You call this the god of etiquette?

Chapter 123 Blossoms
Looking at the small urn taken away by the waiters, Jorvik sighed inaudibly.

The wheat braised chicken was really disappointing.

Wu Maier, who was sitting next to him, also came up at this time:
"Vic, what do you think of this chicken?"

If Sean hadn't been there, Jorvik would have retched twice to show his dissatisfaction with the dish.

But now that the leader was here, he restrained himself and answered gracefully:

"Dogs don't even eat it."

Wumer nodded in agreement.

If it weren't for the chance to taste the smoked rabbit of "Talek" again, he would never take the initiative to attend a bronze-level tasting.

Although not just any private dish is eligible to participate in the bronze-level tasting event, it generally requires the recommendation of at least two restaurant owners who have cooperation with the trade department.

However, it is still inevitable that the quality of the dishes varies.

After all, most restaurants aim to make money. Even if the ones that cooperate with the government are slightly more respectable, the nature of the businessmen has not changed.

It’s not uncommon for people to make recommendations just for money.

This leads to the possibility that any kind of mess will appear at the bronze tasting.

Of course, people who are willing to spend this money generally have a certain degree of confidence in their dishes.

Just like this wheat braised chicken.

The slow-cooking heat was wrong, the chicken meat was too soft and lacked tenderness, and it tasted extremely greasy.

The carrots in the soup were also overcooked and tasted like wax.

Although nutmeg, which has recently become popular, is added to the soup base, the flavor they provide does not blend well into the soup.

Even so, the table full of civilians started making squeaking sounds from the moment the food was served.

Many people even lifted the small jars and ate the meat and soup completely.

It's more of a lunch than a tasting.

Jorvik, like several other agricultural officers, was not surprised by this situation.

Even though it is almost impossible for the current "Belstad" to suffer from starvation incidents that occur in many places in the north, there are still some people at the bottom who simply live on black bread.

Many of them may not be able to afford better food, but brown bread is very filling and cost-effective, and the money saved can be slowly saved to support their children in school.

Many families have even saved up the capital to buy real estate in the towns surrounding "Belstad" after two or three generations of hard work.

Members of these families never miss a registration for a tasting, and even if the dishes they eat at the tasting are not satisfactory, they never waste them.

No matter how bad it tastes, how can it be worse than black bread?

Children are taught from an early age how to fill in the tasting form and how to express their evaluations in the most concise and precise sentences.

Although the list of civilian guests is drawn at random, generally speaking, civilians who are drawn for the second time in a short period of time will be removed from the list.

However, there is no hard target for this time interval, so there is naturally room for manipulation.

Those civilians who fill in their evaluations carefully and speak truthfully will be given preferential treatment as a matter of course.

In fact, Jorvik's dissatisfaction with wheat braised chicken is not mainly due to the taste.

He himself had stayed with his father in a ghost place like the former "Talek" for several years, and his tolerance for dishes was still much higher than the average of his colleagues.

The real problem is that the word "wheat" in the name of this dish is not reflected at all.

Jorvik's gaze turned to the left and happened to meet his boss, Sean Chapman.

The middle-aged agricultural officer, who was wearing a white and gold robe and had ridges on his forehead, smiled faintly:
"What's wrong, Yorvik, I see you are particularly dissatisfied with this dish."

Jorvik quickly organized his language a little:

"Sir Sean, I feel that in recent tastings, there are more and more dishes like this 'Wheat Stewed Chicken' that are not worthy of their name."

"Recommenders and chefs always think in this direction and think about taking advantage of opportunities. I personally think it is not very appropriate."

When Sean heard this, he seemed to be thinking about it, and then nodded:

"You're right, Jorvik."

“The work of our agricultural officers requires such care and thought.”

"When you are free in the past two days, come to my office and summarize your views and suggestions on the dishes for the Bronze Level Tasting Party."

After hearing what Sean said, Yorvik nodded excitedly.

He did not expect that the problem he discovered casually would be taken seriously by his superiors.

What a blessing!

You know, the door of the Chief Agricultural Affairs Officer is not something that can be entered casually.

If you disturb Sean without a serious reason, you will be stopped by his secretary.

