Delicacies Destiny Episode 2 Recap
> Delicacies Destiny Recap
Everyone in the imperial kitchen is highly impressed by Ling Xiaoxiao, noting that Zheng Li personally went out of the palace to fetch her, a rare honor previously extended only to Imperial Chef Chen. They ask how she came up with the idea to make "bao'er fan" for the Crown Prince.
Ling Xiaoxiao explains that after reviewing Imperial Chef Chen's recipes and having Imperial Chef Shen make them, she found them delicious at first, but they quickly became greasy, heavy, and caused discomfort. Therefore, she did the opposite, creating a bao'er fan the Crown Prince had never tasted. To stimulate appetite, she added hawthorn, and she explains that wrapping the rice ball in lettuce leaves at the right moment locks in the aroma, which then bursts forth for maximum fragrance.
As everyone praises her cooking, Zheng Li arrives to inform her that the Crown Prince wants her to prepare a meal. Ling Xiaoxiao asks him to wait, as she has just returned, covered in dust, and hasn't had a chance to begin preparations, to which Zheng Li can only agree. That evening, the meal sent to the Crown Prince is exceedingly simple, consisting only of one dish and a plate of steamed buns, which infuriates him.
He immediately confronts Ling Xiaoxiao. She reminds him of their prior agreement: he must eat whatever she prepares, without picking or wasting food, questioning if a Crown Prince would go back on his word like a commoner. The Crown Prince threatens to have her expelled from the palace, just like Imperial Chef Chen.
Ling Xiaoxiao points out that he consistently holds others to Imperial Chef Chen's standards but emphasizes that the same dish prepared by different people will inevitably have different flavors. She also advises tasting all food before debating its merits. The Crown Prince is momentarily speechless. Upon tasting her meal, he finds it incredibly delicious and thoroughly enjoys it, immediately won over by her culinary skill.
Despite this, Ling Xiaoxiao provocatively claims her cooking is far inferior to Imperial Chef Chen's, then asks why he dismissed Imperial Chef Chen if that were the case. The Crown Prince is once again speechless, declaring he won't fall for her tricks. Ling Xiaoxiao proposes that she will make whatever he requests the next day, stating she needs to understand Imperial Chef Chen's weaknesses to improve her own skills and create more delectable meals.
The Crown Prince then reveals that Imperial Chef Chen had no shortcomings; he was the "number one imperial chef in the world," capable of making any ingredient exquisitely delicious. However, one day, the Crown Prince noticed Imperial Chef Chen's dishes tasted different. That day, the Crown Prince, holding peach blossom fermented wine, intended to share good news about his father, the Emperor, but instead saw Imperial Chef Chen in great pain, his hands trembling while cooking.
Imperial physicians later informed him that Imperial Chef Chen could only recover if he stopped cooking. Knowing the Crown Prince was dependent on his culinary artistry, Imperial Chef Chen chose to endure the pain rather than quit. Therefore, the Crown Prince was forced to make the difficult decision to secretly arrange for imperial physicians to treat Imperial Chef Chen while dismissing him from the palace. Since then, all food had tasted terrible to the Crown Prince.
Ling Xiaoxiao reflects that despite his short temper, the Crown Prince shows a humane side. Ling Xiaoxiao's cooking once again precisely hits the Crown Prince's palate, much to Zheng Li's delight, who delivers the Crown Prince's rewards to the imperial kitchen. In the kitchen, three older palace maids, witnessing Ling Xiaoxiao's growing favor, become intensely jealous, outwardly dismissing her achievements while spitefully tearing up vegetable leaves.
News soon arrives of the return of Prince An and Prince Jin to the palace, causing great excitement among the palace maids. Imperial Chef Shen, one of the few men in the kitchen, is subjected to a love confession from an infatuated palace maid, nearly twisting his ankle. Meanwhile, an Imperial Consort eagerly awaits her son's visit in her palace. Prince Jin, who hasn't seen his mother in two years, remembers her as slightly plump.
Upon knocking on her palace door, he sees a woman with his mother's features but much larger, leading him to believe he's at the wrong door and prompting a hasty apology. His mother pulls him inside, expresses her deep longing, and they share many dishes and drinks, occasionally playing pitch-pot. Prince Jin, quickly succumbing to the alcohol, tries to excuse himself, but his mother insists he stay, forcing more wine upon him, his cries almost shaking the palace doors.
At the Emperor's birthday banquet, the Crown Prince meticulously arranges luxurious dishes like "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall," "Ten Thousand Blessings Meat," and shark fin. Prince Jin, who is at odds with the Crown Prince, speaks up, referencing the starving common people and declaring such extravagant dishes unpalatable. He requests that these dishes be distributed to the populace so they may share in the imperial grace. The Emperor, known for promoting frugality, agrees with Prince Jin.
The Empress, seeing the situation turn against the Crown Prince, defends him, explaining that the Crown Prince doesn't typically eat such an abundance of dishes but prepared them specifically to honor the Emperor's birthday and celebrate the long-awaited return of his two brothers. Prince Jin then seizes the opportunity, leveraging the Crown Prince's earlier offer to handle his and Prince An's meals, by proposing that only a single dish is necessary.
The Crown Prince understands that Prince An and Prince Jin have vastly different tastes, making it challenging to satisfy both with one dish. However, unwilling to lose face, he accepts the challenge. Prince Jin escalates the issue, accusing the Crown Prince of boastfulness and stating that failure would constitute deception against the Emperor. The Emperor, disliking discord among his sons, intervenes, stating that one dish is not grounds for such a serious crime.
Prince Jin backs off but continues to taunt the Crown Prince, pressuring him to find a way for Ling Xiaoxiao to create a single dish that will satisfy both brothers' differing palates. While the Crown Prince is troubled by this new challenge, Ling Xiaoxiao brings him dessert. Upon hearing that she must prepare one dish to satisfy two distinct tastes, she innocently asks why not just make two dishes.
The Crown Prince recounts past memories: as children, the three brothers were very close. His younger brothers once missed dinner to bring him "su lao" (a type of dessert). Another time, after the Crown Prince lost a competition and was punished by the Emperor to copy texts, he enlisted his two brothers, who had come to bring him dessert, to help him copy. The Emperor discovered this, and all three were punished.
Before Prince Jin was sent to his fiefdom, he overheard the Crown Prince reporting to the Emperor that his recent academic decline was due to playing with his two younger brothers. Soon after, an imperial decree sent Prince An and Prince Jin to their respective fiefdoms. To meet the demanding challenge of creating a dish that balances both light and heavy flavors, Ling Xiaoxiao prepares more than a dozen different dishes, almost making the tasters sick.
