The General's Delicious Wife Chapter 017: Banquet surprises everywhere
Zheng Chun Ni is chased out of the Cui's house with shoving and scolding. Seeing the gates in front of her shut with a slam, she bites down her lower lip hard and a shiver of malice flashes in her eyes.
After chasing Zheng Chun Ni away, Madam Guo is not yet appeased. She looks at the squashed pears and feels a pain in her heart.
"Aiyo, what to do now, even if we serve it damaged like this, it is not pretty anymore."
Xia Yue Chu is also contemplating over these two pears. After a moment of brainstorming, first she takes a perfect pear, cutting it up into flower petal like slices, spreading it out in a white porcelain platter, arranging it into the form of a flower.
Then she picks up one of the damage pears, cutting away the squashed portion, shredding it thinly. Placing them into rounds in the inside of the flower. Lastly, in the middle point of the plate, she garnishes with preserved fruit.
Madam Guo watches with her eyes widen, slapping her thigh in exclamation. "Oh my mother, no wonder Madam Shan says that your cutting skills are amazing, truly you live up to that reputation, looks really pretty."
Around this time, it is already bustling all over in the Cui family main room. Their relatives gathering in a hall, totally oblivious to the problem that has happened in the back kitchen.
Cui Shu Qing is accompanying and chatting with his younger brother-in-law Cao Xing, all the females are surrounding Cui Wen Lan in the inner room, asking all sorts of questions.
Cao Xing is also an intellectual person. Although he has yet to pass the scholar examination, he has always held himself with a high esteem.
Furthermore, the Cao family is wealthy, three generations of sole heirs and he is the only child, he has been pampered to the skies by his family since young.
Cao Xing looks down on others most of the time. Though he is considerably satisfied with how Cui Wen Lan looks, but towards the Cui family who lives in the deep mountain valley, he still inclines to look down on them.
Even as he is facing Cui Shu Qing, he is also unconvinced in his heart, thinking that he is winning only because he is two years older than himself.
It is quite harmonious when the two of them are talking about poetry, now that the feast is about to start, Cao Xing is compelled to mention. "Earlier on there is a new restaurant that opened in the city, it is called Xian Ke Lai. It is not just their name that is elegant, the design and placement of their interior also speaks thoughtfulness, the food is especially influenced by the beauty of poetry and painting."
Cui Shu Qing laughs and replies. "For this newlywed's returning banquet, the family has specially hired a head chef. On the day of dishes testing, I have also tasted two of the dishes. Surely it will not disappoint you."
But Cao Xing thinks otherwise. "The Northern cuisine are mostly stews of everything in a large wok that are served in big basin and big bowl, even if it is delicious, it lacks a certain delicacy. The boss of Xian Ke Lai is in fact from the South, a region of land breeds a region of people, which makes them more graceful and delicate compared to us from the North."
Cui Shu Qing rolls his eyes in his heart, thinking to himself that isn't he also a Northerner, and has no idea what he is so blindly particular about.
At this moment, Madam Guo comes in smiling as she announces. "The feast is starting, and the food will be served."
Upon hearing this, everyone gets to the table and takes their seat in succession.
Cao Xing smiles with the intention of being entertained. "Just nice, I would like to see just how amazing this chef is that Big Brother has approved of."
Cui Shu Qing responds smiling, secretly praying in his heart, hoping that Xia Yue Chu will not let him down in front of this little squirt.
Very soon, the first dish is served up.
"Beautiful purple brilliant red."
This does not sound like a name for a dish at all, everyone's attention is attracted towards the plate.
Once they have looked, they could not move their eyes away. There is a wine red flower blooming on the plate, the pear has been sliced up into an even thinness, the wine red colour from the edge has a gradual gradient turning lighter towards the inner core, layers by layers, it is as beautiful as a camellia.
There is deep red honey preserved hawthorn berries placed within as the flower pollens which forms a distinct contrast compared to the flower petals on the outer layer.
Cui Shu Qing becomes overjoyed seeing this and exclaims. "Such a good dish of beautiful purple brilliant red!"
Cao Xing is a bit surprised to see this, never has he thought that the head chef hired by the Cui family has such capabilities. This dish is something that he has never seen before and has never heard before.
He picks up a piece of the pear slice for a taste and becomes even more surprised.
The pear is originally cooked and soaked in syrup, then once more, being double boiled in the bayberry wine overnight, the flavour of the wine totally penetrates the flesh of the pear.
