Chapter 238: Thanks to His Majesty

Chen Huazheng picked up the conch slices in the bowl with chopsticks and put them into her mouth to savor them carefully.

In this seafood feast, the dish that took her the most time was the conch.

Cooking conch is different from cooking other conchs. It requires very high cooking techniques and skills. It also tests the chef's knife skills and ability to control the heat.

If cooked too long, the conch meat will become tough and completely inedible.

But if the cooking time is too short, the crisp taste will be lost.

Different parts of the conch have different ways of being eaten. Not only do they require different cooking techniques, but they also require careful attention to slicing.

The steps for roasting conch in an open oven are very complicated and the method is tricky, but it is also the most classic method.

Before the formal firing, it is necessary to sterilize it by burning it with wine to remove the mucus and various impurities inside the snail.

First place the conch on the stove, then pour white wine into the shell and start heating it until the wine starts to boil and bubble, then you can pour out the wine.

At this point, the fishy smell of the conch has been removed and it can be officially cooked.

The cooking process requires a lot of ingredients to add flavor and aroma. There are more than a dozen kinds of seasonings alone, and the ingredients are extremely exquisite.

Mix ham, pork fat, ginger, green onions, soy sauce, salt and other ingredients with the soup to make the sauce.

During the cooking process, slowly pour the sauce into the snail meat until the sauce is concentrated and absorbed by the snail meat.

Doing this can make the snail meat more flavorful and also help remove impurities inside the snail.

During the entire roasting process, one can only guess the condition of the snail meat in the shell by listening to the sound, observing the color, and smelling the smell.

The snail meat cannot be too fatty, otherwise the sauce will have difficulty penetrating into the shell.

If the fire is too high, the snail shell will easily crack, and if the fire is too long, the snail meat inside the shell will become old and hardened.

The chef's experience and precise control of the touch are particularly important at this time. It requires not only dexterity but also an understanding of food.

Chen Huazheng's way of judging is to see whether the sauce in the snail shell is completely absorbed by the snail meat, and at the same time a burnt aroma is emitted, which means that the snail meat is cooked.

When the conches are cooked, pour out the sauce inside, take out the conch meat and start slicing.

After cooking the snail meat, knock off the snail tail, remove the intestines and hard meat, and then cut it horizontally like beef to cut the fibers of the snail meat.

The snail meat cut in this way is crispy and delicious, but not too hard or tough.

Chen Huazheng chewed the soft, tender and fragrant conch meat and squinted her eyes in satisfaction.

It was cooked quite well and tasted a bit like soft-boiled abalone.

Really delicious.

[Let’s eat soft-boiled abalone next time. I suddenly want to eat it. ]

Madam Zhou & Zhou Ying: ???

Soft-boiled abalone? Is it a type of abalone?

The name sounds delicious.

The conch meat is also delicious, hehehe~~

Zhou: (.＾▽＾)

This girl hasn’t finished eating the conch meat yet, and she already wants to eat abalone.

*

"It's delicious, so delicious. It's absolutely delicious."

Jiang Cheng chewed the conch meat in his mouth and felt so happy that tears were about to come out.

How can there be such delicious food in this world?? ! !

These seafoods are already extremely delicious, and now after being carefully cooked by County Lady Yinghua, they are so delicious that you have to swallow your tongue along with them.

Jiang Cheng picked up the chopsticks again, quickly picked up a piece of blanched snail slice and put it into the bowl.

It is such a blessing to be able to eat food cooked by Lady Yinghua herself. This is a life that even gods would envy.

Except Jiang Cheng, everyone else also expressed their feelings while eating.

"These seafoods are cooked differently and have different flavors. Take conches for example. Roasted conches are fresh and fragrant, while blanched conches are crispy, tender, refreshing and sweet."

"This conch and spring vegetable stew is also very delicious. The conch meat is soft and chewy, and the spring vegetables have a unique taste. It is even more sweet and moist when stewed into a soup."

"Geoducks are also delicious, the sashimi is sweet and refreshing, and the porridge made from them tastes first-class."

“No matter how picky a person is about food, they can’t find anything wrong with this meal. The cooking method and combination of each dish here can be called perfect.”

"Yes, just like this conch and spring vegetable stew. At first, I thought the spring vegetables tasted a little bitter and not very tasty. Later, I found that the long-lasting sweetness and the sweetness of the conch meat were a perfect match."

"Every time I attend County Lady Yinghua's banquet, I always wonder how I lived my life in the past."

"Me too. And every time I eat, I always pinch myself hard, so worried that this is just a dream. When I wake up, there will be nothing. Fortunately, it is real, hahahaha."

