Ivan had long heard that the development of Chinese food culture was at its peak in the Ming Dynasty.

During this period, American crops such as corn, sweet potato, peanuts, potatoes, red peppers and tomatoes, as well as many edible spices, were introduced to China, which gradually changed China's food culture.

In terms of cooking techniques, various production methods such as stir-frying, stewing, boiling, frying, burning, steaming, marinating, exploding, broiling, stall and so on have also been gradually improved, and many famous dishes have begun to emerge, such as crystal goose, stuffed crab, steamed dragon liver, cannon phoenix belly, roasted reed pig, bad goose paw, Indian fish, squirrel fish, called flower chicken, etc., to the later generations when the food culture is highly developed, they are still famous dishes.

Now Ivan is about to truly integrate into this food culture with the characteristics of the times.

Integration starts at the wet market.

For Ivan, who was accustomed to seeing the vegetable market of later generations, he was a little curious, what was the vegetable market like in the Ming Dynasty?

It's just that his move to visit the vegetable market made Dong Xiaowan a little strange.

"Are you going to buy fish?

It is impossible for her not to wonder.

According to the etiquette regulations of this era, dignitaries and nobles were not allowed to enter the market casually.

This is because the market is both a place where commodities are traded and a place where the government executes criminals, whose bodies are displayed in the public after the executioners kill them, known as "abandoning the market".

The market is a place for the activities of "villains in the market" and a place of execution, so the government does not allow high-ranking officials and nobles to enter the market casually. Penalties are imposed for entrants.

"Zhou Li: Diguan" wrote: "The lady crosses the market and is punished for a scene, the prince is fined for the market, the husband is fined for the city, and the wife is fined for the market." ”

And the Ming Dynasty was a particularly courteous dynasty, so all scholars, dignitaries and nobles would try to stay away from the market.

In Dong Xiaowan's view, Ivan is not only wealthy, but also the son of an ancient family, so he should stay away from the market.

Ivan, as a modern man, certainly doesn't bother with these rules.

"As a chef, you need to visit the market frequently so that you can keep track of the movement of ingredients and cook delicious foods according to the changes in ingredients, which is the same as tailoring. ”

"Oh. ”

Dong Xiaowan listened to this sentence in her heart.

Although she was also born in a large family, her family has long been in the middle of the road, and she has fallen into the land of fireworks, and she has long since regarded herself as a rich lady, and now she has the heart to support herself and her family through cooking, so she has no scruples.

Now he opened his eyes.

He originally thought that the vegetable market in the Ming Dynasty must be chaotic, but the result was beyond his expectations.

In fact, in ancient times, it was very important to the market, and it was recorded in the "Examination of the Work": "The craftsman runs the country, sits on the ancestral right society, and faces the market." ”

This means that when the palace where the king lived was built, there was a jongmyo temple on the left and a shrine on the right, and behind the palace, there would be a large market.

The same was true of the Ming Dynasty, which attached great importance to the market.

Therefore, the market that Ivan is seeing now is a very regulated market.

The buildings of the market are arranged in an orderly manner, and the market has a special entrance and exit gate, which is guarded by a small official with a whip.

After entering the market, there are rows of stalls on both sides, and in the middle are orderly stalls, called "Wanton", and the ingredients on the market are arranged in a very orderly manner, not only divided into categories, but also good and bad at a glance.

For example, in a fish stall that specializes in selling fish and shrimp, fish and shrimp are separated, different types of fish are separated, and the same kind of fish is packed separately according to different sizes.

Ivan had to sigh that although this was in the Ming Dynasty, the materials in the market were already very abundant, and all kinds of common ingredients in later generations, such as chicken, fish, duck, and various vegetables, were already very common here.

Because of the new sauce of squirrel fish, Ivan did not stop at other stalls in the market, but went straight to the fish stall.

"How much silver is a pound of cinnamon fish?"

"A small penny is a pound of silver, and a large one is a pound of silver. ”

Ivan was taken aback slightly.

He remembered that Dong Xiaowan said that the price of meat at this time was two catties of one dollar and two catties of silver, but now the price of osmanthus fish is twice that of meat.

As far as Ivan knows, there is a difference between the present and the hereafter.

He saw from the information that in ancient times, the most expensive meat was not beef, mutton and the like, but pork. In the same way, because fish has a fishy smell, the price is cheaper than pork.

But now the price of cinnamon fish is twice that of pork.

It seems that as one of the four famous freshwater fish in China, Guiyu was a valuable thing even in ancient times.

Ivan crouched down and began to look at the fish seriously.

To be honest, if it is in the later generations, it is difficult to see wild osmanthus fish, and the kind that can be marketed in large quantities is basically farmed.

But here, all of them are wild, more than a pound of small ones, four or five pounds of big ones, and Ivan even saw seven or eight pounds and ten pounds.

Definitely good stuff!

He couldn't help but think of what Lao Jiang had done before.

In fact, among the fish suitable for making sashimi, wild crucian carp is not the best, but osmanthus fish.

Guiyu, scientific name mandarin fish, also known as osmanthus fish, crucian carp and so on.

Its meat is delicate and plump, fat and delicious, there is no gall and less thorns inside, the Ming Dynasty medical scientist Li Shizhen praised it as "capybara", which means that its taste is as delicious as a pufferfish, and some people even compare it to dragon meat in the sky.

This shows that the flavor of mandarin fish is indeed extraordinary, so mandarin fish has always been considered to be the best among the fish, and the mandarin fish in the feast is the fattest in spring, which is called "spring fresh".

Compared with crucian carp, mandarin fish has fewer spines and prefers to grow in places with clear water, so the meat is more delicious and tender.

Ivan couldn't help but think, since the supply of wild mandarin fish in this era is so abundant, is it possible to make a fuss about Xiaowan's private restaurant, which is about to open?

This can be there!

Peach blossom flowing water mandarin fish fat.

Because of Zhang Zhihe's "Fishing Song", mandarin fish has always had a good reputation among literati and dignitaries, and these people often regard eating mandarin fish as a kind of high-class Yaxing.

In this case, if mandarin fish is used as the main ingredient, supplemented by other fish and shrimp, and specially cooked with fish, shrimp and crab and other aquatic products, will it be very distinctive?

Ivan was immediately inspired.

Before that, he had been having a headache about what kind of specialties Xiaowan's private dishes were about, and he was worried that the dishes were too messy and had no characteristics, but now he found his direction.

This is not only the direction of Xiaowan's private cuisine business, but also the direction of the recent development of his culinary skills.

Whether in China or abroad, fish and shrimp have always been one of the most common and best cooking ingredients, and a chef who can make a variety of fish recipes unique is already half the battle.

Not only that, if Xiao Wan's private dishes featured fish, then after leaving Qin Lou, the Shuitai kung fu practice that gave him a headache would be immediately solved.

After making up his mind, Ivan was a little excited, and he shouted: "Buy!"