The General's Delicious Wife Chapter 051: The Drunkard's Intention Is Not The Alcohol*
Cui Shu Qing went all the way to the kitchen, which surprised Elder Sister Shan who was standing by the door and hurriedly stopped him. "Aiyo, the talented young sire, it's not fun here in the kitchen with the knives and fire. The last two main dishes are almost ready to be served, you should quickly get back to the banquet."
"Madam, I just came to take a look, and I will not move about unnecessarily or make a mess." Cui Shu Qing was exceptionally curious about the last dishes, he trailed around Elder Sister Shan playfully and sneaked into the kitchen.
Xia Yue Chu was pouring her full concentration on picking out the crab meat.
She had seen how fresh the swimmer crabs were, and the quantity was enough for one person each, so she had planned to steam it directly.
But when she entrusted the kitchen aids to scrub the crabs clean, the two women who were appointed, were so frightened that they were yelling out in fright, and the timid one was claiming it to be a monster.
It was only then that Xia Yue Chu realized, due to the inconvenience of transportation, many people had never travelled long distance throughout their lives, they had never seen or heard what crabs were, let alone eating them.
She estimated that among the five tables of guests, perhaps only the Cui Second Sire's family knew how to eat crab.
If it was steamed and served directly, everyone would not know how to eat, either biting it without any cares about their etiquette, or worse, they could be stung or choke on or eat something that should not be eaten. If that had happened, it would be utterly chaotic.
So Xia Yue Chu simply changed her approach, picking out all the crab roe and crab meat, and then refilling them into the crab shell which had already been emptied clean. Hence, taking a longer time to prepare the last dish.
As her fingers moved dexterously, pieces of snow-white crabs were pinned into a small bowl, and then she used a paring knife to remove the transparent film around the crab guts and stuffed the seasoned crab meat back, topped it up with the crab roe, and finally covered it with the top part of the crab shell.
A completely well-preserved swimmer crab appeared within her hands, and based on the appearance only, no one would have guessed that there was more to it than it seems.
Cui Shu Qing watched her dealt with the crab in her hand, and could not help but clasped his palms together, "Sister Xue is really an amazing person! I don't know how you came up with such a novel approach."
Xue Qin had been observing Cui Shu Qing from the side for a period of time, and now seeing him smiling and speaking in a friendly manner, she finally plucked up the courage to step forward and introduced herself shyly. "Cui Young Sire, hello, my name is Xue Qin, I am... ..."
Cui Shu Qing's mind was absorbed by the crab on the plate, and when he heard someone talking next to him, he subconsciously smiled and nodded his head. But in fact, he did not pay attention to what the other party said.
When Xue Qin saw Cui Shu Qing's smile, she was immediately overwhelmed with joy, and she appeared more coy than ever. She was pinching the corner of her clothes fidgeting about turning to her left and turning to her right and refusing to walk away.
It was only then that Xia Yue Chu realized, no wonder Xue Qin was finding all means to follow her to the Cui's family as a kitchen helper. The drunkard's objective was totally not on the wine.
"The kitchen is in a mess and it is filled with smoke and grease, Cui Young Sire better return quickly. The last two dishes will be served to the table soon." Xia Yue Chu saw Xue Qin had a hypnotized look on her face, and she was afraid that she would say something she should not be saying in a spur of the moment, so she hurriedly tried to persuade Cui Shu Qing to leave.
"Cui Young Sire, I will walk you out." Xue Qin did not perceive Xia Yue Chu's expression at all, instead, the snake which was hit had slithered up the rod**, throwing away the work in her hands to walk towards Cui Shu Qing.
Xia Yue Chu grabbed Xue Qin and raised her eyebrows, questioning her, "Is the Chinese yam all mashed? Quickly divide it into five portions, we have to hurry and prepare the desserts for serving, didn't you hear that they were all waiting in the front!"
Xue Qin was delayed by a split second, and when she turned back to find Cui Shu Qing, he was already leaving the kitchen, she stomped on her feet in a temper, "Aren't you done with all the crabs here? You can do it yourself. I'm going to the toilet!"
Xia Yue Chu was not adamant on making her work, as long as she was not harassing Cui Shu Qing, she would be fine. She washed her hands and started making the final dessert.
