A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 155 Potato Feast in the Golden Palace

"Bring the golden pumpkin!"

Li Yuan said to the thousand-bull guards, and one of the thousand-bull guards handed the golden hammer to the emperor with both hands.

Seeing this gold-plated hammer, Li Yi thought it was very small, probably weighing only two or three pounds, not even as big as a fist.

It doesn't match the huge hammers weighing hundreds of pounds in the novels. Even the ceremonial hammers in the hands of the golden gourd warriors on TV were long and big.

Li Yuan took the golden hammer and tapped a pot of potatoes lightly, causing the pot to break.

When he thought of the golden melon hitting the head, he thought of Shi Wansui, a famous general of the Sui Dynasty. According to legend, he was ordered by Emperor Wen of Sui to be dragged out of the palace and killed by being hit on the head with a golden melon.

Li Yuan threw away the hammer, removed the broken pieces of the clay pot one by one, and then dug up the soil.

Each potato is connected by a small root.
Li Yuan showed a satisfied expression.

Palace Supervisor Lu Kuan helped to dig out the potatoes one by one.

"Thirty, thirty-one... thirty-six, Your Majesty, a total of thirty-six." Lu Kuan said excitedly.

Li Shimin had someone bring a scale.

"Ten, eleven pounds and three ounces," Palace Director Fan Fang's beard and voice trembled with excitement.

Li Yuan took the scale and weighed it himself. "It's 11 pounds and 4 ounces. You missed one ounce."

He weighed the largest one, which weighed one pound.

Thirty-six potatoes were laid out in a small pile.

"I never thought that this clay pot could produce so many fruits."

The excited Li Yuan ordered the others to be dug out as well. The seven pots that Li Yi brought that had not been dug out were soon dug out in the excitement of the emperor and his ministers.

On the bright and precious earthen floor of the main hall, a pile of dirt,
There were also eight small piles of potatoes.

Taifu Qing Liu Yijie weighed them one by one and then recorded the number.

The largest litter had thirty-six babies, weighing 11.4 jin (2.5 jin). The smallest litter had twenty babies, weighing eight jin (2.5 jin). The average litter had more than twenty babies, weighing around eight or nine jin (2.5 jin).

"A total of 72 kilograms," the former head of Jinyang Township, now Duke of Ge and Minister of the Imperial Household, excitedly reported to the emperor.

Li Yuan looked at Li Yi,
"Can this really be used as a staple food?"

"Your Majesty, potatoes can be used as both a food and a vegetable. They are rich in starch and are both filling and nutritious. Furthermore, they can be used as a staple food without causing gastrointestinal discomfort."

"how to eat?"

"You can eat them directly after steaming or boiling them, or you can steam them and mash them into a paste, then add some salt and other seasonings... Just don't eat sprouted potatoes, as they can be a bit poisonous."

Li Shimin said to his father, "Your Majesty, this is a blessing from heaven. It can produce several thousand kilograms per mu. Even if it is made into starch, it can produce 1,800 kilograms, far more than wheat and rice!"

Nowadays, the price of grain in Chang'an is only a bushel of rice or a piece of silk. How many people cannot get enough to eat? There are so many hungry people in the suburbs of Chang'an, not to mention the areas outside the Great Wall.

During the prosperous Kaihuang period, a dou of rice cost twenty or thirty coins, and there were still many people who could not get enough to eat.

If the yield per mu can be so high, it would be a blessing from heaven.

However, Li Yuan was a little skeptical. Is it really that good?
Li Yi proposed to prepare a potato feast for the emperor.

Although Li Shimin thought these potatoes should be kept for seeds, Li Yuan still thought they should be tasted and tested.

Then,
The emperor beckoned.

He asked the Shangshi Bureau to bring a stove and bring oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, etc., and asked Li Yi to prepare it in the hall.

Li Yi was not afraid of the stage either.

The emperor ordered a pile of twenty or so potatoes as food. Li Yi wanted to wear a sleeve loop and hang it around his neck. There were two loops on both ends. When he put them on his hands, he naturally rolled up his sleeves.

Wash, cut, steam, boil, fry, stir-fry, stew...
High-end ingredients often only require the simplest cooking methods.
But a variety of cooking methods can also fully demonstrate the extraordinary nature of potatoes.

Busy for a long time,

Li Yi prepared a table of delicious food.

