In the past, we would just eat beans and cold noodles in the evening with some side dishes, and the most important thing was that the sauce for the cold noodles had to be good.
But now the Western Kitchen is different from the past, even the cold bean noodles can be added with shredded chicken.
In fact, it would be more appropriate to call it shredded chicken cold noodles, but Su Wan was cautious and only wrote green bean cold noodles, which would make it easier to change ingredients in the future.
After all, the ingredients are determined once a month. June is so abundant, who knows what July will be like.
Although I may be worrying too much, it’s always a good idea to think more about it.
This was the food for the tasting, and Su Wan naturally prepared it to surprise everyone.
Tear the cooked chicken with ginger slices, peppercorns and star anise into strips along the grain, then blanch the side dishes for later use. The side dishes include shredded bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, shredded bean curd skin, and chopped beans.
After the noodles are cooked, rinse them with cold water several times. This will not only make the noodles chewier, but also prevent them from being exposed to the heat of cooking.
However, after cooking, the noodles were not mixed directly, but put into a large bowl.
The cooked ingredients are placed on the plate in different categories, and the sauce is placed next to it.
Because these alkaline noodles are not only used to eat cold noodles.
Also used for lobster noodles.
On the other side, the spicy crayfish and garlic crayfish are already prepared. There is some soup left in them. Remove the various ingredients and it can also be used as the soup base. You can just mix it with the noodles when the time comes.
Even if the soup gets cold by then, you can always heat it up on a small stove and then add the cooked noodles.
The soup is absolutely delicious, and if you add some peeled shrimps into it, it will taste even better.
Anyway, Su Wan put a lot of shrimps in Yan Pei's bowl. She prepared both kinds of noodles for him today, but the bowl was a little smaller so that he wouldn't eat too much.
It has almost become a habit to send food to Yan Pei during this period.
It seems strange if I don’t do something for him alone.
But when Su Wan went to deliver the meal, she glanced at the lobsters in the small yard.
She has tried her best to eat crayfish today, but why are there so many tanks? The ducks are almost full, but they are so plump, the meat must be delicious.
Such a cute and plump little duck must taste delicious!
Su Wan still hasn't seen Yan Pei at the Guandi Temple. It has been like this for the past few days. She can always see the poor little guy in the morning, most of the time she can see him at noon, but he hasn't come in the evening for two consecutive days.
He must have been forced to work by his boss.
So pitiful.
And I felt that his clothes were very old. They were clean, but they looked shabby.
When I came out of the Guandi Temple, I happened to see General Xu coming from the Northern Armory Bureau, and the two of them were traveling together.
Su Wan looked at General Xu's height with envy. She was too short now. She wished she could grow taller.
But I am still young, so I should have a long time to grow.
We still have our meals in the yard at night.
When Su Wan went to deliver the meal, Yu Shu and the others had already set the table. The person who came to help wash the crayfish today also got a plate of crayfish to eat and went back happily.
The two chief stewards of the Imperial Household Department also gave them some rewards, so they wouldn't let them work for nothing.
The chief eunuch of the Shangbao Palace was fine. He rolled up his sleeves and prepared to eat. The chief guard simply brought a young guard to help him peel shrimps.
He still felt that lobsters were too ugly. They were okay to eat, but not nice to look at, and they became a laughing stock in the courtyard.
The two people from the old treasury did not arrive early. The chief steward of the Treasury Department came in with them. As for the left and right managers and the deputy prime minister of the West, they came when the West Kitchen was almost done.
Su Wan looked and saw why more and more people were coming to eat.
If there are more, I’m afraid the small courtyard won’t be big enough.
Fortunately, the food tasting has reached the third day and will be over in two days. There won’t be so many people coming over in the future, so she can go back to the big kitchen to help.
Needless to say, there are two flavors of lobster. Today we made two full plates, which are definitely enough for everyone.
Sure enough, when everyone ate crayfish today, their movements were not so wild, and they were able to slowly savor the flavor of the crayfish.
But you can peel shrimps, but not noodles!
Because two kinds of noodles were arranged in a few days, if you want to eat cold noodles, you can take the noodles and mix them with shredded chicken, side dishes, and finally add shredded cucumber, which is a must-have in summer, and finally garlic juice and various seasonings.
If you want to eat lobster noodles, you can use the small stove next to it to heat the soup. Actually, you don’t need to heat it because it’s summer now and the soup doesn’t cool down that quickly.
