Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1460 Kitchen
It was still a familiar place, and the same dining table where I had hosted them for dinner last time.

But this time it didn't seem as sumptuous as last time - there were indeed no peacocks, wild boars and venison, and no sugar sculptures on the platter, but there were still 9 large plates made up of 21 kinds of cheese and 4 kinds of ham; there were still dill chicken, cream chicken, Parthian-style roast chicken, potato mille-feuille with black truffle sauce, lamb shoulder cooked in meat sauce, roast pork ribs with honey fish sauce, and filberts with date paste and pistachios. There were all kinds of things on the table, and finally in front of Shangluo was a small dish of five-colored juice crystal candy engraved with "SPQR". This was sent urgently by the Senate, and they don't usually eat this at home.

"I'm really, really sorry." Mayor Kesuo grabbed Shangluo's hand and patted him as he spoke, "I'm really sorry for not entertaining you well this time."

"Is this considered poor hospitality?"

These dishes are really good. There are five or six kinds of chicken, two kinds of lamb, two kinds of pork, three kinds of desserts, and a pile of various cold cuts and fruits, one plate after another, from one end of the table to the other. Although they are not expensive dishes, such as chicken and lamb, which can be bought everywhere, the quantity is so rich that it makes people feel satisfied just by looking at it.

"Of course. We spent three months preparing for the last meal because it was for a ceremony. We thought that since you all came to Lake Nemi to help us solve the problem, we had to entertain you well. Today, it came too suddenly, too suddenly. I didn't prepare anything at the moment, so I just took some ready-made ingredients."

"Ah?" Shangluo was a little surprised. Logically speaking, Karin's family was not so extravagant. He also knew that the last time was a special reception. But he always felt that there didn't seem to be much difference between the two receptions.

[This is actually mainly a matter of eating habits. Have you noticed that these dishes mainly contain chicken? ]

“What’s wrong with the chicken?”

【The eating habits of the Romans are different from those of the Greeks. The Greeks prefer richer tastes, and the main dishes in the banquet are usually crispy roasted chicken, roasted lamb, or roasted whole pig. But the Romans have the exact opposite habit. They like soft and glutinous tastes, so all meats must be stewed until they are soft and fall off the bones without losing their shape. For example, for the same roasted meat, the Greeks would add honey to roast it until it is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. But the Romans would stew it until it is tender, and roasting itself is just to add flavor, and the main cooking method is stewing.】

"Ah, so that's how it is."

Shangluo understood the difference between the two times. This time he came too hastily, and Mayor Kesuo did not have time to slowly stew the lamb and pork from scratch, so he could only cook them "hastily" and chose lamb shoulder and pork ribs, which were easier to mature.

But they didn't prepare much of these two ingredients. In order to cover the entire table, they used a lot of chicken.

Compared with animal meat, poultry meat has finer fibers and is easier to mature. Dishes such as dill chicken and cream chicken on the table are all made in a short time.

Dill chicken is fried and then stewed, with a burnt flavor, while cream chicken is stewed directly in cream soup, exuding a milky flavor from the inside out.

"Come, please try this lamb first." Mayor Keso pushed the mutton in front of Shangluo and helped him pack it from the big plate.

"Why don't we wait until everyone comes together before eating."

"The distinguished guests eat first, and the others eat later. This is the rule. You have to eat first before everyone else can eat."

"Then shall I eat something first?"

[Hey! This is what I want to eat! ]

"It's not a big deal, I'll try it first." In fact, he saw the mutton when he came in. This mutton was surprisingly interesting and made him want to eat it. Because the mutton exuded a fragrance that he also felt very familiar with.

He took a bite.
“How is this mutton made?”

"Does it still taste good?"

Shangluo nodded: "It's really delicious. I want to eat it when I go back. So, how do you make it? Does it have a name?"

"This dish is called lamb. The method is to fry it in lard until both sides are browned, then add garlic, sage and rosemary and stew for 45 minutes. After stewing until the meat is off the bone, remove the lamb from the bones and add it to the meat sauce to stew until cooked. This time I used a red sauce made with tomatoes, but other sauces are also fine. There is also a method of not removing the bones, but this time I removed the bones."

