Chapter 65
"Greeting Magistrate." Jiang Yun Zhu bowed to the magistrate. This was the third time she had seen the magistrate. Because of Wei Kang Ping's previous case, she had a good impression of him.
"You don't need to be too polite." Magistrate Meng sized Jiang Yun Zhu up and down. He found her familiar, but it had been several months. So many things happened in the county every day and it all required his attention. He had seen too many people and he couldn't remember who she was for a while.
Anyway, it was his Wuling County’s ordinary citizen.
Magistrate Meng didn't think much about it and looked at Jiang Yun Zhu with a gentle expression. He had heard long ago that the owner of Qishanju was a young girl. It looked like it was true.
He didn't have a bad impression of Jiang Yun Zhu. On the contrary, he felt that this was the manifestation of his Wuling County’s prosperity. Thinking of how it was due to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty in the past, there was Lady Gongsun who danced with a sword and boosted the Tang Dynasty’s image. After the An Lushan Rebellion, where could such a stunning and beautiful woman be found? Teacher Du Fu could only lament ‘red lips and pearl sleeves were lonely’.
"Good." Thinking of this, Magistrate Meng praised before saying, "You do your best. I would be your judge and would never favor anyone."
"Thank you, Magistrate." With his words, Jiang Yun Zhu was relieved.
Over at the side, the ten gentlemen, who were invited to be judges. bowed to Magistrate Meng.
Magistrate Meng knew most of them. When scholars were together, there was a lot to talk about.
Magistrate Meng immediately mentioned Lady Gongsun. When the ten gentlemen heard it and felt it was the case. They immediately praised Magistrate Meng for his good governance of the county and let the people live and work in peace and contentment. Everyone merrily chatted.
After Manager Meng bowed to Magistrate Meng, he stood at the side. He was very anxious. Magistrate Meng was here. Why didn't the cook invited by Manager Song arrive yet? It can’t be that something had gone wrong?
There was no major problem. Manager Song knew that Gao Shun liked women. So he invited two of the most popular girls in the county to accompany him last night. As a result, Gao Shun wasn't even awake at 7am. In the end, Manager Song was afraid of delaying the competition and asked the two girls to wake him up.
Gao Shun’s good sleep was disturbed and was a little unhappy.
At this time, Manager Song received a letter saying that Magistrate Meng had arrived and politely urged Gao Shun to go quickly.
"It's a little sesame official." Gao Shun didn't care. After drinking another cup of tea, he was late.
He was already a quarter of an hour late. One could imagine how Magistrate Meng and the ten gentlemen felt about him.
"Greeting Magistrate." Due to the thought of being favored by Marquis Anping, Gao Shun was very perfunctory in bowing to Magistrate Meng.
Magistrate Meng was even more displeased, but couldn’t really act out on such a trivial matter. So he waved him to stand aside.
At this time, a master of ceremonies came to the stage and signaled everyone to be quiet. Afterward, he talked about the process of today's competition and announced the start of the competition.
Jiang Yun Zhu and Gao Shun started cooking the first dish.
Jiang Yun Zhu recognized Gao Shun as soon as he showed his face. She couldn't help but remark how small this world was. She never thought that Manager Song would invite him here. Gao Shun, the cook of Anping Marquis Manor, specializes in Huaiyang cuisine. He was regarded as the top cook in Mid-South.
In the dream in the Marquis Anping, Jiang Yun Zhu was assigned to the kitchen when she first entered the Manor .
But unlike Jiang Yun Xiu, she felt that being assigned here couldn't be better.
There was no worry about eating and drinking and it was away from the power disputes in the back courtyard. She used to like cooking, but her skills weren’t good enough. Now that she had learned the art, she could redeem herself once she saved the money and go out to open a restaurant and take root in the era.
She immediately made a plan for herself and showed great enthusiasm for her work.
When Mrs. Zhou saw her, she was a little confused by her enthusiasm. At the beginning, she was afraid that she would seduce Gao Shun and nit-pick her. Slowly, she discovered that Jiang Yun Zhu liked working in the kitchen and didn't care about Gao Shun or even the young masters in the Manor.
In this way, Mrs. Zhou was willing to give her a chance.
Jiang Yun Zhu worked as a choreman in the kitchen for three months and began to learn cooking skills. But she didn't learn from Gao Shun, but Hunan cuisine from Cook Xu. Marquis Anping Manor was a respectable and distinguished household, So it was impossible for Gao Shun to be the only cook in the Manor. But the dishes he cooks happen to be Marquis Anping's favorite.
In the middle, Gao Shun harassed Jiang Yun Zhu several times, but she blocked them all.
Later, Lin Ting An kicked him out of the Marquis Manor due to his misbehavior. Jiang Yun Zhu never saw him again.
Now seeing him again, Jiang Yun Zhu thought of many things but felt that those matters were far away.
The corners of her mouth slowly rose. Since it was him, she would have a greater chance of winning this competition.
Of course, she would go all out. If there was any carelessness at any time, her boat may capsize in the gutter.
Gao Shun saw Jiang Yun Zhu and his two small eyes were pinned around her. This girl was so pretty!
"Cook Gao, she is very good at cooking." Manager Meng had no choice but to remind Gao Shun.
But Gao Shun didn't care. Just a small county town. What’s more, she was a girl. She don't have a famous teacher to guide her. What kind of good food could she cook? It was estimated that those young gentlemen praised her because they saw her good looks.
Thinking of this, he casually picked up a piece of dried tofu and started cooking.
Jiang Yun Zhu also got working. She cutted up the chicken, then added seasonings such as tangerine peel and red rice, stirred it evenly, wrapped it with ??jade buckle paper, and put it aside to marinate.
At this time, she started to cook another dish. Because this dish was too time-consuming, and many ingredients had been prepared in advance, she had to make it first.
So everyone saw her putting abalone, tendons, cuttlefish and other materials into an earthen jar one by one.
"What is she doing? Sea cucumbers, scallops, fish lips...these are all top umami ingredients, is she going to cook them together?" Everyone was surprised.
"Isn't the soup produced going to be the most delicious in the world?" Someone licked their lips and asked.
The people next to him sneered, "If that's the case, why would the imperial cooks cook? Simply put whatever delicious ingredients in and be done with it. Anyway, the palace isn't short of money.
Ain’t that right? With such delicious ingredients, you could taste umami with one kind. Mix two or three kinds works. But any more, it’s like putting black tea, green tea, white tea, and black tea together. Even when every kind of tea is top quality tea, could the tea brewed like this taste good? "
Brewing Dahongpao and Biluochun and Baihao Yinzhen together? His metaphor was so vivid that everyone couldn't help shivering after hearing it. Was that tea? More like a pan of slop soup.
