Chapter 90

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

That You Xuelu had a face full of disappointment and asked, "Then if we eat later, will there still be time to make it?"

Song Miao shook her head and told him two ways to prepare food: how long to fry taro slices, how long to fry pork belly, how long to simmer brine soup, and so on and so forth.

You Xuelu just listening felt his head grow big; after a rough calculation himself, he also knew it wouldn't work, so he said: "Then what about making other dishes? Young Lady, do you have any other signature dishes that are also easy to chew—having one or two that are a bit harder doesn't matter; the gentlemen can't eat them, but I can help eat them."

Song Miao thought for a moment, asked a few people about their tastes, then said: "How about eating fish? Then find a tender chicken to make; as for the other dishes, we'll decide based on what good things are in the stall."

You Xuelu immediately perked up and said: "Eating chicken is good! Fish is also good! But there's no need to buy fish—they're fishing in Jinming Pool right now; they must have caught quite a few by now!"

Song Miao hesitated for a few breaths, then asked: "I don't know if the several gentlemen have ever caught fish before?"

You Xuelu was stunned for a moment, then said: "That's not clear, but Jinming Pool is tended year-round, and the water is so clear; even if they can't catch any, I'm afraid just casting a net anywhere would scoop some up."

Although she didn't know the abilities of those gentlemen, Song Miao herself had fished before and knew that the clearer the water, the harder it was for fish to take the hook.

She thought for a moment, but didn't question the gentlemen's fishing skills, only saying: "The fish in the pool might not be good to eat; perhaps they're only good to look at? Better to buy some back; if we catch some, that's naturally good, but if not... at least we'll have some preparation."

Hearing these words, You Xuelu also became somewhat anxious and said: "Then let's do as Young Lady Song says; buy some of everything."

Song Miao then asked about cooking utensils, kitchen tools, and so on.

But that You Xuelu seemed unprepared and asked: "We borrowed two stoves from the garden this morning to boil water and boil tea—probably not enough, right?"

Seeing the other party take things for granted, Song Miao suddenly felt they were unreliable.

She tactfully refused: "Jinming Pool is very far away; going back and forth is inconvenient. Cooking outdoors in the open air, there's no stove platform; the things that can be made are very limited. Better to buy some ready-made food to take in; presumably that would be more convenient?"

You Xuelu was startled at once and hurriedly asked: "Just now everything was fine; why did you suddenly change your mind? If you're worried about money, Young Lady, you can just name a price..."

Song Miao shook her head: "It's not about money; it's truly impossible to cook without rice. There are no utensils or stove platform at all; I can't make good food, and I'm afraid I'd disappoint the old gentleman's expectations."

That Chen Fuzi was affable and kindly agreed to help find someone to check the Tingjiao Hang public notice registers.

Even if not making a full meal, giving less money, or even no money, Song Miao was willing.

But under such conditions, she felt she couldn't make anything good, so she was unwilling to earn this hot money.

You Xuelu thought for a moment, then said: "Young Lady, why not bring your own cooking utensils and kitchen tools? I happen to have a carriage here; after the matter is settled, I'll use the carriage to send you and your things back together. Would that work?"

He was so persistent; there was naturally a reason.

It turned out that at lunchtime, because Chen Fuzi, though not the oldest in age, had the worst teeth, and yet refused to admit it in front of his old friends, he could only describe Song Miao's cooking skills as unparalleled under heaven and earth, hoping to get a few bites of soft food.

You Xuelu had been assigned a task and thought it was a small matter, but who knew it was about to fall apart; he hurriedly lobbied desperately here.

Seeing Song Miao's expression soften, he added: "There are also a few young servants there who can all help you as assistants; if it really doesn't work, making two fewer dishes doesn't matter..."

The guest was so easy to talk to that Song Miao naturally stopped refusing.

After both sides agreed on the price, the carriage driver came over to help move the stoves, cutting boards, knives, firewood, and so on onto the carriage all at once.

