[Red Mansion] A little chef came to the Grand View Garden

Liu Mei returned to Yihong Courtyard, and lay down after freshening up, it was already dead of night.

She was obviously tired all day, and she finally managed to relax, but she inevitably tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep no matter what.

——It's funny to think about it. According to Baochai's promise, what she was looking forward to before seems to have come true.But at the last moment, she actually gave up all of this by herself.

Thinking about it now, maybe I still don't want to leave my future destiny in the hands of a shrewd and sophisticated person like Baochai.

But now that she thought about it, Baochai was able to bluntly speak out about the crisis of the Xue family in front of her, and to listen to her with those sincere words. For Sister Bao, it was actually a big violation of her nature, and it was also rare.

She tossed and turned for a while, and finally fell asleep. In a daze, she heard a "ding" in her mind.

Liu Mei was overjoyed, could it be that her system came back?

But after waiting for a long time, there was no such familiar voice.

Tired of waiting, she finally fell into a drowsy sleep.

It's just that she didn't know that there was a light in the Yihong Courtyard at midnight.In the room where the little maids live at the back of the main courtyard, the windows once shone with radiance.A woman from last night saw it by chance, thought it was water, and hurried over, but when she looked again, there was no movement at all.

After a few days, the weather became cooler.The fact that Liu Mei went to Hengwuyuan to meet Baochai that night, after these few days, no one in the Grand View Garden has ever mentioned it.

Liu Mei couldn't help admiring this, it seemed that Baochai was very strict under her command, she managed her Hengwu Garden like an iron bucket, and no gossip ever came out of her yard.

Another person in the Grand View Garden who can do this is Grandma Zhu Li Wan—but she only cares about her own Daoxiang Village and does not care about others.

But in Baoyu's Yihong Courtyard, it's a mess: ever since Liu Mei was rewarded by the old lady and wife for Xie Xiaochuan to be a virtuous person last time, Liu Mei's poor private life has been spread all over the place.Everyone in the Grand View Garden already knew how many gold and silver porches she had won, and what kind of clothes she was rewarded with.Even every now and then, someone would come to ask her whether Xie Xiaochuan was handsome, whether he was particularly gentle to her, and so on.

Liu Mei was very dissatisfied: This girl was able to defeat Xie Xiaochuan because of her strength, not her appearance.

To prove it, she spent more and more time in the kitchenette.Following her mother, she saw a lot of ingredients and seasoning techniques unique to the era of the Red Chamber, which she could not achieve by thinking about it in books in later life.In just a few days, Liu Mei felt that she had benefited a lot.

One day, after taking a nap, she rushed to the small kitchen, and saw the small kitchen full of laughter and laughter, many women and daughters-in-law were gathering here, chatting and laughing with Liu Mu, Ping Er and others.

When Liu Mei arrived, she suddenly heard exclamations from the kitchen, and saw a bamboo basket in the corner of the room was lifted at some point, and a colorful pheasant flew out of the bamboo basket with flapping wings.

Fortunately, it was in the small kitchen, everyone was just scared, and then two people blocked it, caught the pheasant back, and stuffed it back into the bamboo basket.

Liu Mei took a closer look, hey, this small kitchen has become a breeding ground.

There are several bamboo baskets in the house, all of which contain live game, live chickens and rabbits.Apart from the living animals, there were also quite a few deer and roe deer that were killed immediately after hunting, and Liu Mei didn't recognize them anyway.

Seeing Liu Mei approaching, Mother Liu immediately nodded to Ping'er, leaned over and said, "Second Master Lian just came back from Ping'an Prefecture. He brought a lot of wild game back to honor the old lady. It just so happens that the old lady is not in good health, we have to As a method, make some nourishing dishes—this is what Lian's second grandmother specially explained."

Liu Mei was stunned when she heard the word "Ping'an Prefecture", as if she remembered something in her heart.

It's just that this thought was immediately put aside by her, and Liu Mei hurriedly asked her mother: "Is it only we who get wild game here, or are there other places as well?"

When encountering this kind of thing, Liu Mei is already used to it, and immediately asks if there is a competitor.

Mother Liu nodded, and said: "The other end of the Ning Mansion is naturally taken care of, and there are some in the big kitchen, which are for the men outside. However, Miss Ping specially ordered a few young chickens from that year to be sent to us. here."

