Ancient Foodie Survival Guide Chapter 25
Translated by Serena Love
Edited by Azure
Chapter 25: Fish-Flavored Shredded Pork Rice
When Xie Xun returned to the Bamboo Courtyard, Jiang Shuyao was looking for him everywhere. She saw him coming back refreshed, her brows frowned. "Where have you been?"
Xie Xun stopped his steps and said vaguely, "I went to walk around the yard for a while."
"Such a coincidence?"
Xie Xun looked away. He lowered his thick eyelashes and nodded stiffly.
Although Jiang Shuyao often complained that he had a coffin face, after spending some time with him, she could gradually see emotions on his face.
For example, his face was still cold and calm, but in fact, he had a guilty conscience.
Why was he feeling guilty facing her? Jiang Shuyao couldn't figure it out.
"I'm ready for tomorrow's lunch. You can come with me."
Xie Xun saw her gaze and almost confessed about where he went, when he heard her suddenly change the topic, he was relieved and quickly followed her obediently.
It was not easy to find an artisan in ancient times. Fortunately, Jiang Shuyao was rich and found someone to make a new type of lunch box in less than a day.
The lunch box was created by nesting two layers of wooden boxes of different sizes. There was space in the middle layer, where a layer of leather was inlaid with iron sheets placed to prevent water leakage. The lid of the box had several vent holes for heat to dissipate. The idea was made based on modern self-heating lunch boxes. The heating pack was made of coke powder, quicklime, and salt. The cost was not high; the idea was ingenuous.
She opened the lunch box, took out the top layer, pointed to the heat pack, and said to Xie Xun, "I put this heat pack here, don't move it casually, and don't touch it with your hands, you know?" There was always a fear he would stuff his mouth with whatever he saw like a naughty child
Xie Xun nodded and asked, "What is this?"
Jiang Shuyao couldn't explain the chemical principles to him, so she just said, "This will get hot when exposed to water. So you must remember to add cold water. Have you seen this line? Add the cold water until here, don't exceed the limit. After adding the cold water, put the smaller box back in, and then close the lid without touching the holes."
After Jiang Shuyao finished speaking, she was still worried and asked Xie Xun to repeat the instructions.
For the first time in his life, Xie Xun's memory was doubted, but he repeated it word by word.
Jiang Shuyao was satisfied, and finally told him, "I will put your lunch in this small box. After you close the lid, wait for about six or seven min... uh, half an hour. Then you can open it for eating."
Xie Xun saw such a magical lunch box for the first time. He felt very nervous when thinking about his lunch tomorrow, and he couldn't wait to try it.
After turning his gaze on the lunch box a few more times, he suddenly thought of something and hurriedly asked, "Did you get money from the public fund to make this?"
Jiang Shuyao didn't care much about money. "No."
Xie Xun was stunned. He didn't expect that the money to eat her rice these days was paid by her!
He thought that opening a small kitchen only meant crossing the road to the main kitchen, and the public fund paid for all the ingredients and other purchases. However, he didn't know that when Jiang Shuyao, a rich woman, was discussing with Xu-shi to open the small kitchen, Jiang Shuyao told Xu-shi that all the expenses would be paid by herself.
Jiang Shuyao was very wealthy. Everyone in the capital knew this. A few days ago, she almost emptied a cloth shop in a single visit. Xie Xun was worried, fearing that he would owe her money. Later, all the men's clothes she bought were sent to Count Xiangyang. After that, Xie Xun was relieved.
He said to Jiang Shuyao, "Wait for me." Then he ran away hurriedly. After a while, he came over with a small wooden box.
He put the wooden box on the table, opened the lock, and took out a thick stack of silver tael banknotes, "This is my savings for many years. This is the title deed--"
Jiang Shuyao hurriedly stopped him, "Hey, hey, wait. What are you doing with this?"
Xie Xun also noticed it a bit too late, and coughed, "I just wanted to say that I have enough savings to pay the bill."
