In Suiyuan Food List, another dish that Ye Tian is interested in is "Duck Confused". The name of this dish was taken by Yuan Mei from his good friend Zheng Banqiao's saying "It's rare to be confused". The dish is indeed in a paste-like state, and the name is both appropriate and commemorative.
But the landlady didn’t have ducks, so Ye Tian planned to try to recreate this dish herself one day.
She also saw some food bloggers trying to recreate dishes from "Dream of the Red Chamber," which was quite interesting. She also read "Dream of the Red Chamber," borrowing it from the school library. It took her a long time, reading a little whenever she had time, and thoroughly absorbing it. She was also fascinated by the food described in the book. As for many other classics, she hasn't had time to read them yet.
Ye Tian is really too busy every day, attending classes, studying, working part-time, and shooting short videos. It seems that her life is busy every day and filled with all kinds of things. She has very little time to sit down and read.
While she's not dissatisfied with her current lifestyle—the modern pace of life is hectic, isn't it?—she occasionally craves quiet time to read and think, and to slow down. However, as a student, she's too busy to fully enjoy life.
For example, now, she followed Lu Xinyi's advice, bought a table and tableware, and was busy tidying up the house.
In pursuit of a rustic look, and also because it was affordable, she followed the trend and bought an elm wood tabletop and legs. The tabletop is polished to a smooth, glossy finish, making it a beautiful table for tea sets or meals.
She also bought coarse porcelain tableware, which was simple and elegant. She could even imagine the beauty of exquisite dishes being placed on the coarse porcelain plates.
After the arrangements were completed, she planned to invite her roommate, two friends from across the street, and Chen Chi to dinner. Next time, she planned to invite Li Bing and Xiao Juan to dinner alone, as she felt they would have something in common.
As for the dish, of course she had to try making duck pudding. Also, she had been cooking various Huaiyang dishes recently and wanted to change things up and make some spicy dishes.
Since my roommates aren't afraid of spicy food, we'll make chopped pepper fish head, flavored chicken, and stir-fried beef. But don't make it all spicy. Let's stir-fry some red choy sum, and then go to the noodle shop downstairs that sells braised pig intestines and buy half a pound of them for dry-pot pig intestines. Chicken, duck, fish, and everything else—six perfect dishes. If you make the portions a bit larger, it'll definitely feed seven people.
Moreover, these dishes are perfect for people who love to eat. Ye Tian feels that Xiaotao can finish three bowls of rice by herself.
Ye Tian first made duck porridge. The main ingredients of this dish are duck, yam and mushrooms. She bought iron stick yam, which becomes softer and more glutinous after being cooked.
Steam the duck until cooked, then tear it into small strips when it cools down and chop it a bit. Chop the mushrooms and yam as well, and put them into a casserole. Add the broth used to cook the duck, minced ginger, and salt, and simmer for 40-50 minutes. By this time, the dish has become a mushy mess. Sprinkle some chopped green onions and serve.
Ye Tian took a bite herself and found it rich and delicious, soft and smooth, a complete success. She thought she should fill a bowl of white rice with a large spoonful of duck paste, pour it over the rice, and then take a larger spoon and eat it in big mouthfuls.
While waiting for the duck paste to be cooked, she also made other dishes and cooked a large pot of rice. When everything was almost done, everyone arrived.
They brought fruits and drinks, and Chen Chi also brought some fruit-flavored sparkling wine with a very low alcohol content, which is also suitable for drinking when eating spicy food.
Everyone was not polite and invited each other to sit down and start eating. Of course, the best seat was reserved for Ye Tian.
The chicken is spicy and tender, the chopped pepper fish head is fresh and spicy, the stir-fried beef is very tasty, and the dry pot pork intestines are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. They are all heavy-flavored dishes. Even Li Yue, who pays attention to her figure, started to eat the second half bowl.
Chen Chi was sitting among a group of girls. He felt a little embarrassed at first, but when he started eating, he didn't care about anything else. If he didn't hurry, he would miss out on the food.
Poor guy, he was still maintaining his gentlemanly demeanor at the beginning, but for the last spoonful of duck paste, all of it went to waste.
"I took the spoon first!" Xiao Tao said angrily.
"I was the first one to pick up the casserole." Chen Chi refused to give in.
