Chapter 67

Tangsu-yuk (糖水肉)

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"Since you've come this far, why don't you... have a meal before you go?"

"Hmm. Should I? Since my food dragon has invited me, I can't just leave. Hmm, hmm."

Although he looked like a beggar, I thought I should quickly serve him a meal and send him off.

When a beggar talks about his dignity, I have no choice but to step back...

Do beggars even have dignity? But honestly, when the lowest of the low, like beggars, get entangled with dignity, it's the most terrifying thing in this Central Continent.

A scene often seen in martial arts novels from my past life.

When a clueless person provokes a supreme master and gets completely stripped, the master says, 'I won't take your life, but leave one of your arms behind,' which means, 'You insignificant people dared to challenge me, damaging my dignity, but since I am a master, I will be generous and forgive you to this extent, now get lost.'

Similarly, in the Central Continent, if you hurt the dignity of a high-ranking official or someone of high status, it rarely leads to death.

If you take someone's life for damaging their dignity, your reputation, which is also your dignity, will be tarnished. Instead, you punish them appropriately and forgive them, while showing others that you are a generous person, thus maintaining your dignity.

But when problems arise with the lowest of the low, like beggar brats, the story changes.

These people have nothing, except for their pride.

Pride, that is, their dignity, is the only thing they have.

So, if you openly ignore them and hurt their dignity?

Hurting the dignity of someone who has nothing but pride is like inviting a grudge that will stop at nothing, even death.

Dignity is their last line of defense, isn't it?

'Right, but I'm not doing this because I'm scared, it's because he's dirty!'

I first went into the kitchen to check the ingredients.

Although I had been in and out a few times, it wasn't my kitchen, so I needed to check what ingredients were available.

Inside, I found leftover dumplings from breakfast, raw mutton, and vegetables like leeks, cucumbers, and onions.

Looking at these, a dish from my past came to mind.

Guchae-choryuk (韭菜炒肉絲).

A dish that holds memories with Master Yu.

'Master Yu, are you well? I promised to let you taste Guchae-choryuk, but I wonder when that will be possible...'

With a nostalgic thought, I started preparing the dish.

Today, I decided to make it in a regular way, not the Sichuan style.

I chose to use mutton instead of pork.

Even so, calling him the King of Beggars, I might get criticized if I serve pork.

Although the only meat available was mutton.

I cut the leeks to an appropriate size, sliced the mutton, seasoned it with pepper, salt, and a bit of starch, and then fried it.

For other stir-fries, you heat the wok and stir-fry, but for this, you start at a low temperature to prevent the meat from sticking and gradually increase the heat.

The key is to make the coating thin and light, almost imperceptible.

Once the meat was cooked, I set it aside and heated the wok over high heat.

First, I added the root part of the leeks and cooked them a bit, then quickly added the rest of the leeks and stir-fried them rapidly, as leeks can easily lose their freshness.

Then, I added the cooked meat, seasoned with salt, and drizzled some sesame oil.

I brought the steamed dumplings and the completed Guchae-choryuk to the King of Beggars.

"Here, please try it, even if my skills are lacking."

But then I heard a cough.

"Hmm!"

The King of Beggars looked very uncomfortable, didn't touch the food, and stared at me.

Then he opened his mouth and started to say something that made me uncomfortable.

"Hmm... I had high expectations because you have the nickname 'Food Dragon'... Hmm, hmm... As a cook, you should know what kind of food your guest can or cannot eat..."

'What is this old man up to? Is he complaining about the side dishes? Or is he a vegan? But... he definitely ate chicken before, right?'

When I was puzzled by the King of Beggars' sudden reaction, Zhuge Qing's voice, who had been talking to him outside while I was cooking, came urgently.

"I'm sorry, sir. Master doesn't know the rules of the martial world, so it seems he made a mistake."

Suddenly, Zhuge Qing was apologizing to the King of Beggars.

'What is this?'

Looking at my wife with a puzzled face, I heard Zhuge Qing's whisper in my ear.

[Master, from what I learned from Father, beggars, or the King of Beggars, can't eat mutton because of their rules...]

I asked my wife in a whisper.

[What? Why can't they eat perfectly good mutton?]

[Mutton is a precious meat, so common beggars don't eat it.]

'What kind of... rules are these?'

My wife's response left me speechless, and then Ge Lun's whisper came.

[Those damn rules, rules! I'm sorry, young master. The old man often talks about how things were in his time and how people these days are different. Just eat what you're given... I wonder why they can't eat perfectly good meat.]

Listening to Ge Lun, I realized this was a very unique combination.

'Ah, this is the fantastic collaboration of a beggar and a grumpy old man.'

A peculiar combination of a grumpy old man and a beggar.

I asked my wife in a whisper.

[So, can he eat other meats?]

[Yes, I heard he doesn't eat mutton, but he does eat dog, chicken, pork, and beef.]

I thought it was ridiculous to have such rules, but the King of Beggars in front of me was one of the top mafia bosses in the country.

'Right, I'll treat him like an Islamic person or a vegetarian.'

"Please wait a moment. I'll bring out another dish right away. I've never heard of such rules in the Beggar Sect, King of Beggars."

"Ah! Is that so? Then I'll wait, of course... And your wife is also a martial artist, and now that you're part of the Zhuge family, it's good to know these small things. If you live in the Central Continent, you might run into problems because of them."

Despite being a grumpy old man, the King of Beggars gave some helpful advice.

Since it was true, I nodded and expressed my gratitude.

"Thank you for your advice. Please wait a moment."

I headed back to the kitchen and called a servant to urgently buy some pork.

