"Have you washed the vegetables? Bring them to me after washing them." Master Yun shouted from the other side.
Ye Tian quickly brought the washed vegetables to the stove.
The National Day holiday was approaching, and the school was closed for seven days. All three roommates went home, leaving Ye Tian alone at school.
She had no money to travel, let alone go back to her uncle's house, so she could only wander around the free places in the city.
During the National Day holiday, most students were not in school, so few people came to the cafeteria to eat. The third cafeteria also arranged a duty shift, with only half of the staff working every day.
Ye Tian could have taken a day off, but she volunteered to work three days, to earn money and make ends meet. Furthermore, she was paid triple her wages for those three days, and she was overjoyed when she received the money at the end of the month.
Although there are few people coming to eat, the canteen cannot be closed. Three or four people have to deal with three meals a day and a lot of cleaning work, so it is very busy.
On the 1st, only Master Yun, Xiao Li, Aunt Liu and Ye Tian were at work. Master Yun was alone in charge of two stoves and was almost overwhelmed.
This was the first time Ye Tian saw Chef Yun cook, because the other chefs either had relatives getting married, elderly people celebrating birthdays, or wives giving birth, all in the few days before the holidays. Chef Yun couldn't refuse to give them leave, so he had to cook himself.
In fact, Chef Yun initially wanted Xiao Li to cook, but he was so useless that he was in a mess and couldn't tell the difference between sugar and salt. It was really unbearable to watch.
Ye Tian and Aunt Liu finally finished washing all the vegetables and were ready to go. She saw Master Yun, who was managing two stoves by himself, and although he was doing it with ease, he was still too busy. Xiao Li was diligently chopping green onions, and there was still a pile of uncut vegetables behind him.
"Master Yun, how about I stir-fry the twice-cooked pork? I've made this dish at home before." Ye Tian thought about it, walked to the stove and volunteered.
"Can you do it?" Chef Yun still had three dishes to cook, and looking at the time, it was indeed quite tight.
"Master Yun, don't worry. I have been cooking at home for more than ten years. There is no problem making twice-cooked pork." Ye Tian's eyes were firm.
Master Yun thought about it and handed the twice-cooked pork to her with confidence, and started to cook the other two dishes.
Ye Tian brought the prepared twice-cooked pork ingredients to the stove. Chef Yun had already cooked the meat in advance, but Xiao Li didn't have time to cut it.
"Let me cut it quickly!" Xiao Li walked forward with chopped green onions still stuck on his raised hand.
Seeing that there were still a lot of garlic sprouts and green peppers to be chopped next to his cutting board, Ye Tian waved her hand and said, "Let me chop the meat, you chop the rest."
Before Xiao Li could say anything, Ye Tian rolled up her sleeves, picked up the kitchen knife nimbly, picked up a piece of cooked pork belly, and started cutting the meat into slices with the knife quickly.
Next to him, Xiao Li, who was about to continue chopping green onions, heard the sound, turned his head to look at Ye Tian's fast knife, and was so shocked that his jaw dropped.
He was truly astonished! Cooked meat wasn't easy to cut, so the process would be slow, but Ye Tian's speed was incredibly fast, and the slices looked perfectly even.
Master Yun also turned around and looked over, a little surprised for a moment.
He thought Ye Tian could cook, but it was just the level of an ordinary home cook. But when he saw her knife skills, and her speed, it was comparable to his, this was definitely not an ordinary level!
Ye Tian quickly cut the pork belly and started stir-frying the ingredients.
The canteen's doubanjiang (pixian doubanjiang) was pretty good. She first added vegetable oil, then a large spoonful of doubanjiang to the wok and sautéed them until fragrant. Then she added the chopped pork belly and began stir-frying.
Over there, Xiao Li finally finished cutting the chili peppers, garlic sprouts and other side dishes.
Ye Tian saw that the meat was almost done before adding the side dishes one by one, shaking the wok and stir-frying it a few times before preparing to serve. She saw the chicken essence in the seasoning box and, following local customs, scooped a little with a spatula and added it to the dish. She stir-fried it a few more times before picking up the wok and pouring the dish into a stainless steel plate.
In fact, she herself doesn’t like the umami taste of chicken essence, and prefers the original taste of food.
Over there, Xiao Li, who had finished his work, was curious about Ye Tian's cooking and actually took a bowl and chopsticks and waited by the side. "Give me some," he shouted.
Ye Tian smiled, scooped some food with a shovel and put it into his bowl.
He unceremoniously picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and put it directly into his mouth. The aroma of the charred meat mixed with the fragrance of fermented soybeans danced on his tongue. He didn't even bother to speak before picking up a second piece of meat with his chopsticks.
After Chef Yun finished frying the Mapo Tofu, he came over to take a look at Ye Tian's finished dish. He looked at the dish, then at Ye Tian, then at the dish again. This twice-cooked pork already had the color and aroma of the first two. The pork belly slices were golden brown, and the green peppers and garlic sprouts were emerald green. It was very pleasing to the eye.
He couldn't help but pick up a pair of chopsticks. "Not bad, the flavor is there." Master Yun tasted it carefully and gave a rare compliment.
