Chapter 9: Loach and Taro (Part 1)

  Look at that, wishing for the fourth daughter to personally help her brothers bathe, jokingly. With Wang's psychological age of over 30 years old, and this fourth daughter looking like she's only in her thirties, how could she possibly agree? Hurriedly saying: "Auntie, don't bother, my brother and I still need to go back to the original Taoist temple to fetch some things, we'll wash up when we get back." After finishing speaking, he pulled Wang away and fled in a hurry.

  Saying that they were going back to get something, Wang Kuang was just making an excuse. There was nothing in the Taoist temple worth taking for the two brothers. Unexpectedly, when they arrived at the temple, they saw Wang Xiao running behind the statue and rummaging through it again, carefully taking out a small cloth package.

  "Second son, what is this?" Seeing Wang Xian's cautious appearance, Wang Kuang was somewhat curious.

  "My mother gave it to me, saying that my brother and I each had one." The second son opened the cloth package, inside was a small object polished to a dark shine. He picked it up and looked at it carefully, vaguely seeing some texture, it should be made of old huanghuali wood, with many years of age, the surface was rubbed to a high gloss. The shape of the object looks like a jade pendant that ordinary wealthy families hang on their waist. It seems that our family's ancestors were poor and had to give something to the younger generation in the family, so they carved this ornament from huanghuali wood.

  "What about your elder brother...?" Wang Kuang was somewhat uncertain and feared stirring up Wang Xian's thoughts, so he didn't dare ask further.

  "My daughter said she had been missing for many years and never came back." As he spoke, it seemed that he remembered his parents who died miserably, Wang Xian was somewhat choked.

  "Getting lost doesn't necessarily mean being gone, maybe one day your brother will come back." Wang Kuang comforted Wang Xian, and had nothing else to say, could only comfort him like this.

  The two brothers took their things and were about to leave, walking two steps, Wang Kuang thought for a moment, also holding the broken ceramic pot they used for cooking in his hand: "This is our family heirloom, can't lose it." He wanted to keep a memento, commemorating the difficult days of his first few days in the Tang Dynasty.

  Returning to the small courtyard of the inn, Wang Kuang saw that Zhu Si's wife was not there, so he quickly pulled Wang Xiang into the house, locked the door, and washed in the still warm water in the basin before changing his clothes.

  The clothes were simple, a blue short-sleeved shirt and pants made of hemp cloth, and a pair of wooden clogs. At that time, cotton fabric had not yet spread to the Jiangnan region, and ordinary people could not afford silk clothes. After turning around, except for the clothes being a bit stiff, they fit quite well.

  After washing and dressing, Wang Xian was fiddling around in the house, while Wang Kuang came to the courtyard and sat on a stone stool, thinking about what else he needed to prepare. For example, pillows - Wang Kuang knew that during the Tang Dynasty, most people used wooden pillows, wealthy families used stone pillows, and even wealthier families used jade pillows, which was not something Wang Kuang was accustomed to. He thought that maybe he could ask Zhu Si Niang to help him sew two pillowcases and fill them with wheat husks, which would be fine. He remembered that when he was a child, his pillow had been filled with wheat husks too. Also, this courtyard needed a stone table - just one flat stone slab supported by several stones underneath would do. That way, in the winter, they could sit in the courtyard, bask in the sun and drink tea, which wouldn't be bad at all.

  Just as he was thinking, the inn across the alley started making a ruckus. He walked through the alley to the front of the inn and saw that it was a man holding a fish basket who was repeatedly begging Sun Zhanggui for something, while Sun Zhanggui had an expression of helplessness on his face.

  After listening for a while, Wang finally understood that the man's name was Hu Liu, who usually made a living by catching fish in the river and exchanging them for money at the inn. Unexpectedly, today he had bad luck and only caught some small fish and over a dozen loaches. In Tang Dynasty times, no one ate loaches because they burrowed into mud and tasted strongly of earthy smell. The man had spent all day catching these, thinking that his family was waiting for rice to be cooked at home, so he had no choice but to bring these small fish and loaches to the inn to try his luck. Of course, Sun Zhuang would not accept them, so they ended up in a stalemate.

  When he saw the loach, Wang Kuang suddenly remembered that there was a basket of taro in the kitchen. He missed a famous dish from his hometown and pulled Sun Zhanggui aside: "Grandpa Sun, this loach is also delicious, take it, I'll try to cook it."

  Sun Jinlai, the shopkeeper, knew that Wang Kuang had previously shown off his skills, but he was skeptical about the claim that loach was delicious. However, considering the boss's attitude towards Wang Kuang, he decided to give it a try and didn't want to say anything negative about him. After all, as a shopkeeper for decades, he thought ahead: if Wang Dalang could really cook the loach well, they could add another dish to attract customers in the future. Even if it didn't turn out well, it would only cost a little money. So he instructed Li Dabao to give the man a catty of rice and took the small fish and loach to the kitchen to raise them in water. The man thought Wang Kuang was the young master and thanked him profusely before leaving with the rice.

  "Hold on." Wang Kuan pulled him back, "If you catch some other unwanted fish or shrimp in the future, feel free to send them over and I'll take a look. If they're usable, I'll keep them."

