Chapter 30 How can I bear to eat the boat banquet? It's so beautiful
Raindrops slanted down, shrouding the surface of Zhenze Lake in a hazy mist. Wei Jinyun held onto the wooden side of the black-sailed boat, watching it rapidly approach.
"My lady, watch your step. The boat is slippery in the rain."
The boatman gave a gruff warning and nudged the bamboo pole in his hand towards the bottom of the water. When the two boats suddenly came close, he steadily set up a gangplank, which was placed between the two boats and was trembling slightly.
Wei Jinyun was carrying a basket on her back. She bent her legs and stepped onto the springboard, and the board immediately shook.
Just then he stepped onto the gangplank. Suddenly, the black-sailed boat swayed slightly, and the wooden planks swayed along with it. Wei Jinyun hurriedly put his fingers on the wooden railing of the pleasure boat and quickly jumped on.
When she stepped onto the pleasure boat, she realized that it was much more stable than the black-sailed boat.
"Don't worry, my lady. The master has instructed me to pick you up after the boat party is over."
Wei Jinyun turned around and thanked him. The gangplank was pulled away by the boatman, and he held up the bamboo pole and quickly disappeared in the rain.
The pleasure boat was moored beside a lotus bush, with a light green curtain hanging at the cabin door. When the wind blew, the lotus flowers embroidered on the curtain seemed to sway gently in the rain.
This ship was specifically designed for banquets, and unlike ordinary passenger ships, it was enormous and incredibly exquisite. The upper deck was where the banquets were held, with wooden windows carved with crabapple leaves, offering a view. The lower deck housed the elegant and spacious cabins for sleeping.
This boat banquet was not as polite and lively as Lu Lantang's tea party. Lu Heng only asked Wei Jinyun to be the boat host, so he did not invite her two sisters.
Wei Fuqiu and Wei Fuling covered her basket with several layers of oilcloth in the shop, and carefully told Wei Jinyun not to let it get wet in the rain and to come back as soon as she was done, and then they said goodbye to her reluctantly.
Thinking about it carefully, except for going to the Changmen market, Wei Jinyun never left her sister's side every time she made snacks. She thought about making a snack for them when she got home.
She was standing under the wooden corridor thinking about it when soon a housekeeper in a green jacket came over to invite her.
"But Miss Wei?"
She looked Wei Jinyun up and down.
"Exactly."
"What a wonderful man he looks like."
The housekeeper chuckled and handed over her handkerchief to help Wei Jinyun wipe the raindrops that had fallen on her when she got on the boat. "Come with me."
Wei Jinyun followed her through two wooden corridors and was led to a small kitchen at the back of the pleasure boat. Her yard was even more spacious here. Besides replacing the stove with a clay oven, it had all the necessary ingredients and cooking utensils, and even a small, low-temperature area enclosed by quilts and ice.
However, besides her, there was another person in the small kitchen. That person was sitting on a bench, lowering his head to peel lotus seeds and put them into a bamboo basket beside him.
"Miss Wei, this place is yours too. The necessary ingredients have been prepared to order, including ice. The boat banquet will begin promptly at the first quarter of the evening hour. The snacks must be served on time, exquisite, and fresh. There cannot be any mistakes."
"Please rest assured, Mr. Lu."
She glanced at Wei Jinyun again.
Although the person in front of him was a little thin, wearing a green jacket and a bun, when he put down the basket to tie his arms, the smooth lines of his forearms were revealed, firm and strong.
If she hadn't been asked to help with the waiters up ahead, she really wanted to stay and see how Miss Wei made the boat.
A lot of fresh seasonal ingredients have been prepared in the small kitchen. Most of the things in Wei Jinyun's basket are his own pastry tools, porcelain cups, and wicker flower plates. The pastry chef's tools cannot be left out.
She put the basket away and carefully untied the hemp ropes her sisters had tied it with. The basket was covered with several layers of oilcloth, and the ropes wrapped around it completely, making it extremely tight. Wei Jinyun untied one layer after another, and several ropes were even tangled together, making it look like there was no beginning or end.
Good sister, I really love her.
