The Little Officials of the Song Dynasty - Chapter 58

Six almost identical yellow tabby cats squatted together, with silk threads of different colors tied to their necks to distinguish their identities.

A few days ago, six kittens have been named Damao, Ermao, Sanmao, Simao, Wumao, and Liumao, and they have been officially designated as Kaifeng Prefecture Rat Catchers. Rat infested, the same as the Kaifeng government to study money and food officials.

Moreover, Bao Zheng actually picked up the name from Liu Mao to himself, which made Yun Yanhui nowhere to complain.

Although Bao Zheng might have started it casually, but thinking about Zhan Zhao’s coming to Kaifeng Mansion in the future, Yun Yan could not help but think: Didn’t you force people to be “seven hairs” ? !

Although the logic of Yunyanhui is a bit crooked, at present, as soon as these six hairs have arrived, they have been unanimously welcomed by the Kaifeng mansion.

Yun Yan sewed them back and put them in his room for the time being, waiting to be familiar with the environment.

And Liu Mao hadn’t been familiar with the good environment yet, so a group of people came to the door and asked for the rat trapper to be stationed with them. In particular, Shi Cao and Cang Cao made strong demands. Shicao has many documents and Cangcao has many supplies, and they are all places suffering from rat infestation.

Yun Yanhui could only send them one by one. Now, after feeding Liu Mao, Yun Yanhui stood up again and looked outside. Well, Kaifeng Mansion was undergoing vigorous transformation.

The flowers and plants originally planted were plucked, sold, and replaced with various fruits and vegetables. Although I look bald for the time being, soon after the vegetables grow up, they will be full of vitality.

Moreover, so far, Yun Yanhui has received Sanguan money from Bao Zheng. After spending it, he doesn’t need to ask for it, but he can also go back to make up for it…

Before Kaifeng Mansion had grown a lot of chrysanthemums, it sold a lot of money, and the money for buying fruit and vegetable seeds was cut off, and there was some surplus. Vegetables are grown by people in the Kaifeng government office, no labor cost, just a little money to buy fruit snacks and send them to everyone.

Anyone who is free now has to go to work outside. Because Bao Zheng was extremely majestic, this matter was also praised by Renzong, and even the phrase “grow vegetables by order” in Yun Yan’s reply was spread, and the officials naturally did not dare to follow it.

With the large number of people in Kaifeng Mansion, even if the government is busy occasionally, there is no problem of deserted vegetable plots. Taking a step back, there are second-level administrative agencies under Kaifeng Mansion, and there are still many people in each Xiangfang. It is a big deal to borrow people to grow vegetables…

Now even Bao Zheng, apart from processing official documents, is working in the vegetable field for rest.

Besides Yun Yanhui, he has always been a person who can spend money and make money. In his early years, he dared to borrow money to buy pandas at high prices. After all, he was confident in his ability to make money.

The same is true now. Vegetables have been planted, the sweat of the big guy has gone down, and Yun Yanhui has also wondered how to improve his life.

Yun Yanhui believes that a good working environment can help to mobilize the enthusiasm of employees, and it can also suppress everyone’s grievances about growing vegetables before harvesting, and always work with relaxation.

Yun Yan suggested to Bao Zheng to improve the meals in the public kitchen—that is, the office canteen.

After Bao Zheng heard this, he sighed in relief, “This past ten days, I have been thinking about when you will propose to improve the food…”

Yun Yan replied: “…”

Facing Bao Zheng’s words, Yun Yanhui could only say one sentence: “Officials know me deeply.” He still has some selfishness. The cafeteria in Kaifeng Mansion is really not delicious! These days, it depends on the pickles that I bring.

According to the previous plan, the profit of the vegetable field can completely offset the increased cost of the canteen. What’s more, Yun Yanhui also told Bao Zheng that he would not increase the cost of the canteen too much. More important than raw materials.

Gongsun Ce listened in the sidelines, but astutely said, “Is this the third thing?”

“It should be,” Bao Zheng said before adding, “It’s the third thing, so what?”

“Guanyan brother knows his style of acting. If there is a come, there must be a reply, and there must be a come in. Even if the chef changes the food list, who knows if there is a mystery in it?” Gongsun Ce was extremely machine-controlled, and he turned his mind and said. , “However, no matter how well you do it, can you still go to the food festival?”

Yun Yan smiled shyly, “Mr. Gongsun also knows me very well, I am just an idea, it may not be possible, so I didn’t say it to the two.”

Bao Zheng was speechless, “I really have a plan…”

Yun Yan replied, “I’ve inquired about it. The chefs in all yamen are not very delicious, and there is no way. They are all big pots of food, not all places are like learning too much.”

The chef’s dishes are more than unpalatable. This is a more euphemism. Canteen cuisine is rated as the ninth largest cuisine in China on the modern Internet, and the background of this era is the same when it is changed to the Northern Song Dynasty.

As for Taixue’s first-rate meat steamed buns, this is famous in Bianjing. The officials have praised it, and it is very popular among the people. Taixue students never forget to bring some steamed buns to their relatives and friends to taste.

However, Taixue is only famous for steamed buns, so people can’t eat steamed buns all at once, right?

Yun Yan recalled that Kaifeng Mansion’s canteen was set up. Although it could not be opened to the outside world, it could satisfy the quality of life of the officials in this mansion and attract officials from other yamen… This is also a good way to generate income!

When the fruits and vegetables have grown up and the supply has kept up, maybe you don’t have to transport them to the market for sale, and they will be digested by the chef directly.

Bao Zheng: “Is this all right?”

