Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 454: From Ginseng Fruit to Taro Balls
As a qualified member of the later Great Foodie Empire, Zhang Shou had a high tolerance for food - except for fried insects, which he could not accept, and bloody and cruel things like digging monkey brains, he had no taboos about other things. As for various snacks shaped into human shapes, in his impression, from various sugar figures to fondant cakes and chocolate dolls, human-shaped things never hindered his tasting.
It’s just that most people can’t bear to eat it because it’s too exquisite and they can’t bear to give it up. Very few people would eat it just because they can’t bear to... It has to be said that people in this era are actually very strict in their moral values - of course, not to mention those who say one thing and do another.
So, after a smile, he explained, "Princess, don't be angry, Yingying, don't be angry either. I think this dessert may not be for everyone to taste the so-called ginseng fruit. Princess, don't forget that when you set the question before, you also limited the cost of this dessert. And we have just tasted more than 30 dishes. Even if some of them are just a little bit, you are almost full, right?"
Seeing Princess Yongping silent and Zhu Ying looking at him curiously , Zhang Shou raised his hand to signal the eunuch to bring over a basket of ginseng fruit. He then stretched out his chopsticks and picked up the longevity peach held by the ginseng fruit doll. Then he smiled and said to everyone, "If I'm not mistaken, this is probably the snack that the chef really wants to serve to everyone. As for the ginseng fruit, it should be nice to look at."
Zhu Ying's eyes widened immediately: "According to what you said, if I had really followed Yongping's instructions and asked them to leave, I might have been laughed at. Oh, let me try!"
Although her stomach was full, the peach held by the small ginseng fruit was only slightly larger than the nail of her thumb, so she could not taste it when she swallowed it. In order to taste it properly, Zhu Ying took it from Zhang Shou and chewed it slowly with her eyes closed.
When the sweet taste spread in her mouth, she opened her eyes in surprise and said, "Such a small thing actually has stuffing! It tastes so strange, not like red bean paste, not like mung bean paste, not like jujube paste, and not like sesame filling... But it tastes sweet and not greasy, it's delicious."
Zhu Ying listed a lot of different fillings in one breath, and by the end her brows were almost twisted into a knot, she was extremely confused. She had eaten a lot of good food, so how could she not know what this delicious filling was made of?
Seeing Zhu Ying frowning and racking her brains to think, and seeing Zhang Shou smiling and inviting her, Princess Yongping, who had been in a complicated and subtle mood, finally made up her mind and stretched out her chopsticks to pick up a small birthday peach.
As she chewed slowly, an indescribable taste spread in her mouth, and she couldn't help but feel inexplicably happy. She always disliked eating too sweet things, and her diet was mainly plain, and Concubine Yu had criticized her for this.
Even the emperor often nagged her, saying that girls don't need to suffer too much, that the emperor's daughter will have no trouble finding a husband, and so on, but she still did what she wanted. Of course, it was probably because the desserts in the imperial kitchen were not tasty, and even her mother's small kitchen couldn't make good desserts.
But after coming to her senses, she said thoughtfully: "This filling... seems to be taro?"
"How could it be taro? How could I not taste the flavor of taro?" Zhu Ying immediately raised her eyebrows in dissatisfaction. This time, she picked up another longevity peach with her chopsticks, without considering that if the chef did not make some extra preparations based on the number of judges on the preliminary day, then she would have snatched other people's share.
After taking a bite this time, Zhu Ying exclaimed, "This seems to be different from the last time. It's made of jujube paste! It seems to have been peeled, and it's quite fine... Hey, could it be that each birthday peach tastes different?"
Seeing this, Princess Yongping immediately tried another one without showing any weakness. Then, the basket of ginseng fruit dolls holding peaches became a stage for Zhu Ying and Princess Yongping to compete for the peaches. Zhang Shou couldn't help laughing when he saw this, and he simply stood aside without fighting with the two birthday girls.
As for the uncles and grandfathers at the other three tables, they would not care at all if their portions were eaten by others.
Even Duke Zhu Jing of Zhao, who rarely saw his two daughters fighting for food—after all, he never said it on his face, let alone showed it, but in his heart he always treated Princess Yongping as his own daughter—was in a very relaxed mood, and even said to Duke Zhang Chuan of Qin with interest: "It seems that the chef downstairs is very thoughtful, just a little trick, but it has come up with some new ideas."
