Chen Xu remembers that when he was a child, whether he was cutting wheat or rice, his mother would cook a pot of salted eggs and put them at home during the busy farming season, and it was very simple to cook at noon.

This is most of the food and drink of rural people during the busy farming season, and occasionally they will make a big pot of pickled vegetable buns or steamed buns, and the family can cope with it for several days, until the busy farming season is over, and will stop to make some delicious food.

Therefore, pickles, pickles, dried vegetables, pickles are not only an indispensable food supplement for farmers when they plant in spring and autumn, but also a reserve work that must be carried out when they are stored in summer and winter, which is related to the harvest of a year, because there is not much time to cook in the busy season, and the simpler, more convenient and faster the better.

However, compared with the pickles and pickles made from various common fruits and vegetables, the nature of preserved eggs is completely different, and the production process has completely risen to the mysterious chemical stage.

Although the preserved egg originated in China, China's understanding of pure chemistry has always been explained by the oriental metaphysics of the five elements of yin and yang...... Well, delicious, very delicious, Q and spring......

Well, these are all Chen Xu's thoughts.

Under the gentle reminder of the water, he remembered to make preserved eggs, so after seven seven forty-nine ...... After a night of pondering, it was roughly confirmed that the preserved eggs were a pure chemical change, and that the proteins in the duck eggs were slowly reacting with calcium hydroxide, potassium carbonate and even more in the plant ash to form a solidified jelly-like substance.

Although Chen Xu couldn't control this chemical reaction process, he basically figured out the raw materials, and then divided them into different proportions and marinated a total of five or six jars, each jar was almost thirty, and now the time has passed almost two months, and it can indeed be opened to see if it is successful.

Summoned two cooks to open the clay jar for marinating salted duck eggs first, and when they opened it, there was a strong salty smell and wine smell coming to the face, and the salt water inside looked quite clear, with no signs of mildew and deterioration, only a layer of salt film on the surface.

Chen Xu took matters into his own hands, used a bamboo scoop to peel off the salt film, fished out an egg from it, and shook it lightly in his hand, without feeling the feeling of waking up the eggs.

"Husband, how should this salted egg be eaten?" Shui stood softly beside him, looking at the large vat of eggs soaked in salt water, and asked curiously.

At first, she just casually asked what the preserved eggs on the playing cards were, but Chen Xu lost the poker and laughed and said that it was delicious and hadn't been made yet, and then just like she thought of a delicious food before, she called the housekeeper to prepare the ingredients.

100 pounds of eggs and duck eggs for the ordinary wealthy family must be a large expense, and it is not easy to buy, after all, this era are the farmer's free-range chickens and ducks, not much, the number of three or five, the eggs are basically taken to the market for money to subsidize the family, the supply of fresh eggs on the market has not been up, and with the rapid development of Xianyang's economy, a large number of restaurants and restaurants have appeared, the people's living standards have gradually improved, and poultry eggs have been in short supply.

But it's not a matter for Chen Xu, because his farm began to plan a chicken and duck farm and a cattle, sheep and pig farm a few years ago, the pond where he encountered fishing was a duck breeding base, a total of more than 200 ducks, egg production is enough for a family to eat, in fact, most of them are supplied to Qinghe Restaurant, eggs are the same, there are several farmers on the fief who are responsible for taking care of the two chicken farms, Li Gui's parents and younger siblings are doing this, all the chickens are semi-free-range, encircle a large area of mountain and forest wasteland, and build a chicken coop, and then plant some vegetables, plant and graft some fruit trees, get some pig dung and cow dung to accumulate and ferment and then cultivate some earthworms and insects, etc., anyway, in the past few years, chicken farms and duck farms have developed very well, fresh eggs have been in sufficient supply, and the domestic servants in the house can eat eggs several times a month.

Therefore, the 100 catties of eggs and duck eggs were quickly prepared, but Chen Xu was a little hesitant before making preserved eggs, so he made a large vat of salted eggs first.

The production process of fresh eggs is simple, just soak it in salt water with sufficient concentration, if you are afraid of mold, you can add wine to sterilize, and you can also improve the flavor of fresh eggs, as for the long worms, it is impossible, and the dragon can be killed under the concentrated salt water prepared by Chen Xu.

