From having to hide from people’s eyes and secretly eating chestnut cakes in her room to stave off hunger before meeting Xue Li, to now enjoying three dishes and a soup for every meal, and occasionally even tasting the newly developed desserts from the Treasure Delicacies Shop, Qi Yue couldn’t be more delighted.
The day before yesterday, she had Lotus Pod Fish Wraps; yesterday, she had Dongpo Braised Pork. What delicious food would A’li make for her today?
Walking down the street, just thinking about it made her press her lips together, fighting back the drool that was about to spill.
But when she stepped through the side door into the backyard, she didn’t smell the enticing aroma of food as usual; instead, she smelled damp earth.
“A’li? Xiyu?” Qi Yue was a little dazed and looked around for a moment.
“Over here!”
A familiar voice came from the backyard. Qi Yue hurried over, but what met her eyes was a messy patch of yellow earth.
Xue Li stood in the middle of it, her skirt stained with mud. Around her feet lay scattered, drooping vegetables.
Qi Yue couldn’t help but stare in disbelief.
She knew that Xue Li had earlier cultivated a small vegetable patch in the backyard garden specifically to grow easily cultivated vegetables like scallions and coriander. She had managed it extremely well. How did it end up in this miserable state after just one day?
“What is going on here?” Qi Yue asked in surprise. “Where is Xiyu, why don’t I see her?”
Xue Li let out a long sigh. Just as she was about to explain, a dark figure quickly vaulted over the west wall: “I finally caught them!”
Jiang Xiyu landed easily and dusted off her hands. “It’s all the doing of a few little beggars around here. They came before dawn to ruin this vegetable garden. If you ask me, they were definitely put up to it by Madam Lu from the flatbread shop next door. A few days ago, I saw her giving out flatbreads to those beggars. I’ve never seen her so kind-hearted on a normal day.”
Qi Yue suddenly understood. “Your Treasure Delicacies Shop’s business is too good, and it made her jealous?”
Jiang Xiyu sneered, “Her mind is narrower than the mung beans in our sweet bean soup. I’m afraid she’ll be suffering from the red-eye disease for the rest of her life.”
Xue Li got a headache listening to this and couldn’t help but rub her temples.
In this life, was she doomed to clash with flatbread shops?
First there was Zhang of the flatbread shop, and now there was Madam Lu. Could eating flatbreads really make people grow a hundred and eighty petty schemes in their heads?
Seeing her covering her forehead in distress, Jiang Xiyu comforted her, “Don’t worry. After lunch, I’ll find a hemp rope, tie up those little beggars, and drag them to Madam Lu’s shop to identify her. I’ll let all the neighbors see what kind of ugly wretch she really is.”
“Hey, don’t be hasty,” Xue Li quickly waved her hand to stop her. “The beggars are pitiful people to begin with. They only did this for a bite of food. There’s no need to make them lose face in public. As for Madam Lu…”
“How are you going to deal with her?” Jiang Xiyu asked with interest.
“Hmph, I have my own clever plan.” Xue Li raised her willow-leaf eyebrows slightly, the corners of her lips curling up. She casually picked up the only relatively lively green scallion left on the yellow soil of the vegetable patch, spun it nimbly in the air, and let it land steadily back in her palm.
“Let’s go. Today we’re eating Osmanthus Honey Roasted Quail!”
…
In the back kitchen, the small iron pot on the stove bubbled as licorice water and honey were boiled together, filling the room with a sweet fragrance.
Xue Li pulled up a small stool and sat by the door, placing a large basin of steaming hot water in front of her.
She submerged the freshly slaughtered quail into it. After waiting for about ten seconds, she quickly fished the quail out. While it was still steaming, she applied a little force and plucked the main feathers completely clean.
Next were the remaining fine down feathers. She wiped the quail’s skin dry, and Jiang Xiyu, who was standing guard to the side, quickly handed over a lit piece of firewood. Suspending the quail over the sparks, she slowly rotated it and roasted it for three to five seconds. Using the intense heat of the firewood, she singed the fine down until it was crisp. Then, picking up a loofah sponge, she gently rubbed the skin, and the down instantly fell off, revealing a layer of white, tender skin.
Qi Yue, born into a prominent and noble family, had never entered a kitchen since she was young, let alone witnessed with her own eyes how a completely featherless quail was prepared. Although she watched with a sense of awe, leaning far away against the water vat in the courtyard, she couldn’t stop praising: “As expected of A’li! You don’t even overlook such tiny details. No wonder the meals you cook are exceptionally delicious!”
