Li Jie really guessed correctly, but saw that Lao Zhu seemed to sigh a little melancholy, and then asked him again: "Do you know how to make cakes?" ”

"Minister's Council!" Li Jie was also stunned when he heard this, how could he talk about cakes for no reason?

"Very good, I asked someone to take you to the Shang Shan Supervisor, you make the cake and bring it over for me to taste!" Lao Zhu said very casually.

Li Jie was stunned again when he heard this, this Chinese New Year, Lao Zhu suddenly mentioned that he wanted to eat cakes?

But then Li Jie suddenly thought of a story, not long after the old Zhu Gang Ma Queen, he was locked up for offending Guo Zixing, and he was hungry for a few days without eating, but fortunately, Queen Ma hid the cake on her chest and sent it to Lao Zhu, because the cake was just ready, and almost burned Queen Ma's chest.

Could it be that Lao Zhu remembered Queen Ma, so he proposed to eat cakes?

"Your Majesty, I wonder what kind of bread you want to eat?" Li Jie hesitated for a moment and asked again, he now wanted to know what kind of cake Queen Ma brought to Lao Zhu.

"Do as much as you can!" Lao Zhu didn't explain, but directly ordered.

Li Jie had no choice but to agree, and then a little eunuch took him out of the warm pavilion, and then came to Shangshan Prison. The emperor's diet also has strict regulations, and even involves three yamen, such as the menu is generally prepared by Guanglu Temple, and then handed over to the emperor for inspection, and after the emperor agrees, it is handed over to the Shangshan supervisor for cooking, and finally the Shangshi Bureau serves the emperor to eat.

Therefore, the folk said that the imperial kitchen, in fact, belongs to the Shang Shan Supervisor, Shang Shan Jian belongs to one of the twelve eunuchs, originally had the post of palm seal eunuch, served by the palace attendant, but now the Shang Shan Supervisor is very special, when Li Jie came here, he did not see the palm print eunuch, but an old man who shaved his beard very cleanly greeted him.

"Your Majesty asked you to cook for him?" I saw that this old man, who was obviously not a eunuch, was also quite surprised to see Li Jie and asked.

"Li Banyu, this is the head chef of Shang Shan Superintendent, Xu Xingzu Xu Lao, if you have any requirements, you can ask him for the old man!" The little eunuch next to him immediately introduced Li Jie with a smile.

"It turned out to be Chef Xu, in the Xia Li Festival, rough cooking skills, His Majesty suddenly said that he wanted to eat cakes, so let me make it for him personally, and I will have Chef Lao Xu to help later!" Li Jie also saluted Xu Xingzu very politely.

In fact, Li Jie has heard of this Xu Xingzu, don't look at the other party as just a cook, but he has cooked for Lao Zhu for a lifetime, and Lao Zhu can only eat the food he cooks with confidence.

"Your Majesty is going to eat bread again!" Xu Xingzu also frowned when he heard this, just now he only reported that His Majesty sent someone to cook, but he didn't expect His Majesty to eat cakes, which made him worry again when he knew Lao Zhu's eating habits very well.

Seeing Xu Xingzu's appearance, Li Jie's heart was also moved, and he immediately stepped forward and pulled the other party aside and asked in a low voice: "Chef Xu, does Your Majesty still pay attention to eating cakes?" ”

"This ......" I saw Xu Xingzu hesitate for a moment, and then said in a low voice, "Actually, it's nothing, it's just that every time Your Majesty eats cakes, I'm not in a good mood, I've made a lot of cakes with different tricks over the years, but Your Majesty is not very satisfied, I've been serving Your Majesty for decades, but I don't know what Majesty likes to eat." ”

Li Jie's face was also bitter when he heard this, even Xu Xingzu didn't know what kind of cakes Lao Zhu liked to eat, let alone himself.

But now that the arrow is on the line, he can't be allowed to retreat, so he can only bite the bullet.

At that moment, Li Jie asked the people of Shang Shan Jian to prepare the ingredients for himself, Xu Xingzu also stood aside with great interest and watched, Li Jie first processed all the ingredients, and seeing Li Jie's skillful movements, Xu Xingzu also nodded again and again, because this proved that Li Jie really knew how to cook.

When all the ingredients are ready, Li Jie also began to knead the dough to make cakes, the first cake to make is called Huoyao, which is a kind of northern snack, you need to knead the noodles, add a variety of seasonings, and finally knead the fat into the noodles, after patting into a flat circle, first fry both sides until browned, and then put it in the oven to bake, this kind of cake is the most complicated and time-consuming, so Li Jie is the first to do.

Shang Shan Jian originally had an oven for making roast duck, which could just be used for fire. Then Li Jie made pancakes and pancakes, pancakes are also divided into two kinds, one is a very common pancake in later generations, sandwiched with vegetables and sauce, and the other is vegetable pancake, in fact, it is to cut vegetables such as radish into thin strips and add it to the batter, and then pour it into a pan to fry into soft cakes, you don't need to add any sauce when eating, and it tastes quite good when you eat it directly.

When the pancakes and pancakes were ready, and the fire in the oven was baked, when the golden fire was taken out, a burnt aroma and oil fragrance immediately emitted, causing Xu Xingzu to stretch his neck to watch, and the other three kinds of cakes were fine, but this baked cake was the first time he had seen it, and he felt quite good just smelling the taste.