Salted eggs, salted eggs, that is, they have to be salty enough.

And Chen Xu's production of salt eggs is also considered, that is, to provide a long-term storage of high-protein food for future navigation, sauerkraut pickles, pickles, dried vegetables, will be the most important dietary structure for navigation in the future.

If preserved eggs can be successfully developed, then there will be one more delicious.

"Salt eggs must be cooked before they can be eaten, take out a few more and cook them, and taste how they taste later!" Chen Xu smiled and fished out more than a dozen more than a dozen pieces one after another with a bamboo fisher, and instructed a kitchen worker to take them to the kitchen to cook.

After getting the salt eggs, Chen Xu went to see the pickled preserved eggs.

To be honest, Chen Xu has no score at the moment.

These pots are covered with a sheet of hemp pulp paper with different ingredients written on it, and the pickling time varies by several days.

But it didn't matter, it was experimental anyway, Chen Xu instructed the cooks to open the first jar and take out a semi-damp coating wrapped in a mixture of chaff and lime salt.

The raw materials of the wrappings of these seven or eight clay pots are almost the same, but the amount of various ingredients varies greatly, some have more plant ash, some have more lime, and some have added liquor and alkaline water, etc., because it is just an experiment, Chen Xu does not know which recipe can be successful.

However, for the wealthy Qinghe Marquis and Zuo Xiang and Taishi of the Great Qin Empire, the most important thing is money, and the least afraid is waste, at most more than 100 eggs and duck eggs are wasted, and even the housekeeper is afraid that Chen Xu will make it less, originally according to Chen Xu's idea, it is to marinate three or five of each to see the effect, but the housekeeper and the steward of the kitchen are forced to pickle a jar of each when making it.

"Master Hou, what is the taste of preserved eggs you are talking about?" A young cook asked cautiously as he worked.

"It's hard to describe, if you succeed, you ......will know if you eat one," Chen Xu smiled and wiped off the mud and chaff on the surface of the preserved egg on his hand with corn, and then wiped the surface of the eggshell with a linen cloth, and then gently broke it and slowly peeled it off.

A layer of light brown material, translucent jelly-like, but not completely solidified, peeled off the shell and began to deform and flow like molten glass, and soon pasted together with the egg yolk into a yellow-brown mud.

This preserved egg obviously didn't succeed, but it already had the taste of preserved eggs, because the moment he peeled it off, Chen Xu had already smelled a unique smell of preserved eggs, and in order to judge his feelings, he even licked it with his tongue, and found that it was indeed very similar to the taste of ripe preserved eggs.

"Master Hou, this is a preserved egg?" The kitchen worker next to him looked at the egg and turned into this strange appearance after peeling it off, and Chen Xu also licked it, and suddenly felt some five flavors rolling in his stomach, and some wanted to vomit.

"Why, doesn't it look very exciting, in fact, it tastes very good, but this can didn't work, maybe it's not enough time, seal it and continue to marinate it for a while."

Chen Xu threw the unpickled preserved egg in his hand into a clay bowl, and then instructed the cook to open the second clay pot.

In the next time, Chen Xu opened all the clay pots next to each other and looked at them, and the results did not disappoint him, two of them were completely successful, except for the slightly different color of the preserved eggs, it was indeed no different from the preserved eggs that Chen Xu had eaten in later generations, and the taste of Q bomb had a peculiar fragrance, and after tasting it gently under Chen Xu's encouragement, he was full of praise, thinking that this preserved egg did have a unique flavor.

Since it was successful, Chen Xu was completely relieved, and instructed the kitchen to take out the two cans of preserved eggs in the successful one and dry them with mud, and seal the remaining cans and continue to marinate them for half a month before opening them.

Pickled and ripe preserved eggs can be eaten as is, and of course, they can be fried and fried to make a variety of dishes with unique flavors.

In later generations, there were two more famous preserved egg recipes, one was cold preserved eggs, and the other was preserved egg lean porridge.

Chen Xu was busy in the kitchen for a while, and soon went to the restaurant with a plate of cold preserved eggs and a scoop of salted eggs with Shui Qingrou.

"Go and invite the two ladies and a few little masters!" Chen Xu instructed the maids to invite Ying Shiyan and Meng Wan, and soon surrounded by a group of maids, Ying Shiyan and Meng Wan took their daughters, and Yu Ji led Chen Xi to the restaurant one after another.

