Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 537 How long does it take to learn how to make pasta?

The emperor sighed and complained helplessly, "Zheng Jian is very resourceful in his work. He has only been in Leping Prefecture for half a year, but he has already put an end to the banditry there, allowing the people to live and work in peace."

"The only problem is that I'm a picky eater."

"He has traveled all over the country for many years, but he has developed a pure northerner's appetite. He only likes to eat noodles and not rice. The soldiers under his command have also been spoiled by him and have the same bad habits."

"The memorials sent back by Huihui all say that the soldiers are brave and good at fighting, and the people line the streets to welcome them wherever they go. Their political achievements are remarkable."

"But at the end, he had to cry to me about the hardship he and his soldiers had in getting food."

"It seems that if I don't help him solve this problem, I will be a tyrant who doesn't care about his subjects."

"In the last memorial, I asked him to select soldiers in the army who are good at making noodles to serve as cooks."

"In the memorial he submitted this time, he said that when gentlemen are at home, unless they are in the catering business, they will never go into the kitchen to work."

"I asked the whole army and they all said they couldn't cook. They only knew how to eat. At most they could light a fire and cook some clear soup noodles. As for making pancakes or noodles, no one could do it."

"The only solution is to send another cook over."

"But cooks are not soldiers, and they don't exercise on a daily basis. If we select a cook to go there, he may not stay long and may get sick and quit. Wouldn't Zheng Jian have to write a memorial to complain again?"

"To put it mildly, it's because they are picky about food. To put it more seriously, food is the most important thing for people. If they don't have enough food, how can they have the energy to chase down those bandits?"

"The south is mountainous, and the people there have a harder life than those in the northern plains. If the soldiers can't settle down there to protect them, the people there will have a harder life."

The empress dowager's expression became serious after hearing this. She held the emperor's arm and slowly walked around the Chunhui Palace without saying a word for a while.

Because the Empress Dowager and her son were talking in low voices, the palace maids and eunuchs all lowered their heads, quietly and quickly cleared the dining table, and filed out.

Shen Yuxiang helped the eunuchs who served the meals to clean up the various tableware and food, and was thinking about following them out.

The Queen Mother saw her and waved with a smile, "Miss Shen, come here."

Shen Yu originally thought that after the Empress Dowager and the Emperor had finished their meal, there would be nothing for him, the cook, to do.

At this moment, she heard the Queen Mother calling her, so she turned around and came to the warm room, bowed and said, "The Queen Mother is calling me, what do you want me to do?"

The Queen Mother smiled and said, "Our Emperor has encountered a problem. I want to ask you, if you want to teach someone who has never made noodles to learn how to make noodles, how long will it take?"

This topic is a bit broad. There are many types of pasta. Some chefs spend their entire lives learning while making it, and there is no end to learning.

Because the Empress Dowager and the Emperor didn't speak loudly when they talked before.

Shen Yu was in the dining hall and could only vaguely hear them talking, but she didn't dare to pay close attention to what they were saying.

But now the Queen Mother said that this problem is a difficult problem faced by the Emperor.

The Queen Mother could ask such a random question, but Shen Yu could not give a random answer.

She had no choice but to pluck up her courage and say, "Please forgive me, Her Majesty the Queen Mother and the Emperor. I dare to ask what kind of noodles I want to learn to make."

The emperor thought about Zheng Jian's request and replied: "If a young man grew up eating noodles but has never made noodles himself."

"How long would it take to quickly learn how to make common northern foods like pancakes and noodles?"

Shen Yu thought about how when he taught Li and Jiang, it only took them three to five days to become skilled at kneading dough and making buns.

But Li and her family were all girls. They had learned how to cook in the kitchen from their mother since they were young, so they naturally learned these things faster.

If a man who has never been involved in these tasks is to be able to do them well, it will probably take him some time.

Shen Yu thought about it and replied, "Your Majesty, if you have never done it before, it will take about seven or eight days to become proficient. If you are just learning, it will take about three to five days."

The emperor seemed a little surprised and blurted out, "Three to five days?"

"Can you learn it so quickly?"

"But today I asked the chefs from the imperial kitchen to come over and ask them about it. One of the two chefs said he had been learning for three years, and the other one was even worse, saying he had been learning for a full six years before he could become a master."

Shen Yu was also a little surprised when he heard it.

When she first learned how to make pasta, it seemed like she only took two days to master the most basic techniques of mixing, kneading and shaping the dough.

Later, when the master started to teach her how to make various kinds of stuffed pastries and mooncakes, she followed the master's demonstration, watching and trying them out once, and she learned how to do it. She did many of them very well on her first try.

More complicated pasta dishes require a lot of practice and study.

Such as how to pinch out beautiful and even folds when making buns, dumplings and wontons.

It took her a lot of effort to learn how to make various kinds of flower cakes.

However, flower cakes are difficult to learn because they need to be shaped, which makes them hard to learn and make. You don't need to learn this for daily meals.

The other kinds of pancakes and noodles have different flavors mainly because of the different ingredients they are paired with, but the methods of making pancakes and noodles are similar, and they are easier to learn.

She didn't know why the two cooks said that and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

The Queen Mother said, "Your Majesty, please don't figure it out by yourself. We are not cooks and don't understand the ins and outs of this. Why don't you call them over and ask them together?"

Shen Yu stood nearby, feeling a little nervous.

She worried if she had said something wrong.

If this has caused trouble for the two chefs, even though it was an unintentional mistake, I am still very sorry.

While Shen Yu was thinking about it, someone over there had already obeyed his orders and quickly called over two chefs who specialized in making pasta from the imperial kitchen.

The two chefs usually didn't see the emperor once every six months, but today they were summoned by the emperor twice in less than half a day.

Both of them had a look of panic on their faces, not knowing why the emperor summoned them again. After coming in, they knelt down and paid their respects to the empress dowager and the emperor.

The Queen Mother was now sitting in the seat at the head of the main hall of Chunhui Palace, with the Emperor sitting beside her.

Seeing the two chefs getting nervous, he said gently, "Get up, don't be afraid, I just have something to ask you."

The two chefs became even more frightened after hearing this, and their legs were shaking as they stood there.

They were feeling uneasy, as they had no idea what the Emperor wanted to ask and why he was asking the Empress Dowager. They were not responsible for the Empress Dowager's food.

The emperor didn't care about these things and just asked: "Today I asked you how long it would take to learn how to make noodles, and you said it would take three or six years."