Ancient Foodie Survival Guide Chapter 91
Tled by Serena Love
Unedited
Chapter 91: Duck Congee
Regarding Xie Xun's uncontrollable reaction last time, both of them pretended that it didn't happen. In the next few days, Jiang Shuyao would accompany Xie Xun to rest intermittently, but in the evening, in order to avoid embarrassing Xie Xun, she went directly to sleep in the outer room, where Bai Zhi usually sleeps.
She did this for Xie Xun, but for him, it was a punishment. He thought that he offended her and she was unwilling to accompany him inside the room.
Xie Xun could not get out of bed these days because he was recuperating, so he could only spend his time reading. But after "that" happened, he could no longer read the book purely.
When Jiang Shuyao came in, she saw him holding the book in a daze.
After all, Xie Xun was a young and healthy man. It was normal that he is unable to control his body. Although Jiang Shuyao was shy, she did not take it to heart.
"Your book fell down," she said.
Xie Xun returned to his senses and quickly turned the book upside down. When he looks again, now the words are actually upside down.
Jiang Shuyao was amused and walked over to sit down beside him, "You have been lying in the room for a few days. Are you bored?"
Xie Xun put the book next to his pillow, pretending to be calm, "Yes, but my injury is much better. I guess I can get out of bed in a few days."
"How can it be so fast? When second sister-in-law injured her leg before, she made a fuss to get out of bed the next day. She should be able to heal her injury in more than a month if she lay down, but she ended up having to stay on crutches for more than two months."
In order to maintain his demeanor, Xie Xun would never allow himself to use crutches like Zhou-shi, so he could only say, "Then I will rest well."
Jiang Shuyao brought him the slightly cooled medicinal soup, "Drink the medicine."
Every day, when it is time to take medicine, Xie Xun was ashamed and embarrassed, but Jiang Shuyao seemed okay.
After feeding the medicine, Jiang Shuyao give him clean water to rinse his mouth and asked, "How about drinking white porridge at noon, with some pickled radish?"
Jiang Shuyao's craftsmanship is very good. Even pickled radish can also be made delicious. It is crispy and appetizing. The salty and fresh pickles reveal a mixed sweet and bitter aftertaste. If it is eaten for breakfast or supper, it is light and just perfect for porridge. But Xie Xun really couldn't eat this for three meals a day.
He said silently, "I want to eat bacon."
Of course, Jiang Shuyao rejected this request and walked back to the table while flipping through her letters and said, "What kind of patient eats bacon? You must eat something light to nourish your stomach."
If it were normal, Xie Xun wouldn't speak, but after experiencing "the incident" the day before, Xie Xun felt like he was unwilling to give up. He protested in a low voice, "But...I want to eat bacon."
Jiang Shuyao looked back at him. How come he had a child's temperament when healing his wounds?
"No," she said decisively.
Xie Xun said nothing, holding up the book depressedly and continued reading.
This has been the case for the past few days. Xie Xun is reading in bed, and Jiang Shuyao is at the table dealing with business letters.
Outside the window, the birds were singing, the leaves swayed, and the room was very quiet.
After Jiang Shuyao dealt with important things, she stretched out her body. Before she managed to pick up her charcoal pencil, she heard a faint voice from behind, "...I want to eat bacon."
She turned her head and looked at Xie Xun speechlessly.
Xie Xun's eyes revealed a begging, "Eat a little meat is fine." He was hungry, and his appetite was bigger than a cow. He hasn't had a good meal in one month after the errand, and he could only drink porridge every day when he came back. Can he bear it? It's not that he is gluttonous. If he is Lin Cheng, he will probably be laying on the ground and rolling to demand meat that very next day.
Jiang Shuyao is helpless. She thought for a while and compromised, "Well, I'll make duck porridge for you."
When Zhou-shi came to the third branch's courtyard, Jiang Shuyao was frying some duck meat, slowly sautéing the oil on a low fire. The whole room was full of fragrant smell, and there was also duck broth stewed next to it, which smell so fresh it made people swallowed.
"Huh?" Zhou-shi curiously asked as soon as she came in, "Why are you stewing duck soup? Is it possible to have duck soup for lunch with plain porridge?"
Jiang Shuyao smiled and said, "How can it be? It's to make duck porridge with duck soup."
"Duck porridge?" She leaned over and sniffed the savory taste of the duck soup. "When it's ready, give me a taste. If it tastes good, I will learn how to make it for Ah Sheng."
