Xu Qinyu was stunned, not understanding why Ma Liu asked this. She said, "These mushrooms are of course edible. They can be used to make mushroom soup. You don't need to add any pork. Just add some salt and then some egg liquid. It will taste very delicious." She planned to use these mushrooms to make mushroom egg soup, and then stir-fry winter bamboo shoots with bacon, and pair it with their white flour pancakes. It would be warm and filling.

"What are you talking about, young lady?" Ma Liu looked strange. "These mushrooms can't be eaten. They are poisonous and can kill people. That's right, young lady is from Beijing. There are few wild mushrooms in Beijing. You must not know that people in the southwest don't pick these wild mushrooms in the mountains. Many people have died from eating them in the past. So in recent years, except for famine, no one eats wild mushrooms in the mountains."

Xu Qinyu was silent. No wonder these wild mushrooms in the mountains grew so lushly.

The ancient dynasties she knew had always had a history of eating wild mushrooms, but there were also cases of people dying from eating poisonous mushrooms. She remembered that this was not the ancient dynasty from her time, at least in all the historical records she had read, there was no historical dynasty called Sheng Dynasty, so it was different from the dynasties she was familiar with.

She still remembered that when her original body was in the Dechang Marquis Mansion, most of the food they ate was steamed or boiled. There was also stir-frying, but stir-frying did not seem to be popular yet, and the taste of stir-fried dishes was also very ordinary. There were some scarce cooking methods, unlike her time, when there were dozens of cooking methods. Even ordinary stir-frying could be stir-fried, fried stir-fried, slow-fried, dry stir-fried, raw stir-fried, etc.

In an era when food and cooking techniques were still scarce, it was normal that people could not distinguish between poisonous and non-toxic wild mushrooms.

After all, the first person who ate crabs might have been poisoned by them, so people who came after him never dared to eat crabs again.

She remembered that there were indeed no wild mushrooms for sale in the capital, but there were some dried mushrooms for sale.

According to Ma Liu, they seem to call this kind of wild mushroom "junzi" and those dried mushrooms "gu".

Mushrooms are edible and are grown by ourselves, but fungi are wild and many of them are poisonous, so they cannot be eaten.

But how can she convince these officers and soldiers that the mushrooms she picked are edible?

Xu Qinyu knew that even if she told these officers and soldiers that wild mushrooms are divided into poisonous and non-toxic, and that the ones she picked were non-toxic, the deep-rooted ideas in their bones would make them hesitate.

Xu Qinyu had a rough idea in her mind, and she said to Ma Liu and Deputy Captain Chen, "I once saw a record in a journal that some wild mushrooms are non-toxic. As long as you pick non-toxic ones, you can eat them. If you are worried, I will stew bamboo shoots with bacon for you. As for these mushrooms, I will cook them for myself. You think they are non-toxic. I will cook them for you tomorrow."

Ma Liu frowned, "Young lady, don't try it. You said you only saw it in a journal. If you pick poisonous mushrooms, you may lose your life."

"Thank you for your concern, Master Jun." Xu Qinyu smiled slightly. "I have been able to distinguish food ingredients differently from ordinary people since I was young, and I often cook. When I was in the capital, I also picked some wild mushrooms on the mountains outside the city. They tasted delicious and were not poisonous."

This is not false. Because the second wife was not favored, and her uncle had some cooking skills, she did know some cooking skills.

Besides, wild mushrooms are everywhere. There are fewer of them in Beijing, but they are not non-existent. The southwest has abundant rainfall, and there are countless species of mushrooms, almost hundreds of species, but there are more than two hundred species of poisonous mushrooms. So if you don’t know much about mushrooms, it is easy to pick poisonous mushrooms. Some mushrooms that look similar are actually not the same species, one is poisonous and the other is non-toxic, making it even more difficult to distinguish.

Deputy Captain Chen looked at her and said, "Since you can tell the difference, if you want to eat these mushrooms, cook them yourself later."

He would not let his soldiers eat these mushrooms for the time being, as it is better to be safe than sorry.

Xu Qinyu thanked him and took the bamboo shoots and mushrooms to the stream to wash them.

These winter bamboo shoots are particularly plump. Xu Qinyu tasted them and found them tender, refreshing and sweet without being astringent. They do not need to be blanched in water and can be directly stewed with bacon to be delicious.

