Li You's Tang Dynasty

Chapter 80 Datang Food and Emperor's Food
Twelve girls in very few clothes left in a hurry, Li Mingda walked to the side with a big grin, sat down with a smile on his face, looked at Tang Jian and said, "Uncle Tang, what good food are you treating us to today?"

"Eh?" Tang Jian was speechless.

Then he looked at Li You, and Li You smiled bitterly: "It can't be blamed on me. If you want to blame it, you can only blame your servant. When you see me, you shout, you want to invite me to dinner at Pingkangfang. My wife knows, she insists on coming, what can I do?"

"Oh, you really killed me. If His Majesty finds out, we will be finished. Taking his precious daughter to visit Pingkangfang, are we dead or dead?" Tang Jian's face almost twitched up.

Li You could only smile wryly again: "Uncle Tang, just let it go. Anyway, I'm with you. Let's order. I'm hungry.!"

A speechless, Tang Jian shook his head bitterly: "Are you really treating this place as a restaurant?" After Tang Jian finished speaking, he glanced at Li Mingda, who was dressed as a nobleman, and could only shout loudly: "Come on!" Man, master, I want to order food."

Don’t think that there is no delicious food in the Tang Dynasty. In fact, there are a lot of delicious food in the Tang Dynasty. There are a total of 58 dishes such as cold dishes, stir-fried dishes, barbecues, and desserts. There are more than 20 kinds of pastries. There are 32 kinds.

In terms of materials, there are bears, deer, and donkeys in the north, raccoons, shrimps, crabs, frogs, and soft-shelled turtles in the south, as well as fish, chickens, ducks, quails, pigs, cattle, sheep, and rabbits.Among them, Jinlingzhi (roasted whole lamb), Shuiliandu (stewed whole calf), Xuebaby (fried frog), Lengchanergeng (clam soup) are already amazing, and it is made with vegetarian dishes and steamed noodles. The 70 pieces of ornamental dishes in the shape of singing and dancing girls like Penglai fairies are even more amazing.

The dishes of Shaowei banquet are famous for their exquisite patterns and ingredients.For example, Shengjin 24 Air Wontons use 24 kinds of fillings, with 24 seasonal vegetables, and wrap them into 24 different shapes of wontons.

Such wontons are pure works of art. It is estimated that the emperors of the Tang Dynasty were dazzled by them, and today's gourmets can hardly distinguish them!Single-cage golden soufflé is made of goat's milk, honey and noodles, and steamed in a special steamer. The exquisite materials are really amazing.

So don't underestimate the delicacies of the Tang Dynasty. Although they haven't been fried yet, there are all kinds of other cooking methods. Only you can't think of it, and you can't do it without him.

However, the Tang Dynasty is still a food sharing system, that is, one case per person.

Tang Jian was not stingy with the treat this time. Meretrix meretrix from the coast of Shandong, sugar crab from the Yangtze River, bad white fish from northern Anhui, dried ginger from Zhejiang, loquats and cherries from southern Shaanxi, etc. are all domestic products. Li You did not expect that What's more, there are also exotic delicacies from abroad, such as mare's milk grapes from Gaochang, betel nuts and bananas from Annan, pine nuts from Silla, and pepper from Magadha.

"Delicious, delicious!" Li Mingda ate happily, but Li You frowned slightly, but Tang Jian said with a smile: "Don't worry, I have inspected everything, and the cook is also my own."

"Ah, you still bring the cook here?" Li You was surprised.

"Of course the cook brought it by himself?" Tang Jian looked at Li You in surprise and said, "How can the cook here be good? I, Tang Jian, invite you to dinner. Of course it is the best. Here is the wine from Gaochang. Have a drink."

"Wow, Uncle Tang, you really know how to eat!" Li You and Tang Jian clinked glasses directly after speaking.

However, this ceramic cup made Li You frown slightly: "The wine is very good, but the cup is not good. I have a kind of transparent crystal cup. Drinking wine is the best. I will bring a set to Uncle Tang next time. It's my reward."

