Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 263 Horseshoe Grass

Li Meng quietly laid out the items they had brought, one by one, and opened them for Jiang Shangxian to see. He picked up a tin can and said, "Master, Shopkeeper Wang said that these clansmen like elegance. Since you have the imperial wine, he didn't make any comments. But he said you should make this lotus tea for the Cui family."

In fact, what Manager Wang wanted to say was that these noble clans like complicated things the most. The more complicated the thing is, the more it reflects their noble status. The more labor-intensive and costly the thing is, the more valuable it is!

"Oh! The shopkeeper has invested a lot of money!"

Jiang Shangxian took the tin can, glanced at it, and then handed it to Jiang Wangri: "Bring out our set of celadon high-footed cups later and use that to give the Cui family's visitors a drink."

(During the Tang Dynasty, the "blue in the south, white in the north" situation was formally formed. Porcelain kilns were spread across the country. Celadon production was mainly concentrated in the south, with the Yue kiln being the best. The north mainly produced white porcelain, with the Xing kiln being the best. The kilns used the sagger technique for firing.)

As a country bumpkin, she had always thought that plum blossom tea was made by picking plum blossoms, drying them, and soaking them in water, and lotus tea was made by drying lotus flowers and soaking them in water. In short, they were all the same as chrysanthemum tea, just dried and soaked in water.

Her words almost made Manager Wang laugh out loud. The preparation method of each kind of flower tea is different. Take lotus tea as an example.

You need to pick a lotus flower with slightly broken stamens from a pond before breakfast at sunrise, pry it open with your hands, fill it with tea, tie it with hemp thread, and leave it overnight. The next morning, pick it with the flowers, wrap it in tea paper and dry it in the sun.

Do this three times and store in a tin can.

Look at how particular they are, look at how bored they are, it's just that the servants are busy.

The best way to brew such elegant lotus tea is to collect dew from the lotus leaves. If you don’t have that, the clear spring water from the mountains also has a unique flavor. What else can you do?

Then whatever! Shopkeeper Wang glared at her angrily, feeling that he was talking to a cow. He had already spent so much effort making this lotus tea, so why would he be stingy with the time to collect dew?

Jiang Shangxian felt that life was just like this, and this question hit Manager Wang right on the brow a few months later - it was true.

“It’s really…”

Old Madam Xia was speechless. She was just an ordinary woman after all. Even though she was more perceptive than others, she couldn't help but gasp at the elegant demeanor of this noble family. "How much effort does it take to even have a sip of tea?"

How much can you do with that much time? It's such a waste to have so many slaves just to do this every day!

"Madam, this is called elegance! Those clan nobles fall for this!" Zhou Ying laughed.

For them as chefs, besides skills and talent, a good tongue is naturally extremely important. They can taste the subtle differences between each type of water. The same goes for Jiang Shangxian, but for them, water and tea are mainly used to solve the problem of thirst.

It's just that their status hasn't reached the point where they need to force themselves to act that way.

Old Madam Xia was a little worried. Her granddaughter didn't seem to be an elegant person. She might have to find someone to find out what elegance meant before going to Qinghe in the future!

The young lady from the Jiangxia County Prince’s family should also understand, right?

This friend is so good!

A small can of lotus tea made Old Lady Xia think a thousand times, and she was glad that her grandson-in-law didn't seem to be someone who wanted to live such a refined life.

Seeing that everyone's attention was drawn to Li Meng, Zhou Ying was unwilling to stop performing. He immediately took out a small jar of wine and said, "Master, look, this arrived last night before the gates were locked. It's fresh today, the first batch of the year."

"What is it?" Jiang Shangxian thought it was wine at first, but when he saw that it was sealed with two pieces of oil paper, he knew it was not it. He reached out to untie the hemp rope and took a look. He saw something like a jar of clear water inside. The things in the water were densely packed like small green curled leaves.

"Oh! It's horsetail grass!" Jiang Shangxian was very surprised: "How could this thing be transported here?"

When Old Lady Xia heard it was horse hoof grass, she came over excitedly, squinting her eyes and looking around: "Are you serious? Let me see it quickly!"

"Oh, it's really horse hoof grass! Ever since I came to Chang'an, this is what I've been craving the most. Oh, Shopkeeper Wang is really capable!"

Horseshoe grass is actually water shield, also known as water sunflower, water lotus leaf, lake vegetable, etc. It is one of the Eight Water Immortals. Old Madam Xia used to eat it when she was in Chuzhou. "Counting the days, this is the first crop, right?"

"What the old lady said is right. This is just the first batch. There will be more in the future. This is the first batch this year. Not many have been shipped here. They were ordered out early, so these are the only ones we can give out." Zhou Ying guessed that they would have this reaction. It was extremely difficult to transport these things to Chang'an, and the cost on the road was unknown.

Jiang Shangxian had tasted a few bites of it at Lexianlou last year, but he had no idea it would be available so early this year. "This small jar is perfect for making a water shield soup."

The cultivation method of water shield was recorded in "Qimin Yaoshu" by Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Water shield is generally eaten in three ways: fish soup, meat soup, and vegetarian.

The best fish soups are made with crucian carp, sea bass, black fish and white fish, while the broth is made with poultry, ham and pork ribs. The chicken broth and water shield soup is the most famous.

For vegetarians, the West Lake Water Shield Soup is made with tofu, gluten, bean curd sheets, vegetarian chicken, mushrooms and other seasonings, and is also quite famous.

When it came to cooking and selecting water shield, Old Lady Xia was the first to take charge. Without waiting a moment, she turned around and hurried out.

Her tone of voice was different from usual, and anyone could tell she was happy. "I'm going to the Yong'an Canal right now to buy two fish. This water shield is best used in fish soup!"

People will miss the taste of home when they travel thousands of miles. The older generation would take a handful of soil from their hometown when they left. When you travel far away from home, you will miss the taste of your hometown. No one is an exception.

Young people will start to miss the taste of home when they go out for a trip and eat for three days.

Jiang Shangxian still remembers how delicious the crispy chicken nuggets were at the place near the elementary school. The skin was crispy and light, and the chicken inside was shredded. The fresh, slightly spicy chicken juices flowed out with every bite. It was a pity that the owner moved away to pay for her son's education. Alas...

After looking at everything they brought one by one, Jiang Shangxian found that there was actually nothing to change in the menu. Since Manager Wang was the one who made the dishes, the ingredients were naturally rare, and the same amount was only enough for one plate.

Therefore, all they had to do was reduce the amount of the same dishes as those served outside. These expensive dishes were definitely to be used in the main hall and for their own stomachs.