"What's with Boss Jiang? The Dongpo pork and dry-roasted fish she cooks are delicious. It's fine to use those to participate in the competition." Some people didn't understand.
Someone whispered, "I heard that the cook on the opposite side is the cook of Marquis Anping Manor. Even Marquis Anping likeS to eat his dishes. It is very difficult for Boss Jiang to win this competition. I guess she wants to come up with something new!"
"But new doesn't mean it's delicious. Nor does it mean it could win." Someone lamented, thinking that Jiang Yun Zhu might be too worried about the competition and messed up.
"Ain’t that right!" Everyone sighed.
On the opposite side, Gao Shun saw what Jiang Yun Zhu did and directly snorted in amusement. With this, she wanted to compete with him? He could win her with one finger.
While Jiang Yun Zhu saw what Gao Shun was doing at this time and immediately knew what he was going to cook.
Dazhu Gansi was a famous dish in Huaiyang. The Gansi. To make this dish, dry white tofu should first be sliced into thin slices, the thickness was a little thicker than paper. Then it was cut into thin shreds, soaked in water to remove the taste of beans, and put it into chicken soup with ham, shrimp and other things to cook to make the dry shred absorb the umami.
This dish was called chicken soup boiled dry shred. The finished dry shred was soft and white with a delicious taste. It’ll make people reminisce about the flavor.
This dish was very particular about knife skills. The main thing was to cut the dried shreds finely and evenly, otherwise the taste would be inconsistent. A poem once described it as ‘seasoned dry shred pile into fine strands’. Its fineness was evident.
However, in terms of knife skills, this dish was a little inferior to Wensi Tofu. After all, dried tofu was much easier to cut than soft tofu.
Jiang Yun Zhu knew that Gao Shun mastered Wensi Tofu. However, he made Dazhu Gansi instead of Wensi Tofu today. It showed that he didn't take this competition seriously.
Jiang Yun Zhu smiled, everything went smoother than she thought.
Two quarters of an hour later, Gao Shun's side had entered the finishing stage. The Dazhu Gansi was nearly ready.
On Jiang Yun Zhu's side, she saw that the chicken had mostly finished marinating and she picked up the oil pan.
Soon, the oil pan started to smoke.
At this time, Gao Shun raised his hand to signal that his dish was ready. Everyone looked at it and saw that in the yellowish chicken soup, dry shreds like white jade were piled up together and stood like a tower amidst it. It looked magnificent and elegant.
Gao Shun raised his chin slightly. This was the dish that the Marquis Anping liked to eat. Him letting them eat it today let them benefit.
Looking at Jiang Yun Zhu's side again, the jar filled with countless top-quality ingredients was simmering on the fire. But there was an oil pan on her side? What was she going to make?
At this time, Jiang Yun Zhu brought over the chicken wrapped in jade buckle paper and then did something that surprised everyone.
"What is she doing? I’m not seeing things, right?" Someone exclaimed.
The person being asked had his eyes popped out and hadn't come back to his senses yet. Of course he couldn't answer his question.
"Did she forget?"
"Is this all right?"
"I guess she panicked."
...
Everyone was in an uproar. Mainly, they had never seen such a way of cooking.
What was Jiang Yun Zhu doing? She put the chicken with the paper into the oil pan and deep-fried it.
Paper, into the oil pan? The oil pan was smoking. It was very hot at first glance. Once the paper went in, it will... Dare not imagine it. The result will definitely not be good.
Simply ignite, and explode? When the people standing in the front row thought of this, they all backed away for fear of being hurt.
Or the paper turns black and the chicken is revealed. After, it becomes paper bits fried chicken? Could this dish be eaten!?
There was a lot of discussion among the people.
Today, Qishanju and Xishanju were competing in cooking skills. The restaurants were closed. So everyone in Qishanju was watching Jiang Yun Zhu compete with the other party from the audience.
Seeing this, Mrs. Chen directly grasped Jiang Cheng's hand, so nervous that she couldn't breathe. If Jiang Yun Zhu lost, she would have to work for Manager Meng for a year. That would be bad.
Jiang Cheng returned her grasp, panting heavily. He knew that he had to trust Jiang Yun Zhu. It was just that he was truly worried.
The same goes for Xue Jing and others.
"Woo." There was a low sob. It turned out that Xie Lian couldn't help crying. She liked Qishanju. She liked Jiang Yun Zhu. The days here were the happiest time in her life. She didn't want her to lose or be bullied.
"It's okay." Xie Chen comforted her despite being a little anxious.
"Don't cry. Here." Qin Yao stood not far from them. Seeing this, she took out her handkerchief and handed it to Xie Lian. Then she continued, "Don't worry. She won't work for others. Qishanju will keep opening."
Just now, she had already decided that if Jiang Yun Zhu lost, she would give hundreds of liang silver to Manager Meng and drop it. She didn't want to see a person like her work for people like Manager Meng.
A few hundred liang silver was a lot of money to others, but to her, it was nothing. Because she liked to eat Qishanju food, the money was worth spending.
Xie Lian was comforted by the two and stopped crying.
Qin Yao put the handkerchief in her hand and told her to wipe away her tears.
She shyly accepted, wiped away her tears, and wanted to say something but couldn't say it.
"Thank you Miss Qin." Xie Chen thanked Qin Yao for Xie Lian.
"No need. It's a small matter." Qin Yao hurriedly said. There seemed to be water flowing in her eyes.
With her shy bowed head, Xie Chen suddenly didn't dare to look at her.
Neither of the two continued to look at each other, nor continued to speak. They stood there, but something seemed to be thickening.
Xie Lian looked at Xie Chen, then at Qin Yao, and blinked her beautiful eyes.
Beside him, Lin Yu Bai frowned.
At this time, Jiang Yun Zhu's chicken and paper had been placed in the pan for a while, but what was amazing was that the pan was sizzling. What everyone expected didn’t happen. Instead, a scent drifted along with the floating breeze.
"Paper-wrapped chicken! This should be paper-wrapped chicken. I didn't expect it to be this dish." Gu Yan Zhou was standing in the crowd. Suddenly, he murmured as if he recalled something.
The girl on the stage was always beyond his expectations.
Standing next to him were all well-educated students. Hearing what he said, many people immediately remembered that there seemed to be such a dish in history.
According to records, this dish first appeared in the Nanyue Kingdom and was a secret dish of the Nanyue Kingdom.
Later, when Han First Emperor Liu Bang ascended the throne, the Nanyue Kingdom bowed down and paid tribute to the Han Dynasty every year. This paper-wrapped chicken was one of the must-have tributes every year. There was once a poem of praise; ‘Nanyue as a vassal and is unified; a golden rooster is wrapped in paper, and the universe is in peace.’
