[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 4 Mary the Cook of Nothing

The life of recovering from injuries is too idle, and Mary is unwilling to let people read to her, which is completely different from reading by herself.So I had no choice but to wander around, but Alice strictly followed the doctor's orders, and always yelled at Mary for any outrageous behavior. She almost brought her meticulous and stubborn character to the extreme. From this point of view, Bennet sent her to take care of Mary. Know people and do well.It was not until Mary got better that she solemnly begged Mrs. Bennet to find some other work for Alice, and she was relieved.

But Mary found that she had nothing to do without Alice's nagging. At least Alice could tell her about the successor of the couple who quarreled that day: these two young people were stuck in Mary's light. The family got engaged for them.

Later, the fiancée came to the door to apologize and wanted to invite the Bennet family to a dinner, but Mrs. Bennet was by no means a forgiving person. She hated these two daredevils to death, and she complained about Bennet's indignation. The husband was too polite and considerate to those two people, and she shouted to Mr. Bennet: "That is our enemy, and I will never go to their door!"

"It's not too late for you to say that after Mary's funeral," Mr. Bennet replied.

Mary didn't like to hear such conversations, and she was tired of hearing every day how wonderful the company's performance was, how good the actors were, and that the new actress was uglier than last year's one.So Mary decided to find something else for herself.She wandered around the house, wandering here and there, and finally she came to the most important place in the house - the kitchen!Mary immediately felt a flash of lightning flash through her brain—the world lit up!

Mary was less than four years old when she first transmigrated, and she was just at the age of learning to eat. She was not used to eating, so she didn't like to eat very much. This once made the Bennets extremely distressed.But over the years, she has gotten used to eating and eating, so Mary never thought about improving the diet at home, but this time Mary came to the kitchen when she was doing nothing, and saw Mrs. Strong, the cook, cleaning potatoes. She suddenly felt fluid in her throat, and she really wanted to eat one of the most famous dishes - hot and sour potato shreds.

Therefore, Mary, who was possessed by a foodie in an instant, asked Mrs. Strong to make this big dish for her immediately. Mrs. Strong was instructed to turn around in a daze, and the potato shreds should be cut into thin strips. Mrs. Strong did not Too good at cutting these, but under the guidance of Mary, she still completed the requirements as much as possible. She also soaked the shredded potatoes in water, shredded the green peppers, cut the peppers into sections, chopped the garlic cloves, and poured oil into the pan. , without peppercorns, Mary asked Mrs. Stella to chop some chopped onion and minced garlic and fry until fragrant, then put in peppers, drain the shredded potatoes, pour them into the pan and stir fry, immediately add vinegar and continue to fry for 1 minute, then Add green pepper and salt, stir-fry evenly, then add garlic, add a little homemade chili oil and minced garlic, and it's ready to serve!

Mary picked up a few potato shreds with a fork and eagerly put them into her mouth. A familiar taste flowed down her tongue and into her esophagus, which almost moved Mary to tears. If it wasn't for the strange sour taste, she would definitely have cried out.

Pepper was introduced to England as early as the Middle Ages, and it is not much different from the first pepper, but the British vinegar at this time is beer vinegar, with a strong lemon flavor, which makes the hot and sour potato shreds not like Mary's before. So authentic, but still very tasty.Mary ate most of the shredded potatoes on the plate, and felt that this dish was too unauthentic to eat with this bread, so she asked the cook to bake her a big cake to eat. In fact, Mary preferred steamed buns, but making steamed buns was a bit laborious, and It is more convenient to bake the flatbread. Mary asked the cook to scald the flour with boiling water, then knead the hot dough evenly, flatten it, sprinkle salt on it, flatten it, then apply a layer of oil, and then roll it up and divide it into sections. Then roll out each small section into a patty and start pancakes directly in the pan.Mrs. Strong was very puzzled by this, and she asked Mary if this would prevent the dough from sticking to the pan. After Mary assured her again and again, Mrs. Strong began to dutifully turn over the pancakes repeatedly.

