The Film Emperor's Daily Live Cooking Broadcast

Ch51 – The Reception Banquet – Part 2

The second dish was honey chicken wings. Four glossy and gleaming chicken wings were arranged on the shallow delicate plate. It exuded such a sweet scent that almost as soon as it was set down, everyone couldn’t wait to dig in.

This chicken wings looked a bit greasy, but it didn’t feel at all like that once you ate it. They didn’t know what sauce this chicken was covered in but it had a sweet and savory flavor. The edges of the chicken wings had a slight char, but it was just the right amount of char. Each bite brought with it a slight crisp. The chicken inside was also very soft, and savory meaty juices filled their mouths are they ate. It made them unable to stop eating.

Before they knew it, four chicken wings were finished off. While they were eating, the audience watching the live broadcast on the star network wasn’t idle. They kept swallowing down their saliva as they watched the images.

[Madam Qu: Oh, the most painful thing in the world is to be able to watch but not eat...]

[White clothed wine trader: I remember the last time the live broadcast made potato and chicken wings. It was super delicious QAQ]

[Can’t stop hugging trees: I can see the meat strips on it when he bites! Please give me some too! ! ! ]

“Sigh, there’s not enough of this dish. I wish he’d just give us a big plate.” One of the Rutes couldn’t help but mutter.

The person next to him heard him and suddenly glared at him. He scolded in a low voice: “Stop saying such nonsense. The imperial people are famous for their fine dining. If you want to eat a lot of meat, then go to the outer hall and eat with the others.”

The man immediately closed his mouth and stopped talking. Just kidding, he’d already tasted the barbecues outside before, and the taste was simply incomparable to the fine dishes here. He wasn’t stupid enough to leave.

The robot came again to take away the empty plates and serve the third dish – squirrel perch. This dish was placed on a large plate, and each table was set up with one large dish, each of which was filled with a big fish weighing four or five pounds. There were carefully selected by Ruan Tang from the selection provided by the Academy of Sciences. He made sure that each one was plump and fleshy.

The squirrel perch got its name from how it’s made to look like a squirrel. The fish head with the mouth open was placed on the plate as the squirrel’s head, the slightly raised fish tail was the squirrel’s tail. The fish’s flesh was sliced into small diamonds and when fried, it stood up and this was meant to be the squirrel’s fluffy fur. Steaming hot and topped with a reddish sweet and sour sauce, it was a truly tempting sight.

[A lot of plums: God, is this a fish? ! How can there be such a fish? ! How is this made?]

[Moon, moon, dream, dream: It looks soooo good...]

[rrringo: Ah, ah, ah, I really want to eat this!]

“How do you eat this...?” Gilbert looked at the fish in the middle of the table. Although his mouth was already watering, he didn’t know how to proceed.

Cheng Ji: “...”

The Emperor, who also did not know how to eat this fish, could only turn his attention to He Yun Yi.

The surface of the fish was covered with a layer of starch. When it was fried in hot oil, the skin turned crispy while the flesh inside was still fresh and tender. This two-phased combination, crispy and tender, and topped with a sweet and sour sauce made people’s mouths water. This was exactly to He Yun Yi’s taste. Even though he hadn’t even finished eating his first mouthful, he couldn’t help but get another piece already.

Gilbert learned from his actions and forked a piece of fish. With utmost care, he placed it in his mouth, and immediately, his eyes brightened and could not help but take two more pieces. Others who saw this also began to swallow down their saliva and quickly took pieces of the fish.

In a short while, the whole plate was swept clean. If it wasn’t for He Yun Yi, the Rutes would have even nibbled the fish head and tail clean.

After three consecutive meat dishes, a vegetarian dish should be served to adjust their palates. Thus the fourth dish was the Chinese cabbage soup made personally by President Gu. It was divided into twelve small bowls and placed in front of each guest on the table.

In the white jade-like bowls, slices of crisp and tender Chinese cabbage floated in a light yellow soup. The surface of the soup was dotted with minced garlic and thin, fine strips of red chili. In terms of appearance it was exquisite, however, it looked a bit light.

Therefore, the Rutes who loved meat and loved all things grand, after seeing this seemingly watery and tasteless vegetable dish, couldn’t help but frown, showing hesitant and disinterested expressions. Evidently, they were not a fan of vegetables.

“This dish might not be a meat dish, but the cabbage was stewed in meat broth. It is also quite savory and delicious. Would your Majesty like to taste it a little?” He Yun Yi recommended to Gilbert.

Gilbert’s eyes flashed with a little hesitation, but it wasn’t good to pick and choose at such a banquet. It would be too lacking in what was it?... civilized courtesy. Finally he decided to give He Yun Yi, in his capacity as the President of the Academy of Sciences, some face. Like a martyr bravely walking to his death, he took a piece of cabbage from his bowl.