Later, when the Nanyue Kingdom was destroyed, this dish disappeared. Everyone could only imagine the taste and magic of this dish from the few words in the history books. Unexpectedly, today in Wuling County, a girl actually reproduced this dish.
Was this the paper-wrapped chicken that the Han First Emperor praised so much? Jiang Yun Zhu was truly impressive.
But the paper in the pan wasn't black or broken. Also, the air was full of fragrance. Everyone was already leaning to one side. Jiang Yun Zhu truly made paper-wrapped chicken.
Everyone immediately became excited. It was right to come today. They may have witnessed history today?
From one audience to the other, everyone knew the miraculous origin of the paper-wrapped chicken.
On the stage, Magistrate Meng and the ten gentlemen heard those discussions. Magistrate Meng had the background of Jinshi. The ten gentlemen were well-read in poetry and books. They quickly remembered the paper-wrapped chicken and looked at the dish that Jiang Yun Zhu was serving. They couldn't wait.
This was paper-wrapped chicken! The paper-wrapped chicken that the Han First Emperor ate? Then they were lucky today.
Compared to this dish, Gao Shun's Dazhu Gansi didn’t seem to stand out.
Gao Shun had never study and didn't know the origin of paper-wrapped chicken. He found Jiang Yun Zhu's chicken recipe was a bit interesting. But when he realized that everyone was looking at the paper-wrapped chicken and no one was paying attention to his Dazhu Gansi, his face immediately turned black.
Was Jiang Yun Zhu making paper-wrapped chicken? She certainly was. This dish was recreated in the Qing Dynasty. It flourished in the Republic Era. It was lost again in modern times. However, this time it wasn't because of the method, but because the jade buckle paper used to wrap the chicken was too rare.
This jade buckle paper was made from the tender bamboo produced in Changting. The production process was cumbersome and complicated. The finished product was as shiny as jade. It was expensive in this era. In modern times, machines have mostly replaced labor. Still, this kind of paper was very expensive. It could only be done manually, which was a bit unsustainable.
So a dish could sometimes show the changes of the times.
Jiang Yun Zhu was making this dish now as the timing was right. The jade buckle paper was readily available. Don't know if her dish would make Lu Prefecture’s jade buckle paper expensive.
Thinking about it, Jiang Yun Zhu raised her hand to signal that her paper-wrapped chicken dish was ready.
Immediately, someone came over and brought this dish to Magistrate Meng and the others. They saw a pure white fine porcelain plate, painted with green bamboo patterns, with three flamboyant and phoenix characters "Qishanju" on the corner.
In the middle, there was a roll of something pure and white in color. After the paper-wrapped chicken was deep-fried, the outer paper didn't seem to have changed at all.
Just the appearance, it could be called gourmet food and beautiful utensils.
At this moment, someone took the scissors and cut the paper. Immediately, a gust of hot air burst out along with the fragrance.
The heat dissipated. Everyone looked inside and saw the chicken was as golden as jade.
Everyone was bewitched by the smell. Someone took out the chicken’s meat inside and put some on the plate of Magistrate Meng. Then the ten gentlemen’s.
A plate of paper-wrapped chicken. Even when Jiang Yun Zhu deliberately made more, each person would only get two to three pieces as eleven people were sharing it.
Of course, this was normal. It was food tasting, not filling the stomach. Two or three pieces was enough to get the taste.
Everyone looked at Magistrate Meng eagerly, waiting for him to eat first.
Magistrate Meng couldn't bear it anymore and took the chopsticks to pick up the chicken. Who would have thought that the chicken would slide away with the slightest inattentiveness at the first try. This goes to show the tenderness of the chicken.
The paper-wrapped chicken used the method of deep-frying through the paper, because there was fear that the chicken would be fried dry and it could also lock in all the flavors inside.
Magistrate Meng picked it up for the second time without changing his face and put the piece of chicken in his mouth.
Flavorful. It was this feeling. The aroma of various seasonings, chicken, and bamboo shoots. All the aromas were mixed together, shocking people's taste buds.
Magistrate Meng slowly tasted the meat in his mouth, trying to distinguish all the aromas one by one and remember it in his heart.
This was probably what people want to do subconsciously when they see beautiful scenery, beautiful things, and eat delicious food.
Seeing that Magistrate Meng had eaten, the others moved their chopsticks one after another.
Then there was only one thought in their minds. It was indeed a dish that Han First Emperor had full praise for. As expected, it was delicious!
Magistrate Meng savored it very slowly. Still, the three pieces of chicken soon entered the stomach. It was the same for the others. They looked at the empty paper bags, wanting more.
Someone suddenly thought, I wonder if that paper could be eaten? It seemed that this paper was made of young bamboo. On top of that, it had been dipped in seasonings and passed through the oil pan... wonder how it would taste.
Of course, this was a private thought. No one would say it out.
Gao Shun's dishes were finished before Jiang Yun Zhu's. In fact, before the attendants shared the chicken, they had already shared the Dazhu Gansi among the magistrate and the others. But everyone was eager to try the paper-wrapped chicken, so no one cared about that dish.
After eating the chicken now, everyone would naturally have to try the Dazhu Gansi. If not, how could the winner be decided?
Gao Shun's skills were excellent. Although he didn't try his best to make this Dazhu Gansi, it had a soft texture and a delicious taste.
It was just that everyone ate the mellow chicken before having this dish. So it wasn’t that amazing.
In fact, this was Jiang Yun Zhu's strategy - aim for a head start. When cooking, sometimes the comparison was more than the color and fragrance.
The voting started. According to the process, whichever dish the judges finds delicious, they put the spoon in their hand on the plate in front of that dish.
Magistrate Meng was afraid of affecting everyone's fair judgment, so he told everyone to vote first before he votes. Just to avoid effect of leading.
The first gentleman put the spoon in his hand in front of the paper-wrapped chicken without hesitation.
The same goes for the second gentleman.
Then the third and the fourth. When it was the fifth's turn, he wanted to put the spoon on the plate before the dish of Dazhu Gansi. After all, he accepted the money from Manager Meng.
However, in the end he didn't dare. Everyone, including Magistrate Meng, was watching. He got to have a reason for voting the Dazhu Gansi, right?
He couldn't afford to lose face when the time comes and he can’t explain.
The sixth, paper-wrapped chicken. The seventh, paper-wrapped chicken. The eighth, he was very conflicted. Manager Song asked someone to request his help. That someone happened to help his family before. He had already promised to help. Nnow?
