Kitchen Xiuzhen, Chapter 65 – Spiritual Flame Roasted Venison
“This is… a roasted sheep's leg?"
Luo Xiu squinted his eyes, staring at Wang Zhe's worn out expression. It looked like he really did went all out to make this dish.
"So fragrant… is this the smell of rosemary?"The guy was carrying something that looked a lot like a roasted sheep's leg, the surface of which shone with oil and speckled with spices. Clearly, he'd used countless amount of spices on it, the roasted meat was still emitting heat.
Ye Weilan had not had any breakfast yet, the moment her nose caught the scent of this 'roast leg of lamb' her mouth began to water.
"Manager Luo, please try it, ba. This is my best spiritual cooking — Spiritual Flame Roasted Venison."
A trace of pride was evident on Wang Zhe's face. Then, he took out a specially made ham stand[1] and fastened the 'sheep leg' on it.
[Pa ta!]It's obvious he that was very satisfied with the spiritual dish he had cooked up.
As Luo Xiu approached, he saw that the meat on this 'leg' was very delicate, exquisitely lustrous.
The light shining from the meat was clear indication that this was spiritual food.
The wild venison was a deer type spiritual beast that was at least doubled the size of a normal deer on earth.
In other words, Wang Zhe had just roasted a 'deer leg'.
Deer meat is also a precious and nutritious meat on earth.
Deer meat or venison is tender and has few connective tissues[2] and could be cooked in a variety of ways. Venison is also rich in protein, fat, minerals and certain kinds of vitamins which were all very easy to digest and good for the body.
Since ancient times, various parts of deer had been used as medicine, from the antlers to the bones. Deer meat is considered warm and could be used to nourish a cold body, and recover yang energy.
"No wonder Wang Zhe decided to go with roasted venison, with how everything is of higher quality compared to earth, deer meat could be considered something that would raise a Kitchen Xiuzhen's cultivation!"
"Even among the higher grade food of the Country of Fine Cuisine, deer would still be considered a high grade ingredient!"
Luo Xiu thought for a while, and then took out a knife and cut into the deer leg.
[Ji…]Luxuriously plump flesh parted, clear fragrant oil spilled out from the cut.
Incomparably succulent flesh could be seen, the meat it self seemed to shimmer like a bright jewel, this kind of beautiful texture, just one glance was enough to stimulate one's appetite.
The spices and seasoning used matched really well with the wild and rich flavour of deer.
[Gu du!]Next to him Ye Weilin swallowed hard at the sight of the sparkling meat, this glutton had started to drool the moment the crystal like flesh was revealed.
She almost couldn't stop herself from attacking the stack of meat.
"Brother… aren't you going to eat?"
Ye Weilin was almost vibrating from the tension of waiting, her eyes sparkled, her little stomach grumbled and roared like some wild animal was trapped inside. She clearly couldn't wait much longer.
However, since Luo Xiu hadn't made a move, she dared not eat first, moreover… this was made by Wang Zhe especially for her brother.
Nevertheless, she kept staring at Luo Xiu, her pleading eyes could rival a kitten's as she pleaded for his consent.
"Let's eat, ba!"
Luo Xiu smiled, and properly cut a piece off the leg.
The venison was very tender, with just a slight pressure on the knife he could already see the reddish meat, shimmering with meat juice and fat. It all looked terribly appetising.
"Then… then I'm going to eat first!"
Ye Weilin took up a knife and fork and directly grabbed a slice of meat the moment Wang Zhe finished slicing. The whole sliced was stuffed directly into her mouth, the fork merely an instrument to prod the meat into y=that mouth.
[Ju…]Oil dribbled from the corners of her mouth even as the meat juices exploded in her mouth.
"Wu…"
Ye Weilin's hands, which had been gripping her cutleries, suddenly went slack…the fragrant meat juice and almost syrupy fat roiled in her tongue, her body almost melted from from the sensation.
"Too… too delicious, I, I am helpless…"
Ye Weilin chewed twice, and almost reluctantly swallowed the venison into her stomach. The after taste on her tongue felt pure, and refreshing.
The impact remained even after swallowing.
"Fu… fu…"
She panted out two short breaths, her cheeks rosy as she stared at Wang Zhe with slightly glazed eyes, "Hei-hei, can I have another piece?"
"Go ahead!"
Wang Zhe grinned, for a Kitchen Xiuzhen the best acknowledgement of their skills were praises from the person who ate their food.
Ye Weilin was the best type of diner under this circumstance.
As for Luo Xiu?
Wang Zhe's face went blank for a moment. This guy, when confronted with a delicious piece of meat, he'd just… calmly cut a bite off and placed that piece of roasted venison into his mouth and chewed meditatively with his eyes closed. There was no discernible expression on his face.
Wang Zhe just shook his head, this kind of weird eating habit was just too odd.