"Ah!" Shangluo understood immediately, "I was wondering why it sounded so familiar. This is called disassembling and stewing. Boil first and then disassemble. Remove the bones and add thick soup to stew. Braised pig face and disassembling and stewing silver carp head are both made in this way."

[There are some differences between braised dishes and stewed dishes. Although both are made by adding thick soup to the already cooked ingredients, the soup of braised dishes is stored, while the soup of stewed dishes is kept. However, this mutton is indeed stewed mutton. If it were placed in Jinling Hotel, it should be called "Stewed Lamb in Tomato Sauce", and your senior brother would probably like it too. ]

"This one really looks like it."

To some extent, the eating habits of Rome are very similar to those of Yingtian, especially the official cuisine.

This lamb dish can be sold at Jinling Hotel and it can be served on any table without any sense of disobedience. Because the seasoning is very gentle, everyone can eat it. The meat is stewed to be soft and tender, suitable for all ages. This is indeed the standard of official cuisine, because official cuisine also requires that it should not be too hard, and the meat should be soft and boneless rather than lose its shape. What's more, they also "disassembled and stewed" it once, removing the bones. This is the same as official cuisine, and there are no bones when it is served.

This dish in Shangluo doesn't taste "foreign" at all, just like what you can eat at home. Even the cooking oil is lard, just like Huaiyang cuisine. The aroma of lard frying is what you smell when you enter Shangluo. The only difference between this dish and the one in Jinling Hotel is the seasoning and spices.

If this dish was served to Zhu Xianxun, he probably wouldn't be able to tell that it was actually Roman food. He would probably think that it was just a new dish added to Jinling cuisine during the change of seasons - because according to the breeding season for sheep, now is also the time to eat lamb.

"As long as the King of Rome likes to eat. I noticed that you didn't seem to have much appetite last time?"

[Forget it. I almost ate too much last time. I just didn’t eat as much as the Romans, so I don’t have an appetite.]

"No, no, our appetite is not big to begin with."

Shangluo looked at the pile on the table - all stewed meat, not a single green leaf. This eating habit was exactly the same as Zhu Xianxun's to some extent.

Mayor Kesuo's attitude is somewhat strange.
After all, this was not the first time he and Shangluo had met. They had met several times before. Shangluo also did a big favor for their family, allowing both Karins to return home.

Although Shangluo was theoretically the feudal lord of Aquilia Town, Mayor Kesuo treated him as kindly as a family member - it was obvious that he really treated Shangluo as a family member. Because if he treated Shangluo as a feudal lord, Mayor Kesuo probably wouldn't have held his hand and shook it all the time.

Just imagine if Emperor Agasocles was in this room, the atmosphere would definitely not be like it is now.

"Mr. Kelso, I might bring a guest to your home someday. What do you think?"

"Oh!" Mayor Kelso nodded vigorously, "It is truly an honor for our family."

Shangluo enjoyed the hospitality at his home and his joy was beyond words.

[Do you want to bring your senior brother with you? ]

"Yes. After the Night Shift Bureau is built, we must bring him here for an inspection. While we are here, let's have a meal at Mayor Kessel's house."

"By the way," Mayor Kesuo suggested, "Please notify us three days in advance before bringing guests so that we can prepare."

"Yes, certainly."

"Which guest does the King of Rome want to entertain?" "I want to entertain the Emperor of Aurora."

"????" Mayor Kelso was shocked. "Can I entertain this?"

"Yes, of course. Victoria should be here too, so please prepare some tableware for a few more people."

"Empress Victoria is coming too?! But my house is..."

"Hey, this is what we have today." Shangluo pointed at the table, "Next time they come, they can eat this."

"But these are just some home-cooked dishes, will that work?"

"Okay, of course." Shangluo knew those two people quite well, and the dishes at Mayor Caesar's house were just to their taste.

Zhu Xianxin actually likes to eat meat. It doesn't matter what kind of meat he eats, but he must have a lot of meat. He accepts chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cows, and sheep. The hospitality of Mayor Kesuo's family completely suits his taste. He doesn't even see the vegetables he hates. It is really a wonderful combination.

As for Victoria, she was used to eating at Jinling Hotel and would enjoy her meal here.

The dishes at Mayor Caesar's house were neither overly luxurious nor too "particular" in terms of cooking methods, which completely met their standards.

