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

When the dishes were served, Liu Mei turned her head back first, and secretly glanced at the crab dishes that Xue's chef brought up.

Under the stimulation, she had to count how much the Xue family spent on this crab feast like Grandma Liu.

"Five five two two five, three five one fifteen..." Liu Mei's conclusion was that the dishes served by Xue's family, counting the crabs, cost 15 taels to 20 taels alone.Grandma Liu, the predecessor of the Red Chamber, said that 20 taels can last a year for a villager.

But it's no wonder—the dishes prepared by Xue's cook follow a set of crab feast rules.Liu Mei looked around, and saw that from cold dishes to hot dishes to soups, they were all expensive Kung Fu dishes.

She saw the soup first at a glance: the chicken soup was clear, the shredded fish was porcelain white, and the autumn watermelon was green, and a spoonful of crab roe was poured on it.

Liu Mei was so excited: This is Simei Soup!

——The cook who can think of going with her is definitely not a simple cook.

Looking at the others, apart from the four dollars soup, there is nothing that didn't cost a lot of money.For example, those female crabs pick out the pure crab roe, and what is made is the sea cucumber with crab roe.Liu Mei felt ashamed—the only thing the small kitchen cooks is crab roe and fresh vegetables.

Let’s look at others, Huadiao Drunken Crab, Deep-fried Crab Claws, Baked River Shrimp Wrapped in Crab Meal, Silverskin Crab Paste, Fried Yuan Scallops with Crab Meal...all of them are dishes that test the skill of the school chef.Liu Mei looked at it, and couldn't help dripping sweat from the back of her head—if she hadn't cheated, please Ping'er to delay the time to serve crab dishes at Xue's family, and I don't know what will happen today.

No wonder the cook from the East Mansion gave up voluntarily early in the morning, he was indeed very self-aware.

Liu Mei was admiring secretly in her heart, when she turned her face, she saw Mother Liu looking at her with a pale face.She hurried over to comfort her: "Mother, don't worry, others are rich, and there are ways to be rich. We are simple, and we also have simple ways. If you do it with your heart, you will be appreciated by others."

Originally, one side is a professional restaurant chef, who is generous; ...you can only cheat.

Mother Liu obviously felt that Liu Mei was trying to comfort her, she didn't say anything, she just reached out to pat Liu Mei's hand, walked away silently, and went to the side to help clean up.

At the table, Mother Jia only glanced at the dishes served before speaking first.

I saw her old man pointing to a plate of green vegetables first, and said: "Get that one first—"

Li Wan agreed, and brought it, let Aunt Xue first.

Aunt Xue looked at it and saw that it was grilled rapeseed heart with crab powder, but this rapeseed heart was green, tender, and fresh. After a taste, it was all sweet and fresh, and it was decorated with crab powder to enhance the freshness, which was very refreshing.

"This season, how come there is this dish?"

Seeing Aunt Xue's question, Ping'er came up and replied with a smile: "As for my aunt, this dish was originally called Eryueqing, and it was the best in February and March. We planted some in our own garden. We picked it in February. After one crop, I didn't care about it anymore, who would have thought that it would grow another crop in September, probably because the recent weather is more similar to February and March!"

Mother Jia nodded and said, "Okay, this one is very good!" She heard that the vegetables in the garden were also growing vigorously in this season, and she felt that it was a sign of the prosperity of the family, and she was even happier.

After all, Jia Mu squinted at the other one, pointed and asked, "What is that? Is it a fruit?"

Li Wan went to look at it, took it back and replied, "Go back to the old lady, this is a fruit, and it is also a dish."

The one chosen by Jia Mu is also one of the few crab dishes presented by the small kitchen: orange stuffed with crab.

This crab stuffed orange is made by filling the hollowed out autumn orange with crab powder and steaming it.The freshly disassembled crab powder, add minced ginger and flower carving, and fry slowly.The orange is only used as a container, the top and the pulp are removed, leaving only a round orange peel, then filled with crab powder, and steamed in a pan.When served, the fruity fragrance is overflowing and refreshing.

With the shape and aroma of the fruit, this dish successfully deceived Mother Jia, so she entered the room and served oranges stuffed with crabs one by one to Mrs. Wang, Aunt Xue and others.

Jia's mother asked, "Is this made by the famous chef of my aunt's house? It really has a wonderful idea. The crab powder is paired with the aroma of oranges, and the smell is not greasy at all."

Aunt Xue didn't know herself, she could only look up at Li Wan, Li Wan looked at Ping'er, Ping'er turned around and went down to ask, and went up and down: "Old lady, this one is the same as the one just now, it's all from the garden. Small kitchen."