Now that spring had barely started, there was no fresh fruits available, and the Cui family could only source out some candied dried fruits and preserved fruit jam as ingredients.
Xia Yue Chu found blueberry soaked in honey and decided to make blueberry yam cakes.
The local people called this blue ingot-colored round fruit as Dian Guoer, each grain was slightly larger than soybeans.
But as soon as the lid was lifted, the sweet scent of the local wild tree honey mixed with the sweet and sour fruity scent of the wild blueberries hit them, urging them to gulp down their salivation.
Xia Yue Chu asked one to mash the steamed yam, used the smallest moon cake mold to press out an auspicious pattern and plated them.
She tasted the blueberry sauce, the fruity taste was enough, but it was a little too sour as the final dessert. She poured the blueberry sauce into a pot, added sugar and simmered for a while, then carefully ladled over the mashed yam. The white base paring with purple topping was particularly eye-catching and beautiful.
"Serve up!" Elder Sister Shan looked on while rubbing her palms together, she stood at the door of the kitchen and called out in a shout, the maidens responsible in serving the dishes hurried over.
Amongst all who had been working under Elder Sister Shan, the longest serving one was more than three years, not to mention the town, she had even been to the regional cities several times, regarding herself as someone who had seen the larger scale of the world.
This time, being called by Elder Sister Shan for a job in the countryside village, she was still a little reluctant initially, but she was completely astonished since serving the first dish.
Most of the dishes throughout this entire banquet were dishes that she had never heard of, and her initial reluctant over the work had long been thrown out beyond the atmospheric skies.
As soon as hearing the call for serving, she was the first to rush over, just to see what kind of new dish it was.
Even if one cannot taste it, it was good to learn in experience and knowledge, which could become a potential advantage when meeting others in the future.
Just after Cui Shu Qing went back and sat down, people from the back kitchen began serving food. This time round, the proceeding was arranged more extravagantly, everything was served in large trays.
The first serving was naturally placed in front of Cui Old Sire.
The crab which was steamed red was plated on the left side of the porcelain plate, on the right, there was a ginger and vinegar dipping sauce served in a leave shaped dish.
There was another large shallow round bowl with a rim curling inward, it contained a light tea colored liquid, there were a few pieces of orange peel and flower petals floating about. It was pleasing to the eye, but it was also confusing at the same time.
If it was tea, the bowl was too big, but if it was soup, it would be too watery and bland.
Fortunately, the maiden serving the tray explained to everyone immediately. "The is orange peel water for cleaning your hands after eating the crab."
Cui Second Sire could not help himself but exclaimed his praise, "This is really exquisite!"
In another porcelain dish, there were three small pieces of blueberry yam cake plated in the form of a triangle. The white and purple was a brilliant contrast and was particularly appealing.
Cui Shu Qing smirked and revealed, "Second Uncle, the real exquisite detail is in here!"
As he was saying this, he helped Cui Old Sire to uncover the crab shell, only to see the snow-white crab meat and the golden yellow crab roe neatly packed inside the crab shell.
As everyone received their share of serving, they could not wait to unveil the crab shell before them.
The last two dishes were served one portion per person, so nobody had to race and grab for the food. Thus, they could finally slow down and savor the taste delicately.
These blue swimmer crabs were specially selected by Cui Second Sire. Not only were they all well-kept in freshness and in the highest quality, the innards and roe were in its prime and full to the brim.
The crab meat was plump and tender, it had a certain sweetness. The crab roe was in a beautiful and healthy shade of yellow, it slipped in the mouth like silk and left a lasting fragrance within the cheeks.
Regardless of having eaten or had not eaten any crabs previously, nobody could be stingy with compliments over such a delicacy, everyone gave a thumbs up.
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Translator Notes:
*The drunkard's intention is not the alcohol, this is a common Chinese saying to refer to someone having ulterior motive. Think about it, if a person is not interested in alcohol, what sort of driving factor makes them continue to drink to a drunkard state?
**The snake which was hit had slithered up the rod, it refers to a situation where a person having caught the perfect timing to make use of an opposing force for their own advantage and being able to advance their own agenda with the opposing force as a support. Even though snakes give a negative impression of being sly and cunning, this is actually a neutral term because it could be a good snake or a bad snake.
Translated by YellowBean.