"I'll help you solve it."
The man who was peeling the lotus pods stood up, walked to Wei Jinyun, and carefully helped her untie the hemp rope that was wrapped around her left and right.
She deftly found the end of the rope, passed it through one end and around the other, and quickly pulled the entire hemp rope apart. Then she smiled at Wei Jinyun and said, "It's so tight, did your child tie it for you?"
The person in front of him looked a few years older than Wei Jinyun. He smiled gently and his eyes were lively.
She wore a light brown scarf on her head, which held her hair in a neat bun, with two strands of black hair hanging down from her temples. She wore a brown plain silk jacket and a moon-white folded skirt.
"Yes, it's my sister."
Wei Jinyun thanked him and asked, "Madam, are you the chef of the boat banquet?"
"Yes, just call me Wan Niang."
After helping Wei Jinyun untie the rope, Li Shiwan continued to peel lotus seeds. "You are Miss Wei, right? I know you."
Wei Jinyun was a little surprised and exclaimed, "Ah!"
Seeing her like this, Li Shiwan just smiled and said, "During the boat reception banquet these days, several students from the prefectural school were talking about your dim sum. At that time, I was wondering, there were many dim sum at the boat banquet, why did your dim sum get so much attention?"
"Then I know you too."
Wei Jinyun took out the tools she needed from the basket and placed them on the table. "You must be Li Shiwan, a famous cook in Pingjiang Prefecture. You only take on banquets, especially boat banquets."
She had heard her.
Li Shiwan came from a family of chefs, owning a century-old restaurant. She was the only child of her generation. By the age of five, she had already demonstrated remarkable culinary talent, wielding a spatula more skillfully than even the shop's apprentices.
At the age of sixteen, she became famous for hosting a banquet for her sick father. It is said that her father almost jumped out of bed to recover after learning that his daughter had hosted the banquet for him. However, the next day, when he heard that she was praised more than himself, he became ill again.
He had wanted to hand over the restaurant to her, but she said he was still young and could run it for another few decades, which made his father so angry that he broke his shoe on the spot. After the two of them argued, he still went to the herbal medicine store to get a bag of ginseng, which he took daily as a supplement.
From then on, the father opened a restaurant and the daughter only accepted banquets, competing with each other for fame.
"Really? I'm that famous."
Li Shiwan peeled a whole basket of lotus seeds, grabbed two handfuls and slowly shaved off the lotus seeds. Then he came to Wei Jinyun and said with a smile, "Miss Wei, can I eat the snacks you made? Just some of the leftovers will be fine."
Wei Jinyun coughed twice, "Lotus Pod Fish Bun."
"make a deal!"
Boat banquets and snacks complement each other best.
Although the meal has not yet officially started, cold dishes must be placed on the table for guests to enjoy tea and leisure.
The pickled goose has a mellow texture and a strong aroma of pickled wine. The pickled duck is a mixture of salty and sweet, fresh, fragrant and tender. The white shrimp is stir-fried with autumn dew white. The glutinous rice and lotus root are sweet and dripping with honey. There are also chopped lettuce, tofu, vegetarian ham, and cold-mixed water spinach... Even if you look at it for two minutes, you still can't finish it.
One cold dish after another was created in Li Shiwan's deft hands and then brought to the front hall by the maids who came in.
As there are cold dishes before the meal, it is natural to prepare snacks. The snacks before the meal should not be too filling, but should be exquisite and beautiful, just a few bites while chatting.
Wei Jinyun put milk and jasmine into a clay pot and boiled it on a clay stove. When bubbles appeared, he poured the milk and jasmine into a mortar.
Pulverizing milk with a mortar is a strenuous task. Fortunately, she arrived early enough, silently counting the ten taels of silver she had at home and imagining the shop's renovations, and her hands became stronger, becoming a manual milk pulverizer without a problem.
About half an hour later, the milky white milk finally turned into ghee, which was then scooped into clean water to solidify.
Naihua is jasmine.
Wei Jinyun's technique is as light as picking up a cloud. She carefully arranges each petal one by one, and the edges of the petals must tremble slightly to make them look lively.
