My flight was delayed at the airport and I was going crazy. I barely finished coding one chapter. Prepare to take half a day off tomorrow. . . Just one more chapter. . .
——I am the dividing line——
[Linshui City] The "Winter Palace" where the protagonist has been stationed in winter for three consecutive years has an important status and the most popular furnishings are naturally indispensable, such as tables and chairs.
However, because no large banquet has been held before, the tables and stools here are only for daily use by a few high-level male ants such as the protagonist, and their number is not enough for all male ants.
Even the conference room where the banquet is held is only large enough for all the male ants to huddle together for a meeting, but it is not very spacious as a restaurant for enjoying a meal.
In the end, only more than half of the male ants were able to stay in the conference room to eat. These were the male ants with more advantages in status and qualifications. The other male ants were scattered to several nest rooms around the conference room to sit down.
Due to insufficient tables and stools, only a dozen or so male ants could sit on the only put-together dining table with the great Divine Envoy King. The other male ants were still standing around, either alone or in small groups, with people in front of them. Temporary dining table made of stones, wood and damaged pottery.
Although the conditions were poor, as the food was served, all the male ants were immediately attracted to the food. There was no drunken noise at the ants' banquet, but judging from the joyful shaking of the tentacles on the heads of the male ants, these banquet-goers were obviously very satisfied.
It's all down to the food.
Whenever he has free time, especially in winter, the protagonist always thinks about making various kinds of food based on the existing ones. The delicious legend of the God Envoy King's Xiaozao has been circulating among the high-ranking ants within the God Envoy King's legion. Anyone who is lucky enough to eat it will treasure this information package and show it off everywhere.
Although the male ants can learn a thing or two about the delicious food from the information packet sent by the lucky ones, nothing can compare with actually chewing the food in their own jaws, being sent to the mouth, and finally sliding down the throat. It's fun to come down.
Today, all the male ants have personally experienced this wonderful taste. Perhaps this is a delicacy belonging to God that has come to the world.
Although the ingredients in the ant world are very different from those in the human world, and the cooking methods have similarities and differences, the cooking methods are the same. The protagonist restored some human delicacies based on existing resources, and also invented some delicacies based on local conditions.
The protagonist prefers Chinese dishes, but "stir-frying", which is one of the souls of modern Chinese food, is difficult to achieve with the ants' current technical conditions.
Because stir-frying requires metal pots and grease, appropriate firepower and quick stir-frying techniques.
For example, the key ingredient needed for stir-fry is oil, which allows food to heat quickly and evenly and emit fragrance. Humans mostly use vegetable and animal oils. Although there is no vegetable oil in Linshui City, fats derived from mealworms or prey are still abundant. These fats are made into air-dried or waxed fats, which only need to be boiled to obtain liquid fat in a hot pan.
A suitable stove and stir-frying techniques are also key to cooking, and the ants have a solution for both.
The key factor that restricts the ants from cooking is the pot. Only metal tools that can conduct heat quickly and evenly are suitable for cooking. These metal pots are usually iron pots. It was the invention and popularization of iron pots that allowed stir-frying to appear and flourish. Before the Iron Age, bronze cookware could only be used for steaming, not stir-frying.
Ants have no iron-making skills, although they can use copper pots instead. However, long-term use of iron pots can supplement diners with necessary iron elements, but copper elements in copper pots can only accumulate for a long time and are difficult to be excreted from the body, leading to chronic poisoning.
Of course, this process is very slow, but all in all, copper pots are not very suitable cooking utensils for cooking and can only be used as a substitute.
Because he cannot stir-fry, the delicacies the protagonist takes out can only be cooked by steaming, boiling, roasting and other primitive cooking methods, but it is enough for the male ants who have never seen the world to eat and enjoy it.
For example, the simplest barbecue is barbecue. In the past, ants used to eat raw meat. After the protagonist showed everyone the deliciousness of barbecue with salt, the male ants have consciously given up the habit of eating raw meat.
But at this banquet, the barbecue was even more particular. The barbecue mainly uses fat and lean mealworm meat. This type of meat is the most common in the territory of the Angel King Legion, just like the pork, beef and mutton in the human world.
The fat and thin mealworm meat is threaded on a wooden skewer that is as long as the body of the soldier ant, placed close to the fire, and roasted and matured little by little by relying on the heat from the periphery of the flame. During this period, worker ants continued to brave the high temperature to get close to the meat skewers, and then sprinkled salt grains on them, or used long ant wire brushes to brush honeydew on them.
The aphid honeydew smeared on the barbecue plays the same role as honey, making the meat more tender and smooth, and neutralizing the burnt and bitter taste of the barbecue. In addition to the aroma of fat and the salty taste of salt grains, , revealing a hint of sweetness and deliciousness.
The cooked meat skewers were removed, and a copper knife was used to cut off almost half of the charred meat - given the ants' cooking skills and ability to control fire, scorching is very normal.
The burnt meat will be rewarded to some lucky warriors of the Envoy King. Although it is not very healthy, the burnt meat is still delicious.
The finished barbecue is divided into portions, placed on plant leaves that are dried and cut into appropriate sizes, and delivered to each male ant or queen respectively.
Grilled meat is the main course, but other side dishes are also a must.
For example, the soup is made from dried wild vegetables and shelled grass seeds. It is similar to a thin and salty vegetable porridge, and it is also very popular.
In the past, the protagonist successfully cooked food using pottery. However, because the capacity of the cooker was too small, the water in the pot often dried up quickly and the food was not cooked.
Later, the protagonist increased the volume of the clay pot, added a lid, and soaked the difficult-to-cook grass seeds in advance, finally solving the problem perfectly.
The soup was distributed in earthenware bowls, and each male ant could only get a large mouthful. However, the warm soup still made many male ants fall in love with hot food.
Due to the insufficient number of pottery bowls, it was impossible to start firing new pottery in the winter, and even the finished pottery could not be transported from [Dongyang City]. Therefore, except for the protagonist who has a separate pottery bowl, the other male ants all use the pottery bowl in turns.
Other dishes include: cakes made with mixed grass seeds and salt, baked on stones next to the fire; salads made of soaked dried wild vegetables and dried fruits, mixed with dressing; honeydew mixed with water and dried fruit puree drinks etc.
Although there were only a few dishes, afterward, the male ants would firmly remember the Spring Festival - a day with unique delicacies.
