Chapter 318 Glutinous Rice and Dates (1)

After sitting in Lin Fei's courtyard for a while, reading the beginning of the storybook, and drinking a cup of tea, Wen Mingtang was taken to see Master Xing by Lin Fei.

Wen Mingtang was really shocked when she saw Master Xing with a thick bandage on his arm: Although she knew that Master Xing was injured, she was still shocked when she saw Master Xing's injury with her own eyes.

This injury was indeed much more serious than she imagined! If it had been anyone else, he might have already taken leave, but Master Xing was still injured, chopping vegetables with a kitchen knife.

When he noticed that Wen Mingtang was watching him chopping vegetables, Master Xing paused, looked up at Wen Mingtang, and greeted her with a smile: "Master Wen is here!"

Wen Mingtang nodded, called "Master Xing" and couldn't help but said: "Master Xing, this fall is not a light one! Why don't you take a leave to rest?"

Although Mrs. Hou likes to eat the dishes cooked by Master Xing, it is not that the Hou Mansion is without a cook. It doesn’t hurt to take a break and recuperate. Looking at Lin Fei's look, I thought that Marquis Jingyun and his wife were not the kind of people who would force others to make things difficult for them.

But as soon as she said this, Master Xing shook his head, pointed to his injured hand, and said with a smile: "I am right-handed, and the injury is my left hand. It doesn't matter when cutting vegetables or something." After a pause, he added, "I'm born with a temper that can't be idle. It has nothing to do with Madam. Madam is very considerate. It's just that I don't want to be idle."

When Wen Mingtang heard this, he immediately understood. He didn't say anything more about the matter. Instead, he untied the baggage on his back, handed him the red yeast rice he had brought, and said, "The public kitchen has a lot of stock in the warehouse. I brought some with me." Come here, are you satisfied?"

Master Xing smiled and took the big bag of red yeast rice and said, "That's enough. It's enough to make several plates of braised pork!" Then he pointed to the side and said, "Master Wen needs a cutting board and a kitchen knife. Once I have all the equipment ready, let’s see if it’s suitable for use?”

Wen Mingtang walked to the cutting board, picked up the kitchen knife and tried it with her hands. Probably taking into account the natural strength difference between men and women, Master Xing specially prepared some lighter kitchen knives for her, which were very easy to use.

Wen Mingtang nodded, glanced at Master Xing, who was cutting and preparing vegetables in an orderly manner even though his hands were wrapped, and couldn't help but sigh: "Master Xing is such a meticulous person!"

Master Xing kept cutting in his hands and said: "We cooks should be meticulous. If something goes wrong with the food you eat, it will be a big deal."

Wen Mingtang was also convinced of this, and after responding, he began to prepare the dishes.

Since it is a banquet dish, the cold food is naturally served first. It seemed that most of these cold side dishes had been prepared in advance. Wen Mingtang glanced at the cold side dishes that had been placed on the dinner plate and could be taken away at any time. He glanced at them and saw that there were several braised foods, pickled foods, etc. Tao, although it is not very novel, the presentation is quite particular, and the combination of the dishes is quite artistic.

Wen Mingtang looked at the artistic cold side dishes, and was even more surprised. He subconsciously glanced at Master Xing who was cutting vegetables beside him again.

She had already heard about Chef Xing's good cooking. Although Lin Fei would not get mad at the cook because of the poor cooking and he was a very "kind" master, but his taste was actually very tricky. "Eat" refuses to eat dishes that do not suit your taste.

Before hearing about Liu Yuandao's future, Lin Fei went to big restaurants such as Hongyan Tower, and there were many dishes that he wouldn't even touch.

Apart from Wen Mingtang, the only one who could get a compliment from Lin Fei was Master Xing. Her dishes seemed to suit his appetite by accident, but Master Xing's craftsmanship...seeing the lotus root slices in the cold side dishes stacked into a boat shape, and then garnished with edamame and other things on top, it was very exciting. Master Xing, who "created" a landscape painting of "a boat tour on the lake" on the plate, Wen Mingtang is also ashamed of himself.

She has seen dishes made with exquisite detail, but those as exquisite as Master Xing's. Even the cooks in the royal kitchen of the palace needed guidance from several palace painters before they could make the dishes look like this.

Of course, the dishes still taste like those dishes, but making the dishes like this is impossible without some calligraphy and painting skills.

Wen Mingtang looked at Master Xing in front of him, who was particularly good at the word "color" in cooking, and couldn't help but ask: "Master Xing, have you studied calligraphy and painting?" He said, without waiting for Master Xing to speak, He said, "Master Xing's handwriting on the menu is really beautiful!"

When Master Xing, who was cutting vegetables, heard this, he stopped what he was doing, turned to look at Wen Mingtang, and said: "Since I rely on my craftsmanship to make a living, I naturally have a pair of skillful hands. Master Wen's handwriting is also very beautiful, which is also true." A piece of cake."

In response to this, Wen Mingtang shook his head, glanced at the beautiful cold food, and said: "I am the guilty queen, and the convicted Wen Xuance is my father. My handwriting was taught by him. If it weren't for So, it is absolutely impossible to write such words.”

When he heard the words "Wen Xuance", Master Xing was a little surprised. He obviously knew Wen Xuance. However, the surprise was only for a moment. He soon recovered. Instead of comparing with her, he smiled and said : "I did learn some calligraphy and painting when I was young and before my family failed. I never thought it would be useful here."

As he said that, before Wen Mingtang could speak again, he put down the kitchen knife in his hand, handed over a plate of washed red dates, and said: "The cold dishes are still short of Master Wen's 'Heart-soft'. Madam was worried about it when she saw the menu." It’s served, I’m just waiting for Master Wen’s ‘soft heart’ to be ready, and then I’ll serve it first!”

Although he didn't say it clearly, Master Xing's action of handing over the date clearly meant to change the topic.

Wen Mingtang was not a blind person. Seeing Master Xing's action, Wen Mingtang stopped questioning him. Instead, he took the red dates from Master Xing and said, "Master Xing is right." Then he lowered his head and scooped up some glutinous rice flour, added water and started. Kneading noodles.

This "soft heart" is actually glutinous rice dates. Just cut the pitted red dates and stuff glutinous rice strips about the same size as the red dates in the middle.

After changing the topic, Master Xing obviously talked a lot more when talking about food.

While cutting and preparing vegetables, I talked to Wen Mingtang about the food in various places.

"Scholars have to read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles, and we cooks should also travel more." Master Xing said, "I went to Jiangnan and other places before and saw that they also fried Longjing tea leaves with shelled shrimps. , this tea tastes quite good when paired with meat dishes such as shrimps!”

Wen Mingtang nodded, put "Heart-soft" on the steamer, and then began to boil the osmanthus sugar. While boiling the sugar, he said: "Meat and meat dishes are not only paired with tea, but also with fruits. Apart from other things, let's just say that it can be paired with anything." It can be seen that pork meat paired with green plums, hawthorns and other things can add an extra fragrance and taste quite delicious."

When it came to eating, the two of them were enjoying themselves. Because they were working with their heads down, they didn't notice that Lin Fei walked into the yard at some point. He sat down by the stone bench outside the window and drank tea while reading the book that Wen Mingtang had just read. While talking, he raised his head and looked at the two of them from time to time.

When his eyes fell on Master Xing who was cooking, Lin Fei's eyes narrowed slightly.