"I used to think I was well-informed, but every time I tasted Lady Yinghua's food, I would start to doubt myself. Take today's banquet for example, I didn't recognize all the seafood on the table, let alone those novel cooking methods."

"The craftsmanship and ingenuity of County Lady Yinghua are truly amazing."

The more people praised her, the more excited they became, saying she was extremely smart, clever, beautiful, and intelligent...

All the good words were thrown at Shen Huazheng.

As they praised more, they started praising Emperor Jingning.

"No wonder His Majesty wants to merge Kuiyang Town into Mianzhou County. He must know that Princess Yinghua is good at making delicacies with seafood."

"I was wondering, when Lady Yinghua won Mianzhou County, she held a chrysanthemum banquet, right? Now that she has won Kuiyang Town, she is holding a seafood banquet again."

"Your Majesty is truly wise."

They are not just flattering him from afar, they truly believe that Emperor Jingning has a keen eye for talent.

It was their wise Majesty who discovered Princess Yinghua's amazing gifts and talents, and bestowed upon her the rich Mianzhou County, allowing her to fully develop her talents.

To be honest, they are still benefiting from Your Majesty's help.

No matter what, it is such a blessing to be born in Daliang and to meet Princess Yinghua.

Lord Jiang even thought of a point that no one else had thought of. Perhaps when His Majesty granted the land to Princess Yinghua, it was with the intention of letting her cook delicious food.

Maybe it's more than just the fiefdom. Maybe Your Majesty has selfish motives in every reward.

It is to let Shen Huazheng make delicious food with a variety of ingredients.

And those who were able to have a meal at the banquet were just there as a by-product.

Or perhaps, they really benefited from Your Majesty's help.

…

Everyone in the Shen Mansion was toasting and enjoying themselves. Emperor Jingning and his companions in the palace also ate heartily and were very satisfied.

Emperor Jingning was unaware that his image in the eyes of some of his ministers had become more prestigious. He was immersed in the delicious food in front of him.

Like the guests in the Shen Mansion, Emperor Jingning was also filled with happiness at this moment.

In fact, not only now, he has been happy for a day.

Even when he was in the imperial study facing the pile of memorials, he was in a happy and cheerful mood.

Because he knew that as long as he finished his official business, he could go to the Queen Mother's palace to have a big dinner again.

Emperor Jingning picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of tender white snail meat and put it into his mouth.

As you chew it, the freshness and charcoal aroma of the snail meat, the fragrance of the seasoning ingredients, and the mellow aroma of the wine mix together and instantly fill your entire mouth.

Emperor Jingning's eyes lit up. He ate the conch cooked in an open oven, then tried the blanched one, and then the fried conch meat...

The conch meat cooked in an open oven is rich in aroma, chewy and has no residue at all.

The thick slices of blanched conch meat are very chewy, while the thin slices are extremely tender and melt in your mouth.

When you put the fried snail tails into your mouth, your mouth will be filled with sweet fragrance, which makes you feel happy.

Emperor Jingning ate the conch meat bite by bite and couldn't stop.

The conch has plump and delicate meat, and its taste is irresistible.

It’s hard to say which dish is my favorite, but they all have their own characteristics and flavors.

He likes them all anyway.

*

Compared with other cooking methods, the prince prefers blanched conch.

He chewed the crispy, chewy and tender conch meat carefully, and the rich taste came out one by one.

Refreshing, crisp, tender, smooth, elastic, fresh...

As the prince savored the delicious flavor, he suddenly felt a sense of regret: "This flavor only exists in heaven, and it is rare to taste it in the world."

In order to maintain the best taste, this dish needs to be blanched.

The thinner the conch slices are cut, the better. The growth cycle of conch is long, and the meat of the snail head and the outer layer is old and hard. When blanching, the conch shell must be cracked to take out the meat, and the skin and hard and tough parts of the snail head and tail must be removed, leaving only the essence.

Under normal circumstances, the chef will use the rolling knife method to cut the whole snail meat into thick, connected slices.

Even if the conch is very big, at most it can be cut into two or three thick slices of snail meat.

If the conch meat is cut too finely, the taste will be much worse after blanching.

When blanching the soup, the superior soup is used to retain the sweetness of the snail meat.

After blanching, you need to drizzle boiling chicken oil on it in time. This can seal the moisture in the snail meat and make the meat more tender and smooth.

The prince swallowed the thick slices of boiled conch, then picked up the serving chopsticks with relish, picked up the thin slices of boiled conch and put them in the bowl.

Taking into account that the teeth of the elderly and children are not very good, in addition to thick-cut conch slices, Shen Huazheng also cut the conch meat into thin slices.

