It is said that at Empress Dowager Cixi's sixtieth birthday banquet, the Imperial Kitchen chefs showcased their skills by presenting various birthday dishes. A chef from Lu Dong with the surname Zhao prepared this dish. After steaming, boiling, cooking, frying, and stewing, he extracted all the fat from the pork belly, rendering it rich but not greasy, and even frequent consumption wouldn't lead to weight gain.

Besides pork belly, the ingredients included red dates, chestnuts, and lotus seeds, symbolizing early prosperity, making it well-loved by Empress Dowager Cixi and her concubines, who spontaneously named it "Blessed Pork."

"So it's a palace dish! No wonder I've never heard of it."

Du Guangning scratched his head and asked, "What kind of dish is this stir-fried mixed vegetable?"

"Stir-fried mixed vegetable is also a traditional specialty dish in Beijing, made by stir-frying chive sprout, shredded meat, glass noodles, bean sprouts, and tender spinach together."

Jiang Yu handed the menu back to Du Guangning, smiling, "The way to eat this dish is rather particular. It's best to wrap it in a spring pancake to truly savor the flavor."

"Gee, if you didn't tell me, boss, I wouldn't even know what this dish is, let alone how to eat it."

Du Guangning couldn't help but shake his head in amazement. Being a native of Jiangzhou, he learned cooking without a mentor and has always focused on Jiangzhou cuisine. Except for the widely circulated famous dishes, there are quite a few he hasn't even heard of.

Moreover, especially those Beijing dishes which don't quite suit Jiangzhou tastes.

Jiang Yu understood this well. His situation was somewhat similar to Du Guangning; he hadn't apprenticed and hadn't attended any culinary school. Without the Gourmet System, perhaps he'd still be serving dishes in a restaurant outside school.

However, it was precisely due to the Gourmet System that Jiang Yu honed his culinary skills and learned about many dishes unknown to others and their preparation methods.

"Actually, it's fine not knowing. After all, we're in Jiangzhou. Even if you can make Beijing dishes, you won't do it often; Jiangzhou people don't order non-spicy Beijing dishes."

Jiang Yu smiled at him and waved his hand, saying,

"Alright, go prepare the ingredients. Making this table of Beijing food takes quite a bit of time, especially the palace's Blessed Pork. Baking, boiling, frying, braising, steaming—every process must be done. Just this dish alone takes one to two hours."

Du Guangning was amazed upon hearing this. The dish sounded troublesome just from the description, with complexity comparable to the Tengwang Pavilion Red Crispy Pork he and the boss made before!

He wondered what the Blessed Pork, favored by Empress Dowager Cixi, tasted like...

He truly hoped the boss would make a larger portion while cooking, so perhaps he and others might get a chance to taste it.

He couldn't help but swallow his saliva, quickly stopping his wild thoughts, and turned to leave for ingredient selection.

After sending Du Guangning off, Jiang Yu washed his hands clean in the sink and began to get busy.

Spring had arrived, and temperatures were on the rise. The two hot drinks previously made were becoming unsuitable, so he planned to create several new beverages.

One is an iced sugar water chestnut drink.

Water chestnut, also known as arrowhead, is dubbed the "underground Asian pear" hidden in spring, crisp, juicy, nutritious, and delicious.

In early spring, the weather remains relatively dry, so consuming more water chestnuts can moisturize and reduce internal heat, benefiting the body.

The other is kiwi cucumber juice.

Many people often experience internal heat during the spring, developing ulcers at the corners of their mouth, and drinking kiwi cucumber juice can help reduce it.

This beverage is not only rich in nutrients, refreshing, and delicious, but also has benefits like strengthening the spleen and stomach, clearing heat and dampness, cooling blood and detoxifying.

Both drink recipes are not complicated, especially the kiwi cucumber juice, which only requires blending cucumbers, kiwis, and cold boiled water into juice, and then adding honey for flavor.

The iced sugar water chestnut drink is relatively more complex; wash the water chestnuts, peel and chop them, then boil them with rock sugar in water, simmer on low heat until the soup turns yellow.

Jiang Yu worked quickly, and by the time the two drinks were ready, Du Guangning had also prepared the ingredients.

Seeing that the time was almost right, Jiang Yu didn't delay any longer and prepared to start cooking.

In the "Mei" private dining room where Beijing dishes were ordered, aside from Jiang Yu, neither Du Guangning nor Pei Guofu could handle them, so they couldn't offer much help. Ultimately, it was up to Jiang Yu to finish the table.

Of course, Du Guangning and others weren't idle either. Besides the "Mei" private room, there were dishes for three other private rooms to prepare, so when Jiang Yu started handling the ingredients, they also began working.

The "Mei" private room featured Blessed Pork as the undisputed main dish. It was originally a palace dish, meticulous in color, quality, taste, shape, and setting, exuding regal elegance and offering great artistic appeal.

The greatest characteristic of palace dishes is "rich broth and flavor" without losing "soft, tender elegance," achieving this requires many secrets from selecting ingredients to operating.

For example, the palace's Blessed Pork requires cutting "Blessed" patterns on the meat and avoids any additives like coloring or MSG, using only star anise, cinnamon, sweet flour paste, and soy sauce for flavor, braised over low heat.

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