She only cleaned a small part of the mushrooms, intending to cook them for herself and the Pei family.

These bamboo shoots were only enough for one time. Just now she asked the officers and soldiers to continue digging bamboo shoots in the mountains, as well as wild ginger and green onions. As for mushrooms, they didn't know how to tell them apart, so she wouldn't let them help pick them.

Wash the bamboo shoots, dry them and cut them into large pieces. She had tried bacon before, and it was not smoked very well, a little salty, and the smoked parts were not evenly distributed. However, the texture was good. She had soaked the bacon in water for a while, so she quickly scraped off the smoke on the bacon, washed it, dried it, and cut it into pieces slightly smaller than the bamboo shoots. She also washed the wild ginger, dried it, and chopped it into foam.

For wild mushrooms, you just need to clean off the dirt and tear them into strips.

All the ingredients were prepared, the fire and the big pot had been set up, and a pot of hot water had been boiled. Ma Liu also filled a pot of hot water for the Pei family.

The Pei family and Wen Shi only then knew that Xu Qinyu was going to cook for these officers and soldiers. Wen Shi was really worried. She didn't know how Yu Niang dared to ask to cook for these officers and soldiers. During the journey, Yu Niang had never revealed that she could cook. She was afraid that her daughter-in-law would offend people. She endured for a long time before going to Xu Qinyu and whispered, "Yu Niang, what are you doing? You are the daughter of the Marquis's mansion, how can you cook? Be careful not to get into trouble."

Xu Qinyu said softly: "Although she is the daughter of the Marquis's family, she cannot be pampered. Okay, don't worry, mother. I can cook. You can go and rest first."

Wen was stunned. Yes, if the Dechang Marquis's Mansion really valued Yu Niang, they would not have replaced the Third Miss with the Second Miss and sent her to the border town to suffer.

While Xu Qinyu was talking, she had already heated up the large pot and poured two spoonfuls of lard into the pot to melt. When the oil was heated, she poured the chopped bacon into the pot and stir-fried it with a sizzling sound. After stir-frying for a while, until the bacon looked translucent and some of the fat was fried out, she poured the chopped ginger into the pot and stir-fried it for a few times to bring out the aroma of the bacon. She then added a large bucket of hot water that she had just prepared, and waited until the bacon was boiled over high heat and simmered for a while before pouring all the chopped bamboo shoots into the pot and simmering them with the bacon for a quarter of an hour.

Originally, I was planning to slice it and stir-fry winter bamboo shoots with bacon, but I didn’t want to make mushroom and egg soup, so I could only make a stew with soup.

The bacon itself is a bit salty, so no need to add salt or other seasonings, after all, there aren't any.

In order to cook better food and understand more about food, she even went to the countryside to learn banquet dishes for a while, so she is very good at making this kind of big pot dish.

The ingredients also include flour and eggs. Xu Qinyu has no plan to touch them. It is just right to stew winter bamboo shoots with bacon and eat them with white flour pancakes today. The remaining ingredients can be used tomorrow.

Ma Liu stayed by Xu Qinyu's side the whole time, while other officers and soldiers were called by Deputy Captain Chen to go to the mountain to dig winter bamboo shoots, wild onions and wild ginger. This was also Xu Qinyu's idea. He said that they had a car and could dig some of these ingredients and take them with them.

Ma Liu could smell the aroma of meat from the moment Xu Qinyu started frying the bacon, and after stewing the bamboo shoots, the aroma soon became stronger and stronger, the aroma of meat mixed with another kind of fresh and sweet fragrance that made people drool. Even the other exiled prisoners kept looking over here.

Wen never thought that her daughter-in-law could actually cook.

Pei Jianing was also awakened by the fragrance and murmured, "What a nice smell."

She had never smelled such a delicious aroma of food, not even in the palace's kitchen.

The other members of the Wen family couldn't help spitting. Wen Lingling swallowed her saliva and rolled her eyes, "As a girl from a marquis's mansion, you are willing to do such a despicable thing."

Ma Liu finally believed that this young lady really knew how to cook, and he kept asking Xu Qinyu, "Young lady, when can we eat this dish? It should be cooked, right?"