Song Miao also took some commonly used seasonings to bring along, then got on the carriage.

The carriage rocked and swayed all the way, while Song Miao slowly thought about the dishes.

After a while, the three drove the carriage to the meat and vegetable stall; she first bought one tender hen, put it in a bamboo basket to close it, then went to buy fish.

They say don't advise eating crucian carp in the third month, but by this time fishermen had already begun enclosing ponds and rivers, releasing fry to raise themselves, and didn't have so many taboos anymore.

Song Miao walked around; one stall's crucian carp were much more lively than the others, even splashing water with their tails making more noise, so she bought more than ten.

The crucian carp varied in size; the big ones were as large as an adult's palm, and the small ones were also three fingers wide.

She chose all male crucian carp.

After buying the crucian carp, it happened that fresh spinach was out this season, so she bought two large handfuls of spinach, also bought some side dishes and side meats, and specially bought one bamboo tube of fresh cow's milk.

The carriage wasn't very big to begin with; inside were already many daily utensils, and now stoves, frying pans, steamers, and all sorts of cooking utensils were stuffed in, already full to the brim; now they had to put in ingredients, so You Xuelu had to tidy up inside here and there, trying to make space.

Seeing this, Song Miao naturally went to help, but in the corner she picked up a package of tree roots.

She looked at that root: fine and long rootlets, plump rootstock, brownish-yellow bark, occasionally with some red spots; it looked familiar. She leaned in to smell it, and indeed it was a strong coconut fragrance. She couldn't help but say: "What a beautiful Five-finger Peach."

You Xuelu beside her heard this, turned back to look, and said: "Young Lady Song knows this? Because my master has spleen deficiency and needs to boost qi and secure the exterior, strengthen the spleen and dispel dampness; a student gave him a prescription, telling him to drink more Five-finger Peach Fu Ling Water regularly."

He said, pointing to that paper package: "This was also sent by that student; it smells of coconut meat, but I don't know why, the water boiled from it tastes mixed with yellow mud; the master drank it twice and then refused to drink it again—saying it tasted like drinking mud slurry."

Song Miao said: "This needs to be washed carefully; scald it with boiling water first, then boil it, and the mud taste won't be so heavy..."

You Xuelu shook his head repeatedly: "The master is very picky about food; he probably won't drink it again."

Song Miao thought for a moment, then said: "Since he doesn't want it, how about I take it to cook dishes?"

You Xuelu couldn't help but hesitate and said: "Isn't this medicine? It's no different from tree roots; using it to cook dishes, what would it taste like?"

"Five-finger Peach naturally has coconut fragrance; people in Guangnan often use it to steam chicken and stew soup. Today this chicken is very tender; the meat fragrance is somewhat lacking; just right that I brought a coarse pottery pot. Though it can't compare to a sand pot, it can barely do."

Song Miao explained to him again, then pointed to the chicken in the bamboo basket beside them that kept flapping: "In a while, use Five-finger Peach to roast it over high heat; it will be very fragrant, fresh and tender, and the meat juices will be sealed in well; it won't taste bad."

Hearing Song Miao say this, especially the words "very fragrant," "fresh and tender," "meat juices," You Xuelu, though still half-believing, could no longer find words to refuse, and could only agree.

He thought to himself: Forget it; anyway, there's still fish, and other dishes; even if this chicken isn't tasty, the master probably won't be picky, right?

After the carriage left the Inner City, it drove fast all the way; it took about half an hour before finally arriving at Jinming Pool.

At this time, Jinming Pool and Qionglin Garden were both royal gardens; they were only open to the public for commoners to play during the third and fourth months each year.

Although it was not yet the third month now, the Empress Dowager was celebrating her birthday, and the Emperor, being purely filial, specially opened several gardens early, so that commoners could also celebrate with the Empress Dowager.

After the carriage entered, indeed there were crowds of people, but the carriage driver did not hurry to stop; instead, he drove around and around in the garden, turning into a separate courtyard.

