MTL - Food: How Did I Become a Chef When I Set Up a Stall?

 Sunday night.

 Liu He’s home is in Hangzhou. Under normal circumstances, he will go home and stay for two days on weekends.

 This is the case when attending university locally.

When Liu He returned to the dormitory, he saw his roommate lying on the bed, with a feeling of relief on his face.

 Liu He suddenly noticed something was wrong.

This feeling of satisfaction after feeling happy from the inside out usually only appears under certain circumstances.

“Zhoucao, are you not going to do any major health care?”

 “Everyone has an expression of pleasure.”

Liu He asked excitedly.

 “How does it feel to have great health care?”

Hearing his words, several other roommates responded:

"There is no big health care. We went to Wansong Park today and had a nice meal."

 Hearing that he had not undergone major health care, a disappointed expression suddenly appeared on Liu He's face.

 They had talked about this topic before, and Liu He thought they had gone.

Boys are generally more casual about what they eat.

 Those popular restaurants always feel like the food is not very satisfying.

 Which is worse than a roadside stall.

 “I didn’t go to a major health care clinic!”

 Liu He sighed.

 “The stall we went to eat at was very delicious.”

“A lot of people went there, and I also saw Teacher Wu and Teacher Zhao.”

“That stall owner is also very popular on the Internet, his name is Jiang Feng, you can check it out.”

“He is selling snail noodles this week, and they are not generally delicious.”

 One of the people said without knowing what he wanted to say.

The roommate next to him responded:

“I have never tasted such delicious snail noodles. Thinking about that bowl of soup makes me drool!”

Liu He finally understood when he saw the appearance of the two people.

"Jiang Feng? I seem to know him, he is quite popular."

 “Is he here?”

 Liu He asked.

“Here he comes, many people go to eat at his stall, and there are a lot of girls.”

 “That smell is really not what you’re talking about.”

Hearing this, Liu He said "hold the grass" and felt only regretful.

“Is it really so delicious? Then I’ll go there at noon tomorrow.”

 Liu He made up his mind.

 For college students, food may be the most important thing every day.

 The next day is Monday.

Logically speaking, most people on Monday are busy with work, and there are very few people coming to the scenic spot.

 Even the aunts and uncles who provide blind dates for their children are resting today.

 But Jiang Feng’s business is still very good.

 Slowly, many people got the news and came here to eat snail noodles.

Although it is not crowded, there are still many people queuing here when it is time to eat.

 A guest asked:

“Boss Jiang, why is your snail noodle so delicious? The more you eat it, the more delicious it becomes.”

 “Does it feel different from other snail noodles?”

Hearing this, Jiang Feng smiled and replied:

“All ingredients and soup stock are made fresh, and fresh seasonings are used, so the taste will be better.”

 Nowadays, many small shops use some ingredients such as stock essence in order to pursue profits.

The taste will be much more delicious if you add this ingredient.

 But it will not be so smooth after eating.

Jiangfeng’s snail noodles are different. You will feel refreshed after eating them.

 He does not pursue profits, but takes every cooking seriously.

 This is true even when selling ordinary snacks.

 The day's business ended in excitement, and Jiang Feng closed his stall early again.

The system prompt sounds:

　　【Complete the task of the day and receive the reward: Zhejiang Cuisine - West Lake Vinegar Fish Recipe. 】

Today’s reward is a recipe for Zhejiang cuisine.

At present, Jiang Feng discovered that in which area he sets up a stall, there is a high probability that he will get the recipe of the corresponding region's cuisine.

This is a good thing.

"West Lake Fish With Vinegar Sauce?"

“Is it the famous West Lake vinegar fish?”

Jiang Feng thought to himself.

 West Lake vinegar fish is a representative dish of Zhejiang cuisine.

However, the reputation of this dish on the Internet is not very good.

　　Belonging to the example of "specializing in trapping outsiders".

 Anyone who comes to Hangzhou cannot fail to taste the West Lake vinegar fish.

 The thinking of tourists is that if they come here, they must try the famous West Lake vinegar fish.

 After eating, his thoughts were:

“It really tastes bad. I won’t eat it again next time.”

 West Lake Vinegar Fish is not something local people like to eat.

Zhejiang cuisine is also one of the eight major cuisines, but it is difficult to go out of the province. Hunan cuisine restaurants, Sichuan cuisine restaurants, and Cantonese cuisine restaurants are all over the country, but Zhejiang cuisine restaurants are rare.

There is another famous dish in Zhejiang cuisine called "Dongpo Pork", and Jiang Feng is also very good at it.

 Looking back at the history of Dongpo Pork, you can also feel the taste of Zhejiang cuisine.

Su Dongpo just couldn’t taste anything he ate at that time. He had no choice but to develop his own Dongpo meat.

 As a result, Dongpo Pork has become a representative dish of Zhejiang cuisine.

Jiang Feng doesn’t have any prejudice.

“To be one of the eight major cuisines, Zhejiang cuisine must have something to say.”

“West Lake vinegar fish is difficult to make, and many small restaurants may not be able to showcase the essence of this dish.”

“I open a Zhejiang cuisine restaurant, which can help vindicate the reputation of West Lake vinegar fish.”

Jiang Feng thought secretly in his heart.

 He realized that this trip to Hangzhou was really a long way to go.

