Chapter 149,
But when this noodle was brought to the table for you to taste, it did not look like this.
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary bowl of noodles. But if you look closely, you will find that the noodles are translucent and look as smooth as shark fin. And the meat wontons clearly show the shrimp and red pork inside.
Add the green bamboo shoots and yellow velvet mushrooms garnished in the clear soup, and this bowl of wonton noodles is as beautiful as a landscape painting!
The same was true for Emperor Mingde. When he picked up the bowl, he didn't see anything special about the noodles. The noodles and dumpling wrappers were just transparent. There was nothing strange about it. There was a dessert called Qinglianggao in Bianjing, which was also so clear.
He guessed that these noodles should be made of the same stuff as the cooling paste?
However... after he picked up a piece of noodles with chopsticks and put it into his mouth, he immediately changed his previous opinion. The main reason was... these noodles actually melted in his mouth?
It also has a bit of the sweet taste of fish!
It melted in his mouth, with a fresh and sweet taste. Could it be that these noodles were made of fish? He then picked up another pair of chopsticks and held it in front of his eyes to examine it. With a strong pinch, the fish noodles broke apart directly. The crispness was different from ordinary noodles.
Only then did he confirm that the noodles he was eating were made with fish.
"That's quite clever," he said.
Then he took a spoon and scooped a thin-skinned wonton and put it into his mouth. This time, he felt the slippery texture of the wonton skin, flowing and jumping between his lips and teeth, like a hard-to-catch loach, slippery but not melting in the mouth at all. This was a different taste from the fish noodles.
Then, take a bite, and the delicious meat filling in the dumplings wanders between your lips and teeth, filling your mouth with salty fragrance.
"The bamboo basket is decorated with green jade, and the fish noodles are served in clear soup. These noodles look quite poetic and picturesque." He commented at the end.
But my eyes didn’t stay on this bowl of wonton noodles for too long, and the next dish came up soon.
This time, there is a sculpture that is half the height of an arm.
The carving shows: dragon and phoenix bringing good luck.
The dragon and phoenix carved on it are lifelike!
When Emperor Mingde looked into the eyes of the golden dragon, he inexplicably felt a sense of fear, as if... this real dragon was alive, breathtaking!
But... the taste is hard to describe.
The eunuch dug out a piece for him. He took a bite and found it had a sour and sweet taste, nothing special. It was delicious, but compared with the man's carving skills, it was indeed slightly inferior.
But then again, this guy's carving skills are really good.
He already had the answer in his mind.
Next up is chicken tofu.
A simple and ordinary bowl of tofu pudding tastes full of the aroma of chicken and has no taste of tofu at all.
How does it taste?
The broth mixed with the chicken tofu has a sweet and fresh taste, rich in flavor, light and delicious.
The last thing to come up was the pot of clear mutton soup.
It is still a clear soup, but this time it is as clean and clear as freshly filtered spring water, with a little bit of oil floating on it. If you look closely, even the oil looks so clean.
The broth was clear, and the mutton took on a fresh, tender red color. Emperor Mingde picked up a piece of mutton, dipped it into the chive bowl, and put it into his mouth.
This taste……
It’s really good.
After tasting all twenty dishes, he put down his chopsticks and looked through the transparent gauze curtain at the people standing outside. Something was going through his mind.
Concubine Zhang also put down her chopsticks and approached him, asking, "Your Majesty, which of these dishes do you think is the most delicious?"
Emperor Mingde hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Which one do you think is the most delicious, my dear?"
Concubine Zhang was not stingy with her words, and finally said, "In the past, I only knew that the food in the palace was delicious, but I didn't know there were so many skilled chefs outside. In my opinion, every dish here is delicious, and the skills of these chefs are comparable."
This is quite true. I don't know if there are so many talented people this year or what, but everyone's cooking skills are about the same, and there are no outstanding dishes, but...
If we really take turns, every dish would be able to take the top spot in previous chef competitions.
It was difficult to decide for a moment. Emperor Mingde was also unable to decide who would be the final champion.
but…………
Since the taste is similar, why not let these people play their due value? So... he set his eyes on the young lady standing to the side.
This person...I heard that he has some relationship with the imperial concubine.
Why not just declare her the champion of this cooking competition?
But I also heard that...she has some relationship with Prince Pei. This really makes it difficult to decide.
"I think this chicken tofu pudding is quite good. Your Majesty, could you please ask someone to keep the recipe for me so that I can add a dish to my small kitchen?" Seeing that the emperor was undecided, Concubine Zhang reminded him.
Obviously, she didn't forget what Su Guoer said.
If she wants the next state banquet to go smoothly, she has to get other people involved, so... an outsider with good skills may be the key to her breakthrough.
She just needs to wait for the emperor to speak and decide on someone other than Su Guoer to be the chef. Then she can take this opportunity to find someone to help her organize the banquet. She believes that the emperor will not be able to refuse.
The ministers present were unable to refuse.
But unfortunately, things did not go as planned. No matter how much Su Guoer planned, she still could not have expected that her ordinary bowl of wonton noodles would actually win the championship of this competition.
The moment the young eunuch announced the result, Su Guoer's world collapsed!
Even Concubine Zhang above was stunned for a moment. The result was really unexpected?
So when the bounty was brought to Su Guoer, she was completely stunned. It was only after the eunuch who brought the bounty reminded her that she knelt down to express her gratitude.
There is no need to elaborate on the process of thanking the emperor. Su Guoer herself was also in a very confused state. Anyway, she just went through it in a daze.
But she didn't give up the chance to save herself. Her mind was frantically thinking about how to get out. What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?
But… maybe the words she said this morning touched the Imperial Concubine, so even though Su Guoer won the championship this time, she still spoke up: "Your Majesty, there are so many talented chefs in this competition. If we only reward them, it would be a waste of their skills. How about…"
She paused.
Emperor Mingde immediately became interested: "What's wrong? Just tell me what you want to say."
Concubine Zhang then said with a smile, "Why not ask them to work with the Imperial Kitchen to prepare the banquet to welcome the Hu envoys?"
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