Chapter 64 Crystal Jelly
Just as Jiang Zhi was turning into a lazy orange cat during these leisurely days, the banquet that the Zhang family had prepared for their young lady was finally about to begin!
*
When the sun rises in the east, it is the early morning!
Jiang Zhi's breakfast stall had posted a notice a day in advance that it would be closed for one day, and the villagers bought extra food to prepare for the next day.
Jiang Zhi still got up at 5 o'clock as usual, changed herself into a festive red jacket and red skirt. The two shades of red complemented each other, making her little face look rosy.
Once she had finished tidying up, she pushed open the door, and a gust of cold wind rushed in.
Even though she was dressed warmly enough, she still shivered slightly.
Winter in Sichuan is like this: summer has just begun to rise and stand up, and before autumn has even settled down, winter has already rushed in impatiently.
In layman's terms, it means that one day you're wearing a single layer of clothing, and the next day you're wearing a padded jacket. This aspect of modern life is particularly evident in Jiang Zhi's memory; this era is slightly better, perhaps because there's no greenhouse effect.
As she rubbed her hands together, she wondered when she could get a thinner pair of gloves made, so that they wouldn't interfere with her daily work and would also keep her a little warm.
While pondering which shop knitted the best yarn, he walked towards the Zhang family's shop.
However, unlike before, this time Jiang Zhi was followed by a whole bunch of people: Yan Mo, Pei Yougu, and two little kids who were tugging at Jiang Zhi's skirt with bright, sparkling eyes.
That's right, Little Twist has finally been recognized by the strict teacher hired by the You family. Her learning progress is indeed that of a prodigy, and Little Twist herself is also very motivated, always striving to improve. Therefore, she has gained the approval of her strict teacher, and today, at Little Twist's own request, she was allowed to take a day off.
When Xiao Mahua heard from his older brother that Sister Jiang was going to host a banquet at the Zhang family, he was both craving food and hadn't seen Sister Jiang in a long time. He decided to take this opportunity to freeload at the banquet hosted by Sister Jiang!
As for the third...
Little Twist didn't say it aloud, but in a corner where no one was looking, she pursed her lips and lowered her eyes: even though she was young, she knew that the Zhang family's daughter was a spoiled young lady, and if she wanted to make things difficult for her...
*
Jiang Zhi never expected that the people behind her would think so much.
Jiang Zhi wasn't ignoring the fact that several people had intentionally or unintentionally reminded her of the young lady's temper, but Jiang Zhi had actually forgotten to tell everyone that she had already discussed the recipe with the young lady's father, Mr. Zhang.
Therefore, no matter how dissatisfied Miss Zhang was, she couldn't possibly raise any objections to the selection of dishes. At most, she would nitpick about the taste.
As for the taste, Jiang Zhi raised an eyebrow.
I drew my eyebrows early in the morning; they were the willow-leaf type, and now they looked slightly sharper.
She lazily blew away her previous thoughts: knowing what others like to eat, Jiang Zhi was quite confident in understanding that person's tastes.
*
Upon arriving at the Zhang family's house, the two osmanthus trees in front of the house were blown by the wind, and their leaves and small flowers rustled down, drifting to Jiang Zhi's nose. The sweet fragrance of osmanthus, like honey brewed in autumn, wafted through the air.
Seeing this scene, Jiang Zhi unconsciously began to plan where to dig up an osmanthus sapling and place it in front of her house. She would welcome the "osmanthus" blossoms and in the future, she would only need to place a large winnowing basket underneath it and shake the branches to make the osmanthus blossoms fall gracefully.
Whether you seal osmanthus flowers in honey to make osmanthus honey, or use them in desserts to make osmanthus cake, they are exceptionally fragrant and delicious!
Jiang Zhi even knew a little about how to make osmanthus perfume, but she wasn't sure if there were enough materials in this era, so she put it aside for the time being.
As she entered, still smelling of osmanthus blossoms, the steward who often came to stand in for Master Zhang was already waiting there. When he saw Jiang Zhi, he gave her a slight bow.
Jiang Zhi had naturally met him before. After all, there were discussions to be held these past few days, and Jiang Zhi needed to know the guests' requirements. This steward was a confidant of that Master Zhang, conveying his requests on his behalf. Therefore, upon seeing his polite greeting, she simply returned the greeting with a smile.
The two had spoken several times in the past few days, and naturally they had a better understanding of each other's personalities. They were both quick-witted and decisive, and neither of them was ambiguous about the other's character.
The butler led Jiang Zhi directly to the venue, and the two walked forward in silence, one in front of the other.
Miss Zhang's birthday banquet was naturally quite extravagant. The Zhang family spent a lot of money on the event and specially renovated their banquet hall for the guests.
However, the Zhang family simply didn't have a large enough kitchen for cooking.
So they simply found an open space, moved out all the cooking utensils, and arranged the servants who were at Jiang Zhi's beck and call to be on the side, and they had already started washing and cleaning.
The butler's job was to bring Jiang Zhi to this place and then whisper to her that this was the group of people.
Then he lowered his head and slowly took his leave.
