The guards of crossing, please serve

The portion of each is very small, which is just right for an appetizer.

The second course is tea fragrant chicken.There was a casserole in front of one of them, and when the lid was opened, it was very fragrant. Inside was a whole broiler chicken with yellow skin and some dark green tea crumbs on it.With a light pull of the chopsticks, the whole leg was torn off, obviously already crispy.

The third course is prawn balls in tomato sauce.The prawns are full of elasticity, and the sauce is sweet and sour.Even if some people feel that the previous chicken is a bit greasy, after eating this dish, they are completely relieved.

The fourth dish is fried diced lotus root with asparagus. The slightly brownish-red color and the faint aroma of fermented soybeans make this vegetarian dish not dull in appearance or taste.Asparagus and lotus root are both crispy and tender things, which crunch in the mouth and taste great.

The fifth dish is Sanzhen Crab Roe Soup.At this time, crabs have already been out of the market. The crab roe used in this soup was taken from the crabs when they were the most plump the year before, sealed and kept in ice until now.Even so, the umami taste of the crab roe has not been lost. It is served with shredded bamboo shoots, shredded mushrooms and rapeseed heart. It is oily but not greasy, fragrant but not fishy.

Finally, there are two desserts, namely honey-stuffed cantaloupe and sesame char siew crisps. One is sweet and the other is salty. Everyone can choose what they like.Seeing that Xiao Guai likes to eat sweets very much, Shen Qing gave him his portion of honey-stuffed cantaloupe, in exchange for a big sweet smile and a crisp "Brother Shen is so nice".

Everyone ate one after another with great relish, and chatted with the left and right from time to time.Suddenly, a voice came from obliquely in front: "Daning's food is nothing more than that." The tone was filled with deep disdain.

The dinner fell silent for an instant, and they turned their gazes to the speaker—Prince Mida.Prince Mita tried his best to open his small eyes, looked at the emperor and said, "Although Daning has a larger territory and a larger population than our country, in terms of food, our country can't lose to Daning."

The emperor smiled calmly: "My Daning's food culture has a history of thousands of years, and there are more than a dozen factions, large and small. Prince Mita's words are a bit arrogant."

Mi Da said: "Since the emperor doesn't believe it, we might as well have a competition. I happened to bring two of the best chefs from Siguo, and I asked the emperor to send three royal chefs to see which country has the better chef skills." .”

Everyone at the table listened carefully. Seeing that Prince Mita was so provocative, Prime Minister Fu couldn't help but said: "We send three people to compete with you two. Even if we win, we will not win by force."

"The No.3 chef on our side is mere talent." Mi Ta smiled slightly: "I have no other hobbies in my life, but I like cooking food. The chefs I brought here are nothing more than my subordinates." When Prince Mita said this, he had a confident expression on his face, which made everyone in Daning grit their teeth.

The emperor said leisurely: "Since the prince cooks himself, Daning can't be negligent, so I will appoint my cousin Ran Mingyuan, his chef Shen Qing, and... Fu Mingxuan, the son of Prime Minister Fu, to be in charge of the competition. "

Originally, Shen Qing was still feeling angry because of being disdainful for his own side, silently praying that the chefs in the imperial dining room would frustrate the spirit of Prince Mita.Unexpectedly, the emperor changed the subject and asked him to compete with Prince Mita, and even gave him two unreliable partners... Uh, my lord, I don't mean you are unreliable, I mean you He and Mr. Fu can see that his fingers are not in the sun, how can he do these jobs!

Ran Mingyuan thanked him happily, and looked at Shen Qing with a smile: "It looks very fun."

Shen Qing smiled embarrassingly, and asked softly: "If you lose, will you be dragged out and hacked?" Immediately, Ran Mingyuan slapped him hard on the forehead.

"Don't say lose. Didn't you hear that? Brother Huang made a bet with that Prince Mita. If you lose, you will give them three cities. You must do your best. I don't want to be a sinner through the ages. "

Shen Qing rubbed his forehead and looked at the sky in pain: How can I go all out alone, how can I beat the three people who go all out...

The time of the competition was determined on the spot, and three days later, it will be in the imperial garden.The theme is also very clear, both sides cook one meat, one vegetarian and one staple food.Among them, meat dishes must use pork as the main ingredient.

After the banquet was over, Shen Qing was still immersed in the depression of a big trouble in the world, and he dragged Ran Mingyuan and Ran Xiaoguai out without even hearing someone calling him from behind.

It was Xiaoguai who tugged on his sleeve and called him several times: "Brother Shen, someone is looking for you."

Several people turned their heads, and it turned out that the man was Fu Mingxuan.In fact, he was shocked when he heard the emperor's will at the banquet.But once the imperial decree came out, it was hard to catch up with four horses, so now I can only bite the bullet and go to find Ran Mingyuan and the others.