Liu Mei looked curiously at the wild pheasants in the bamboo basket, and sure enough, she saw several small wild pheasants in a bamboo basket, which were not bright and bright in color.

Hearing Mother Liu mentioning her name, Ping'er turned her face, smiled softly at Liu Mei and her daughter, nodded and said: "Yes, the old lady caught a bit of cold when she visited the garden last time, and she is safe now. The imperial doctor ordered no prescriptions, as long as food supplements are enough. So our grandma asked Aunt Liu to prepare some nourishing dishes. But the old lady has been drinking porridge for two days, and I am afraid she also wants to eat some salty food. Just mention the taste."

Mother Liu wrote them down one by one, and then asked Ping'er, "Er Lian|Grandma, do you have any orders, what dishes do you want?"

Ping'er glanced at Liu Mei next to her, and immediately covered her mouth and said with a smile: "Auntie, why do you ask our grandma instead of asking such a smart girl?"

After laughing, Ping'er did not forget to ask: "By the way, our grandma also said that Miss Lin had a cough in previous years when the weather was getting colder. I heard that this year is fine. If you have a good diet prescription, you can also Don't forget that at the other end of the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, it can be regarded as our second master doing something for his cousin."

Liu Mei raised her eyes when she heard this: Of course the relationship is good!

She originally felt that Sister Feng had some kindness towards Daiyu. When she came into this world, she could feel that Sister Feng's kindness towards Daiyu was more obvious. The wild pheasant sent over.

Liu Mei didn't quite understand what Sister Feng's intentions were behind the scenes, but now, if there was a bargain coming to her door, she naturally had to take advantage of it.Liu Mei was gearing up immediately, ready to make a fuss.

There is no need for Liu Mei to do the dirty and tiring work of handling pheasants. Several women who have their own mother Liu directing the small kitchen gather outside the kitchen and deal with it all at once.

Liu Mei discussed with Liu Mu what to do with this pheasant.

Previously, Ping'er had made two requests, one was to nourish, respectively for Jia Mu who had recovered from the cold and Daiyu who was weaker; Some salty flavor.

"Most of the chickens we got are this year's young chickens, which are sure to be nutritious. It's easy for the old lady to eat salty ones. First, let the chicken be simmered in clear sauce, wait until the flavor is in, and then put it in Burn the iron cannon. These are the established methods of previous years."

Iron cannon, a bit like the Teppanyaki of later generations.Liu Mei imagined it secretly, and felt that this method was a bit like the method of teriyaki chicken in later generations, and it was really delicious.

Liu Mei thought for a while, then asked her mother: "Mother, is it true that although the old lady is old, she still likes to eat delicious and crunchy things?"

She vaguely remembered that Jia's mother seemed to like fried pheasant breast meat.

Mother Liu thought about the gossip she had chatted with Zhang Cai's family before, and nodded.

"Mother, what else can we do with this pheasant besides this Teppanyaki...Tiepanyaki?" Liu Mei humbly asked her mother for advice, wanting to know all kinds of game dishes in this world.

When Mother Liu heard her daughter's question, she immediately remembered the treasures, and said: "Just now, that is one kind. It is a kind of chopping and frying with seasoning; it is a kind of diced breast meat; it is the same as a domestic chicken, and it is a kind of chicken. There are two kinds; after the oil is burnt, it is shredded and cold-mixed, which is one kind; there is also the raw chicken sliced ​​and made into a pot to eat.”

When Liu Mei heard that there was a hot pot, she immediately felt that Jia's food was very modern, but Liu Mu added, "It's just that the pot is made of pheasant meat, and the meat will not taste good if it is so tender." , if you want to taste, the meat will be old again.”

Liu Mei suddenly understood, "Mother, it's too hot to eat the pot now. The old lady just got off, so I'm afraid I'm impatient to eat the pot. How about this, let's make a simmered chicken soup for the dishes sent by the old lady. Let’s make another grilled chicken and serve it to the old lady with porridge.”

Mother Liu nodded in response, and immediately went to Zhang Luo, and brought up a stripped chicken and said: "Look at this pheasant, it's not fat or thin, it's just the right time. Second Master Lian has a heart."