Mother Jia was overjoyed when she heard the words, and looked at Mrs. Wang beside her, who seemed to be slightly depressed, and felt proud.But thinking about Aunt Xue's face, she couldn't ignore it, so she ordered several dishes cooked by Xue's cook.

"Good!" Mother Jia praised loudly, but she just didn't move her chopsticks.

Li Wan had no choice but to let Aunt Xue come again. Aunt Xue felt that she couldn't eat anymore, so she just waved her hand and said, "Don't ask me, I just watch... I'm a little full."

Then she asked again: "Can I have any rice or porridge?"

Li Wan looked at Ping'er, and Ping'er responded with a smile: "There is porridge and rice, it depends on which one you want to try."

"There are several types?" Jia Mu and others were surprised.

"Yes," Ping'er said with a smile, "there are salty porridge made with whole grains, mycelia and crab juice, and pumpkin and five grains. It's vegan, so let's talk about the taste. Is rice...fried rice, There is a name called crab shell yellow."

Ping'er glanced at Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue, and quickly added another sentence, saying, "By the way, the cook from Aunt Xue's family also brought up a dish of rice, which is rice soup with crab powder in abalone sauce."

Everyone at the table imagined it out of thin air: the thick soup risotto cooked with abalone crab powder...

Jia Mu immediately said: "Salty porridge is good for my taste, and the 'crab shell yellow' is very novel, let me have a look first."

Aunt Xue hesitated for a moment: "I... come to 'crab shell yellow' too!"

Mrs. Wang sighed weakly: "Vegetarian, just plain porridge."

At this time, all the chrysanthemum poems on the other side of the Ouxiangxie had been judged, and it was natural that Daiyu took the lead.Baoyu and others went back to the table together. When Baoyu heard that there was a novel fried rice, he also clamored to eat it.

Baochai returned to the table, only glanced at the situation on the table, and immediately understood what was going on.It's just that she is very self-cultivated, sitting down and only talking and laughing with Bao Dai and others, and she doesn't seem to care that the dishes made by Xue's cook are ignored by everyone.

Baoyu, on the other hand, was full of talent, recognized the "Simei Soup" at a glance, and clapped his hands to taste it.Mrs. Wang sat at the top, she only felt that her biological son was so caring and handsome, so she could comfort her for a while.

After a while, the "crab shell yellow" was brought up, and it was really a yellow crab shell on a fine porcelain white plate in the official kiln, with several chrysanthemum petals sprinkled on the side for decoration.

"Old lady, turn that crab bucket over." Yuanyang reminded in a low voice.

Li Wan hurried over and opened the crab bucket for Jia Mu, and found that there was a hole in it. The crab shell contained boiled glutinous rice, Jiang Yaozhu, hazel mushroom and other fried rice.Because of the use of glutinous rice, after the rice is stuffed into the crab shell, it will naturally stick slightly, as if it is integrated with the crab shell.On the rice, I ordered a little red crab powder.

"This is good!" Jia Mu said, "If there is a little more crab powder, it will be too greasy. Right now."

Baoyu tasted the "crab shell yellow" and found it novel, and was about to recommend it to Daiyu, but she saw Daiyu sitting beside her, savoring another dessert with a small silver spoon.

Baoyu hurriedly asked what it was, but Daiyu smiled and didn't answer, but just showed it to him.

Baoyu went up to smell it, and found it very sweet.Ping'er answered from the side: "Second Master Bao, this is a sweet soup made with tangerine peel and red beans. Would you like to try it?"

Baoyu nodded, thought for a while, and said, "Wait a minute, I'll try this one after I taste all of these first." As he said, Baoyu felt a little bit full of emotion.

When Mother Jia heard about it, she nodded and looked at Shi Xiangyun, and said, "Yun'er is very thoughtful. I know that your elder sister Lin has a weak spleen and stomach, and you don't eat much of these things. Tete prepared these..."

Xiangyun smiled: "Old lady, you praised the wrong person..."

Liu Mei listened below, thinking that Xiangyun would bring Baochai out again, but unexpectedly Xiangyun said bluntly: "Sister Lin told me just now that this was arranged by the small kitchen. I was thinking about the coldness of the crabs, so I gave it to everyone." I have boiled these warming sweet soups!"

Liu Mei let out an "Ah" in her heart, and quickly apologized secretly in her stomach: Miss Shi, you have a good temper for being straightforward, and I will take back what I said last time to make you feel good.

Jia's mother was overjoyed at the top, and said yes again and again, then turned around and said that she would reward the small kitchen.Mrs. Wang had no choice but to agree.Liu Mei listened on the sidelines, completely happy for her mother.

