120 Roujiamo

◎Fat but not greasy, lean but not dry◎

"You little girl! How can you talk like that?" Shopkeeper Zhang said angrily: "Yes! It's Daddy who is confused! It's Daddy's fault! But isn't there anything we can do about it?

"I was at the table, drunk, and I don't know why, but I just... Sigh!" He sighed heavily, "But right now, your master has to take action personally! The Yue Mansion is not something we can afford to offend!"

"What's wrong with the Yue Mansion? Can the Yue Mansion be unreasonable?" Zhang Yao's voice rose a little. "Their family has high standards and strict rules. We are a small family and can't afford to serve them..."

Song Jinyi pushed open the half-open courtyard door and calmly glanced at the father and daughter who were frozen for a moment.

"Master...why are you back?"

Zhang Yao originally wanted to brush this matter off, wait until the master left, and then have a good talk with her father, but who knew -

When Shopkeeper Zhang saw her coming, he ignored Zhang Yao's glance and sighed, "Madam Song... there's something I need your help with."

Song Jinyi asked what was going on.

Shopkeeper Zhang said, "A few days ago, I was drinking with some old friends and got a little tipsy. Somehow, I ended up agreeing to... host a banquet for Old Master Yue's sixtieth birthday!"

"The Yue family is a noble family. Old Master Yue was once the emperor's tutor, and the current head of the Yue family is the Minister of Works..."

Song Jinyi frowned, "This sounds like a rare opportunity, why are you worried?"

Shopkeeper Zhang's forehead was covered with sweat. "Madam Song is right. It's not our turn to take this kind of work, but..." Having said this, he fell silent, not knowing how to continue.

Zhang Yao sighed and continued, "Master, you don't know. This Yue Mansion... is notoriously difficult to serve! There are many rules, picky tastes, and demanding requirements.

"Just last year, their second branch of the family had a little boy and held a centenary banquet. They invited the famous Beijing restaurant "Babaolou" to be the chef. Guess what happened?

"The chef was criticized by the Yue family mistress in front of all the guests, finding fault with everything and calling him worthless! I heard that the chef was also a famous and temperamental person. He was so embarrassed that he almost quit!

"In the end, the situation was only resolved after the owner of Babaolou came personally to apologize. That meal... the host looked grim, and the guests were embarrassed.

"And the flowers used for the banquet were changed three times. Whenever I found a drooping flower, I would fly into a rage!"

She looked at Song Jinyi and said, "Our Juxing Tower is doing quite well now. If we take on this banquet, how much trouble will we have in the future..."

The warm spring sun falls on the banyan tree in the garden, and the green leaves are dotted with dazzling golden light, which flickers and looks like shattered sunlight, turning into thousands of golden fragments.

The wind blew through the treetops, the branches and leaves swayed, and thousands of golden scales swam with them, and suddenly landed on Song Jinyi's shoulders. She stood in the yard, standing in this bizarre and dazzling environment. She listened to Zhang Yao's words calmly, and suddenly chuckled.

She said in a relaxed tone, "I thought it was some kind of catastrophe. It turns out to be this."

She walked up to Zhang Yao and lightly tapped her forehead with her index finger. "You, you've prepared medicinal food for the Empress Dowager and even ventured into the inner palace. How come you're frightened by a birthday banquet at a noble's mansion? Have you become timid?"

Zhang Yao was taken aback by Song Jinyi's relaxed attitude. "Master, do you have an idea?"

"It's not really an idea, it's just a simple truth. In this world, is there any person or thing that is perfect, something that no one can find fault with?"

?

"At a birthday banquet, no matter how many guests there are or how prominent their status, there is only one true protagonist—that is Old Master Yue, the one celebrating his birthday! If you want the birthday banquet to be a success, all you need is to satisfy the birthday man.

"Others..." Song Jinyi smiled indifferently.

Shopkeeper Zhang nodded. "That makes sense, but how can we satisfy Old Master Yue?"

"Of course, you need to personally investigate Old Master Yue's preferences. Does he prefer sweet, salty, or light foods? Does he have any dietary restrictions? Or what ingredients does he particularly like? That way, we can be prepared."

Shopkeeper Zhang replied, "I'll go and find out right away!" After saying that, he ran out in a hurry, his legs and feet feeling much more agile.

******

On the second day, Manager Zhang failed to bring back good news. He told Song Jinyi with a bitter face that he only got two pieces of news: the old man was from Huainan and had a light taste.

After listening to this, Song Jinyi didn't react much, "Huaiyang cuisine? Light and not greasy? It's not too difficult." She tapped the table unconsciously with her fingertips, frowned slightly, and thought about the problem.

She stood up, walked to the window, and murmured to herself: "As long as the plate is empty, who can still say it's not delicious?"

As for how to ensure the "empty rate".

I haven't been able to figure it out for the moment.

She walked out of the room and went to the courtyard to relax.

In spring, the grass and trees are lush and green. In the pool, the waterwheel is turning with a creaking sound. The clear pool water is scooped up by the wooden bucket, lifted up, and then poured into the stone trough below with a splash, gurgling along the winding waterway, nourishing several green beds.

The water flows gently, in a cycle.

Song Jinyi's eyes were unconsciously drawn to the flowing water line. She watched the water flow through every place, and the water in the sink always remained at the right amount...

Crash——

A thought suddenly occurred to her: there was an elegant ancient practice called "Qushui Liushang," similar to the flowing banquets of her previous life. A noble family like the Yue family would surely have a pavilion and a canal in their courtyard.