Xu Qinyu said: "It's not quite done yet, just wait another half a minute and it will be almost done."

When cooking, besides the seasoning ratio and ingredients, the most important thing is the control of the heat.

Some people, even if they follow the tutorial and get the right proportions of ingredients and seasonings when cooking, the food still doesn’t taste good because they can’t control the heat well.

She seemed to be born with this talent. When she was a child, she would get some ingredients from the welfare home and bake them herself, and they tasted very good.

Soon, the officers and soldiers who went to the mountains to dig bamboo shoots and wild vegetables also came back. Many of them were attracted by the fragrance.

"What a nice smell! What is this? It smells so nice."

"Yes, I smelled it in the mountains, and I couldn't stand the fragrance, so I came back."

"My dear, when can we have dinner?"

The fire was almost ready. Xu Qinyu took out all the firewood from the stove, opened the lid of the pot, and finally sprinkled a large handful of chopped green onions into the pot. She smiled and said, "It's ready to eat. Everyone, bring your bowls over."

The officers and soldiers hurried to get their bowls and line up.

The first bowl was naturally served to Lieutenant Chen. Lieutenant Chen took the bowl and looked at the stewed bamboo shoots with bacon. The bacon was fat and lean, with the fat part crystal clear. The bamboo shoots and soup were both milky white in color, garnished with green scallions. Not to mention the taste, the color alone was very attractive.

As the leader of the group, he couldn't hold back any longer. He took the food out of the pot and put a piece of bacon in his mouth.

I was a little stunned when I took a bite. The bacon was juicy in my mouth. This was because it absorbed the fat from the bamboo shoots, bamboo shoot soup and the bacon itself. After a few bites, the bacon melted in my mouth. It was salty and light, with the right amount of meat flavor and a hint of sweetness from the bamboo shoots.

He even wondered if this was really the bacon they had bought earlier?

The bacon they cooked before was very salty and tough, so they couldn't chew it. They could only chew it a few times and then swallow it.

"Boss, is it delicious?" Ma Liu couldn't help but shouted out loud while waiting in line.

Lieutenant Chen did not answer him and picked up another piece of bamboo shoots. The bamboo shoots had been stewed for such a long time but they were not mushy. They were still whole and very tasty. The bamboo shoots had also absorbed the fat and soup of the bacon. When he took a bite of it, it was sweet and fresh yet salty. It tasted better than the bacon and it was so fragrant that he wanted to swallow his tongue.

It's not like Lieutenant Chen had never eaten dishes cooked with bacon before, but he had never imagined that they could be so delicious.

The other officers and soldiers also served their dishes and took them to the side to eat.

“This is delicious.”

"Yes, I have never eaten such delicious food."

"Even the restaurants in Beijing can't make food taste like this."

It was finally Ma Liu's turn. After Xu Qinyu filled his plate with dishes, he couldn't wait to pick up a piece of bacon and put it in his mouth. He paused for a moment and then started to devour it.

There were also sounds of other people swallowing their saliva around. Everyone felt like they were going to die from the aroma. The Pei family could still endure it. Although the two children were also greedy and kept swallowing their saliva, they both snuggled obediently in Pei Jianing's arms.

In the lineage of Lord Anping, the adults were fine, but the two younger children kept making a fuss, yelling for their family to come and ask for it.

But how could the Wen family come to Xu Qinyu to ask for food?

Besides, they could see clearly that there was no food in the pot.

This big pot of stewed bacon with bamboo shoots was just enough for each of the officers and soldiers to have a bowl. Xu Qinyu dipped the little remaining soup at the bottom of the pot and tasted it. It was just the right saltiness, and the sweetness of the bamboo shoots alleviated the greasiness of the bacon. Although it was not as good as what she had made before, given the limited conditions, the taste was still good.

Lieutenant Chen had already finished a bowl of stewed bamboo shoots with bacon with a cold, hard white flour bun, which warmed his stomach and body and made him feel relaxed all over.

He was convinced of Xu Qinyu's cooking skills and knew that she should be able to distinguish the toxicity of wild mushrooms. He also knew that she was going to make mushroom egg soup, so he went to the carriage and took seven or eight eggs and gave them to her, "Take them, you can cook them yourself."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Chen."

Xu Qinyu thanked him with a smile and took the egg.