed for yesterday's green tea and mung bean cakes. When she stopped to rest, she found that daybreak had unknowingly arrived.
Song Jinyi looked at the rich blue outside the door, which seemed to be smudged and faded bit by bit by a brush dipped in water.
She was enjoying the peaceful time at this moment, hoping that the days would go on peacefully. Although she had left the Song family, which was full of dangers, she still had doubts in her heart.
During the days she lived outside, she heard bits and pieces about the Song family.
The Song family is one of the richest businessmen in Yunzhou City. They have close ties with the imperial merchants in Kyoto. With the support of a powerful family, even the government has to give them some face.
Wouldn't it be easy for such a local tyrant to find someone?
The original owner's stepmother wasn't a kind person. Did she let her go on purpose? Did she set a trap for her?
She kneaded the dough in her hands vigorously. If the Song family couldn't accommodate her, and Yunzhou couldn't accommodate her, then she would save more money and stay away from here.
Xu Ruolan and the waiter in the store came to help, and she finished it much faster than she did yesterday.
This green tea and mung bean cake is not difficult to make. In less than an hour, 70 to 80% of the cake paste is made.
Xu Ruolan took out seven or eight molds from the counter. They were all newly bought yesterday. There were peach blossom shapes, leaf shapes, square shapes...
She divided the portions equally and used molds to make the pastries.
Song Jinyi was thinking about what to do next?
Chestnut shortbread is time-consuming to make and the taste also needs to be considered as the time it takes to come out of the oven will affect it. She makes some Danai cakes and Xiaoyan'er cakes first, and leaves the chestnut shortbread for last.
I'll ask the waiter to go to the shop in the east to sell some preserved fruits later, so that we can have seven or eight kinds of tea-flavored fruits today.
When business picks up later, she will renegotiate the salary with the shopkeeper and prepare more ideas then.
Song Jinyi calculated the date and found that the Dragon Boat Festival was coming soon. She could take advantage of the opportunity to do something new.
This Danai cake is made by taking small apples, peeling and cored them, and shaping them into a fruit box. The box is then filled with date paste and other ingredients, and the surface is decorated with melon seeds or almonds in the shape of flowers. It is then steamed in a steamer and poured with honey.
When I was young in an orphanage, we couldn’t afford to eat big fish and meat during the Chinese New Year, so the director would buy some cheap fruits, arrange them in different ways, and serve them as snacks for everyone during the Chinese New Year.
Later, when she went out to make a living and learned how to make pastries, she found a dessert that was similar in recipe to the dean's, and that was the Danai Cake.
The method of making this smiley face is even simpler. It is a pastry snack made with oil, flour, sugar and honey that looks like a smiling doll. It is a pastry that has existed since ancient times. Ancient books once recorded: smiley faces are made with oil, flour and molasses, and are called fruit food. There are many kinds of strange and ingenious designs, such as Naxiang Fangsheng. If you buy a pound of it, you will get a pair of people in armor like door gods, which are also shortened to "smiley faces".
After Song Jinyi and Xu Ruolan finished their work, the waiter came back with four kinds of preserved fruits.
Dried apricots, dried pears, jujubes, and peach rings are all seasonal dried fruits. These preserved fruits are not difficult to make and there is not much effort involved.
It’s just that drying it takes time. Song Jinyi just arrived yesterday, so naturally she didn’t have time to make the preserved fruits. It’s no harm to sell the ready-made ones.
The waiter was a lucky eater. He had just come back and the big cake was steamed and was being poured with golden honey. He had not had breakfast this morning, so when he saw the food coming out of the pot, he secretly swallowed his saliva.
He stared at the dessert dripping with honey and said, "Sister Jinyi, what kind of dessert is this? It looks good, and does it taste good too?"
Song Jinyi smiled, knowing that he was hungry, so she picked up a piece with her chopsticks and gave it to him, "Try it, how does it taste?"
The waiter took it and swallowed it whole, ignoring the heat, praising it, "Delicious!"
"What did you taste?"
"Huh?" The waiter was slightly stunned, shook his head, and said, "I ate too fast and didn't taste it." He touched the back of his head again, lowered his head, and said with a bit of embarrassment, "Sister Jinyi, I'm sorry about yesterday..."
Song Jinyi was not a petty person, and told the waiter that she didn't take the matter to heart.
The three of them had a simple breakfast. Xu Ruolan packed the preserved fruits into plates, while Song Jinyi began to prepare the ingredients for the shortbread. The waiter went to the front hall to wipe the table and prepare to welcome the guests.