 The name of "Snail Rice Noodles" is still being rectified, and the name of "West Lake Vinegar Fish" will be rectified in the future.     It is very difficult and still requires hard work.

On the way back, Jiang Feng went to the fish market and bought a big grass carp.

 The traditional West Lake vinegar fish is made from fish from the West Lake. The current method is to make it with any fish with less spines.

 Jiang Feng chose to buy grass carp.

 “Boss, do you want to make fish tonight?”

Sun Zhuangfei showed a look of envy.

“Yes, I’m going to study how to make West Lake vinegar fish.”

Jiang Feng replied.

 “West Lake vinegar fish? Huh?”

Sun Zhuangfei was slightly startled.

 “Have you eaten?”

“Yes, I went to [Louwailou] two days ago to eat. It was not delicious.”

 “What does it taste like?”

“It feels like after the fish was cut and cooked, the sauce mixed with vinegar was directly poured on it. It’s sour and fishy.”

Hearing Sun Zhuangfei’s description, Jiang Feng had an intuitive impression of the West Lake vinegar fish.

Looking at it this way, this dish has indeed been ruined by the merchant.

Jiang Feng bought some more ingredients and then went home.

Sun Zhuangfei went to buy tomorrow’s pig trotters, chicken feet, spices, rice noodles and other things.

 With him as his assistant, Jiang Feng has more time to study the dishes on his own.

 After he got home, he rested for a while and then went into the kitchen to study the West Lake vinegar fish.

 West Lake Vinegar Fish has two core points.

 Remove fishy smell and adjust sauce.

 The traditional West Lake vinegar fish specializes in the fishy smell, but now people simply can't tolerate such a fishy smell, and many shops make it in a stupid way and don't remove the fishy smell properly.

 So the taste is a bit worse.

Jiang Feng skillfully cuts the fish.

His knife skills were very stable. With a few cuts, the fish was cut into two halves and the gap was cut out.

 When everything was almost ready, Jiang Feng started busy making the sauce for the West Lake vinegar fish.

 Rice vinegar, salt, monosodium glutamate, a small amount of pepper, and sugar.

Taste it, if it’s not sweet enough, add some sugar.

 When you take a bite here, you have to add some salt.

 The taste must be good if the sweetness and saltiness are moderate.

Being busy, Jiang Feng finally cooked the fish and poured the juice on it.

 You can taste the taste of West Lake vinegar fish.

 The fish meat is very tender and tastes good. After all, he made it himself.

 But the taste is slightly different.

 Compared with sweet and sour carp, the taste of sweet and sour carp is sweet and sour, while the taste of West Lake vinegar fish is moderately sweet and salty.

The taste of salt and sugar mixed together is not acceptable to ordinary people.

 “It’s still done.”

“It has its own unique taste. If the ratio of ginger, vinegar, and sugar is good, you can taste the taste of lake crab.”

 “The fish tastes good too.”

Jiang Feng commented while eating fish.

“But if you want to make West Lake vinegar fish well, you must have two things.”

“First, the fish must be naturally grown to taste good. If it is feed-fed fish, the earthy smell will be strong.”

“Second, according to the recipe, the grass carp must be starved for two days before being processed, but few restaurants have such a large fish pond.”

“So, if you want to make West Lake vinegar fish well, you must naturally breed a large number of grass carp.”

“It’s not that there’s something wrong with the way this dish is made, it’s that the ingredients are too demanding.”

“In addition, the taste is unique and may not suit the tastes of outsiders, so it has a bad reputation.”

Jiang Feng thought to himself.

 He is a chef and has his own judgment on every dish.

 West Lake vinegar fish can be made, and it’s delicious.

 The prerequisite is that high-quality grass carp is needed.

Fish can grow up with anything it eats, but its taste will be different after eating different things.

To make West Lake vinegar fish well, you have to use grass carp that grows up eating aquatic plants, and then you have to starve it for two days, and then carefully prepare the sauce.

 It tastes delicious this way.

“When the restaurant opens, let’s study it carefully.”

 “This dish can be made.”

“The name of West Lake Vinegar Fish will definitely be rectified by then!”

Jiang Feng thought to himself while eating fish.

 At this time, Xiao Hei was wagging his tail next to him, as if he wanted to eat fish.

 “Sour and sweet, do you want to eat it?”

Jiang Feng asked with a smile.

Xiao Hei nodded.

"Okay, bring the bowl over." Jiang Feng saw it like this and said again.

Hearing Jiang Feng's order, Xiao Hei happily ran to the back to grab the bowl.

 When it put the bowl on the ground, Jiang Feng gave it a large piece of fish meat and confirmed that there was no fish bone.

Xiao Hei saw the fish meat in the bowl and first lowered his head to smell it.

 I found that the taste was not right.

 Then, Xiao Hei took another sip of the West Lake vinegar fish juice.

 There was a hint of astonishment evident in its eyes.

 Then, it turned around and left as if nothing had happened.

This is not because the fish is not delicious, but Jiang Feng knows that Xiao Hei likes meat like stew, which can be a little salty or spicy.

 It means not eating sour food.

 West Lake vinegar fish has a sour taste, so Xiao Hei ignored it.

“If you don’t listen, I will have to wash the dishes for you.”

Jiang Feng couldn't help but say something.

 He continued to taste the fish he cooked.

 From his point of view, the fish tastes pretty good.

 Worth trying. (End of chapter)