He took out the silver banknotes, placed it in front of Jiang Shuyao, and said, "Although my salary is not high, the monthly silver can cover the daily purchase of ingredients." As he said, he untied his wallet and placed it on the table. “Take this extra banknote as my collateral in advance. Besides, cooking consumes your energy, and it cannot be measured by money alone."
Jiang Shuyao glanced at the value of the banknote, and was somewhat helpless. "This is too much, right? Are you planning to set it for life?"
Jiang Shuyao meant, of course, to "pay for all the food for his lifetime", but Xie Xun misunderstood and was suddenly stunned, even speaking with a stutter, "No, that's not the meaning."
Jiang Shuyao didn't catch his thoughts at all. She just took his purse and weighed it a few times. "Just this, it's good enough. I don't use any delicacies for cooking daily."
Xie Xie was still in a daze because of Jiang Shuyao's remark just now. He didn't say much. He nodded when he heard her words. "After that, I will give you money regularly."
"Good." Jiang Shuyao did not refuse.
＊
In the early morning of the next day, Xie Xun got up early to have breakfast, and he had already cleaned up before the sky was bright.
When Jiang Shuyao got up to have a meal, packed up a lunch for him, and sent someone to the study room, he pretended that he had just finished cleaning and was just about to go.
Not far from the house, he ran into Lin Cheng, who was riding a horse and eating bread.
When Lin Cheng saw him, he led the horse over and pointed to the lunch box he was carrying immediately. "Look, Bo Yuan, I also brought my meal today."
Xie Xun nodded.
"When I went back, I told the chef at the house about the kind of food you brought. After a little thought, they made something similar." Lin Cheng triumphantly said. "But they have never heard of the hot and sour food you brought yesterday. The soup used to serve vegetables was really delicious."
Xie Xun raised his eyelids to look at him indifferently. He told Lin Cheng that he could share his jelly yesterday, but he could only take one chopstick. Lin Cheng agreed, but his one chopstick took half a bowl of his jelly.
Lin Cheng was still chattering there. "Yesterday they said the fried food you brought was delicious, which reminded me. I also brought a few fried crispy fish today. When I'm hungry, I can have snacks to relieve my gluttony." He finished and saw Xie Xun's lunch box, "What about you, what did you bring?"
Xie Xun just said, "It's just a few normal meals."
Lin Cheng naively believed him.
When it was time for lunch, everyone got up from the table one after another, and walked towards the dining hall in two or three while chatting about affairs.
Lin Cheng took the meat soup and side dishes and complained, "Why is it room temperature every day? When can I eat a bite of hot rice at noon!"
Xie Xun didn't say anything, but said to him, "You don't have to help me get my share."
"This won't work. You have to eat something, or you will be hungry in the afternoon."
Xie Xun was a little embarrassed, "I brought rice."
Lin Cheng was still persuading him, "A room-temperature meal is better than a cold meal."
Although Xie Xun believed the method Jiang Shuyao told him to make the food hot, he never tried it. So Xie Xun was still a little nervous. "It should be hot."
"Huh?" Lin Cheng was still holding the fried crispy fish in his mouth. His eyes were staring wide. He looked at him, "The food you brought in the morning, no matter how hot it was, it will be cold by now."
Xie Xun took out the lunch box Jiang Shuyao made for him, followed her instructions, poured in cold water, and closed the lid.
He was dazzled by the movement, and he was amazed. "Bo Yuan, what are you doing? Are you doing tricks?"
He intended to tease Xie Xun, but he didn't expect that the quiet wooden box would make a creaking noise. The small hole above continuously released heat, and the whole room looked towards this side.
As the rice heats up, the aroma gradually overflows. When the colleagues, who were used to room-temperature rice for so long, smelled the aroma of hot rice, they put down their chopsticks and surrounded Xie Xun.
Xie Xun's face didn't show anything, but he felt "arrogant" in his heart.
When it was almost time, Xie Xun opened the lid.
The thick steam mingled with the scent of rice raised up, and when the mist cleared, everyone could see the food in his lunch box.