There was no result other than making Sean feel bad.

Even if the agricultural officer wants to curry favor with Sean, he usually finds a way during regular reporting.

And a relatively inexperienced agricultural officer like Jorvik is still in the stage of being a low-key person and not making mistakes is a good thing.

If he hadn't cared too much about the safety of his wife Martha, even though the report in early March was usually the least contentful and most leisurely of the year, he would not have asked Sean for leave at that time.

Unexpectedly, it is a blessing and a misfortune.

This unexpected trip brought back a unique local delicacy.

He may even have gained some favor from Commander Sean through this.

Noticing the envious glances cast by Wumer and Sigmen on the right, Jorvik raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

Who doesn’t want to be invited by the chief officer to report on affairs?
The more non-routine reports there are, the closer the relationship with the superior is.

However, the mechanism of tasting meetings has been in operation for a hundred years, and it has indeed caused many problems.

Jorvik could not and did not dare to intervene in the issues of higher-level tastings, but there was still room for him to comment on the bronze-level tastings.

It can be regarded as a choice that can be used to build political achievements.

Dishes’ names are a relatively new issue, but their influence is growing.

In order to please the big names at the tasting who were born in plump wheat ears, many participating chefs and recommenders deliberately added things that Golden Mother controls or loves in the names of the dishes.

As a result, a large number of dishes began to appear that were named "wheat", "wheat", "gold", etc., but the essence had nothing to do with the name or was forcibly related by putting some symbolic names.

The hardest hit area for this kind of selling of dog meat is naturally the Bronze Level Tasting Club that accepts recommendations for folk dishes.

It is actually not difficult to prevent this situation.
While Jorvik was thinking, the waiters brought out the second course from the kitchen.

The second dish is golden shrimp balls with green onions.

According to the chef's description, each shrimp ball is made from shelled prawns freshly caught in the Morel Sea.

Jorvik was a little skeptical about this, but the tender shrimp meat did exude an alluring aroma.

Each shrimp ball is wrapped in a layer of golden dough shell and shredded green onion, giving it an attractive brown appearance.

Cut the shrimp balls open to reveal translucent white meat inside.

Jorvik took a bite and first felt the crispy texture and rich onion aroma brought by the outer shell and shredded onions.Then the taste of large chunks of seafood blooms in your mouth.

There were bursts of excited praises all around.

This time, even the table of believers was completely eaten.

The entire banquet hall was filled with an atmosphere of contentment.

Almost everyone is full of praise for this golden shrimp ball with green onions.

Jorvik also thought it was pretty good, especially the golden crispy outer layer, which was full of crispiness.

It shows that the chef's oil temperature is well controlled.

The prawns selected in-house are also relatively fresh in color.

Unfortunately, the heat is not distributed very evenly during cooking.

At least as far as the shrimp balls that Jorvik ate himself were concerned, the middle part of the shrimp meat was a bit fishy and the taste was too dry.

Considering that this dish itself is not a creative new dish, the focus of the tasting can only be on the chef's cooking skills.

Now it seems that there are still obvious flaws in the cooking skills, but overall it is passable.

If the chef is young, there may be value in contact.

Jorvik thought of this, suddenly paused, and then touched the back of his neck.

I forgot that today's tasting meeting included both Chief Sean and Siegmen, who was assigned to be the theoretical person in charge of the tasting.

It's never his turn to pick someone.

As a priest of the Golden Mother, Jorvik, like other clergy, always subconsciously judges whether a person has the value to be drawn into the church.

Especially in a special occasion like a tasting.

Civilian guests are worthy of attention as candidates for examination, but chefs who take the initiative to cook their own recommended dishes are also good targets of attention.

This may be considered a feature of the Bronze Level Tasting Session.

After all, in the silver- and gold-level tasting sessions, the chefs have long been followers of a certain god.

The so-called "civilian guests" who attended the meeting were all people who had participated in the bronze-level tasting meetings many times and performed well. They were basically just one step away from being accepted. Many of them were simply family members of clergy who were going through the process. .

Even if senior agricultural officers wait until they are forced to attend the bronze-level tasting meeting by the Secretariat, as long as the time is long enough, the number of attendances will reach an astonishing number.