"Go and buy a few pounds of pork."

"Pork, sir?"

"Yes, please hurry."

"Yes, I understand, Sir."

While the servant was out buying pork, I thought for a moment.

What kind of flavor should I show the King of Beggars?

'Flavor. Flavor... '

Flavor is the stimulation felt by the tongue and perceived by the brain.

So, the stimulation felt by the tongue is the stimulation perceived by the taste cells on the tongue.

Then, what receives the stimulation from the tongue? The taste buds.

The basic flavors of sweetness, saltiness, bitterness, and sourness, as perceived by the taste buds, ultimately define flavor.

Therefore, the ultimate goal of all cooking is to harmonize these four basic flavors to give the brain a pleasant stimulation.

Just to feed a mere King of Beggars, thinking about flavor in such a grand way is not being nice, but the opposite.

'Why is he here to complain about being treated like a grumpy old man?'

Especially since Zhuge Qing had to apologize.

Death sentence confirmed.

The King of Beggars' grumpy old man act made me want to go dark.

Just before I was about to embody the dark chef of the Central Continent.

So, what is the favorite flavor of an old man?

Sweetness, of course.

As one ages, the number and size of taste buds on the tongue decrease.

This causes a reduction in the ability to perceive sweetness and saltiness, leading older people to prefer sweeter and saltier foods.

Additionally, the ability to detect sourness and bitterness becomes more acute, making them more sensitive to these flavors.

This is why older people often enjoy sweets like yanggeng and mint candies, and why they might add sugar to ketchup.

So, what flavor do older people dislike the most?

Undoubtedly, sourness.

Pork, starch, sweetness, and sourness~

For the King of Beggars, Tangchao (糖醋) was the definite choice.

Tangchao is a general term for dishes made with a sauce that combines sweetness and sourness using sugar and vinegar.

In my past life, dishes like Tangsu-yuk and Guobaorou (锅包肉) from Guangdong were representative dishes made with this Tangchao sauce.

However, while the sauce for Korean Tangsu-yuk is sweet and tangy, often made with pineapple or apple for a sweeter taste, the Tangchao sauce in the Central Continent is much more sour.

So sour that if you accidentally inhale the steam, you might start coughing.

The servant cut the pork into finger-thick slices.

In my past life, I would have used only lean meat, but in the Song Dynasty, where fat was considered the most delicious part of the meat, it was common to cut meat with fat.

I seasoned the pork with salt and pepper, mixed it with egg yolk and wheat starch, and let it sit for a moment.

The main difference from my past life was adding plenty of pepper to the wheat starch to eliminate its distinctive smell.

Although using sweet potato or potato starch would give a crispier texture, or mixing the meat with dried starch in the Chinese style would be a simpler method, the only option now was to use wheat starch and a water mixture.

While the oil was heating, I dropped a piece of the mixture into it, and a delicious sizzling sound erupted.

-Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle

The water droplets that fell to the bottom of the pan immediately burst, and the frying mixture started to rise, filling the kitchen with a delicious sizzling sound like a rainstorm.

-Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle

I quickly added the rest of the mixture to the oil.

-Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle

-Sizzle, sizzle

As the pork was frying, I used a bamboo strainer to remove it from the oil and a ladle to tap it, separating the pieces and ensuring the coating turned a light golden color.

The irresistible aroma of the frying pork slowly spread out of the kitchen, and I heard the beggars outside chatting and gossiping.

"Sniff, sniff. That's the smell of pork."

"Can you smell it, the leader?"

"Hey, you brat, I'm the King of Beggars, the King of Beggars."

"Totally dog nose, totally dog nose."

"Since you mentioned dogs, I'm reminded of how you thieves, who aren't even thieves, used to steal dog food. How dare you feed dog food to the leader! Despicable!"

-Slap

"Ugh!"

The sound of a slap outside and the sizzling of the frying pork inside created a harmonious symphony.

I fried the pork once more to enhance its crispiness and eliminate any remaining wheat smell.

And then, the grand sauce.

In the Korean style, you mix sugar and vinegar with water and add a few vegetables or fruits, but the authentic Tangchao sauce is made by directly adding vinegar to a heated wok and boiling it.

When I added the vinegar to the heated wok, it immediately boiled, and the sharp, pungent smell of vinegar hit my lungs, making me cough.

"Cough, cough! I'm dying here."

I added the local sugar (沙糖) to add sweetness and wheat starch to complete the Tangchao sauce.

However, when adding wheat starch, you need to use a bit more than you would with sweet potato or potato starch.

Wheat starch contains a lot of gluten, which reduces its cohesiveness compared to sweet potato or potato starch, so you need to use more.

Once the sauce was complete, I stir-fried the fried pork in it one more time, placed it on a large plate, and served it.

I brought the Tangchao-yuk (糖醋肉) to the King of Beggars, who was now lying half-reclined on the ground as if it were his own home.

"Here, please enjoy it."

But the King of Beggars, lying half-reclined, didn't move.

'What's he up to now?'

Wondering what was wrong, I looked at my wife, and Zhuge Qing, holding chopsticks, quickly came over, picked up a piece of Tangsu-yuk, took a bite, and then smiled at me with a look of satisfaction before turning to the King of Beggars.

"Ah... I've finished it. You should either throw away the leftovers or give them to the beggars."

Then he placed the half-eaten piece of Tangsu-yuk on top of the bowl.

Only then did the King of Beggars smile and sit up.

The King of Beggars, with a wide smile, reached for the half-eaten piece of Tangsu-yuk left by my wife.

"Wait, just a moment!"

Seeing this, I had to quickly stop the King of Beggars' chopsticks.