Datang First Chef

Chapter 74

Mo Wenyuan rode out on the black sheep, which caused a commotion, not to mention Hui Kong and others who practiced Buddhism, even Wang Xuance couldn't help but focus on his newly grown horns.

Zhongheiyang is very proud of his mighty horns, with his head held high and his chest high, imposing. Under the yellow desert sun, his horns are more eye-catching.

"Mo Dalang, I have a question." Finally Wang Xuance couldn't bear it any longer, and asked Mo Wenyuan, "The horn of a sheep is the horn of a dragon?"

There are many kinds of goat horns, such as vertical ones, curved ones, inward buckling ones, and outward ones. I have seen ram horns like him.

There are tiny branches like a tree branch, all the way up, and the color of the horns is not the black of ordinary sheep, but yellow, with a warm light, like fine amber.After watching it, Wang Xuance secretly thought in his heart, the dragon horn of the Dragon King of the East China Sea is nothing more than that!

There is no such thing as a real dragon emperor in the fantasy Tang Dynasty, because there are dragons here, and the saints will not use dragon names even if they pretend to be other names.

Chinese people have worshiped real dragons since ancient times, and Chinese people have a good impression of the descendants of dragons.

Mo Wenyuan said suddenly: "It is indeed a dragon's horn." He also thought of the question that Wang Xuance thought of. Yesterday he questioned the black sheep for a long time, asking whether his horn was a dragon's horn.

Zhong Heiyang readily admitted it, and when Mo Wenyuan asked him whether he was a relative of the sea dragon king from east to west, from north to south, he was very unhappy, and retorted: How could I have anything to do with the bugs in the sea!

He is a dragon son, he is different from the little dragon king in the sea!

Wang Xuance sighed, and admired Mo Wenyuan very much, it was really not easy to subdue a sheep with dragon blood.

After the horns grew, Zhongheiyang's stagnant figure began to grow again. His growth rate was neither fast nor slow, but after a month, everyone found that his size had grown several times.

Before the middle black sheep grew into a big black sheep, they finally walked through the Turkic territory and headed for Tianzhu.

……

Tianzhu is a Buddhist country, with many temples, many monks, and many gods and Buddhas staring at this place.Guanyin Bodhisattva is originally a Bodhisattva of the Western Paradise, and he often solves problems for Sun Wukong and others, so it is more convenient than others to look at Mo Wenyuan and the others.

The Bodhisattva was not very happy when Mo Wenyuan went to the west to fetch sugar. The reason is simple. The sky is far away, and he has to eat and sleep in the open. His offering cannot be guaranteed. The Bodhisattva has not had a delicious vegetarian meal for a long time. .

He only knows how to cherish it when he loses it. In the past, he only complained that he ate too lightly and couldn’t eat meat because of the rules and regulations. Now he deeply feels that eating vegetarian food is already very good, and it’s better than not eating anything at all.

On this day, he had a discussion with Master Xuanzang, and then went to a temple in the north of Tianzhu.

Master Xuanzang wants to return to China, but his speed is really slow. Not only in the Tang Dynasty, but also in Tianzhu, it is rare to see such an eminent monk who is dedicated to seeking Buddhism, so he will be invited by the local temple wherever he goes. Lectures or debates, and he transformed all kinds of harmful monsters along the way, the return speed is really slow.

The Bodhisattva was discussing matters with Master Xuanzang when he suddenly saw Sun Wukong wandering past with what looked like a steamed pancake in his mouth, and the fragrant wind went straight into his nose.

Guanyin:"……"

This, this familiar scent!

He forced a gentle smile on his face and said, "Where did Wukong come from?"

Sun Wukong slowly took down the pineapple bun in his mouth and said, "Come from the country of honey."

There are many small countries in Tianzhu, and even the Bodhisattva reacted for a while when he heard the name of this country. He said: "Then eat with your hands..."

"Ah, this thing? Of course it was given to my grandson by Mo Dalang." Sun Wukong said as he stuffed the pineapple bun into his mouth, "Mo Dalang is in the honey country right now."

Bodhisattva's face darkened for a moment, so you went to Hemi Country to ask him for steamed cakes?Just eat it and hang around in front of me?His heart can be punished!

Master Xuanzang also knew that Sun Wukong had gone to see Mo Wenyuan, raised his eyebrows and said, "Mo Dalang has arrived in Tianzhu?"