The shopkeeper arrived a little late, entering the store at 9:00 a.m. He first took a look in the front hall, then went to the east kitchen for an inspection. After discussing the price of the fruit with Song Jinyi, he returned to the counter to calculate the bill, sighing as he did so.
As soon as the customer entered the shop, the waiter immediately introduced the new yellow tea. "We have a new yellow tea today. Would you like to try it? We also have a few new tea cakes. Would you like to pair them with some?"
Some customers are conservative, ordering only what they are used to, and unwilling to spend extra money to "gamble" on something they have never tried before. Others are adventurous, like the first person to eat crab, who are willing to try it out.
At first, there were three or two tables of guests, but only one table ordered some fruit.
When the exquisitely shaped tea cakes were served, they attracted the attention of others. They looked pretty good, didn’t they?
The man took a bite and was amazed. This mung bean cake was different from ordinary ones. It even had the fragrance of tea! The texture was also very dense, like a cloud from the sky, melting in the mouth.
And this Danai cake, made with jujube paste and apples, has a rich taste and is even more delicious...
Seeing how delicious the food was, the others followed suit and ordered a plate as well.
For a moment, all the tea drinkers sitting in the teahouse ordered a few servings of fruit.
The teahouse is a street-facing shop with two large sliding windows. Passers-by can clearly see the scene inside. The fruits are brightly colored and elegant in appearance, and they can attract people's attention at just a glance.
Someone with a carefree personality poked half of his head in through the window and asked, "This fruit looks good. How does it taste?"
In ancient times, people made friends through poetry, and some made friends through food.
The man expressed his feelings without pretense: "It's delicious, just as good as Zui Liu Xia's. This plate of green tea and mung bean cakes is only ten cents, and it comes with a small dish of preserved fruit."
What kind of place was Zui Liu Xia? It was one of the best teahouses in Yunzhou, backed by the entire Yunzhou tea estates. Not only did it monopolize the tea supply, but a few days ago, it even summoned all the tea confectionery chefs.
Where else in Yunzhou can you find a decent tea and pastry chef?
Some people left with an attitude of disbelief, while others came in to try it out just in case.
True gold is not afraid of fire, and delicious food is not afraid of people tasting it. As time went by, more and more customers came to this teahouse, and the store was packed with people.
Even the shopkeeper, who usually had no time to spare, had to come down and help out personally. He never stopped working but kept grinning.
Unlike the shopkeeper, Song Jinyi in the east kitchen had a worried look on her face. It was not even noon yet, but only a few of the seventy or eighty servings of fruit were left.
******
An old man with gray hair was walking in the crowd towards Qiaoge Street. His hair was not tied neatly like other men's, but was a little askew, with wisps of hair scattered on his temples.
He was holding half a roast chicken from Yingchunlou in his hand, with one hand behind his back, walking leisurely with a figure eight step.
A passerby who knew him asked, "Is Mr. Feng going to Zui Liu Xia for tea again?"
The old man smiled and said, "I drink tea with fruit. Their fruit is unique in Yunzhou, and now they have hired all the chefs. I can only go to Zui Liuxia."
The man continued, "Old Feng is an expert on Yunzhou's cuisine. If you say it's good, then it must be the best. A distant friend of mine is coming here in the next couple of days. He loves mutton, and I'd like to know where you can get some good mutton."
Old Feng, flattered by his words, grinned broadly, but in no hurry to leave. He pointed the way for him and explained in detail, "Go south to the end of this street and you'll find Wang's Lamb. Their steamed lamb is a specialty. And in a small alley just before Luoyun Bridge, there's this place that serves roasted lamb, which is also quite good..."
After finishing his chores, he continued walking. When he passed a tea shop, he stopped and twitched his nose vigorously, as if he was attracted by some smell and couldn't move.
His half-closed eyes then widened and he turned his head left and right, searching for the source of the smell.
The teahouse next door was packed with people. Looking in through the window, I saw fruits arranged on the wooden table.
The person at the window seemed to recognize him and asked hesitantly, "Mr. Feng?"
“Is this a shortbread?”
"It's chestnut shortbread."
"Is it tasty?"
…
With some face, Mr. Feng found a seat in the already full store.
"What do you have here?"
"Green tea and mung bean cakes, Xiaoyan'er cakes, Danai cakes, seasonal preserved fruits, and chestnut shortbread." The waiter announced the names of the snacks.
But then the old man said calmly, "I don't want any of these."
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