Chapter 6

"Only women and small people are hard to raise!" Zhao Yan muttered to himself while slicing meat. This was the kitchen of the Prince's mansion, and it was already midnight. Zhao Yan could no longer bear the torment of vegetables and tofu, so after waiting for his attendant, Xiaodouya, to fall asleep, he quietly slipped out of the bedroom and sneaked into the kitchen to prepare some delicious food for himself. For a single, middle-aged man from the 21st century, cooking was a basic survival skill.

The Guangyang Prince's mansion was vast, but it was generally divided into the outer and inner residences. Most of the servants and craftsmen lived in the outer residence, while the inner residence was home to Zhao Yan and Cao Ying's trusted servants. However, since Cao Ying took charge of the inner residence, all of Zhao Yan's people were expelled, and the inner residence was filled with the maids and matrons Cao Ying brought as part of her dowry.

The inner residence had its own kitchen, which was divided into a large and a small one. The small kitchen was responsible for Zhao Yan and Cao Ying's meals. Zhao Yan first entered the small kitchen, but after searching it thoroughly, he couldn't find any meat. It seemed that Cao Ying was determined to stick to a vegetarian diet. Finally, he went to the large kitchen, where he found a piece of pork, and it was even the best part of the loin. It was probably bought by one of the matrons for their own consumption, as pork was considered a cheap meat in the Song Dynasty, eaten only by the poor, while people with some status looked down on it.

Zhao Yan didn't care about such distinctions. For someone who had been eating vegetables and tofu for nearly a month, even the sight of his own arm could make him drool. Moreover, people in the Song Dynasty didn't like pork because they thought pigs were ugly and dirty, rolling in mud every day. Additionally, they didn't know how to cook pork well, and stir-frying hadn't even become popular yet. It wasn't until Su Dongpo popularized Dongpo Pork that pork was widely accepted.

Zhao Yan washed the loin and then searched both kitchens for seasonings, as he was worried that the seasonings in the Northern Song Dynasty might differ from those in the future. As expected, many of the seasonings he was familiar with were not available, either because the mansion didn't stock them or because they hadn't been invented yet.

Although the seasonings were incomplete, the main ones like salt, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and aromatics like scallions, ginger, and garlic were available. After some consideration, Zhao Yan decided to make sweet and sour pork, one of his favorite dishes from the future.

He sliced the loin, beat two eggs, and mixed them with flour and water. Ideally, he would have added cornstarch, but there was none in the kitchen, so he had to make do.

After marinating the meat, he added oil to the pan and fried the slices over low heat, ideally frying them multiple times to achieve a crispy exterior and tender interior. However, he couldn't overdo it, or the meat would become tough. While frying the meat, Zhao Yan prepared the sweet and sour sauce with sugar, vinegar, salt, scallions, and ginger. Once the meat was fried, he drained the excess oil, left a bit in the pan, and added the sauce and meat, stir-frying them together. This step required precise timing; if he stir-fried for too short a time, the meat would be hard, and if he stir-fried for too long, it would lose its crispy and tender texture. It took Zhao Yan a long time to master this.

Zhao Yan served the sweet and sour pork on a plate, and the aroma of the dish made his mouth water. Despite traveling nearly a thousand years, his cooking skills seemed to have remained intact.

However, just as Zhao Yan was sniffing the plate, the kitchen door opened, and Cao Ying entered with several maids and matrons, including Xiaodouya, who looked half-asleep.

"You... Why are you here?" Zhao Yan's face turned red, and he stammered, wishing he could find a hole to hide in. As a prince, being caught sneaking food was embarrassing.

Cao Ying looked at Zhao Yan calmly, but her eyes betrayed a hint of disdain and contempt. A prince, for the sake of a little food, had entered the kitchen and cooked himself, something that no other noble in the entire city of Tokyo would do. Any noble would rather starve than lower themselves.

This wasn't Cao Ying's fault; while men cooking was normal in the future, it was shameful in the Song Dynasty, especially for the literati and nobility. They could accept a man being gay or pedophilic, but not a prince cooking. Cao Ying, raised in the noble tradition, shared this view.

A matron in her fifties stepped forward with a false smile and said, "Your Highness, the kitchen is a lowly place, not fit for you. Please return to your room and rest. I will take care of the kitchen."

The matron took the plate of sweet and sour pork from Zhao Yan and stepped aside to let him pass. Zhao Yan, though reluctant to leave his creation, had no face to stay or to ask for the plate back. Cao Ying's gaze also made him uncomfortable, so he left the kitchen with a sullen expression.

"Matron, you are in charge of the kitchen. From today, assign more people to watch it and prevent the prince from entering. Also, no one is to speak of this, or they will be punished according to the house rules!" Cao Ying said after Zhao Yan left, her eyes scanning the maids and matrons with a stern look.

"Your Highness, rest assured. I will be more careful, and everyone knows their place. This matter will not be spoken of outside these walls," the matron holding the plate replied. She was Cao Ying's wet nurse and the head matron of the inner residence, responsible for Zhao Yan and Cao Ying's daily life.

These maids and matrons were all old hands from the Cao family, and Cao Ying trusted them. She nodded and turned to leave, but then she noticed that Xiaodouya, who had been standing beside her, was missing. Turning around, she saw Xiaodouya sneaking up to the wet nurse, dipping her finger into the dish Zhao Yan had cooked, and savoring it.

"Xiaodouya, what are you doing?" Cao Ying scolded, her voice rising in anger.

"Fourth Sister, you must try it. The prince's dish is so delicious!" Xiaodouya, usually timid, was not afraid of Cao Ying. She called Cao Ying "Fourth Sister" not because she was Cao Ying's younger sister, but because it was a common way for servants to address noble children, using their birth order followed by "Brother" or "Sister." For example, as Cao Ying was the fourth child, she was called "Fourth Sister." The term "Miss" was, unfortunately, a term for adult women, similar to its use in the future.

"Xiaodouya, I've told you many times. Now that Fourth Sister is the prince's consort, you should call her 'Your Highness,' not 'Fourth Sister'!" The wet nurse scolded Xiaodouya, who was the youngest and often forgetful, often getting scolded for her forgetfulness.

Xiaodouya had a tragic background, having entered the Cao household at a young age. Cao Ying treated her like a younger sister and even spoiled her. Cao Ying also disliked the title "princess," so Xiaodouya's "Fourth Sister" made her feel close, and her anger dissipated.

Cao Ying walked over to examine the dish Zhao Yan had made. The dish looked good, with a bright red color, but it had a sweet aroma, which made her frown. "Using sugar in a meat dish is something only a first-time cook would do, not knowing the difference between salt and sugar. Since you find it delicious, Xiaodouya, you will eat it all as punishment!"

Sugar was a precious seasoning in the north, and even those who could afford it only used it to sweeten bland porridge, not in cooking. Moreover, dishes like Dongpo Pork and sweet and sour fish had not yet become popular in Kaifeng, so Cao Ying had never tasted a sweet and sour dish.

In the minds of people in Kaifeng at that time, sugar and salt were opposite seasonings, so they would never use both in the same dish, believing that the flavors would cancel each other out.

Xiaodouya, a glutton, had a stronger palate than most. She had liked the smell of the sweet and sour pork from the start. Hearing that she was to eat it as punishment, she cheered, snatched the plate from the wet nurse, and began to devour it, making contented sounds like a cat stealing fish.

Hearing Xiaodouya's contented sounds, Cao Ying was surprised. She knew Xiaodouya's habits well, and the girl only made such sounds when she ate something exceptionally delicious. Could Zhao Yan's dish really be that good?