Li You, Zhang Baogui and Yin Guanghao were talking nonsense, and Zhou Gan and Wang Liao came in happily. Wang Liao came in with the bowl of egg custard and knelt down. He said excitedly: "Thank you, the way you taught me is really wonderful."

Zhang Baogui stepped forward to take the bowl of egg custard, and Yin Guanghao also curiously came over to look. The two of them were familiar with egg custard, which was one of the things they often eat. However, seeing that the egg custard turned out to be like this, Zhang Baogui asked in confusion: "Brother You, did you make this?"

Li You was proud and his eyes were facing the sky.

Wang Liao said excitedly: "Two young masters, this is really the prescription taught by my prince. It's so amazing."

Yin Guanghao looked at Li You up and down and asked in confusion: "Brother You, can the gods really treat you to a meal? You actually know how to cook?"

Li You smiled and said, "What's this? I'll show you my skills now. You'll wait here, and I'll let you see what people eat today."

Zhang Baogui and Yin Guanghao were also interested and wanted to go with him. So the three of them came to the kitchen together.

At this time, the chefs in the kitchen had prepared the ingredients according to Li You's request.

Yin Guanghao looked at the pork belly in the porcelain basin on the chopping board and asked, "Brother You, what is this?"

Li You said: "Pig (pig) meat, pork belly."

"Ah?" Zhang Baogui and Yin Guanghao immediately frowned. Zhang Baogui said, "Can you eat this? I don't eat pork."

Yin Guanghao also said: "Pork is not delicious. Brother You, just lie to us. What other delicious food is there? This is the delicious food you want to make?"

People in the Tang Dynasty mainly used mutton and rarely ate pork. They believed that the low grade of pork would also prevent health. Of course, there was another main reason, which was that their practice was problematic.

There was no peanut oil in the Tang Dynasty. "A preliminary study on the history of peanut cultivation in my country" (not specifically discussed here). Most northerners don't like the taste of rapeseed oil, but they are just used to light the lamp. Therefore, the method of making pork is extremely monotonous. The main way to eat it is to cook the pork, add salt and garlic paste, similar to white meat with garlic paste.

Zhou Gan and others have squeezed a small amount of peanut oil according to the method taught by Li You. After Li You heated the peanut oil, he put purple sugar (brown sugar imported from India), melted the sugar, and then put the pork belly that had been copied into color.

After these processes were completed, Li You explained the seasonings to be added, and then said: "You transfer this meat to a casserole and add appropriate amount of boiling water, simmer it over low heat for half an hour. Be careful to turn the meat over frequently to avoid the pig skin sticking to the pot. Just sprinkle some pepper and salt before leaving the pot."

Then, he, Zhang Baogui and others left.

An hour later (for the convenience of reading, I switched to modern time), Zhou Gan and Gao Zhiming, the main star, came in with a vermilion food box. Seeing their happy faces, they knew how the braised pork tasted.

Sure enough, when they opened the food box, a strong fragrance suddenly spread.

On several tables, in a square plate of light blue Tang blue and white Tang plate, rectangular pork belly was red, shiny and trembling, dotted with a small amount of fine chopped green onion and coriander, which looked mouth-watering.

Li You said, "Eat while it's hot. Come and try it."

Yin Guanghao was more elegant in eating. He sipped the skin in the first sip, gently cut down with his teeth, and his eyes immediately opened up. Then he ate the lower layer of fat meat, which was fat but not greasy. The lower layer was lean meat, which melted in the mouth, and another layer of fat meat below, followed by another layer of lean meat, with clear layers.

"Wow, this is so delicious!" he couldn't help but say.

Zhang Baogui did not have so many things to pay attention to. When Yin Guanghao was slowly tasting, he had already had several pieces of meat. After eating some crystal Yangzhou rice, it felt, tsk, it was so cool!

The magpies, white tigers and black panthers stood aside, and their greed was drooling. Unfortunately, they were servants, so they could only have jealousy.

Li You said: "Zhou Gan, you can make braised pork tonight and let everyone in the palace eat it."

The magpies, white tigers and black panthers were overjoyed and immediately looked forward to dinner.

