Tang Dynasty: After living together with Chang Le, Li and his companion were dumbfounded.

The day the first batch of five-spice powder came out.

Lu Chen made twenty packs.

Each package is sealed with oil paper, about the size of a palm, and feels very light in your hand.

It contains ground Sichuan peppercorn powder, fennel powder, cinnamon powder, dried tangerine peel powder, and 30% refined salt.

He refined the salt himself.

I took half of the salt from the jar that Li Lizhi brought back, dissolved it in water, filtered it, added alkali to settle it, filtered it again, and then evaporated it to crystallize it.

The resulting salt is snow-white and fine.

It has only a pure salty taste.

It looked like a product of two different worlds compared to that pile of gray, bitter, and astringent salt.

Once the refined salt is mixed with the spice powder, it is completely invisible from the outside.

The entire packet of seasoning is dark brown and has a strong aroma of Sichuan peppercorns and fennel.

It smells like a packet of spices.

No one would take it apart to study the quality of the salt inside.

Li Lizhi took all twenty packets.

Ten packages were delivered to the Lizheng Hall.

The other ten packages were sent directly to the Imperial Kitchen, as arranged by Empress Zhangsun.

……

Imperial kitchen.

The imperial kitchen of the Tang Dynasty had a total of forty-seven chefs.

The head chef is named Wang Deshun.

He worked for 22 years.

He was in charge of cooking in the palace from the end of the Sui Dynasty, and served under three emperors.

This person has two distinctive features when cooking.

First, keep your hands steady.

Second, conservative.

Twenty-two years have passed, and the dishes have remained the same over and over again.

It doesn't make any mistakes, but it's not particularly outstanding either.

Li Shimin had been eating the imperial cuisine for seven or eight years, and he was so tired of it that it was practically ingrained in his bones.

Nowadays.

Wang Deshun received an imperial edict.

It was personally sent by the Empress.

"This ingredient will be used to season today's imperial meal."

The embroiderer placed a small oil paper package on the table.

Wang Deshun opened it and took a look.

A pile of dark brown powder.

He leaned closer and took a sniff.

Sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, cinnamon—he recognized all of these.

But when mixed together, it produced a complex fragrance that he had never smelled before.

It has a very strong sense of layering.

The numbing and fragrant aroma of Sichuan peppercorns is at the very top.

The sweet aroma of fennel is in the center.

The base is the spicy aroma of cinnamon.

The three scents intertwined and mingled, yet they didn't clash at all.

Wang Deshun worked as a cook for twenty-two years.

Just by smelling it, he knew this wasn't someone you could just pick up anywhere.

This ratio has been carefully calculated.

"Did Her Majesty the Empress say that?"

"Yes. Her Majesty said to try making three dishes. It's easy to use: sprinkle half a packet when stir-frying and one packet when stewing soup."

Wang Deshun hesitated for a moment.

The imperial kitchen has its rules.

Any ingredients of unknown origin entering the kitchen must first undergo poison testing and taste testing.

But this was personally delivered by the Empress.

He dared not disrespect the Empress.

"Okay. Let's try one first."

He decided to try it with the simplest dish.

Stir-fried seasonal vegetables.

Cut the heart of the cabbage into sections and stir-fry in hot oil.

Stir-fry until just cooked through.

Then he pinched a small pinch of the dark brown powder and sprinkled it in.

Just a small handful.

A fragrant aroma instantly burst forth from the pot.

Wang Deshun stopped.

His nose was twitching.

This smell is off.

Not right.

It doesn't taste like Sichuan peppercorns, fennel, or cinnamon.

He has used these three things for over twenty years.

Couldn't be more familiar.

But the taste after sprinkling it into the pot was different from any other time he had ever used these three seasonings.

It smells even better.

Purer.

More... transparent.

In the past, when we used Sichuan peppercorns and salt for seasoning, the resulting dishes always had a slightly bitter taste.

Diners might not be able to taste the difference, but this chef, who has been working in the industry for over twenty years, can taste it clearly on his tongue.

The astringency was gone.

He quickly flipped the food twice with a spatula, then took it out of the pan and plated it.

The heart of the cabbage is bright green and glossy, with a very thin layer of seasoning powder on top.

Wang Deshun took a pair of clean chopsticks.

I picked up a piece with my chopsticks.

Entrance.

