Chapter 134 What kind of new food is this? Teen supplementary food

After assigning tasks, the group split up and busied themselves in the kitchen.

Zhaolin, now given an important position, proudly swung his basket and went to the backyard to pick vegetables.

Ji Fengnian was vigorously scraping a large piece of freshly roasted cured pork. The cured pork was hard from the smoke, but as long as it was roasted over a high fire, it would become crispy and fluffy. After being scraped with a cleaver, it turned golden yellow and the aroma spread everywhere. Ji Fengnian imagined what it would taste like after it was cooked, and his mouth slowly watered.

Wen Yue helped An Fusheng with his cooking. Recently, Wen Yue's cooking skills have improved, and she can now cook several dishes on her own. So now, her role as an assistant is not just about chopping vegetables and handing out bowls; she can also cook some simple dishes.

An Fusheng was going to make chicken with soybeans, and Wen Yue thought she should stir-fry the soybeans first so she could use them directly later. Wen Yue took a bowl to the jar of soybeans to scoop them out, but after scooping for a while, she couldn't scoop any out. She reached down and touched the jar, only to find it empty. "Big brother, there are no more soybeans!"

"What?" The noise from the stir-frying was too loud for An Fusheng to hear clearly.

"We're out of soybeans, and it's too late to buy more now, so we can't make stewed chicken with soybeans," Wen Yue said.

An Fusheng finished cooking the dish and turned off the heat before he could hear what Wen Yue said. He pondered for a moment, then said, "Then I won't make it."

Anfusheng tends to stock up on good quality dried goods like soybeans whenever he finds them. He takes as much as he needs and replenishes when he runs out, rarely calculating his daily usage like he would with vegetables. The last time he bought soybeans was last autumn when he bought two large bags from the son of an old man he knew at the market. He thought they would last a long time, so he didn't pay much attention to them. He didn't expect they would be gone by now.

Wen Yue: "But I've already chopped the chicken."

An Fusheng glanced around the food preparation counter. The ingredients he had prepared that morning were almost all used up. The restaurant menu was adjusted based on sales, and almost every dish was a popular item. Having cooked for a long time, An Fusheng could estimate the amount of ingredients needed each day, so he prepared the ingredients very precisely and rarely had any leftovers. "Didn't I buy loofah this morning? I'll scrape two loofahs to make loofah stew. Scraping loofahs is very quick."

“It’s fast, but the combination of loofah and free-range chicken…” Wen Yue hesitated for a moment, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.”

An Fusheng: "Yes, that's fine."

“Okay.” Wen Yue chose to believe An Fusheng.

She rummaged through the refrigerator and pulled out two loofahs, quickly peeling them. "Brother, should the loofahs be cut into chunks?"

“Yes.” Seeing Wen Yue cutting the loofah, An Fusheng also started stir-frying the chicken.

Heat the wok and add rapeseed oil. Once the oil is hot, add slices of ginger and sauté until fragrant. Then add the chicken and stir-fry.

"Master, why do you use rapeseed oil, peanut oil, and pork oil when you cook? Is it to make you look more professional?" Zhaolin asked, leaning over with a basket of crisp white cabbage shoots.

“…No, it’s for better taste.” An Fusheng explained, “Generally, animal fat is used for stir-frying vegetables, and vegetable oil is used for stir-frying meat. For meat dishes, peanut oil is more commonly used for deep-frying and braising. Peanut oil has a high boiling point, so it is less likely to produce harmful substances when deep-frying at high temperatures. It also has a milder flavor and won’t overpower the original taste of the food. Rapeseed oil is more commonly used for frying meat. Rapeseed oil has a unique aroma and can remove fishy smells and enhance the fragrance, but it’s not always the case.”

"Oh." Zhaolin put the shopping basket on the counter, pulled a small notebook from his pocket, then took out a pen and muttered to himself as he took notes, "Use animal fat for stir-frying vegetables, use vegetable oil for stir-frying meat..."

An Fusheng: You seem to be working very hard, but why can't you learn it?

After taking notes, Zhaolin stuffed the notebook into his pocket and went to wash the vegetables with his basket.

...

After stir-frying the chicken in the pan for about ten minutes until it turned golden brown, rice wine was poured over it. The rice wine quickly seeped into the chicken under the high temperature, removing the chicken's fishy smell and releasing a burst of aroma.

Zhaolin took a deep breath of the fragrance floating in the air and said, "It smells so good! This fragrance! This invigorating fragrance!"

An Fusheng: "..."

Continue stir-frying until the wine and meat are fully combined, then add water until it covers the chicken.

The chickens bought for stewing free-range chicken with soybeans were all old hens, and the meat was quite tough, so they needed to be stewed. To speed things up, An Fusheng put the chicken into a pressure cooker.

