Zhang Shixun returned to the kitchen, made a small ball of dough and kneaded it in his hands, then he skillfully washed the rice and put it into the steamer to steam.
Free up your hands to prepare the ingredients for cooking. The shredded pork and leeks have already been cut. This is a dish that has been prepared earlier.
Li Shishi and Ding Dusai are here, so it’s not enough to just make one dish. We have tofu at home, so we can make some tofu with green onions, which is both easy and refreshing.
There is also a fish, which has been washed and peeled by the seller when I bought it. Stir-frying the white fish fillets is a good choice.
In folk culture, three kinds of animals are prepared when offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors. Therefore, it is unlucky to stir-fry three dishes, and one more must be added. This is easy to do. Scrambled eggs with chopped green onions is a common home-cooked dish in later generations, but it may not have been practiced in this era.
After the rice is steamed, start stir-frying immediately. With the "sizzling" sound of chopped green onions being put into the oil pan, the aroma of green onions immediately spreads.
In the living room, Li Shishi sniffed and said in surprise, "It smells so good?"
"I'll go and take a look." Ding Dusai couldn't sit still anymore, so he tiptoed to the kitchen door and looked inside quietly.
"What are you peeking at outside? If you want to see, come in." Zhang Shixun turned his head and smiled.
"What are you cooking? We can smell the aroma from the living room." Since he was discovered, Ding Dusai simply walked into the kitchen with confidence.
"It's just a home-cooked meal, nothing special." Zhang Shixun stir-fried the shredded pork. When he felt it was almost done, he picked up a piece of mutton with his chopsticks and pushed it towards Ding Dusai, saying, "Try it and see if it's done."
Ding Dusai didn't hesitate. He opened his little mouth and blew on it, then chewed it slowly. He frowned at first, then smiled brightly and said, "Fragrant! Fresh! Oh, it's so delicious."
"Don't just praise it. Is it cooked?" Zhang Shixun couldn't help laughing when he saw her exaggerated look.
"It's cooked!" Ding Dusai swallowed the food in his mouth and licked his tongue.
Zhang Shixun put the fried leeks and shredded pork into the prepared empty plate, then washed the wok with clean water and put it back on the coal stove.
"Can I learn to cook from you?" Ding Dusai looked at Zhang Shixun's skillful movements with some envy.
"This is my family heirloom and is generally not passed on to outsiders." Zhang Shixun said half-truthfully.
"Oh! So that's it." Ding Dusai was very disappointed.
Looking at her pretty face, Zhang Shixun thought to himself: What a silly girl, my hint is so obvious, if you marry me, you will become my wife, right?
The wok was heated up and Zhang Shixun began to add oil into it. He noticed from the corner of his eye that Ding Dusai was watching his every move without blinking.
"I've never seen cooking like this. Why do you pour oil into a dry, hot pan?" Ding Dusai couldn't help but ask.
"Because you are a beauty." Zhang Shixun answered the question irrelevantly, and the meaning of sarcasm was very obvious.
"You are so bad. I am asking you something serious." Ding Dusai pouted.
"If you and I were a family, I would tell you the secret of cooking." Zhang Shixun glanced at her beautiful face and finally couldn't help but say this.
"You are not a good person, you bully me." Ding Dusai blushed immediately, stomped his feet and said something, then turned and ran away.
Zhang Shixun's face also felt a little hot, and he secretly reminded himself to keep calm.
You have to cast a long line to catch a big fish.
Ding Dusai is a mermaid, of course a big fish.
"Saisai, what's wrong with you?" Li Shishi in the living room saw that Ding Dusai looked a little unnatural, so she asked her.
"Nothing." Ding Dusai calmed down and said, "Sister, I just wanted to learn how to cook from him, but he told me it was his family's secret, so I was embarrassed to just stand there and watch."
"I think Young Master Zhang is a good man. He's handsome, versatile, and he can cook. He's truly a rare talent," Li Shishi observed Ding Dusai's expression as she spoke. "These past few days, rumors have been circulating in Tokyo that someone with exceptional martial arts skills has emerged from the martial arts exam. Could it be Mr. Zhang?"
Ding Dusai nodded and said, "You heard about it too? Isn't it him?"
"I wonder if my sister likes him?" asked Li Shishi.
"Sister, what do you mean?" When Ding Dusai was asked by her, his face immediately turned red, he lowered his head, and his heart started beating fast.
Li Shishi smiled and said, "If you're interested, I can help you with this. I can ask someone..."
Before she could finish, Ding Dusai interrupted her and said, "Sister, don't worry. My father will definitely not agree. You know, he wants me to marry a man from a noble family."
Li Shishi sighed and said no more.
Ding's grandfather had been a director of the Imperial Music Bureau, and had extensive connections with the royal family and nobles. However, Ding's father had no position or power, and his talents were average, so his connections were much worse.
Ding Dusai is an only child with extraordinary talent and ability. Her father is determined to marry her into a family of officials.
Recently, King Yi had a younger son who wanted to take Ding Dusai as a concubine. Ding's father was somewhat tempted, but Ding Dusai would rather die than agree. The father and daughter even had a big fight over this matter.
"The food is here." Zhang Shixun entered the living room carrying two plates of steaming hot food. "You two ladies must be starving, right?"
"We are not hungry. Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Zhang." Li Shishi stood up.
"It's nothing. Even if you don't come, I still have to eat, right?" Zhang Shixun said with a smile and turned to serve other dishes.
Li Shishi and the other person also came over and helped to serve the rice and dishes. Zhang Shixun looked at their clumsy behavior and did not stop them. Instead, he carried a jar of wine to the living room.
"Did you leave any food for your cousin?" Ding Dusai asked.
"I'm keeping it."
Zhang Shixun noticed that the two women took off their beards and placed them on the table.
When everything was ready, Zhang Shixun picked up the wine bowl and said, "I'm so happy to have a beautiful lady visit me. The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, let's celebrate it in advance... Cheers, both of you!"
"Cheers!" Li Shishi and the other two did not refuse and drank the wine together.
Zhang Shixun picked up his chopsticks and said enthusiastically, "Come on! Come on! Try my cooking."
The two women were a little polite and then picked up the dishes in front of them with dignity to taste them.
"Wow!" Li Shishi exclaimed, picking up a piece of white fish fillet and asking, "What is this? Why is it so fresh and tender?"
"This dish is called white fish slices. Use a knife to slice the fish into thin slices before putting it in the pan. The fish bones have been removed. Just put it in the pan and stir-fry." Zhang Shixun explained to her patiently.
"Stir-fry?" Li Shishi's beautiful big eyes flickered, and she seemed very puzzled.
"Yes, stir-fry. Pour oil into a hot pan, and then pour in the meat and vegetables to cook. This method sounds simple but is not easy to do. You need to control the heat and put the ingredients in at the right time. The same ingredients, when cooked by different people, may taste completely different. As the saying goes, a slight difference can lead to a huge mistake." Zhang Shixun deliberately made the process sound very complicated.
A few days ago, when Zhang Shixun was drinking with He Ji and others in a restaurant, he specifically asked the restaurant's tea and wine doctor. He learned that stir-frying actually already existed in the Song Dynasty, but it was not popular. Only a few large restaurants had chefs who mastered this cooking skill, and it was kept secret. Even banquets in the palace were mainly steamed, boiled, and fried.
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