“Try it…” Yun Yan replied indifferently, “Let’s rely on the imperial city, what a good geographical condition.”

The inside and outside parties are banned, so many officials are all potential customers.

Bao Zheng struggled again, “Although it is a good idea, will anyone really come…”

Gongsun Ce stared at the vegetable field being reclaimed outside the house, and suddenly sweated, “Well, you’d better think about this in the mind of Brother Yan.”

Yun Yan found out that Gongsun Ce had already understood his routine, so he smiled and said: “We are ordered to grow vegetables. When the vegetables grow out, don’t you ask the officials to eat them?”

Bao Zheng: “…”

Shameless… If it is said that too learning steamed buns became famous because of the unconscious behavior of the officials, Yun Yanhui had deliberately designed this.

In this regard, Bao Zheng had to convince Yunyan to return, and felt that the recruitment of this person was really cost-effective, so he agreed to this matter and let him take charge of the matter.

Yun Yan replied with approval and went to do a questionnaire survey, asking everyone about their tastes one by one.

But in fact, he doesn’t care about the tastes of these people at all. There are no gourmets in the government office. He just took the opportunity to promote it, which is so exciting, but also to guide public opinion.

Sure enough, all the officials didn’t know the inside story, and they all thanked Shaoyin for his kindness as soon as they took a questionnaire. Although everyone is asked to grow the land, they also grow their own. In the future, it is not for their own use to make profit. Instead, they will spend it on everyone’s food in advance when there is no income.

It turns out that Shao Yin is really just trying to improve everyone’s lives!

You must know that most of the staff in Kaifeng Prefecture do not have an establishment or even a salary. They are either recruited or come to serve in the army. The “evil official” refers to this group. Because they have no money, they have to abuse their power to make money.

Of course, after Bao Zheng took office in Kaifeng Mansion, the atmosphere became much clearer.

For those who are not paid, the better they eat, the more they seem to be earning. For those who are recruited, their salary will be increased, and their own expenses will of course be reduced. It is also a good thing to reduce the burden invisibly. Pile.

Therefore, for a while, everyone was a little bit more active in farming.

Seeing such a situation, Yun Yanhui also safely carried out drastic reforms to the chef’s dishes.

The chefs of Kaifeng Mansion are also divided into three places according to the three courtyards, and the names are also very distinctive. They are Silusi Canteen, Zuojun Xunyuan Canteen, and Youjun Xunyuan Canteen.

At different levels, the supply is definitely different. Officials with staff and small officials eat differently.

But on the whole, two meals a day are served, with a limited amount per person. If you don’t have enough, you can pack the rest. During the dog days, mung beans will be cooked to relieve the heat, there will be rice dumplings on the Dragon Boat Festival, and cakes on the Double Ninth Festival… all come with the festival.

Yun Yanhui has devised new dishes, mainly for easy-to-make and delicious meals, instead of some of the old simple dishes.

For example, the original dried tofu may be rough dried tofu. Now it can be shredded and mixed with dried shrimps or shell meat and soy sauce. It is very delicious. Various other pickles have also been improved one by one, all of which are the skills Yun Yan learned when he returned to the past or during the food festival.

Vegetables can no longer be as monotonous as they used to be, and there are several different kinds of vegetables in one day.

When making it, pay more attention to the ingredients. For example, adding some mushrooms or bamboo shoots to Taiwanese cabbage will taste better. If the taro is simmered, add some cabbage heart, and just add a little soy sauce to blend, it is much better than monotonous cooking.

There are other vegetables with meat oil and vegetable oil, all of which have a great influence on the taste. In terms of staple food, it’s even simpler. When you cook soup cakes, don’t be too stingy and boil some broth.

After the basic dishes are improved, some signature dishes are needed, which will be more refined, but they can be supplied in limited quantities to balance time and cost.

A pearl prawn ball, because it is a “pearl”, you must use white prawns. After chopped up, add some gorgon powder, drizzle with green onion and **** juice, knead it into a shrimp ball, and then deep-fry it. After it comes out, it will be like a pearl. , White and smooth, soft and slightly elastic in the mouth. But it also needs dipping material, you can dip it in salt and pepper, or if you have enough time, you will get the spicy oil.

Because Bianjing people love sweets, they are thinking about asking people to cook eight-treasure rice. At this time, later generations in the Jiangnan area especially loved the food, glutinous rice steamed with longan, red dates, lotus seeds, bean paste, etc., sweet but not greasy, soft but not sticky, and looks good.

Although it was too sweet and greasy for Yun Yanhui, he had cooked it for the natives such as Zheng Ling and Zhao Yunchu, and they were all well received.

There is also a very famous one, which was also included in the “Suiyuan Food List”, and the name is also very interesting, called “Duck Confused”. The fat duck is boiled until it is 80% cooked, cooled, bone removed, and pieces are removed. Put it back into the soup and simmer with rice wine, yam, and shiitake mushrooms.

The duck meat that comes out in this way is rich and mellow, tangible and non-physical, like soup and not soup, hence the name “confused”.

…

After the initial improvement of the dishes is completed, the cooks only need to follow the recipes. After all, there is no particularly technical work. In ancient times, keeping technical secrets was very important, so Yun Yan was willing to teach, and these cooks were also happy.

According to Yun Yanhui’s idea, the dishes will be gradually expanded + upgraded in the future, and some appropriate adjustments will be made in the selection of dishes according to the different functions of the officials of the third hospital. Of course, these will depend on the subsequent development.

After the chefs of the three hospitals were upgraded, the officials and officials of Kaifeng Mansion also gave enthusiastic responses…