Chapter 194 Chapter 194 Update.
Zhou Ping also watched for a while, but unfortunately he couldn't think of a good cake to compete with, so he ran to Hua Shanren and told him about it:
"Aunt, do you have any ideas? She is one rank below you, and we can't let her overshadow you."
Although she lived in the same house with Ji Xu, she also knew the distance between relatives, and naturally her blood aunt was more important.
"Even I wouldn't dare claim to be able to make something that no other official has ever tasted, let alone a young official like her. Whether this will bring honor or disgrace is hard to say. Let her do it."
Hua Shanren still looked like a spectator, but he kept a watchful eye and said,
"Go over to her place and help her. Tell her it's my order. See how she makes her steamed buns. What's so special about it?"
"yes."
Zhou Ping went there happily. If it was really a rare item, she could learn how to make it by helping out; if it was just an ordinary steamed bun, then it would be Chef Ji who would be embarrassed.
Here, Ji Xu agreed, made the steamed buns, and then followed the minor official to the adjacent palace, where the ministers had private banquets.
The dishes on the ministers' tables were prepared by the kitchen in Ganquan Palace and were not under the jurisdiction of the Food Bureau. The Food Bureau was responsible for the food for the imperial family and sacrifices. If the imperial family wanted to reward the ministers with dishes, the Taiguan and Tangguan departments of the Food Bureau would need to prepare them.
Ji Xu was called to the nearby palace to make cakes for the ministers. Tang Guanling was present at the table and knew about it and agreed, so there was no need to ask the chef for permission.
Just as she was following the young official, she heard a voice calling her from behind:
"Ji Paoren, Ji Paoren!"
Zhou Ping lifted her skirt and waved, chasing after him while calling out, saying:
"I'm afraid you can't handle it alone, I'll go and help you."
The official who led the way said:
"There is a kitchen in the adjacent palace, where we can use the maids from the imperial palace."
"How can that be? They are outsiders after all. Ji Paoren and I are both from the bakery. We are familiar with each other and can do things more harmoniously."
Zhou Pingdao, she vaguely felt that this was an opportunity, so she wanted to seize it. The rich ride in carriages, the poor walk on foot. She didn't want to go out on foot again, and walk 200 miles to Ganquan Palace tiredly. She also wanted to ride a baggage cart. Becoming an official chef was the only way for her to escape slavery.
"This is also my aunt's order."
Zhou Pingdao said that her aunt Hua Shanren was Ji Xu's immediate superior, and indeed Ji Xu said:
"Okay, then you can go and help me."
The sun had set, and when they reached the kitchen in the adjacent palace, Ji Xu simply looked at the flour and various cooking utensils, but he didn't start cooking. Instead, he was about to go back. Zhou Ping said,
"Why not?"
The junior official said:
"Now that the feast is over, there will be a small feast at noon tomorrow. It would be just right for our master to get the steamed buns made by the young lady and win the bet."
The two of them returned to Fengluan Palace. On the way, Zhou Ping asked:
"How come General Yulu has eaten the steamed buns you made and even sent someone to ask you to make them?"
"We are from the same hometown. I used to make money selling steamed buns in my village. He was a roving hawker from our village. Maybe he had eaten my buns."
"So you're from the same hometown as the current Guanglu Xun? I heard that he and Youlu are sworn brothers, and Youlu followed him out of Xijing in his early years."
"He and I are not from the same hometown, but from the same county. He worked as a farm steward in our area, guarding the public fields, so we had some interactions."
After hearing this, Zhou Ping felt that perhaps this steamed bun was indeed something special, so he said:
"Tomorrow morning, after we have breakfast, we can go to the palace next door to make the steamed buns. I will help you."
The next morning, after finishing his own business, Zhou Ping urged to go to the neighboring palace.
"etc."
But then Ji Xu took out a clay pot from the room and held it in his hands.
"What is this?" Zhou Ping asked.
"Bread yeast, only with this can I make the steamed buns I want to make."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ping couldn't help but feel annoyed. "I promised to help you, but you made this yeast behind my back."
Ji Xu also told the truth:
"This is my secret. If everyone knew it, then my skill wouldn't be surprising. So now is not the time to tell others."
She also knew that this was an opportunity, so she couldn't make the yeast in front of outsiders. Perhaps when she was promoted in the future and no longer relied on the yeast method to make a name for herself, she could announce this method.
So she made the leaven last night. The nun who shared the room with her was sleeping soundly and didn't know that she had gone out in the middle of the night.
This bread yeast requires kneading dough and using yeast in the air to make it ferment naturally at a certain room temperature. This became what later generations called old dough starter.
She kneaded the dough in the kitchen, put it in a clay pot, covered it with a cloth, and placed it in their room.
It was freezing cold in the winter, and if she had put it directly in the kitchen, the temperature would have been too low and it would have frozen into a lump of dough. Yeast is more suitable for growth and reproduction at around 20 to 30 degrees, so she put it in the bedroom, where there was a kang (kang) stove, so it was warmer. However, it couldn't be too close to the stove, lest the yeast be scalded to death.
Place it at a suitable distance, calculate the time and open it. The dough inside will be expanded and the surface will be bumpy. There will be honeycomb-like pores when it is torn open. It smells sour, which means it is done.
After hearing what she said directly, Zhou Ping didn't dare to ask where the yeast came from. He followed her to the kitchen of the adjacent palace in a depressed mood.
Ji Xu took some flour to make noodles, and added the yeast she brought with her.
