My eunuch godfather

Before Zhang Kun transmigrated, he often cooked. After moving into the new house, he hired three more cooks in addition to the maids who had been cooking all over the house.

The kitchen maid was reassigned to specialize in pastry making, such as steamed buns, dumplings, and wontons.

Under Zhang Kun's personal guidance, the chefs learned many techniques that had not yet appeared or become widespread in the world.

Taking this family dinner as an example, among the cold dishes:

A combination of Cantonese-style poached chicken and salt-baked chicken.

The former is currently boiled rather than soaked, and there is no ice water available that will be easily obtained in later generations.

The latter involves braising the chicken until it is tender and mushy, which is quite different from the salt-baked poached chicken that became more popular in later generations.

Zhang Kun specially instructed the craftsmen to build a small stove in the back kitchen for use as a low flame.

After poaching the chicken until cooked, soak it in cooled boiled water (from a well) to restore it to about 70-80% of its original state.

Using the same seasonings as salt-baked chicken, we get the more popular salt-baked chicken of later generations.

A Cantonese-style combination of crispy roast goose and honey-glazed char siu.

The former is not as crispy as it is in later generations, and the latter is not as sweet as it is in later generations, because neither of them uses maltose yet.

Maltose already existed in the world, and Zhang Kun asked the chef to use maltose to make glass skin syrup and char siu sauce.

In the hot plate:

For Shandong cuisine, roast duck is currently only available in the oven-baked style at Bianyifang, not the hanging oven style at Quanjude.

Both have their own characteristics: the oven-baked version is softer and juicier, while the hanging oven version is crispier and firmer.

The sweet and sour pork tenderloin of Shandong cuisine was not as popular at the time as it is today, and many sweet and sour dishes had not yet appeared, such as this one.

Moreover, tomatoes are not widely available in the Americas, so traditional sweet and sour dishes don't have the same bright red color as tomato-based sweet and sour dishes.

Zhang Kun loves sweet and sour flavors, but doesn't like flavors with tomato sauce.

Sichuan dishes like Mapo Tofu and Kung Pao Chicken, and American chili peppers, have been introduced to China for decades, but they are still mainly for display.

However, people in this world also eat spicy food, and the spiciness mainly comes from pepper, Sichuan pepper, evodia, mustard, ginger and garlic.

Zhang Kun plans to try planting American crops such as chili peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and sweet potatoes in the garden in the east courtyard after the Chinese New Year.

The few chilies in these two dishes were dried chilies that Zhang Kun brought back along when he bought the seeds.

If the chili peppers grow successfully next year, we can also try pickling them to make a dish with a fish-fragrant flavor.

Besides chili peppers, potatoes and tomatoes can also be used to make many dishes.

Huaiyang cuisine's braised dried bean curd strips and soft-shelled eel.

Zhang Kun was quite surprised that the ingredients and techniques used in these two dishes were so sophisticated and unheard of in the contemporary world.

The candied apples of Shandong cuisine were made using a technique that was not yet fully developed at the time. Zhang Kun's skills were only average, but fortunately, the chefs quickly mastered it.

Zhang Kun planned to sponsor these chefs to open their own restaurants after they completed their training.

Finally, add a Western-style caramel pudding. This doesn't require an oven; you can steam it slowly over low heat on a small stove.

"I really didn't expect that."

Matsuura Yasunobu, thoroughly enjoying the meal, praised Zhang Kun using a classical allusion, saying, "Commander Zhang is actually quite skilled in the art of reconciliation!"

"Just a hobby."

Zhang Kun pointed to the Mapo Tofu on the table and asked Matsuura Yasunori with a smile:

"Has Master Song ever considered opening a Chinese restaurant in Japan?"

"It won't work."

Matsuura Yasunobu shook his head and smiled wryly at Zhang Kun:

"My hometown is poor in terms of resources, far inferior to the Ming Dynasty. Even the feudal lords eat very poorly."

Let's talk about the Grand General who holds power in the country. He is usually frugal and usually only eats soybean paste soup and pickled radishes.

When eating rice, you should always mix in some brown rice and wheat!

He grabbed the glass, downed it in one gulp, and continued:

"Without possessing vast amounts of gold and silver, we simply wouldn't have any products to trade with the Ming Dynasty!"

