Mysterious Journey
Chapter 698: Pork Chop and Kidney
An hour later.
The Scamander family's living room was filled with the tempting aroma of meat.
Apart from Ellina, the other two young witches and the Scamander couple were already seated at the kitchen table, waiting for the head chef to finish her final touches and return to the table to enjoy the sumptuous dinner with them.
The preparation process for tonight's dinner was not complicated. For the sake of caution, most people did not choose unfamiliar recipes.
In fact, almost everyone chose the seemingly conventional "Sweet and Sour Pepper Pan-Fried Juicy Pork Chop" – except for Miss Luna Lovegood, who chose to share "Stir-Fried Pork Kidney" with Ellina, at least pork kidney didn't sound strange.
This was good news for Ellina.
On the one hand, she didn't have to cook different dishes for everyone separately. Only two sets of auxiliary ingredients combined with the main ingredient could complete most of tonight's dinner. On the other hand, Luna's choice also made Ellina quite happy.
"Good choice. Pure pan-fried pork chop can be a bit greasy. Sweet and sour peppers are an excellent combination with pork chop."
Ellina waved her wand gently, and three spotless white plates were lined up on the table.
Meanwhile, in the three sizzling frying pans, the pork chops, dotted with large grains of black pepper, exuded a full range of color and aroma with the help of thyme and basil leaves. The butter-glazed pork chops presented an enticing hazelnut color.
With the girl's wand tapping lightly, the juice-locked pork chops slowly floated up and landed accurately on the three plates.
After so much magic practice, although she still needed the help of a wand, she was now almost able to cast simple "Wizard's Hand" type magic like a sixth or seventh year student without incantation.
Dumbledore's previous speculation was not wrong. Veelas had many advantages in learning magic that pure human wizards did not possess, but this period of strength came much earlier than the old wizard had imagined.
The "Runic Magic Second-Order Application" from the first Dark Lord allowed Ellina to activate her potential in advance.
For a chef, this elegance and composure, like a concert conductor, was undoubtedly very suitable for a multi-person cooking environment.
It was precisely because of Ellina's superb kitchen magic that Mrs. Scamander reluctantly agreed to sit at the table and let the girl take charge of cooking dinner today – mainly because she didn't know how to cook what Ellina was going to make...
"Wait a moment, let the pork rest for a while..."
"The secret of juicy pork chop is not to rush, remember to let the meat rest for as long as it was fried."
Ellina turned her head and explained to Tina Scamander, pointing her wand at the frying sweet pepper slices in the frying pan next to her. The frying pan immediately floated up, moved to the side of the plate, and began the final finishing touches.
"And then... add the pre-stir-fried sweet and sour peppers. The smell of basil and red wine vinegar is great, isn't it? Finally, put the pork juice and butter-fried garlic on the side, and drizzle the remaining sweet pepper oil and vinegar sauce in the pan..."
Brightly colored red sweet peppers were dotted under the pork chops, and the hot oil soup flowed over the hazelnut-colored surface of the pork chops, making a slight sizzling sound, and permeating into the sweet pepper onions below as the aroma rose.
(Image)
"Gulu--"
Hannah, Luna, and the Scamander couple all swallowed at the same time.
It must be admitted that watching a top chef's smooth cooking process is itself a very eye-catching visual enjoyment, and if you add the color, aroma and taste of the dishes themselves, it is too irresistible.
Luna looked eagerly at the two large pork chops on Hannah's plate, and couldn't help feeling a little regretful.
Perhaps, she should have chosen "Sweet and Sour Pepper Pan-Fried Juicy Pork Chop" like Hannah and the others, instead of suddenly deciding to be consistent with Ellina and try the "Kidney Blossoms on Fire".
Although the taste of pork kidney pie and pork kidney sausage is not bad...
But at least from the current situation, the tempting appearance of the pieces of meat in front of Hannah were obviously more delicious than the most luxurious kidney dish that Luna could imagine in her mind.
"Hannah, that..."
Luna Lovegood gently poked Hannah under the table and said softly with a pitiful look.
"Can I have a bite of your pork chop later? I can exchange it for the stir-fried kidney that Ellina will make later, or other snacks, such as 'Bloody Bronia' at noon tomorrow, if there is any."
Obviously, there are also differences between pan-fried pork chops.
Compared to this kind of food that makes people drool at a glance, even Luna would be a little shaken.