At that time, like a waterwheel delivering water, the dishes will be placed one by one, in small portions, in special containers and slowly floated along the waterway.

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

"This way, firstly, it's novel and interesting, and it creates the artistic conception of a cup flowing down a winding stream, quite elegant! Secondly, each dish is rotated once before the next one is served, unlike a typical banquet where all the dishes are placed on the table.

When faced with unknown dishes, most people don’t know whether the next dish will be better or worse than the one in front of them, so they will choose to compromise and pick up the dish as long as it is similar.

This way, almost every dish can be eaten 70% to 80%. As long as most of the boats drift back empty, isn't this the best proof?

If the host wants to find fault, he should first look at the empty plate!"

But a new problem arises: what dish to cook?

These noble families must have long been tired of eating ordinary chicken, duck, fish, meat, and delicacies from land and sea.

If you want people to buy into it, you have to do something different!

It must be innovative and in line with the light Huaiyang style... Song Jinyi fell into deep thought again, with her fingertips resting on her forehead.

She was deep in thought, and before she knew it, the sky outside the window had turned to dusk.

"Master, haven't you made up your mind yet?" Zhang Yao came back from the theater after cooking and saw that she looked worried, so she asked softly.

Song Jinyi glanced at the sky outside the window and was shocked to realize how late it was. Her stomach growled in time. "No wonder I'm hungry. It's already this late."

"What do you want to eat? I'll make it right away!" Zhang Yao asked immediately.

"Hamburger——" Song Jinyi blurted out and paused.

"Hamburger?" Zhang Yao looked confused, having never heard of this dish before.

Song Jinyi was also stunned for a moment, then laughed and shook her head: "When I was working before, I loved eating hamburgers for convenience. Now..."

She stood up and stretched her stiff neck. "However, although Western-style hamburgers are a bit difficult to make, I can make a simple version of a 'Chinese-style hamburger'."

******

There are ready-made Hu pancakes in the kitchen.

Song Jinyi then stewed a pot of meat, choosing pork belly with a nice texture and fat-to-lean texture, and cut it into large chunks. The daytime temperature was relatively mild, so the braised meat could be stored for two or three days.

Put the fish into a pot with cold water, add ginger slices, green onion segments and a little rice wine, blanch to remove the fishy fat, then remove and wash.

Put a little oil in the pan and add a few pieces of crushed rock sugar. Stir-fry over low heat until the sugar turns a beautiful red. Add the blanched pork belly and stir-fry quickly, evenly coating each piece of meat with the bright red sugar.

Add enough hot water to cover the meat. Add sliced ​​scallions, ginger, a few star anise, a small piece of cinnamon, two bay leaves, soy sauce, and a little rice wine. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer gently.

As soon as the lid of the pot is opened, the pork belly is stewed until it is tender and crispy. The fat part is crystal clear, like trembling amber jelly, while the lean meat is stringy and has absorbed the mellow soup, with an attractive bright red color.

Song Jinyi fished out a few pieces. The fat was soft and glutinous, and the lean meat was crispy and rotten. Under the sharp knife, it quickly turned into finely minced meat with a gelatinous and sticky texture.

The rich gravy oozes out continuously with the rise and fall of the blade, soaking the minced meat and glistening with an oily luster.

Use a knife to make a deep cut in the side of the Hu pancake, revealing the snow-white, soft interior. Stuff a generous spoonful of steaming, fragrant minced meat inside!

The gravy instantly seeped into the steamed bun, dyeing the snow-white interior into an attractive sauce color.

Song Jinyi handed it to Zhang Yao, who had been staring at it for a long time: "Here, try it."

Zhang Yao couldn't wait to take it, not caring about the heat, and took a big bite carefully!

The crispy and fragrant steamed bun crust breaks between the teeth with a light "crunch" sound, followed by the soft and slightly sweet steamed bun core.

Then, the mouth is filled with boiling hot, fragrant, fat but not greasy, lean but not dry minced meat, and full of rich soup.

"Wow!" Zhang Yao exclaimed incoherently, "Delicious! So delicious! Master, what is this called?"

"Meat pie." Song Jinyi made another one, took a bite, and felt the familiar satisfaction.

"Master, this food looks easy to prepare and it smells so good. How about adding it to the new menu of Juxinglou?" Zhang Yao asked, holding a half-eaten roujiamo.

Song Jinyi thought about it carefully and nodded, "The weather is getting hot. This thing is delicious without soup." Speaking of summer food, Song Jinyi couldn't help but think of roujiamo's partner, liangpi.

"Let's make some cold noodles. They have a chewy texture and are topped with hot and sour sauce. They're perfect for relieving summer heat and stimulating the appetite. There's also cold noodles. Toppings include sesame paste, shredded chicken, or shredded cucumber..."

"After the Yue Mansion birthday banquet is over, I'll teach Xiuxiu and the others how to make cold noodles and cold noodles! They're perfect for summer!"

"Master! You're truly amazing!" Zhang Yao exclaimed in admiration. "How do you know so many delicious foods? Just hearing you talk about them makes my mouth water!"

Zhang Yao's heartfelt praise slowly dissipated the subtle sense of loss and confusion she had felt before.

Listening to Zhang Yao's enthusiastic response to his plan, the previous feeling of uncertainty that "no one seems to need me" gradually faded away.