The lunch box was square. There was a wooden board on the right side to divide the box into two. The left side was filled with crystal clear rice, topped with a spoonful of thick fish-flavored shredded pork in brown-red color, shredded pork, and carrot. There are also wood ears mushrooms mixed together, the color is rich, and the sauce is thick.
On the right, there were a few small pieces of meat with a bright burgundy color. Everyone could not tell what it was, but Xie Xun knew. It should be the braised pork trotters that Jiang Shuyao had chopped. The size was just right for a bite. If he put them in his mouth and slowly spit out the bones, it would not look too ugly.
The fish-flavored shredded pork rice bowl smelled domineering after heating. It is savory but also sour and sweet. Just smelling it made your appetite rise.
Look at the gravy soaking into the white rice, and the plump rice coated in the bright brown-red soup. It looked great.
Xie Xun picked up his chopsticks, and everyone's gaze fell on the tip of his chopsticks.
He mixed the rice coated in the sauce a little, and stirred up the hot rice and the fish-flavored shredded pork and put it in his mouth. The scorching heat made him unable to hold back his mouth and breathe out. The mixed rice was stained with a sweet and sour fish aroma, while the salty taste of fish-flavored shredded pork had also been neutralized.
The sweet and sour revealed a slight spiciness, but the spiciness was only supplementing the flavor. It would not be as stimulating as ordinary spiciness, but complement the savory aroma of the sweet and sour sauce. After chewing and swallowing, his mouth was full of rich flavor.
Lin Cheng was so greedy and embarrassed to ask for other people's things. So he could only look at him eagerly.
Xie Xun was very uncomfortable being stared at by them. He was entangled and ended up giving a chopstick for each of them to eat, and giving each of them a piece of trotter.
They couldn't wait to eat the fish-flavored shredded pork rice, but regretted as soon as they had it. The savory taste only made the vegetarian soup they were holding look even duller. They seemed to swallow the rice before chewing, leaving only the sweet and sour aftertaste in their mouth.
Everyone planned to discuss with the eunuchs on how to improve their lunch. Before, it was okay, but now looking at Xie Xun's steaming, savory and delicious box lunch, who could bear it anymore?
As they were thinking, they threw the braised trotters into their mouths.
Trotters were an ingredient they had never eaten before. The place where the bones are connected was lean, but the remaining thick layer was the essence. It was soft but not mushy. Fatty, but not greasy. It has a mellow and strong meaty aroma, but it was more fragrant, chewier, and more mellow.
The stewed pork trotters were marinated so deliciously, and even the bones were soaked in stew. After eating the meat wrapped on the bones, everyone put the bones on the tip of their tongues and rolled them around before spitting them out with their sleeves covering their mouth.
Just now, the sweet and sour fish scent in their mouth had been replaced by the stew flavor, which was spicy and fresh, with a slight sweetness and refreshing taste of Chinese herbs, which had rich layers and long-lasting fragrance.
They turned their gaze to Xie Xun. Some of them already planned to find out where the top chefs in Xie's house were dug, so they had such skills. As for what Xie Xun mentioned about being something his wife had prepared, no one in the room believed it. Jiang Shuyao's reputation for being an empty brain was firmly imposed.
Some were still reminiscing about the trotters, and asked, "Bo Yuan, what ingredients were this made of?"
Xie Xun swallowed the rice in his mouth and uttered two words very flatly, "Pork trotters."
They were ready to hear the name of some rare mountain treasure, and suddenly they heard about trotters. Everyone was dumbfounded.
Some of their complexions changed and it was unclear what sort of scene they were picturing. They were busy drinking and rinsing their mouths. Some smacked their mouths, disappointed to think that such delicious food was made with such sordid ingredients. Some thought about going home and asked the chef of the house to make it too. It's just that they don't know if their parents would scold them...
No matter what they were thinking, Xie Xun ate his rice bowls—humming in his heart that some people were not worthy to enjoy Jiang Shuyao's delicacies.
He finished the rice bowl, and even the sauce was wiped clean.
This could be considered to live up to the quality of the food and Jiang Shuyao's wishes.
If you enjoyed Serena’s work, buy her a ko-fi! 