Yang Huairen was not polite, so he led the brothers to sit in a row of seats on the left hand side of Yelu Bawotai.

In terms of eating habits, the Song people have long been accustomed to eating together, that is, like later generations, a large table, a family or a group of friends sit around the table, serve the food, and everyone enjoys it together.

But there are two ways of eating for the Khitan people. One is also a joint meal, but not around a table, but like many other northern nomads, a fire is built on the ground, and people sit around it.

Regardless of whether the beef and mutton is roasted on the fire or stewed beef and mutton in a large pot, everyone can do it themselves, or take it to cut a piece or directly grab it and eat it, which should not be very hygienic, but it is very convenient.

And when it comes to formal occasions, such as the current situation, the king of the Southern Courtyard, Yelu Bawotai, set up a banquet to entertain the envoys of the Great Song Dynasty, and the guests of honor sat separately, with a small table and a low stool in front of each person, and the food was served one by one, and everyone ate their own.

Yang Huairen was in contact with Yelu Bawotai for the first time, but the first impression was not bad, although he was a high-ranking Khitan nobleman, but in front of Yang Huairen, he seemed to have a lot of respect for the Han people.

Yelu Bawotai toasted in Chinese, which he was not very skilled in and mixed with some Khitan dialect, to express his welcome to the Great Song Dynasty delegation headed by Yang Huairen, and to promote the meaning that the Great Liao and the Great Song Dynasty were brothers.

Of course, Yang Huairen couldn't really think that he respected the Han people in his heart just by relying on a few words from Yelu Bawotai, and it was impossible for him to really call a Khitan old man in his fifties a brother.

Out of courtesy, Yang Huairen still said some flattering face-saving words, and also paid tribute to Yelu Bawotai, but he was very clear in his heart, Yelu Bawotai, as Yelu Hongji's cousin, would naturally support Yelu Hongji's national policy on the surface, but in fact, what people were thinking in their hearts, needless to say, was clear.

I've never heard of wolves and sheep going to be brothers, it's as simple as that.

That is, Yang Huairen's current identity is an envoy sent by the Great Song Dynasty to visit Liao, which makes Yelu Bawotai so polite.

What makes Yang Huairen find it interesting is that the wine he drank at the night banquet in the South Courtyard today turned out to be Suiyuanchun from his family, and it seems that there were merchants from the Song Dynasty who sold Suiyuanchun to Liao.

Yang Huairen didn't care much about this, if the Khitan people liked to drink, as long as they paid for it, how much Suiyuan Spring Wine would have, and it would be better to drink it to death.

In addition to the fact that he can make a lot of money from this transaction, those Great Song merchants who sold Suiyuanchun to the Liao State must also make a lot of money from the Khitans, since it is the Song people who have earned the silver of the Khitans, that is what Yang Huairen likes to see.

After toasting a round of wine, Yelu Bawotai signaled for the food to be served. As soon as the words fell, a group of Khitan girls dressed in national costumes lined up in a neat line, each dragging a silver tray in their hands, and walked in with a fluttering pace.

Yang Huairen took a closer look and found that every dish at this banquet was a little weird.

It is said to be the traditional dish of the Khitan people, it is packed in exquisite porcelain plates and porcelain bowls, and the production method has many characteristics of Han cuisine, which can be said to be the dish of the Han people, and it is not so delicate and delicate.

How so? For example, those big dishes, the first hand-grabbed mutton, was the first food of the steppe nomads.

Lamb is also the most tender lamb rib to make, but when the mutton is made, it is divided by the flower knife knife method in Han Chinese cooking, so that the lamb chop meat becomes easier to taste.

In terms of the choice of seasonings, it is not as crude as usual, and you can know that the taste should be reasonable, and the taste is not too heavy.

Another beef shank soup also has a similar effect, and Yang Huairen thought that it was likely that the Khitans occupied Yanyun, and some Khitan people were influenced by the living habits of the local Han people, and in addition to starting to engage in farming, they also gradually liked the food style and taste of the Han people.

So when they made their traditional beef and mutton, they began to learn from Han Chinese chefs, and gradually fused the cooking skills of the two ethnic groups together, resulting in these mixed styles of dishes today.

A person of Yelu Bawotai's status, naturally the cook in the family is also very good, it can be said that in the territory of Liao, the cook who cooks this meal should also be the best master in the kitchen industry.

It's just that compared with Yang Huairen, there is still a big gap.

Yang Huairen could basically guess what kind of cooking techniques the famous chef of Liao used to cook these dishes just by smelling the dishes from his nose, and what seasonings were used, not to mention what seasonings were used.

For example, the most representative hand-grasped mutton, the fishy smell is not handled at a high level, which can be seen that the famous chef of the Liao Kingdom thought of integrating the traditional Khitan hand-grasped mutton into the Han cuisine, but the treatment is not in place, so he showed his timidity.

Although the tastes of the Khitan people and the tastes of the Han people are different, they are not very different from each other, and he is too deliberate to integrate the essence of the two different dishes, but each feature is not perfectly integrated, and finally it becomes nondescript.

Yang Huairen showed a chuckle on his face, and when he raised his head, he found a pair of eyes staring at him maliciously, it was a little maid wearing Khitan women's characteristic costumes, but Yang Huairen recognized who she was at a glance, and subconsciously blurted out, "Female...... Female assassins? ”

Seeing that Yang Huairen recognized her, the woman pretended to look at the dishes in front of Yang Huairen from the tray unhurriedly, and smiled as if she had succeeded in her prank, and responded lightly, "Eat slowly, hehe, eat slowly......"

Yang Huairen regretted it a little in his heart, there is a joke in the food industry, called don't tie up with the person who serves you food.

To put it mildly, if you don't wait to see someone, they may find a place where no one notices, sneeze into your food, or spray a mouthful of foaming stars before serving you food.

In fact, it is not a big deal to eat these dishes, but if you know the truth, you are guaranteed to sleep well for three days and three nights, and you will be nauseous when you lie in bed.

Yang Huairen felt that it was too late for him to regret it now, after all, it was not that he wanted to cause trouble about what happened last night, it was this strange girl who claimed to be not a Khitan who was looking for trouble for him.

As a result, after a farce, Yang Huairen thought that he would never see her again, but he happened to meet her again here, and he was the one who served him food.

Yang Huairen looked at those dishes again, and suddenly felt nauseous in his heart, and then thought of her smug smile, he felt terrible again, he wouldn't ...... This girl has poisoned my food, right?