Blanching thinly sliced ​​conch meat requires more careful control of the heat. It must be scooped out after rolling in the soup for ten seconds or so, otherwise the meat will become tough.

The prince gracefully put the thin slice of conch meat into his mouth and savored it carefully.

Compared to the crisp, sweet and chewy thick slices of conch meat, the thinly sliced ​​blanched conch is even sweeter and more delicious, so tender that it makes your heart tremble.

“It’s delicious!!”

*

The Queen Mother preferred the thinly sliced ​​blanched conch meat, which was suitable for both young and old. She ate several slices in a row before stopping.

The thinly sliced ​​blanched conch meat is milky white, delicate, tender, and extremely sweet. Every bite is an ultimate taste enjoyment.

Seeing the Queen Mother put down her chopsticks, the palace maid waiting by the side brought the soup bowl to her in a timely manner.

Blanching and roasting can best bring out the sweetness and tenderness of conch meat.

The fried conch tails are also crispy, smooth and full of fresh fragrance.

The snail heads and tendons, which have a slightly harder texture, are partly used to make soup and partly made into spring vegetable stew.

There are two soup bowls in front of each person, one of which is olive, conch and lean meat soup made from green olives, conch heads and lean meat.

One bowl is the conch and morel duck soup, which is made with wild duck as the soup base, and then added with morels and conch heads.

The Queen Mother thought about it, then lowered her head and drank the olive, snail and lean meat soup.

Green olives have a unique aroma and taste slightly bitter when eaten raw. Chewing them for a long time will make your mouth salivate and the sweet aftertaste is obvious.

The meat of conch is light in flavor but extremely sweet, and can be cooked with a variety of meats, whether it is beef, mutton or poultry.

With the addition of green olives, a touch of fragrance is added to the freshness and meaty aroma of the soup base.

It smells very tempting.

The Queen Mother scooped up a spoonful of the fragrant soup, blew on it gently, and put it into her mouth.

In the careful stew, the deliciousness of the conch heads, the fragrance of the green olives and the meaty aroma of the lean meat are perfectly combined together, creating an extremely wonderful flavor.

The distinct layers of taste enhance the flavor of the entire soup.

As soon as the fragrant soup takes a sip, the sweet taste with a fresh fragrance suddenly jumps onto the tip of your tongue.

The rich fragrance is mixed with the smell of sea water, which is really wonderful.

The queen standing by was also happily drinking the soup in front of her, but unlike the empress dowager, she was drinking conch, morel and duck soup.

The duck soup is clear, and the morels and conch heads add flavor, making the soup more fresh and sweet.

During the stewing process, the rich aroma of the soup seeps into the fresh fragrance of the snail meat, forming the essence.

I scooped it up with a spoon and took a sip. It was so delicious that I was speechless.

The rich fragrance of morels, the fresh aroma of duck meat, and the sweetness of conch are intertwined between lips and teeth. The fresh and sweet taste blooms on the tip of the tongue, making people intoxicated.

The queen's eyes were full of amazement. She didn't expect that the soup cooked with conch heads could be so delicious.

Not only is the soup delicious, but even the texture of the soup residue is impeccable.

The conch head has firm texture and is very elastic.

The duck is juicy and tender, leaving you with an unforgettable aftertaste.

The flesh of morels is thick, delicate and tender.

I have to say, it is really a pleasure to eat dishes made from conches and drink soup made from conches.

*

Emperor Jingning was eating when he inadvertently looked up and caught a glimpse of the prince who was eating with gusto.

He was slightly stunned, and a smile suddenly appeared in his eyes.

I really miss it.

It must have been like this when he had meals in his mother's palace before.

It was the same when he was as old as a prince.

Every time I returned to the Empress Dowager's palace to have a meal, I was particularly happy.

The amount of homework the Crown Prince has now is incomparable to what Emperor Jingning had before.

The young Emperor Jingning not only had a heavy workload, but also had to complete many tasks assigned by the previous emperor.

Every time he finished his homework, it was already dark.

Sometimes I even have to study until late at night.

Whenever he went to the Empress Dowager's palace to dine, she would always have all the lights turned on.

The lights around the palace corridors flickered, making the road beneath your feet extremely bright.

To this day, whenever Emperor Jingning sees the lights in the Queen Mother and the Empress' palace, he always feels warm in his heart.

The night is long, but there is always someone lighting a lamp, preparing warm soup and porridge, waiting for him.

Emperor Jingning withdrew his thoughts and looked at the Empress Dowager and the Queen who were eating with great concentration. A feeling of happiness filled his heart.

That's great.

Nothing has changed, it's still the same as before.