"My servant, Fu Mingxuan, in the next few days, please forgive me, Lord Wang and Mr. Shen." Although Fu Mingxuan spoke respectfully, the expression on his face was neither humble nor overbearing.

Ran Mingyuan and Shen Qing glanced at each other, pushed each other's arms calmly, and exchanged busy eyes:

Hey, do you want to use him?

ah?It was hand-picked by the emperor, can I not use it?

But is he reliable?He doesn't look like he can cook, why don't you find a royal chef to pretend to be him...

The two were stalemate, Ran Xiaoguai looked at them, then blinked at Fu Mingxuan, and spoke first:

"My name is Ran Xiaoguai, please forgive me."

At this time, Fu Mingxuan noticed that beside Shen Qing, there was a short boy with a round face, and he looked childish.He saluted slightly, then looked at Ran Mingyuan again: "I don't know anything about cooking, I don't know if the prince has an idea, how to deal with this competition?"

Ran Mingyuan frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and said: "This matter is of great importance. Naturally, it should be carefully discussed and cannot be decided casually. Why don't Mr. Fu think about it today, and we will discuss it together tomorrow."

Shen Qing bit his lip to hold back his laughter, Ran Mingyuan put on airs in front of others, it really seemed like that.If he didn't understand Ran Mingyuan's nature, he would be such a stable person!

Fu Mingxuan nodded: "My lord is very right, so I will take my leave first. Tomorrow, I will go to Xuanji Palace to visit my lord." Watching Fu Mingxuan leave, Ran Mingyuan's sullen face collapsed. "Oh, what did he come so early to keep people from sleeping?" He sighed, pouted and complained.

Shen Qing, who felt that he had to think about the recipe, try it out, and improve it, could not be in time for three days without sleep, heard his complaint, and could only silently stop.

AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhWhy are you so calm, my lord?

35

35. Pork Belly Feast...

Early the next morning, Fu Mingxuan arrived at Xuanji Palace, but only saw Shen Qing alone.

"My lord, he read books all night last night, and he is still resting now." Shen Qing said apologetically with two big dark circles under his eyes.

Ran Xiaoguai next to him puffed up her chest: "Ran Ran said, first appoint me to help Brother Shen." He was wearing an oversized cook's clothes, and tied up his hair with a small cloth towel, looking very energetic full.

Fu Mingxuan looked at him, and then at his robe made of top-quality cloud brocade, and was a little tongue-tied for a while.

After a while, Fu Mingxuan also changed into the same clothes as everyone else.It's just that the same style of coarse cloth clothes on him makes him look a little more bookish, and still looks tall and straight.

Ran Xiaoguai saw him coming out of the room after changing clothes, and clapped hurriedly: "Wow, Fu Fu looks so good."

When Fu Mingxuan heard this, his heart sank. In the past, he hated others to praise his appearance, especially the words "good-looking" and "beautiful".

But... Looking at Ran Xiaoguai's shining innocent eyes, he couldn't put on a sharp face, so he could only tell himself: What's the point of fussing over young people.

The three walked into the kitchen and were shocked by the situation in front of them.I saw that the kitchen table, stools, and even the ground were piled full of ingredients.Among them are not only large pieces of high-quality pork belly, but also seafood, meat and poultry and various vegetables.Shen Qing can think of everything, and there are many who can't name them.

In the most conspicuous position, there is also a piece of paper.Shen Qing picked it up and looked at it, but there were a few characters he didn't understand, so he asked Ran Xiaoguai to read it to him.

"For this competition, I asked the imperial dining room to take out all the treasures of the past few years. You are only allowed to win, not to lose. This is it." Ran Xiaoguai finished reading slowly, then looked up at Shen Qing: " Brother Shen, this seems to be an imperial decree."

Imperial decree... Shen Qing looked at the piece of paper and began to think about a serious question: If he pretended that he had never seen this piece of paper, wouldn't he be responsible...

He looked at Xiaoguai's innocent face, then at Fu Mingxuan's upright face, and sighed helplessly: These two partners, at first glance, can't be with liars, alas, let's study the dishes seriously.

Now that the ingredients are available, the next biggest problem everyone has to solve is what to cook.

"Brother Shen used to cook every dish that was delicious," Ran Xiaoguai said with a smile, "No matter which dish it is, you will definitely win."

Shen Qing touched Ran Xiaoguai's head, although he was very grateful that Xiaoguai had such confidence in him, but he didn't have such confidence.That Prince Mita looks like he is an expert in gourmet food, and he is so confident, he must have his trump card.

Shen Qing looked at Fu Mingxuan, expecting him to give some good answers.

Fu Mingxuan said with a wry smile: "