People at that time tonic, to make chicken soup, either use hens that are more than two years old, or use young chickens.Jia's mother has just recovered from the cold, but Daiyu has always been weak. If she blindly uses old hens, the soup will be too fatty, and with autumn dryness, the two of them will not be able to make up for it. It is suitable to use chicken.

So Liu Mei looked at the big pheasant that was still alive and kicking in the bamboo basket, and wrinkled his nose: I can't tell, you are quite lucky.

But Mother Liu said: "This big one will be killed and shredded chicken later, add wine and autumn oil, and mix it cold with celery, and there will be cold dishes in several places in the garden. Meier, if you I thought its feathers were beautiful, so I remembered to pull them off first, then turned around and kicked them with a shuttlecock.”

Liu Mei stared at the pheasant for a while through the bamboo basket, thinking: Good luck!

Liu Mu's hands and feet were extremely nimble, and in a short while, Jia Mu's pheasant cub soup had been stewed in the pot, and the iron pot was also set up on the fire.Even the sauced chicken that is ready to be grilled on iron, Liumu has prepared two shapes, one is simple slices, but the chicken skin side is fried in shallow oil in advance, very crispy; the other is cooked in sauce The chicken is rolled with shiitake mushrooms, parsley and watery daylily, rolled into a roll, tied with a thin thread, and burned on an iron pot. After it is cooked, the thread is removed and cut into pieces. It is beautiful and salty. Relish is very tasty.

And Liu Mei is in charge of cooking the wild pheasants that are going to be sent to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion.

She thought for a while, and then consulted her mother's opinion, and finally decided on the method. She went to take a cleaned chicken, stuffed a couple of astragalus in the chicken belly, then wrapped the chicken body and tied it with thread. , Then pour the boiled water in the steamer, set up a few chopsticks, and steam the whole chicken on the chopsticks.

This chicken cannot be steamed for a long time, and it must be taken out once the chicken is steamed.As soon as Liu Mei lifted the lid of the pot, he felt the aroma of chicken mixed with a little medicinal smell of astragalus overflowing from the pot.

Liu Mei quickly took out the chicken, only to see a bowl of thick stew in the pot.She knew that in the whole dish, this stew was the most nourishing and nourishing, and because she added astragalus to the chicken belly, it could treat weak diseases.

But the chicken was also steamed very fragrant, Liu Mei thought, this should not be wasted.So she disassembled the chicken first, took out the astragalus in the abdomen, and then took off the large pieces of chicken, and the small pieces of chicken attached to the bones were removed with a knife, and they were all neatly placed on a plate. Put chrysanthemum petals for decoration.

Then she went to get the sauce, wine, a little vinegar, and sesame oil, and added a little bit of pre-roasted sesame seeds, and made a sauce for dipping the meat. She also put it in a small covered bowl and put it into the food box for the Xiaoxiang Pavilion. , ready to send it to Daiyu and the others in a while.

Back when Daiyu used this astragalus steamed pheasant, she only needed to dip the chicken into the thick stew that was steamed.But if Zicuckoo and the others want to try it together, they can also use her special dipping sauce to match.

Everything was done, Liu Mei was very satisfied, but also worried about Daiyu's situation, so she simply said hello to her mother, took the food box by herself, and sent it to Xiaoxiang Hall.

Outside the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, Liu Mei saw Ying'er beside Baochai, and Daiyu's little girl Xueyan, standing under the porch to tease Brother Parrot.

In the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, the laughter of Daiyu and Baochai came out.

The soles of Liu Mei's feet stagnated - so embarrassing!Only then did she give Daiyu a little treatment, and then ran into Baochai.

The author has something to say: The pheasant soup, the author searched for it himself, and thought it should be chicken soup.Because my hometown is in Jinling, there is a habit of tonic in summer and autumn (in fact, it can be tonic all year round...) Chicken is a very important tonic ingredient.If it is wild egg soup, it always seems to be a bit different from the effect of simmering chicken soup.

The five methods of wild pheasant mentioned in the article are written with reference to the "Five Methods of Pheasant" in the Yuzu chapter of "Suiyuan Food List", and the source of steamed chicken with astragalus is the same.

In addition, I suddenly remembered that today is Children's Day, Jiu Qiao forced herself to be tender, and here I wish everyone happy every day, every day!