The Dongpo meat practice of the Song Dynasty seems to be relatively primitive.

Lu Tixue didn't fry the sugar, and he didn't even fry it in oil, but only stir-fried the meat slightly, and then poured in rice wine and soy sauce and cooked it slowly. Of course, a little salt is also added, as well as condiments such as ginger and shallots.

When cooking, Lu Tixue became extremely serious, and without a word of nonsense in his mouth, he watched Dongpo meat cook slowly.

Zhu Guoxiang asked his son: "Was there rock candy in the Song Dynasty?" ”

"Yes, it's called frosting, it's scarce and extremely expensive." Zhu Ming said.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, sugarcane cultivation was already extremely common, but there were only five rock sugar producing areas: Futang in Fujian, Siming in Zhejiang, Panyu in Guangdong, Suining in Sichuan and Guanghan.

Among them, Suining rock candy is the highest quality and the highest yield.

People are afraid of being famous, pigs are afraid of being strong, and in another ten years, Suining sugar farmers will be unlucky.

The magistrate offered rock candy to Song Huizong, and Suining rock sugar was immediately listed as a tribute, and more than 300 households that could produce high-quality rock sugar were required to pay thousands of catties of tribute every year. Coupled with the exploitation of officials and buying merchants, Suining's rock sugar industry quickly withered, and more than half of the icing households went bankrupt and fled.

Zhu Guoxiang walked to Bai Zongwang's side: "What kind of sugar does your mansion have?" ”

Bai Zongwang replied: "There is only brown sugar." ”

"Where's the honey?" Zhu Guoxiang asked again.

Bai Zongwang said: "There are beekeepers in the villages further upstream, and my family does not have a permanent stock, so I only send people to buy them when I want to eat." ”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Give me a few pieces of brown sugar." ”

Bai Zongwang summoned the servants and quickly went to fetch the brown sugar.

Zhu Guoxiang took the brown sugar and came to Lu Tixue: "Mention the study of Rongyu, there is also this cooking method in the hometown, and the villagers call it Dongpo meat and braised pork." With the addition of sugar, it is more luscious. ”

"Oh?" Lu Tixue was quite surprised.

Zhu Guoxiang also said: "The rich family uses frosting, the small rich family uses honey, and the ordinary people use brown sugar. There is only brown sugar here, and you can try one or two to learn it. ”

Lu Tixue said: "You can give it a try." ”

There are many people who eat meat today, and Lu Tixue made two pots, one of which was given to Zhu Guoxiang to put sugar.

Estimating the weight, Zhu Guoxiang broke the brown sugar and sprinkled it evenly in the braised pork - the brown sugar can't make caramel water, so it can only be sprinkled in this way to taste.

With a cooking fan, Lu Tixue finally stopped being silent: "Your Excellency is also good at cooking?" ”

"I know a few dishes, but I don't know much." Zhu Guoxiang replied honestly.

When he was young, he not only threw his son to the countryside to be raised, but even the couple lived separately because of work. Zhu Guoxiang occasionally cooks by himself, and the braised pork is learned from a Sichuan colleague.

It's a pity that when you travel to the Song Dynasty, a lot of Sichuan dishes can't be cooked.

It's not a lack of chili peppers, it's a lack of bean paste. Sichuan cuisine can do without chili peppers, but it can never do without bean paste.

Lu Tixue stood in front of the stove and said: "When I arrived at Lizhou Road to be an official, my biggest feeling was Hu spicy soup. The Central Plains soup is made with pepper, but Sichuan and Shaanxi are replaced by Sichuan pepper, which is completely two different flavors. ”

"Cooking is like doing things, and it should be adapted to local conditions." Zhu Guoxiang knows how to chat with Lu Tixue.