When the dough was ripe, Mrs. Strong obtained Mary's permission, cut a small piece of dough and tasted it, then said with hesitation: "This taste is very unique, Miss Mary." The expression on her face had already betrayed her, Mary was sure that Mrs. Stella didn't think this kind of cake was delicious, but whatever, Mary liked it so much that she was so happy that she wanted to kiss the sweaty Mrs. Stella.

Although the baked cake fell apart due to Mrs. Strong's immature technique, Mary still ate it with relish.She even blamed herself while eating: "You should have done this a long time ago! You usually act lazy, squatting in the house all day to be a house girl isolated from the world, and even forgot the various instincts of living alone before, so you deserve it." Lost appetite for so many years!"

In fact, British food is not so bad, some of which Mary likes very much, although the eating habit is the most difficult habit in the world to change, none of them, Mary has gradually adapted to this kind of diet, but who made her now arm Fractures have nothing to do, and she'll be trying to find some fun elsewhere to pass the time for the next few months, and trying to find good food is a great way to spend less and get more.

In view of Mary's strong recommendation of the hot and sour potato shredded dish, Mrs. Bennet agreed to let everyone taste it at the dinner table, and the dish quickly conquered the Bennet family.Mary hadn't heard any complaints other than that the dish didn't work well with the spoon and fork.

In the next few days, based on all the ingredients she could find here, Mary tried her best to reproduce the delicacies in her memory: scrambled eggs with tomatoes, beef brisket stewed with tomatoes, braised pork, cherry meat, dry-fried tenderloin, dry-fried mushrooms, teriyaki chicken legs, Among them, the most popular ones are tomato scrambled eggs, cherry meat, teriyaki chicken legs and dry fried tenderloin. Of course, tomato stewed beef brisket is also very popular.

At this time, tomatoes were only eaten as fruits in summer, and people also made them into various jams, but no one put tomatoes in dishes. Mrs. Bennet said in admiration: "My Mary is really a real one." A great gourmet, how many delicacies you have provided to people!"

Jane agrees: "Yeah, she's always had a lot of ideas and the results are fascinating."

Elizabeth also said a lot of good things for Mary, and she also mentioned Dr. Jones: "Dr. Jones also praised Mary as a very clever lady. It is said that Mary even proposed the method of fixing the fracture with plaster. This is really a pioneering work. Dr. Jones recently I'm just studying this method, and it is said that he came here yesterday to ask Mary for advice, what did he tell you about Mary?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's nothing," Mary said helplessly, "she said that the gypsum used by the sculptor to make sculptures took too long to solidify, and asked me if I knew the specific composition ratio of medical plaster. I didn't know that, but I gave him another one. I suggested that he make rolls of medical plaster, like gauze, so that the patient's fractures can be well bandaged, and then find a way to fix the plaster quickly."

Although Elizabeth doesn't understand medicine, the benefits of Mary's method are obvious. Elizabeth clapped her hands and said, "This method is very good. Think about how difficult it would be for a doctor to shape a plaster like a sculptor." Well, all doctors may have to learn one more skill—sculpture—to do all this well, but if plaster is made into gauze, doctors only need to fix the fractured parts of patients as before.”

"Yes, Dr. Jones said the same thing."

Mrs. Bennet found it inconceivable: "How can plaster be made into rolls? It's even more inconceivable than letting a dog learn how to bark like a cat."

"I think it shouldn't be difficult. Spread the raw materials on the gauze, and then think of other ways." Elizabeth said, "We have never thought that steam can drive the machine before."

Mrs. Bennet didn't understand yet, but this didn't prevent her from smiling triumphantly: "No wonder I saw Dr. Jones last time, he bowed deeply to me, I dare say, he has never treated anyone so much before." Li has been so respected, he must be impressed by my daughter's intelligence, think about it, Mary is only ten years old, she is so smart, if it is not limited by her status, she will definitely become an excellent doctor, not an ordinary one A doctor with no status is the kind who can enter the Royal College of Physicians. Although it is not something a young lady should do, I dare say that although Mary has not inherited my beauty, her intelligence is enough to make her famous broadcast......"