Indeed, nowadays, apart from gold, silver, copper, and sulfur from volcanoes, Japan only has seafood and handicrafts.

It can be described literally as "so poor that all they have left is money".

"Master Sun told me that Master Song was planning to sell dried mushrooms to Japan?"

Zhang Kun personally took the wine pot and poured wine for Matsuura Yasunobu, which startled Matsuura Yasunobu, who quickly raised his cup and leaned over.

"Yes, actually quite a few people in my hometown are already taking tampons."

Matsuura Yasunobu bowed and scraped before Zhang Kun, saying in a respectful voice:

"I learned it all from the Frankish people who came from overseas, but my hometown is small and densely populated."

Unlike the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty, it did not have much land available for growing wild rice.

"How about this, I'll set up a branch in Tianjin."

Zhang Kun hadn't originally planned to involve Matsuura Yasunobu, but the other party was so proactive, offering a pocket watch worth eight hundred taels.

He smiled and suggested to Yasunobu Matsuura:

"The head office in the capital owns 60% of the branches, leaving you with 40%. What do you think?"

"Oh dear, the smaller ones only need to make up 30%!"

Matsuura Yasunobu was overjoyed and respectfully said to Zhang Kun, "I am willing to contribute 5000 taels of silver for this 30% share!"

"Commander Zhang, the main branch in the capital hasn't been named yet."

Sun Jing, who was standing nearby, smiled and asked Zhang Kun, "I wonder what title Commander Zhang plans to use?"

Zhang Kun invested 4000 taels of silver in the main branch in the capital, taking a 40% stake.

Sun Jing gave 10000 catties of dried bamboo leaves, which is 10,000 taels, as a 30% stake.

Zhang Kun's eunuch godfather contributed nothing, but held a 30% stake.

"Hmm... let's name it Jin Yun."

After pondering for a few moments, Zhang Kun smiled and asked Sun Jing and Matsuura Yasunobu, "What do you two think?"

The name comes from the later Golden Leaf and Cloud Smoke, taking one character from each.

Sun Jing and Matsuura Yasunobu naturally had no objections and steered the conversation toward how the Jin Yun ship would promote tampoo in the capital.

Zhang Kun's concern is that the cultivation of tambaku (a type of wild rice) has not yet been localized due to its high cost.

It should target the mid-to-high-end market, primarily selling to wealthy individuals in the capital and surrounding areas such as Tongzhou, Xuanfu, and Jizhou.

Even if local cultivation is achieved, the route should be continued, selling to wealthy people further afield along canals and major trade routes.

It wasn't until tampa was fully promoted and popularized in North China that people started growing tampa everywhere.

We should target the mid-to-high-end market, focusing primarily on cigarettes with snuff as a secondary product, and not considering dry tobacco or similar products.

"Commander Zhang, I think we should still produce some dry tobacco."

Sun Jing had a different opinion and advised Zhang Kun:

"Cigarettes are too expensive, so even wealthy people will only show off in public."

Just like the wine I brew, wealthy people may buy good wine, but they drink inexpensive wine for their daily meals.

If we were to subsidize the distribution of cigarettes, once the public gets used to them, they would usually only smoke the cheaper dry cigarettes.

"But we didn't do that, so wouldn't all our efforts have been in vain?"

"Master Sun is right. We should also make a living by selling tobacco."

Zhang Kun patted his forehead, almost forgetting that people in this era were far more frugal than those in later generations, and adopted the suggestion.

To produce cigarettes, papermaking is required. Zhang Kun has already acquired several more papermaking workshops for mulberry bark paper in addition to the Dou'er paper workshop in Baizhifang.

Dry tobacco also requires the manufacture of matching pipes, tobacco rods, and snuff bottles.

In the early stages of promotion, these items are sold at cost price, or even given away for free.

After several discussions, Zhang Kun, Sun Jing, and Matsuura Yasunori finalized the three main products for the initial phase of the Jin Yun Hao project:

The finest gold-thread cigarettes, a box of ten, are priced at one tael of silver.

Silver Beard Cigarettes, a box of fifteen cigarettes, priced at 0.3 taels of silver.

"Suiyunyan" is a type of dry tobacco used with a pipe, priced at 0.1 taels of silver.

Once local production of tamphampa begins next year, costs will decrease, and lower-priced products will be launched.