Lu Tixue was really happy: "This is very good. The products are different from place to place, so you can't force the original authenticity. ”

Zhu Guoxiang can only cook a few dishes, and he is not a master cook. When he saw that it was good, he immediately turned to agriculture: "Farming is the same, the climate and soil in the north and south are very different, and the "Qi Min Yao Shu" can be used in the north, but it will be greatly discounted in the south. ”

"That's true," Lu Tixue nodded, "Since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, many new agricultural books have been compiled, especially in the south. Your Thirteen Methods of Interplanting can also be written as an article and compiled into an agricultural book together with the method of planting rice. When this book is completed, I will find someone to print it. ”

Zhu Guoxiang said happily: "Thank you for learning!" ”

Lu Tixue said with a smile: "Agriculture is the foundation of all industries, and it should be like this." ”

Zhu Guoxiang continued to peddle his own agronomy, and also applied the ancient worldview: "Everything is divided into yin and yang, and plants are the same." Whether it is a crop or a fruit tree, the flowers are both male and female. Some are monoecious, some are dioecious, and rely on insects and the wind to blow yin and yang. The butterfly bee is stained with the powder of the male flower, and then goes to the female flower to collect nectar, and then it can get pregnant and give birth to a child. This is how the grain and the fruit come. ”

"Is that so?" Lu Tixue's eyes lit up when he listened.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "If the flowering period coincides with rainy weather, bees and butterflies do not arrive, and the yield of grain and fruits will be reduced. ”

Lu Tixue combined his own experience and nodded: "That's true." ”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "At this time, you can artificially pollinate and make a kind of brush to spread pollen to the flower column, so that the male and female can also copulate." ”

These words opened the door to a new world for Lu Tixue, and he was eager to study the pollination of plants immediately.

Most of the entourage were bored. Only two or three people were still standing in the kitchen, and the rest went outside to chat.

The fifth son of Lu Guanren, the richest man in Xixiang, is also named Lu Heng. He was the twelfth in the family, and was also called Lu Twelve.

The first scholar to answer the question was called Yu Dayuan, and he was not angry at the moment: "Twelve Lang, we are all famous people in our county, but we have made a young man from a foreign country in the limelight. Don't you want to control him? ”

Lu Heng smiled: "What should I do to restrain him?" I even lifted people, I failed the exam twice, and it was useless to attach a student envoy. You are over-lifted, and you should make it if you want to make it. ”

Another scholar named Huang Sheng said: "This son is known as the Three Classics, and I am afraid that his attainments in scripture are extraordinary. You must not discuss the scriptures with him, you must use poetry to make things difficult for him! ”

"Yes, just use poetry!" Yu Dayuan nodded.

Huang Sheng also said: "When you eat today, you must drink. You can propose a drinking order, or compose a poem on the spot to accompany the wine, and teach this ignorant boy not to come to the stage! It is also good to let the envoy know that I am also talented in Xixiang County. ”

Yu Dayuan patted his chest and said: "Just compose poems, I will bring a lot of old works, which can just come in handy." ”

"I brought it with me." Huang Sheng said with a smile.

These guys wanted to behave in front of the scholars, and they all brought poems. The old works must have been revised repeatedly, and even if Zhu Ming is proficient in poetry, it may be difficult to compare with the on-the-spot creation.

Yu Dayuan immediately called all the scholars and went to a remote place to discuss quietly.

Lu Heng only squatted next to him and laughed, he was not very good at learning, and he was enough to take the exam. Moreover, there is already an elder brother who has been admitted to the Jinshi, and he is the son of the richest man, so why bother to mess with this kind of thing?

He had already seen that Lu Tixue had a lot of appreciation for the Zhu family's father and son.

If the Zhu family's father and son can't get off the stage, it's tantamount to letting Lu Tixue not come to the stage!

Such a simple truth, the scholars should know. But those scholars are all interested in the imperial examination, racking their brains to shine in front of the university, and Li Lingzhi has lost his basic judgment.

The scholars discussed how to do things, and the officials had already gone to eat. They were so tired that they had to fill their stomachs and wait for the envoy to send them at any time. This student is intermittently crazy, and the ghost knows what he will do in a while.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the meal finally started.

Three tables were set up in the courtyard of the Bai family, with Lu Tixue, Xiang Zhixian, Professor Qian, Bai Zongwang, Zhu family father and son, as well as Lu Heng and Yu Dayuan as the main table. Bai Dalang, Bai Erlang and the rest of the scholars sat at the other two tables.

The two pots of Dongpo meat were all divided, and each person only got four pieces.

Zhu Guoxiang's back to the pot meat is added with brown sugar, and the color is darker. It's a pity that there is no caramel water, the color is not red and bright, and it doesn't look so pleasing to the eye.

