Wei and Jin Cooks

 The most fearful thing about the palace banquet is the cold food. Fortunately, it is autumn and the weather is warm. Zhao Hanzhang said when the imperial court started preparing the menu that she hoped her subjects could eat well at the palace banquet.

To put it bluntly, a palace banquet is a company party. It is rare for your boss to be generous, so naturally you have to prepare dishes for the reception.

 Dance and music are important, but food is even more important, especially in this era when most people don’t have enough to eat and don’t eat well.

 Not every official has money to go to Taotie Tower to eat.

As soon as Zhao Hanzhang gave the order, the imperial kitchen racked his brains and even went to the Taotie Tower to learn from the experience. Finally, he ordered three menus and presented them.

Wang Huifeng and Ting He picked it out first, and then handed it over to Zhao Hanzhang for review after revising it.

Zhao Hanzhang took Fu Tinghan to discuss it for a long time in the middle of the night, thinking about what they both liked to eat.

“What I like to eat, military generals like it, and what you like to eat, scribes with light tastes will definitely like it too, so as long as a menu satisfies you and me, it will basically satisfy them.”

 So this menu is also chosen from thousands.

In order to make the dishes served quickly without making them cold in advance, Fu Tinghan also specially asked someone to build an additional room in the imperial dining room, with a table built inside and a fire dragon running underneath.

 The heat generated by cooking will heat the water on the tail stove. The boiler of the tail stove is special, with two baffles on the left and right.

After the water is boiled, lift the baffle on the left and the boiled water will enter the pipe.

The pipe leads to the last room, where the prepared dishes can be placed. The table is warm, and the dishes placed on it will not get cold for five or six hours.

 The best thing is that the water can flow back to the outside after flowing through the room. Fu Tinghan had galvanized iron pipes made, which were used together with poured cement pipes to guide the water out. Hot water would come out when the faucet was turned on.

People in the imperial kitchen can use hot water to wash vegetables and meat.

If it weren't for the high cost of renovating the palace, Fu Tinghan would also like to bring hot water into the palace for fire dragons and showers.

 The winter in Luoyang is still too cold. It would be much more comfortable if there were fire dragons.

 Steamed lamb, steamed deer tail, roast duck, roast goose, as well as braised pork, braised bamboo shoots, red and white meatballs, longevity fish, peony agarwood, etc.

The palace maids filed in with dishes, one team went down, and another team came up. Their movements were elegant and orderly, and the dishes were served quickly and crisply. Each dish was steaming hot, which whetted your appetite just by looking at it.

 At the coronation ceremony, everyone started to control their diet from the morning, for fear that something indecent would happen midway.

Although they could go out of the palace to change clothes after the heaven-sacrifice ceremony, because they were entering the palace and fearing that something urgent might happen, all the officials still only hid a few pieces of cake in their sleeves in case they were very hungry.

It can be said that at the end of the day, everyone has eaten cold food. Suddenly seeing such steaming food, everyone can't help but move their index fingers and feel hungry in their stomachs.

 Zhao Hanzhang was also hungry.

She likes every dish on the table. If the table, budget, and products at this stage were not limited, she would have wanted to have one of the dishes on the list.

Everyone was hungry, but they didn't dare to move. Instead, they looked at Zhao Hanzhang above, hoping that she would give a speech quickly, and then everyone could have a good meal.

Zhao Hanzhang couldn't help but feel happy. He picked up a chopstick and put a piece of rice into his mouth, then said: "I know everyone is hungry. Let's eat without further ado."

All the officials laughed out loud, raised their hands in response, and held chopsticks one after another.

Zhao Hu had never seen the two new dishes. They were golden in color and seemed to be the same, but they were served on different plates.

He observed for a moment, then picked up a piece of meat from the plate on the left and looked at Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang originally wanted to eat the meatballs, but he suddenly caught his eye. After thinking about it, he turned his chopsticks, picked up a piece of roast duck, sprinkled some on the dipping sauce on the side, and then put it into his mouth.

Zhao Hu saw it and immediately imitated her, dipping it in the sauce first and then eating it. The golden skin is crispy in the mouth, but the meat inside is tender and juicy. Mixed with the sauce, it is salty and slightly sweet, which is very delicious.

Zhao Hu’s eyes lit up.

 He went to pick up another piece of meat on the plate, and then looked at Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang had no choice but to pick up a piece of roast goose and put some sauce on another plate...

Zhao Hu followed suit, and it had a different taste. The skin was similar, but this piece of meat was not as tender as the previous one, but not greasy. When paired with the sweet and sour sauce, it had a different taste.

The officials were not stupid, and they had been paying attention to the emperor. Naturally, they saw the interaction between their grandfather and grandson, and they all followed suit and started eating this dish.

Ji Yuan was more straightforward. After eating, he called the waiter and asked, "These two dishes have different meat qualities. What are they called?"

The chamberlain bowed and said: "Back to the waiter, this is roast duck and this is roast goose. They are both cooked with the recipe given by your majesty."

These two dishes are based on Guangfu’s cooking methods. Zhao Hanzhang has eaten them several times during the previous roasting trial. It is the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when ducks are at their fattest, so roasted duck is the most delicious.

  After taking care of Zhao Hu, Zhao Hanzhang finally picked up the meatball that he had longed for.

 These are meatballs. The meat and flour are mixed together in an excellent ratio, and mixed with some spices. It is the most suitable taste for Zhao Hanzhang.

 Fu Tinghan will feel a bit tender when eating it, but the meat is very firm. Zhao Hanzhang likes it very much. Like her, the Wang family also likes it, and Zhao Erlang who is not in Luoyang.

 Their family of three all taste like this.

Zhao Hanzhang thought of something and turned around to look. Sure enough, Mrs. Wang had finished both meatballs and seemed to still have some unfinished food.

Zhao Hanzhang separated the meatballs, only caught half of them, and then looked at Tinghe.

Tinghe stepped forward and carefully picked up the small bowl and brought it to Wang.

Mrs. Wang became happy, glanced at her daughter and ate half of the meatball.

 Fu Tinghan handed the two uneaten meatballs to Fu An.

Fu An was about to give it to Zhao Hanzhang, and Lai Qing stepped forward to take it with quick eyes and hands. The two competed quietly, but in the end Lai Qing won. He snatched the bowl and gave it to Zhao Hanzhang. He said with a flattering smile: "Your Majesty. , this was given by the royal husband."

 Zhao Hanzhang paused, turned his head and glanced at Lai Qing before nodding.

 She looked at Fu Tinghan who was sitting not far away and asked him, "Which dish do you think is the most delicious?"

Fu Tinghan said: "They are all good, but the peony agarwood is the most delicious."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, glanced at it, picked out a piece of bamboo shoots with serving chopsticks, and then asked someone to give the rest to the eldest princess.

He took another piece of fish meat with serving chopsticks, and then asked someone to bring the longevity fish to Zhao Song, and the remaining roast duck to Zhao Hu...

Every important hero was taken care of. Seeing that Tuoba Yilu liked to cook meat, she took a piece and sent the rest to their table.

 Sigh, being an emperor is actually quite tiring, and you have to be exposed to both rain and dew.

Zhao Hanzhang finally put one of the two **** in a bowl and asked someone to deliver it to King An.

In the midst of the excitement, musicians from the orchestra came forward to perform, including female performers and male performers. After watching two performances, Zhao Hanzhang looked through them at Tuoba and his son, who were not far apart.