He stood there, swaying from side to side. Finally closing his eyes, he put the spoon in front of Dazhu Gansi.
Fine. From now on, he won't owe that person any more favors.
Sure enough after voting, everyone was looking at him. He could only turn his face away, pretending not to see. In fact, he wished there was a crack in the ground for him to slip in.
With him taking the lead, the ninth voted for Dazhu Gansi.
The tenth voted for the paper-wrapped chicken.
Finally it was Magistrate Meng’s turn. He smiled, "Personally, I think the paper-wrapped chicken is better. The paper-wrapped chicken in the past symbolized the glory of the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years. Now the paper-wrapped chicken has reappeared, our county will get better and better."
It sure was. There were iron mines in Wuling County. The people's lives would only get better and better.
"What Official say is very true." Everyone responded one after another.
In the first dish competition, Jiang Yun Zhu won.
Jiang Yun Zhu had been standing at the side, watching. She saw the two people who put their spoons at Dazhu Gansi’s. She vaguely guessed that these two people might have something to do with Manager Song or Manager Meng.
Can’t be helped. Where there were people, there were benefits.
Fortunately, she won.
In the audience, Xue Jing and the others were overjoyed. Jiang Yun Zhu won the first round. The rest became much easier.
In stark contrast to them were Manager Song, Manager Meng and others. They were like mourning. How did they lose?
They all looked at Gao Shun. Was this the top cook of the Marquis Anping Manor? He couldn't compare to a girl in a county town.
When Gao Shun was looked at by them, his already annoyed heart immediately burst into flames. He didn't do his best. What's more, that female! What’s with the paper frying and attracting everyone's attention! He lost because he was unprepared.
Next, he’ll let everyone see his strength.
The competition for the second round would begin immediately. At this time, more than an hour had passed since the start of the competition. Though it was lunch time, none of the onlookers wanted to leave. Instead, there were more and more people.
Although everyone couldn't eat the dishes prepared by the two cooks on stage, it was good to see and smell them.
Besides, such entertaining competitions don't happen all the time.
For the second dish, Gao Shun directly grabbed a duck, a chicken, and a pigeon. The duck used was an old drake. It had the densest meat. The chicken used was a wild chicken. The pigeon used was a young pigeon.
It was a technical job to remove the bones of the old male duck bit by bit without changing its appearance. However, Gao Shun did it extremely quickly.
Jiang Yun Zhu started to make the second dish. For the second dish, she originally wanted to make Luoyang Yancai, but after seeing Gao Shun's method, she temporarily changed her mind.
She knew that he was going to make three nested ducks. The processed pigeon belly was stuffed with ham, winter bamboo shoots and other things. Then the pigeon was stuffed into the wild chicken’s belly and fill the empty space with various ingredients. Then the wild chicken was stuffed into the old male duck belly and other ingredients filled the space.
Finally, put the duck on a bamboo basket in a pan and simmer until cooked.
This dish used three kinds of birds- pigeon, wild chicken, and old duck. As the saying goes, ‘It is better to eat one or two birds than half a catty of land animal’. Each of these three kinds of birds was very delicious. When handled properly, it was deliciousness on top of deliciousness.
Some people praised the delicacy of this dish as ‘get off the horse when you smell the fragrance, and stop the carriage when you know the taste’. This goes to show its unique taste.
And the Luoyang Yancai that Jiang Yun Zhu was going to make was another type. First of all, this dish was beautiful. After it is made, this dish looks like a white peony floating in a clear pond. People couldn't tell whether it was a dish or a real peony flower was placed on the plate. At the end of winter, it was definitely eye-catching.
Also, this dish had a history. It was said that Empress Zetian once ate it and gave it the name of the dish.
Of course, the taste of this dish was superb. It was mainly hot, sour and delicious with endless taste.
However, comparing this dish with Gao Shun's three nested ducks was like chicken and duck talking to each other.
Jiang Yun Zhu looked at the pan she had put on the fire and smiled. He wanted to compare umami? Alright then, she would compete with him. When it comes to umami, what could beat the stuff in her jar!
That's right, what Jiang Yun Zhu was making in the jar was Buddha jumping over the wall. ‘The jar full of meat and fragrance floated around; the Buddha abandoned Zen at the smell and jumped over the wall.’ Even the Buddha loves this jar, let alone ordinary people?
So Jiang Yun Zhu stood there without moving.
At Gao Shun's side, he was busying away, while she didn't move at all. Everyone guessed that she might be using the contents of the jar as a second dish to compete with Gao Shun. It was just the jar had been stewed for so long and there was no smell coming out at all. Could it be delicious?
Thinking of someone comparing Jiang Yun Zhu's jar with tea, someone asked, "Who remembers how many ingredients she put in this jar?"
There were so many people and there were all kinds of people. Someone truly did count, "Fifty-eight kinds. All of which are top-notch and delicious ingredients."
After hearing this, everyone fell silent. It was hard for them to imagine how the stew in this jar would turn out.
Gao Shun's three nested ducks were time-consuming. Jiang Yun Zhu's Buddha jumping over the wall was also time-consuming. So after Gao Shun put the three nested ducks to cook, everyone was staring at each other, as if they had nothing to do.
"How about, let's start cooking the third dish first?" the master of ceremonies proposed.
Jiang Yun Zhu was fine with it. However, Gao Shun felt too tired. He tossed around for half the night last night. His energy was currently low.
Manager Meng brought him a chair and he sat there to recuperate.
Jiang Yun Zhu sat down and waited.
On the stage, Magistrate Meng was in good spirits, chatting with all the scholars about various things.
Under the stage, some people felt hungry and wanted to eat. But they were afraid of missing the exciting moment, so they stood there and endured it.
At this time, Gao Shun's three nested ducks began to emit aroma.
"It smells so good! My mouth is watering." Someone smelled the fragrance.
"Ain’t that right." Someone echoed.
"This used duck, chicken, and pigeon. Just from the smell, I want to eat it." Someone said.
Some people’s mind was on Jiang Yun Zhu's jar. After so long, "Why hasn't there been any smell yet?"
"That can’t be. Even if it is stewed into a pan of soft porridge, there should be some smell."
...
Everyone was discussing.
After more than half an hour, Gao Shun stood up. His three nested ducks were mostly done.
Seeing this, Jiang Yun Zhu stood up. Her Buddha jumping over the wall was mostly done too.
Gao Shun opened the pot. Immediately a strong fragrance wafted around.
Jiang Yun Zhu lifted the lid of the jar. A faint scent of wine came out of the jar with an extremely delicious smell. Anyone who smelled this scent felt as if they were drunk.
