Great Zhou Empress

Here Li Jing is preparing to take the autumn state examination.

Her household registration is in Bianjing City, and now everyone with a household registration in Bianjing City is considered a household registration in Jiankang City, so she took the state examination in Jiankang City.

The popularity of the "Yi Li Shuo" forum, which had been lively for a while, finally slowly subsided, and now it is gradually getting hot, because the restaurant guild in Jiankang City is going to hold a cooking competition.

These restaurants have been crowded with people for a few months because of the "Yi Li Shuo" forum, and it is naturally the right time, place and people to hold the cooking competition while the iron is hot.

Autumn is also the harvest season. A large amount of agricultural and sideline products are concentrated in Jiankang, the capital city, and a large amount of goods from Nanyang and further regions are transported from the south along the last monsoon.

The materials in Jiankang City are extremely rich, which happens to be the time when the restaurant has the most basic materials.

However, what most people don't know is that this was actually accomplished by Yan Yi's private operation for several months.

She is just the owner of an ordinary restaurant. There are no less than [-] restaurants like her Xinchanglou in Jiankang City, and there are many restaurants larger than Xinchanglou.

Therefore, she has no way to promote the culinary competition by herself, so she can only slowly lay out the layout.

Yan Yi used people from all walks of life that her father Yan Hai knew, and after a few months of planning, she finally got people from the restaurant guild to think that such a culinary competition should be held.

The general way is to let these people from the rivers and lakes go to various restaurants to eat, and then start talking, there are so many restaurants in Jiankang City, but there is no evaluation to let everyone know which chef's cooking skills are good, Which one has better dishes.

What's more, he was still commenting on other people's dishes in a restaurant, saying that theirs was not as good as other's.

The restaurant guild has always only cared about some very few things in the entire restaurant industry, and never cared about the evaluation among each other.

But after a long time, when they heard more news like this, they began to think about whether there should be a competition or something, so as to encourage the chefs in various restaurants to improve their cooking skills, right?

At the same time, a big competition can also attract more people to eat and drink in the restaurant, killing two birds with one stone.

In order to better promote the business of the restaurant, this cooking competition will last for a month.

Xue Zhijing soon found out about this kind of news, because a large number of restaurants took land property or shares of restaurants to Shengfeng Bank for loans for the competition, saying that they were used to redecorate restaurants, buy rare ingredients, or hire chefs with high salaries, etc. .

Obviously, after this culinary competition, all participating restaurants would have made a lot of money if the dishes made by the chefs were not really unpalatable. Naturally, Shengfeng Bank was willing to lend them money.

It's just that there are always a few unlucky people who can't pay the loan, and Shengfeng Bank probably doesn't want their land property, but takes the shares of their restaurant, and then guides them to improve the restaurant's management policy.

This is also a job.

Xue Zhijing thinks that the shopkeepers who deal with this matter can be cultivated, and they can be used when doing venture capital in the future.

When the culinary art competition is approaching the end, it is the time when the competition is at its most intense.

Xue Zhijing invited Yuan Jin and Sun Miaoer to watch their match together. Naturally, in today's match, there was Yan Yi from Xinchanglou whom they knew.

It's a pity that Zhao Wutong went to sea, let's see how she regrets when she comes back.

Today's competition was held in Taotielou, a large restaurant ranked among the top five in Jiankang City.

The Taotie Restaurant has a history of hundreds of years. Although the entire two-story restaurant has been repainted, you can feel the taste of historical precipitation no matter what.

Because it is a competition, limited space is reserved for chefs and important people who comment. Ordinary diners are not accepted today.

Xue Zhijing wanted to come, so he naturally became a member of the Dianping member group.

She can be regarded as a well-known figure in the business world now. On her left hand is the well-known entertainment empire Lichun Yuan, and on her right hand is the Shengfeng Bank of the business god of wealth. Wherever she goes, she carries the holy light of gold, silver and copper coins. They are all guests.

No, everyone gave her a central seat today.

Yuan Jin, a former general who has no position, and Sun Miaoer, a genius doctor who has not been a serious doctor yet, sit behind her, waiting for the various delicacies they are looking forward to.

The game is divided into three rounds.

Knife skills, proposition cooking and specialty dishes.

Knife skills are easy to talk about, so a long row of tables was set up in front of the hall where several members of the review team sat, and several chefs in the competition chose the way of display according to their own preferences.

In this era, it is popular to eat sashimi, which is called sashimi. If this piece of fish is sliced ​​well, it will be crystal clear and as thin as a cicada's wing, so it looks good. So several chefs chose to demonstrate the technology of making sashimi.

In addition, there are techniques such as shredded tofu and white radish.

Xue Zhijing was smiling all over his face, as if he was watching an art exhibition.

Yan Yi, who was considered a friend, was the last to play, just opposite to Xue Zhijing.

What she showed was carving a pot of lotus out of tofu.

Xue Zhijing only saw Yan Yi show off his culinary skills once, and that was the last time he was dragged by Zhao Wutong to see Yan Yi cook braised pork in the back kitchen of the Xinchang Building.

Last time, I remembered her noble son's calm demeanor, but this time I observed her head-on, and I was even more impressed.

The knife competition was far away from the fireworks in the kitchen, which added a sense of tranquility to the chefs.