Zhou-shi and Xie Sheng got along more and more harmoniously. One was careless, and the other was quiet and unpretentious. The two of them found the most suitable way to get along with each other tacitly. Although they are not as close as an ordinary mother and daughter, but they can also get along quietly for few hours every day, and they are very satisfied.
"Okay, this porridge is light and fragrant, very suitable for children to drink." Jiang Shuyao said, turning to look at Zhou-shi, who gradually left her past, and sighed, "Second sister-in-law, you make dishes for Ah Sheng every day. With such care, I believe that you, mother and daughter, will get better and better."
Zhou-shi froze for a moment and smiled embarrassedly, "How could that be? I just do make it casually. My craft is not good, and I don't know many tricks."
Speaking of this, she remembered that she came here for business and showed the jar in her hand to Jiang Shuyao, "You taste the seasoning powder I grind. Is the ratio appropriate?"
Zhou-shi often thinks about food, condiments, and so on. Every time, she wants Jiang Shuyao to taste it first. This is her trust in her "Master."
Jiang Shuyao took a chopstick and dipped it in the condiment powder.
The seasoning powder is very salty, but the salty taste can't suppress the spiciness. The spicy is fresh and sweet, and it is quite strong and spicy. It is very successful.
Zhou-shi is the person who can handle spiciness the most that Jiang Shuyao has ever met. Since the first time she tasted it, she has been completely fascinated by spiciness. Her spiciness tolerance is getting heavier and heavier. When she asks Jiang Shuyao for advice and learning recipes, most of her interests are Sichuan cuisine, which in her words is "so spicy."
So this spicy seasoning is the highlight. Jiang Shuyao was tasting the seasoning powder, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind, "Second sister, we can try to make spicy strips with this seasoning!"
"Spicy strip?" Zhou-shi was very interested when she heard this name, "How do we make it?"
Jiang Shuyao was busy making porridge for Xie Xun. She is unable to teach her by hand, so she could only tell her the method.
To make spicy strips, they need gluten or soybean rolls, which is very time-consuming to make, and there is no need to worry about it at this time.
Zhou-shi brought paper and pen to write down the method and prepared to go back to her courtyard to try.
Halfway through, she was stopped by Jiang Shuyao, "Hey, don't you want to learn to make duck porridge?"
Zhou-shi hurriedly responded, "Ah! Look at my memory."
The duck meat is simmered slowly in a pot, with a thin layer of melted duck fat. It is golden and shiny, floating on the surface of the clear and fragrant duck soup. At this time, they put the rice and use low heat to boil the rice to expand in the soup slowly and fully absorb the flavor and sweetness of the duck soup. So if people are only eating the rice, they can still taste the original duck flavor.
Duck meat is not as heavy as pork, but the umami taste is not lost. It is plump and sweet, fatty but not greasy. For Xie Xun, who has been eating light and has not tasted meat for a long time, it is enough to relieve his gluttony.
To boil duck porridge, you must control the heat. It should not be as thick as regular rice porridge. Instead, the softness and elasticity of the rice should be preserved. The grains should be distinct and not too hard. The taste is smooth and sweet. The flavor of the soup is delicious.
After making the porridge, Jiang Shuyao added shredded ginger and green onion to remove greasiness and add freshness. Finally, she put the stewed duck meat on top of the porridge.
The method is not complicated. Zhou-shi wrote it down. After taking a spoon and tasting it, she exclaimed, "It is oily but not greasy, sweet and tender. Duck porridge can be sold in the street food market, and it is also good for the breakfast stall. It would make people move their index fingers."
Jiang Shuyao smiled and said, "How can I think of business? The street food market can no longer expand. My mother is still looking for a shop to extend the street."
Zhou-shi joked, "You hurry up and stay with your husband. My aunt and I will think about business matters."
Jiang Shuyao shook her head and chuckled, then returned to the east wing with the porridge.
As soon as she entered the room, Xie Xun has smelled the scent and almost forgot that he still had injuries. He got up. "What did you make?"
"Duck porridge."
Jiang Shuyao did not allow Xie Xun to move his arms drastically, so she fed him porridge these few days, but now Xie Xun smelled the scent, and Jiang Shuyao couldn't hold him back. He reached out to serve the porridge.
Jiang Shuyao dissuaded him to no avail, so she could only take a low table and put it in front of him so that he did not have to hold the bowl.