Place the noodles directly into the lobster broth.
After the cold noodles are mixed evenly, they are refreshing and fragrant, and the noodles are soft and not sticky. It is just right to eat a bowl of cold noodles when the summer heat is at its peak.
Moreover, both types of lobsters are salty and spicy, which is just right after eating the refreshing shredded chicken and green beans cold noodles.
The lobster noodles are brightly colored and spicy.
Both taste different, but equally delicious.
Nowadays, lobsters can be eaten in a variety of ways, and they are all delicious.
I don’t know what the remaining fried prawns taste like, but the shrimp dumplings must taste very good.
The one who eats the fastest must be General Xu.
Yesterday I could only get some food from the Third Prince, but today I found him myself and can eat as much as I want!
I used to think that shrimp meat was very fishy, but now I don’t have that idea at all. Such a small piece of shrimp meat can be so delicious.
In fact, everything else was easy to deal with. The cold noodles were particularly to General Xu's taste, so Su Wan had to order several more bowls.
This general is such a big eater!
She also needs to eat more. It seems that eating more can help her grow taller!
Su Wan told Yan Pei that eating more will make you taller.
On the morning of May 24th, which was also the fourth day of the food tasting, Su Wan put the steamed shrimp dumplings with vinegar sauce, chili peppers aside, as well as a bowl of hot egg soup.
Of course, the egg soup was made by Su Wan specially for Yan Pei, while everyone else had ordinary dumpling soup.
Su Wan added: "It must be that eating more can make you taller. General Xu is really tall."
Yan Pei looked at his own body, then at Su Wan's, and chuckled, "Yeah."
"What? You're not tall either." Su Wan said seriously, "You're only half a head taller than me. From now on, we have to eat at least one egg every day!"
As she spoke, Su Wan took out the eggs she had bought and cooked them.
The eggs were worth it because Yan Pei went to Su's house twice to bring me messages.
Because they could see their family again next month, Yan Pei made another trip for Su Wan and told her about her aunt's recent situation at home.
Last time, he not only gave one ounce of silver that he had given, but also three ounces of silver that were "accidentally" discovered, which was considered to be quite good for his aunt.
Su Wan was still thinking about what Yan Pei said, while Yan Pei had a few big words running through his mind.
You're not tall either.
Not many words, but hurtful.
I am thirteen years old, is this height okay?
Think about how Su Wanmeng praised General Xu's height, and there is indeed a gap.
Yan Pei took a big bite of the boiled egg. It seemed that he really needed to eat more.
It was only for a moment that Yan Pei lost his composure. He even found it funny. Why did he start to care about these things? He then asked, "Three out of the four taels of silver you gave to your aunt in private were taken away by the search. Aren't you angry?"
Su Wan smiled: "I thought all four coins would be taken away. It's good enough to keep one coin."
"In fact, she would not spend the money. At most, she would hold it in her hand. When she was given the four taels of silver, she was prepared to be searched."
When they met on May 11, Su Wan gave her aunt one penny of silver in public and four pennies of silver in private.
I knew that my aunt couldn't hide the money, but the money she gave openly was a little different from the money they found in private.
The latter will definitely feel that this is really all they have and will not embarrass others anymore.
Although the amount of money is not much, it is money after all. If the Su family can treat the Third Aunt better because of a few cents, that is enough.
Yan Pei heard this and said, "If that's the case, why not buy it and send it over."
Su Wan nodded: "I thought so too, so I asked Wei Jun and Zhuo Hui to buy some for me and give it to my aunt when I meet her next month."
Wei Jun Zhuo Hui?
If I remember correctly, the guard named Zhuo Hui was not short.
Yan Pei said: "Next month is a special meeting, but from now on we have to meet every three months. There are too few opportunities to give gifts."
According to the investigation by Yan Pei's men, Aunt Su Wan lived a hard life at home, and her family's attitude towards her became much better because of Su Wan's monthly salary this month.
Of course, it was also because Su Wan used the excuse of asking her aunt to do embroidery for Zuo Zhizhang and asked Zhuo Hui to come out and scare him.
Zhuo Hui again?
Yan Pei said directly: "Since I can go out, why don't I help you deliver it directly to your home. You can also tell me what you want to buy."
This seems to be possible?
Su Wan thought for a moment, and Yan Pei said, "Just think of it as thanking for the eggs every day."