"Greeting Magistrate." Jiang Yun Zhu bowed to the magistrate. This was the third time she had seen the magistrate. Because of Wei Kang Ping's previous case, she had a good impression of him.
"You don't need to be too polite." Magistrate Meng sized Jiang Yun Zhu up and down. He found her familiar, but it had been several months. So many things happened in the county every day and it all required his attention. He had seen too many people and he couldn't remember who she was for a while.
Anyway, it was his Wuling County’s ordinary citizen.
Magistrate Meng didn't think much about it and looked at Jiang Yun Zhu with a gentle expression. He had heard long ago that the owner of Qishanju was a young girl. It looked like it was true.
He didn't have a bad impression of Jiang Yun Zhu. On the contrary, he felt that this was the manifestation of his Wuling County’s prosperity. Thinking of how it was due to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty in the past, there was Lady Gongsun who danced with a sword and boosted the Tang Dynasty’s image. After the An Lushan Rebellion, where could such a stunning and beautiful woman be found? Teacher Du Fu could only lament ‘red lips and pearl sleeves were lonely’.
"Good." Thinking of this, Magistrate Meng praised before saying, "You do your best. I would be your judge and would never favor anyone."
"Thank you, Magistrate." With his words, Jiang Yun Zhu was relieved.
Over at the side, the ten gentlemen, who were invited to be judges. bowed to Magistrate Meng.
Magistrate Meng knew most of them. When scholars were together, there was a lot to talk about.
Magistrate Meng immediately mentioned Lady Gongsun. When the ten gentlemen heard it and felt it was the case. They immediately praised Magistrate Meng for his good governance of the county and let the people live and work in peace and contentment. Everyone merrily chatted.
After Manager Meng bowed to Magistrate Meng, he stood at the side. He was very anxious. Magistrate Meng was here. Why didn't the cook invited by Manager Song arrive yet? It can’t be that something had gone wrong?
There was no major problem. Manager Song knew that Gao Shun liked women. So he invited two of the most popular girls in the county to accompany him last night. As a result, Gao Shun wasn't even awake at 7am. In the end, Manager Song was afraid of delaying the competition and asked the two girls to wake him up.
Gao Shun’s good sleep was disturbed and was a little unhappy.
At this time, Manager Song received a letter saying that Magistrate Meng had arrived and politely urged Gao Shun to go quickly.
"It's a little sesame official." Gao Shun didn't care. After drinking another cup of tea, he was late.
He was already a quarter of an hour late. One could imagine how Magistrate Meng and the ten gentlemen felt about him.
"Greeting Magistrate." Due to the thought of being favored by Marquis Anping, Gao Shun was very perfunctory in bowing to Magistrate Meng.
Magistrate Meng was even more displeased, but couldn’t really act out on such a trivial matter. So he waved him to stand aside.
At this time, a master of ceremonies came to the stage and signaled everyone to be quiet. Afterward, he talked about the process of today's competition and announced the start of the competition.
Jiang Yun Zhu and Gao Shun started cooking the first dish.
Jiang Yun Zhu recognized Gao Shun as soon as he showed his face. She couldn't help but remark how small this world was. She never thought that Manager Song would invite him here. Gao Shun, the cook of Anping Marquis Manor, specializes in Huaiyang cuisine. He was regarded as the top cook in Mid-South.
In the dream in the Marquis Anping, Jiang Yun Zhu was assigned to the kitchen when she first entered the Manor .
But unlike Jiang Yun Xiu, she felt that being assigned here couldn't be better.
There was no worry about eating and drinking and it was away from the power disputes in the back courtyard. She used to like cooking, but her skills weren’t good enough. Now that she had learned the art, she could redeem herself once she saved the money and go out to open a restaurant and take root in the era.
She immediately made a plan for herself and showed great enthusiasm for her work.
When Mrs. Zhou saw her, she was a little confused by her enthusiasm. At the beginning, she was afraid that she would seduce Gao Shun and nit-pick her. Slowly, she discovered that Jiang Yun Zhu liked working in the kitchen and didn't care about Gao Shun or even the young masters in the Manor.
In this way, Mrs. Zhou was willing to give her a chance.
Jiang Yun Zhu worked as a choreman in the kitchen for three months and began to learn cooking skills. But she didn't learn from Gao Shun, but Hunan cuisine from Cook Xu. Marquis Anping Manor was a respectable and distinguished household, So it was impossible for Gao Shun to be the only cook in the Manor. But the dishes he cooks happen to be Marquis Anping's favorite.
In the middle, Gao Shun harassed Jiang Yun Zhu several times, but she blocked them all.
Later, Lin Ting An kicked him out of the Marquis Manor due to his misbehavior. Jiang Yun Zhu never saw him again.
Now seeing him again, Jiang Yun Zhu thought of many things but felt that those matters were far away.
The corners of her mouth slowly rose. Since it was him, she would have a greater chance of winning this competition.
Of course, she would go all out. If there was any carelessness at any time, her boat may capsize in the gutter.
Gao Shun saw Jiang Yun Zhu and his two small eyes were pinned around her. This girl was so pretty!
"Cook Gao, she is very good at cooking." Manager Meng had no choice but to remind Gao Shun.
But Gao Shun didn't care. Just a small county town. What’s more, she was a girl. She don't have a famous teacher to guide her. What kind of good food could she cook? It was estimated that those young gentlemen praised her because they saw her good looks.
Thinking of this, he casually picked up a piece of dried tofu and started cooking.
Jiang Yun Zhu also got working. She cutted up the chicken, then added seasonings such as tangerine peel and red rice, stirred it evenly, wrapped it with ??jade buckle paper, and put it aside to marinate.
At this time, she started to cook another dish. Because this dish was too time-consuming, and many ingredients had been prepared in advance, she had to make it first.
So everyone saw her putting abalone, tendons, cuttlefish and other materials into an earthen jar one by one.
"What is she doing? Sea cucumbers, scallops, fish lips...these are all top umami ingredients, is she going to cook them together?" Everyone was surprised.
"Isn't the soup produced going to be the most delicious in the world?" Someone licked their lips and asked.
The people next to him sneered, "If that's the case, why would the imperial cooks cook? Simply put whatever delicious ingredients in and be done with it. Anyway, the palace isn't short of money.
Ain’t that right? With such delicious ingredients, you could taste umami with one kind. Mix two or three kinds works. But any more, it’s like putting black tea, green tea, white tea, and black tea together. Even when every kind of tea is top quality tea, could the tea brewed like this taste good? "
Brewing Dahongpao and Biluochun and Baihao Yinzhen together? His metaphor was so vivid that everyone couldn't help shivering after hearing it. Was that tea? More like a pan of slop soup.