When Chu Kuan saw that Princess Yongping had actually quarreled with Zhu Ying and that only three small birthday peaches were left in the tray in an instant, he whispered a few words to the eunuch beside him and asked him to go downstairs to the second floor and say a few words to Lu Sanlang.
Chef Song, who made this dish, is a very interesting person. When he asked people to check his background one by one, he was also shocked.
After a while, the eunuch hurried back and whispered in his ear: "Master Lu San has also seen through the mystery. Everyone below is also thinking about the taste of these birthday peaches. However, probably because the taste is just sweet, some say it is good and some say it is not. I told Master Lu San about the fight between the princess and Miss Zhu, and Master Lu San said he knew it."
Since Lu Sanlang had already said he knew, Chu Kuan was relieved. This little fat guy, who was the most knowledgeable and interesting, would definitely make proper and thoughtful arrangements so that the efforts of Chef Song, who was clever, skilled, and had an interesting background, would not be in vain.
At this time, Zhu Ying and Princess Yongping had already eaten up the whole basket of birthday peaches. Zhu Ying, who was still savoring the food, smiled and said, "I know what the first birthday peach I ate was filled with. It was pumpkin. The second one was filled with jujube paste. The third one was flavored with jasmine, and there was probably something else in it, but I couldn't tell. The fourth one was flavored with sweet and sour plum..."
Zhu Ying was talking about her tastes, while Princess Yongping was counting in her mind. The first one she ate was definitely taro-flavored, the second one had a hint of sweet wine and was intoxicating, and the third one seemed to be some unknown fruit mashed into a paste... I have to say, if the imperial chefs in the imperial kitchen had been one-tenth as dedicated as this person, my father would not be so disappointed.
Of course, people who are too diligent don’t always get good results. If Zhang Shou hadn’t been so sharp just now, she might have missed this very good dessert.
However, when Princess Yongping heard Zhu Ying cough dryly, she came to her senses and stood up to apologize to Ge Yong, Zhu Jing and other elders, saying that she shouldn't have been greedy and snatched all the birthday peaches. Suddenly, her face turned red, and her whole face seemed to be burning.
Oh my god, what did she do just now? She actually snatched food from Zhu Ying, and on her seventeenth birthday!
She had never been so embarrassed!
Zhang Shou saw Princess Yongping's embarrassment and laughed in his heart.
Although he was not very familiar with Princess Yongping and usually kept his distance from this overly thoughtful princess, he could realize that this princess was not a bad girl just because she had trapped herself a little too hard when he saw Zhu Ying said that she could not get along with her but actually often helped others.
In the final analysis, she is just a girl who acts like a noble, dignified and talented lady, nothing more.
Therefore, knowing that Princess Yongping might be struggling with how to apologize to the elders, he smiled and said, "It seems that this dessert is quite popular. However, even if it is eaten in one bite, it is probably too small for the forty people who were selected as additional judges. They will be gone before they can taste it. And we don't know if they will be superstitious about the ginseng fruit shape."
At this point, he smiled and said to Ah Liu beside him: "Ah Liu, go and find out quietly where this chef came from. If he is not selected this time, Yingying and I can go and take care of the business of the Crescent Moon Restaurant next time."
Seeing Ah Liu quietly going downstairs again, Zhu Ying nodded in agreement and said, "That's right, the desserts in my small kitchen have always been good, but not as good as this chef. It's the first time I've seen pumpkin, but he can make it taste so good. He's very thoughtful."
Although he has never been a big foodie, Lao Xianyu was quite curious when he saw Princess Yongping and Zhu Ying praising it so highly, and he was itching to know what the longevity peach tasted like. But at this moment, he suddenly heard Zhang Shou ask a question.
"Old Salty Fish, since you and your friends often go overseas, have you ever heard of the real ginseng fruit?"
Old Salty Fish was slightly stunned, then he laughed dryly and said, "Isn't the ginseng fruit an elixir of immortality made up in Journey to the West? How could I have ever seen it... It's just that I've often been overseas, and I don't believe in fairy islands like Fangzhang, Penglai, and Yingzhou. You know, in the years when I was at sea, I saw , and encountered many storms that were almost fatal."
As he was talking, he went off topic: "But the only fairy island I have never encountered is a fairy island! Sometimes when the weather is good, you can see endless mountains and forests in the distant sky, but they disappear when the ship gets closer. Later, I had the opportunity to read a volume of Taizu's notes that was circulated outside. It said that it was a mirage, which was actually the reflection of the towns near the sea into the sky. I don't understand the rest."
