Chapter 45
45th Episode: Buckwheat Pasta
"Buckwheat noodles, you say..."
The Ming Dynasty envoy, Liu Jin, used his chopsticks to rummage through the dish before him.
Soon, a scornful snort escaped his lips, followed by an arrogant remark.
Royal Secretary Im Soong-jae hesitated for a moment before relaying the message.
"...In the Great Ming, buckwheat is only used as pig feed, he says."
'This arrogant bastard, I ought to just...!'
King Yeonsangun's eyelids twitched for a split second, but he barely managed to maintain a faint smile.
"Tell him that in Joseon, we can make delicacies out of pig feed."
Upon hearing this, Liu Jin curled his lips in amusement.
Very well!"
He intended to at least taste it, but was prepared to spit it out if he didn't like it.
Liu Jin picked up a large clump of pizzoccheri pasta with his chopsticks and sniffed at it.
The first scent that wafted up was the subtle aroma of buckwheat.
Liu Jin frowned.
Having only eaten finely milled wheat flour and white rice, Liu Jin considered the slightly bitter scent of buckwheat to be nothing more than the smell of insignificant mixed grains.
However, the unique aroma of fresh perilla oil and salted mullet roe that lingered beneath piqued his curiosity.
'Well, let's see...'
Liu Jin brought a mouthful of pasta, well-mixed with fresh perilla oil, and thinly sliced orange mullet roe to his mouth all at once.
And the moment he slowly chewed and tasted it.
"Oh oh (Ooh ooh)!"!Liu Jin's eyes widened, and his eyebrows simultaneously drooped into a figure of eight.
The slightly bitter flavor of buckwheat and its soft yet moderately coarse texture flooded his mouth.
And amidst it all, the fresh scent of perilla oil spread, along with the salty, tongue-coating taste of mullet roe, and the subtle fragrance of sea lettuce that embraced the sea.
'This is, this is like... a vast field of buckwheat and perilla seeds! And beyond that, the sea!'
Before he knew it, Liu Jin had closed his eyes and was smiling and frolicking in a world of taste surrounded by buckwheat fields and the sea.
'Familiar yet completely new... truly a peculiar taste.'
Seeing his entranced expression, Ji-young's face also softened into a light smile.
'Buckwheat noodles, perilla oil, sea lettuce, and mullet roe will all be novel flavors to the Ming envoy.'
Chinese cuisine mainly uses rapeseed oil or lard, with perilla oil rarely used.
Seafood dishes also mainly consist of freshwater fish, so seafood roe is not commonly seen.
Therefore, the combination that Liu Jin was currently eating—buckwheat, fresh perilla oil, mullet roe, and sea lettuce—was bound to be an entirely new flavor.
Moreover, mullet roe has been consistently mentioned in records as a royal Tribute goods since the early Joseon Dynasty, a high-end ingredient with a long history.
Wasn't it a masterpiece among masterpieces, marinated in clear rice wine and Joseon soy sauce, then brushed with sesame oil and dried in the sea breeze for a month?
- Hiccup
It was at that moment that a hiccup suddenly escaped Liu Jin, who had been savoring the unique taste of the food with his eyes closed.
As soon as he heard the sound, Dang Baek-ryong's brow twitched.
'The master... has a peculiar habit of starting to hiccup in surprise when he eats something unexpectedly delicious.'
It was an honest reaction that his body gave, unable to hide the fact that he had eaten something delicious.
Seeing the scene, King Yeonsangun also put a chopstickful of the pizzoccheri pasta made by Ji-young into his mouth.
At the same time, his eyes widened.
"Ooh-ooh!"
If one were to only consider the ingredients, there was nothing particularly new to King Yeonsangun.
However, this dish created an entirely new taste with the 'familiar flavors' harmonizing in a surprisingly exquisite way.
'There was a reason that envoy was hiccuping.'
This was entirely due to Ji-young's skill.