"What's with Boss Jiang? The Dongpo pork and dry-roasted fish she cooks are delicious. It's fine to use those to participate in the competition." Some people didn't understand.
Someone whispered, "I heard that the cook on the opposite side is the cook of Marquis Anping Manor. Even Marquis Anping likeS to eat his dishes. It is very difficult for Boss Jiang to win this competition. I guess she wants to come up with something new!"
"But new doesn't mean it's delicious. Nor does it mean it could win." Someone lamented, thinking that Jiang Yun Zhu might be too worried about the competition and messed up.
"Ain’t that right!" Everyone sighed.
On the opposite side, Gao Shun saw what Jiang Yun Zhu did and directly snorted in amusement. With this, she wanted to compete with him? He could win her with one finger.
While Jiang Yun Zhu saw what Gao Shun was doing at this time and immediately knew what he was going to cook.
Dazhu Gansi was a famous dish in Huaiyang. The Gansi. To make this dish, dry white tofu should first be sliced into thin slices, the thickness was a little thicker than paper. Then it was cut into thin shreds, soaked in water to remove the taste of beans, and put it into chicken soup with ham, shrimp and other things to cook to make the dry shred absorb the umami.
This dish was called chicken soup boiled dry shred. The finished dry shred was soft and white with a delicious taste. It’ll make people reminisce about the flavor.
This dish was very particular about knife skills. The main thing was to cut the dried shreds finely and evenly, otherwise the taste would be inconsistent. A poem once described it as ‘seasoned dry shred pile into fine strands’. Its fineness was evident.
However, in terms of knife skills, this dish was a little inferior to Wensi Tofu. After all, dried tofu was much easier to cut than soft tofu.
Jiang Yun Zhu knew that Gao Shun mastered Wensi Tofu. However, he made Dazhu Gansi instead of Wensi Tofu today. It showed that he didn't take this competition seriously.
Jiang Yun Zhu smiled, everything went smoother than she thought.
Two quarters of an hour later, Gao Shun's side had entered the finishing stage. The Dazhu Gansi was nearly ready.
On Jiang Yun Zhu's side, she saw that the chicken had mostly finished marinating and she picked up the oil pan.
Soon, the oil pan started to smoke.
At this time, Gao Shun raised his hand to signal that his dish was ready. Everyone looked at it and saw that in the yellowish chicken soup, dry shreds like white jade were piled up together and stood like a tower amidst it. It looked magnificent and elegant.
Gao Shun raised his chin slightly. This was the dish that the Marquis Anping liked to eat. Him letting them eat it today let them benefit.
Looking at Jiang Yun Zhu's side again, the jar filled with countless top-quality ingredients was simmering on the fire. But there was an oil pan on her side? What was she going to make?
At this time, Jiang Yun Zhu brought over the chicken wrapped in jade buckle paper and then did something that surprised everyone.
"What is she doing? I’m not seeing things, right?" Someone exclaimed.
The person being asked had his eyes popped out and hadn't come back to his senses yet. Of course he couldn't answer his question.
"Did she forget?"
"Is this all right?"
"I guess she panicked."
...
Everyone was in an uproar. Mainly, they had never seen such a way of cooking.
What was Jiang Yun Zhu doing? She put the chicken with the paper into the oil pan and deep-fried it.
Paper, into the oil pan? The oil pan was smoking. It was very hot at first glance. Once the paper went in, it will... Dare not imagine it. The result will definitely not be good.
Simply ignite, and explode? When the people standing in the front row thought of this, they all backed away for fear of being hurt.
Or the paper turns black and the chicken is revealed. After, it becomes paper bits fried chicken? Could this dish be eaten!?
There was a lot of discussion among the people.
Today, Qishanju and Xishanju were competing in cooking skills. The restaurants were closed. So everyone in Qishanju was watching Jiang Yun Zhu compete with the other party from the audience.
Seeing this, Mrs. Chen directly grasped Jiang Cheng's hand, so nervous that she couldn't breathe. If Jiang Yun Zhu lost, she would have to work for Manager Meng for a year. That would be bad.
Jiang Cheng returned her grasp, panting heavily. He knew that he had to trust Jiang Yun Zhu. It was just that he was truly worried.
The same goes for Xue Jing and others.
"Woo." There was a low sob. It turned out that Xie Lian couldn't help crying. She liked Qishanju. She liked Jiang Yun Zhu. The days here were the happiest time in her life. She didn't want her to lose or be bullied.
"It's okay." Xie Chen comforted her despite being a little anxious.
"Don't cry. Here." Qin Yao stood not far from them. Seeing this, she took out her handkerchief and handed it to Xie Lian. Then she continued, "Don't worry. She won't work for others. Qishanju will keep opening."
Just now, she had already decided that if Jiang Yun Zhu lost, she would give hundreds of liang silver to Manager Meng and drop it. She didn't want to see a person like her work for people like Manager Meng.
A few hundred liang silver was a lot of money to others, but to her, it was nothing. Because she liked to eat Qishanju food, the money was worth spending.
Xie Lian was comforted by the two and stopped crying.
Qin Yao put the handkerchief in her hand and told her to wipe away her tears.
She shyly accepted, wiped away her tears, and wanted to say something but couldn't say it.
"Thank you Miss Qin." Xie Chen thanked Qin Yao for Xie Lian.
"No need. It's a small matter." Qin Yao hurriedly said. There seemed to be water flowing in her eyes.
With her shy bowed head, Xie Chen suddenly didn't dare to look at her.
Neither of the two continued to look at each other, nor continued to speak. They stood there, but something seemed to be thickening.
Xie Lian looked at Xie Chen, then at Qin Yao, and blinked her beautiful eyes.
Beside him, Lin Yu Bai frowned.
At this time, Jiang Yun Zhu's chicken and paper had been placed in the pan for a while, but what was amazing was that the pan was sizzling. What everyone expected didn’t happen. Instead, a scent drifted along with the floating breeze.
"Paper-wrapped chicken! This should be paper-wrapped chicken. I didn't expect it to be this dish." Gu Yan Zhou was standing in the crowd. Suddenly, he murmured as if he recalled something.
The girl on the stage was always beyond his expectations.
Standing next to him were all well-educated students. Hearing what he said, many people immediately remembered that there seemed to be such a dish in history.
According to records, this dish first appeared in the Nanyue Kingdom and was a secret dish of the Nanyue Kingdom.
Later, when Han First Emperor Liu Bang ascended the throne, the Nanyue Kingdom bowed down and paid tribute to the Han Dynasty every year. This paper-wrapped chicken was one of the must-have tributes every year. There was once a poem of praise; ‘Nanyue as a vassal and is unified; a golden rooster is wrapped in paper, and the universe is in peace.’