Upon entering the gate, they saw flowers and trees of varied colors, beautifully decorated; in the distance, there was also a lotus pond.

At this time, the lotus leaves had just sprouted and were not very pretty, but the pond was very large; looking far into the distance, one could not see the edge.

You Xuelu turned around left and right, then brought back two young servants of about eight or nine years old to help, and said to Song Miao: "They say there are no fish at this spot, so they've all gone to other places to look for fish; I don't know when they'll be back. Young Lady Song, no need to wait; just start cooking."

Speaking this, he also took Song Miao to a pavilion not far away and asked: "There is a stone table here, and a water well beside it—is it all right to make a fire here?"

Song Miao looked left and right, and knowing conditions here were limited, that there was even a well was already rare, so she nodded.

Seeing the hour was not early, she did not delay, immediately calling one of the young servants to light a fire and boil water, and shouting for another to help her lay out the things she had brought one by one.

Once everything was set out, she began kneading dough, and also called the idle young servant to wash clean a piece of fatty pork and chop it into fine mince.

Out in the open wilds, the heat was hard to control; if she cooked rice it would be very difficult to cook it well, and moreover You Xuelu had already explained clearly that there was still much leftover rice at noon, which could be eaten again just by reheating, so she thought she might as well simply add a pastry.

When the dough was kneaded, and she returned after washing vegetables, the fatty meat had already been chopped seven or eight parts done; Song Miao herself chopped a while longer, until the fat mince was as fine and smooth as lard, only then adding white sugar and salt inside — this is called sugar-lard.

Pork sugar-lard can also be called oil-shortening; using oil-shortening to proof, the dough will rise faster, and also be softer, translucent white like jade, particularly fluffy and soft.

In a moment the pork sugar-lard was ready; she rolled the previously kneaded dough into thin sheets, spread the lard-sugar evenly on top, folded it three layers twice like folding a quilt, rolled thin, folded again, repeated twice, then gently stretched the dough sheet long.

When the dough sheet was stretched extremely thin, she used a knife to cut it into strands, six strands as a group, taking her fingertips as center, gently twining and rolling, after rolling, tucking the tail end into the bottom, and it counted as one made.

— This is a pastry very commonly seen in Hengzhou, Yongzhou and several places, called Silver Silk Roll.

Silver Silk Rolls all use fermented dough; after all are made, they still need to proof for a long time before they can be steamed.

During the time making the rolls, that water had long since boiled hot.

Song Miao then caught the chicken from the cage, killed the chicken and took its blood, then scalded it with hot water, gently pushing with her hand; not long after, the wet chicken feathers all fell off completely, leaving a pretty, clean naked chicken.

The two book-servants were at the age where they could watch cats and dogs fight for a whole day without tiring; usually they dealt mostly with scholars, but had little other experience; at this moment, while working, they couldn't help watching Song Miao kill the chicken.

Because they saw her movements clean and neat, one slice of the knife, and the chicken scarcely struggled before it had no movement.

Then they watched her pluck the chicken, her hands so fast their eyes could barely keep up, simply like a magic trick; both were excited.

After killing the chicken, taking advantage that the chicken body was still hot, Song Miao conveniently chopped it into evenly sized pieces, added salt and a tiny bit of soy sauce, and mixed with ginger shreds to marinate.

While this chicken marinated, she went to kill fish.

That fish had long had the middle of its fins opened, and had been left to bleed for a while.

The small crucian carp needed no attention; just scrape the scales, only gut and remove the gills, then give to the servant to carefully wash clean with water and it's done.

But the large crucian carp Song Miao handled extremely carefully; besides the usual fish-killing steps, she also turned the knife sideways, cutting out both side center bones, the tail fine spines, and the belly bone large spine all completely.

Six large crucian carp in total, small crucian carp fully ten or so; Song Miao killed them one by one, and in the eyes of those two book-servants, this young lady was clearly unhurried, but somehow it seemed like in just the blink of an eye, one crucian carp had gone from the cutting board into the basin.