As the third prince, he didn't lack these eggs, he just thought it was a nice gesture, not to mention that he was just a poor little thing in front of her.
Su Wan then nodded and prepared to go back and think about what to buy for Yan Pei to take back to the Su family.
She had long thought about taking good care of her biological mother.
It's very difficult to buy some things that Third Aunt can use but won't have too many of them taken away.
The two chatted for a while, and Su Wan was about to go back. She made an appointment to give Yan Pei the order tomorrow morning.
Su Wan felt a little embarrassed to ask him to do such a troublesome job. She would definitely continue to make different foods for the poor little guy in the future!
As soon as Su Wan left, Yan Pei began to feel insecure about his height for the first time. He decided to exercise more and eat more.
Not long after Yan Pei returned to the Military Affairs Bureau, he saw General Xu coming back after having eaten and drunk his fill.
It was obvious that he had gone to the kitchenette again.
Seeing this, Yan Pei casually said, “After tomorrow, the small kitchen will not cook anymore.”
General Xu, who was originally satisfied, paused.
No more cooking?!
Why?
Wait, he seemed to hear something while he was eating. Is this just a food tasting?
But he had eaten the food in the western kitchen, and the taste was indeed better than that in their Armament Bureau kitchen, but not as good as Su Wan's.
Not only is there a gap during this period, but the gap is quite large!
Yan Pei pretended that he saw nothing. Now it was General Xu's turn to be unhappy, which was okay.
Seeing General Xu coming back from the west kitchen, the staff from the small kitchen of the Armory Bureau came over with a droopy look on their faces and said in a sarcastic tone, "General, do we not have to cook for you anymore?"
He actually went to the western kitchen to eat!
It's a complete betrayal of the Armory's small kitchen!
General Xu coughed lightly: "It depends on the situation."
Although the small kitchen in the west kitchen will be closed after tomorrow, the big kitchen is still there and he can still go and try it.
These words made the cook in the small kitchen of the Armory Bureau so angry that he turned around and left.
Although he walked with a limp, he moved as fast as the wind, worthy of being a cook from the battlefield!
In the past, not only General Xu loved the food they cooked, but people from the old prison also came.
Why are they all running away now?
How can this be possible? If I get a chance I must go to the West Kitchen and take a look at how delicious the food is!
The black plum soup I delivered last time was pretty good, so I’ll give General Xu another chance!
The people in the Armory Bureau are basically retired soldiers, including both disabled soldiers and those with outstanding military achievements. Anyway, they had fought together in the past.
Now we get along very well.
Although the old subordinates were disbanded at the beginning, those who came from that time all have a feeling of mutual respect.
In the next few days, Su Wan was still very busy. The things she asked Yan Pei to help buy were all relatively common clothes and food, which would make Third Aunt's life easier without arousing envy from others.
But when it came to giving Yan Pei the money, the two of them refused for a while.
But Su Wan insisted on giving it, and her face showed that you have no money, so let me do it.
When Yan Pei learned that Su Wan had some money, he had no choice but to stop refusing.
The rest of the time is spent on enriching the food list and listing a few summer soups.
To cool off in the summer, the only drinks are hawthorn soup, reed root soup, and less commonly black plum soup. I drank it frequently in the past few days because of the sponsorship of the chief manager of the Baochaosi.
But Su Wan never expected that the inner palace would actually allocate extra ginkgo apples. Although they were not particularly expensive food, it was good that they were extra.
There are also more cooling soups at Xiwai Palace.
It seems that the last incident at the Baochaosi really made her very embarrassed.
At that time, there were rumors that were not good for Concubine Jiang, but now everyone praises the powerful nobles for their virtue.
Who cares about her? If she wants to make a name for herself, it will be a good thing for Xiwai Palace.
After dinner on May 25th, the crayfish were finally eaten up by various kinds of food.
And it was the last meal. Tonight we had loofah and egg soup, with minced meat sesame cakes, and a dessert of Tai Chi taro paste.
Compared to the knife-cut noodles I had last night, I can’t tell which I like better.
As for the comparison with the braised noodles with beans and pork belly that I had at noon today, I don’t know which one is better.
Anyway, they are delicious.
General Xu no longer wanted to leave the kitchenette.
I finally understand why these two Shangbaojians love to eat so much. When they eat their favorite food, they really can't help but eat more.
