A Taste of Empire by Jovanni Sy

Author:Jovanni Sy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Talonbooks
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Part 8

GOLDEN FINISH

Sous-Chef JOVANNI dries his hands.

There, Bong-Bong is looking good as new. We are just moments away from Imperial Cuisine™ ecstasy. At this stage, some recipes call for –

Sound of a cellphone. The ring tone is “The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)” from Star Wars.

Omigosh! That’s Chef Maximo calling! I can’t believe this, he called! It’s the master! Hey, gimme that!

NEHA enters with cellphone, which Sous-Chef JOVANNI snatches from her.

(into phone) Chef Maximo! ¡Hola! How are you, master–What’s that? Yes, sir …

(to audience) Chef Maximo bids you all an imperial greeting. And he’d like to remind you that all the cookware used tonight is available for purchase at chef maximo dot com.

(back to phone) What was th–? I was just about to fry–no, master, I didn’t screw it up, I did it just like you taught me, but Neha was absolutely no help at all –

Sorry, sir, what did you say? You –? But – but sir – sir, I don’t – I don’t understand … uh-huh … uh-huh … I see … work for less … I understand … no, no, of course, whatever you think is best. Thank you, master. (to NEHA) He wants to talk to you.

Sous-Chef JOVANNI gives the phone back to NEHA, who exits. Sous-Chef JOVANNI then washes his hands.

So where were we?

Yes, we need to finish this fish, don’t we? Most recipes suggest baking it, but Chef Maximo prefers to batter it to give it colour and crunch.

So here we dip our fish in the master’s special blend of cilantro, rice flour, garlic, and spices. And we’ll coat it in panko bread crumbs. Our oil is nice and hot. And …

Sous-Chef JOVANNI places the battered bangus into the pan with hot oil.

PROJECTION: [back to live coverage of cooking preparation]

Now we just wait for our bangus to come to a beautiful golden finish. While we wait, we’re going to do one last thing: we’ll make a quick sauce to add the perfect complement to all our hard work. Our sauce is basically shallots and herbs in a red-wine reduction. What makes this sauce sublime is this –

Sous-Chef JOVANNI pulls out a bottle of wine.

PROJECTION: [still image]

Maximo Rojo ad from the Cortés Estates Winery

Maximo Rojo from the Cortés Estates Winery. This full-bodied red boasts aromas of coffee, berries, and …

Pause.

We don’t need a red-wine reduction. Why would we want to reduce such a nice wine?

Sous-Chef JOVANNI uncorks the bottle and takes a healthy swig. He continues drinking throughout the following.

You remember Piag?

PROJECTION: [still image]

picture of Piag

Remember I told you he was enjoying his great new job at Imperial Seafood? Well, there’s more to his story.

Piag and his wife, Clara, have two boys: Manny and José.

And Piag gets promoted to shift leader. But his promotion doesn’t last long because Imperial Seafood shuts down the plant in Dagupan and moves it to China.

Chef Maximo said he and the other executives at Imperial shut down the plant because they were looking out for you shareholders.

Yeah, a lot of you are part-owners of Imperial Seafood through your mutual funds and pensions.

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