Chapter 74 Paper-wrapped Shumai "Tell someone to deliver all the dishes to the flower hall." Qi...
"Have someone deliver all the dishes to the flower hall." Madam Qi raised her head, rubbed her sore neck, and looked out the window. Seeing that it was getting late, she sent someone to the front to see if Master Peng had returned yet.
Before long, the maid returned and reported, "The young master has not yet returned."
"It's so late, why hasn't my husband returned yet? Could it be that his old habit has flared up again, and he's gone drinking with those people?" Madam Qi complained.
"My lady, shall I go and look for her?"
"What are you going to do?" Madam Qi shook her head and sent her maid to run another errand, instructing her to tell Steward Zheng to go outside and invite Master Peng back.
The maidservant agreed and withdrew.
After changing her clothes and washing her hands, Madam Qi got up and went to the flower hall. Although she sent someone to look for Master Peng, she did not take his late return to heart. She sat down at the head of the table and ordered someone to serve some appetizers.
Before long, four maids carrying trays filed in and placed four appetizers on the table.
Qi glanced at the menu and immediately noticed the discrepancy: "Why are there two extra dishes? Didn't I originally instruct Chef Su that only two cold dishes were needed?"
A banquet typically consists of anywhere from ten to several dozen dishes. Since the Qi family had invited people to taste the dishes rather than deliberately making things difficult for them, they only asked Su Zhihan to prepare two cold dishes, two meat dishes, two vegetarian dishes, plus a staple food and a soup, for a total of ten dishes.
Now, there are four cold dishes served.
The head maidservant, faced with Madam Qi's question, hesitated for a moment before replying, "Reporting to Madam, Zhou the Kitchen Man said that you instructed him to prepare several dishes and have them brought up together..."
Madam Pang was shocked: "When did you say such a thing, Madam?"
Only then did the servant realize that she had been tricked by Zhou the cook. She was so angry that her face turned red, and she reached out to point out the dishes that Zhou the cook had brought.
However, before she could say it, Qi stopped her.
Qi Shi had initially only disliked Zhou Zaoren's bad temper, but now she was truly angry. With a stern face, she said, "Since he wants to compete with Chef Su, then let him compete to his heart's content!"
She originally wanted to see how good Su Zhihan's cooking skills were; if they were excellent, she would take charge of the next banquet; if they were not, she would find someone else.
From the very beginning, Zhou Zaoren was not among those selected to organize the banquet. Qi Shi also let him be, only allowing him to be in charge of the household's daily meals.
However, Zhou Zaoren's actions really angered Qi Shi. She secretly made up her mind that it was time for Zhou Zaoren to retire and that she would replace him with a new cook.
Qi Shi kept a cold face, not revealing her thoughts. She composed herself and looked at the dishes on the table. The four appetizers served were bamboo shoots with fish maw, garlic-flavored pork belly, shiitake mushrooms, and water bamboo shoots with moringa sprouts.
In terms of presentation, the Flower Wave Mushrooms is absolutely superb. The mushrooms are placed on a plate like tiny bowls, piled with snow-white chicken paste, and topped with patterns carefully drawn with various flower petals, fish roe, scallions, ginger and other ingredients, making it look exceptionally exquisite and beautiful.
Nowadays, the evaluation of dishes has a standard that considers color, aroma, and taste, with color being the most important. This shows that people throughout history have loved things that are visually appealing and beautiful, especially wealthy families in the capital, who take great pride in this.
Although Zhou Zaoren can cook many exquisite dishes, he has never seen anyone paint on mushroom and chicken paste before.
Qi was certain that this dish was made by Su Zhihan, so she asked the maid beside her to bring it to her to try.
One bite and Qi's eyes lit up. The shiitake mushrooms were smooth and slippery, bursting with rich, fragrant juice with a gentle bite. The chicken paste piled on top was extremely delicate, melting in the mouth, filling it with the sweet and savory flavors of chicken and shiitake mushrooms—a truly unique taste.
Qi's eyes lit up, and she turned her gaze to the other three dishes. She then called her maid to bring up a piece of food for each of them and savored it carefully.
First came the dish of bamboo shoots and fish maw. The bamboo shoots were crisp and the fish maw was tender. However, the seasoning was too familiar. After taking only one bite, Qi recognized it as Zhou Zaoren's cooking.
The other two dishes surprised Qi Shi quite a bit. The first was the water bamboo and moringa sprouts dish. The water bamboo was crisp and tender, while the moringa sprouts were smooth and refreshing. The completely different textures of the two dishes created a wonderful taste experience. Qi Shi, who was eating it for the first time, praised it highly and took three or four bites before stopping.
Then, the garlic-infused pork belly surprised her even more. Qi had assumed that the garlic-infused pork belly was made by Zhou Zaoren and should be the familiar taste she often ate, so she didn't have high hopes.
It wasn't until she put it in her mouth that she was surprised to find that the pork was sliced extremely thinly. When she ate it with the garlic sauce on top, the meat was delicate and rich, refreshing and not greasy, quite different from what Zhou Zaoren usually made.
But the servant said that the cook, Su, made two dishes, and the cook, Zhou, made two dishes.
Qi looked around at the four dishes in front of her, but apart from the one that was definitely made by Zhou Zaoren, the green bamboo shoot and fish maw dish, she was still unsure.
She thought about it for a while, and even let Pang's mother taste it, before asking, "Pang's mother, which dish do you think is Zhou Zaoren's cooking?"
"This bamboo shoot and fish maw dish, please come again..."
"If you ask me, it should be this garlic-flavored pork belly." After thinking for a moment, Mrs. Pang said, "No, no, no, it should be this water bamboo and moringa sprouts... No, no, I've never seen Zhou Zaoren use this vegetable before. I feel it must be the work of Chef Su."