Later, when the Nanyue Kingdom was destroyed, this dish disappeared. Everyone could only imagine the taste and magic of this dish from the few words in the history books. Unexpectedly, today in Wuling County, a girl actually reproduced this dish.
Was this the paper-wrapped chicken that the Han First Emperor praised so much? Jiang Yun Zhu was truly impressive.
But the paper in the pan wasn't black or broken. Also, the air was full of fragrance. Everyone was already leaning to one side. Jiang Yun Zhu truly made paper-wrapped chicken.
Everyone immediately became excited. It was right to come today. They may have witnessed history today?
From one audience to the other, everyone knew the miraculous origin of the paper-wrapped chicken.
On the stage, Magistrate Meng and the ten gentlemen heard those discussions. Magistrate Meng had the background of Jinshi. The ten gentlemen were well-read in poetry and books. They quickly remembered the paper-wrapped chicken and looked at the dish that Jiang Yun Zhu was serving. They couldn't wait.
This was paper-wrapped chicken! The paper-wrapped chicken that the Han First Emperor ate? Then they were lucky today.
Compared to this dish, Gao Shun's Dazhu Gansi didn’t seem to stand out.
Gao Shun had never study and didn't know the origin of paper-wrapped chicken. He found Jiang Yun Zhu's chicken recipe was a bit interesting. But when he realized that everyone was looking at the paper-wrapped chicken and no one was paying attention to his Dazhu Gansi, his face immediately turned black.
Was Jiang Yun Zhu making paper-wrapped chicken? She certainly was. This dish was recreated in the Qing Dynasty. It flourished in the Republic Era. It was lost again in modern times. However, this time it wasn't because of the method, but because the jade buckle paper used to wrap the chicken was too rare.
This jade buckle paper was made from the tender bamboo produced in Changting. The production process was cumbersome and complicated. The finished product was as shiny as jade. It was expensive in this era. In modern times, machines have mostly replaced labor. Still, this kind of paper was very expensive. It could only be done manually, which was a bit unsustainable.
So a dish could sometimes show the changes of the times.
Jiang Yun Zhu was making this dish now as the timing was right. The jade buckle paper was readily available. Don't know if her dish would make Lu Prefecture’s jade buckle paper expensive.
Thinking about it, Jiang Yun Zhu raised her hand to signal that her paper-wrapped chicken dish was ready.
Immediately, someone came over and brought this dish to Magistrate Meng and the others. They saw a pure white fine porcelain plate, painted with green bamboo patterns, with three flamboyant and phoenix characters "Qishanju" on the corner.
In the middle, there was a roll of something pure and white in color. After the paper-wrapped chicken was deep-fried, the outer paper didn't seem to have changed at all.
Just the appearance, it could be called gourmet food and beautiful utensils.
At this moment, someone took the scissors and cut the paper. Immediately, a gust of hot air burst out along with the fragrance.
The heat dissipated. Everyone looked inside and saw the chicken was as golden as jade.
Everyone was bewitched by the smell. Someone took out the chicken’s meat inside and put some on the plate of Magistrate Meng. Then the ten gentlemen’s.
A plate of paper-wrapped chicken. Even when Jiang Yun Zhu deliberately made more, each person would only get two to three pieces as eleven people were sharing it.
Of course, this was normal. It was food tasting, not filling the stomach. Two or three pieces was enough to get the taste.
Everyone looked at Magistrate Meng eagerly, waiting for him to eat first.
Magistrate Meng couldn't bear it anymore and took the chopsticks to pick up the chicken. Who would have thought that the chicken would slide away with the slightest inattentiveness at the first try. This goes to show the tenderness of the chicken.
The paper-wrapped chicken used the method of deep-frying through the paper, because there was fear that the chicken would be fried dry and it could also lock in all the flavors inside.
Magistrate Meng picked it up for the second time without changing his face and put the piece of chicken in his mouth.
Flavorful. It was this feeling. The aroma of various seasonings, chicken, and bamboo shoots. All the aromas were mixed together, shocking people's taste buds.
Magistrate Meng slowly tasted the meat in his mouth, trying to distinguish all the aromas one by one and remember it in his heart.
This was probably what people want to do subconsciously when they see beautiful scenery, beautiful things, and eat delicious food.
Seeing that Magistrate Meng had eaten, the others moved their chopsticks one after another.
Then there was only one thought in their minds. It was indeed a dish that Han First Emperor had full praise for. As expected, it was delicious!
Magistrate Meng savored it very slowly. Still, the three pieces of chicken soon entered the stomach. It was the same for the others. They looked at the empty paper bags, wanting more.
Someone suddenly thought, I wonder if that paper could be eaten? It seemed that this paper was made of young bamboo. On top of that, it had been dipped in seasonings and passed through the oil pan... wonder how it would taste.
Of course, this was a private thought. No one would say it out.
Gao Shun's dishes were finished before Jiang Yun Zhu's. In fact, before the attendants shared the chicken, they had already shared the Dazhu Gansi among the magistrate and the others. But everyone was eager to try the paper-wrapped chicken, so no one cared about that dish.
After eating the chicken now, everyone would naturally have to try the Dazhu Gansi. If not, how could the winner be decided?
Gao Shun's skills were excellent. Although he didn't try his best to make this Dazhu Gansi, it had a soft texture and a delicious taste.
It was just that everyone ate the mellow chicken before having this dish. So it wasn’t that amazing.
In fact, this was Jiang Yun Zhu's strategy - aim for a head start. When cooking, sometimes the comparison was more than the color and fragrance.
The voting started. According to the process, whichever dish the judges finds delicious, they put the spoon in their hand on the plate in front of that dish.
Magistrate Meng was afraid of affecting everyone's fair judgment, so he told everyone to vote first before he votes. Just to avoid effect of leading.
The first gentleman put the spoon in his hand in front of the paper-wrapped chicken without hesitation.
The same goes for the second gentleman.
Then the third and the fourth. When it was the fifth's turn, he wanted to put the spoon on the plate before the dish of Dazhu Gansi. After all, he accepted the money from Manager Meng.
However, in the end he didn't dare. Everyone, including Magistrate Meng, was watching. He got to have a reason for voting the Dazhu Gansi, right?
He couldn't afford to lose face when the time comes and he can’t explain.
The sixth, paper-wrapped chicken. The seventh, paper-wrapped chicken. The eighth, he was very conflicted. Manager Song asked someone to request his help. That someone happened to help his family before. He had already promised to help. Nnow?
He stood there, swaying from side to side. Finally closing his eyes, he put the spoon in front of Dazhu Gansi.