She took some fresh honey, diluted it with warm water, and poured it into a green cup. Then she gently floated the cream flower on the honey and placed half a fresh jasmine flower next to it, letting the fragrance of the flower and the aroma of the milk spread.
In order to make it less sweet, she also cut some green plums and peaches into small pieces in the honey water to create different flavors.
In the green cup, a snow-white crispy flower floated in the crystal honey, and next to it was half a real jasmine flower. When the maid picked it up, the crispy flower swayed gently as if it had just bloomed.
Lu Heng was chatting with a friend, and beside him sat Master Lu, who was sipping tea. Cold dishes were laid out on the table, and a few snacks were served.
"Honey-floating crispy pear blossoms?"
Master Lu's eyebrows straightened with laughter. His granddaughter was not here today. He had never expected that this young lady Wei could make the famous snacks in Bianjing City at such a young age.
He hasn't tasted this snack for a long time since he retired.
He was just about to scoop it up when he saw Lu Heng's quick hands had already taken the entire Su Nai flower into his mouth. With a flick of his Adam's apple, it vanished. He put down the spoon, picked up the teacup, took a sip, and said slowly, "Mr. Lu, are you afraid the flower will run away?"
Lu Heng smacked his lips slightly, the sweetness still lingering on the tip of his tongue. "What else? Could I hold it in my mouth and blow it like a whistle?"
"You really are..."
Master Lu pointed at the green lamp with his fingertips. "It's not easy to make this flower. You have to let the honey melt on your tongue first, and the ghee slowly dissolve, before you can savor its flavor. Once you take a bite, it won't even have time to say hello."
“Will it even say hello to me?”
Lu Heng listened, frowned, and turned to his friend beside him, "You sound like a flower spirit. What do you think, Old Su?"
"Why are you two still acting the same as you were in Bianjing?"
Su Youren picked up the honey-floating crispy pear flower and savoured it slowly with a small spoon. "After so many years, we still haven't had enough of the quarrel."
Master Lu pushed his cup toward Lu Heng. "There are only three cups in total. You can try mine. Remember to savor the crispy aroma and let the honey seep out first, just like when you watered your horse. You have to let it soak through."
Lu Heng looked at him, suddenly smiled, and pushed the food back, "You just can't stand seeing others eat to their heart's content. Eat by yourself. Your Tangtang is not here today, so you should eat your fill."
"Has Little Changce not played yet? I just saw Xiangxiang, she's so smart and cute, and she even showed me how to shoot arrows. Old Lu is so lucky."
Looking at the two people who were talking at cross purposes, Su Youyou couldn't help but stroke his beard and smile, "I remember when Chang Ce came to Bianjing City to celebrate the New Year, he was only four years old. He was so tiny, but he insisted on taking your gun, and his arm was almost broken. But this kid has your temper. When the clinic came to change his medicine, he didn't say a word... All these years have passed, and I haven't seen him again."
"That guy is now the Lu Heng of more than 20 years ago. Thieves are scared to death when they see him."
Master Lu took the spoon and scooped slowly, "They say it can stop children from crying at night. Please wait a little longer, maybe he's busy and will be here soon."
After hearing this, Su Youren laughed out loud and said, "I have heard that he is fierce. It turns out to be true. That is really Sun Chengzu's legacy. Old Lu also had this effect in Bianjing City before."
The three of them admired the lotus and listened to the rain on the pleasure boat, laughing and talking about their youth.
Wei Jinyun was busy in the small kitchen. She took a short break to drink some tea and then went back to work on her new boat order.
"Let's have some food first. A long boat banquet can take several hours."
Li Shiwan cut a piece of candied lotus root and brought it to Wei Jinyun. "You have such a delicate craft. It makes my eyes blurry just thinking about it. It's like threading a needle."
Chuan Dim Sum is not an ordinary dim sum. It has extremely high requirements and requires the food to be exquisite and delicate.
