Chapter 191 Chapter 191 Update.
Ever since the news of the sacrifice at Ganquan Palace came out ten days later, no one wanted to go to the bakery room, no matter who they were, and they all tried their best to show off their skills in front of Hua Shanren.
When the time comes, you will be chosen to go to Ganquan Palace. With this additional merit compared to others, you will be able to move up further.
Ji Xu naturally wanted to go too. People always strive for higher positions. Besides, she was an official for the sake of official status. The higher the official position, the more she could protect her family's safety.
That day, she came back from her rest and went to the cake room at dusk. She looked at the bamboo strips hanging on the wall and learned that twenty-four kinds of English powder cakes would be made the next morning.
The word "Ying powder cake" made people think it was the makeup used in later generations just by hearing the last two words. As for what it was specifically, she had heard diners who knew about it talk about it once or twice, but she had never seen it.
I asked Wang Huzi for advice. This is a dish, a kind of soup cake made with extremely fine English flour, so it is called English flour cake.
This English rice noodle is made from high-quality sorghum and corn. It is mixed in the right proportions by the guide officer and sent to us. They are only responsible for processing it into cakes.
Wang Huzi, being older, knew more about the specific methods of making English vermicelli noodles, and she had also learned some of them in the past.
Use a large jar filled with cold water to soak these two types of rice. The soaking time varies with the season, twenty days in summer, one month in spring and autumn, and even two months in winter. There is no need to change the water, just to make it smell bad.
Ji Xu also tried making it at home. The longer it was cooked, the more sour smell it produced, which was similar to the vinegar used in cooking at home. It was all due to fermentation.
Only when the time comes do I change the water, rinse it repeatedly until it is no longer sour, and then store it in a bag.
This bag also has its particularities. It must be made of silk. Linen will not work because the holes are too coarse. Put the liquid in a silk bag and close the mouth. Grind it repeatedly in a stone mortar with a stone stick. White pure juice will then come out through the silk bag.
In the middle of the process, you need to open the bag and add clean water until the mouth of the silk bag becomes dry and you get half a basin of white pulp.
The white slurry needs to be stirred vigorously, stirring it three hundred times in one direction, so as to make the slurry more sticky and delicate.
You can't stop in the middle. After stirring it, Ji Xu's arms were sore.
Only then cover the mouth of the basin to prevent dust from falling, set it aside and let it sit until the top layer becomes clear, then skim it off with a spoon, leaving only the white pulp at the bottom.
When it solidifies, you will find that the circle in the center is extremely fine, which is made of the rice core; while the circle around it is relatively rough, which is made of the husk of sorghum and millet. Ordinary people would collect and use these.
But the guide will scrape off the coarse powder on the outside, leaving only the rice core part, which will be exposed to the sun and then scraped into fine powder. After grinding it into a smooth and white color, it becomes English flour.
It is said that the incense powder sold outside is made of English powder.
Ji Xu had some knowledge of pharmacology, so he also tried to make it. He added three grams of cloves, three grams of white morning glory, and two grams of white poria, ground them into powder, and it was indeed very fragrant.
There are also products on the market that add yellow ochre powder or alum powder to give it a certain red color, making it fit the skin better and look better when applied on the face.
But yellow ochre is made of lead, and both of them are somewhat toxic, so Ji Xu did not add it. He made a few small boxes. Erfeng loved it like crazy, and even Tian Shi loved it. She said that after applying it on her body, her skin became much smoother.
Ji Xu also gave a box to Yi Gu to thank her for helping him speak in front of Wang Huzi. Wang Huzi was willing to teach her, and Yi Gu had made a contribution.
I originally wanted to give a box to my superior, Hua Shanren, but I knew that Hua Shanren hated flattery and connections from his subordinates the most, so I was afraid of arousing suspicion, so I gave up.
Another box was given to Hua Shanren's niece, Zhou Ping, who lived in the same room with her. Zhou Ping loved the powder and treated her even more warmly.
Working as an official here requires help. Ji Xu and Zhou Ping have a good relationship, which makes it easier for him to do his job here.
The door was about to be locked. Zhou Ping was telling the kitchen maid to wash the cooking utensils. It was cold, and she didn't want to get wet. When she saw Ji Xu coming in, she said:
"Why are you here? Isn't today a day off? You should rest. Just come back tomorrow morning. I've already finished everything and won't delay your work tomorrow morning."
Zhou Ping is arrogant and doesn't like people pointing out her shortcomings.
"I'll be back after having lunch at home. I trust you to do your job. I'm just a newbie and feeling a bit nervous, so I came here to take a look ahead of time."
Ji Xu said.
She, Kong and Wu, the three cooks, take turns to rest. Today it is her turn, tomorrow it will be Kong's turn, and the day after tomorrow it will be Wu's turn.
She came in staggered intervals to ensure that the bakery had enough staff. She was away on holiday today, so it was not convenient for her to tell them directly that she was worried that Kong and Wu would have bad intentions and delay her cooking tomorrow morning. That was why she came to see them in advance so that she would not be caught off guard tomorrow morning.
After all, everyone is trying hard not to make mistakes these days. If she makes a mistake at this critical moment, Hua Shanren will definitely not take her to Ganquan Palace.
After hearing what she said, Zhou Ping said:
"That's right. After all, you are younger than all of them. Tomorrow they will all be away, and you will be the only one in charge. This is not an easy task."
Kong Shou will be off tomorrow, and she knew he would be away, so she asked:
"Where's Wu Pao Ren? Why isn't he here?"
"Cook Wu said his mother was ill, so he asked my aunt for half a day's leave. He's gone home now and won't be back until tomorrow at noon."
