The food on the Xianzhou was different from food elsewhere.
A rapid stir-frying technique was popular here. The kitchen burners were like the exhaust flames of a spaceship engine, their heat incredibly fierce.
A generous amount of oil went in, followed by the ingredients and seasonings. The chef rapidly tossed and stir-fried everything in the wok, and a dish could go from the pan to the plate in about a minute.
When served, it carried a distinctive aroma.
Xianzhou natives called it wok hei.
This was Chu Mu's first time trying Xianzhou cuisine, and he had never even heard of this rapid stir-frying technique.
In Belobog's Underworld, people usually cooked by setting an iron drum over a geothermal vent and making a huge pot of stew. Whatever ingredients they had went into it, and once everything was cooked through, it was ready to eat.
Even the slightly more refined approach merely replaced stewing with roasting.
Rapid stir-frying over fierce flames was something people would never have imagined.
It placed demands not only on the stove, but also on the material of the wok.
Stir-fried dishes were neither soft and mushy like stews nor somewhat dry like grilled food.
Rapid stir-frying perfectly avoided both drawbacks.
The chefs timed each ingredient's cooking precisely, ensuring that everything was cooked through as it came out of the wok, without any raw taste.
Yet they also retained just the right amount of moisture, making the vegetables crisp and refreshing and the meat tender and silky.
After one bite, Chu Mu could not help scooping up a second spoonful.
He still could not use chopsticks skillfully.
Besides, he was so hungry now that all he wanted was to fill his stomach as quickly as possible.
What left him feeling a little rueful was that, although the