However, what surprised him was that the taste of the cabbage in this soup was so delicious. It was obviously a vegetable, but it seemed to have a meaty taste along with that distinct clear sweetness unique to vegetables. Although this was a bit strange to him, having eaten three consecutive meat dishes, he felt that this dish had a distinct flavor. With its savory, meaty flavor, it comforted his die-hard non-vegetarian heart. Before he knew it, he was already taking a second and third bite.

“This... dish is not bad, not bad at all.”

Watching their own leader take bite after bite of the vegetable dish before him until there was none left, the rest of the Rute people showed an incredulous expressions.

If their leader who was such a picky eater could eat this dish, then this dish...should be, maybe, perhaps... It’s not unpalatable?

They looked at each other and took a deep breath. They hesitantly reached out with their forks and then with one bite — they were completely conquered by the delicious taste of this soup. They all finished off this vegetarian dish that they turned their noses at. They even drank the soup until there was none left.

To have plates come back empty is the biggest praise for a chef. When President Gu saw that even his vegetarian dish was finished off, he was very satisfied. Making the Rutes eat vegetarian dishes was no easy feat.

The fifth dish was beef stew with potatoes was finally served. It was still a small bowl for each person. The fat and thin pork belly was cut into small squares with the pig skin facing up and the lean meat facing down. The pieces were all drenched in red, lustrous sauce, which made it look like some misty gem. There was also a tiger-skinned egg soaked in broth in the middle, showing a kind of enveloping posture.

The strong and rich smell of meat made their mouths water. When they picked up a piece of pork, the meat had been stewed so tender that fat actually jiggled. With one bite, the meat simply collapsed and the fatty portion seemed to just dissolve, it was like it had turned into tasty, savory juice that slid down their throat. The lean meat had absorbed the taste of the sauce. It was completely intoxicating. After cooking it for five hours, the braised meat was now “oily but not greasy, tender but not mushy, sweet but not sticky, rich and not salty”. The egg in the middle was also delicious. The egg skin must have been fried as it showed slight wrinkles. There was also two small cuts on top to allow the sauce to be easily absorbed by the egg, making it taste even more rich and mellow.

“God! I have never eaten such delicious meat!” A Rute couldn’t help but exclaimed.

“Just this much isn’t enough! The more I look at the meat in the bowl, the less there seems to be. It’s really sad!”

“The leader said so already. This is only the first half of the dishes. We have to bear with it! There might be even better food later on!”

“Alright alright......”

The Rute people unconsciously began to slow down, so that the sweet taste of the meat could stay on their tongues for longer. It seems that doing it this way could better let them enjoy the delicious taste.

[The April turtledove flicks its feathers: I remember! This was the dish that the anchor made during the last assessment. I still remember that feeling of flying to heaven...]

[Salted fish is originally fish: ah, ah, look at the those expressions while they enjoy that meat! ! I also want to eat! ! [Roaring in grief and indignation.jpg]

Maybe the kitchen had sensed the complaints from the Rute people, but the seventh dish came out in a deep washbasin-like bowl. White fish pieces floated on top of a brilliant red broth. It hadn’t even been laid down on the table when it’s spicy, savory scent immediately enveloped the entire main banquet hall.

In fact, if they were to follow the standards of state banquets from Ruan Tang’s past life, absolutely no spicy dishes would be served. Priority would be given to those light and well-balanced dishes from Yangzhou cuisine. But after all, this was a different time and space. The Rute people didn’t care at all about trifling matters. They were a powerful alien race. There was nothing that they couldn’t eat. There were no types of food that they avoided, even those strong and fierce cosmic beasts were part of their diet, not to mention these exquisite meats from the empire. So every time they visited, banquets were really just simple meals. Taste was their first priority, they didn’t care at all for appearances. Like when they visited last time, most of the dishes were barbequed dishes but they still ate with such gusto. This was a big part of the reason why the empire liked it when the Rutes come visiting.

At this moment, the Rutes had already had a taste of the craftsmanship of the empire’s chef. They had high expectations for this strong smelling dish.

Originally, this seventh dish was supposed to be Dou Jiao Fish Head. But making the chopped chili sauce would take too long, there was simply not enough time. At first Ruan Tang wanted to substitute it with chaotianjiao, but the flavor wasn’t at all satisfactory. It had none of that spicy savory taste from dou jiao. So, instead he just changed the dish to Shui Zhu Fish. This was also a very classic spicy dish.

Although they are busy in the back kitchen, they still had a live news page open, so that they could better observe the diners’ reactions. After seeing the Rute people complaining that the portions were too small, he changed into the largest bowl, filled it to the brim with the Shui Zhu Fish, and let the smart robot serve it up. Anyway, President Gu assured him that the Rutes had very big appetite, there was no need to worry that they wouldn’t be able to finish it all.