Wei Jinyun strives to achieve the perfect balance of fragrance, softness, glutinousness, smoothness, freshness, and form. Using glutinous rice and polished japonica rice as the base, she skillfully uses natural ingredients to color the dough. Through kneading, cutting, and shaping, she transforms the dough into flowers, birds, fish, insects, fruits, and animals. Sweet fillings include rose bean paste and lotus seed paste, while savory fillings include ham, scallion oil, and fresh minced chicken. The animal and plant forms cleverly complement the fillings.
In order to make these delicate boat details, she asked Carpenter Wang to work overtime and make her several comb-like tools, and tried her best to make them into the most vivid shapes.
"Jinyun?"
He poked half his head out of the kitchen door, glanced at Wei Jinyun a few times, and then quickly stepped in.
Lu Lingxiang now goes to Wei Jinyun's stall every day. The two of them get along better and better. She no longer calls her "Miss Wei" but calls her more affectionately.
Lu Lingxiang's outfit today is very different from usual.
She wore a smoky-colored silk jacket with a water-green satin pleated skirt, the hems embroidered with a few small fish. Her hair was tied up in a bun, adorned with a red gold hairpin and several pearls, which jingled as she entered.
"Ah, Fairy Xiangxiang."
Wei Jinyun raised her eyes and greeted her, "Xiangxiang looks really beautiful today."
"Jinyun, are you done yet? Grandpa is talking to a guest. I'm so bored."
Lu Lingxiang sat on the small stool next to Wei Jinyun. Seeing a plate of cut candied lotus root on the table, and Wei Jinyun was busy with his hands, she took the chopsticks to feed her.
"Okay, okay, I'll eat first."
Wei Jinyun swallowed hard a piece of candied lotus root that Lu Lingxiang had picked up and moved away from the chopping board. "It would be bad if the sugar dripped onto the guests' snacks."
She took the chopsticks from Lu Lingxiang and picked up two more pieces. She turned to look at Li Shiwan who was busy as she was. "Otherwise, how could Wanniang be so famous? The candied lotus root she makes tastes different from other places. It's sweet but not greasy."
"You have to choose the right lotus roots, especially the red ones. The soft and sticky lotus roots taste best when stewed with glutinous rice."
"Is it so delicious? Then I'll have a piece too."
Lu Lingxiang took a piece directly with her hand and put it in her mouth. She felt that it was sticky but not choking, and full of honey fragrance.
She laughed, "I'm going to stay in the small kitchen. It's a great place... Anyway, my second brother is nowhere to be found and hasn't arrived yet. It's so boring!"
Lu Lingxiang sat next to the two of them, sometimes watching Wei Jinyun making the boat order, sometimes watching Li Shiwan preparing the boat banquet.
Did my second brother bring him here?
Will he like what she is wearing today?
"I'll stay with you until I'm done."
Wei Jinyun ate a few pieces of lotus root, drank a cup of tea, and continued to prepare her boat meal.
During the banquet, she prepared to make the Eight Water Immortals.
On the table are freshly peeled water chestnuts, gorgon fruit, mashed lotus root, and water shield juice...all of which will be used to season and color the dish. Mix them with rice flour, steam them, and then knead them into a dough.
Wei Jinyun picked up some with his fingertips, rolled it into an oval shape, wrapped it with bean paste, pressed three shallow marks with a bamboo strip, and slowly pinched it into water chestnut corners. Then he took a piece of dough to wrap lotus paste, pressed it into a shallow hole with a tool, and embedded a whole water chestnut as the core. This was chicken head rice.
The most labor-intensive part is the water chestnut. The dough is rolled into long strips, and three or two diagonal lines are cut into them with scissors. A tender yellow bud is pinched out at the top, and the white core is wrapped in green powder. It really looks like it has just been pulled out of the water.
"Jinyun, go down to the ground and pull it out."
Lu Lingxiang was stunned watching from the side. How could the dough change shape with just a pinch and a squeeze?
The exquisite boat dots are lifelike and are no less vivid than those in paintings.
"Yes, yes, yes." Wei Jinyun responded, squinting his eyes and continued working, "Xiangxiang and I pulled it out together."
