Chapter 36: Top-Grade Numbingly Spicy Cumin Lamb Skewers!

Fang Qingjun set the food box onto the millstone. It was filled with tender lotus root she had specifically arranged to be freshly dug up from Qujiang Pool.

Looking at those mounds of raw meat, her heart pounded with apprehension.

When eating mutton in the Great Tang, people preferred it braised until meltingly tender, or roasted whole until crisp on the outside and juicy within.

Cutting it into fingernail-sized pieces and grilling it on skewers, could that really taste good? Wasn’t this just ruining perfectly good meat by turning it into scraps?

“Don’t just stand there.”

Su Mu gestured with his chin. “If you want grilled lotus root slices, grill them yourself. The fire over there hasn’t flared up yet, so it’s a good chance to warm up.”

Fang Qingjun was a bit dazed, but seeing Li Lizhi already roll up her sleeves and reach for the bamboo skewers with practiced ease, she could only bite the bullet and follow along.

Su Mu paid them no mind, laying the dozens of lamb skewers in his hands across the red brick trough.

Sizzle!

The moment the fatty meat hit the high heat, it released a delightful sizzle. Fat was instantly forced out, dripping down along the grain of the meat.

Drip.

Droplets of fat fell onto the glowing red charcoal, and flames shot up half a foot into the air, licking at the skewers.

The smoke instantly turned thick and white, carrying a primal aroma of seared meat that charged wildly through the small courtyard.

Su Mu’s wrists flicked and turned in a blur.

Grilling skewers was all about speed.

A bunch in his left hand, a bunch in his right, he clapped them together to shake off excess oil and heat them more evenly. The meat turned from bright red to brown before their eyes, its surface sizzling and bubbling as the edges curled into a light char.

“Salt.”

Su Mu grabbed a handful of coarse salt and raised his hand high. The snow-white grains fell like a light snowfall, scattering evenly over the sizzling skewers.

Next came the chili powder.

Su Mu had ground this chili powder himself the night before, mixing in fragrant toasted white sesame seeds.

As soon as the bright red powder was sprinkled on, the sizzle of hot oil instantly made the spicy aroma explode, blending with the savory meat to make everyone’s throats tighten with craving.

Xiao Sizi had already stopped caring about the smoke and heat. Standing downwind with her little hands clasped behind her back and her neck craned upward, drool betrayed her, trickling uncontrollably down the corner of her mouth.

“Big bwother… is it weady yet…”

The little girl stamped her feet in impatience. “It’s calling! The meat is calling me to eat it!”

“What’s the rush?”

Su Mu flipped the skewers, his gaze as focused as if he were sculpting a work of art.

Here came the main event.

He pulled a dusty little cloth pouch from his robes. When he opened the pouch, no earth-shattering scent came out.

Su Mu pinched a small cluster of yellowish-brown granules.

It was cumin.

In this era, this stuff was known as Anxi fennel, found only in apothecaries as a folk remedy for stomach chills.

But over the barbecue grill, it was the true king.

A flick of his wrist.

The cumin granules fell onto the piping-hot lamb, bursting as they met the sizzling oil.

Boom!

In that instant, the world of scent was completely overturned.

If the aroma of meat earlier had merely made mouths water, then this scent of cumin drove people mad!

Overbearing, wild, and carrying the scorching sun and windblown sands of the Western Regions’ Gobi Desert, it ruthlessly suppressed every trace of gaminess and grease, leaving behind only an exotic fragrance that rushed straight to the crown of one’s head!

Fang Qingjun, who had been clumsily flipping her lotus root slices, had her hand tremble as the sudden wave of aroma struck her, nearly dropping her lotus root into the charcoal ash.

Her eyes widened as she stared in disbelief at the sizzling, glistening skewers in Su Mu’s hands.

The scent was utterly unfamiliar, yet so damnably enticing that her salivary glands went into overdrive, secreting uncontrollably!

“Wh-What… what kind of spice is this?”

Fang Qingjun’s voice went completely out of pitch.

Su Mu did not reply. He gave them two final turns and tapped the two bunches of skewers together to knock off any excess seasoning.

“Here.”

He casually handed a skewer to Xiao Sizi.

The little girl was not afraid of the heat at all. Grabbing the bamboo skewer with both hands, she opened wide and took a huge bite.

“Chomp!”

Piping-hot lamb fat exploded in her mouth!

The crust was crisp and charred, while the inside was tender and bursting with juice.

The distinct granules of cumin burst between her teeth, releasing an even richer aroma that mingled with the mild heat of chili, the savory kick of coarse salt, and the lamb’s own milky richness.

“Mmmph!!!”

Xiao Sizi’s eyes flew wide. She froze in place, and then two streams of tears came streaming down her cheeks.

“What’s wrong? Did you burn yourself?” Startled, Li Lizhi hurried to drop what she was doing and check on her.

“Nuh-uh…”

Xiao Sizi wept as she chewed, her mouth stuffed to the brim as she wailed indistinctly, “It’s so good! Waaah… All the lamb I ate before was stinky poop! This is weal lamb!”

Li Lizhi: “…”

Unable to resist any longer, she took the second skewer Su Mu handed her.

With no regard for princessly decorum, she held the skewer sideways and stripped off the meat with a forceful tug.

