Chapter 721 Business trip (5) (4800+)
Accountant Liu finally refused to agree on the spot. He had never tasted minced pork and egg drop soup and had not experienced Cao Guixiang’s cooking skills. Even though his wife and children strongly recommended it, he said he would reconsider.
Dinner is still simple sweet potato rice and stir-fried vegetables, but the egg drop soup is gone. During the whole meal, Liu Sangen was holding the bowl and looking at Cao Guixiang with starry eyes. While watching, he was picking up the rice, as if just watching Cao Guixiang eat was particularly delicious.
Accountant Liu:?
As Cao Guixiang expected, the captain came to see Zhang Chu after dinner and said that some wooden furniture at home needed repair and he wanted to ask Zhang Chu to come and take a look tomorrow. Zhang Chu agreed without mentioning money, and set the time for the afternoon.
Early the next morning, Zhang Chu got up early to check how much furniture in Accountant Liu's house needed to be repaired. In his opinion, the furniture in Accountant Liu's house was old. There was room for repair from straight tables, chairs, benches to cabinets and beds, but it was just in the countryside. It doesn't matter if it can be used. Unless you have a missing arm or leg, you generally won't ask a carpenter to repair it - sometimes repairing is more time-consuming than redoing it. If you have spare money to repair it, it's better to make a new one.
Cao Guixiang was carrying a basin and was going to wash clothes by the river. As soon as she reached the door, she was stopped by Accountant Liu's wife, who pulled her to a corner and said mysteriously: "Sister Cao, I have something to discuss with you."
"You said it." Cao Guixiang nodded.
"It's like this. Isn't Sangen's birthday tomorrow? The two servings of minced pork and egg drop soup you made yesterday were really delicious. I'm impressed by your cooking skills. I want to ask you to help me tomorrow. You don’t need to cook a lot of dishes. You can just cook the meat. Compared with your level, cooking is just a waste of pork.” After the baptism of minced pork and egg drop soup, Accountant Liu’s wife had a clear understanding of her craft. Know.
What Cao Guixiang was waiting for was this sentence: "Of course."
"If there is any, I have to tell you first. You are an educated youth from Peiping and you may not know the rules here. In the past few years, you would have to pay for asking others to help you cook, but now you don't allow it. Just give it. You can take any leftover food. You know the situation here. There is a lot of leftover pork from a specially slaughtered pig. I can’t let you take it at will. I’ll give you two kilograms at most. You can take more corn, sweet potatoes and the like. "Yes, I can give you the pig tail," said Accountant Liu's wife.
Cao Guixiang didn't expect to get much. It was extremely difficult to get a bite of pork these days. She could help cook and eat while sitting in the kitchen. Two more kilograms of pork would already be a big profit. If Accountant Liu's wife hadn't been so amazed by Cao Guixiang's craftsmanship, she would have refused to give out even two kilograms of pork.
"Sister Liu, you are too polite. It's just a small matter, no problem." Cao Guixiang agreed on the spot, "By the way, if there is any leftover meat, can you sell me and Zhang Chu a few extra kilograms? We will pay whatever others pay for it. Fat or lean doesn’t matter.”
Accountant Liu’s wife thought about it and agreed: “Okay.”
"But, there is one more thing."
Cao Guixiang:?
"I want to ask you to help me, but my old Liu doesn't agree."
Cao Guixiang:? ? ?
Accountant Liu's wife saw Cao Guixiang's expression and explained quickly: "That's it. Old Liu didn't eat the minced meat and egg drop soup yesterday. How could he imagine your craftsmanship with his little knowledge, so he didn't agree. I just Like asking you to make minced meat and egg drop soup again for lunch, let him try it, he will definitely agree after tasting it. ”
As he spoke, Accountant Liu's wife couldn't help but lick her mouth, as if she was reminiscing about yesterday's soup.
Cao Guixiang thought for a while: "It's okay to make soup, but I'm afraid Accountant Liu won't be completely convinced if we only make soup. After all, soup and vegetables are still different."
"What should we do?" Accountant Liu's wife was taken away by Cao Guixiang again.
"I remember when I was dividing the meat yesterday, I specially divided a piece of pork belly that was very fat and lean. Do you know Wanfu pork? If I take a small piece and make a portion of Wanfu pork, it should be fine." Cao Guixiang said.