This meal was nothing to Mayor Kesuo's family - although their family's situation was indeed a bit tragic before, they had no problem with their financial situation. As a hereditary Roman knight and the mayor of Aquilia Town, their family was the kind of family that "can never go broke just by eating." Although they were not top-tier wealthy families, they were at least middle-class families. Shangluo's coming to eat a few more times would not cause any financial burden to Karin's family.

In fact, Mayor Kessel had welcomed them to stay here for a while. His house was quite big, and so many guest rooms were prepared for relatives and friends who came to stay for a long time. The longer they stayed, the better.

[So it’s my turn to eat, right? It should be time now, right? ]

"Oh, by the way." Shangluo asked Mayor Kesuo, "Where are they?"

"Is the King of Rome asking about Karin or the maid you brought with you?"

"Well, she is not my maid."

"Oh, is it your friend? She went to the kitchen with Karin. She will be here soon. I heard she wants to make cream of mushroom soup?"

"So, what is this called? Cream of mushroom soup?"

"No." Karin replied, "The correct name is 'white sauce mushrooms', which uses white sauce. Roman cuisine has four basic sauces: red, white, green, and black, and sometimes yellow sauce is added. These sauces plus the derived compound sauces are the basis of Roman cuisine. You want to ask how to make the white sauce mushrooms?"

Phaethon nodded: "Please teach me."

"Speaking of which, Phaethon, we haven't seen each other for a long time."

"Where was it last time?"

"Alexander. The last time was the Battle of Ambrosia."

"I remember we met earlier, right?"

"The Fourth Battle of Arcadia, I was at the Thorn Castle."

"By the way, it's really strange that you were rescued and are still here cooking like a mortal."

"Yeah." Karin lowered her head and stirred the milk pot with a wooden spoon. "I'm lucky to be able to return to such an ordinary life. Would you like to try it? Although white sauce is simple, it still requires careful preparation."

Phaethon took the wooden spoon and continued Karin's actions.

"By the way, what's added to this?"

"White sauce is actually a combination of butter, flour and milk. What we are making now is a butter batter, which is the base of the white sauce. You need to stir it constantly to mix the butter and flour evenly and let them mature. It must not burn, otherwise the flavor of the whole sauce will change. You need to control it at the moment before it burns to have the richest flavor."

“Is there any way to judge?”

"This process is the gelatinization of starch, which requires the starch and butter to be continuously heated and expanded together. So when it is first added, the butter and batter will be mixed into a light yellow color. After the gelatinization is completed, it will turn into a beige color. And remember, you must add cold milk."

"Why does it have to be cold?"

"Because if you add hot milk, the gelatinization process may continue, and the starch will easily clump. So you must add cold milk at this time to stop the gelatinization process. After that, it's time to season it, just add some salt and pepper. The base taste of salt can activate the taste buds, and pepper can enhance the freshness."

"Wow," Phaethon looked at her, "How did you learn it? You were a swordsman in the royal court not long ago, right? How did you learn to cook?"

"My mother taught me. Although we hired a chef, she made all the sauces in our house. Shangluo also thought that the white sauce mushrooms were delicious, so she asked you to learn, right?"

"Um"

Karin looked at her and said, "Compared to this, I am more curious about why you, as a demigod, are here to learn Bai-chan with me? Your range seems to be even greater than mine."

"Ah~~" Phaethon sighed, "I think you feel the same way about this - this kind of life is suitable for us. Hey, why is there smoke?"

Karin made a prompt decision and poured the cold milk directly into the pot. The batter, which was a little too gelatinized, was pressed back to normal by the cold milk, and only a small amount of batter floated up. Karin used a small spoon to skim off the floating part bit by bit, and now it was a pot of good white sauce.

"Wow, how did you learn this? Although this is simple, the process seems to be quite particular?"

Karin showed her her left hand with six fingers. "It's a gift from Elodeasha. This elven hand allows me to be adept at performing technical operations. My mother said that my cooking skills are almost as good as my grandmother, the chef. Perhaps, when the war is over, I should return to town and open a restaurant. I never want to leave this quiet place."

"Um, I'm sorry, I may disappoint you. The town of Aquilia, and the entire Lake Nemi, are probably going to be in turmoil soon. This place has been chosen as the headquarters of the Night Watch."

(End of this chapter)