A piece of meat marbled with fat and lean slid into her mouth.

The fat had rendered into a crispy, crackling texture that melted at the slightest press of her tongue, while the lean meat was firm and chewy, saturated with the flavor of the seasoning.

Li Lizhi closed her eyes, feeling as though she were standing in the boundless grasslands beneath a blazing sun, green grass underfoot, tasting the purest essence of the wild.

“Phew… Haaah…”

It was scorching hot, yet she could not bear to spit it out. She could only pant with her mouth open, letting that fiery heat run wild across her palate.

Fang Qingjun watched the two sisters, then looked down at the undercooked skewer of lotus root in her hand, suddenly finding it utterly unappealing.

“Here.”

A greasy hand reached over, offering her three skewers still dripping with oil.

Without caring whether she took them or not, Su Mu shoved them straight into her hands. He picked up a skewer for himself, bit down on a piece of meat, tilted his head, and ripped it off the stick.

“Don’t be so stiff when you eat this stuff.”

With cheeks bulging as he chewed, Su Mu said indistinctly, “This is called stripping skewers. It’s all about that rough, messy spirit.”

Fang Qingjun looked at the meat.

Bright red oil trickled down the bamboo skewer, and the cumin seeds clinging to the meat looked like alluring little gems.

Taking a deep breath, she followed Su Mu’s example, tilted her head, and bit down.

In that instant, all the 《Precepts for Women》 and 《Instructions for the Inner Quarters》 that the eldest young lady of the Fang family had studied for over a decade shattered completely.

So much for not showing one’s teeth while eating; so much for chewing slowly and daintily.

To hell with it all!

The sheer pleasure of bursting fat instantly shattered her reserve. It was too delicious! Roasting out the moisture while locking in the fat was absolute genius!

“More!”

Fang Qingjun stripped the skewer clean in two or three bites, slapped the bare bamboo stick onto the table, and fixed a burning gaze on the grill.

Charcoal ash smudged her face and red oil coated the corners of her mouth, yet she looked breathtakingly beautiful.

“Grill it yourself.”

Su Mu pointed to the basin of raw meat beside them. “Grill as much as you want to eat. Don’t expect me to wait on you.”

Without a word, Fang Qingjun rolled up her sleeves and charged over.

“Me too!” Li Lizhi joined in, refusing to be outdone.

The smoke grew thicker and thicker.

This smoke was unruly. Far from just lingering in the courtyard, it crept along the tops of the walls, vaulted over the dilapidated roof ridges, and drifted outward in a grand sweep.

Meat smoke carrying the aroma of cumin was the most terrifying biochemical weapon of all!

…

…

Inside Liangyi Hall, the ice basin^[1] had melted into a puddle of water.

Li Shimin tossed the wolf-hair brush in his hand onto the stand, splashing two drops of ink onto the memorial.

Irritating.

That old bastard Wei Zheng had not been gone long, yet the words “Your Majesty should take history as a mirror^[2]” still seemed to echo through the room.

Li Shimin rubbed his throbbing temples.

A gust of wind swept through.

What was originally an evening breeze bearing a wave of heat had now taken on a completely different scent.

A rich, domineering, slightly charred, yet intensely tantalizing meat aroma seemed to have grown legs, sauntering boldly through the gaps in the window lattices.

This was nothing like the usual greasy smells he was accustomed to. It carried a kick of spice blended with an inexplicable, exotic aroma that bored straight into the deepest depths of his nose.

Li Shimin’s nose twitched twice.

What is this smell?

It smelled a bit like the spices the Hu used for baked flatbreads, but punchier; it was also like the charred aroma of roasted meat, but far more savory.

Grumble!

The sound was startlingly clear in the silent hall.

Li Shimin’s face warmed with embarrassment. He glanced left and right, relieved that apart from Wang Dequan standing like a wooden post in the corner, there was no one else around.

“Companion Wang^[3].”

Li Shimin cleared his throat and straightened his back.

Wang Dequan hurried over with a bow. “What does Your Majesty command?”

“Smell that.”

Li Shimin pointed toward the window. “Where is that scent drifting from? Have those old fools in the Bureau of Culinary Service finally had a change of heart today? Did they realize I’ve lacked an appetite lately and come up with something new?”

Wang Dequan took two deep sniffs.

It really was fragrant.

That aroma, laced with the charred richness of mutton fat, made even this old eunuch, who usually ate vegetarian fare and chanted Buddhist scriptures, swallow hard.

The direction was indeed from the Imperial Kitchen.

“Replying to Your Majesty, the wind direction… it is indeed coming from the Bureau of Culinary Service.”

Wang Dequan offered an ingratiating smile. “Perhaps Director Liu and his staff have developed a new dish and are planning to surprise Your Majesty.”

Li Shimin beamed with delight.

Those useless fools had finally wised up.

The smell alone packed a punch; this had to be a hearty dish.

“Then what are you standing around for?”

Li Shimin shoved the stack of memorials aside, clearing a wide space. “Serve the meal! Have them bring whatever they’re making right now, immediately, at once! I want it piping hot!”

“Yes! This old servant will go at once!”

Having received the imperial decree, Wang Dequan flicked his horsetail whisk and scurried out.

…