Free Web NovelChapter 562: Chapter 474: Golden Sauerkraut Fish, Lard Steamed Rice
"Alright, then I’ll just say it’s not tasty later, be prepared for a beating~"
A naturally sociable girl with an outgoing personality waved her small fist at him, her face full of teasing.
Once there was a leader, immediately two or three more people joined in jokingly.
"I also want to throw a few punches; I’ve been idle all afternoon, my hands are a bit itchy."
"Your build looks a bit thin, can you take our punches?"
Lucas hurriedly covered half of his face, "You can hit me, just don’t hit my face!"
"Buddy here lives off his looks!"
The girls who had never heard a Chinese joke before were stunned at first, then each clutched their stomachs, laughing uproariously.
"Oh hell, hahaha, I can’t take it, it’s too funny!"
"’Don’t hit the face’ is such a lame reason, hahaha!!"
"Suddenly, I’m looking forward to seeing him wrapped in bandages in the next video episode."
"Hahaha! I swear, this is the funniest joke I’ve heard this year!"
Watching Lucas quickly get along with the girls, Zhao Shun couldn’t help but cast an envious glance at him.
It seems I really need to learn some languages; how can I woo girls without communicating?
Just by cooking?
As Zhao Shun was watching, Lucas seemed to notice, slightly turned his head, and blinked at him, making an OK sign with his hand under the table.
Zhao Shun understood and felt touched, his eyes turning red.
"What a good guy!"
The soup of fish with pickled cabbage started to bubble gradually in the pot.
Old Chen simply adjusted the base flavor, then turned down the heat, and picked up the marinated fish slices to soak them into the soup piece by piece, leaving gaps in between to prevent sticking.
"Because the fish slices are coated with starch paste, they must be spaced apart; otherwise, they’ll stick and the thicker parts won’t cook, just like frying things."
The waitstaff could chit-chat leisurely, but the chefs were entirely focused, watching Old Chen’s steps without blinking, afraid to miss any detail.
If they weren’t careful and caused tomorrow’s final product to have issues, it’d definitely lead to a dropped grade!
As Old Chen placed the fish slices, Zhao Shun grabbed a small saucepan from the side, poured in a large amount of vegetable oil, mixed with a bit of rapeseed oil for high-heat cooking, while also chopping a bit of garlic as preparation.
"Pay attention; when cooking fish slices, start with low heat, ensuring bubbles on the soup surface — small or big both work — but try not to boil it."
"If the soup boils, it’ll wash away part of the starch coating on the fish, making the soup thick and sticky."
"After adding fish slices, soaking for about a minute will heat and solidify the starch coating, then you can turn up the heat."
"The cooking time isn’t long either, as the slices are thin. Once the color changes, let the soup boil for about ten seconds and turn off the heat."
As Lucas explained, Old Chen had completed the earlier steps and began serving the fish with pickled cabbage.
Using a slotted spoon to collect all the fish slices, he placed a handful of pre-blanched bean sprouts at the bottom of the bowl, poured in the hot fish soup, then lightly fell the fish slices over the bean sprouts.
Since there were no bones or excess parts, the amount of fish slices seemed a bit scant, so Old Chen generously put in enough to fill most of the bowl.
After all, so many people are sampling; at least two slices per person, right?
The chefs were clever, seeing him finish, they immediately shifted their attention to Zhao Shun next to him.
At this moment, the saucepan on the stove had started smoking.
He wasn’t in a hurry, patiently waiting a bit longer until the smoke got denser before turning off the heat.
Previously chopped garlic was sprinkled on the fish slices’ surface, followed by a handful of dried chili peppers, and then a scoop of smoking hot oil poured on top.
"Sizzle"
Thick smoke rose up, the fragrant scent of garlic mixed with the aroma of rapeseed oil spread out.
"Sizzle"
The second spoonful of hot oil poured down, the slightly choking scent of dry chili rising, causing a few people to cough uncontrollably.
"Sizzle"
The remaining hot oil from the saucepan was all poured down, the surface of the fish with pickled cabbage boiling up, bubbling intensely, looking incredibly tempting.
Finally, a handful of chopped scallions were sprinkled on top as garnish.
Done!
Due to the large number of people sampling, Old Chen used metal trays from the kitchen, usually meant for handling ingredients; they offered ample capacity but lacked presentation.
The rim of such trays was difficult to hold, and being all-metal, they conducted heat quickly; you had to use a dry towel to carry them, or you’d surely get burned.
Especially after pouring over two hundred degrees of hot oil, anyone who touched it would feel the heat.
"The purpose of pouring hot oil is to release the fragrance of the ingredients, but the instant high temperature isn’t enough to fully cook them; three pours later, the garlic is just cooked, releasing aroma but the texture is still different from completely cooked ones."
"This is a culinary technique unique to Great Xia, mainly used for pouring green onion, ginger, garlic, or spices like dried chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns; what effect it has, you’ll have to judge when you taste it later."
When Old Chen carried down the huge bowl of fish with pickled cabbage from the window, everyone’s heart was in their throat, fearing he might slip or burn his hand, causing this dish to spill on the floor.
Though they hadn’t tasted it yet, just seeing the process and the final look, this unique fish dish was definitely not going to be bad.
"Come on, everyone gets a bowl of rice."
As Lucas finished speaking, a rich fragrance of rice wafted out from the window.
That was the northeastern rice that Zhao Shun steamed in a wooden barrel half an hour earlier, with a spoonful of lard added — incredibly aromatic.
This was enough for more than forty people, and a spoonful of lard spread out wasn’t much at all, in fact, you couldn’t taste any greasiness, it simply enhanced the aroma and made the rice look glossier.
Although not everyone present liked rice, under normal circumstances, no one disliked it.
Understanding the dining experience for the guests was important, so each person obediently came to receive a bowl of steaming fragrant rice.
Originally uninterested in rice, when they smelled this bowl of seasoned rice, their stomachs rumbled uncontrollably and saliva started pouring out crazily.
To maintain order, Dais led Su and Nicole to distribute the fish with pickled cabbage, each bowl getting a chopstick of bean sprouts, a bit of pickled cabbage, two slices of fish, and half a bowl of fish soup.
"Oh, don’t forget to set aside a portion for Elsa, so she can eat after the restaurant gets busy."
"Got it."
Nicole nodded, casually setting a bowl aside.
Forty-something employees quickly received their small portions of fish with pickled cabbage; although it seemed to be consumed in a couple of bites, the tangy aroma made them swallow saliva crazily.
No one cared about anything else, let’s eat first!
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