The duck meat porridge is clear, and the rice grains are round and full. Golden duck oil floats on the side of the bowl, it is not much, but it melts in the porridge—adding a hint of oiliness and fragrance to the delicious duck soup.
Xie Xun can't wait to scoop a spoonful of his mouth. The mellow and delicious duck soup and the sweet and springy rice are perfectly blended. The taste is rich but not salty. The rice melted in the sweet duck soup, and the duck soup has the delicate fragrance of rice. The duck meat is boiled and smashed, and the texture is plump but not greasy. After swallowing, the warmth reaches his stomach, and the sweetness between his lips and cheeks lasts for a long time.
Jiang Shuyao said on the side, "If you fry some fried dough sticks, cut into sections and soak it, the flavor would also be excellent. The fried dough sticks absorb soup easily, but the skin will not be soft. The duck soup's freshness just happens to be greasy, but it is oily fragrance but not too much. It looks very appetizing."
Every time Xie Xun had a meal, she would chat about some food-related topics nearby. She has tasted a lot of dishes and could even tell a good story about radish, which is the main reason why Xie Xun can swallow the pickled radish a few days ago.
After eating a bowl of porridge, Xie Xun felt that his injury was too worthwhile. He doesn't need to do anything but still can drink the fragrant and warm porridge that just came out of the pot. No wonder the Lin family's breakfast shop has such a good business. It is clearly opened in the east of the city, but the high-ranking officials and nobles in the west of the city have also heard about it. They rushed to taste it once, and when they came back, they often talked about the taste.
Xie Xun, who had become an official since entering the court, suddenly had the thought of pretending to be sick. He planned to wait until his injury was almost healed and make the wound opened again so that he could rest for a few more days.
But Jiang Shuyao didn't dare to give Xie Xun too much greasy food. He ate duck porridge at noon but had to eat light plain noodles at night.
A few days later, when Zhou-shi came to see Jiang Shuyao, she suddenly remembered that she still had to make spicy strips.
She told Zhou-shi to either use gluten or soybean rolls to make spicy strips. Zhou-shi went back and tried the opportunity. Finally, besides the soybean rolls, she made a small plate according to Jiang Shuyao's method. Only after tasting it, she dared to bring it over to give Jiang Shuyao a taste.
Jiang Shuyao looked at the red and oily spicy strips in front of her and swallowed silently.
Spicy strips are one of the most addictive snacks. She didn't expect that one day she could still eat handmade spicy strips in ancient times.
She picked up a soybean roll with chopsticks and put it in her mouth under Zhou-shi's expectant gaze.
The soybean rolls spicy strips are strong. The spicy seasoning and red oil pierce the tip of her tongue. The overbearing and spicy flavor instantly sweeps the whole mouth. She just took a small bite, but the thick and rich spice taste is lingering, hot and spicy. It is totally enjoyable.
"I rolled the soybean rolls according to your method. I didn't expect a thin bean curd could be so delicious when rolled."
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Speaking of this, she pointed to the plate of bean curd next to them, "I folded three thin bean curds and made this one in the same way. How would you taste it?"
Jiang Shuyao took a look. Isn't this an old-fashioned spicy slice?
She admired, "Second sister-in-law, you are so smart. It took only a few days for you to make a finished product by yourself."
Zhou-shi's eyes widened. With a speechless appearance, she said, "What are you talking about? Isn't it the method you gave me?"
Jiang Shuyao put down her chopsticks and said with a serious expression, "Second sister-in-law, you are very talented in cooking, and you are willing to endure hardship. These two points are enough to allow you to do business alone in the market."
Jiang Shuyao meant to show that she had already surpassed the teacher, but the word "alone" touched Zhou-shi's heartstrings, and she froze for a moment and was momentarily silent.
"Second sister-in-law?" Jiang Shuyao noticed that her expression was not right and called her.
Zhou-shi hurriedly put aside the complicated emotions in her heart, "It's a pity that only you and I could enjoy such delicious food. Ah Sheng is young and can't eat heavy and spicy food... By the way, there is also the first branch. I will give it to them, just to send something."
Jiang Shuyao was puzzled, "Eldest sister-in-law can't eat spicy food."
Zhou-shi raised her eyebrows and left in a hurry, "I am sending it because I know that she can't eat it. It's either she died of spiciness or greediness, hahahahaha."
