Chapter 7 – Happily Suffering Together
Gu Zheng prepared three dishes and one soup. Typically, it would be four dishes one soup, however, he didn"t have enough ingredients remaining, so he could only give up on that.
Three dishes and one soup. There was no problem of it being delicious, however being able to eat one"s fill was where it became difficult. Luckily, the test only required him to conquer their taste buds and not to stuff their stomachs completely. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to feed them today.
He took out the sesame oil and put away the salt and soy sauce.
After wandering around the market for so long, he had evaluated several thousands of different ingredients. This allowed Gu Zheng to get somewhat of an idea of the G.o.d of Gluttony"s requirements. First of all, the ingredients must purely from nature. If it had any kind of food additive or chemical on it. A city lowered the ingredients quality, thus rendering it below the standard.
After reaching this understanding, within the selections of salt and soy sauce, Gu Zheng found the correct one first try.
The both of them had been purchased from a high cla.s.s seasoning store. The salt was an imported pure seaweed salt that was produced from the seas of Peru. Each individual grain had gone through 13 rounds of processing in order to extract the pure salt. Not only would you be able to taste it"s distinct flavor, it also had a stronger fragrance. It also had sever minerals that would benefit the human body in terms of nutrition. The boss of that store had recognized Gu Zheng who had written a positive review on his ingredients, which had helped his business. Thus the boss had given him a large discount, 108 RMB for one sack, with each sack weighing 100 grams.
The soy sauce he had chosen was an all natural soy sauce from Fujian Province. Gu Zheng had never used this soy sauce before, however his father had used it before. Thus, he somewhat had an understanding of it.
This natural soy sauce"s raw ingredients were a series of genetically modified soybeans of the highest quality. The place where the soybeans grew was from a place that Gu Zheng and his father had visited before. It was grown on a mountain in order to protect the purity of the soybeans. On this land, they never allowed any form of pollution. Even the fertilizer they used was all natural. It was all manual labor except for the helpful insects. Even if their output was reduced, they continued this method.
Besides the strict requirements of the raw materials, the utensil used to ferment the soybeans was also specially picked out. The soybean paste jar was pa.s.sed down from 100 years ago. Their method of fermenting soybeans was solely pa.s.sed on through them. Not including Gu Zheng, even his father didn"t know.
The best ingredients, the best craftsmanship, along with the best price. One 125 milliliter bottle of pure natural soy sauce was 200 RMB. Gu Zheng Had bought two bottles. Along with the sesame oil, the salt had cost more than 1000 RMB. This amount of money was enough for them to go to a restaurant and eat a high quality meal.
The moment the silkie soup had finished cooking, Gu Zheng began to prepare the stir fry.
"Pop!"
The sesame oil bottle was quite average. After softly pulling it, it opened. AFter it opened, a strong fragrance a.s.saulted his nostrils. Gu Zheng couldn"t help but calmly breathe it in and close his eyes.
"After opening the bottle, the fragrance spreads a distance of 300 li". This little ground sesame oil"s fragrance didn"t go that far, however his nose was already completely dominated by it"s fragrances.
"Gu Zheng, what are you making that is so fragrant?"
"Ah, this should be oil. I have never smelled something so nice!"
"Gu Zheng, you should close the door. For your banquet, we even skipped lunch. Smelling this fragrance right now is only making us more hungry!"
The sesame oil"s fragrance had attracted the attention of w.a.n.g Tao and the other"s. The three stood at the door frame, miserably looking at Gu Zheng. Gu Zheng himself was extremely shocked at this sesame oil’s fragrance. He knew this sesame oil was definitely better than what he had, however he hadn"t thought that it would be this fragrant. It had even shocked himself.
"Wait outside!"
Gu Zheng came over and closed the kitchen door. Luckily it wasn"t an open kitchen. Otherwise, if they were able to smell the fragrance, yet be unable to eat it… It was a kind of torture for w.a.n.g Tao and the others.
The sesame oil was extremely fragrant, it was definitely extremely expensive. Even though he had to pay 50 RMB, Gu Zheng was still satisfied that he had bought the sesame oil. He had even gotten the address of where this sesame oil was made.
Sesame stir fry… He couldn"t saute it for too long. He absolutely couldn"t overcook it.