He was still very convinced of his master, Sun Wukong, and he even showed a lot of respect in his speech. He said, "That's true, and Mo Dalang is coming to Central Tianzhu, and their destination is the country of Magadha."

Master Xuanzang nodded and said: "If so, we will be able to meet Mo Dalang." He was still looking forward to meeting Mo Wenyuan. The things really made the journey to the west a lot easier, and Master Xuanzang wanted to thank him well.

He is an enlightened mage, otherwise he would not be able to learn scriptures from the west, so he can face up to the comfort that food brings to people's soul, especially the sauerkraut made by Mo Wenyuan is not only delicious, but also can solve the problem that vegetables cannot be preserved in winter question.

"Mo Dalang is a wonderful person, it's a pity that this person is gone."

Sun Wukong nodded and said: "Indeed." He stuffed the remaining half of the steamed cake into his mouth. This thing is very strange. It looks like a fluffy steamed cake, but it has a hollow inside. From this point of view, it should be called a steamed bun. , he asked Mo Wenyuan what it was, and he just called it a "pineapple bun".Sun Wukong didn't know why he chose this name. The word "Polo" has a profound charm. He thought about it, and thought it might be the fruit of Tianzhu, which is yellow in color. The place of origin is in Tianzhu, and many people love to eat it.

Another explanation is related to Buddhism. The word Parami in Sanskrit is a Buddhist term, which refers to reaching the other shore. If this explanation is used, it probably means that the pineapple bun is so delicious that you can see the other shore after eating it?

Sun Wukong thought about it for a while, but still couldn't figure out Mo Wenyuan's intentions, so he simply gave up thinking about it, and just thought it was delicious.

The Bodhisattva saw Sun Wukong dangling in front of him, his teeth itched with hatred, his nose was very sensitive, and he sniffed the fragrance in the air and said exaggeratedly: "This smell, could it be that eggs are added to the steamed cake?" The pineapple buns were being made. During the process, eggs must be beaten into the flour, but there is a saying in Buddhism that "all eggs should not be eaten", and eating eggs is a violation of the precept.

The small-bellied Bodhisattva thought of the rumors that people talked about for a long time in the heavenly court. It seems that Marshal Tianpeng went to participate in the Jiangnan Hexian Festival, ate a lot of meat, and was caught by Master Xuanzang to "brush his teeth" when he turned around.

His teeth are almost gone.

The Bodhisattva thought of Pohou taking food from his mouth again and again, and at this moment eating the delicious steamed cakes made by Mo Dalang in front of him, and thinking that he had not received the offering for a long time, he was angry from the heart, and only hoped to use the help of Xuan Zang's hand took revenge on Monkey King.

Who knew that after listening to his words, Sun Wukong's expression was light: "It's eggs."

Buddha:"……"

It's different from what I imagined!

Tang Xuanzang had always looked up to his great disciples. Seeing that the Bodhisattva’s expression was wrong, he thought he was bothered by Sun Wukong’s eating eggs, and he even went out of his way to apologise for him: “Wukong and Bajie are monks halfway, and the Buddhist rules and regulations are a little strict on them, so eat some. I don't care much about oil and eggs, as long as I don't eat big meat."

As he spoke, he looked at Monkey King with majestic eyes, and his attitude was clear: Even if you eat it, don't eat it in front of the Bodhisattva!Just eat in private.

He also thought that Wukong would never make such a mistake, so why did he do such a thing today.

Sun Wukong received the master's gaze, bowed his head humbly, as if he was reflecting on his mistakes, but he couldn't find out why he was like this.

Bodhisattva: Hey, I'm so mad!

He must have done it on purpose!

……

The Bodhisattva is not happy, and he can't vent to Sun Wukong. So far, he has always suffered from Sun Wukong's hand in eating. The other party's nose seems to be equipped with radar, and he always pinches to "take food from the tiger's mouth". He is hard to guard against.

Seeing that Mo Wenyuan and others entered the territory of Tianzhu, the speed of travel slowed down, and there were many temples here, so it would not be difficult to find a statue of Guanyin, so he dreamed again and asked Mo Wenyuan for food.

Mo Dalang hadn't seen the Bodhisattva for many days, and he was startled when he saw people suddenly. He heard the Bodhisattva's intention and said, "I wanted to offer offerings to the Bodhisattva in the past few days. There are many Buddhist temples in Tianzhu. If I can prepare it well in advance, if I make delicious food and the temple refuses to enshrine it, the loss outweighs the gain.”