Satisfying curiosity is not as direct as satisfying one's own belly. Even if Lovegood's family's inherited magical intuition tells Luna that those internal organs may really be delicious, it is difficult to resist the temptation from the meat.
"No need to exchange, not to mention a bite, even a whole piece, uh, half, uh, one-third..."
Hannah hesitated and glanced at the fragrant pork chop in front of her, swallowed, and after slightly estimating the portion of the pork chop, she bit her lip slightly hesitantly, and continued to answer with a painful look.
"Well, one-third, I can give you at least one-third of the pork chop--"
On the other side, Ellina did not notice the transaction taking place on one side of the table.
Her attention was now completely focused on the next dish, the stir-fried pork kidney that she had been looking forward to.
It is indeed difficult to find traditional Chinese thick-bottomed wok in the UK, but the convenience of magic appeared again at this moment. Since mastering "Elementary Alchemy," Ellina's troubles in terms of kitchenware were not as much as before.
With the girl's wand waving, the two black frying pans quickly merged together and stretched into a wok.
"Now, let's continue to cook this... The essence of stir-fried pork kidney is not to let it rest for a moment."
Ellina moved her wrist slightly, and the wand in her hand turned gently, pointing to the pork kidney that had been marinated for seven or eight minutes. As her wand pointed, the marinated pork kidney shook off the excess marinade and automatically jumped into the hot oil.
If pan-frying pork chop requires patience and just the right timing, then stir-fried pork kidney requires fast, accurate, and spicy heat.
Whoosh--
As the pork kidney entered the hot oil, a different kind of culinary atmosphere from European cuisine instantly exploded in the kitchen.
At the same time, Ellina's eyes also became hot, and the "Midnight Hecate" in her hand quickly transformed and unfolded, instantly turning into a shiny and solid metal spatula.
"After putting it into the pot, quickly slide it to spread it out. At most four to five seconds, take it out of the pot immediately, without giving it any chance to get old!"
"Then..."
Ellina did not change the spatula in her right hand, and her left hand drew out her wand and skillfully pointed it at the seasoning table next to her.
Diced scallions, green peppers, red peppers, celery segments, chopped ginger and garlic, pickled peppers... no less than ten kinds of side dishes rose into the air and poured into the hot pot with remaining oil like a rainbow bridge.
The spicy and fragrant hot atmosphere instantly filled the air.
The sound of metal collisions, dazzling fire, and the distinctly hot aroma instantly attracted the attention of the four wizards at the table who had never seen the Chinese cooking process – Chinese food, this is a dish on fire.
Even from several meters away, they could feel the air suddenly becoming a few degrees hotter.
"Very good, the side dishes in the pot are half-cooked, at this time, pour in the pork kidney again..."
Ellina's movements were at least half as fast as before. The simple speed of magic transmission seemed to no longer be able to keep up with the girl's rhythm of action at this time. Almost at the same time as Ellina's voice reached everyone's ears, the stirring speed of the spatula also accelerated.
Flipping the wok, turning the spoon, adding salt, thickening...
A series of operations were completed in one go.
"White rice, with stir-fried pork kidney... hurry up and try it, this is my favorite."
Before the four bystanders could react, the fragrant stir-fried pork kidney was already served on a plate and placed at the end of the table. For some reason, two plates of exquisite rice also appeared on the plates at the end of the table.
Carefully calculated, this seems to be the first time Ellina has eaten rice since she traveled through time.
The rice comes from Indian rice bought by the goblins of Gringotts.
Although it is not a particularly precious variety, it is also a relatively rare staple food in the European continent at this time. If it were not for Ellina's goblin queen status, perhaps she would have to wait a long time.
After all... even if Grindelwald plans to gradually let her take over the saints, she still has no way to order those old men to buy rice for her specifically - such behavior is too inconsistent with her image as the "Third Generation Dark Lord".
Ellina took off her apron and walked to her seat, handing Luna a pair of black walnut chopsticks.
After a school year of "finger dexterity training," Luna, Hannah, and Hermione had almost barely learned how to use chopsticks. Although they could not yet control Ellina's long and thick "wand chopsticks," the little wings could still use the slightly smaller ordinary-sized chopsticks more smoothly.
"It smells so good..."
Hannah sniffed, looking at the plate of stir-fried pork kidney placed in front of Luna.
Even if she only smelled a little bit, she could feel her tongue starting to secrete saliva. During the past year of Hogwarts campus life, her gluttonous attributes had long been discovered by the evil white-haired dumpling.
"Uh... Luna, our previous transaction, is still valid, right?"