Zhang Shou narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard that Lao Xianyu had changed the topic to Taizu's notes. At this time, Ge Yong said thoughtfully: "Ginseng fruit was originally only found in Journey to the West, but because of Emperor Taizu, the book Journey to the West became popular throughout the country, so various places claimed to have something similar to ginseng fruit."
"Look, the U-Tsang Xuanwei Office claims to have a Tibetan medicine called ginseng fruit. It was presented as a tribute before. It looks ugly, but it is said to have many effects. It can strengthen the heart and kidneys, nourish the spleen and stomach, relax the meridians and promote blood circulation... In short, it is a miracle medicine. They say that all the monks like to eat it, so they presented it as a treasure."
"Xiao Yingying, Princess Yongping, if you want to live forever, come to my house. I still have more than ten or twenty kilograms of ginseng fruit there, all given to me by the emperor. My mute servants are cooking porridge and soup. I almost went crazy eating them for a while, and there are still a lot left. If you are really interested in ginseng fruit, I will give them all to you!"
Zhang Shou smiled when Ge Yong talked about the medicinal herb ginseng fruit. "I have also seen ginseng fruit in a tattered notebook of a sea merchant. Legend has it that a ship arrived at a strange continent after sailing far away from the shore for countless days. However, the fruits and vegetables on the ship had long been eaten, and many people fell ill. As a result, with the guidance of a god in a dream, they found a magical fruit forest."
Anyway, it was just a tattered note, so when Zhang Shou was talking nonsense at this time, he didn't feel any psychological burden at all.
He said seriously, "It was a low orchard, only about as high as our waists. Each tree had more than a dozen fruits, about the size of a fist, white with purple, with a light fragrance, crisp and sweet. The crew members were overjoyed and brought the fruits back to the ship and fed them to the patients. After a few days, the crew members miraculously recovered."
At this point, he smiled and said, "The crew members originally thought that the fruit was sweet, delicious and colorful, so they called it Yan Guo. When they found out that it could actually save lives, and saved many people at a time, they immediately remembered Journey to the West, so they changed the name to Ginseng Fruit. Unfortunately, the ship encountered a storm at sea and the seeds were lost..."
Zhang Shou told the story of the discovery and loss of the ginseng fruit, and the crew's distress and survival and then distress again, in vivid detail, as if he had seen it with his own eyes, and everyone present listened with a smile. As for whether it was true or not, no one cared, they just listened for fun.
You have to know that the notes of literati in those days were the most shameless. They dared to write down things they had never seen before based on hearsay, which was even more ruthless than the curiosity of the Internet in later generations. Moreover, they exaggerated as they wrote. In addition, literati often loved to spread these true and false stories. By the time they were passed on, the stories had already deviated by a huge distance and no one could tell their true face.
Therefore, Zhang Shou just felt free to make up stories without any hesitation - in fact, it can't be considered completely fabricated, because he really ate ginseng fruit in his later life. But this ginseng fruit is not the same as that ginseng fruit. It is a kind of fruit that is said to be native to the northern foothills of the Andes Mountains in South America. It tastes very special and has nothing to do with the ginseng fruit in "Journey to the West". No one knows where the name comes from.
And in these days, since people have arrived in America one after another, what does it matter if he just takes out the ginseng fruit for fun?
While Zhang Shou was making up a story, two more desserts were served. However, compared with the ginseng fruit birthday treat, the taste was just okay, but not innovative enough, so everyone just tasted one or two bites. At this time, Ah Liu, who had just quietly gone downstairs, came up again. However, he did not come up empty-handed, but was holding a plate with two exquisite porcelain bowls on it.
At this time, Zhang Shou had already changed the topic from ginseng fruit to the bloody sacrificial history of Native Americans, and as usual, he pushed the matter all on the so-called maritime merchant notes, and didn't notice the kid whose footsteps were as light as a cat. However, Zhao Guogong Zhu Jing and Weinan Bo Zhang Kang were just listening casually and noticed the movement at the first time. Chu Kuan, who was distracted, also looked at the stairs.
Seeing Ah Liu holding up what were obviously snacks, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department immediately went over to greet him with a smile, and then deliberately said with a stern face: "Are those people down there so lazy that they need you to come in person even for these little things?"
“No.” Ah Liu seemed unaccustomed to talking to Chu Kuan. After taking a step back, he whispered, “This is a dessert that Chef Song made with the remaining ingredients. It seems to be called… Taro Balls?”