Jiang Feng was shocked.
Cao Guixiang actually wants to make Wanfu Pork. In this case, making Wanfu Pork is a palace dish.
Accountant Liu’s wife shook her head in confusion: “What is Wanfu meat?”
“A delicious roasted pork.”
Accountant Liu’s wife understood immediately.
"By the way, is there rice wine in the kitchen? I didn't seem to see it yesterday. It's best to use rice wine to remove the fishy smell when roasting meat." Cao Guixiang asked.
"There are some. I asked someone to go to the supply and marketing cooperative in the town to buy them. There are also star anise and peppercorns. I heard they said that roasted pork and these are delicious, so I asked someone to buy some." Accountant Liu's wife bought some for her son's birthday. The wine was prepared very thoroughly, but the cooking skills were not up to par.
"Take out all the seasonings. I'll go wash the clothes first and come back to cook them after washing. This Wanfu Pork is a bit troublesome and a waste of time. If you don't start preparing it early, it will delay your cooking later." Cao Guixiang said .
"No delay, no delay." Accountant Liu's wife said repeatedly.
Cao Guixiang went to the river to wash clothes, while Zhang Chu was still checking the furniture. Liu Sangen didn't have to go to school today. He didn't have to kill pigs or mow pigs and grass. He had a lot of leisure, so he just hung around Zhang Chu. When Cao Guixiang didn't come back, Accountant Liu's wife seemed a little absent-minded. She wandered around the house when she wasn't working, looking at Zhang Chu from time to time, and finally couldn't help but walked to Zhang Chu.
"Carpenter Zhang, I have something to ask you." Accountant Liu's wife said.
"Huh?"
"What kind of meat is Wanfu meat?"
As soon as he heard about Wanfu Pork, Zhang Chu immediately became energetic and cheered up: "Sister Liu, who did you hear about Wanfu Pork?"
"It's your wife. She just told me to make Wanfu Pork when she comes back. I've been thinking about this for a long time. I've never heard of the name but braised pork. What kind of meat is this Wanfu Pork? If it's cooked bad. You, Old Liu, will definitely scold me when you come back from work." Accountant Liu's wife was still worried.
Zhang Chu smiled and said: "Don't worry, Guixiang's craftsmanship in Beiping was... almost equivalent to the more famous cooking masters in these ten miles and eight villages. Wanfu pork is a dish from our north. You must have never heard of it in the south."< br>
Accountant Liu's wife felt a little more at ease.
After almost half an hour, Cao Guixiang calmly walked back with the washed clothes. After drying the clothes, she went to the kitchen to start cooking. Seeing Cao Guixiang enter the kitchen, Liu Sangen immediately abandoned Zhang Chu and ran into the kitchen, looking like a little fan of Cao Guixiang.
Wanfu Meat is no stranger to Jiang Feng. He has seen it before in Xia Mubing's memory and also ate it when he went to Yonghe Residence for a tooth ceremony. As a palace dish, Wanfu Pork is firstly presented very delicately. The meat on the table is like a blooming flower. To make the meat look like a flower requires extremely high knife skills, and there are not many chefs in Yongheju. Can make Wanfu Pork well.
Jiang Feng felt that if he wanted to make Wanfu Pork truly in line with its status as a palace dish and the level it was loved by Lafayette, his knife skills would have to be at the master level, which may not be the average master level, and he would have to have a particularly high level of experience.
Cao Guixiang is one of those with particularly high experience.
Wanfu Pork is generally made by boiling pork belly in a pot of water until it is eighty-mature, then taking it out, and then cutting it into cubes about three centimeters in size. Then cut these small pieces of meat into horizontal slices along the edges. The horizontal slices should be thin and even. At the corner, turn the knife and cut again, without breaking in the middle, and turn it all the way to the center.
The first thing Cao Guixiang did when she entered the kitchen was not to cut the meat first, but to find the bones she had shaved yesterday, wash the pork bones, cut them into pieces, put them into the pot, add two slices of ginger and start stewing the soup.
Accountant Liu's wife feels sorry for pork but not for pork bones at all. If she were to get pork bones, she would definitely make soup in the same way, but she would be a bit useless. She was already using so much pork to prepare a birthday party for her son, so she didn't care about the little firewood, so she didn't stop her from watching Cao Guixiang make it.