The texture is that of a pear but the flavour has that of a deep wine fragrance.
The hawthorn berry preserve is cooked by Xia Yue chu herself, adding sugar and honey. The flesh of the fruit is cooked till translucent and wrapped with a sparkling crystal sugar coat. It is well balanced in sourness and sweetness.
Once it enters the mouth, it triggers the salivation in an instant. The people who are not hungry initially will unleash their appetites and begin looking forward to more dishes being served.
"Peacock spreads its feather."
"Viburnum embracing nectar."
This time, there are two dishes served at once. The plating is consistently elegant and beautiful. Exclamations and praises can be heard from everywhere in the room.
Peacock spreads its feather is a dish of braised eggplants. The dried eggplant is hydrated and stuffed meat fillings, covered in a thin batter and deep fried till cooked, then back into the wok again and braised in a stock until it becomes flavourful.
A peacock's head is craved using radish and is placed at the tip, surrounds by thinly sliced radish in the shape of the peacock's tail that has been spread out, arranges the eggplant in its reduced stock and lastly garnishes with hydrated goji berry at the top.
One bite down, the meat juice and the soup stock that is absorbed flow out together. The mouth immediately gets overtaken by the thick and savoury flavour, satisfying the hunger that is brought out by the preserved fruit.
The table is ineffably quiet. Everyone is busy eating with their heads down, to the point of being inept to make any effort to praise.
Comparably, the first two dishes are new and unique to everyone, but now, the third dish is something that every Northern family would eat every year, sour cabbage with blood sausage and white meat.
The pickled cabbage is shredded very thinly at the base, the white meat roll is placed in one round on the border of the plate as if like petals, and the blood sausage is spread out in layers in the middle, as if it is the nectar holding up by the white meat petal.
Usually, Cao Xing dislikes eating this kind of greasy homecooked dishes the most. Today, he tastes a bite out of politeness, but he could not stop after that.
The blood sausage is tender soft and thick in flavour, the white meat is cooked perfectly, and the sour cabbage is extremely well suited to cut the grease. Making the entire dish aromatic while being fatty, leaving a rich aftertaste.
Cui Shu Qing sees how happily he is eating and gives in to the urge to ask. "Brother-in-law, how is the skills of the chef we hired?"
Cao Xing recalls the pompous things which he has said just now and his face turns red uncontrollably.
Fortunately, Cui Shu Qing is still willing to honour his new brother-in-law's poise and did not continue to speak sarcastically. Serving him a chopstick full of food, smiling as he reminds all. "The better dishes are at the back, everyone, reserve some space in your stomach."
A relative sitting at the side drinks his wine and gestures a big thumbs up towards Cui Old Sir. "Old Brother, the chef you hired this time is really this!"
"This chef is so much better than that one who cooked for the wedding luncheon, Old Sir is really doting to your grandson-in-law. Intentionally changing a MasterChef here!"
Cui Old Sir is also eating happily that the way he smiles shows only his teeth and not his eyes. He turns to Cao Xing. "Eat more if you like it, we have a carriage to send you back in the afternoon, no worries even if you get drunk."
While they are talking, three more dishes are served.
"Until hair turns white, A bundle of harmony, Dragon and phoenix bring good fortune."
Until hair turns white is from that day of dish testing which Cui Shu Qing has already eaten before, so he places his attention on the other two dishes.
A bundle of harmony is a dish of braised lion's head meatball. The cabbage leaves blanched in soup at the bottom is in a delightful tender green.
The reddish sauced lion's head meatballs arranged on top has the proportion of three fatty cut is to seven lean meat, it glistens in a red tone and a shiny glaze.
The meat granule has fully absorbed the broth. One bite down is a mouthful of soft glutinous meat fragrance, it is practically making them unable to stop eating.
Dragon and phoenix bring good fortune is a dish of fried fish in sauce. Because the fish supplied by the Cui family is not quite big, Xia Yue Chu serves two fishes for each table which are entwined in the Taichi formation, the fish has been scored evenly in cross patterns.
The fish is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The sauce is perfumed with spiciness and it leaves a sweet aftertaste.
This is the most popular dish, the flesh of the fish is eaten cleanly after a moment of being served up, leaving behind only the bare fish bones.
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Translator Notes:
Xia Yue Chu uses Chinese idioms as the names for the dishes throughout the entire menu. These idioms are in a set of four words expression. Some which are not commonly used words in everyday speech, some which are auspicious things people say to wish others well, all of which reflect highly educated and cultured thoughtfulness.