The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 5 Cooking Crab
A group of people walked down with their eyes on their noses and their hearts on their noses. When they passed by the Seven Kings, they couldn't help but speed up their steps.But he took a heavy breath, which sent a chill down their backs in shock.

"Tomorrow morning, present me a crab-stuffed orange."

The Seven Kings said such a sentence, and they gritted their teeth.Sydney and the others were a little confused, not knowing why he was "gritting his teeth".

Fushen answered "No", they didn't dare to say a word, and hurried back to Shangshi Bureau.

Telling these words to Cui Wan and Xue Qin, the expressions of the two female historians were shocked, and they lost the thought of going to bed and went to see Shang Shi after opening the door.

When Zou heard this, she muttered in her heart, her eyebrows furrowed deeply: It seems that the Seventh Highness is really hard to serve!
It was the first time I heard of this dish when I ordered it in early July.

According to the rules, the fashion food bureau will start to prepare crabs in early July, but the crabs that come in in August and September are plump enough and delicious. The crabs that come in this month are never used directly for meals, at most they are made with crab sauce and other accessories ready.

But now, the Seven Kings asked for this crab-stuffed orange by name, and they couldn't stop making it for this reason.

Not only do it, but do it well.

Zou groaned in the room for a while, Cui Wan and Xue Qin didn't dare to say anything.After a while, Mrs. Zou finally stood up, walked outside and said, "Go get my apron."

Are you going to do it yourself? !
Cui Wan and Xue Qin looked at each other, they both knew that this opportunity was rare, followed behind Zou, Xue Qin said with a smile: "Let the children below see?"

Mrs. Zou was having a headache about how to satisfy the Seven Kings, so she responded without thinking too much: "Let's see."

The two were secretly happy, so they each went to call the people under their hands.The waiters from the seventh rank to the chief envoys from the eighth rank came to help the cook, and the middle envoys from the ninth rank and the junior envoys from the ninth rank came to "steal the teacher".

After a busy day, Xueli and Su Zixian planned to sleep when they fell down, but they were carried out of the room before they could lie down, and they were very resentful.

When I got to the dining room, I saw the food official wearing an apron checking the ingredients, and I was completely awake.

——There are hundreds of people in the Shangshi Bureau, but there is only one Shangshi, and she is the best cook.But most of the time, she doesn't need to cook by herself, and this group of young maids in Xue Li have been in the palace for three years, and this is the first time they have seen such a battle.

Looking around, there are only Cui Wan and Xue Qin, two female historians, around.Everyone knew in their hearts that this was their female history who wanted to fight for the opportunity and snatched it for them.Immediately, they all raised their spirits and watched carefully.

After all, recently, when it was time to decide where these little maids would stay, no one wanted to lose the election and be sent to do chores.

Four washed oranges are on the chopping board.The carefully selected oranges are all the same size and color.Zou took a knife with a long and narrow handle, pierced it from the side above the orange, and drew a wavy line in an orderly manner. After making a full circle, he scraped downward, and a flower-shaped "cover" was removed.

In this way, all four were peeled off the lids, and Zou handed the oranges to Xue Qin to dig out the orange pulp, and started to adjust the stuffing himself.

Nearly twenty kinds of available ingredients are arranged neatly on the table.Mrs. Zou was about to fetch the bowl of water chestnuts when she glanced at the dozen or so little maids in front of her out of the corner of her eye, and her hands stopped.

She asked softly, "Tell me which ones can't be used."

More than a dozen people tensed their hearts.

In the kitchen, apart from being afraid of making mistakes, he was also afraid that the high-ranking female officer would ask questions.Those questions that are considered common sense in the eyes of experienced female officers, many times they can't answer them.

Everyone was silent for a long time, and no one dared to speak first.After a long time, Yue Tingxian, who has always been valued by female officials, finally answered first. She pointed to the green pepper next to her: "Green peppers cannot be used."

Zou didn't say whether he was right or not, but only asked, "Why?"

"Green pepper has a unique and strong taste, which will cover up the delicious aroma of crab meat and overwhelm the guests."

Yue Tingxian answered every word, and Zou finally smiled.

Nodding his head and looking at others: "What about the others?"

Everyone thought about it seriously.

After all, they are all children, and they are very competitive. No one wants to be left behind. Soon there is the next answer: "Coriander can't be used...for the same reason!"

Some people say the same thing, and those who don't say the same thing can say less.

After much deliberation, Sydney had no idea, and looked at Cui Wan begging for help, but Cui Wan was busy beating eggs with her head down, completely ignoring her.

"Ah!" She shouted suddenly, even Mrs. Zou was slightly startled, and there was laughter all around.

Feeling embarrassed, Xue Li lowered her head with a blushing face, and said falteringly, "Goose meat can't be used."

Zou's eyes narrowed: "Why?"

Xue Li pointed to Cui Wan: "Eating goose meat and eggs together will damage the spleen and stomach." She looked up at Shang Shi hesitantly, feeling guilty for some reason, but she lowered her voice, "Sister Awan said that the taste is more important than harming the body. "

Cui Wan listened to the words and looked over, she still looked serious and only bowed towards Shang Shi.

Mrs. Zou was very satisfied, and nodded approvingly: "That's right, no matter how delicious the food that is harmful to the body can't be presented."

