Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 535: No oil, fresh 1-treasure noodles and lamb chops soup

Take a piece of top-quality lamb chop, remove the scattered fat and fascia, chop it into small pieces of even size, and soak it in cold water for about an incense stick of time.

While waiting for the mutton to be soaked, Shen Yu used the seven kinds of food powders that had been ground and sieved and an appropriate amount of flour to make dough with the filtered fresh juice, and rolled it into dough after it relaxed.

After the noodles are rolled out and cut into thin strips, they are shaken out and spread out. The thin strands of noodles are scattered on the noodle board like silver threads, causing the chef who specializes in white noodles to exclaim in amazement again and again.

The eight-treasure noodles are ready and the lamb chops are almost done soaking.

Pour cold water into the pot, add two slices of ginger, bring to a boil, skim off the foam, and then simmer for a while.

When there is no more blood foam in the blanching soup and the surface of the lamb chops has changed color, use a colander to scoop them out and rinse them with warm water.

Scrub the pot clean, put the washed lamb chops in, and add enough hot water.

Shen Yu told the eunuch in charge of the fire to bring the water to a boil over high heat and not to cover the pot. If the water was not enough, just add more hot water.

Simmer over medium heat until the soup turns milky white, then add the washed yam and simmer for a cup of tea, then you can turn off the heat.

The young eunuch was a little confused and asked hesitantly, "Stew with the lid open? Without adding anything? Chef Liu and his team have never stewed like this before."

Shen Yu nodded confidently: "Just stew it like this."

The menu prepared by Chef Liu next door also includes a stewed mutton soup.

His method is to fry the lamb chops in a large amount of oil until crispy, then add sweet bean paste and other ingredients to stew them together.

He kindly advised Shen Yu: "Miss Shen, I have been making mutton soup for more than ten years. The mutton soup stewed like this is so pale and miserable that it is inedible."

"You should add some green onion, ginger, bean paste, and pepper and star anise. Although spices are expensive, we have plenty in our small kitchen."

Shen Yu shook his head and declined, "Clear soup has its own advantages. Thank you, Chef Liu, for your suggestion. Let me try stewing it this way first."

Seeing that he couldn't persuade her, Chef Liu shook his head and gave up, going back to work.

By dinner time, the stewed lamb chops that Shen Yu had been sitting next to and watching were ready.

After turning off the fire, Shen Yu added salt and white pepper powder as appropriate, poured it into a large soup bowl and added some chopped coriander. A yam and mutton soup with a milky white soup and green coriander leaves floating in it was ready.

When the eunuchs came to fetch the dishes, Shen Yu stepped forward and said to the leading eunuch, "Eunuch, I'm going to cook and eat the eight-treasure noodles for the empress dowager today. Can I go with you to the dining hall of Chunhui Palace?"

"Let me teach you how to cook it, and then you cook it."

The chief eunuch was stunned. He did not expect Shen Yu to make such a request. He quickly waved over a young eunuch and asked him to report to Aunt Zhen and ask what to do in this situation.

But a moment later, before all the dishes prepared by the chefs were delivered, the eunuch came running back and said, "Aunt Zhen said, do as Miss Shen said. Prepare the pot and ask Miss Shen to come to the dining hall to cook."

The eunuch immediately said to Shen Yu, "Miss Shen, since Aunt Zhen said so, you just follow us. We will send the water pot and noodles over right away."

In the dining hall of Chunhui Palace, the Queen Mother came to the dining hall early when she heard that the noodles made by Shen Yu today had to be cooked and eaten immediately.

She smiled and said to Zhenniang beside her: "On weekdays, when we eat noodles, they are cooked in the small kitchen and sent to us."

"Even though our kitchen is close, the noodles don't taste good, so I don't usually like to eat noodles."

"Today I want to see what's different about these noodles that are cooked and eaten right away."

Zhen Niang said hurriedly: "The meals prepared by this Miss Shen are indeed quite different from those prepared by the chefs in the palace. They are unique. Now that she said that, I am also very curious."

As he was speaking, he looked up and saw Shen Yu coming in behind a group of eunuchs serving meals.

After everyone arranged the dishes, they informed the Queen Mother that it was time to eat, and then left one by one.

Shen Yu stepped forward and bowed to the Queen Mother, who then said, "There are no outsiders here at the moment, so you don't have to be so formal. Just go and cook the noodles."

Shen Yu answered yes and went to the small table where the pot of water was placed.

He picked up the copper chopsticks and fanned the charcoal fire under the large copper pot. In just a moment, the boiling water that had been added to the pot began to boil again.

Shen Yu picked up a small portion of the rolled eight-treasure noodles and put it into the pot. There was a lot of water and little noodles, but after boiling it twice, the noodles became translucent, which meant they were cooked and could be taken out.

Shen Yu skillfully used a small colander and silver chopsticks to scoop the cooked noodles into a noodle bowl and brought it to the empress dowager.

The Queen Mother looked at the silvery noodles in the bowl and said with a smile, "Are you going to eat it just like that? Noodles are usually served with toppings. This is the first time I've seen noodles eaten plain."

Shen Yu said calmly, "To answer the Queen Mother's question, this noodle is called Eight Treasures Noodle, because it is made by grinding seven kinds of ingredients into powder and adding boiled juice to the noodles. Although it is only boiled in boiling water, it tastes fresh and delicious, different from ordinary noodles."

"This kind of noodles can be eaten in two ways. First, eat a few chopsticks of fresh eight-treasure noodles, and then add some toppings according to your personal taste, and it will taste completely different."

The Queen Mother listened to Shen Yu's introduction and picked up a piece of thin noodles with a chopstick and put it in her mouth.

After chewing it carefully, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

She nodded, picked up another bite with her chopsticks, and took two or three bites in a row. She finished half of the small bowl of noodles before she stopped.

The Queen Mother said approvingly: "I didn't expect that this ordinary-looking noodle dish could taste so delicious."

"I've lived for most of my life, so I should have eaten all the good things in the world."

"This soup noodle is usually bland, and the taste depends entirely on the various toppings on the noodles. I didn't expect that this eight-treasure noodle can be so delicious and refreshing just by boiling it in boiling water."

After the Queen Mother finished praising, she looked at the food on the table. Among the dishes full of rich oils and red colors, she immediately saw two mutton soups served in the same size soup bowls but with completely different colors.

She pointed at the soup and said to Zhenniang beside her, "Zhenniang, bring me some of each of the two soups."

Zhenniang answered yes and quickly filled two small soup bowls with a bowl each and brought them to the Empress Dowager.

The Queen Mother looked at the bowl of greasy food with golden oil floating on it, emitting a rich aroma of sauce and meat, and inside it were several high piles of lamb ribs stewed until they were tender and sauce-colored.

The other bowl was a milky white mutton soup without a drop of oil. A few green coriander leaves floated on the surface of the soup. When scooped up with a spoon, it contained a few lamb ribs that were stewed almost to the bone and were tender white in color, as well as small pieces of snow-white yam.

The Queen Mother said, "This braised lamb chops is obviously the work of Chef Liu."

"I usually think it's fine when I eat it alone, but today when I put it together with this clear soup, I feel a little sick of it. I don't know if it tastes good with this eight-treasure noodle."