Bodhisattva nodded reservedly and said, "Relax, I will definitely take care of such small matters in advance."

"Baa baa baa baa baa baa baa!" One person and one Bodhisattva said it well, and suddenly heard the clear and melodious cry of the sheep, both of them were shocked, it was strange that the black sheep had never entered in the past in the dream.

The Bodhisattva raised his head and saw the black sheep, and as soon as he saw his question, he blurted out: "Have you grown the dragon's horn?"

Middle black sheep baa baa baa: That's right!

Mo Wenyuan said: "The growth of dragon horns should be a good thing?" I don't know why the Bodhisattva was so surprised.

"Of course a good thing is a good thing, but the speed at which he grows the horn is too fast. It should take a few more years for the horn to grow."

Mo Wenyuan said awkwardly: "Maybe the food is too good."

The Bodhisattva was startled and said, "Apart from the squid, what else did he eat?"

"And Bi Fang."

Buddha:"……"

I really dare to eat anything!

He said earnestly: "Take it easy, don't eat all the monsters in the Book of Mountains and Seas." Otherwise, sooner or later, Mo Wenyuan will make his mind on the gluttonous head, so the gain will not be worth the loss.

……

The country of Magadha is in the middle of Tianzhu. Even if they are not in a hurry, they will arrive there very quickly. On the way, they also pass through the country of Brahmayana. There are indeed a lot of white seeds planted in this country, and there are cottons on the banks of the lake between the fields. plants.

However, it is not yet the season for harvesting Baidiezi, and the flower bones have not yet appeared, so everyone did not stop, but waited for a period of time to stop in Fanyana country on the return journey, and thoroughly figured out the magical effect of Baidiezi.

The people continued to move forward and arrived at the final destination, the country of Magadha.

Magadha is just a small country in Tianzhu. If we want to say that it is very different from other countries, it is their more advanced sugar-making technology and a long history of planting sugar cane.

Sugarcane has been planted in China for a long time. As early as the Zhou Dynasty, sugarcane had been planted in the southern Chu State, which was recorded in "Chu Songs". By the time of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the planting area had expanded and reached a large scale in many areas. sugar cane field.But in Tianzhu, the planting time was earlier, and the earliest surviving documents already have the shadow of sugarcane, and they also have many varieties of sugarcane, as far as Mo Wenyuan learned along the way, there are already more than twelve kinds.

The sugarcane planted in Magadha is very similar to the modern variety. There is a kind of purple outer skin, white inner, and very long length, which is not much worse than modern sugarcane. What is even more valuable is that they have researched what kind of field It is most suitable for planting this plant, and there are many experienced old farmers tending the fields. All in all, their experience is much more than that of people in Tang Dynasty.

Wang Xuance is far-sighted, and there are agricultural officials and old sugarcane farmers in the mission team. They all know how valuable the sugarcane planting technology in this country is. Looking at the densely covered sugarcane in the field, their eyes are shining.

The king of Magadha wanted to make peace with the Tang Dynasty, and they brought a lot of precious gold and silver treasures when they went to Tianzhu. Agreed to the request of the Tang envoy.

"It is feasible to learn the sugar making method, but if you want to take away our country's skilled craftsmen, it is absolutely impossible." Their sugar production is not very stable, and the sugar they want to produce is of good quality and must rely on skilled workers.

Even though the sales of granulated sugar in Tianzhu countries are mediocre, it is better than nothing, and it is impossible for him to give up long-term benefits for a short-term "big" profit.

Wang Xuance guessed what Magadha King said, but he wasn't surprised at all. On the contrary, he still said in his heart: You won't let me take people away this time. Next time, I will dig a few more craftsmen to my Tang Dynasty to make them. granulated sugar.

All the farmers and artisans in the mission had the opportunity to learn, including Mo Wenyuan.The reason why he can learn is that he has come up with a lot of useful ingredients for making methods. You must know that Mo Wenyuan is not a farmer serving the court, and he will not enter a government-run workshop in the future.

Letting him study is considered an open side.

The sugar refining method in the Tang Dynasty still remained at the most basic boiling method. The sugarcane juice was exposed to the sun, and then boiled in a pot. The finished product was called stone honey.