While the chicken was stewing, An Fusheng could have stir-fried some greens, but Zhaolin hadn't finished washing them yet. Actually, the loofah also needed to be stir-fried, but stir-frying loofah doesn't take even a minute, so there was no rush. An Fusheng suddenly found himself with some free time.

An Fusheng couldn't help but say, "The cabbage shoots are very clean; they don't need to be washed so carefully." He was amazed that Zhaolin was scrubbing each cabbage shoot leaf by leaf.

Zhaolin: "No, I have to take responsibility for my dishes."

An Fusheng: Okay, you can stir-fry the vegetables last.

The chicken was almost done stewing, so An Fusheng started stir-frying the loofah.

Heat oil in a wok, add the loofah and sauté until it releases its juices. Then add the stewed chicken and cook it together with the loofah. The savory aroma of the chicken and the sweetness of the loofah will gradually blend in the boiling broth. Finally, add some salt and MSG before serving.

Wen Yue handed An Fusheng two large soup bowls at the right moment: "This soup is so rich!"

...

As the dishes were being prepared one by one, Wen Yue and Ji Fengnian had already started serving the dishes to the restaurant, while Zhao Lin hadn't even finished washing his rapeseed yet.

An Fusheng: "Aren't you done washing yet?"

Zhaolin kept working with his hands: "Almost there, almost there."

After another five or six minutes, An Fusheng was finally able to start firing.

Zhaolin: "Use animal fat, Master."

An Fusheng: "I know."

Zhaolin: "Hehe, I'm putting what I've learned into practice, aren't I amazing?"

An Fusheng gave a somewhat reluctant "hmm".

Zhaolin: "I told you, if you take me as your last disciple, I won't let you down."

An Fusheng: That's right. Once the door is opened, it's best not to say anything.

...

Thinking that there would be many people at noon, An Fusheng cooked enough food for two tables. However, when he finished cooking, he found that several people who were waiting to eat had left, saying that they had urgent work to deal with. In the end, only four people were left, including Lin's father.

"Then there's no need to separate tables. Let's all eat together; it'll be more lively," one of them said.

The others chimed in, "Great! Let's eat together and have some fun!"

An Fusheng found these people very interesting. No matter which way the person in the middle walked, they would always stay in the middle. If the person in the middle didn't speak, the others wouldn't speak either. But as soon as the person in the middle spoke, the others would chime in, like a human-machine interface.

Eight dishes were served, two plates of each dish, and the plates were quite large. The table was filled to the brim, and the meal looked exceptionally plentiful.

"This dish is really well made. I could smell the aroma just now, and it looks even better now," said the person in the middle.

Others:

"Yes, yes, that's really good."

"It smells so good."

Wen Min: "The food is simple and the hospitality is lacking. Please forgive us."

"You're too kind. Every dish is made with great care. We are so lucky to have such delicious food."

"Haha, everyone, please take your seats."

Then came another round of polite concessions and agreement.

The adults all tried their best to cooperate.

Wen Xinglan and Wen Xingrui, however, could not resist the temptation of the delicious food.

Wen Xinglan looked up at the adults who were offering their seats and said without ceremony, "I'm hungry! Time to eat!"

Wen Xingrui: "Mom!"

That's right, Wen Xingrui has recently learned to call out "Mom," and he's really enjoying it, calling out "Mom!" anytime, anywhere!

After the adults were a little more polite, Wen Xingrui raised his neck and called out "Mom" several times.

The adults couldn't stand the formalities any longer. The one who seemed to be the highest-ranking official sat down in the main seat with a smile and said, "Let's stop arguing. The children are hungry."

Everyone started teasing the child, and then they laughed heartily.

Thankfully, we can finally eat.

Wen Min moved several meat dishes to the main seat: "These are all home-style dishes, Director Zhang, please try them."

Director Zhang saw that the table was filled with a variety of dishes, both meat and vegetables, but they were all home-style cooking. When he agreed to stay for dinner, he had told Wen Min not to drink alcohol on weekdays, and there was no alcohol on the table. Director Zhang smiled very kindly: "Home-style cooking is good. I love this kind of home-style atmosphere."

Director Zhang smiled and first served a few dishes to Wen Xinglan and Wen Xingrui, saying, "Come on, the children can't go hungry, eat first."

Wen Xingrui and Wen Xinglan nodded in agreement without any hesitation.

Lou Lan hurriedly said, "Don't worry about them, you eat, I'll get them something."

Director Zhang chuckled and said, "I just love watching kids eat heartily."

Wen Xinglan and Wen Xingrui lived up to expectations, eating with gusto and making their leader very happy.

