lovenovelstory Chapter 38 Inhuman! What kind of garbage have you fed me?!
Chapter 38 Inhuman! What kind of garbage have you fed me?!
Chapter 38 Inhuman! What kind of garbage have you fed me?!
The Imperial Kitchen, the main hall with its large stove.
Liu Fengyu was cursing loudly, his forehead covered in sweat.
"Who? Which bastard is burning this evil thing behind the scenes?"
Liu Fengyu pointed towards the backyard, his nose practically twitching with anger, "This pungent smell of smoke has ruined the flavor of our chicken soup!"
The kitchen helpers shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.
That backyard was where the servants stayed; no one went there normally.
But the taste was truly strange; it was pungent, but damn delicious. Several eunuchs, while being scolded, were secretly swallowing their saliva, chanting, "Liu Fengyu! Liu Fengyu!"
Wang Dequan's shrill voice came from the front hall; his voice arrived before he did, "The Emperor has decreed! Serve the meal!"
Liu Fengyu quickly put on a smiling face and went to greet him: "Eunuch Wang, it's not time yet—"
"His Majesty's belly is the time!"
Wang Dequan didn't waste any words, pointing to the lingering smell of smoke, "His Majesty smelled this and was delighted, saying he wants to eat it. Quickly, bring up the roasted meat that's being cooked!"
Liu Fengyu was dumbfounded.
Roasted meat?
He looked back at the empty cutting board.
Tonight's meal is steamed shad and mutton soup. Where did the roasted meat come from?
"Father-in-law—this—"
Liu Fengyu broke out in a cold sweat. "This taste—it's not what we make at home."
Wang Dequan's face hardened: "The wind blew from your direction. If it wasn't you, then who did it? His Majesty decreed that he wanted roasted meat, and now you're telling me you didn't have it? Do you want His Majesty to charge you with deceiving the emperor?"
When this huge accusation was slapped on Liu Fengyu's head, his legs went weak.
Deceiving the emperor is punishable by death.
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Liu Fengyu gritted his teeth and made up his mind.
It's just roasted meat, isn't it? The Tang Dynasty has been established for so many years, surely the imperial kitchen can't roast a piece of meat?
"Quickly! Start a fire!" Liu Fengyu roared at the stunned imperial chefs, "Bring out that best Western Region tribute lamb! Cut it into large chunks! Set up the finest silver charcoal! Now!"
The entire imperial kitchen instantly descended into chaos.
Some were cutting meat, others were starting fires.
Liu Fengyu personally took charge of the project.
He could smell the mutton, and thought that since His Majesty liked it, he should add as much seasoning as possible.
Sprinkle coarse salt!
Sprinkle with Sichuan peppercorn powder!
Apply the water infused with scallions, ginger, and garlic!
He even had someone bring him a jar of precious rock honey and smeared a layer of it on the meat.
This is called honey-glazed roasted mutton, a secret recipe from the imperial court. I bet it can't mask the wild flavor.
Fifteen minutes later.
A large plate of sizzling, oily lamb chunks was placed into a gilded food box.
Liu Fengyu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked at the plate of meat that looked excellent. Although it didn't smell as pungent as the strange smell from before, it was still quite fragrant.
"Let's go! See him off!"
Inside the Liangyi Hall.
The alluring fragrance had inexplicably faded, leaving only a faint lingering scent that tickled Li Shimin's nose.
This is even more agonizing.
"Here it comes!"
Wang Dequan jogged in, followed by two eunuchs carrying the gilded food box.
Li Shimin sat up straight, his Adam's apple bobbing.
The lid is lifted.
A plume of heat rose up.
Li Shimin peeked out.
The plate was filled with neatly arranged chunks of mutton, each about the size of a fist, with a golden-brown skin and glistening honey-coated areas.
only----
Li Shimin brought his nose close and smelled it.
His brows furrowed slightly.
This tastes wrong!
It didn't have that pungent, head-on smell from before, nor that strange, irresistible fragrance that made you want to sneeze.