The brewing method of the Magadha Kingdom is also based on this. After the king promised to pass on the method, he asked someone to take Mo Wenyuan and the others to the workshop for making granulated sugar.

There are vats of sugarcane pulp piled up at the entrance of the workshop. These juices are being exposed to the sun. The workers who refine stone honey in China whisper: "This is how stone honey is made."

They were led in by a local sugar craftsman who could only speak Sanskrit but not the language of the Tang Dynasty. Monk Huikong, who was proficient in Sanskrit, translated on his behalf. obstacle.

"There is sugarcane pulp in the tank." The craftsman gestured with his hand as if he was worried that other people would not understand, "We expose the sugarcane pulp to the sun for ten days, and we will get a yellow liquid." The liquid is what the Chinese call syrup.

They then walked forward, and tall and strong men appeared in the workshop. They squeezed the cloth bag with a stick, and the sparse water was squeezed out of the bag visible to the naked eye.

This process is not found in the domestic sugar refining process. The craftsmen kept their eyes wide open and silently evaluated the significance of this process in their hearts. Mo Wenyuan felt that the scene in front of him seemed familiar, and this process was also used when making tofu. , in order to squeeze out the water in the soy milk and make the tofu more solid.

Squeeze out the water in the soy milk?He fell into thinking, if he guessed right, this method is to press out the water in the syrup?

Obviously, the exposure method cannot evaporate all the water in the sugarcane pulp. The syrup obtained by this method can always be decocted into pieces, and the sweetness of the finished product is also light. Forcibly pressed out, anyway, it is very good for sugar agglomeration.

Sure enough, what the craftsman said was also the same as Mo Wenyuan's idea. The sugar craftsmen had never heard of or seen such a method before, and their eyes lit up.

The visit to the workshop is still going on. After getting the thick syrup, they also adopt the processing method of frying or boiling. This method will get a large piece of sugar granules. The sweetness of this sugar granule has surpassed that of the Tang Dynasty. The sweetness of the self-produced granules, but the work of the craftsmen has not yet been explained. They crushed the granules and re-boiled them. After several times of simmering, the color of the sugar obtained is still red, but the granules have become very small and the taste is similar. It comes from the taste of sugar produced in Chang'an.

As for the boiling method, it is also different from the common method used in the Tang Dynasty, but this is not Mo Wenyuan's professional field. His eyes were bright, he was very excited, and he obviously benefited a lot.

……

Learning the method of refining sugar is a long process. Mo Wenyuan and his party temporarily stayed in Magadha. In order to learn this technique and related techniques, the farmers were arranged to see how sugarcane is planted here. Increase the yield of sugar cane.

Mo Wenyuan was not idle either. After all, he had the experience of later generations. When he watched the craftsmen in Magadha make granulated sugar, his thinking took a turn, and he figured out the method of making rock sugar.

Rock sugar had its special name in ancient times, called icing sugar. Of course, it is not the same thing as the icing sugar on western cakes. The time of this thing should have been postponed for a while, and it did not appear until the end of the Tang Dynasty or the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Who knew that Mo Wenyuan watched the craftsmen of Magadha boil the sugar, and actually made the rock sugar in advance.

The method of rock sugar is simple and simple, and it is not simple. It takes up a lot of space.

To sum up its production method, the simplest method is to boil the granulated sugar in water and store it in an urn, and first apply vegetable oil to the urn.After storing for a long time, frost will form on the surface of the sugar water. After removing the remaining sugar water and draining the frost, you can get large chunks of rock sugar.

Because it was on the border of the Magadha Kingdom, Mo Wenyuan was careful even when he got the icing, and showed it to Wang Xuance when no one was around.

Wang Xuance followed the sugar refinery for so long, and gained a deep understanding of sugar. When he saw rock sugar for the first time, he knew that its color and taste were different from the several sugars he had eaten so far. Compared with sucrose, the taste of this product was very mild. , he didn't cough after eating.

The weather seemed to be turning cold recently, and Wang Xuance was overworked, so he coughed when he spoke.

Seeing this, Mo Wenyuan couldn't think of rock sugar pears that have a miraculous effect on cough relief?

……

Rock sugar pear is a medicinal diet, and it is a well-known medicinal diet in later generations. Once someone has a cough and throat discomfort, they often stew this dish. The method is simple and the effect is outstanding.

