Setting down the fish bones, Zhenzhen stirred the congee evenly with a wooden ladle, then served it for Food Service Officer Qin and County Magistrate Shen to taste. The fish meat had merged with the congee and was no longer distinct. At first glance, the congee appeared pure and clean like snow, with occasional faint yellow threads visible – upon closer inspection, one could identify them as a little ginger silk.
After tasting, Food Service Officer Qin made no comment but asked County Magistrate Shen to evaluate it. County Magistrate Shen originally didn’t want to eat much, but upon smelling this aroma, he couldn’t help changing his mind. After one taste, County Magistrate Shen’s eyes widened.
This congee contained only rice and mandarin fish, using just ginger and pepper to remove fishy odors and enhance freshness, plus some salt. The mandarin fish naturally carried a sweet flavor, and cooking it with the congee created a soft, glutinous texture. The sweet and fresh taste hid behind the light saltiness, attached to the semi-liquid congee water that slid into the mouth, rising and spreading at the root of the tongue. The comfort it gave his taste buds almost moved County Magistrate Shen to tears. He nodded repeatedly at Zhenzhen, choosing between praising aloud and taking another taste – he chose the latter.
“This method of hanging copper coins with silk threads is quite novel. How did you think of it?” Food Service Officer Qin asked.
Zhenzhen said: “I once heard the teacher who taught me cooking mention this method, saying a friend had entertained him this way. He didn’t explain the specific steps in detail, and this was my first attempt. I figured out the seasoning and threading myself randomly, not knowing if I did it correctly.”
Food Service Officer Qin showed a slight smile: “Not bad. To achieve this on a first attempt shows your usual foundation is solid. Did you use an embroidery needle to thread the fish spine?”
Zhenzhen smiled slightly: “Yes. However, my needlework is far inferior to my Senior Sister Feng Xian’s. She can thread an entire shad’s scales with needle and thread – after the fish is served, pulling the thread removes the scales.”
Food Service Officer Qin recalled briefly and asked: “Is your senior sister the Ling Feng Xian testing today?”
Zhenzhen confirmed this, and Food Service Officer Qin looked around, searching for Feng Xian.
Feng Xian immediately came forward and curtsied. Food Service Officer Qin asked if her two dishes were ready. Feng Xian said they had been ready long ago, then presented her work at Food Service Officer Qin’s indication.
Feng Xian first took out a copper bowl from a wooden steamer. Inside the copper bowl was a steamed black-boned chicken. Feng Xian placed the black-boned chicken on a silver plate. Though the chicken had undergone long steaming, its form and skin remained quite intact. After receiving Food Service Officer Qin’s nodding permission, Feng Xian lightly cut with chopsticks, and the chicken skin and meat, steamed to tender perfection throughout the bones, scattered accordingly, revealing some thin slices of rehmannia root hidden in the chicken’s abdominal cavity.
Feng Xian took out some chicken meat and presented it to Food Service Officer Qin. After tasting, Food Service Officer Qin showed considerable surprise: “It’s sweet – did you use sugar?”
“Yes, malt sugar. This black-boned chicken was made by slicing fresh rehmannia root, mixing it with malt sugar, placing it in the chicken’s belly, and steaming,” Feng Xian said with lowered head. “Malt sugar is made from grains and can supplement the spleen, benefit qi, moisten lungs, and stop coughs. Fresh rehmannia root clears heat and generates fluids, treating swollen and painful throat. Black-boned chicken steamed this way can treat deficiency fatigue, lower back pain, and coughs. I observed that Food Service Madam has been supervising our examination, working tirelessly day and night, frequently walking back and forth to inspect, often opening her mouth to earnestly instruct us. When she sat down today, she pressed her waist with her knuckles, seeming to have back pain, and occasionally coughs lightly, perhaps from throat swelling and pain caused by increased speaking. Feng Xian cannot share Madam’s worries, so I boldly prepared this black-boned chicken this way, hoping it might help alleviate Food Service Madam’s discomfort.”
After speaking, she served some chicken broth steamed in the copper bowl to Food Service Officer Qin: “This chicken broth concentrates the essence of black-boned chicken, rehmannia root, and malt sugar. Drinking it is more effective than merely eating the chicken meat.”
Food Service Officer Qin accepted it, tasted it slightly without finishing, but smiled faintly at Feng Xian: “Thank you, you’ve been thoughtful.”
Food Service Officer Qin then ordered Feng Xian to present her second dish. Feng Xian immediately offered it – a soup cooked in a cauldron.
The soup was exceptionally thick. When the cauldron lid was removed, the fresh aroma created by various ingredients complementing each other escaped like tens of thousands of tiny swimming dragons, lingering in the hall, drifting to everyone’s nose. The little dragon tails gently swayed left and right, and the enticing aroma followed this teasing motion, winding into their noses. Taking advantage of their momentary alertness, this rich flavor quietly attached itself to the depths of their memories.
“What is this soup cooked with? It seems like mutton but isn’t mutton, seems like fish but isn’t fish, yet is richer than either mutton or fish soup,” County Magistrate Shen asked with particular curiosity after tasting, carefully examining the white thick soup in his cup, questioning before Food Service Officer Qin.