Zhou Gan said with a bitter face: "Prince, no, there is not so much pork in our mansion."

The royal meal management of the royal meal is divided into Shangshi Bureau and Guanglu Temple. Shangshi Bureau is in charge of imperial meals in the palace. Guanglu Temple manages large royal banquets, and the main ingredients supply of the prince's mansion and the princess mansion are also under the responsibility of Guanglu Temple. At present, the monthly meat supply is 12 kilograms of beef, 20 kilograms of sheep, and 50 kilograms of pork. In the past, people don’t like to eat pork, and there are a lot of leftovers, but dozens of kilograms of meat are not enough for thousands of people in the royal palace to eat.

Li You smiled and said, "You are stupid. In the past, our mansion didn't like to eat pork. Isn't it the same in other people's mansions? Wouldn't you exchange mutton for it?"

Zhou Gan's eyes lit up and he said, "I understand. Prince Xie's advice. I will go and change it now."

After Zhou Gan left, Li You said to the master Gao Zhiming: "This is just the beginning. I have hundreds of ways to cook this braised pork. After lunch, you can record it and I will tell you thirty ways."

Gao Zhiming was extremely surprised and said, "Prince, thank you so much." After that, he happily left.

In a blink of an eye, after finishing the braised pork, Zhang Baogui was still unsatisfied and said, "Brother You, I won't leave today, I will continue to eat it tonight."

Yin Guanghao was very sensible, and he said, "Brother You, I will also send a chef to learn from you."

"Well! This is good, I'll send a chef to learn when I go back." Zhang Baogui's eyes lit up.

Li You said: "No problem, I have so many delicious recipes in my hands. Just send someone to come. But it must be kept confidential. Think about these recipes, what if we arrange for people to open a restaurant?"

"Wow, didn't you get rich?" Yin Guanghao's mind was quick and he immediately thought of this. Zhang Baogui's eyes lit up.

Li You said: "How about it, we are good brothers, how about getting rich together and joining the stock together?"

Yin Guanghao immediately said, "Okay, I agree."

Zhang Baogui frowned, and he said a little embarrassedly: "That, I'm not convenient for it now." Unlike Yin Guanghao, he is the only son, and he has money. He is a concubine's son and has little pocket money.

Li You smiled and said, "This is not a problem. I will put it on for you first, and I will deduct it from it after I make money."

Zhang Baogui was very moved and said, "Brother You are better."

Tang Dynasty officials were not allowed to do business, but this was not a problem for them. Isn’t it enough to send a trusted servant to go and manage it. Then the three of them began to plan.

Zhou Gan left the palace and came to the Shu palace next door.

After Zhou Gan explained his purpose, Zhichang of the Shu Palace was very happy, and he immediately agreed to Zhou Gan's request. After Zhou Gan left, the Zhichang smiled and said, "The people in the Yiyang Palace are stupid. One pound of mutton is exchanged for one pound of pork, haha, I'm so laughing!" You know, mutton is twenty coins per pound, and pork is only twelve coins per pound.

He found Quan Wanji, the chief of the Shu Palace, and reported the matter. He said: "Quan Changshi, the villain, made his own decision and agreed to them that every month's pork will be exchanged with them for mutton."

Quan Wanji felt that he had done something unlucky and said, "It's not good to do this. We can't take advantage of others."

The straight-sen said, "Yes, the villain said the same, but that Zhou Gan insisted on doing this, and the villain had no choice."

After hearing what he said, Quan Wanji felt that there was nothing uneasy, so he said, "Since that's the case, let him go."

Zhou Gan walked around, returned to the palace, and reported to Li You. He said uneasyly: "Prince, I have done a loss-making business..."

After hearing Zhou Gan's words, Li You laughed and said, "Okay, well done, smart. It won't take long to go, this pork will be very popular."

He looked at Zhou Gan and said, "Well, it's not bad, smart, and a talent. It will be of great use to you in the future. Go and go to the chief clerk to withdraw your usual money and reward you."

Zhou Gan was very happy and hurriedly thanked him.

Not long after, a big joke came from Chang'an City: "I heard that King Yiyang suffered a serious illness and was stupid."
Chapter completed!