After processing the pork bones, Cao Guixiang began to look at the strip of pork belly she had cut yesterday. After touching the pork belly for a while, Cao Guixiang finally cut off a very small, rectangular piece. Jiang Feng felt that this amount was only enough to make two pieces of Wanfu pork.
After the meat was cooked, Cao Guixiang cut it into 4 small cubes with a knife. If these 4 small pieces of meat were used to make Wanfu pork, it would be a pocket version of Wanfu pork.
Big kitchen knife, small meat. The smaller the meat, the more difficult it is to slice it. Cao Guixiang didn't dare to cut it quickly, so she could only cut it slowly, one by one. The small piece of meat just rotated in her hand, and finally turned into a twisted strip of meat.
It took nearly an hour to cut 4 pieces of meat.
Accountant Liu's wife and Liu San were watching and looked dumbfounded. They felt that Cao Guixiang was not cutting meat but performing a juggling act.
Accountant Liu's wife thought about the meat she had chopped yesterday and lowered her head in shame. She once again realized how bad her cooking skills were.
Cao Guixiang turned the four strips of meat back to their original appearance, and placed them neatly in the bowl, skin side down. Pour rice wine and soy sauce along the curve, sprinkle a little sugar on the meat, put two slices of ginger on top of the meat and on the side of the meat, a handful of scallions, a few star anise and seven or eight peppercorns.
After all the ingredients were put together, Cao Guixiang opened the lid and looked at the bone soup in the pot. It was almost ready to use after boiling over high heat for more than an hour. It only had bones and no meat. You couldn't expect the soup to be stewed without adding anything except ginger slices. What it looks like. Despite this, the soup stewed with only bones still exudes a false meaty aroma. Cao Guixiang scooped two spoonfuls of the soup into the bowl, covered the pot and let the bone soup continue to cook, and took out a few firewood from the stove to let the soup continue to cook. The fire should not be so high, then put the bowl into another pot and steam it.
"Sister Liu is mainly waiting for the meat to be steamed and then thicken it. It will probably take some time. You see, we will be cooking tomorrow, and the meat has not been processed much. Even if Brother Liu doesn't agree, it doesn't matter. You tell me what kind of meat you want to use for cooking, and I'll help you process the meat first," Cao Guixiang said.
Accountant Liu's wife was stunned for a long time before speaking with difficulty: "Hasn't everything been dealt with? Do we need to deal with it again?"
The latter question was asked carefully, like a poor student who couldn't answer the teacher's question.
Cao Guixiang nodded.
Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law was completely impressed by the skill she had shown in cutting meat. Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law now only thinks that Cao Guixiang is the best cook in the world, but she herself has probably never really learned how to cook. , the meals cooked in recent years are probably fake meals.
"I...I don't know either, you...just figure it out." Accountant Liu's wife didn't even dare to speak randomly.
"Then I will help you deal with part of it first."
Cao Guixiang started to process the pork, cutting it into small pieces and marinating it in advance. Accountant Liu's wife bought a lot of seasonings for tomorrow's banquet, but she didn't use a single peppercorn. Cao Guixiang used them all. But she also wished that Cao Guixiang would use them all. She could see that the same dish, the same ingredients, the same knife, and even the same pot were completely different in Cao Guixiang's hands and in hers. . When Cao Guixiang used a knife to cut meat, it was called cutting meat. When she used a knife to cut meat, it was like killing a pig.
As time passed, the Wanfu pork in the pot gradually became cooked, and the meaty flavor enhanced by rice wine, light soy sauce, star anise, pepper and pork rib soup began to spread from the tightly closed pot.
For Liu Sangen and Accountant Liu's wife, who had never eaten meat of this quality, the smell of meat was a baptism for their noses.
The characteristic of Wanfu meat is that it is fragrant. Even if there is no broth, it has some flaws, but this does not prevent Liu Sangen and Liu's accountant's wife from smelling the aroma of meat in the air with their faces intoxicated.
How can meat smell so good!
The meat itself is already very fragrant, but I didn’t expect it to be so fragrant!
The two of them just had these two sentences written on their faces.
Jiang Feng felt strange that Zhang Chu hadn't come over yet when the meat smelled so good, so he went out to see where he was.
Zhang Chu was repairing the corner of the table in the living room. He originally wanted to go to the kitchen to take a look, but before he could get up, he bumped into Accountant Liu who came back to get his notebook. The two looked at each other, and the atmosphere was extremely awkward for a moment.