Most of the chefs are a bit big, probably for test dishes, or when they are too tired to cook and eat by themselves.

There are very few tall and thin people like Yan Yi.

Xue Zhijing reconfirmed that this Yan Yi was really unusual, she was too quiet and steady, and her slender fingers were even more steady like a machine.

They are all thick-backed kitchen knives, but she uses them with a light taste.

Holding a piece of tofu in his hand, he put it in clear water and carved it carefully, then put it into another shallow round basin, shook it slightly, the tofu spread out, and the shape of a lotus flower appeared impressively.

Her stability is unique, and her speed is even more unique.

Soon, she carved several of them, so that the whole pot showed a scene of lotus blooming.

Put in a few more green leaves, it's really a real lotus pond.

Holding the "lotus pond", she walked straight towards Xue Zhijing.

Xue Zhijing exclaimed, "This lotus is as white as jade. If I didn't say it's made of tofu, I wouldn't even be able to recognize it."

Speed, engraving and decorative art are all points of competition, and Yan Yi has won by a few points.

Then there is the proposition of cooking.

The topic is lamb stew.

Mutton is the most commonly eaten meat in this era. Every year, the Dacheng Dynasty imported hundreds of thousands of sheep from the Liao Kingdom. Even now that the two countries are at war, the trade has not stopped.

Taotielou is most proud of their various mutton dishes.

Yan Yi is weak in this aspect, barely being left behind.

The last special dish.

Yan Yi naturally ordered her braised pork.

In this era, mutton is the most commonly eaten meat, while pork is not commonly eaten, not even comparable to venison, so there are naturally fewer people who specialize in pork.

Yan Yi improved her braised pork again.

What came up here was a whole square piece of braised pork tied with wheat straw.

The white porcelain plate is shiny and moist, with a thin layer of juice poured under the meat, and a small piece of carved white radish is dotted on the side.

The color of the meat is ruddy and translucent, the aroma is mouth-watering, and the presentation is like a work of art.

Before trying it, her braised pork dish has attracted the attention of all the reviewers.

At the same time, under Xue Zhijing's admiration, he increased her size, and Yan Yi took the lead.

Afterwards, taking advantage of this opportunity, Yan Yi managed to enter Wei Guogong's mansion through unknown means and became a chef.

While eating, Xue Zhijing kept thinking about whether he should stimulate the sea merchants and let them try to explore the Americas. Corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peppers, pumpkins...these are all unique ingredients there Ah~

However, it is probably because it is too far away, the new route, the wind is high and the waves are rough, and there is no land for a long distance in the middle, which is a bit stressful for most maritime merchants.

Today's sea merchants go out to sea along the coastline, which makes them take a sudden adventure across the ocean that cannot follow the coastline, which is really beyond the capabilities of ordinary people.

Wait for Zhao Wutong to come back from Nanyang, and then stimulate her again?

Thinking of this, she wanted to see if the sea merchants had brought back some seeds recently.

Last time, she recruited a bunch of sea merchants and waited for them to find the seeds and come back. Counting the time, there should be some gains.

In the courtyard outside the palace, she specially arranged a courtyard to receive maritime merchants.

Before, some fast sea merchants came back and sent some seeds, but some of them were actually planted by the Dacheng Dynasty, so they couldn't be counted. They just sent a certificate to the other party to encourage them.

But today seemed a little different. When she walked to the gate of the yard, she heard a familiar voice.

Her memory is very good, so she remembered Tian Shouyu, a little girl from the Imperial College whom she knew when Chun Geng had a clear voice.

She is the granddaughter of the Minister of Rites, and she is very talented in agriculture.

"Are you sure this is Champa rice?"

"Of course I'm sure. I bought this from farmers in Champa. It's worth twenty shi. I also specially selected the best quality rice seeds."

"It is said that there are three crops a year?"

"Young master, you are very knowledgeable. Champa is extremely hot and there is no winter all year round. The rice will be mature and harvested in less than two months after planting. But the most important thing about Champa rice is not that it is ripe three times a year, but It is extremely drought-resistant and grows especially well on poor soils like hillsides where it doesn't grow very well."

Listening to their conversation, Xue Zhijing walked into the courtyard.

To be honest, she has no research on agriculture and botany at all, she just relies on her knowledge and knowledge to get some information, and it happens that Tian Shouyu is here, let her take a good look at the rice.

I asked more about the businessman who transported the rice to Champa, and read the certificate that the businessman registered with the Shibo Department when he went to sea, and the registration documents of the other party's management system when he was in Champa.

Be regarded as the seeds to be tested.

Xue Zhijing thought, it is better to hit the sun than to choose the day. Today, Tian Shouyu heard that the sea merchants sent new seeds, so he came over to have a look.She said to her, "Recently, I want to set up an agricultural college, which can not only do agricultural experiments, but also bring some students. Would you like to come to this agricultural college to be a teacher?"

Tian Shouyu didn't agree right away, and asked, "How about trying this new Champa rice?"

"Naturally, you will be the first to plant it and test it."

"If you have the latest seed, will you be the first to send it to me?"

"I agree here, and you will be the first owner of all foreign seeds from now on."

"Well, I'll be the gentleman for you."