About fifteen minutes later, Aunt Cui arrived carrying several steamers.
Inside were indeed experimental pastries. She had stuffed various vegetables, fruits, and even flower petals into the buns before steaming them. They were a riot of colors and looked quite striking.
Pan Long tried one too and sighed inwardly.
Good food should delight the eye, nose, and tongue. These buns smelled wonderful and looked lovely, but their flavor was another matter.
Too much honey and lard had gone into them to bring out the flavor, making them rather greasy.
Wu Jixing felt much the same. She ate one, shook her head, and set it down.
"They look good, but I wouldn't call them delicious," she said regretfully. "Every famous dish that delights the eye, nose, and tongue is the result of years of work by a chef, sometimes even the labor of generations. This dish of yours probably needs more time to perfect."
Wu Jixing's two bodyguards each tried one as well. Though neither spoke, they kept nodding, plainly agreeing with her.
Aunt Cui had clearly tasted them already and knew how they were. She nodded and smiled. "I originally wanted to make these Hundred-Flower Buns as stuffed buns. But that seemed too difficult, so I settled for steamed buns first... It seems even making them this way isn't easy. I'll have to keep working at it."
Pan Long thought for a moment. "Why do you insist on stuffing the vegetables, fruits, and petals inside the buns?"
Everyone looked at him in puzzlement, unsure where he was going with this.
Everyone knew Northerners and fine food hardly belonged in the same sentence. To them, hot wine, roast meat, and stewed vegetables counted as a feast. Failing that, strong liquor alone would do. For people living in such a bitterly cold