"Really...?" Tang Jian's eyes lit up: "Then I earned a crystal cup, when will it be delivered to me?"

"Eh!" Li You was surprised by Tang Jian's immediate wanting state.

At this time, Li Mingda laughed while eating: "Fifth brother. Uncle Tang is like this. He doesn't want a name, he doesn't want to make a profit, he just wants to live and have fun.!"

"Haha. Your Royal Highness still knows about Tang. That's right. Tang can don't want anything, but this is something to eat and play, and he will feel itchy when he hears it. Tang is eyeing the crystal cup that Goro specially drinks wine. , must give it to me!"

"Definitely. And if there is anything interesting in the future, Goro will definitely keep it for Uncle Tang in advance!"

Li You's words made Tang Jian very useful, and then Tang Jian nodded with a smile: "Then I will thank Goro first, and Goro will also get closer to So-and-so in the future, and he can go to So-and-so's mansion at any time.

This time, Goro gave all the credit to XX, and XX is really grateful. Raise a glass, and everything is in words! "After finishing speaking, Tang Jian took the lead in toasting and drank it down, so Li You also smiled and nodded, and then drank the wine in the glass in one gulp.

When Li You and Tang Jian were drinking and talking, the three little guys were desperately eating dishes. To be honest, this Tang Jian's cook is really good. Some people will definitely say that this princess has never eaten anything , How could there be such a eating appearance.

To be honest, the emperor's food was not very good.

Maybe you will argue with me: the emperor is the richest person in the world, the so-called "under the whole world, is it the land of the king; the shore of the land, is it the king's ministers".The whole world belongs to him, he can eat whatever he wants, and eat whatever he wants, how can he not eat well?
It is true that the emperors of all dynasties spent an unimaginable astronomical figure on food.

Mr. Wu Si once calculated that among the Chinese emperors, Chongzhen and his empress, who were quite frugal, spent 16872 taels of silver a year on food, which was more than 52 U.S. dollars in terms of food prices, not to mention other emperors.However, after spending so much money and wasting so much manpower and material resources, why is it still not good to eat? There are many reasons.

First of all, the emperor can't eat fresh vegetables and fruits casually, especially those fruits and vegetables that are only available for one or two months in a year, let alone let the emperor eat them.

Because the servants who served meals were worried that once the emperor tasted the essence, he would eat it at any time, such as winter bamboo shoots in summer and fresh broad beans in winter.

In the same way, some folk delicacies cannot be eaten by the emperor.

Li Shimin once had a whim and wanted to go outside for a meal, but who knew that the waiters went directly to the kitchen of the restaurant, and when serving each dish, the waiters put a big spoonful of sugar.With this big spoonful of sugar, Li Shimin couldn't taste any good taste.

However, this is also impossible.

Because these servants are afraid that Li Shimin is used to eating, if he wants to eat back in the palace, what do you think the servants will do?
Maybe you will be surprised again, the cooks in the palace should be selected from a hundred miles, how can the cooking skills be inferior to the cooks in Yangzhou?
This is because there are too many rules in the palace. How to make a dish, how many ingredients to use, and what seasonings to put in must be recorded. The chef can only cook according to the recipe and cannot change it by himself.

In this way, it is difficult for even a first-class chef to show his highest level, and the emperor will not be able to eat the best dishes they cook.

The emperor did not eat well, and another very important reason was the restriction of court dining etiquette.

We all know that many dishes can only taste the most delicious taste when they are just out of the pan, and fried and baked foods are not only not delicious, but also have a poor taste after being cooled.

But the emperor pays attention to meals, he must first set the table and serve dishes that match his status.

The chef has no choice but to prepare the dishes half a day, or even a day before, or stew them on the fire, or stew them in a large steamer. Such dishes can only be seen but not eaten.

Moreover, the kitchen was far away from the emperor's dining place, so even if it was a freshly prepared dish, by the time it was served in front of the emperor, it would be past the best time to eat it.

(End of this chapter)