Right now, rock sugar is available, but pears are the only thing missing. Fortunately, China is a big pear-producing country with a long history of planting. The countries of Tianzhu have more exchanges with China, and they have also introduced pears to grow back.Because the soil is not very suitable for growing pears, the yield of pears in Tianzhu is relatively low, and the price is quite expensive, but some can still be bought.

Mo Wenyuan disliked that its growth was not good enough, its taste was not sweet enough, and its juice was not enough, but now the conditions are difficult, and Zhongheiyang can't teleport around in the territory of the Tang Dynasty to find ingredients, so he can only use this thing.

When cooking, Mo Wenyuan sighed, it is really easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but difficult to go from extravagant to simple!

The method of this thing is simple, even Mo Wenyuan can't turn it out, but just cut the pear from the middle, dig a small hole, remove all the pear seeds, then fill it with rock sugar, and then use a toothpick to remove the pear. The small half of the pear cover is fixed with the lower part, and then steamed in a pot for half an hour, it will be ready.

Wang Xuance felt cordial when he saw the rock sugar pears: "But steamed pears?"

People in the Tang Dynasty eat fruit very strangely. No matter what kind of fruit they eat, they don’t want to eat it raw. They have to steam it before eating it.

Mo Wenyuan said: "Although it is a steamed pear, it is not quite the same as ordinary steamed pears. You will know when you eat it."

Wang Xuance and Mo Wenyuan have been together for more than half a year, and he didn't know how the other party's cooking skills are, so he said: "Then respect is worse than obedience."

……

After arriving in Magadha, Zhongheiyang would wander around from time to time in search of good local ingredients. Now that they are in the west, Zhongheiyang no longer has the ability to sense ingredients, so they can only go out on four legs.Today he was looking for good ingredients, but Shuo Jing and Weasel Jing suddenly tipped him off, saying that Mo Dalang had cooked the dishes, not only did they not serve them to himself and others, but they only gave them to Wang Xuance.

The weasel "squeaked", with a flattering look on the face of a treacherous villain. They knew that Mo Wenyuan would cook food for the Zhonghei sheep alone, sometimes they could eat it, sometimes they couldn't, but when they thought of the Zhonghei sheep He has a domineering personality, no matter how many tears he wants to swallow, who can take food from his mouth?

But they couldn't take it anymore if they gave Wang Xuance a little trouble. The other party didn't have the ability to subdue demons and demons. They strongly demanded that Mo Wenyuan treat everyone equally and make food for everyone.

As expected, Zhongheiyang became furious and ran all the way back to look for Mo Wenyuan.

……

Besides, Mo Wenyuan, he does not discriminate. Wang Xuance highly praised the rock sugar pears. He said that this product tasted very good. He wanted to let others taste it, so he went to the street to buy pears again.

Who would have known that there were some daring monsters in the Magadha Kingdom who would draw the attention of Mo Wenyuan's flesh and blood again. Seeing that the black sheep rarely followed Mo Wenyuan, they had the audacity to go out to attack him!

Some of these monsters have also heard of the prestige of Mo Wenyuan and Zhongheiyang in the Western Regions, but Tang Sanzang has many monsters who want to beat him up, let alone Mo Wenyuan, and there are many of them. The young monster thought that the black sheep was powerful, but Mo Wenyuan was not sure, so he specifically picked him to attack him when he was walking alone.

Mo Wenyuan had been away for a long time, and seeing monsters big and small, he was not surprised at all. At that time, he wanted to pull out the magic pestle to clean up the little monsters, but he didn't expect a golden light to flash from a distance, and the Zen stick flew towards the monster's head. .

Mo Wenyuan:! ! !

A handsome young monk followed closely behind him. He was dressed in a red cassock and had a handsome appearance. The shape of his shaved head was very beautiful, as round as a duck egg. The heavy Zen staff fell on the monster, and there were scriptures in his mouth. , received a double blow both mentally and physically, and soon the monster collapsed to the ground.

Mo Wenyuan rushed into Mo Wenyuan with a clear voice, as if he had drunk Wang Qingquan, he was enlightened: "Little benefactor, are you all right?"

Just as Mo Wenyuan was about to speak, he saw Monkey King following closely behind him and said, "Master... Mo Dalang?"

Is this this this this this this this this is the legendary violent holy monk, Master Xuanzang?

Mo Wenyuan's legs were weak, he looked at Master Xuanzang's shining face under the sun, and he felt admiration from the bottom of his heart.

Master Xuanzang is so handsome!