Not relying on modern scientific knowledge or cooking techniques, but pure skill as a chef.
'Truly an amazing talent!'
Thanks to her, he was now able to witness the extraordinary sight of the Ming Dynasty envoy floundering in the taste of the dish.
King Yeonsangun's lips naturally curved into a soft smile.
"...Come to think of it, it seems the envoy is very fond of pig feed?"
"W-well... I only ate it to acknowledge your, your country's sincerity."
Liu Jin's face turned red at King Yeonsangun's sly teasing, and he tried to act nonchalant, but he couldn't hide his physiological reaction.
- Hiccup
"T-the taste isn't too bad, either."
Even as he made excuses, seemingly embarrassed himself, Liu Jin had already emptied the bowl of food in front of him.
With the meal over.
After wiping his mouth with a silk handkerchief and pondering for a while, Liu Jin muttered something, and a faint smile appeared on Sungjae's lips.
"He says that the two noodle dishes he tasted earlier each have such different personalities that it is absurd to argue about which is superior. Therefore, he says that he will not decide the outcome today either."
In other words, today's competition was also a draw.
But.
'...It's practically an admission of defeat!'
They had confidently provoked with their confident noodle dishes, but ultimately failed to determine a winner, so it was practically the same as the Joseon side winning.
King Yeonsangun smiled contentedly.
But it was not yet time to let his guard down.
'It seems the real match will be decided at the final banquet, the Farewell banquet.'
In the end, he could not afford to relax until the very end.
"Tell him that we will conclude today's banquet here. A long schedule will follow from tomorrow, so the envoy should relieve his fatigue early."
From now on, full-fledged diplomacy would begin over the next few days.
For the chefs of both sides, that time was also a kind of 'truce period' to prepare for the final banquet.
As King Yeonsangun and Liu Jin concluded the second banquet, the Following day banquet, with light greetings, Liu Jin seemed to subtly mention the ingredients he wanted to use for the next banquet.
Sungjae's expression, as he relayed the message, was not very bright.
"He says that he wants to taste the best food in Joseon at the final banquet, the Farewell banquet. In particular, he says that he wants to directly experience the reputation of Joseon ginseng, which is called the masterpiece of the world."
Hearing those words, King Yeonsangun's and Ji-young's expressions could not help but become solemn.
In short, it meant that it was now an all-out war.
* * *
That evening.
The kitchen attached to the Taepyeonggwan guesthouse.
- Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack
The sharp sound of a knife cutting echoed nervously.
Dang Baek-ryong was thinly slicing ingredients, trying to calm his troubled mind.
But it didn't seem to be working.
Damn it!"
Unable to overcome the sudden surge of anger, he threw his caidao, which was like his alter ego, into the air.
- Whirr. Thud
The caidao, flying fiercely in a circular motion, was embedded in a pillar, its rough Saber body trembling.
"Master?""
The assistant Chefs who were helping him looked at Dang Baek-ryong in surprise.
But Dang Baek-ryong was now in the grip of a strange rage, so much so that he didn't even notice it.
'Even when I wandered the continent and held cooking competitions, I never had two consecutive draws. But how on earth did this happen?'
He, who had dominated the continent, was now struggling so much against a small country like Joseon, and against a Royal Cuisine Master who was constantly coming up with unheard-of, bizarre cooking methods.
Dang Baek-ryong had entered the service of the eunuch Liu Jin, who was called a money-crazed ghost in the world, without a word of complaint in order to revive his ruined clan.
But if he couldn't properly finish the match here, the clan's revival would be out of the question, and he would surely end up like a dog chasing a chicken.
Moreover, there was no guarantee that the ruthless Liu Jin would spare him, who had become useless.
From now on, it was a match with his life truly on the line.
"...Then there's no choice but to present the ultimate dish."
Dang Baek-ryong muttered as he roughly pulled the caidao embedded deep in the wooden pillar.