"The fragrance of Rosemary, brushed with Jade Lindon Oil, there's also fresh Four Season Leaves, a hint of Whisker Flower Grass… followed by-"
Luo Xiu took another bite, and continued, "The meat has been smeared with crushed Matsutake Mushrooms…"
When Luo Xiu started muttering to himself, Wang Zhe hadn't thought much of it, but when he heard the words 'Matsutake' he couldn't help but stared at Luo Xiu. This guy, just how did he know?
"The final touches should include finely chopped Rosemary leaves, but… considering the time taken to roast this meat, it should be-"
[Shua!]Luo Xiu's eyes flashed opened. He looked at Wang Zhe with an incredulous expression, "Could it be… you roasted it with your Divine Chef spiritual fire, ba?"
Luo Xiu still remember the white spiritual fire Wang Zhe had used to boil the hot soup just a few days ago.
If he recalled correctly, it should be something called Earth Core Spiritual Fire?
"You- did you peep at me while I was cooking?!"
Wang Zhe looked at Luo Xiu incredulously, this guy.. to think that he said all that nonsense about trying his food, it was all a lie to steal his recipes!
Even the Divine Light could not block his eyes?
"I did not peep, to discern the cooking method via tasting, isn't this just the basics a proper chef should have?"
Luo Xiu shook his head.
What's there to peep when it came to barbecue anyway?!
The moment he'd seen the roast leg, Luo Xiu had already guessed about 70 to 80 percent of the technique that went behind it.
For things like spices and seasoning, he'd depended on his newly acquired Divine Tongue.
He had to admit, this Divine Tongue really opened up entire new worlds for him. No matter what dish he tasted, no spice, seasoning or condiment would be escape his tongue's analysis.
"How could this be?! My dish… you know the technique behind it just by tasting it?"
Wang Zhe still looked a little unconvinced.
Luo Xiu felt a little helpless, "You first season the venison with finely chopped Whisker Flower Grass, before applying the Jade Linden Oil over it… after that you grill lightly it with your spiritual fire in order to fuse the spices onto the meat. This way the flavours from the Jade Linden and Whisker Flower Grass will be fused onto the meat."
"After that, you smeared finely mashed Matsutake Mushrooms all over the leg, this is to heighten the quality of the meat's flavour. After setting aside to marinate, you sprinkled finely chopped Rosemary and Four Season Leaves over it, the purpose of this is to cut through the greasy feel of the fat, giving the meat a cool and refreshing after taste!"
"This should be the prep work behind your recipe, ba?"
Luo Xiu raised his head, and saw Wang Zhe just standing there, a dumbfounded expression on his face.
"Once the prep work is all done, I guess you then took up the deer leg, and used your own spiritual fire to grill it until it's 80% done before dusting even more Rosemary at the end in order to give it a more fragrant and sweeter taste!"
"All the things I've said… should be correct, ba?"
Luo Xiu laughed inwardly, this kind of simple barbecue technique, anyone experienced with western style cooking would be able to see through it, ba?!
"That… that's right!"
Wang Zhe still looked like he could hardly believed it, then, he said softly, "Well, is it good?"
"The quality of meat is not bad, but… the seasoning is all muddled up, ah!"
Luo Xiu was being honest, the reason why it could become a spiritual food was due to two things. First, the excellent quality of the venison. Second, was Wang Zhe's own high cultivation spiritual fire.
Thanks to this unique power, meat roasted using this kind of spiritual fire infused the flesh a special kind of fragrance.
Moreover, aside from assisting in cultivation, the Spiritual Flame Roast Venison has a mysterious ability to heal the body and recover one's spiritual powers.
Luo Xiu's spiritual energy, which had been used up in the effort to breakthrough his taste meridian points, had recovered nicely. Though this dish did not help him achieve any breakthroughs, it served nicely to recover his energy and shake off the exhaustion of staying up all night.
He had to admit, the culinary arts in this world certainly has their unique points!
"The taste is… muddled?"
Wang Zhe's face changed in an instant… to think that this guy would actually look down on his own cooking?
"In what way is it muddled?"
Wang Zhe looked at Luo Xiu with dissatisfaction.
[Shua!]In answer, Luo Xiu suddenly raised the knife in his hand, as Ye Weilin screamed in alarm, he cleaved through the deer leg in one powerful strike!
[Peng!]A whole deer leg had been cleaved in two. "You come over and have a look!"
[1] Ham stand – I imagine it looked like this[2] Deer meat – As a rule, wild deer is healthier than beef, with lower calories and only 1 gram of saturated fat per ounce. Beef, on the other hand has 7 grams of fat per ounce. As for connective tissues…. yeah, I can't imagine a wild running deer having less connective tissues then a sedentary cow. Also, if calories is still a thing, deer meat has more calories than beef.
Editing: Delete 2 – !; added 1 -!
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