But the sour smell of some kind of yeast smelled wrong, so she even covered it with a silk cloth and left it on the hot stove for about quarter of an hour.
This is bad, the yeast has also spoiled the good flour. When you tear it open, it is full of honeycomb holes and smells sour. No one's steamed buns should taste sour. This is the smell of something that has gone bad. Eating it will give you a stomachache. Zhou Ping covered his nose and said:
"Are you really going to give this to their banquet?"
She followed him in the hope of learning some tricks or having a chance to show herself in front of Tang Guanling at the banquet with Ji Xu.
If you bring this sour and rotten cake to someone to eat and they get sick, not only will you not be able to show your face and get a reward, you may even be punished. Those who come to the sacrifice are all high-ranking officials.
"This is what the leaven smells like. This is what I used to sell."
Ji Xu said.
This is the smell of fermentation. Ever since she learned how to make Yingfen from Wang Huzi, and from the initial process of soaking sorghum and corn for two months to make them naturally sour, she knew that fermentation was also used on many ingredients in the Western Han Dynasty, but the term "fermentation" did not yet exist, and it was not yet used on flour.
Seeing her still stirring the sour and smelly flour, Zhou Ping waved his sleeves and said:
"The rough and rotten bread you sell in the countryside is for the ignorant people in the countryside. They will eat even the chaff, so naturally they are not picky. But those at the banquet in the palace are all high-ranking officials. They drink fine wine, cut fresh vegetables, and have eaten everything that flies in the sky and walks on the ground. How could they look down on what you make?
Forget it, I won't bother with you anymore. I'm leaving. If someone gets sick from eating this and gets punished, don't tell anyone I was here."
After saying this, she walked away and went to tell her aunt.
In fact, if she stayed a little longer, she would have seen that Ji Xu had added wood ash water filtered through silk cloth to neutralize the sour taste, and the dough full of pores was also kneaded by her to release air, becoming more and more shiny, just like lard paste frozen in the snow.
In order to make it comparable to today's steamed cakes, she did not add anything else or make it look fancy. Just like today's steamed cakes, it was steamed in a pot over high heat.
When the servants who were serving the food arrived, they picked it out and took it to the officials' banquet.
Zhou Ping had already returned to her residence and told her aunt about this:
"I finally understand why her steamed buns are so special. That sour taste is not unique. If anyone gets sick from eating it, Officer Tang will definitely punish them."
"Sour?"
"It's sour, like it's gone bad."
Hua Shanren thought for a moment and said:
"Acidity doesn't necessarily mean bad. As the saying goes, you can only see the mud after you've emerged from the water. You're so impatient. You really shouldn't have come back. You should have watched her finish her work. Why don't you go back now!"
Ji Xu brought the steamed buns into the tent. There were many high-ranking officials gathered here, and she was the one with the lowest rank. She bowed to the table and carried the lacquer box to distribute the food. This was done by a special servant in Ganquan Palace.
The officials here saw a woman dressed as a food official coming in. Unlike most of the cooks who had big bellies, she was petite, with white and clean hair. She looked young, but she was an official cook for the emperor.
The Sili Xiaowei had a rank of 2,000 dan, and although he looked down on her because her rank was lower than 200 dan, she was the emperor's cook, so he could not treat her with disrespect. He arranged for her to sit at the last seat, where someone had already set up a table.
In fact, the Si Li Xiaowei had some connection with her. At first, he felt that Huai City was full of small vendors, saying that it violated the etiquette and violated the national code, so he wanted to ban Huai City.
Later, the students of the Imperial Academy were reluctant to give up the convenience there, especially Chen Zixia, who was reluctant to give up the Dingsheng cakes that Ji Xu was selling at the time. He led the petition to the Imperial Household Department to retain Huai City. The Inspector of the Imperial Capital had finally lost face, but now he had been able to capture it. He said:
"The cakes and biscuits prepared by Chef Ji may determine whether Lord You wins or loses. I wonder what exactly they are serving you?"
As he said this, he looked at Youlu next to Guanglu Xun. They were sitting at the top seat, opposite Li Dan, and separated from Ji Xu by the entire hall.
"My Lord, it's steamed buns."
They only listened to what the little official said, and the Sili Xiaowei couldn't help but twirling his beard and laughing:
"Bring the whip. I will admit defeat. Sir You will be whipped by me today."
However, when the palace servants uncovered it, they found that it was indeed a round steamed bun with a nice duck-white color. It was still soft when held in the hand. It was a steamed bun that had never been seen before.
"As white as jade, smooth and flawless, is this a steamed bun?" someone asked.
The young official bowed and said:
"This is a steamed bun made using the cake fermentation method."
It is said that Zhou Ping followed her aunt's advice and returned from Fengluan Palace. She saw a palace servant leading Ji Xu out of the adjacent palace. She hurried forward and asked:
"What about eating it at the banquet? But are you blaming me?"
The little palace slave smiled and said:
"Cook Ji has discovered the method of using leavened bread to make steamed bread that is incredibly fluffy, completely different from the dry, shriveled ones the officials had eaten before. Your official Tang has said that he wants to promote her to the position of cook in the Second Cake and Pastry Department!"
"What?"
Zhou Ping exclaimed in surprise, "Those sour steamed buns, can you even say they're good after eating them?"
"I've never heard anyone say it was sour. They all said it was incredibly soft. The Si Li Xiao Wei's face looked very ugly after losing."
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