Mrs. Bennet started to praise her daughters every day again. She has many shortcomings, but her most obvious advantages are enough to cover up her shortcomings-she can always find various shining points in her daughters, Then expand this shining point countless times.Of course, this advantage is not unique to her. Women who have children nearby have this excellent quality.

Mrs. Bennet had by this time diverted the conversation from Mary's intelligence to Jane's beauty and Elizabeth's vivacity.Jane and Elizabeth felt a little embarrassed when they heard Mrs. Bennet's exaggerated boasting, even in their own home in front of their family members. They looked at each other and smiled, Elizabeth shrugged helplessly, but Mary, because she had never Having this kind of experience of being loved by her mother once felt fresh and interesting. You must know that Mary was judged as an unsocial and withdrawn child since she was a child, and Mrs. Bennet had never praised her so much.Even though Mary thought that the plagiarized reputation made her a little fidgety, she still couldn't help but feel a little buoyant under Mrs. Bennet's sugar-coated offensive.

Because of Mary's support, even after Jane and Elizabeth took the opportunity to resign, Mrs. Bennet did not stand in the cold. She even considered naming the food "invented" by Mary "Mary's Food"-they should be called "Mary's Food". "Mary Potatoes" (hot and sour potato shreds), "Mary Stewed Cherry Meat" (cherry meat), "Mary Fried Pork" (dry fried tenderloin), and then invited the neighbors around to taste, so in this "violent" Mary eventually managed to die under the "fire" - she firmly opposed and began to hide when Mrs. Bennet wanted to praise her, and she really couldn't afford to lose him.

In a blink of an eye, the touring troupe left Meridon. Kitty and Lydia were unhappy about their departure. Kitty even cried twice. Even though Jane comforted her that the troupe would come next year, it didn't help. Mrs. Nut promised to make her a new dress, and she had to eat cherries for a month before Kitty burst into tears.

However, within two weeks, Mrs. Stella protested to Mrs. Bennet. The kitchen has been cooking "Mary's gourmet food" recently, but this method not only smells of oily smoke, but also the kitchen is now greasy and dirty. Yes, it was too difficult to clean up, so Mrs. Strong suggested that the frequency of making these foods should be reduced in the future.Mrs. Bennet thought about it seriously for a long time, and finally nodded her agreement - Mrs. Bennet often invited people to dinner, and those busy girls often visited her kitchen, and it would be a shame if it was greasy all day long!Although these dishes invented by Mary are delicious, Mrs. Bennet is still used to the traditional British food. As for "Mary's food"?Of course it's delicious, so once or twice a week is fine, isn't it?

This decision was firmly opposed by Mary and Lydia when it was announced, but Mrs. Bennet would not waver. She said that if the ladies did not consider her nerves and made her angry, then she could of course not consider it. Their stomachs!

Under the oppression of power, Mary decided to stand up, so another invention—Liangpi—was born. This one does not produce any oily smoke at all, and it is a vegetable that can be eaten from spring to winter.But it's a pity that there are very few people who appreciate this kind of food. Both Mr. Bennet and Jane said that it tasted like chewing rubber, and Mrs. Bennet said that it looked like intestines, which was a bit scary.Fortunately, Elizabeth likes it very much. She especially likes gluten. She said that the taste is very good, and the juice inside will overflow after taking a bite.After Mary was hit hard, she turned her brains to noodles. At this time, the most famous noodles were spaghetti. It was almost popular in Europe because of its deliciousness. As early as the 17th century, there was a factory producing spaghetti. On Meridon It's sold at your grocery store.Mary feels that it looks similar to vermicelli, but it tastes stronger. She configured various sauces to make fried noodles, braised noodles, served with shredded cucumber and garlic sauce, chili sauce, and various vegetables , simply absolutely.Mrs. Bennet said Mary could publish a cookbook.

It was not until Dr. Jones came to untie the bandages for Mary, and after a careful examination, announced that her arm had fully recovered, Mary ended this life of struggling to eat.