*
Zhou-shi and Xu-shi have been dealing with each other for so many years, and they know each other very well. When the spicy strips were placed in front of Xu-shi, she immediately guessed Zhou-shi's thoughts.
The spiciness smells very appetizing. Even though she doesn't like it, she still tasted a bite. The strong spicy taste immediately captured her. There was a hint of sweetness in the spiciness, and it tasted a bit umami. She chewed the soybean rolls chewed with great strength. The more she chewed, the more fragrant it is. The soybean aroma and spicy flavor are fused together. After a lot of chewing, it still has the taste, which is really surprising.
It's a pity that she can't eat too much spiciness. After eating one, she stuffed a bite of mung bean cake to suppress the taste.
When she was flushing down the mung bean cake with tea, Xie Li came in from outside.
It is rare for him to see Xu-shi's gorging appearance, and he was surprised and worried, "Why are you choking?"
Xu-shi shook her head, swallowed the mung bean cake, and explained, "No, I'm just drinking in a hurry."
Xie Li nodded and was suddenly attracted by the spicy strip in front of her, "This is?"
"Spicy food. It is called spicy strip or something."
"Spicy strip?" Xie Li swallowed, "Sent from the third branch?"
"No, it was from the second branch."
The answer was beyond Xie Li's expectation, but it feels acceptable if he thinks about it carefully. After all, Zhou-shi has learned cooking with Jiang Shuyao for so long and still practicing every day. It is not surprising that she can cook her own dishes.
Xie Li sighed at the thought of the dispute between his second brother and the second sister-in-law. It is said that his second brother has not spoken to his wife for two months. He went out a few days ago and was depressed when he came back. No one knows what happened.
Xu-shi has always known him very well, and when she saw him thinking, she knows what he is thinking, "You should not mix with them."
Xie Li touched his beard, "I understand. How could I reach out to take care of my brother's and his wife's affairs." He stroked his beard and sighed halfway, remembering something seems wrong, "Madam, aren't you not harmonious with the younger second sister-in-law before? Why does it seems that you are protecting her lately? For example, you didn't allow the maids to report about second sister-in-law to second brother; or help the second sister-in-law in front of mother. Until now, mother still does not know that second sister-in-law run outside all day; or you don't want me to accompany my second brother to get drunk--"
Xu-shi interrupted him gently, "What's about it." She made her standard smile and pushed the plate in front of Xie Li, "You taste these spicy strips. It tastes good."
Xie Li was distracted and picked up a spicy strip into his mouth.
He did not expect that the taste of spicy strips could be so strong. It is not salty, but a rich stack of rich flavors, spicy, pungent, sweet, fragrant, and spicy. The soybean roll's surface is soaked in spicy oil, and the inside of the soybean roll is thick and not dry. The fragrance is full of spices and very chewy.
"Not bad." He stroked his beard. "It tastes wonderful."
After chewing another one, he stopped and asked, "Madam, do you mind if I bring it to work tomorrow? If I am tired, it should be very relieving to chew one."
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Of course, Xu-shi would not compete with him for the spicy strips, so Xie Li wrapped the spicy strips in oil paper the next day and happily bring it to work.
*
Jiang Shuyao went to the second branch early in the morning to talk to Zhou-shi about the new breakfast products and improving the spicy strips. She just happened to run into Xie Li, who was leaving for work, and was dumbfounded like she was hit by thunder.
After breakfast, Xie Li drank porridge and felt no taste in his mouth, so he chewed a piece of spicy strip. Although he usually pays attention to his appearance, spicy sticks are a novelty, and it is precious to look at. Xie Li feels that chewing spicy sticks is much better than holding sesame seed cakes, so he calmly chewed spicy sticks while walking.
A beautiful middle-aged uncle with a face darker than the school's dean of discipline is actually chewing the spicy strips with gusto, with a serious taste and serious appreciation on his face. This picture is too beautiful...
Xie Li saw Jiang Shuyao, swallowed the hot strips, and greeted Jiang Shuyao with a staid tone and gesture, which looked more in line with the image of the school's dean of discipline who patrols early in the morning and catches students who are late.
After he left, Jiang Shuyao stood there for a long time, unable to return to her senses.
If she didn't guess wrong, eldest brother would have taken some spicy strips to court. If his colleagues are as greedy as the East Palace group of foodies, is the capital going to have the trend of majestic and old-fashioned middle-aged officials chewing spicy strips? This is too scary.
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