She lowered her head and used bamboo clips to cut the lotus root into sections. The dough was pinched into a crescent shape, with fine silk patterns pressed into the skin. It was wrapped with sweet lotus seed paste. Next to it lay a water chestnut, the dough dyed light brown, with a pointed bud pinched on the top, and filled with salty and fragrant bamboo shoots filling.
Next is water shield, a few thin strands of vermicelli dipped in green, put together into a bunch, and a vermicelli tray made of lotus leaves is placed underneath.
Spread out on a plate, there are cute water chestnuts, round and solid water caltrops, tall and slender wild rice stems, as well as water chestnuts, water caltrops, lotus roots, water celery, and water shield. She has shrunk the aquatic scenery of Zhenze into exquisite shapes that are edible.
"Aung is really willing to eat it."
Lu Lingxiang used chopsticks to pick up the remaining scraps and tasted them. "If you want, I'll take it home and put it on display. It looks really nice."
Wei Jinyun was already preparing snacks for the boat banquet, so Li Shiwan couldn't fall behind. Even though it was summer, they had to eat freshly stewed and stir-fried dishes.
Freshly caught silverfish, white shrimp and white fish in the bamboo basket.
Silverfish is used to make soup, whitefish is stewed, white shrimp is stir-fried, the three white fish of Zhenze are very delicious.
A clay pot simmered on the stove, stewing eel segments with garlic. She had chosen a pen-shaped eel, which she had cleaned and cut into segments, then stewed with cracked single-headed garlic. A little rice wine was added to the broth, and the bubbling aroma of garlic mingled with the rich aroma of the eel wafted out. When the broth turned a rich white, she sprinkled in a handful of green garlic leaves, lifted the lid, and the hot steam, wrapped in a fresh aroma, rushed straight to her nose.
While the food was stewing, she turned to make the crab stuffed orange. She split the orange in half, scooped out the flesh, leaving the shell. She squeezed the juice from the flesh and mixed it with crab roe. She added some shredded shellfish and lard, mixed well, and then stuffed the shell back into the orange. She tied it with thin firewood and steamed it in a double boiler until the peel wrinkled. The orange fragrance, mixed with the freshness of the crab, filled the small kitchen.
The cooked drunken crabs were prepared the night before.
Live crabs were steamed and soaked in Dongyang wine, with added brown sugar, Sichuan peppercorns, and sliced ginger, until the shells shone a wine-red. Li Shiwan opened the ceramic jar, removed a crab, and pried it open at the navel with a knife. The crab roe was so yellow and translucent, and the aroma of the wine mixed with the sweetness of the crab meat made Wei Jinyun and Lu Lingxiang salivate.
The lotus pod fish buns require the most ingenuity. She hollows out the pods of fresh lotus plants, stuffs them with finely chopped sea bass, and mixes in diced bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms. She then ties the pods shut with thin firewood and simmers them in broth. When the pods are cooked, they crack open, revealing the freshness of the fish mixed with the bitterness of the lotus. Served in a celadon bowl, even the broth carries the fragrance of lotus.
"Here, the lotus pod fish bun I promised you."
Li Shiwan stewed two portions for Wei Jinyun and Lu Lingxiang, and stuffed the money into Lu Lingxiang's hand, "Come here, Miss Lu, I'll give you some money."
"You cook for me, and you pay me?"
Lu Lingxiang slowly used chopsticks to poke open the small opening of her lotus bud, "How could such a good thing exist in the world?"
"How can a cook eat the master's food without permission?"
Li Shiwan smiled and continued to work, "I can still taste it, but Miss Wei is not a person who prepares boat banquets."
"Here, I'll give you Xiangxiang too."
While Lu Lingxiang was in a daze, Wei Jinyun also stuffed a handful of silver coins into her mouth. "Although it's just leftovers, I used some glutinous rice flour... Master Lu, can I give some to Wanniang?"
“Eat, eat, eat.”
Lu Lingxiang stuffed the money into her purse. "How could there be such a thing? I thought the cook could eat whatever he wanted in the kitchen."
Wei Jinyun took a bite of the lotus fish bun, which was fresh and refreshing with a slightly bitter aftertaste.