* * *
Even after returning to the Royal Kitchen, Ji-young's hands continued to tremble.
She had been lucky enough to avoid defeat, but the thought of the situation just before the competition, when the Wheat Flour had been spilled on the warehouse floor, still made her head spin.
'There is a spy in this palace, perhaps in the Royal Kitchen... someone who wants our defeat...'
She was in a life-or-death cooking competition against a strong opponent.
Even with active help from those around her, it wouldn't be enough, but she was even being sabotaged.
The thought alone made her breathless.
At that moment, the Royal Kitchen door burst open and someone strode inside.
It was none other than Royal Secretary Im Soong-jae.
"I heard from Jang-geum that the Wheat Flour you were going to use for the competition was ruined?"
"......"
"Is it true?"
"If you doubt it, you can see it with your own eyes."
Ji-young threw open the food storage inside the Royal Kitchen.
The Wheat Flour that had been spilled on the floor had been cleaned up, but the empty sacks scattered in the corner were still stored there.
"Those are the sacks that held the Wheat Flour."
Sungjae scanned them here and there, and sure enough, there were traces of sharp cuts in the lower part.
"Someone must have deliberately done this with a purpose. They're trying to make the banquet fail."
"Isn't that your specialty?"
At Ji-young's barbed words, Sungjae's expression twisted strangely.
It wasn't wrong.
When he had visited Grandee Hong, the governor of Gyeonggi Province, in the past, the first method he had used was to threaten the grandee's Royal Cuisine Master and kitchen staff and drive them away.
But the situation was now 180 degrees different from then. He was now in the same boat as Ji-young.
Sungjae's voice became urgent.
"Ji-young! If we lose the competition, not only you but both of us will be in danger. Neither you, the Royal Cuisine Master, nor I, who brought you to the palace, will be able to keep our heads!"
"...Perhaps."
Currently, the two people who were serving the King most closely were Sungjae and Ji-young.
The fact alone meant that there would be plenty of people aiming for their heads.
So, both Sungjae, who was trying to use Ji-young at every opportunity, and Ji-young, who could not trust Sungjae's cunning nature, had no choice but to help each other for now if they wanted to survive.
This was also another example of Wu-Yue-Together-Boat, created by a strangely twisted situation.
"I think we need to make sure that information doesn't leak out."
The story that Ji-young was about to tell from now on would have to be kept secret from Provision officer Yoon Nae-gwan of the Court Provision Department, Chef Jeon of the Royal Kitchen, and even Jang-geum, who was the same palace maid.
'I hate to admit it, but Im Soong-jae is the only person I can trust for sure right now.'
When you can't trust people, you have to trust the situation.
In the current situation, the most trustworthy person was ultimately Im Soong-jae, whose own life was at stake.
"There's something absolutely necessary to win the final cooking competition."
"Something absolutely necessary?"
"I need special ingredients and cooking utensils. First, take a look at this."
Ji-young handed over a roughly drawn blueprint.
The drawing was so poorly drawn that Sungjae had to turn the paper this way and that for a long time before he could understand it.
"What on earth is this... What are you going to use such a bizarre thing for?"
"Bizarre? You just need to modify the existing cauldron a little. With this, you can make an amazing dish."
"...Who on earth can make something like this?"
As Sungjae shook his head, he suddenly remembered something that a military officer from the Military Arms Department had lamented a few days ago.
There was an eccentric Blacksmith living in Anseong, and he refused to cooperate with the government's work. Even if you gave him a thousand gold coins, he said he hated government work.
But his skills were so great that they reminded him of that 'someone' from the past.
"There used to be someone who could do this kind of thing so well..."
"Who is it?"
"He was a great man who rose to the rank of Junior 3rd Rank Military Commander despite his humble origins. He was from the Asan Jang clan, and his given name was Yeong and Sil."
If his surname was Jang, and his name was Yeong and Sil...
...Jang Yeong-sil?
Wait a minute, that Jang Yeong-sil?