It smelled purely of meat, mixed with a sweet honey flavor, and—why did it also have a slightly unpleasant gamey smell? "Is this what I just made?" Li Shimin looked at Wang Dequan suspiciously.
Wang Dequan wasn't entirely sure either, but he forced a smile and said, "Your Majesty, that's right. The people from the Imperial Kitchen said it was a new recipe, and they specially baked it for you."
Li Shimin was somewhat disappointed.
Perhaps my nose got used to it after smelling it for so long? Or maybe it smells one way but tastes different?
In other words, what is it—introversion?
Li Shimin picked up his silver chopsticks and took a piece of meat.
The meat chunks were heavy, still dripping with honey oil.
Never mind, let's fill our stomachs first.
Li Shimin opened his mouth wide and took a bite.
"Sizzle—!"
It wasn't as crisp as I expected.
The moment your teeth cut into the chunk of meat, you feel an extremely stubborn toughness.
The mutton was roasted too quickly; the outside was burnt, but the inside was still half-cooked, with the tendons and membranes tightly tangled together, like chewing on a shoe sole.
Followed by.
The muttony smell, forced out by the heat, mixed with the still-undissolved coarse salt grains and the cloyingly sweet rock sugar, swirled into a jumbled mess in my mouth.
Salty! Fishy! Sweet! Hard!
That fragrance is missing!
Li Shimin chewed twice, and his face instantly turned from expectant to liver-colored.
The huge sense of disappointment is like going to see a peerless beauty with great joy, only to find that when you lift the veil, it's actually Cheng Yaojin with rouge on.
"puff--!"
Li Shimin suddenly turned his head and spat the piece of rotten flesh in his mouth into his spittoon.
"Snapped!"
The silver chopsticks were slammed hard onto the table, making the plate of mutton bounce.
"You bastard!"
Li Shimin abruptly stood up, pointing at the plate of meat, his beard trembling with anger: "What is this? Huh? Is this fit for human consumption? It's not even worthy of feeding that hawk!"
The entire hall was instantly filled with people kneeling on the floor.
Wang Dequan lay prostrate on the ground, trembling all over: "Your Majesty, please calm down—Your Majesty, please calm down—"
"Where is that fragrance I smelled just now?"
Li Shimin paced back and forth in the palace, as agitated as a lion whose food had been stolen. "Where has that caramelized aroma gone! That spiciness gone! That mouthwatering smell gone! Have these incompetent fools hidden away the good stuff? Are they trying to fool me with this honey-coated, dead meat?"
Wang Dequan dared not raise his head, and could only press his face against the cold floor tiles: "Your Majesty—the Imperial Kitchen—the Imperial Kitchen said this is fresh out of the pot—"
"fart!"
Li Shimin kicked over the gilded food box.
Chunks of mutton rolled all over the ground, covered in dust.
"My nose isn't blind yet!"
Li Shimin, panting heavily, said, "That smell clearly came from the imperial kitchen! That aroma—even just smelling it, you could tell it was no ordinary food! And what we get is this pile of garbage?"
He suddenly remembered the corn pancake he hadn't gotten to eat, and the beggar's chicken wrapped in mud.
And then there's that "expert" who can cook all sorts of delicious food.
Li Shimin's eyes narrowed.
and many more!
Imperial Kitchen — Exotic Fragrance —
Could it be that bastard is up to his tricks again?
Only him! Only that strange man living in the woodshed could create such a bizarre yet irresistible flavor!
Those idiots in the Imperial Food Bureau must have smelled the aroma but couldn't make it, so they had to resort to this old trick to cover their tracks!
Li Shimin looked at the pieces of meat on the ground, feeling both angry and greedy, while his stomach also let out a series of thunderous protests at an inopportune moment.
"Good—very good."
Li Shimin gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words.
"They'd rather hide the best things away than let me have a single bite. And they're making such a big show of it—they're just trying to tempt me! They're just showing off!"
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