Jiang Zhi and her group were left to face the skeptical gazes of the crowd.
*
Jiang Zhi knew perfectly well why this was for.
The first warning was nothing more than that. Jiang Zhi even lowered her eyes slightly, concealing the slight boredom in them.
She glanced down at the group of people; their gazes were either filled with disdain for her or scrutiny of them...
All sorts of gazes, anyone with a weaker spirit would probably feel a little guilty under these various gazes.
But Jiang Zhi is not.
She then took a large step forward, clapped her hands to signal everyone to be quiet, and prepared to speak loudly.
"Everyone is serving the Zhang family today. The menus you're holding were written by me. I'll be in charge of overseeing everything later. As for the wages for those who haven't done anything...t..."
"As long as you don't make things difficult for me, I certainly won't make things difficult for you either!"
In just a few words, Jiang Zhi swiftly and accurately grasped the psychology of the many servants below.
In this era, when hosting a banquet, the host would usually hire a chef first, and then decide whether to recruit more staff based on the chef's team. If needed, they would recruit servants from various recruitment places. Those who performed well for a few days might be promoted to permanent positions, while those who performed poorly might not even receive their wages.
And if you don't even get your wages, the hiring company will likely have some resentment towards you. After all, they kindly recommended you for a good position, and you ruined it... no one would be happy about that.
Although Jiang Zhi, the head chef, wasn't the one who paid the wages, she still had the ability to say a few words to the Zhang family.
Therefore, the threat has been averted.
*
With other matters resolved, it's time to get down to business.
Time was already tight. Although it was a dinner party, the sun sets quite early in autumn and winter. Jiang Zhi estimated that the sun would set around 4 to 4:30 pm these past two days.
At the latest, all the dishes should be served before sunset!
Although the host family did not explicitly require it, Jiang Zhi, as the contractor, was very self-aware.
As Jiang Zhi thought this, she efficiently led the group of servants to change into the clothes that their master had requested.
She also assigned tasks to these 15 people: three food preparers, two steamers, three pastry makers, three general helpers, one cold dish and fruit platter maker, and the remaining three most experienced people served as her kitchen helpers.
This was a standard division of labor at banquets during the reign of Emperor Gaozu. Their roles were roughly equivalent to their names: the prep cook was responsible for cutting fruits, vegetables, and meat; the steamer/stewer was responsible for steaming dishes and stewing soups; the pastry chef was responsible for the staple foods; and the cold dish/fruit platter chef was responsible for arranging the fruits cut by the prep cooks and preparing the cold dishes. The menial workers did a variety of tasks, such as fetching water, tending the fire, and washing cooking utensils.
Finally, the sous chef works alongside the head chef, cooking dishes all over the place.
*
Jiang Zhi arranged such a proper meal.
Everyone took the recipe and got busy.
Jiang Zhi also glanced down at the extremely detailed recipe she had given him, which read:
"Cold dishes: Crystal Crispy Trio, Golden Cup Tofu Rolls, Fragrant Fermented Four Treasures, Honey-preserved Double Fruits, Salt-baked Winter Mallow Seeds and Almonds, Cold Winter Mallow Sprout Salad, Crystal Aspic."
Hot dishes: Spicy Chicken with Egg White, Shrimp on a Jade Plate, Garlic Ribs, Salted Egg Yolk Tofu Casserole, Lychee Shrimp Balls, and Sea Bass in Tomato Sauce
Soup dishes: Winter melon and dried shrimp soup, mushroom and chicken soup.
Dessert: Egg Drop Rice Balls with Fermented Rice Wine
In this way, seven cold dishes, six hot dishes, two soups, and one dessert were prepared in ten portions and served to ten tables.
There really isn't enough time right now.
Fortunately, Jiang Zhi had prepared for this day long ago.
Yesterday, she made a special trip to cook a pot of jade-white, slightly yellow pork skin soup with soy sauce and salt. Then she covered it and left it outside overnight.
Once opened, the grease on top has solidified into white lumps. After scraping off the grease, you'll find a translucent, slightly patterned pork skin jelly underneath.
Jiang Zhi picked up the cutting board beside her, carefully inverted the pork skin jelly onto it, and then gently patted it down. When she saw that the pork skin jelly still retained its bouncy and perfect shape, she raised an eyebrow in a good mood.
Then it was all about physical strength. Under Jiang Zhi's command, the cold dish worker picked up the long knife next to him with both hands and gently chopped upwards. The pork skin jelly immediately trembled and fell to both sides.
Once the pork skin jelly has been carefully cut into small cuboids that can be placed on a plate, it is then gently stacked together one by one using the back of a knife, and placed on the surface of the rectangular bowl.
At first glance,
The translucent pork skin jelly was cut into thin slices, one after another, and then a plate of garlic soy sauce was placed on the side.
As long as you dip it evenly and then put it in your mouth, that's the taste!
Absolutely divine!
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Author's note: Taking a day off!
Double chapters tomorrow!
I discovered a small bug in yesterday's post late at night, and it's fixed! From now on, if you see any ingredients that seem off, please let me know. I might not have realized it yet. [Please!]
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