In other words, tomorrow morning Ji Xu will lead the kitchen maids to prepare meals for the bakery room properly.
To be cautious, Ji Xu first checked whether the Ying powder on the shelf was complete. Seeing this, Zhou Ping said:
"You're too cautious. I took the appropriate amount of Yingfen. How could it fly away if I just left it there?"
This Ying powder cake requires two kinds of Ying powder: white Ying powder and purple Ying powder. It looks beautiful when it is white and purple. Ji Xu opened the two bags, but they were all white Ying powder, without any purple Ying powder.
Zhou Ping interrupted himself as soon as he had spoken, his expression changed, and he interrogated the kitchen maids:
"Where's the purple violet powder here? I took it from the powder room a month ago. One bag is white, and the other is purple. There's no mistake. You must have stolen it!"
"Not me."
"It's not me either."
"I didn't take it."
The kitchen maids were talking to each other, and a young one curled her lips and said:
"Maybe it was wrong to take it."
Zhou Ping's eyes widened immediately.
"How dare you, little rascal, defile me? How can I be sure you didn't steal it and sell it for money?"
As he spoke, he twisted her mouth and advised:
"There are two hu here, the amount is not less. If that person stole the purple, where did the white one come from and put it here? It shouldn't be her who stole it."
Zhou Ping was the head of the kitchen maids, in charge of everything in the cake and bread room. From pots and pans to grains of wheat, everything passed through her hands. If no one had stolen it, then she had made a mistake when she was taking it from the flour and bread room.
After Ji Xu's words, Zhou Ping actually recalled that maybe he was busy chatting with the maid in the powder room and didn't open it to look, so he mistakenly took back two hu of white wine.
The little girl's mouth turned red from being twisted, and she ran out crying with her head down.
"Don't come back if you run away. The purple one is more valuable than the white one. You're the one who stole it!"
Zhou Ping pointed and said, if she admitted it on the spot, how could she convince everyone? Those kitchen maids were the most cunning and difficult to manage, and they would just scold anyone who stood up.
"Don't scold her. I know you're the one taking care of all the artifacts here. Even tigers take naps. Luckily, we discovered it early. Let's take this white one and exchange it for the purple one in the powder room."
Ji Xu smoothed over his words and did not point out her shortcomings. Zhou Ping could no longer vent her anger on the kitchen maid, so he went with her to the powder room of the guidance office.
There were many millstones, stone mortars, and clay basins in the yard. There were also large jars filled with sorghum and corn under the eaves. The servants were busy grinding the millstones, pounding the slurry, or pounding the rice. The flour, rice flour and other kinds of powders were stored in the warehouse.
A rice official came and said impatiently:
"I didn't look carefully at the time, but now half a month has passed and the Ziying powder has been used up everywhere. Where can I get it for you?"
Zhou Ping said, "Even if it's all used up, we should have someone make it for us right away so as not to delay the bakery's meal tomorrow morning."
Mi Guan said, "I thought it was someone else, but it turned out to be the niece of Hua Shanren. No wonder she was so arrogant. You said you would do it, but you didn't even consider the time. The sun has already set. Are you trying to keep us awake all night? This is your fault for being careless. Even if it was delayed, it has nothing to do with us."
The process of making purple english powder is more complicated than that of white english powder. It also needs to be exposed to the sun to become powder blocks. A whole night is not enough to dry it naturally, so it can only be dried by hand over charcoal fire.
Mi Guan didn't want his whole family to be troubled by the mistake of a kitchen maid and have to work hard and miss out on sleep.
Even if Hua Shanren came to ask for it in person, he would still think twice, not to mention if it was a cook and his kitchen maid who asked for it. The cook was still young and it was said that he was just a city chef before.
So I went in and ignored them.
Zhou Ping blushed when his weakness was pointed out in front of him.
It is said that Wu Chef, who had taken leave because his mother was ill, had left the office and returned to his home near Xiliu Cang. His mother, leaning on a cane, met him at the door and said,
"My son, you're back. You shouldn't be taking a day off today. Why are you back now?"
Wu Chef said, "Mother, I have little to do today, so I came back specially to see you."
"My son is filial."
In fact, he took leave on purpose. He discovered a month ago that Zhou Ping had taken the wrong amount of English powder. The two bags on the shelf contained white English powder, but no purple English powder.
Those rice officials in the powder room are not easy to deal with. Ji Chef has just arrived and how can he handle it all? If he finds out that the English powder is not right tomorrow morning, he will definitely be in a mess and won’t be able to make the English powder cakes.
Then let everyone see who is the real pillar of the bakery.
Thinking of this, he boasted to his mother:
"My son has made great progress. Soon he will be able to follow the East and West Palaces to the Ganquan Palace in Yunyang County to offer sacrifices."
As for that chef Ji, since she missed this opportunity, Hua Shanren will definitely not take her with her.
"My son is really promising."
**
Ji Xu called out to Mi Guan and said:
"Although we didn't notice it because we didn't pay close attention at the time, your powder room didn't do an inventory that day. Why don't the amounts of purple ying powder and white ying powder match the account books?
If there's any delay, I'm afraid both of us will be blamed. Of course, it's ultimately our carelessness, and we can't burden Officer Mi, who's working so hard here. I'd just ask Officer Mi to give me some of the basella seeds for making purple jasmine powder, and this matter will be over."
Hearing that she wanted sunflower seeds, Mi Guan knew what she was thinking and glanced at her.
I didn't expect that a young official chef also knew how to make Yingfen and how to remedy the situation. You know, their powder room is responsible for making these raw materials.
I looked up to her in my heart.
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