As a result, they either intentionally or conveniently brought a large number of civilian chefs and guests into the church, and like a spider spinning a web, they slowly developed their power in the church.

And newcomers like Jorvik and Wumer, although they are also agricultural officers in their positions, but in terms of real influence, they are still far behind those old people who have served for more than ten years or even longer.

The heated discussion in the hall about the golden shrimp balls with onion and scallion gradually died down as the plates were removed.

Wumer rubbed his fingers quite excitedly at this time and winked at Jorvik, who couldn't help but smile.

It’s finally Guo Xun’s turn to face the Moon Rabbit!

Bowls of steaming dark red rabbit meat were brought to the table, which made people move their index fingers.

Each person at the priest's table was given half a rabbit, and the other tables were given a whole rabbit.

Sigmen also looked very much looking forward to it.

The fact that the dishes are recommended by colleagues is only part of what makes him look forward to it.

The key is that even Commander Sean is here!
When he first saw the commander-in-chief appearing outside the glass door on the second floor, Sigmen was indescribably surprised.

He thought for a long time about the reason why the other party showed up at this bronze tasting event.

Finally, based on his superior's various close behaviors with Jorvik, he concluded that he was here for Jorvik.

At the same time, since the occasion chosen by Chief Sean was a tasting meeting, it meant that his decision was somewhat related to the dishes recommended by Jorvik.

Otherwise, wouldn't it be more convenient and direct to have Yorvik come to his office to talk?

It would be a lie to say that Siegmon was not envious or even jealous.

What agricultural officer doesn't want to be looked upon differently by Chief Sean?
As an absolute upper class figure in the city, one word from Sean Chapman could save ten years of hard work for agricultural officers.

But Siegmen was no fool.

Right now, Chief Sean is taking a fancy to Yorvik. Regardless of whether he goes up to him with words or by stumbling, regardless of the effect, at least his impression among the officers will be greatly reduced.

Besides, he and Jorvik have no grudges.

Starting to make friends with this new star today is obviously a good thing that comes at no cost.

Why not do it?
Siegmen tied the tablecloth again, lifted the knife and fork with his thick fingers, cut off a piece of rabbit meat and put it in his mouth.

Immediately, the delicate and smooth rabbit meat exploded with a wonderful taste on the taste buds.

The combination of the pure red fruit aroma and the tenderness of the rabbit meat makes it possible to experience the melting-in-your-mouth sweetness every time you chew it.

Obviously, during the smoking process, the moisture and aroma released by the red fruits slowly penetrated into the meat, allowing the rabbit meat to absorb the rich fruit flavor.

Without personal experience, it would be hard to believe that there is any kind of meat in the world that can perfectly blend with the sweet and sour taste of red fruits.

If there is more fat, it will be too greasy; if there is less, it will become dry.

Only this "Fruit Smoked to the Moon Rabbit" is just right.

Siegmen asked Jorvik eagerly, partly out of sincerity and partly out of intention to make friends:
"Priest Yorvik, is this really Moon-facing Rabbit Meat?"

"And this fruit tastes like red fruit, right?"

“Being able to bring those two things together so well.”

"It's really amazing!"

Yorvik glanced at Commander Sean who was nodding his head in approval with his peripheral vision, then turned to the right, glanced at Wu Meier who was devouring his food, and smiled.

At this time, loud exclamations erupted from other tables in the banquet hall. In order for Siegmen to hear clearly, Jorvik had to raise his voice:
"Yes, Pastor Sigmen, this is the specialty of "Talek", the meat of the moon-facing rabbit. "

“I also discovered this smoked rabbit dish when I accompanied my wife to Tarek for a wedding visit. "

"I hope to add another item to our "Belstad" trade manual! "

When Siegmen heard this, he immediately said with approval:

"Priest Yorvik, I must learn from you."

"During my vacation, I still want to contribute to the city."

"It's really terrifying!"

Jorvik smiled modestly and started chatting with Sean who asked for details again.

During the conversation, Jorvik's eyes glanced at the intertwined golden threads on the tablecloth, feeling happy.

They were like his future.

Blooming flowers.

　Thanks to Mirror Demon Master for your monthly ticket! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)