This hurdle can be counted as passed, Shangshi no longer asked any more questions, and proceeded to choose the auxiliary materials to be used.

I remember Sydney one by one, there are water chestnuts, green bamboo shoots, minced ginger, minced pork with a little fat, and only one shiitake mushroom in total—probably the taste of shiitake mushrooms is relatively "unique and heavy", although it needs to be used for seasoning , I’m afraid to cover up the aroma of crab meat.

The seasoning step is where the difficulty lies.After all the ingredients were chopped into a bowl, the Shangshi female officer added three or five kinds of seasonings, moving her hands so fast that she couldn't see how much was added.

Then I took some clean chopsticks and tasted it lightly, without making any changes, the taste was just right.

All the little maids were surprised and shouted again in their hearts: The most difficult thing in Shangshi Bureau is seasoning!
There is also a rule of "a few" or "a few money" or "a few taels" for the amount of ingredients used. When it comes to seasoning, the female officials rely on their own tongues to decide, which is particularly mysterious.

The maid who picked out the crab meat came with a bowl and frowned fiercely: "These are some of the best crabs. There is almost no crab roe, and the meat is not fresh enough."

Mrs. Zou didn't react much, and calmly said, "Take two coins for fish sauce."

The ladies in the palace hurriedly remembered: the umami taste is not enough, you can use fish sauce to enhance the umami.

The fillings are finally adjusted. The white and tender crab meat has the light powder of pork and the light green of lettuce. The color of water chestnut and crab meat is similar, only adding a little crystal feeling.

Filled into the hollowed orange, the orange and white are well matched.

Zou covered the flower-shaped lid that had been dug earlier, and put the four oranges into the steamer.

After all this busy work, it was already four o'clock, and the palace people who were supposed to prepare breakfast arrived one after another. When they saw Shang Shi present, they were all surprised and saluted one after another.

In another hour, the Seven Kings just came to pick up the meal.Zou ordered the maid to watch it carefully, and steamed it slowly over a low fire to get out the flavors of all the ingredients.

Xueli and Zixian were finally able to return to the house, fell on the couch for a while and then got up again, while the iron was hot, they wrote down the recipe of making oranges from crab that they had just seen in detail, and then took what the other party had written to read and hold down their voices. Discuss it, and then put it in their respective letters, so that they can go to bed with peace of mind.

After taking a nap for two hours, it's time to get up and work again.

After taking a shower, they simply had breakfast, and when they entered the dining room, they saw Cui Wanzheng cutting winter melon, so they wanted to come forward to help.

Cui Wan said, "Sydney, go and eat the crabs in the small pot over there."

……what?

With a dazed look on her face, Xue Li followed her advice and went.Opened the small pot and saw that there was a crab stuffed orange inside.

It was obviously what Shangshi female officer did before, she didn't dare to move for a while, she looked at Cui Wan: "Sister?"

"Let's eat. Your Majesty said not to send it to His Highness the Seventh Highness, but to give it to the servants." Cui Wan smiled lightly, "Shangshi said that each of you who answered the question last night will give it to the eunuch who came to pass the message. "

Xueli became even more curious, and didn't understand why the emperor refused to send it to the Seven Kings.Blinking and waiting, seeing that Cui Wan didn't explain, she silently endured it without asking.

Then just ask behind the scenes...

Together with Zixian, I shared a cup of stuffed crab with oranges, and while eating, I admired the craftsmanship of Shangshi female officer, but it is not ordinary: everything tastes just right, if it is less, it is too bland, and if it is more, it is deliberate.

Of course, admiration is not enough, this taste also needs to be remembered in private.What if it's their turn to do this later?I don't know how much seasoning to put, but it's easier to know the general taste!

After noon, I had a moment of leisure to get together with the maids of the same age who got up early on duty, and I knew how the crab-stuffed orange was returned.

Jiang Yuyao, who was in the same room, said: "Just as we were about to deliver crab-stuffed oranges today, someone came from the Imperial Hospital. It was said that His Highness the Seventh Prince had knelt outside the Zichen Hall for half an hour. He was caught in the wind and cold and needed to eat something light."

As soon as the imperial doctor stopped him, Stuffed Oranges from Crabs became a problem.Meaty meat must not be regarded as "bland", but Shangshi Bureau dare not directly withhold the dishes.

In the end, he gave money to the people in front of the imperial court, and entrusted the superintendent Chen Jijiang to ask the emperor what he meant...

Bai Xinyi from the next room put her hands on her hips: "Later, the emperor replied that Mr. Chen was kicked out by His Majesty, and His Majesty said, 'Eat what to eat, and heal your illness with peace of mind'!"

The chatter of the few people was a little loud, and the girl on the outermost side suddenly covered her head while laughing.

Turning around, he said "Who!" Before he could ask, he shut his mouth abruptly.

The few people around were also busy standing upright, swept away the laughter just now, and bowed neatly: "Sister Awan."

"Speak out!" Cui Wan sternly reprimanded.

Su Zixian subconsciously covered her arm, feeling nervously that she might be about to be beaten.

"You guys are not allowed to enter the dining room." Cui Wan's tone softened, but her expression became colder. She sank and continued, "His Royal Highness is ill, and His Majesty ordered the Shangshi Bureau to send someone to take care of the food. You go with Shen Nvshi .”

To the small kitchen in the Palace of the Seven Kings? !

(End of this chapter)