But after today, the five-day food tasting will be over!
Not doing it at all!
Is this appropriate? We have to wait until the big kitchen starts working on these menus in June.
General Xu wanted Su Wan to cook for him. Who wouldn't want that? But she would definitely have to work in the big kitchen.
Now she is the only one who knows how to prepare this menu, and Yu Shu can only help her.
Su Wan smiled and said, "In fact, the big kitchen cooks pretty well. Tomorrow we should have preserved egg and lean meat porridge, which is delicious."
She will indeed be returning to the big kitchen starting tomorrow, and many meals will pass through her hands.
Actually, it’s almost the same?
After hearing what Su Wan said, General Xu left reluctantly, but when he left he took with him a small jar of shrimp paste, which smelled very appetizing.
Not only did he take a can, but several stewards also took some away.
Su Wan finally cleaned up several tanks of shrimps, and the ducks couldn't finish eating the remaining shrimp shells.
After just raising them in the small kitchen yard for a few days, I felt that the two ducks had become visibly fatter.
Originally, it was going to be killed and eaten.
But Yan Pei has not been in the palace in the past few days, so let's wait.
The last time she made old duck soup, Yan Pei seemed to like it very much. Yan Pei also brought her summer clothes made by the Third Aunt. The Third Aunt must have started making them as soon as she went back, and now it’s just the right time to change into them.
The previous clothes seemed a little small. I guess Third Aunt also discovered this when we met last time, so she made them a little bigger this time. Now they fit perfectly.
She must have grown taller!
That’s a good thing!
As a result, Su Wan became more certain that she should eat an egg every day!
Fortunately, these eggs can be bought by Wei Jun and Zhuo Hui, so there is no shortage of them.
After testing the menu for five days and the plates a few more times, everything in the western kitchen was ready for June.
On the first day of June, you can change the menu!
As soon as the news came out, everyone in the West Outer Palace was happy.
Although the food in the western kitchen is good now, it will get boring. It is definitely a good thing to change the taste.
But it was soon overshadowed by another piece of news.
That is, the nobles in the inner palace would go to Yuhua Palace, which was a hundred miles away from the capital, to escape the summer heat. That place was lush with trees and surrounded by mountains. There were also clear springs flowing down from the mountains. Even in the hot summer, it could still feel cool and pleasant.
But if the nobles want to go, then naturally there must be someone to serve them.
First, the Imperial Household Department will send fifty palace servants, and the Imperial Treasure Department and the Treasury Department will also have to contribute manpower and effort.
Instead, the Western Kitchen became idle, while the Old Warehouse and the Armory did not need to be moved. The former had nothing to do there, and the latter was originally responsible for protecting the safety of the imperial palace.
They don't have to worry about safety on the road, but Lingtaimen will have to allocate some people.
In fact, the Imperial Kitchen also had to send people, for example, the North and South Kitchens, and the Miscellaneous Storehouse.
Especially the Zaliku, which is in charge of brewing wine, making desserts, and storing ice. They have the hardest work in summer. Although the inner palace does not ask them for desserts, they have to please the Zaliku when they want to get ice.
Therefore, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Treasury was the most rude to Concubine Jiang.
However, when the prime minister looked at Su Wan, he seemed to be interested and gave her desserts several times.
This time, the Chief of the Imperial Food Department, Deputy Prime Minister Nan, Deputy Prime Minister Li of the Miscellaneous Storehouse, and twenty or thirty palace maids with good skills will go.
The only exception is the west kitchen.
The reason, of course, is that the western kitchen is understaffed and there are few people who can cook.
The head of the Imperial Food Department, Deputy Prime Minister Xi, was reluctant to let her be transferred to Yuhua Palace, but Imperial Concubine Jiang did not want her to go, in order to avoid giving the Imperial Food Department a better reputation. Even if she had to go, she should go under her name.
As for the others, there was no need for them to follow.
In fact, when the news reached the West Outer Palace, the people in the inner palace had already packed up for several days, and even prepared things a month in advance, so they could set off on May 30th. The journey would take half a month, and since they were both going there to escape the summer heat and to have fun, they would definitely not be in a hurry.
Su Wan had heard a few words about it before, but she was always in the small kitchen and was not very interested in these things.
When they returned to their residence, the well-informed Xiaoyue couldn't help but say, "Actually, I also want to go to the palace. I heard that Yuhua Palace is extremely luxurious and must be very beautiful."