"Mmmmm, delicious!" Xiao Li gave a thumbs-up. "Chef Yun's mapo tofu is so tender and smooth, it's a must-try. I didn't expect the sweet twice-cooked pork to be so good too. The students who came to eat here today are in for a treat!"
"There is one more cabbage with vinegar left. Why don't you try it?" Master Yun thought for a moment and wanted to test Ye Tian to see how she cooked other dishes.
"Okay." Ye Tian was just hoping for that. She was usually calm, but now she showed a little pride.
For her, stir-fried cabbage with vinegar is a piece of cake. She is not bragging, even with her eyes closed, she can cook it to the perfect doneness. It is so delicious that people drool just by smelling it.
Ye Tian skillfully scrubbed the wok and heated up the oil again. She seemed to have done this countless times and looked very skilled.
After the dried chilies in the oil change color, add Ye Tian and stir-fry the cabbage. When it is almost done, add appropriate amount of light soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and a little oyster sauce to enhance the flavor. Then stir twice over high heat and serve directly.
The movements were so smooth and fluid that Xiao Li, who had been standing still, and Aunt Liu, who came back to serve the dishes, were also stunned.
"You, you can flip the pot? How can you flip such a big pot!" Xiao Li stuttered as Ye Tian had frightened him too much today.
Chef Yun, who had been watching from the side, couldn't help but marvel. "This girl's skills are almost the same as mine, but she's less than half my age. If I saw her, I'd definitely be very impressed. I wonder where she learned her cooking skills. It really is true that the younger generation is pushing the older generation forward!"
Today, Chef Yun personally prepared the dishes, and Ye Tian also made two dishes. It can be said that those students who did not go home during the National Day holiday and were willing to come to the third canteen to eat are in for a treat.
After being laughed at by his roommate last time, Chen Chi has been unwilling to accept it. He always feels that there are great chefs in the third canteen and the usual dishes are not up to the canteen's true level.
Originally, he wanted to go home for National Day, but because his parents had to attend an event on October 1st, he wanted to eat the food cooked by the nanny when he went home, so he decided to try his luck at the third canteen again.
When the cafeteria doors opened at noon, a dozen or so students sparsely arrived with their lunch boxes, no need to queue at all. Everyone walked over to the window and took a look: Wow! It was National Day, and even the three cafeterias had improved their food.
In fact, there are not many dishes today, only six in total, namely, pickled cabbage with vinegar, mapo tofu, twice-cooked pork, fish-flavored shredded pork, dry-fried small yellow croaker and scrambled eggs with tomatoes, but it can be said that there is a combination of meat and vegetables, with both seafood and meat.
Chen Chi, the first to enter, quickly realized that today's dishes were a little different from previous ones. Looking at the color and smelling the aroma, he wondered if a master chef had created something special. He wanted to try every dish, so he simply ordered one of each of the six dishes, which totaled only a little over 40 yuan.
Because there were not many people coming to eat, Aunt Liu and Xiao Li who served the dishes gave large portions, and the four-grid public stainless steel plate used by Chen Chi was filled to the brim.
The dish was still steaming from the pot, making it very appetizing. Chen Chi took a bite of the fish-flavored shredded pork first. "Hmm, not bad. This is how it's done in the north. They add sugar to the dish, giving it a light sweetness. The thickening is just right, so it absorbs the broth without being too sticky."
Then he ate another piece of twice-cooked pork. When he took a bite, the pork belly had a slightly burnt aroma, but not dry and hard. The degree of stir-frying was just right. The garlic sprouts and green peppers neutralized the greasiness of the meat very well, and the taste was very rich and layered.
The pickled cabbage was very refreshing and he ate two mouthfuls in a row; the mapo tofu was spicy, fresh and fragrant, and very tender, and went very well with rice; the scrambled eggs with tomatoes were average, but also good; the dry-fried small yellow croaker was golden and crispy, and you could chew it with the fish bones, and the more you chew, the more delicious it became.
Chen Chi had a very sensitive palate. After trying all six dishes, he discovered his favorites were the twice-cooked pork and the vinegar-fried cabbage. It felt as if they had been made by a different person, similar to the scallion oil dish he'd had before. The dishes seemed imbued with emotion, bringing joy to the experience. While the mapo tofu, shredded pork with fish-flavored sauce, and small yellow croaker were also delicious, it still felt like something was missing.
He was finally satisfied today, convinced that his thoughts were correct. The Third Canteen definitely had a hidden culinary genius, a kind of sweeping monk who didn't normally cook, and only occasionally did so, requiring luck to enjoy the food. No, maybe there were two chefs: one who made scallion oil noodles, and the other, while average, was also a celebrity chef.
It’s a pity that his roommates don’t believe it. It would be such a shame if he can’t eat it!
He wondered if the chef would be around for the next few days. Would he go home, or stay at school and eat in the third cafeteria every day?
Finally, Chen Chi decided not to go home during the National Day holiday!
From then on, he would eat in the canteen three times a day. He firmly believed that the God of Cooking would come back again.
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