Feng Xian answered: “It’s sheep bones and crucian carp. Fish and mutton together create freshness, so the soup is especially delicious.”
“Not entirely, not entirely,” County Magistrate Shen shook his head. “I’ve drunk soup made from fish and mutton before, but none were as fresh and fragrant as yours. You must have a secret recipe.”
Feng Xian smiled: “It’s not a very complicated secret recipe. First, slowly simmer thick soup with sheep bones, remove the bones when done, add crucian carp that has been wrapped in paper, roasted, descaled and cut up, along with aged tangerine peel, fresh ginger, and scallion whites, then stew into soup.”
“Why must the crucian carp be wrapped in paper before roasting?” Food Service Officer Qin asked impassively.
Feng Xian said: “This way the meat becomes fragrant and the bones crispy. Using it to make soup results in a thick white color and more mellow aroma.”
Food Service Officer Qin asked again: “Does this soup have medicinal effects?”
“Yes, it can treat spleen and stomach qi deficiency with poor appetite,” Feng Xian glanced at County Magistrate Shen, then answered with lowered head. “Today I inadvertently heard County Magistrate Shen mention his poor spleen and stomach to Food Service Madam, which reminded me of this recipe. I prepared it accordingly, though I don’t know if it truly has appetite-stimulating effects.”
“It does, it does,” County Magistrate Shen quickly responded, pointing to the soup cup before him. “Look, while you were talking, I’ve already had them serve me a second cup.”
Feng Xian smiled with downcast eyes, curtsying to thank County Magistrate Shen.
Food Service Officer Qin didn’t comment on the soup’s taste but asked Feng Xian: “Have you studied medicine?”
Feng Xian said: “I haven’t studied it, but I worried that being completely ignorant of medical principles might cause me to violate food taboos and harm people unknowingly, so I read some medical books myself.”
Food Service Officer Qin nodded: “You’re a thoughtful person.” She said no more and only gestured for Feng Xian to withdraw.
Food Service Officer Qin then inspected the other women’s dishes, showing little favor toward girls who had chosen precious ingredients like abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, and fish maw. Those girls invariably added heavy seasonings and used complex procedures, hoping to achieve rich flavors and display complicated techniques. Unfortunately, excess was worse than deficiency. After tasting several dishes, Food Service Officer Qin finally couldn’t restrain herself and delivered a cold laugh: “Thinking that nobles all love abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, and fish maw is like imagining the official family only eats from golden cups – it’s the perspective of a frog at the bottom of a well. If one’s culinary skills are truly excellent and can make people sigh in admiration, choosing these ingredients would be acceptable. But if one chooses them and can’t cook them well, it only reveals a beggar’s appearance.”
After coldly criticizing several girls in succession, her gaze fell on Xing Junman, asking if she was prepared.
Xing Junman gladly confirmed and calmly presented her dishes one by one. What amazed everyone was that in the limited time, using two main ingredients – quail and pufferfish – she had made four dishes: Flower-Steamed Quail, Quail Crystal Aspic, Pufferfish Sashimi, and Sauce-Roasted Xi Shi’s Milk.
Flower-Steamed Quail was made by blanching quail, then boiling in clear water, adding various spices plus sauce, salt, wine, and osmanthus honey, then cooking until the sauce reduced. It had rich sauce aroma with distinct osmanthus fragrance.
Quail Crystal Aspic was made by cooking quail in clear broth, then removing the meat, stewing pig skin to make thick broth, mixing the quail meat into the filtered pig skin broth, letting it congeal into meat jelly, then slicing and arranging on plates. The meat was tender and translucent.
Pufferfish Sashimi was raw sliced fish. Xing Junman placed thin fish slices on an ice plate, arranging them in patterns of swirling water waves. One side of the ice plate had an ice carving rising like mountain ranges, with some jade trees and crystal branches protruding – actually assembled from fine white fish bones.
The “Xi Shi’s Milk” was white, several soft pieces like fat or brains. County Magistrate Shen initially didn’t know what it was and asked Xing Junman. Xing Junman’s cheeks reddened and she wouldn’t explain clearly, only calling it “pufferfish milt.” County Magistrate Shen remained puzzled. At this point, an observing eunuch whispered in his ear, explaining it was pufferfish testes. Only then did County Magistrate Shen understand. He excitedly picked up a piece to taste. First he felt sweet sauce flavor, the roasted surface was a thin crispy membrane that broke at the slightest pressure, and the smooth, tender “Xi Shi’s Milk” immediately filled his mouth – more fragrant and thick than milk, more delicate than tofu. The rich, mellow sensation was truly indescribable.
County Magistrate Shen praised endlessly. Xing Junman smiled in thanks, showing considerable self-satisfaction in her glances. Seeing Food Service Officer Qin staring at these dishes but never picking up chopsticks, County Magistrate Shen asked her to taste them. Food Service Officer Qin ignored him, casting a cold gaze at Xing Junman and asking: “How many dishes did I require you to make earlier?”
Xing Junman was startled, then answered: “Two dishes.”
“So you do know it was two dishes,” Food Service Officer Qin sneered. “I thought you hadn’t brought your ears to the examination today.”