Li Yuan and other officials watched the whole process and witnessed it with their own eyes.

"Let's not talk about how these potatoes taste. At least Li Yi's cooking skills are very strong. He's proficient in frying, stir-frying, deep-frying, stewing, boiling, stir-frying, and roasting." Li Yuan said with a smile. "Quickly introduce these delicacies to me."

"The first dish is steamed potatoes. This is the simplest and most practical cooking method. Wash the potatoes and steam them directly. After they are cooked, dip them in salt and you can eat them."

The exquisite porcelain is extremely white and comes from the Xing Kiln in Hebei.
There were four potatoes on a white porcelain plate, steamed directly.

"Just eat it like this?"

"Well, you can also eat it with dipping sauce."

Li Yi prepared several dipping sauces, one for the precious way of eating, dipping it in sugar, and the other for the ordinary way of eating, dipping it in fine salt.

There is also a refined version, which is made with cumin powder, pepper powder, sesame seeds, minced garlic, soy sauce, aged vinegar, sugar, chopped green onions, a little salt, and finally some hot sesame oil.

Although the dried chili powder has lost its soul, this dipping sauce is absolutely delicious.

Three dishes with different dipping sauces were placed in front of Li Yuan.

The emperor picked up the silver chopsticks, picked up a small potato and took a bite.
It is soft and sweet in the mouth, and the emperor tastes it carefully.
Then dip it in salt to give it a salty taste.

Dip it in sugar and it becomes even sweeter.

"It tastes good, soft, sticky and sweet, you guys should try it too,"

There were four small potatoes in total. The emperor ate one, leaving three. Li Yi helped divide them into seven or eight pieces, and Pei Ji and others each had one piece.

After eating three or five bites with the sauce, everyone said it was delicious. "It tastes a bit like yam."

Dioscorea is yam. Some people say that it is the color of jade, smells like flowers, is sweet as honey, and tastes better than yokan.

Although yam has been eaten since ancient times, it has not become a staple food. The main reason is that yam requires fertile, loose, well-drained sandy soil, the yield is not high, and you cannot eat too much, as it can easily cause bloating.

"Second course, mashed potatoes."

This dish is also simple. Steamed potatoes are mashed into a paste. Li Yi then adds ghee, milk, pepper and salt, and sprinkles some green chopped green onions on top.

Li Yuan took a spoon and scooped a spoonful into his mouth.

The soft texture melts in your mouth, the aroma of ghee and milk permeates the air, and the black pepper is the finishing touch.

Delicate and tender, melts in your mouth.
Li Yuan nodded repeatedly while eating, and after several spoonfuls, he thought of his old friend Pei Ji and the others, "Gentlemen, try it quickly, this mashed potato is amazing."

Next up are beef stew with potatoes, cumin potato slices, pan-fried small potatoes, potato pancakes with meat, baked potatoes, hot and sour potato shreds, cold potato shreds, roasted chicken with potatoes, and braised pork ribs with potatoes...
Li Yi made thirteen items in total.

From simple steamed potatoes to fried potatoes and baked potatoes, to beef stew, roasted chicken, and braised ribs,

Li Yuan ate potatoes until he was full.
The other ten or so ministers also enjoyed the feast.

Twenty or so potatoes, more than eight pounds,

This fully demonstrates that potatoes can be used as both food and vegetable.
Li Yuan touched his belly and asked, "Can this be made into starch, or even vermicelli?"

"Yes, after being made into dry vermicelli, it can be stored for a long time just like rice and flour."

Li Yuan said to the Imperial Food Bureau's Fengyu, Zhichang, Zhushi, and Zhushan, "Have you all learned how to make these dishes that Qianshui Bo just made?"

The dignified fifth-rank Shangshi Fengyu was actually trembling with fear just now. Their Shangshi Bureau was under the Palace Ministry and was specifically responsible for the imperial meals.
In addition to being responsible for formulating the imperial meal recipes, they also had to ensure that the food taboos related to spring liver, summer heart, autumn lungs, and winter kidneys were observed. They even had a special duty, which was to taste the food for the emperor.

Ensure that the imperial food is non-toxic.

But just now, the emperor broke this rule. He didn't let them taste the food and ate it first.

He was not afraid that Li Yi would have the courage to poison the emperor, but he was worried that the emperor might not be able to adapt to this new dish and have an adverse reaction. If that happened, they would lose their heads.