“This is nothing yet,” Xue Li smiled. “It’s only the first step.”
She stood up, carried the clean white quail back to the chopping board, poured out some rice wine to moisten its skin and flesh, and sprinkled spice powder over it, rubbing it in carefully.
She originally should have used coarse salt to remove the gamey smell and enhance the flavor, but salt was expensive in the Song Dynasty. Even though Qi Yue was generous and gave a hefty amount of silver for her monthly meal plan, Xue Li still couldn’t bear to squander it casually.
As the saying goes, “Save oil, and the jar stays full; save money, and the string of coins grows long.” While ensuring that her esteemed guest ate to her heart’s content, if she could also save up a little private stash of money, that would naturally be for the best.
She placed the marinated quail into a shallow bowl and stuffed its abdominal cavity with thin ginger slices, crushed bay leaves, and a few dogwood berries. Then, she turned to the side, lifted the lid off the pot, and sprinkled in a pinch of dried osmanthus flowers. The honey poured in earlier had long melted, completely cooking away the slight bitterness of the licorice water and merging smoothly with it. The syrup grew thicker as it boiled, bubbling with crystal-clear spheres. The osmanthus petals were soaked in the amber honey glaze, sending a sweet fragrance straight into the nose.
Qi Yue gently sniffed the aroma in the air, her eyes brightening slightly. “Oh! Using osmanthus in a dish really has a unique charm!”
“Isn’t it? This fragrance is so rich, even more tempting than the osmanthus cake A’li made a few days ago.” Jiang Xiyu narrowed her eyes, her sense of smell as sharp as a cat’s. “I just wonder how it tastes.”
Qi Yue offered her praise in advance: “If A’li made it, it will definitely be perfect in color, aroma, and taste.”
Xue Li was amused by her two foodie companions. She picked up a bamboo spoon and slowly stirred the honey glaze. Only when its color turned golden and bright, and it became thick but not sticky to stir, did she stop. “It’s still too early to eat. It will take at least another two hours.”
She scooped up the honey glaze and slowly drizzled it over the surface of the quail, evenly coating this gloriously sacrificed little fowl with a thin, bright layer of sugar coating. She then covered it with a large porcelain plate and let it rest for an hour to allow the sweet fragrance to penetrate the meat.
Finally, an hour passed, but Xue Li said the roasting would take another hour.
Jiang Xiyu was hungry and puzzled. “It’s just a small quail, why does it need to be roasted for so long? This is too much torture.”
“If it’s not roasted thoroughly, how can the flavor seep in?” Qi Yue watched eagerly as Xue Li skewered the quail with an iron rod, secured it on a simply constructed spit-roasting rack, and brushed it with honey glaze while it roasted.
Under the glow of the flames, the quail’s skin took on a lustrous, caramelized hue. If one could take a bite, it would probably be so crispy that it would make a loud crunch. She swallowed her saliva and kept her tone artificially calm. “Just bear with it for a while, you’ll see later.”
The three of them hovered around the spit-roasting rack for a long time. Most of the time, it was Xue Li lifting the oil brush, dipping it in honey glaze, and carefully applying it to the quail’s skin while closely monitoring the fire. Meanwhile, Jiang Xiyu and Qi Yue fought to take turns rotating the spit, just so they could get closer to the quail and catch a few more whiffs of the meaty aroma.
The amber honey glaze leisurely seeped into the meat. As the heat progressed, the roasted caramel crust changed color—first turning a faint gold, then darkening, and finally becoming deeply browned and paper-thin crispy. Under the shifting light, that thin sugar shell seemed coated with a lustrous layer of glaze, utterly alluring.
The pine branches crackling under the charcoal fire produced a smoky scent that mingled with the honey aroma and went straight into their noses. Without even tasting it, just the smell was enough to make their stomachs rumble.
“Little Sister Qi, it’s my turn to rotate it now!”
“Xiyu! Look at you, your drool is about to drip right onto the quail meat. It’s better if I do it!”
Neither would give way. Their shoulders jostled secretly, and neither was willing to let go. The scene was quite comical.
Xue Li chuckled lightly. She leaned closer to check the quail’s caramel color and the sizzling, fragrant oil oozing from the roast. Seeing that the color was perfectly even and the aroma was growing ever richer, she ignored the two’s petty squabbling and simply reached out to pull them apart, declaring cheerfully, “It’s done!”