Gu Zheng"s cooking utensils were purchased from France and were made from the highest quality alloy. No smoke rose from the non-stick pan. Gu Zheng poured a bit of sesame oil, and quickly took the previously cut silkie pieces and put them in, coating them. After a bit, the oil released an even richer fragrance that slipped through a small crack and reached outside. w.a.n.g Tao and the other could no longer sit still, and they all abruptly stood up. They stood outside the kitchen door walking back and forth.
"Gu Zheng said he would make us the best food we ever tasted. It seems he spoke the truth!"
"Don"t talk about eating. I"ve never even smelled a fragrance like this before. This time, it seems Gu Zheng"s culinary skills have made great improvements. Unless it’s been so long since we came here to eat?"
"That doesn"t matter, as long as there something good to eat, it"s all good!"
The three of them unceasingly spoke out side with their noses constantly sniffing as well. Their expectations towards today"s banquet grew even more.
After the chicken meat was with the oil, he began to stir the pan. It would be perfect when a layer of the yellow brown sesame oil with chicken would emit a golden glow, and exuding an attractive fragrance.
Scallions, ginger…
…Right? There were none. There were absolutely no scallions or ginger within the market that matched his requirements. Gu Zheng also didn"t have time to go to Wu Gong Hai Foundation to look for these kinds of ingredient. He could only not use it. Luckily, today"s dishes didn"t require much ginger or scallion, he could use other subst.i.tutes. (T/N: I actually can"t really guarantee if it’s "Wu Gong Hai Foundation, but it seems like the only possibility. ^^/)
The chicken meat had cooked until medium rare. Gu Zheng raised the lid of the saucepan, and poured the honey. The sweet fragrance of the honey and the rich fragrance of the sesame oil combined together and gushed out of the pot and poured into Gu Zheng"s nostril.
The fragrance a.s.saulted his nostrils, allowing Gu Zheng to breathe it in. He himself had never smelled this kind of fragrance before. He hadn"t even smelled it from his father"s cooking. He had also never felt this kind of comfortable fragrance.
The fragrance had a sweetness, as if one was wandering through a field of flowers, easy and comforting, yet graceful.
Property of © Fantasy-Books.live; outside of it, it is stolen."So fragrant!"
Outside of the kitchen, the three of them all had blank stares. Gu Zheng finished pouring the honey and had already placed the lid back over the saucepan. However, within that moment that he had opened it, a sliver of the fragrance had secretly escaped outside.
"I think that we should go outside to wait. Inside her, we"ll anger ourselves to death!"
Du Yang suddenly spoke. RIght now he was itching to barge into the kitchen and taste a bit. He wanted to tasted the food that would release this kind of fragrance.
"I agree!" w.a.n.g Tao was the first to support.
"If we all go out, how will we know when Gu Zheng finishes cooking, how would be able to eat that delicious banquet as soon as possible.
Zhao Yongkui speculated quietly. If the three of them went outside, they wouldn"t have to smell this fragrance, and their anxiety would vanish. However, they would also be unable to know when Gu Zheng finished cooking. After only smelling the fragrance they knew that it would definitely be delicious, however they wouldn"t be able to eat it quickly. That would be their biggest regret.
"How about this. We will split up to go outside and wait. When it"s finished cooking, the people waiting outside will call the others?"
Du Yang spoke, the three mutually agreed, and they nodded their heads.
Taking turns waiting was a method. However, who could guarantee that when the food came that they wouldn"t eat first? Earlier when they came in, Gu Zheng had told them to pay attention to the smell of the food. There wasn"t a lot, however letting everyone eat was enough. This was the warning Gu Zheng had left for them.
After knowing there wasn"t too much to go around, and smelling this kind of fragrance. They all wanted to eat first, which would leave the two waiting outside extremely uneasy. Thus, this idea was quickly overruled.
Gu Zheng had no knowledge of the dispute going on outside. When he was making chicken with honey sauce, he had started to steam the sorghum rice. The water used to wash and steam the sorghum rice was all mineral spring water from the glaciers in the Alps. Just talking about the price of the water, it was even more expensive the the sorghum rice itself.
The food was all prepared and were methodically arranged. The others that were outside were still discussing over what to do. After smelling the fragrance of Gu Zheng"s gourmet food, they were all happy that they had suffered together.