Cook off! Wong Yung vs. the Imperial Chef!

[Ken Cheng]

You know it's a lean day for new topics when it's come down to this.

North Beggar Hung 7 Gung, the ultimate wuxia glutton, appreciated the work of two cooks more than any other in the world: the Imperial Chef who cooked for the Sung Emperor, and Hung 7 Gung's own student and successor as Chief of the Beggar's Union, Wong Yung.

If the Imperial Chef and Wong Yung had a cook off with Hung 7 Gung as the judge, who would ultimately emerge as the better cook?

[bloodstar]

Based on the assumption that the Imperial Chef was not a martial arts pugilist, HR would win because some of the dishes she conjured required martial arts skills e.g. the toufu balls baked in leg of lamb which needed the Peach Blossom island Lan Hua Fu Xue Shou skill to make the toufu spheres.

[Ken Cheng]

Based on the assumption that the Imperial Chef was not a martial arts pugilist...

Not necessarily. Chinese imperial palaces were often dens of crouching tigers and hidden dragons.

[CC]

Based on the assumption that the Imperial Chef was not a martial arts pugilist, HR would win because some of the dishes she conjured required martial arts skills e.g. the toufu balls baked in leg of lamb which needed the Peach Blossom island Lan Hua Fu Xue Shou skill to make the toufu spheres.

Slightly OT. But I always thought that JMZ has the potential to be a very amazing cook with his 72 + 3 arts. He doesn't even need a stove or kitchen implements.

[Ken Cheng]

Slightly OT. But I always thought that JMZ has the potential to be a very amazing cook with his 72 + 3 arts. He doesn't even need a stove or kitchen implements.

It'll probably all be vegetarian food, but that's all right. Vegetarian food prepared well is as good as anything with meat in it.

[strife_au]

I think Shi Po Tian is the best
though the imperial chef would be the best in this poll

[owbjhx]

You know it's a lean day for new topics when it's come down to this.

North Beggar Hung 7 Gung, the ultimate wuxia glutton, appreciated the work of two cooks more than any other in the world: the Imperial Chef who cooked for the Sung Emperor, and Hung 7 Gung's own student and successor as Chief of the Beggar's Union, Wong Yung.

If the Imperial Chef and Wong Yung had a cook off with Hung 7 Gung as the judge, who would ultimately emerge as the better cook?

On the one hand, the descriptions of Huang Rong's food sound better to me than the descriptions of what Hong Qigong ate at the palace, and HQG also described HR as "tian xia di yi" in cookery; but on the other, HQG's 'dying wish' was to have another bite of the imperial kitchen's 'Five-Treasure Duck'. The head chef has the advantage of being a professional - HR is after all only a gifted amateur - but as basically the CEO of a large catering operation, he may not be as good if taken out of context (i.e. having to do everything himself rather than delegate to an army of chefs in a lavish kitchen). In a one-on-one against HR he might get smoked due to HR's imagination and her inevitable sabotaging.

In what is clearly the greatest discovery in Jinology since the advent of LDA, I've noticed that there's some evidence to support a 'Food Deterioration Theory'. Food was not only important to the plot in DGSD & LOCH (e.g. Duan Yu found Qiao Feng by following the "aroma of meat caramelising in soya sauce"), but there were Great-level cooks (A'Bi/A'Zhu, HR) and some detailed descriptions. By the time of ROCH, as delicious as deep-fried centipedes sound, food was a barely-discussed irrelevance; and the epitome of cuisine in the HSDS era was the boiled dog served up by Zhao Min's lackeys and washed down with poisoned wine.

Convinced? Bow down, weaklings, and call me "Kenny"!

[lilchilipepper]

In what is clearly the greatest discovery in Jinology since the advent of LDA, I've noticed that there's some evidence to support a 'Food Deterioration Theory'. Food was not only important to the plot in DGSD & LOCH (e.g. Duan Yu found Qiao Feng by following the "aroma of meat caramelising in soya sauce"), but there were Great-level cooks (A'Bi/A'Zhu, HR) and some detailed descriptions. By the time of ROCH, as delicious as deep-fried centipedes sound, food was a barely-discussed irrelevance; and the epitome of cuisine in the HSDS era was the boiled dog served up by Zhao Min's lackeys and washed down with poisoned wine.

Convinced? Bow down, weaklings, and call me "Kenny"!

Yeah, and by the time of SOD, the tastiest morsels of swallowable goods consisted of stolen watermelon, alcohol, and best of all, burnt frog. Mm...yum...makes my mouth water just thinking about it....

[kidd]

Shi Po Tian (Ming Dynasty post SOD) was a very good cook. Quite a number of people were impressed with his cooking.

[Wu Wudi]

Didn't H7G say that WY was a much better cook overall but the Imperial Chef had one dish which can only be cooked in the Imperial Kitchen? Can someone give a description of that dish which H7G had to eat before he died (at the time, H7G thought that his OYF inflicted injuries were fatal)?

[owbjhx]

Didn't H7G say that WY was a much better cook overall but the Imperial Chef had one dish which can only be cooked in the Imperial Kitchen?

I don't remember HQG saying that, but I could be wrong. He certainly had a craving for the dish, though.

Can someone give a description of that dish which H7G had to eat before he died (at the time, H7G thought that his OYF inflicted injuries were fatal)?

That would be Five-Treasure Duck. It was probably excellent, but because there's no direct description, it's hard to say exactly how good it was. Sort of like Wang Chongyang.

[sarakoth]

Jin Yong himself stated huang Rong's cooking skills were unmatched in the world

[LuNaR]

the imperial cook cause when h7G said he wanted to eat the dish of the imperial cook before he dies, not HR's dish

[Ken Cheng]

the imperial cook cause when h7G said he wanted to eat the dish of the imperial cook before he dies, not HR's dish

That's because North Beggar Hung 7 Gung hadn't known about Wong Yung's superlative cooking skills until recently (i.e. relative the time that he went to the palace to steal delicacies), and because he had easy access to Wong Yung's cooking whereas he could only get access to the imperial chef with great difficulty.

[redfirefly124]

It'd probably be pretty close, but I'd say Huang Rong.

[LuNaR]

That's because North Beggar Hung 7 Gung hadn't known about Wong Yung's superlative cooking skills until recently (i.e. relative the time that he went to the palace to steal delicacies), and because he had easy access to Wong Yung's cooking whereas he could only get access to the imperial chef with great difficulty.

ya but the thing about guy cookers... they either suck very bad/dont know how to cook, or they are super good

[Ken Cheng]

ya but the thing about guy cookers... they either suck very bad/dont know how to cook, or they are super good

This is the Imperial Chef; would the EMPEROR OF CHINA hire him as chef if his cooking skills sucked?

[LuNaR]

This is the Imperial Chef; would the EMPEROR OF CHINA hire him as chef if his cooking skills sucked?

exactly, so he must be very good

[Han Solo]

Convinced? Bow down, weaklings, and call me "Kenny"!

PHail...... SPT is one of the most gifted cook among the protagonists and our WXB is the head eunuch of the imperial catering department.

Han Solo

[ethan]

Imperial Chef because of more experience in the field of cooking.