"Ying Yue, can you start the stove up and heat up some of the fat in all of the bowls that are on top of the stove?" Mai asked thinking about the best way to direct everyone.Mai knew that each of them still harbored ill feelings about the fact that their mistress was actually doing hard work in the kitchen instead of directing them. It was an act that wasn"t seen much in this world. But Mai couldn"t change who she was. She believed that you should help put in some way if you want to eat the food that someone has provided you with.
"Right away, mistress" Ying Yue called out excitedly.
"Mmm Feng Mian, can you cut the chicken into cubes that are about the length of 1/3 of your finger size?" Mai asked. Deciding that it was better to just give an example size for the chicken instead of leaving it up to chance. Mai picked up the knife that was close to the cutting board that lay in the center of the kitchen. Mai skillfully cut the chicken into its different meat categories. Normally Mai would only use chicken breast for this type of dish but thought it would be a huge waste not to try using all of it.
"Just like this you see" Mai said while showing off the breast that she had just cut into. "try to do it for all of the chicken, I know the legs might be hard, you don"t need to worry about making those into nice cubes just bite size pieces."
"I understand, mistress" Feng Mian said her face lighting up with joy as she realized that she had an important task given to her.
"I didn"t forget about you Zhi Yan" Mia said with a chuckle. Zhi Yan stood there with a puppy dog face waiting to be called on to do something. "Honestly" Mai thought "you would think that they would be happy not doing anything."
"you can have the important task of mixing all the seasonings together and then applying the chicken to it okay" Mai said to Zhi Yan.
"yes!" Zhi Yan called out "does anything involve beating the chicken again? That was fun."
Mai rolled her eyes at Zhi Yan. "Is that what the puppy dog face was for?" Mai asked herself, thinking about how much fun Zhi Yan had last time she was seen beating the chicken to death.
"No, there is no chicken beating this time" Mai said shaking her head.
Zhi Yan face slightly fell but resumed its smile not to long after. She hurried to her task of mixing all of the seasoning and flour together. She had learnt from the last time that they had made fried chicken that this made a delicious crispy crust that coated the chicken.
"should I mix the eggs into a bowl as well?" Zhi Yan asked Mai, hoping that her innocent question would show how much she remember from last time.
"yes" Mai said while nodding.
"Once the chicken is cute were going to coat it in flour and the seasoning again. Than after that were going to cook the chicken in the fat. Once that is done were going to add the honey, garlic, and pepper into the pot and let that cook a little bit. Once its thick were going to toss the chicken back into the pot and cover it in the sauce" Mai said while licking her lips. Just thinking about the food that she missed and finally getting to eat it was heaven.
All the servant looked at Mai in wonder as if she was some type of G.o.ddess. Mai who was a little weirded out by the looks that they were giving her finally asked shyly "why are you guys looking at me like that?"
"Because of the food!" Zhi Yan said as if it was a matter of fact.
"Well um thank you" Mai replied with a blush.
"We should also make some vegetables, does anyone want to go grab some and cook them in some of the fat as well?" Mai asked the servants. Mai realized that there probably wasn"t going to be enough chicken for everyone with only 1 chicken being used. Even if the rice would add a much of carbs it was just better to make some vegetables as a side dish.
"Miss we just got some red pepper powder from the traders, they say that it is form overseas. We had to stop and pretend to be merchants on our way here, so we got every thing that seemed slightly interesting" Zhi Rou said.
"Red pepper powder?" Mai asked herself "maybe it is the stuff that goes into kimchi?"
"Oh bring that and garlic, cabbage, carrots, ginger, salt, and miso" Mai called out. She was completely uncertain if they knew what miso was but hopefully they had some. Mai really wanted to make them all kimchi.
"Right away, mistress" Zhi Ruo called out.
"That"s for something else though, don"t forget to bring whatever vegetables that you want with lunch" Mai called out to Zhi Ruo who was walking out of the kitchen towards the pantry.
"Let"s make soup for dinner tonight with the chicken bones that are left over" Mai said in high spirits. It had been rather fun playing a n.o.ble lady, but it sure got boring. Mai was happy that she could be back in the kitchen cooking to her heart"s content.
They spent another 20 minutes making the dish before it was ready to be presented to everyone else. Mai was especially happy with how it turned out seeing as they were missing some ingredients.
"I guess we should call everyone for lunch now" Mai said happily.
"Mm we will go get everyone, but I am sure that they already know that it will be done soon based off of the smell" Zhi Rou replied.
Everyone in the room laughed as they put the rice and meat into nice serving dishes. Mai decided to play a joke on Han Bing and Zheng Li and hide half of the chicken to see what they would do. She guessed that they would inevitably eat all of it.