"Husband, didn't you just have lunch?" Ying Shiyan asked curiously before she sat down.

"Wow, Brother Xiaoxu, what is this black plate?" Yu Ji's eyes were sharp, and when she entered the door, she saw a plate of preserved eggs on the dining table, and she couldn't help but shout.

"Hehe, this is the preserved egg I said last time, today I thought about it and went to see it, and found that it has been successful, it is better to be happy alone, although it is not yet time to eat dinner, let's taste this unique dish together!" Chen Xu smiled and pointed at the cold preserved eggs with chopsticks and said.

"How can the preserved egg be like this, it looks so good...... It's terrifying......" Yu Ji's little face shrank back a little pale.

"The color is weird, the egg whites look like brown soap, and the yolks look like black mud...... The smell is also very strange...... "Meng Wan picked up a piece of preserved egg with chopsticks and looked at it carefully, then sniffed it lightly and quickly threw it on the plate.

"Daddy, Xi'er wants to eat preserved eggs!" Xiao Chen Xi didn't know what preserved eggs were at all, he only heard his father say that they could be eaten, so he pulled Chen Xu's sleeve and began to shout.

"Okay, give Xi'er a piece to eat!" Chen Xu smiled and picked up a piece of preserved egg, dipped it in a little sauce vinegar and garlic and mixed it with garlic and fed it to his daughter.

"Mmmm, Daddy, the preserved eggs are delicious, Xi'er still has to ......" Chen Xi swallowed in a few bites, licking his mouth and looking at the plates on the table on his toes.

"Okay, Daddy will give you another piece!" Chen Xu fed Chen Xi another piece.

"Daddy, I still want to eat!" Chen Xi looked at the plate again after eating.

"Preserved eggs are spicy, children can't eat more, take a salted egg and eat it!" Chen Xu took a salted egg from the gourd scoop and handed it to his daughter.

"Thank you, Daddy!" Chen Xi took the salted egg to the maid to peel the eggshell, with Xiao Chen Xi's example, Ying Shiyan Mengwan and a group of maids in spring, summer, autumn and winter all gathered around, discussed and observed for a while, Ying Shiyan still couldn't resist the temptation to pick up and eat a piece, and then her beautiful eyes lit up, and her face also showed surprise.

"It's a strange taste, the texture is smooth, especially the egg heart has a strong fragrance, and a hint of astringency, but it is very delicious......" Ying Shiyan, who is the favorite food in the Hou Mansion, gave her own evaluation.

"Let's all taste it!" Chen Xu smiled and picked up a piece and stuffed it into his mouth, Meng Wan and Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter also picked up chopsticks to taste, the texture and taste each had their own comments, but they all changed their views at the beginning, this preserved egg looks really ugly, but it tastes like a very special taste and fragrance, which is different from any delicious food invented by Chen Xu in the past, the only thing is fried stinky tofu and compare with each other.

"Except for the ugly ones, the taste is really good, it's rare that the husband has been making it for almost two months!" Meng Wan praised Chen Xu with a smile.

"Hee-hee, there are several jars broken!" Shui Qingrou couldn't help but cover her mouth and smile, her eyes almost couldn't open.

"It's not bad, it's just that the recipe is not right, it may need to be marinated for a longer time, this preserved egg is more storable like a salt egg, and it can be used for more accompaniments in the future, in fact, it is mainly prepared for Brother Yu and Miss Xia, a large amount of this storable food is needed for sea voyages, and it is not enough to eat rice and flour dry food, and you will get scurvy after a long time...... How about you taste this salted egg again? ”

Chen Xu put down his chopsticks with a smile, picked up a salted egg and cracked it open, revealing the snow-white egg white and orange-red egg yolk inside.

"Husband, salted eggs look no different from ordinary hard-boiled eggs!" Ying Shiyan also picked up a salted egg and smashed it and peeled it.

"The egg whites are salty, but appetizing!" Meng Wan also picked up a salted egg in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and several maids each picked up a salted egg and smashed it and began to taste it.

"Wow, the egg heart is delicious, soft and glutinous ......and fragrant," Chunxiang couldn't help but shout happily.