As soon as her words fell, she didn’t even need to pull them apart with force. The two immediately stopped and, as if sharing a telepathic link, stepped aside simultaneously to clear the middle spot for Xue Li to retrieve the meat.
Xue Li extinguished the fire, took the roasted quail off the spit, and smoothly placed it onto a lacquer tray lined with a lotus leaf.
The tender green lotus leaf released a fresh scent that brushed past the steaming caramel crust. It complemented the aroma of the Osmanthus Honey Roasted Quail, making it rich but not greasy, adding an elegant and fragrant charm.
She scooped out a small saucer of the honey glaze. Deciding to be a little extravagant, she sprinkled in some finely ground almond powder and stirred it evenly to thicken it, serving it as a dipping sauce.
“Everything is ready.” Xue Li pushed the platter and a prepared small knife in front of the two girls. Stepping aside, her eyes curved in a smile as she said, “Hurry up and taste it while it’s hot.”
Jiang Xiyu could no longer contain herself. She took the lead, slicing off a small piece of meat, rolling it in the dipping saucer, and popping it into her mouth.
The outer layer of the quail was crispy. With a gentle bite, it produced a subtle cracking sound, like chewing on a piece of sweet sugar art. As for the meat underneath, it was incredibly tender and juicy, soaked in the clear sweetness of the osmanthus and honey. It perfectly complemented the rich, fatty aroma of the roasted quail without a single trace of gaminess.
“So delicious!” Jiang Xiyu’s mouth was full of flavor, and she mumbled, “If I hadn’t tasted it myself, I truly wouldn’t have known that osmanthus honey glaze could pair so perfectly with quail. A’li, your culinary skills are truly…”
Before she could finish, Qi Yue also sliced off a piece of quail meat and hurried to put it into her mouth. A look of sheer amazement unconsciously floated into her eyes.
She had originally been hesitant about mixing sweetness with meat, fearing that the cloying sugar would overpower the main dish. But tasting it now, the sweetness of the osmanthus honey didn’t mask the meat’s aroma at all. Instead, it brought out the quail’s rich flavor perfectly. Only then did she realize that her earlier worries had been completely unnecessary.
Qi Yue chewed carefully, her mouth filled with the rich, sweet, and delicious flavor. She couldn’t help but sigh in admiration, “Sweet but not cloying, fragrant but not overpowering. Even the head chef at Fan Restaurant couldn’t roast an Osmanthus Honey Quail as good as this!”
“Don’t just watch the two of us eat. You, the master chef, must taste your own fine handiwork too.” Saying this, Jiang Xiyu, whose lips were smeared with honey stains, sliced off several pieces of quail meat in quick succession and piled them into Xue Li’s bowl.
Seeing the two eating with such joy on their faces, Xue Li’s eyes smiled. Unhurriedly, she picked up her bamboo chopsticks and took a slice from the bowl.
The honey-sugar crust gleamed warmly under the lamplight. The moment she bit down, her teeth were instantly enveloped by a crispy, delicate sweetness. Following closely, the fresh, tender juiciness of the meat poured out. The mellowness of the honey and the elegant fragrance of the osmanthus blended together, blooming layer by layer in her mouth with a long, lingering aftertaste.
Xue Li couldn’t help but nod slightly. It wasn’t bragging, but rather that this dish was indeed a success.
As she stuffed her face, Jiang Xiyu mumbled, “A’li, with these skills of yours, if you presented this to the Emperor, I’m afraid you’d definitely be granted the title of ‘Imperial Chef’.”
Xue Li chuckled. “If I really became an Imperial Chef, wouldn’t I have to stay in the palace cooking every single day? Thinking about it, I’d rather be free and easy like I am now.”
Hearing this, Qi Yue nodded in agreement. “Exactly. If A’li became an Imperial Chef, wouldn’t we have to beg for an audience at the palace gates every day? How could that compare to now, where we can eat whenever we want?”
Jiang Xiyu suddenly remembered something. She hurriedly swallowed a solid chunk of quail meat, choking slightly before recovering: “If being an Imperial Chef is a no-go, then being the Marquis of Ningwu’s chef should work, right? I heard that the Marquis of Ningwu is plagued by chronic illness despite his young age. The Emperor searched the world for famous chefs for him, but he rejected them all. I reckon he just hasn’t tasted your delicacies. If he ever got the chance to take a bite, I bet he’d actively seek medical treatment; there’s no way he’d want to die young.”
[Author’s Note]
“Save oil, and the jar stays full; save money, and the string of coins grows long” is derived from a folk proverb.