But she also knew that Jia Mu Nineteen would also seek to make ends meet, to take care of the Xue family's face.

Sure enough, I only heard Mother Jia say from the top: "The cook at my aunt's house is really good, and it is more than enough for a restaurant." Then she ordered a reward, and Mrs. Wang felt more comfortable after hearing this.On the contrary, Aunt Xue was polite and didn't care too much.

Liu Mei looked at it from a distance, and felt secretly surprised.It looked as if Xue's family was going to open this restaurant and Mrs. Wang was going to make a big deal.

In today's crab feast, the steamed crabs at the beginning followed the usual pattern of previous years, and they were quite satisfactory; at the end, it was the various staple foods and desserts that were presented that stole the limelight.The chef hired by Xue's family used extravagant materials and the dishes they made looked flawless, but because everyone felt tired, they didn't move much, and there were some leftovers. Finally, Mrs. Wang ordered to share Go down and give it to the servant girls who haven't eaten crabs today.

Liu Mei chanted to Buddha in her heart: Ami Tofu, Chef Xue, you are a chopper, we just killed one or two chickens here.You are so talented, please don't take offense!

For a while, everyone was full of wine and food, and Mother Jia ordered to withdraw from the table to enjoy the scenery, and chatted with Aunt Xue.

"How did my aunt come up with this restaurant business?" Jia's mother knew that Xue's family was originally a merchant, and opened a lot of pawnshops, but she had never heard of such businesses as restaurants and tea shops.

Aunt Xue immediately smiled and said: "I also look at the few companies outside. Not only is the business booming, but the profits are also frighteningly high. They will pay back their capital in two years at most. It is difficult to find a good cook."

Thinking of this, Aunt Xue thought of something, and asked, "I've also heard that there is a very prosperous house in Beijing called Hongshunlou. It's you..."

Before she could continue, she heard Ping'er suddenly speak loudly beside her, calling out, "Grandma!"

This sound cut off Aunt Xue's words.

Everyone looked up, and sure enough, they saw in the distance, on the road near Ouxiangxie, Sister Feng supported Feng'er and Xiaohong, and they came slowly towards this side.

"This child, didn't you tell her to rest well? Why did you come here with a sallow face?" Jia Mu hurriedly ordered Yuanyang to bring two women to pick her up, and ordered someone to make room for Sister Feng.

When she was young, Sister Feng came over slowly. When she saw Jia Mu, Aunt Xue and others, she hurriedly saluted.Mother Jia ordered her to sit down first, and everyone looked at her, and they saw that there was no makeup on, and she had a yellow and thin face, but she looked fine, not seriously ill.

Seeing everyone, Sister Feng hurriedly apologized, saying: "Is it my fault today? I missed the table invited by Sister Shi. Next time, who will Sister Shi invite? Just tell me, and I will make a round for you."

Shi Xiangyun said with a smile: "This is a big deal for me."

Mother Jia was quite worried, she just looked at Sister Feng and asked, "What's wrong with you, have you asked the doctor to come and have a look?"

Sister Feng changed her usual sharp and sharp style, and nodded coyly.Seeing this, Liu Mei felt that this was another lifetime series. Sister Feng, actually became shy in front of everyone?

"But what's the symptom?" Mother Jia was obviously more worried about Sister Feng than Mrs. Xing who was stiff-faced.

"Returning to the old lady, the symptoms are not bad, and there is nothing wrong with it. The doctor has given me the pulse, so I have confidence in my heart, so I dare to come out to see the old lady. It's really not a serious symptom, but unfortunately, I can't eat it... Crab..." After speaking, Sister Feng lowered her voice, finished speaking in a small way, then just lowered her head and did not speak again.

Mrs. Jia Muwang and others sitting at the banquet were all old people passing by. They were surprised and exchanged glances quickly, and they all showed joy.

Aunt Xue quickly congratulated Mrs. Jia Mu, Mrs. Xing.Mother Jia also took it with a beaming face.You Shi got up and congratulated Sister Feng.Mrs. Wang sat aside, with a rather complicated look on her face.

On the other hand, in Baoyu's seat, not many people understand what kind of maneuver Sister Feng is playing.Baoyu looked at Daiyu. Daiyu didn't understand at all, and Baochai understood somewhat, but she just pretended not to know.

Liu Mei was not far behind Baoyu, looking at this scene, she also felt that she was shocked by the thunder.

Seeing Baoyu asking nonsense, Liu Mei couldn't help but give him a goosebump—where's the promised woman's friend, Second Lord Bao?Don't even understand this?

Sister Feng is obviously pregnant.