When the two washed fish, they almost uncontrollably widened their eyes, looking at each other.

Who doesn't know crucian carp is delicious but full of bones?

But right now in their hands, the small crucian carp were fine, but the large crucian carp had already been split into two large meat fillets and the center bone, and feeling the fish meat, there was actually not a single small bone.

The two servants originally only thought they came to do work; at this moment, doing and doing, they only felt they had become ones who came to broaden their knowledge.

Because they saw Song Miao was gentle and amiable, looking easy to get along with, they hurriedly ran over to curry favor, one learning You Xuelu calling "Song Xiaoniangzi" "Song Xiaoniangzi" randomly, the other calling "Song Boss" "Song Niangzi" randomly, all asking how to kill the fish, and how to kill the chicken, looking eager to try, wanting to steal the craft.

Song Miao did not hide anything either, specially picking out a large crucian carp, slowly killing it for them to watch; after finishing, she smiled and said: "This isn't any secret technique; if one's hands are practiced that's best, but even if hands aren't practiced, as long as hands are steady, and one remembers the fish bone positions clearly, one can also debone very fast."

Just as they spoke, here things were tidied up, and there the pot was also hot.

Waiting until the big fire burned the pot until it smoked blue smoke straight up, Song Miao poured clear oil to slick the pot, put in ginger slices and salt, and immediately placed the wiped-dry small crucian carp one by one into the pot.

With "sizzle sizzle" sounds rising one after another, the crucian carp almost visibly shrank and tightened; when the shape set, Song Miao then flipped them.

One flip, and that extremely rich pan-fried fish fragrance drifted everywhere.

This place was not a cramped house, it was very spacious, so that fragrance naturally went with the wind.

This round of pan-frying fish, Song Miao used heavy oil, high fire throughout, almost half pan-fry half deep-fry; first pan-fried the small fish well, then put the large crucian carp's fish bones in to pan-fry together.

When all were fried through, she again had the servant add firewood, waited until the pot sizzled, the fragrance even richer, then ladled a scoop of the boiling water sitting at the side and crashed it into the pot.

The instant boiling oil and boiling water met, the water had already turned white, becoming a pot of soup.

The bigger the fire, the more the water boiled, the more rich and white the fish soup, the fragrance even more richly drilling into the nose; just by smelling, one knows how fragrant it will be.

Here the fish soup was still braising, and to the side that coarse pottery pot had long been burned red-hot.

Song Miao put in oil, put in the five-finger peach roots washed clean and also blanched in boiling water, first stir-fry five-finger peach, then stir-fry ginger and scallion.

Five-finger peach coconut milk fragrance is originally extremely rich; stir-fried with oil, the flavor instantly burst out; when ginger and scallion went in the pot, she spread the lightly marinated chicken flat inside, covered the lid, closed the stove door, used medium fire to bake.

In a moment, not yet opening the lid, the hot oil pan-baked chicken fragrance mixed with coconut fragrance, ginger scallion fragrance, was already rushing out nonstop, simply about to flip the lid over.

And at this time, carrying an empty wooden bucket, holding a fishing rod, Chen Fuzi walking back, suddenly sniffed his nose, turned his head and asked: "Is it that I'm too hungry, how come it seems I smell fragrance..."

Following behind him was a sixty-year-old old man, his hands empty, not even a bucket, fishing rod who knows where, just following along sniffing, nodding and saying: "It is very fragrant, who is braising chicken?"

But the old man further behind would not agree.

He hugged a wooden bucket in his arms like a treasure, the bucket held much water, contained two shrimps the size of little fingers, one qingliao the size of a thumb, walking two steps, couldn't help happily looking at his harvest, then walking two more steps.

This person now hearing this, instead shook his head straight, saying: "What noses do you have, that is clearly fish! I'm afraid it's someone pan-frying fish, right?"