Chapter 145 Lunch (Part 1)
The guests chatted and laughed as they followed the butler's lead into Baron Neumann's gorgeously decorated restaurant.
The glittering silver tableware had already been laid out according to seating order. The Baroness, as the host, sat in the hostess seat at one end of the dining table, facing the restaurant door. The other guests sat down starting from her right according to their status.
Opposite the Baroness, with his back to the restaurant door, the host's seat at the other end of the table was naturally left empty. Baron Neumann was still at the hunting grounds, enjoying himself with his hunting guests, so he naturally wouldn't have traveled all the way back for lunch.
Today's luncheon was a small gathering for the ladies. Fresh game, freshly brought back from the hunting grounds, was skinned and cut up by the Baron's highly paid chef, then cooked into classic Huntington dishes before being served.
Baron Neumann's private hunting grounds naturally lacked the usual livestock of chickens, ducks, geese, and sheep. Instead, the game he hunted consisted primarily of fallow deer, reindeer, golden pheasants, and rabbits. The processing methods for these meats were also quite simple.
Venison is a common delicacy in the Duchy of Huntington, and no part of it goes to waste. The antlers shed by the deer raised in the hunting grounds are collected by the nobles' servants and slaves. These antlers can be made into handicrafts, prepared into medicinal herbs favored by noble men, or sent to alchemists to be brewed into antler glue.
Deerskin is a fine leather, soft and tough, and is made into breeches worn by nobles when hunting. Deer meat can be eaten, and deer bones can be made into gelatin.
The perishable deer entrails would be chopped up and baked into meat pies as fillings, or wrapped in pig or sheep stomachs to make a kind of offal pudding called "Haggis".
It's called 'pudding,' but this notorious dark dish isn't some soft, egg-and-milk dessert. More like a stew of offal. If not handled properly, the muttony smell can be quite alarming.
Since "offal" and "humiliation" sound similar in the local language, offal pie was nicknamed "humiliation pie" by the nobles. Of course, if the chef's skills were not good, the taste of this thing would be enough to make the eater feel completely humiliated: if they were not so poor, who would eat such a disgusting thing?
The "humiliation pie" and the smelly offal pudding were naturally not to be served on the lunch table. Instead, they were to be sent to the slums as alms food as a reward from Lord Neumann to the poor, to show the lord's kindness to his people.
The only foods that were truly worthy of being served on the tables of the nobility were venison sliced into thin slices and roasted over a high fire, with a golden brown exterior and a deep red interior; golden pheasants that had their entrails gutted and stuffed with spices and then roasted whole; and rabbit meat that had been skinned, cut into pieces, and stewed with ginger and sour juice... In this era, these foods were already considered the few truly edible and delicious dishes.
The nobles couldn't hide their annoyance at having to eat the same thing after every hunting competition. Vivian, who was very particular about food, had her bad mood written all over her face. She couldn't wait to ask, "Baroness, where is the plum jam you mentioned?"
The Baroness smiled without saying a word. She raised her hands to her left and clapped them three times gently. Immediately, the butler appeared, pushing a small dining cart. He lifted a glass jar surrounded by countless flowers from the cart and showed it to the nobles. Then he opened the glass lid, scooped out a small spoonful with a small silver spoon, and placed it on Vivian's silver plate.
The plum jam was a brilliant yellow and smelled incredibly sweet, but it was only the size of her index finger's knuckle. Before Vivian even touched her fork, the stingy Baroness had already ruined her mood and her appetite.
She took one look at the bloody, half-cooked venison and realized that even the most delicious sauce couldn't overcome the pungent smell of blood, so she didn't even want to taste it. She simply pushed her plate away and stood up to leave. "I'm suddenly feeling dizzy and unwell. I'll go back to my room. Enjoy your meal."
Dizziness and discomfort are always the best and most respectable excuses for noble ladies to leave a place. After all, they have all kinds of little problems that are difficult to talk about - such as tight corsets that hinder breathing, anemia caused by a special time of the month, or simply being unhappy with people - any gentleman knows to stop asking questions when hearing this excuse, just express his concern considerately, and let the ladies do what they should do.
That's exactly what the Baroness did. She only asked Vivian hypocritically if she needed a doctor. After receiving a negative answer, she told her to rest well and recover soon.
Vivian wore a false smile as she left the restaurant, supported by her maid. But as soon as the door closed, her languid demeanor instantly perked up, striding forward with a confident, confident air: "Get me a car!"
"Miss?! Are you okay?" The maid hurriedly caught up with her.
"Something's wrong! I'm starving! I want to eat something good!" Vivian said angrily. "Who wants to eat that bloody, smelly venison? They only give me a tiny amount of sauce! It's not even enough to feed beggars! Quick, get me a car! Call all my guards, and let's go to that brewery for lunch!"
"But, Miss, that's the South City where the poor people are..."
"In broad daylight, in the middle of the day, I don't believe anyone would dare rob the daughter of a marquis!" Vivian glanced at the bright sun outside the window and said angrily, "Call all the guards my father gave me. I don't believe our personal guards can't defeat those street thugs."
Seeing that Vivian had made up her mind, her maid had no choice but to do as she was told and hurriedly went to call for help.
In the restaurant, after Vivian left, the nobles continued to act as if nothing had happened. They enjoyed the venison dipped in plum sauce and talked about recent interesting things.
The prey on the table just happened to open up their topic - the social season had already begun, but the West City of Eston was unable to hold the nobles' favorite parties because of thieves and robberies. Baron Neumann took another approach and opened his own hunting grounds, inviting all the nobles to participate in the hunting meeting.
At this time, these noble ladies who participated in the lunch barbecue party hosted by the Baroness all had their families and servants participating in the hunting meeting, so flattering and praising each other was a social tactic that would never go wrong.
"I heard that Baron Neumann sent the Kingdom's Knights to clean up the hunting grounds before the hunting competition began," a noble lady said to the Baroness with a smile. "They also cut down many obstructing trees and created paths for the horses to run and chase prey. The bountiful harvest this time is probably due to this thoughtful preparation."
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