Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 526: When the nobles dine, what will they eat if not mutton?

Zhenniang also arranged two palace maids and a eunuch to run errands for Shen Yu, and asked them to serve Miss Shen well.

She also said that dinner would be ready in the small kitchen in a while and she would ask someone to bring it over.

After explaining all this, Zhenniang left in a hurry.

Shen Yu traveled for several days in a row. After arriving in the capital, he simply washed up and went to the palace again. He thought he could go back to Lu Mansion after cooking one or two meals, but he didn't expect to be kept by the empress dowager again.

After several days of bumpy rides, coupled with the complicated rules after entering the palace, one had to kneel down and salute at every turn.

Although Shen Yu was not afraid, his nerves were tense and he couldn't relax. Now that he could finally sit alone for a while, he couldn't help feeling sleepy and tired.

Dinner was served quickly with a grand ceremony. Four young eunuchs, each holding a huge food box, were led by the fat cook from the small kitchen.

Food boxes were placed on the dining table in the dining hall, and plates and pots of dishes were being brought out. There were so many that even Lu Qiao, the little palace maid who served Shen Yu, was surprised.

I couldn't help but blurt out: "Why send so many dishes over? Miss Shen is a big eater, she can't finish it."

Shen Yu was originally washing his hands and face with the help of another young palace maid, Hong Yun. When he heard Lu Qiao say this, he also walked out to see. He was also stunned when he saw the table full of food.

Are all the meals in the palace so sumptuous?

Even a little cook like her has to fill up a whole table with a meal like this?

She looked at the fat cook who was leading the way.

The fat chef smiled and rubbed his hands: "Miss Shen, this is a little gift from our small kitchen."

"Everyone has heard today that the Queen Mother ate the porridge cooked by Miss Shen and enjoyed it very much. The Emperor was also very happy."

"Everyone thinks Miss Shen is our savior."

"We each cooked a few of our specialties and asked Miss Shen to taste them and give us some pointers. Otherwise, this job would be difficult."

Shen Yu understood then that it wasn't just to send dinner to her, but to find out why a simple bowl of porridge was more favored by the Queen Mother than their elaborately prepared meal.

Although the fat chef didn't say anything, Shen Yu did guess what they were thinking.

They knew that the Queen Mother ate porridge with relish today, and they also heard that the Queen Mother had kept Miss Shen.

At first, it caused panic among everyone, thinking that if Miss Shen stayed, they would be driven out of the palace.

The highest level of being a cook is to be an imperial chef. When you are old enough, you can leave the palace in glory.

If he then opens a big restaurant in the name of having once been an imperial chef, his family will be wealthy for several lifetimes.

If I were kicked out of the palace in disgrace, it would be all over. I wouldn't know whether I could continue to be a chef in the future.

As a result, after pestering Eunuch Qin to inquire carefully, he found out that this Miss Shen was the granddaughter-in-law of Master Lu who was not yet married, and they were going to get married next month.

The Queen Mother asked her to stay here to cook, and she would only stay here for more than a month. She would not stay in the palace for a long time to compete with them for their positions.

After hearing what Eunuch Qin said, the chefs felt relieved and naturally no longer guarded against Shen Yu.

Everyone was grateful that Shen Yu's appearance had solved their predicament, and they treated Shen Yu differently.

It was just a simple dinner, but everyone turned it into a banquet for the empress dowager to entertain guests.

It was the fat chef, who usually acted arrogant and refused to look people in the eye, who personally brought people to deliver it.

Shen Yu looked at the table full of food and said with a smile: "This is too much. Even if I take a few bites of each, I can't finish it."

The fat chef smiled and said, "Miss Shen, please enjoy it. If there is anything wrong, please feel free to give me some advice."

"You can see that these days, our people in the small kitchen and the cooks in the imperial kitchen have not had a good time."

"Young lady, please have pity on us. We are all here to serve the master well, to make sure the queen mother has good food and drink and a healthy body, so that the emperor can rest assured."

Shen Yu wanted to laugh in his heart. This fat cook was so smooth-talking. Sometimes he acted humble, sometimes he acted pitiful, and sometimes he showed his loyalty. It would be a pity if he didn't tell crosstalk with such a good eloquence.

Although he wanted to laugh in his heart, he agreed on the surface: "The chef is right. As long as the Queen Mother is here, we should do whatever we want."

When the fat chef saw that Shen Yu agreed with what he said, he smiled so much that his eyes narrowed into slits, and his fat double chin was almost folded into three layers. He actually went over and took the small plate and picked up the dishes for Shen Yu one by one.

When it came to tasting the food, Shen Yu stopped talking, said thank you, took the small plate, and tasted the food slowly with a calm expression.

As she tasted the food, the fat chef introduced the name and ingredients of the dish. His attitude became less greasy and both of them looked serious.

When Shen Yu finally put down her chopsticks, although she only tasted a little bit of each thing, she really felt full.

The fat chef saw Shen Yu taste every dish and asked like a studious elementary school student, "Miss Shen, how do you think it tastes?"

"These dishes are the specialties of our four chefs, and they are all carefully prepared. How come they don't catch the Queen Mother's eye?"

As he spoke, the fat chef looked at his proudest dish, a large plate of golden roasted lamb chops, and smacked his lips regretfully.

Shen Yu looked at the dishes on the table. Most of these dishes were made with mutton as the main ingredient, including fried pork, roasted lamb chops, double-humped mutton fillets, roasted golden sausages, etc.

It is either baked or fried.

The taste is indeed delicious at first glance.

But on such a large table, even the lightest-looking bowl of mutton liver porridge is made from broth made from sheep bones and added with sheep liver, and the unique smell of mutton is palpable.

The rice dishes include glutinous rice cakes, fried cakes, mutton pies, etc.

Shen Yu pondered for a while before asking, "Why are all these dishes made of mutton? The Queen Mother has a cold and her digestion is not good. Why don't you make some light and easy-to-digest food for her?"

The fat chef looked at Shen Yu in confusion and said, "What do the nobles eat if not mutton?"

Shen Yu was stunned for a moment. Indeed, people at that time valued eating mutton, and mutton was the staple food of the nobles.

Shen Yu knew that this concept was deeply rooted in people's minds and could not be changed with just a few words.

He rolled his eyes and changed his perspective: "There are more ingredients in the world than just mutton, and even if you eat mutton, you can make it lighter."

"Look at these methods, all of them are greasy."

"Even if it's mutton, you can stew it or steam it."

"Also, why don't you make the meals lighter? They're all fried or hard to digest. Didn't the imperial physician tell you that?"