Chef Hua
Chapter 402 - 223: Rustic Banquet in the Mountains

Chapter 402: Chapter 223: Rustic Banquet in the Mountains

Pan Ping’an made trips back to Fire Knife Village every month. In addition to transporting sauce ingredients to the Provincial City, he also reported to Hua Xiaomai about the month’s business proceedings. Thus, the matter of who would stay behind to look after the Sauce Garden was not urgent; it could wait until his return to be discussed thoroughly. After Wan Meixian and others had left, the most pressing task was to manage the preparations for the scholar’s banquet meticulously.

Since the end of March, the selection process had been underway. After a whole month, they finally settled on an organizer. Thereafter, they sent people back and forth to discuss and revise the menu with Hua Xiaomai countless times. The importance Magistrate Tao placed on this banquet was evident from this ordeal. On the fifth day of May, the whole of Fuzhe County was still enveloped in a curtain of rain and fog, and the location of the scholars’ banquet moved indoors to a venue called "Fangzheng Pavilion," situated at the foothills just outside the city.

Initially, Hua Xiaomai was very eager to take on this scholar’s banquet when she first heard about it from Meng Yuhuai. However, after enduring over a month’s wait and personally witnessing the final selection among several restaurants — where faces were torn and fists were thrown — she became more composed. She only wished that there would be no mix-ups or errors throughout the process. The actual benefits seemed less significant now. On the day of the event, she didn’t make much fuss, instead, she and Zhou Yunyun rode there lightly, pushing along a cart of ingredients and went straight into the kitchen upon arriving in the suburban area.

The Fangzheng Pavilion leaned against a small hill and was backed by layers of lush trees, which appeared particularly clean after being washed by the rain. It truly was a secluded and pleasant place. Though it was called a "pavilion," it actually housed various buildings, including a spacious, independent kitchen and a winding corridor where the banquet tables were set.

The so-called "scholars" mostly lived away from the worldly affairs, appearing quite casual but often had very particular tastes, and their palates were not easily pleased. These people typically preferred elegance, and items like bamboo shoots and mushrooms were their favorites. However, if you dared to serve just these items too straightforwardly, you would certainly not receive their praise. How to arrange the dishes both exquisitely and elegantly was of utmost importance.

Magistrate Tao highly praised the "Mountain and Sea Combo" during the final selection, went to great lengths to procure some thorny dragon’s tooth, and instructed Hua Xiaomai to replicate that dish according to the model provided. As for the other dishes, they could not be neglected either. Nevertheless, by early morning, the kitchen was already steaming hot, and the few kitchen helpers, without uttering a word, busied themselves. In the vast room, aside from the occasional whisper between Hua Xiaomai and Zhou Yunyun, no other sound was heard.

In early summer, bamboo shoots in the forest were thriving. Fresh shoots were split in half and stuffed with tender, pearly Guilin fish meat, then slow-cooked over a bamboo leaf fire with just ginger slices to remove the fishy taste, plus a few simple seasonings, resulting in a beautifully sweet dish called "bamboo shoot.";

Fresh fragrant mushrooms were washed and initially stewed in bone and ham broth until half cooked, then finished with fine Shao Wine. The strong aroma of the alcohol infused into the broth and mushrooms, creating a dish called "Alcohol Cooked Jade Mushroom"; its intoxicating scent alone could make one feel tipsy.

Wild deer meat, brought from afar, was sliced into large thin slices, marinated for an hour with spices, salt, and wine, and then wrapped in mutton fat and roasted over high heat. The juices soaked into the meat, and by the time it was removed from the fire, the outer lamb fat had hardened like stone, but the meat inside remained tender and flavorful, not needing further words to describe its taste and perfectly capturing the essence of wild roasted food, which would surely please the scholars.

The rice dish was made from glutinous rice steeped in Green Essence and steamed to create "Green Rice"; the soup was brewed from sun-dried blossoms called "Blossom Soup." Before setting the table, large plates and small bowls were piled on the stove in the kitchen, just a glance at them brought joy. Among them, what Hua Xiaomai was most satisfied with was undoubtedly the "Dispelling Clouds Offering."

A broth, repeatedly extracted from minced chicken until clear as water yet rich in taste, was placed in a copper pot with small, creek-side white stones at the bottom, possibly still moss-clad. As the soup gradually boiled, a faint essence of "spring stone" emanated. At this point, small slices of rabbit meat were added to the pot for a brief dip before tasting with condiments. This dish, cooked and consumed simultaneously, was similar to a hot pot but differed due to its ingeniously crafted soup base that subtly brought a breath of the wilderness; and as the steam rose, the guests felt as if they were enveloped in clouds and mist.