After serving food to the child, Director Zhang then served food to Wen Min and Lin's father, who were sitting next to him. After exchanging a few more polite words with them, he finally served himself a piece of loofah and urged everyone to eat quickly and not to be too polite.

Director Zhang often ate loofah, though he didn't particularly like it. He always felt it had a fishy smell, and its skin was hard while the inside was soft, making the texture quite disjointed. However, when someone invited him to dinner and served him the dish, it would be impolite not to eat it, especially since the person inviting him was a subordinate. He was genuinely afraid they would overthink things. Although he himself hadn't thought much of it, his subordinates always tended to overthink. Director Zhang sighed inwardly and put the loofah in his mouth.

I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. The loofah was sweet and fresh, and the free-range chicken was fragrant. Without too many seasonings, the two flavors blended together perfectly, rich but not greasy. The loofah skin was softened by the chicken fat and wasn't hard at all. "Delicious!"

As Director Zhang spoke, he picked up a few more pieces of loofah, saying, "I never expected loofah and chicken to taste so good together!"

"I always said Fusheng is a great cook. Any dish he puts together becomes a perfect match. Director Zhang, try some other dishes," said Mr. Lin.

Director Zhang ate several other dishes with great anticipation. The cured pork stir-fried with green beans was increasingly fragrant with each chew; the fish head tofu soup was fresh and tender; even the stir-fried bok choy was exceptionally sweet and delicious. Every dish was amazing. "Hmm, really good. Each dish has its own unique flavor, and each one tastes very good. Even big restaurants might not be able to make it taste like this. It's so delicious. I didn't expect Fusheng to be such a good cook at such a young age."

As a leader, you need to learn to encourage others so they will be willing to do things for you. Leaders praising people has almost become a habit, but how much of it is genuine and how much is not remains to be seen. However, Director Zhang was certain that his praise for An Fusheng at this moment was from the bottom of his heart. In the morning, he may have felt a little sorry for An Fusheng, a graduate student from a political and legal university, who did not do a job that was more suitable for him after graduation, but instead came to a small welfare home to work as a cook. He felt that An Fusheng was not ambitious enough. But now he was very glad that An Fusheng came to the welfare home to cook.

Doing civil affairs work is not easy. You are tied to the masses, and there are many trivial matters. Just ensuring that nothing goes wrong is already exhausting. But if you don't have innovation and outstanding achievements, your superiors will never see your efforts. Director Zhang has been in his current position for too long. He wants to climb higher, so he agreed to Wen Min's proposal to open a restaurant. Wen Min's report card for him last year was acceptable, but this achievement is far from enough. He wants to try again, so he agreed to Wen Min's proposal to build a restaurant. Actually, he was very uneasy. He was tired of this position, but there were many people who were envious. If he was not careful, someone might kick him to some corner to read the newspaper. However, after eating this meal today, he had more confidence in the future.

The leaders were satisfied with the meal, and everyone relaxed, with some even starting to make jokes.

"Wen Min, you've been eating so well behind our backs?"

"What's wrong with me taking care of the children at the orphanage and feeding them well every day? Besides, he's my own son, shouldn't I enjoy some comfort?"

"Don't say that, he's someone else's son whom they raised themselves, you really can't be jealous."

Everyone burst into laughter again.

After laughing, they continued chatting, from food to raising and educating children, and then to the food culture and martial arts heritage of their grandparents' hometown.

An Fusheng, Zhao Lin, Wen Yue, Ji Fengnian, and others would exchange glances from time to time.

Why do they have so much to talk about while eating?

have no idea.

It's none of our business.

We just need to eat.

It's delicious, eat more.

...

After the meal, everyone was very satisfied, and those who stayed to eat exclaimed that those who left early missed out on the delicious food.

After the meal, Lou's mother and Wen's mother took the guests to the tea room for tea.

Ji Fengnian and Zhao Lin stared intently at the unfinished dishes on the table.

An Fusheng: It's starting again.

Sure enough, Zhaolin and Ji Fengnian quickly shoveled the unfinished dishes on the table into their own bowls.

Wen Yue asked in bewilderment, "Why do they all like to mix dishes together? What kind of new cuisine is this?"

An Fusheng: "Supplementary foods for teenagers".

Wen Yue nodded knowingly.

Actually, Zhaolin was quite polite when he ate, he just ate a lot. But after eating at the same table with Ji Fengnian, he found that if he didn't eat quickly, Ji Fengnian would finish all the food. If he ate one dish at a time, he wouldn't be able to eat several dishes. So he chose to become another food-grabbing maniac.

Wen Yue: "When the two of them are together, it's like we're not getting enough to eat every day?"

"That's great." An Fusheng was pleased with the outcome; with them around, he wouldn't have to eat leftovers anymore.

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Author's note: Happy Dragon Boat Festival everyone! [pats head][pats head][pats head]