Accountant Liu had never smelled such a fragrant meat smell. He almost thought his nose was hallucinating.
"What, what does this smell like..." Accountant Liu asked blankly.
"Guixiang is making Wanfu pork in the kitchen. It should be ready now. Accountant Liu, do you want to come with me and take a look?" Zhang Chu said.
"Okay... okay..." Accountant Liu was still a little sluggish. Although he was sluggish, his legs and feet were not sluggish at all. He walked to the kitchen before Zhang Chu could make any move.
Wan Fu Pork is indeed almost ready.
Cao Guixiang stopped what she was doing and waited for time on the edge of the pot. She didn't even notice that Accountant Liu had come in.
The other two people didn't notice either. They were all staring at the pot without lifting the lid.
Cao Guixiang opened the wooden lid.
Accountant Liu and his family all let out uninformed wows.
In fact, the Wanfu Pork in the pot is not very pretty. There are no side dishes, no presentation, and it has not even been thickened, but it already has the shape of a flower.
That's enough.
Cao Guixiang used chopsticks to remove the green onion, ginger and star anise on the surface, poured the soup directly back into the pot, and poured the meat upside down into the plate. He added a piece of firewood and some straw to the stove to make the fire burn quickly. Accountant Liu's family had no starch and could not thicken the soup. To be precise, Accountant Liu's family did not have any flour. Cao Guixiang could only cook the soup a little thicker. Pour over the meat at the right time.
The meat is done.
4 pieces of Wanfu pork are placed quietly on the plate.
Liu Sangen was already swallowing silently.
Accountant Liu's wife then started to pay attention to her surroundings, and found that Accountant Liu had come back at some point, and Zhang Chu had also come in.
There are 5 people in the kitchen, but there are only 4 pieces of meat on the plate.
This puts Accountant Liu's wife in a bit of a dilemma. Although the firewood belongs to her family, the meat belongs to her family, and even the seasonings belong to her family. Logically speaking, her family should have the final say on how to divide the food. But Accountant Liu’s wife knew very well that these things belonged to her family, but after being made into Wanfu Pork, it seemed that they were no longer hers.
Accountant Liu’s wife was a little confused.
As a mother and wife, she was used to being humble at the dinner table, but at this time she didn't really want to be humble.
Who knows if I can eat it again in this life.
Cao Guixiang said: "You guys should try it together. I was negligent. I only thought that 4 pieces would be better and forgot that there are 5 of us, so I won't eat it."
"This is so bad." Accountant Liu and Accountant Liu's wife said in unison.
"It's okay." Cao Guixiang smiled.
Everyone was rude, and their hearts were almost flooded with saliva. As a child, Liu Sangen was the most impatient. He took the lead in touching a pair of chopsticks, took a bowl, and climbed into the meat. He didn't eat or bite it, or even imported it. He held the bowl and licked it carefully.
"You kid, what do you think of eating like this!" Accountant Liu's wife felt that her son was a little embarrassed for the first time.
Then she discovered that Accountant Liu was also licking, and the movements of father and son were even somewhat synchronized.
Accountant Liu’s wife:……
She also took a lick silently.
Then the movements of the family of three synchronized.
Jiang Feng & Cao Guixiang & Zhang Chu:......
Zhang Chu didn't move, but Cao Guixiang urged him to eat quickly. If he didn't take a bite of the meat, it would become cold and unpalatable. Then he found a bowl and chopsticks, picked up the meat, took a big bite, and chewed.
Accountant Liu has calmed down a bit. He feels that he should say something to flatter Cao Guixiang but doesn't know how. After all, this question is seriously beyond the scope of his knowledge.
"Cao Zhiqing, your skills are so good that you can go directly to the city and become a chef in a state-owned hotel!" Accountant Liu sighed.
Cao Guixiang and Zhang Chu were stunned. Zhang Chu's expression became visibly disappointed, but he quickly stopped.
Cao Guixiang smiled at Accountant Liu.
It's getting foggy.
Jiang Feng began to lose sight of Cao Guixiang's face.
"Maybe. If I have the chance to return to the city, maybe I can still take the job." Even the voice began to become a little ethereal, like a sigh.
Jiang Feng left his memory. (End of chapter)