His pupils suddenly dilated.

The chopsticks are suspended in mid-air.

The mouth stopped chewing.

He froze for two seconds.

Then he suddenly turned his head to look at the oil paper package on the table.

"This thing—"

His voice trembled slightly.

"—What exactly is it?"

…………

That evening.

Ganlu Temple.

Five dishes were laid out in front of Li Shimin.

The scene was similar to previous ones.

But the moment he sat down, he sensed something was wrong.

Fragrant.

A fragrance unlike any I've ever experienced before.

It's not the aroma of a particular dish.

It's a rich, harmonious aroma that comes from all the ingredients mixed together, making your mouth water involuntarily.

"Today's dishes..."

He glanced at Zhang Anan.

Zhang Anan was also sniffing.

"This servant doesn't know. She looks the same as usual..."

Li Shimin didn't think much of it.

Pick up your chopsticks.

The first dish.

Stir-fried Chinese cabbage hearts.

It's the most ordinary dish.

He picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

Then Li Shimin slowly put down his chopsticks.

He closed his eyes.

The cabbage in his mouth hadn't been swallowed yet.

He was tasting it.

This one bite of cabbage overturned all his knowledge accumulated over twenty years of eating imperial cuisine.

What did cabbage taste like in the past?

Bland.

Bland with added salt.

Adding a little vinegar or soy sauce occasionally makes it slightly better, but it's still bland at its core.

And this salty taste is as pure as a clear spring.

Not a trace of bitterness, not a trace of astringency.

Clean and salty.

Above the saltiness is the numbing sensation of Sichuan peppercorns, not the harsh kind, but a just-right kind that lightly twitches on the tip of the tongue.

The sweetness of fennel comes from further afield.

The warmth of cinnamon is at the very bottom.

All the flavors are layered, yet perfectly harmonious.

Like a well-trained army, everyone stands in their own position and performs their duties.

Li Shimin opened his eyes.

The second bite.

Braised eggplant in soy sauce.

The same shock.

The third bite.

Stewed mutton.

Even worse.

The mutton's natural gamey smell is completely masked by this combination of seasonings. It doesn't eliminate the gamey smell, but rather transforms it into a rich, meaty aroma.

In the past, when the imperial court prepared mutton, it was either too gamey or too greasy.

This bite—

It was so fresh it made my scalp tingle.

Li Shimin ate all five dishes in one go.

Five paths.

Not a single one was left.

They even used the flatbread to soak up all the soup at the bottom of the plate.

Zhang Anan watched in stunned silence.

His Majesty has not eaten like this for a very, very long time.

In recent years, if one can finish half of the imperial meals served, it is considered to have a good appetite.

The plates are so clean today, they look like they've been washed.

Li Shimin put down his chopsticks.

He wiped his mouth.

"Zhang Anan".

"This servant is here."

"Go ask the Imperial Kitchen."

"What did you use for today's dishes?"

Zhang Anan jogged away.

I'll be back in fifteen minutes.

"Your Majesty! Chef Wang from the Imperial Kitchen said that today's dishes used a seasoning sent by Her Majesty the Empress."

Li Shimin's lips twitched.

It's the Empress again.

"What seasoning?"

"It's called 'Five Spices'."

Li Shimin remained silent for three seconds.

Then he stood up.

"Send an order to the Imperial Kitchen."

"From today onwards, all imperial meals shall be seasoned with this ingredient."

"If we don't have enough, we'll ask the Empress for more."

Zhang Anan was about to receive the imperial decree.

Li Shimin added another sentence.

"And my 10% share of the profits, including the five spices, is also included."

……

The news that five spices were being used in the imperial kitchen was not deliberately spread.

But the palace is only so big.

The imperial kitchen had forty-seven cooks, and forty-seven more mouths to feed.

Less than three days.

The entire harem knew.

The Emperor's appetite has been frighteningly good lately.

They ate it all at every meal.

Moreover, the taste of the dishes in the imperial kitchen has changed.

It tastes better now.

It's not just a little bit delicious.

It's incredibly delicious, a complete transformation.

The news spread from the inner palace to the front court.

It was passed down from the previous dynasty to the Xun Gui Mansion.

The news spread from Xun Gui's residence to every corner of Chang'an.

Everyone is asking the same question—

"What new things did the imperial kitchen use?"

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