"As a boy, you don't know how to give in to girls. You have no gentlemanly manners!" Xiao Tao didn't want to let go.
"I'm just helping you eat some of the food to prevent you from getting fat. I mean well!" Chen Chi picked up the casserole and poured it directly into his own bowl.
Xiaotao pointed her finger at Chen Chi: "You! You!" and then she was so angry that she could hardly speak.
Ye Tian looked helpless. She had never expected Chen Chi to be so excessive today. She quickly comforted Xiao Tao: "Okay, okay, Xiao Tao, ignore him. I'll make another one for you tomorrow."
Xiao Tao finally became happy and started to suck on the fish head bones. Then she hissed because of the spiciness. She quickly ate a big mouthful of rice and drank a Coke, and then she felt better.
Chen Chi was eating duck congee with rice next to him, with a smug and gloating smile on his face.
"Childish!" Xiao Tao squeezed out a word from between her teeth.
"Fatty!" Chen Chi added fuel to the fire.
"Big pig's hoof!" Xiao Tao gritted her teeth.
…
Everyone couldn't stand the two of them anymore and couldn't help laughing: "Alright, alright! Now that you're full, help Tiantian clean up the table and stop making noise!"
"snort!"
"snort!"
They both turned their heads at the same time.
Everyone's fighting power was very strong today. Not only did they eat up all the dishes, but there was not a single drop of rice left.
Seeing how clean the plates were, Ye Tian was worried that everyone wasn't full, so she suggested making two more dishes. However, everyone stopped her, saying, "Please don't make any more! We're really full!"
"If I eat like this every day, I will definitely gain weight to 120 pounds soon!" said Lu Xinyi.
Zhao Yu said proudly: "I'm not afraid, I can't get fat, I want to eat like this every day."
"Versailles!" the other girls said together.
Everyone in the room was laughing and joking, drinking the chrysanthemum tea prepared by Ye Tian. The laughter filled the small rental house. Ye Tian felt: It’s so good to be young.
Even better, she's young like everyone else.
…
The next day, Ye Tian kept her promise and made a small portion of duck paste for Xiao Taotao, paired it with a large bowl of rice, and served it to Xiao Tao in a small clay pot. Xiao Tao happily took a photo and sent it to Chen Chi on purpose, then happily ate the clay pot.
Chen Chi gave her a very angry dog head expression in return, and Xiao Tao almost choked with laughter.
Two days later, Chen Chi said he wanted to treat Ye Tian and all the girls who had dinner together that day to Western food. Ye Tian and the others thought he wanted to treat Xiao Tao.
But they were happy to do it as there was free Western food and shows to watch.
In fact, Ye Tian had never eaten authentic Western food. She had never tried steak, pasta, or thick soup. This time, she was lucky enough to have Xiao Tao help her.
Chen Chi was wealthy, so naturally the Western restaurant he found was very high-end. He also booked a private room with a lake view, which had a long table that could seat more than 10 people.
The restaurant is beautifully decorated, with plates and cutlery shining brightly, reflecting your reflection. The waiters are dressed in suits and shirts and are very polite.
It was also Xiao Tao's first time to come to a high-end Western restaurant, but she still didn't give Chen Chi a good look. She didn't like to talk anyway, so she just looked at the menu quietly, preparing to order more and eat a big meal to vent her anger.
Everyone ordered steak and different soups, and then started chatting. Only Ye Tian listened carefully to the waiter's introduction to the various parts of the cow's body.
Her restaurant had previously roasted whole lamb and beef, and while she knew each cut of meat had a different texture after being roasted, she hadn't yet broken it down into such specific categories. It seemed Western cuisine had its own refinements.
Ye Tian ordered a rib-eye steak, which is the meat from the middle of the beef ribs. The meat here is rich in fat, thick in texture, tender and juicy, with a little bit of beef tendon, which is very chewy.
Several other people ordered fillet steak or sirloin steak. Fillet is equivalent to what we often call tenderloin. The meat is leaner and tender, but there are only two pieces on a cow, so the price is more expensive.
Chen Chi also ordered some additional dishes, including garlic cream shrimp, red wine snails, foie gras, avocado salad, etc., each of which was exquisite.
As Ye Tian sipped on the clam chowder she'd ordered, she decided she might consider working at this restaurant during the summer. Learning about Western cuisine, something she'd never experienced before, seemed like a good idea.
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