Li Jie roasted a few more before, and when he saw Xu Xingzu's appearance, he also handed one of them to him and said, "Chef Xu, how about you taste the taste of this fire?" ”

Xu Xingzu was not polite, took the fire and broke it, and found that the fire was charred on the outside and tender on the inside, and the fat in the noodles was burned, plus the taste of green onion and pepper, which mixed together to form a peculiar fragrance.

"Delicious!" Xu Huizu took a bite, and immediately praised it repeatedly, this fire is also the first time he has eaten it, but it does taste very good, he also wrote down the method of Li Jie just now, and he can often make it for His Majesty in the future.

For Xu Huizu's praise, Li Jie also smiled slightly, in his previous life, he liked to eat fire the most, but unfortunately this kind of pasta is only in his hometown, and it is rare to see it outside, and he is far away from his hometown to work, he can't buy it if he wants to, so he can only think about it and make it himself, but he didn't expect it to come in handy now.

Li Jie put several kinds of cakes into the food box, and then said goodbye to Xu Huizu, and then returned to the warm pavilion with the food box, at this time it was already dark, and the average family was afraid that they had already gathered around to eat the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, and then began to observe the New Year.

When Li Jie entered the warm pavilion, he found that Lao Zhu was still reviewing the notebook, and the previous batch had been withdrawn, and now it was a new batch, which made Li Jie a little helpless, Lao Zhu was really hardworking, with his level of hard work, even if he was beaten with iron, he might not be able to withstand it.

"Your Majesty, the cake is ready, and it won't taste good when it's cold!" Li Jie didn't wait any longer this time, but directly stepped forward to remind.

Lao Zhu also raised his head when he heard this, then stood up and said with a smile: "Open it and let me see, what kind of cakes have you made?" ”

"Yes!" Li Jie agreed, then opened the food box, and took out the four breads in turn, because the time was short, so each cake was steaming.

Lao Zhu also saw the fire at a glance, because after the fire was baked, both sides were also bulging, and it looked like the kind of discus used in sports in later generations, but the color was golden and it looked more attractive.

"It's ...... Fire? Unexpectedly, Lao Zhu suddenly called out the name of Huo.

"Your Majesty knows?" Li Jie was also stunned.

"Don't you know, when I traveled all over the world, I once crossed the Yellow River and ate this thing in a small county town north of the Yellow River!" Lao Zhu said again with great interest at this time, and after speaking, he picked up the fire and took a bite, and sure enough, it was the same as the taste in his memory, the outside was charred and the inside was tender, salty and delicious.

"It tastes good!" Lao Zhu seemed to be reminded of the memories of the year, and he actually ate the fire one by one, because the fire was a little dry, and Li Jie also poured tea for Lao Zhu himself.

After eating the fire, Lao Zhu tasted the other three kinds of cakes, although these three kinds of cakes tasted good, but Lao Zhu just nodded slightly and didn't say anything.

"You've worked hard, sit down and eat some!" At this time, Lao Zhu suddenly pointed to the opposite side of the table and motioned for Li Jie to sit down and eat cakes with him.

Li Jie hesitated for a moment and nodded in agreement, then sat opposite Lao Zhu, picked up the fire and ate it, he was young and had good teeth, it was most suitable to eat this kind of baked cake, and a few bites went down to a fire into his stomach, and then he ate a whole pancake and two pancakes, which filled his stomach, after all, he had not eaten since he went out.

Seeing that Li Jie ate more than himself, Lao Zhu couldn't help but sigh: "It's good to be young, I thought I could eat twenty pancakes in one go, but unfortunately I can't eat two now." ”

"Your Majesty is sedentary for a long time, the food you eat is difficult to digest, and it is naturally not easy to feel hungry, if you swim for two hours a day like the prince, you will definitely be able to recover the amount of food you ate back then!" When Li Jie heard this, he persuaded half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"You kid can talk!" Zhu Yuanzhang also smiled when he heard this, but then he shook his head and said, "I'm old, and the people around me are gone one by one, and now there are few people around me who can speak, and it's not interesting to live, it's better to leave early, there are still people in the sky waiting for me!" ”

When Lao Zhu said the last sentence, his eyes were also fixed all of a sudden, and the whole person also fell into a kind of longing, as for the person who said that was waiting for him, he didn't have to think about it to know, it must be Lao Zhu's wife, Queen Ma.

Hearing Lao Zhu mention Queen Ma, Li Jie also stopped talking and didn't dare to speak again, because he knew that Queen Ma was a taboo in Lao Zhu's heart, except for Zhu Biao, it was best for outsiders not to mention Queen Ma in front of Lao Zhu, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable.

I saw that Lao Zhu pondered for a while, and then suddenly came to his senses, and then turned his head to look at Li Jie before he spoke again: "Li Jie, I have seen countless people in my life, but if you talk about erudition and foresight, no one can compare with you, I have one thing I want to ask you for!" ”

"Your Majesty's words are serious, and the ministers must know everything!" When Li Jie heard Lao Zhu actually use the word "ask for advice", he immediately said with some trepidation.