"But serving the noble is not something we can do." Chunxiang said, "We are just little palace maids."
But Yu Shu looked at Su Wan and thought that if she wanted to go, then it would certainly be possible.
Unexpectedly, Xiaoyue shook her head and said, "But there is a maid named Li Rongrong in the South Kitchen who entered the palace with us. She went to the temporary palace. I heard that the steamed dishes she made were very good and even the saints loved them. So she followed us this time."
Chunxiang and Yushu looked somewhat envious.
But come to think of it, it’s actually pretty good in the western kitchen.
The three of them comforted themselves as they talked.
Su Wan was looking at the things brought by the Third Aunt. The Third Aunt was illiterate and could not write any letters, so she had to make some small items herself and send them to her.
After putting my things away and putting on suitable underwear, I went to bed.
It’s great to grow taller!
She is still happy about growing taller!
The palace became completely quiet until the morning of May 30th.
Most of the inner palace was empty. The saint's concubine, a royal concubine, and three or four beauties had all left, and the people in their palace must have been taken away as well.
The same goes for the three princes and four princesses.
Not really. The Third Prince didn’t go with them. I haven’t heard what he thinks, but he’s not going anyway.
Only at this time can a little information about this person be revealed, and most of the time the palace just pretends that this person does not exist.
After all, when the saint heard this name, his face turned green.
Imperial Concubine Jiang was filled with deep resentment and she resorted to countless tricks to deceive him.
Only two things would make her angry: one was that she could not be the queen, and the other was that the third prince was the eldest son.
The Third Prince just passed the words over to Su Wan. She was busy preparing the five-day summer menu tomorrow!
I haven’t seen Yan Pei for two or three days. I don’t know where he went. He must not have eaten eggs these days.
In addition, the number of people coming to the western dining room for meals also decreased by three to four hundred.
The main reason is that many people left the Baochaosi, and the others are just like that.
The ingredients were already abundant enough, and now the number of people eating has decreased so much. The Western Kitchen has never fought such a rich battle before.
For a moment, I felt a little uncomfortable.
With enough manpower and ingredients, we can definitely make delicious meals!
Not to mention the West Kitchen, the palace staff in the West Outer Palace also thought so.
It was the first day of June and the sun rose very early. When I came out of the big kitchen after cooking and was about to open the door of the west kitchen, I could see the clear blue sky. It must be a good day today.
Palace servants from various departments of the West Outer Palace came in one after another.
They were no longer in a hurry to eat as they had been when they first saw the improvements in the western kitchen. Although they walked quickly now, they looked relaxed because they knew that the food in the western kitchen must be very good and the quantity would definitely be enough, and they would definitely not have enough to eat.
It’s just that today’s pace is a little faster than yesterday.
Because the Western Kitchen has changed its summer menu!
Entering the west kitchen with them was General Xu from the Armoury Bureau. Everyone was already used to it.
This burly general eats a lot, but he is not a fierce person.
But there was a man following him who looked very fierce. Although he was a lame man, he walked as fast as General Xu.
Lao Zhao, the cook in the small kitchen of the Armament Bureau, insisted on coming along to take a look. He wanted to see what the food that General Xu had been eating out for was like!
But General Xu suspected that Lao Zhao just wanted to get some food and was not really here to cause trouble.
Eat when you want, no excuses needed.
Look at him, he doesn't make excuses.
The food in the western kitchen is delicious! He just wants to come over!
Lao Zhao: ???
Are you trying to piss me off to death?
Cook Lao Zhao, who was looking for trouble, looked at the water chestnut cake, pork siu mai, rice noodle rolls, and scented tea in front of him. He was first impressed by their exquisiteness, then smelled their fragrance. However, he still had to turn his head away and ask General Xu: "Is this delicious? Can it be delicious?"
"Try it and see if it tastes good."
"That's right, if you don't want to eat, don't block the road!"
"You are not from the West Outer Palace, right?"
After hearing these words, the cook Lao Zhao directly pinched a steamed bun into his mouth. Before the palace servant from the west kitchen said it was hot, Lao Zhao had already finished eating it.
"No! I need to try a few more to know if they are delicious!"
General Xu: Oh, let me give you a taste of your cunning tricks!
The people around me showed understanding expressions. Yes, I would be like this when I was being stubborn.
Just put it in your mouth!
Face? It doesn't exist!
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