Lu Tixue tasted it, and immediately became overjoyed: "With a sweet taste, it is indeed better to eat!" ”

Zhu Guoxiang said: "If there is icing, you can boil caramel water and pour it in it when cooking. Not only is the aroma rich, but the surface of the pork is bright in color, like a red pearl. ”

Lu Tixue lamented: "Frosting is not easy to obtain, and the price is better than gold and silver." ”

At this time, the technology of making rock sugar was still very primitive, and it was originally a by-product of making sand sugar (liquid brown sugar). The sugar farmers who have mastered the technology are kept secret, and in Suining, the most developed sugar industry, there are only more than 300 households that can make rock sugar. And the production process takes more than a year.

The new rock candy was sold out in an instant and shipped to the Central Plains and Jiangnan for sale.

Lu Tixue is nested in Hanzhong, and money can't buy it.

Although Yu Dayuan couldn't get used to seeing the Zhu family's father and son, he was eating Dongpo meat with brown sugar at the moment, and he was also waving chopsticks to feast. It smells so good!

Zhu Ming performed enough in the afternoon, and at this time he stopped tossing, munching on steamed mutton and drinking.

After a few bites, I heard someone at the adjacent table say: "Today's school is coming, and the Xixiang scholars are finished, which can be described as a grand event." You might as well accompany the wine with poetry and chat to help the fun. ”

"Poetry and wine are really elegant!" The scholars chimed in.

Lu Tixue just smiled, he had seen a lot of this kind of scene.

Whenever they went to inspect a place, the scholars would be in a hurry to behave. If there is a scholar who is not popular with the local people, and happens to be appreciated by Lu Tixue, he will inevitably be troubled by other scholars.

"I have a work, please mention Yazheng." Huang Sheng couldn't wait to pull out the poem.

Lu Tixue finally spoke: "You don't have to take out the old work, I will come up with a question, and all the beings will write poems on the spot, so that they can show their ability." ”

When these words were spoken, half of the scholars were already embarrassed.

After the abolition of poetry in the imperial examination, there were fewer scholars who studied this way, and the poetry talent of the Great Song scholars seriously declined.

"Please ask for a question." Lu Heng was the first to speak. Anyway, he is already lying flat, and his knowledge is like that ghost, and he is happy to see many scholars deflated.

Lu Tixue has a narrow personality, deliberately tricks everyone, and thinks hard for a while: "Since they are all scholars, they will take learning as the topic." ”

At this moment, the entourage was all dumbfounded.

The question is casually asked, mountains, fields, farms, wine, meals, wind and moon, and season...... All of these can be used, and everyone can hold back a poem.

It can be used as a topic of learning, which is inevitably too abstract!

None of them were in the mood to eat, so they were all scratching their ears and cheeks.

Lu Tixue held back a smile and asked the Zhu family's father and son: "Do you have the two of you?" ”

Zhu Guoxiang said directly: "I am not proficient in poetry, and I am also laughing and generous when I write it." As for the dogs...... Fair. ”

Yu Dayuan couldn't hold it back, and he didn't let Zhu Ming feel better, so he immediately said: "Since the successful virtuous brother has penetrated the Three Classics, he must also have a great knowledge of poetry, and we are about to ask for a lesson or two." ”

Zhu Ming turned his head to look at the two tables next door, these guys were all looking at him, their expressions were all ...... Gloat!

Putting down the chopsticks, Zhu Ming pretended to be contemplative, and suddenly recited: "The ancients left no stone unturned, and the young and strong worked hard to become old." On paper, I finally feel shallow, and I never know that I have to do it. ”

Hearing that it was this poem, Zhu Guoxiang almost applauded.

It is so appropriate, not only perfectly fitting the topic, but also catering to Lu Tixue's academic thoughts. also with a bit of self-humility, and secretly went to shoot Lu Tixue's sycophants!

In the courtyard, no one spoke, and it seemed a little cold.

Yu Dayuan held chopsticks in his hand and looked at Zhu Ming stupidly.

(Thank you for the reward from Brother Hengfeng, and thank you for your family's subscription and monthly pass.) ）

(What does the book say?) The results are actually very good, and the first order is 32,000 in 24 hours. But because of the oolong, a lot of people came to see the excitement, and it is estimated that the first order is a bit large, and it should be twenty-five thousand according to the second chapter. ）

(Well, the show was full of effects, and I found out that I was a marketing genius.) Ha ha. At the same time, I would also like to thank the editor for giving a bunch of good recommendations, that is, Lao Wang's oolong is a little sorry for the editor's painstaking efforts. ）

(End of chapter)