"But the taste of that garlic pork belly... is completely different from what I used to know." Mrs. Pang hesitated, unable to give a definite answer for a long time.
Qi's anger at Zhou Zaoren for acting on his own initiative subsided somewhat, and she laughed, "Look at Zhou Zaoren, he still has some skills, doesn't he? He used to keep them hidden, but now that we've pressed him, they've all come out."
Madam Pang agreed wholeheartedly, but at the same time she was a little puzzled. Since Zhou Zaoren had such skills, why did he keep them hidden all the time, forcing the temple to hire someone from outside?
Unable to hold back, Mrs. Pang voiced her doubts.
Madam Qi was also puzzled. After thinking for a while, she decided to put the matter aside for the time being. She instructed Granny Pang to summon the young masters and ladies of the mansion to taste the cook's cooking together.
Within the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the young men and women of Master Peng's mansion arrived one after another at the flower hall, bowing and exchanging greetings with Madam Qi. Master Peng's mansion had many young men and women, but only the eldest son and the youngest daughter were born to Madam Qi.
The former was still studying at the academy and had not yet returned home; only the youngest daughter was with Madam Qi. Unlike the other reserved children, she sat down next to Madam Qi and said coquettishly, "Mother, why are you sneaking food by yourself?"
“Nonsense, would I call you all if I wanted to steal some food?” Madam Qi tapped her daughter’s forehead affectionately. When she looked up at the other boys and girls, although she had a smile on her face, her attitude was obviously colder: “What are you all standing there like idiots for? Sit down and have a taste of the food with your mother.”
Everyone agreed and then took their seats.
Once everyone was seated, Madam Qi ordered the servants to continue serving the dishes. This time, the servants brought out eight meat dishes.
In an instant, the room was filled with the aroma of various people.
"Today's dishes were prepared by the two cooks. Try each dish and choose the ones you like best," Madam Qi instructed, before having someone take a piece of mutton from each of the two dishes to taste.
One dish of braised mutton in soy sauce, and one dish of braised mutton with scallions.
Without even tasting them, Qi knew that the former was made by Zhou Zaoren and the latter by Su Chuniang.
The braised mutton is bright red in color, fragrant but not gamey, tender but not dry, and the large pieces of mutton are full of juice and very rich. However, as always, the taste is the same as what we usually eat.
The latter, braised mutton with scallions, is quite different. The mutton is not in large chunks, but cut into evenly thick slices that look sticky and glistening with a glossy sauce, emitting an extremely tempting aroma.
Qi's Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he quickly put the slices of meat and scallions into his mouth. The mutton was tender yet chewy, with a rich and robust meaty aroma, while the scallions were crisp, sweet, and had a hint of spiciness at the end.
"Mmm...this mutton smells so good!"
"Go and get me a bowl of rice."
Before Qi could even speak, another child couldn't help but gasp in surprise. She hadn't even had time to take a few more bites before the plate of stir-fried mutton with scallions was almost empty.
Next came a dish of stuffed roasted white fish, a dish of catfish in white sauce, followed by a dish of three-cooked fresh chicken, and a dish of salted pigeon.
Then the servants brought up vegetarian dishes: a plate of rolled cucumber, a plate of eggplant fish, a plate of dried winter melon, and a plate of fresh bamboo shoots from the woods.
Without exception, Qi could tell which dish was Zhou Zaoren's cooking and which was Su Zhihan's.
When Master Peng returned to his residence, the nearly finished vegetarian and meat dishes had been moved aside, leaving only the staple food and the last of the soup on the table. He glanced at the dishes on the table and let out a burp: "How come there's only this left... um."
Qi led her children to greet them, and complained, "How dare you say that? I said I would come to see it in person, but in the end only I was left, so I called the children to come and have a taste."
I thought you would come back soon.
"Who knew they would come back so late?"
What Qi didn't say was that she had only intended for everyone to have a simple taste, but she hadn't expected the food to be so delicious that she couldn't stop eating, and now she was quite full.
"Alright, alright, it's my fault." Master Peng looked to the side and saw that there were still a lot of vegetarian and meat dishes left, and he immediately shook his head inwardly.
Sure enough, the girl was young and couldn't cook anything very good; look how much food was left over. He took off his outer robe, sat in the seat of honor that Qi had left for him, and instructed someone to serve him the main course.
After just one bite, he frowned: "This tastes like something Zhou Zaoren would make?"
"I forgot to tell you..." Qi Shi then remembered that she had mentioned to Master Peng that Zhou Zaoren wanted to compete with Su Zhihan in cooking, and then instructed the servants to serve Su Zhihan's Ningxiang Jinyu Su.
"You said that the rest were mostly made by Zhou Zaoren, and that you ate almost all of the dishes made by Chef Su?"
"Exactly."
"It's really that good?" Master Peng was taken aback, and his eyes lit up immediately. He hurriedly moved the red bean rice to the side, preparing to try the fragrant golden jade pastry made by Su Zhihan.
The top of this flaky pastry resembles a steamed bun, with several fine and even pleats. The bottom is round and plump, and the dough is so thin that it is almost translucent, revealing a generous filling of dark brown glutinous rice, mainly made of rich and oily glutinous rice, with small pieces of pork mixed in.
This was the first time that Master Peng had ever seen such a flaky pastry. After examining it for a moment, he took a bite.
The dough was extremely thin yet resilient; it could be torn apart with just a little force from the lips and teeth, releasing the aroma that had been tightly hidden inside. The hot glutinous rice and savory diced meat rolled into Master Peng's mouth.
"Wow, wow... This food smells so good!" Master Peng opened his mouth, letting out a puff of steam before he could even offer a comment.
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