Fine. From now on, he won't owe that person any more favors.
Sure enough after voting, everyone was looking at him. He could only turn his face away, pretending not to see. In fact, he wished there was a crack in the ground for him to slip in.
With him taking the lead, the ninth voted for Dazhu Gansi.
The tenth voted for the paper-wrapped chicken.
Finally it was Magistrate Meng’s turn. He smiled, "Personally, I think the paper-wrapped chicken is better. The paper-wrapped chicken in the past symbolized the glory of the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years. Now the paper-wrapped chicken has reappeared, our county will get better and better."
It sure was. There were iron mines in Wuling County. The people's lives would only get better and better.
"What Official say is very true." Everyone responded one after another.
In the first dish competition, Jiang Yun Zhu won.
Jiang Yun Zhu had been standing at the side, watching. She saw the two people who put their spoons at Dazhu Gansi’s. She vaguely guessed that these two people might have something to do with Manager Song or Manager Meng.
Can’t be helped. Where there were people, there were benefits.
Fortunately, she won.
In the audience, Xue Jing and the others were overjoyed. Jiang Yun Zhu won the first round. The rest became much easier.
In stark contrast to them were Manager Song, Manager Meng and others. They were like mourning. How did they lose?
They all looked at Gao Shun. Was this the top cook of the Marquis Anping Manor? He couldn't compare to a girl in a county town.
When Gao Shun was looked at by them, his already annoyed heart immediately burst into flames. He didn't do his best. What's more, that female! What’s with the paper frying and attracting everyone's attention! He lost because he was unprepared.
Next, he’ll let everyone see his strength.
The competition for the second round would begin immediately. At this time, more than an hour had passed since the start of the competition. Though it was lunch time, none of the onlookers wanted to leave. Instead, there were more and more people.
Although everyone couldn't eat the dishes prepared by the two cooks on stage, it was good to see and smell them.
Besides, such entertaining competitions don't happen all the time.
For the second dish, Gao Shun directly grabbed a duck, a chicken, and a pigeon. The duck used was an old drake. It had the densest meat. The chicken used was a wild chicken. The pigeon used was a young pigeon.
It was a technical job to remove the bones of the old male duck bit by bit without changing its appearance. However, Gao Shun did it extremely quickly.
Jiang Yun Zhu started to make the second dish. For the second dish, she originally wanted to make Luoyang Yancai, but after seeing Gao Shun's method, she temporarily changed her mind.
She knew that he was going to make three nested ducks. The processed pigeon belly was stuffed with ham, winter bamboo shoots and other things. Then the pigeon was stuffed into the wild chicken’s belly and fill the empty space with various ingredients. Then the wild chicken was stuffed into the old male duck belly and other ingredients filled the space.
Finally, put the duck on a bamboo basket in a pan and simmer until cooked.
This dish used three kinds of birds- pigeon, wild chicken, and old duck. As the saying goes, ‘It is better to eat one or two birds than half a catty of land animal’. Each of these three kinds of birds was very delicious. When handled properly, it was deliciousness on top of deliciousness.
Some people praised the delicacy of this dish as ‘get off the horse when you smell the fragrance, and stop the carriage when you know the taste’. This goes to show its unique taste.
And the Luoyang Yancai that Jiang Yun Zhu was going to make was another type. First of all, this dish was beautiful. After it is made, this dish looks like a white peony floating in a clear pond. People couldn't tell whether it was a dish or a real peony flower was placed on the plate. At the end of winter, it was definitely eye-catching.
Also, this dish had a history. It was said that Empress Zetian once ate it and gave it the name of the dish.
Of course, the taste of this dish was superb. It was mainly hot, sour and delicious with endless taste.
However, comparing this dish with Gao Shun's three nested ducks was like chicken and duck talking to each other.
Jiang Yun Zhu looked at the pan she had put on the fire and smiled. He wanted to compare umami? Alright then, she would compete with him. When it comes to umami, what could beat the stuff in her jar!
That's right, what Jiang Yun Zhu was making in the jar was Buddha jumping over the wall. ‘The jar full of meat and fragrance floated around; the Buddha abandoned Zen at the smell and jumped over the wall.’ Even the Buddha loves this jar, let alone ordinary people?
So Jiang Yun Zhu stood there without moving.
At Gao Shun's side, he was busying away, while she didn't move at all. Everyone guessed that she might be using the contents of the jar as a second dish to compete with Gao Shun. It was just the jar had been stewed for so long and there was no smell coming out at all. Could it be delicious?
Thinking of someone comparing Jiang Yun Zhu's jar with tea, someone asked, "Who remembers how many ingredients she put in this jar?"
There were so many people and there were all kinds of people. Someone truly did count, "Fifty-eight kinds. All of which are top-notch and delicious ingredients."
After hearing this, everyone fell silent. It was hard for them to imagine how the stew in this jar would turn out.
Gao Shun's three nested ducks were time-consuming. Jiang Yun Zhu's Buddha jumping over the wall was also time-consuming. So after Gao Shun put the three nested ducks to cook, everyone was staring at each other, as if they had nothing to do.
"How about, let's start cooking the third dish first?" the master of ceremonies proposed.
Jiang Yun Zhu was fine with it. However, Gao Shun felt too tired. He tossed around for half the night last night. His energy was currently low.
Manager Meng brought him a chair and he sat there to recuperate.
Jiang Yun Zhu sat down and waited.
On the stage, Magistrate Meng was in good spirits, chatting with all the scholars about various things.
Under the stage, some people felt hungry and wanted to eat. But they were afraid of missing the exciting moment, so they stood there and endured it.
At this time, Gao Shun's three nested ducks began to emit aroma.
"It smells so good! My mouth is watering." Someone smelled the fragrance.
"Ain’t that right." Someone echoed.
"This used duck, chicken, and pigeon. Just from the smell, I want to eat it." Someone said.
Some people’s mind was on Jiang Yun Zhu's jar. After so long, "Why hasn't there been any smell yet?"
"That can’t be. Even if it is stewed into a pan of soft porridge, there should be some smell."
...
Everyone was discussing.
After more than half an hour, Gao Shun stood up. His three nested ducks were mostly done.
Seeing this, Jiang Yun Zhu stood up. Her Buddha jumping over the wall was mostly done too.
Gao Shun opened the pot. Immediately a strong fragrance wafted around.
Jiang Yun Zhu lifted the lid of the jar. A faint scent of wine came out of the jar with an extremely delicious smell. Anyone who smelled this scent felt as if they were drunk.
Anyone asking Gao how long he was cooking for the new restaurant? cause i thought it was an restaurant competition, not a "who knows the best cook, even if bound elsewhere" :b
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