The stewed lotus pods are so tender that when you bite into them, they will ooze out soup with the fragrance of lotus, mixed with the tenderness of the sea bass meat, the crispness of the bamboo shoots, and the freshness of the mushrooms, which is sweet and delicious.
There are also braised lion's head with sauce, crab roe tofu, cherry meat, sauce recipes... everything is available under Li Shiwan's skillful spatula.
At the first quarter of the You hour, the boat banquet began.
After the maids brought out the snacks from Wei Jinyun's banquet, she busied herself with preparing the after-meal desserts.
Since there are the Eight Immortals of Water, there must also be koi carps eating flowers and white geese playing with lotus flowers in summer.
Wei Jinyun took the dough and rolled it into a spindle shape, used bamboo strips to lightly press out the arc of the fish's belly, used scissors to diagonally cut out the tail fin, and then used a special bamboo comb to draw the pattern of the dorsal scales to make a carp.
She filled the fish belly with crab meat and fresh meat filling, and put two drops of red juice on the gills.
The lotus is not easy to make either. The white one is pinched into a bowl shape, and the green one is cut into layers of petals. The fingertips are rubbed to form a curled edge to form a half-opened lotus. A candied lotus seed is embedded in the center of the flower, and the inside is filled with rose bean paste. After rolling out the lotus, she also specially rolled a few lotus leaves to accompany it.
The last one is the white goose. The dough is kneaded into a round body, a small piece of vermicelli is bent into a neck, a black sesame seed is decorated on the top as an eye, the wings are pressed into feather texture, the belly is filled with mung bean paste, and a small water chestnut leaf is pinched next to it as a background. It looks like it is pecking at the food with its head down.
Put them together, the carp is wagging its tail to eat flowers, the lotus is about to bloom but not yet, and the white goose is so naive...
After doing all this, Wei Jinyun's eyes became blurry and his hands became uncontrollable.
If it is the mint cake you make on ordinary days, you just need to knead it into a dough without any care. But the delicate process of making the boat cake requires slow and careful work. If you make a mistake, you have to knead it again with the dough.
"Rub Jinyun's shoulders."
Lu Lingxiang stood beside Wei Jinyun, patting her back and offering her some cold tea. After the three of them chatted for a while, she went back to look for her grandfather.
Wei Jinyun shook his head up and down, left and right, drank some tea, and prepared to go out for some fresh air.
Although the small kitchen had two open crabapple-shaped windows, it was still sweltering and stuffy. She had been keeping her head down while making the boat dishes, and now her neck was sore and her eyes were blurry.
Fortunately, the boat-shaped dumplings she made were quite delicate. She didn't know what Mr. Lu and his friends thought of the taste, and whether it was worth the ten taels of money she would spend.
"I'm used to this kind of heat. There are still a few dishes left to cook. You can go out first. I'll come back later."
Li Shiwan was still doing the final finishing touches. She did not turn around and gestured for Wei Jinyun to go and rest first.
Wei Jinyun walked out of the small kitchen, held onto the railing of the wooden corridor, watched the rustling sound of raindrops hitting the lotus leaves, and took a deep breath.
Listening to the night rain on a painted boat is really a wonderful experience.
She stood there for a while, and suddenly heard the clear sound of water among the lotus leaves.
She turned her head, and the gust of wind blew over, and in the blink of an eye, a red shadow fell in front of her.
He probably jumped directly from the black-sailed boat not far away. A few strands of wet hair stuck to his forehead. He raised his hand to wipe his face and saw the person in front of him clearly.
"ah."
Wei Jinyun tilted his head, only an inch away from him.
"The Light of the People!"
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Honey floating crispy pear flowers come from "Wenchang Miscellaneous Records" and "Dongjing Menghualu". Boat dots originated in the Tang and Song Dynasties and were popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are the Eight Immortals of Water, carp and the like. I only gave a general description. My wife can search for it. It is very beautiful.
Boat banquets mostly use local dishes from Pingjiang Prefecture.
"Xiao" is a whistle.
Jinyun: Ah. [Cat Head] The light of the people!
Mr. Lu: (I just love to attend boat banquets [poor]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