The preparation of imperial meals is usually very strict. They must be made strictly according to the imperial recipes, and not a single step can be wrong. If you mess up, you will lose your head.

Seeing that the emperor ate so much and felt no discomfort, they finally felt relieved.

"Just now, Lord Qianshui explained the method in detail while making it. I have taken note of it."

"Yeah," Li Yuan nodded with satisfaction.
"This thing is auspicious, the name potato is a bit vulgar."

Pei Ji immediately said, "Your Majesty, please give me a name!"

"This thing is similar to yam, but it's golden in appearance, so it's called golden yam."

Duke Pei Ji of Wei immediately said that this was a good name, a thousand times better than potatoes.

Li Yi also felt that golden potato sounded better than potato, remembering that Yang Guang had also given eggplant the name Kunlun Purple Melon.

Li Yuan looked at the remaining seven piles of potatoes and said, "Give Li Yi seventy-two ingots of gold."

"Awarded the title of Doctor of the Imperial Court,"

Li Yuan beckoned Li Yi to sit next to him, patted him on the back and said, "This boy is indeed a lucky star as Erlang said."

The emperor removed the word "Jianxiu" from Li Yi's previous title of Jianxiu Deputy Supervisor of the Palace Gardens, and he became the official Deputy Supervisor of the Palace Gardens.

"Leave a bunch of these golden potatoes and plant them in the palace gardens. Li Yi will be responsible for their cultivation and management."

The pile left by the emperor was naturally the largest one, with thirty-two potatoes. One potato could be cut into three or four pieces for planting, and each piece could produce ten to twenty potatoes. If this pile of potatoes was well managed, more than a thousand kilograms could be harvested.

"Your Majesty, it is winter now and we can no longer plant. We have to wait until next spring," said Li Yi.

At this time, Fan Fang, the director of the palace gardens, said, "Actually, you can also grow things in winter. During the Han Dynasty, there were imperial gardens that grew onions, leeks, and radishes in winter. They were covered with roofs and kept burning day and night to warm the air. The previous dynasties also used this method to grow vegetables and flowers in winter."

This is actually greenhouse cultivation. Although there is no plastic greenhouse, a stove is used directly in the house for heating.

Li Shimin objected, "Your Majesty, this method goes against the will of Heaven and harms people. It is not appropriate to offer sacrifices to the deceased."

Pei Ji immediately objected, "The Second King is wrong. If we use greenhouses to grow flowers and vegetables, it is indeed against the will of nature and wasteful. But this is an auspicious sign, it is a golden potato.
Now we are breeding as quickly as possible, not just to satisfy our appetites. How can this be the same?"

"If we plant them in greenhouses now, we can harvest them in the spring. By then, we will have dozens of times more seeds. We can plant more and popularize them sooner. How many hungry people will be saved by this?

Our Great Tang is also currently short of food, food prices are soaring, the people are suffering, and even the army is short of uniforms..."

Pei Ji left Li Shimin speechless, and Li Yi also realized that Pei Ji, the Duke of Wei and the Minister of State, did not have a good relationship with Li Shimin.

Li Yuan smiled and said, "Erlang, golden potatoes are auspicious and should not be compared with ordinary flowers and vegetables. Emperor Yang of Sui grew vegetables and flowers in his greenhouse for his own enjoyment, but I do it for the people of the world."

"It was my fault that I didn't think it through at the moment," Li Shimin immediately admitted his mistake.

Li Yuan smiled and pointed to the second largest pile of potatoes to Li Shimin, "These two piles with thirty-one golden potatoes each will be given to the Crown Prince and the King of Qin respectively."

Li Shimin asked Li Yi to help with planting in the greenhouse so that he could get more potato seeds next spring.

Next, a bunch was given to Pei Ji and a bunch to Li Yi.

Further down the list, the prime ministers and ministers such as Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda did not receive many rewards.

Some give four, some give two, and some give one.

There were eight pots in total, with more than one hundred pieces. The emperor consumed more than thirty pieces from one pot in one tasting meal.

Then the emperor, the crown prince, Li Shimin, Pei Ji, and Li Yi each took a pot.
There are only two pots left, about fifty pieces.

There was not enough to share among the princes and prime ministers, so priority had to be given to the seventeen Taiyuan Yuanmou heroes, then the prime ministers, and then the princes and dukes.

(End of this chapter)