  Sun the shopkeeper, who was standing by, also felt somewhat displeased in his heart when he heard Wang say this. However, thinking of the East House's orders, he didn't dare to say anything and could only hide his discontent in his heart.

  When they arrived at the kitchen, Wang Shifu was busy preparing ingredients, and Zhu Si Niangzi was also helping to pick vegetables. After Zhang Gong left, the entire kitchen had only them who could cook, and there was no one to help with cooking. To avoid being overwhelmed when there were many guests later, they could only process some ingredients that could be stored for a long time in advance. Wang Kuang took out the catfish alone and put it in another basin of water, cut two slices of ginger and threw them in, and dripped a few drops of sesame oil into it. On the side, Wang Shifu stopped his hands and watched Wang Kuang's movements with great care. He had also been helping in the kitchen for over a decade and still had good eyesight. Previously, Wang Kuang's method of handling sweet potatoes was very unusual, and later he secretly tried it out and found that his hands no longer itched, so he believed that Wang Kuang must have some reason for doing this, but he didn't dare to ask, so he just kept watching.

  After dealing with the loach, Wang Kuang added some water to the pot and put it on the fire. He then went to the basket and picked out a few taros. These taros weren't just any kind, they had to be egg-sized, round and plump, without large buds. Only when cooked would they become soft and fragrant. After washing the taros clean, he put them in the pot and covered it with a lid. He then squatted down by the stove to add more firewood.

  At this time, Zhu Si Niangzi hurried over and pushed Wang Kuang away: "Let me do it, you can't be doing this kind of work." Wang Kuang stopped what he was doing and saw that Master Wang was watching from the side, looking puzzled. He smiled and said: "I'm preparing a dish, I'll ask for your opinion later when it's done."

  "I don't dare, I don't dare. What is the young master planning to do? Let me help you." Alright, this is climbing up the pole, wanting to learn a skill, but can't say it outright.

  Wang Juan didn't believe in hiding his true self, isn't that just being a chef? Understanding something doesn't necessarily mean you can do it. There are so many cookbooks out there, but how many great chefs are there really? In the end, cooking is like any other skill - it's all about intuition. Wang Juan didn't believe in the saying "genius is 99% hard work." He always believed that no matter what you're learning, intuition is most important. For example, when he was studying English, he spent hours every day on it, but only managed to get a score of 61 on the level four exam. On the other hand, some people barely studied and yet their spoken English was fluent and they could communicate with foreigners without any problems. Another example is when Wang Juan learned how to drive - he spent the least amount of time in his class, but whenever the instructor had something to do, he would let Wang Juan sit in the passenger seat and direct others. Similarly, when it comes to cooking, sometimes Wang Juan only needed to taste a dish once to figure out the recipe, and he could quickly make a dish that was just as good. Some people, on the other hand, were taught step by step but still couldn't get it right. This is the difference intuition makes. Therefore, Wang Juan firmly believed that genius is 80% intuition, 10% hard work, and 10% luck. Some people may try their best in a particular field but only be mediocre, but if they find an area where their intuition shines, they might just become a genius. In the past, Wang Juan even jokingly thought that if Lu Xun had spent his whole life studying medicine, he would probably have been just an average doctor at best?

  "I'm preparing to make a dish of loach and taro, can Master Wang help me find a ceramic pot with a lid? Also, please ask Auntie to start a strong fire for me."

  On that side, Zhu Si Niang had lit the fire in the stove and was now tending to it. On this side, Wang Shifu had also found a clay pot. As for Wang Kuang, he had already pounded several garlic heads, chopped some scallions and ginger, and set them aside. Without chili peppers, this dish would lose a lot of flavor, but there was no way around it - the chilies were probably still on their way to China.

  After seeing Wang Shifu bring the clay pot, he looked at the loach and Wang Kuang also had the idea of pointing it out. After all, what Sun Ming said was right, now he is not suitable to be famous, if in the future this kitchen will let Wang Kuang take charge, with his pursuit of perfection, he will definitely not do things carelessly, that would be a great insult to food. Therefore, for himself, it's only suitable to stand behind the scenes for a few years and help Sun Ming cultivate one or two chefs who can go on stage in this inn, which is also a way to repay his kindness of taking him in and protecting him.

  "This catfish normally burrows in the mud, and its intestines store a lot of mud. If it's not cleaned properly, there will be a strong muddy smell. Adding some sesame oil and ginger slices is to stimulate the catfish to spit out the mud from its intestines, so that the muddy smell won't be so heavy."

  Wang saw that the water in the basin had become murky at this time, so he changed the water while saying to Wang Shifu: "After changing the water, I'll add two more slices of ginger and a few drops of sesame oil. Then, I'll pour in some rice wine."

  "What's the use of this wine then?" Seeing Wang Kuang actively pointing, Master Wang understood that Wang Kuang didn't hide his intention, which was to teach him this dish, so he didn't cover it up and asked directly.

  "This is the second time to add some wine, first to further stimulate the loach to spit out mud, second to make the loach a bit drunk, so that it won't jump around when it's cooked later, and third, this way the wine can enter the loach's body and remove the fishy smell. Generally, the wine should be added just one minute before cooking the loach, if you add it too early or too much, the loach will get drunk and die before it's even cooked, which doesn't taste good, and if you add it too late, the wine won't have time to enter the body, also not very tasty."