Chapter 128 Farewell Banquet for Successful Participants
First, slice the pork belly, then cut it into thick strips, and then cut it into diced meat. Then, start chopping the meat. However, Du Shaojie did not chop it too finely, retaining the appropriate granularity for a better taste.
Put the chopped meat into a bowl for later use, and he began to prepare the auxiliary ingredients and small ingredients.
Soak the mushrooms first and then squeeze out the water, and also cut them into small pieces and put them in a bowl. Chop the scallions and ginger and put them together with the mushroom pieces.
Then, cut some more ginger slices and scallions for later use.
The next step is to prepare the meat filling. Put the diced mushrooms, chopped scallions and ginger in the bowl into a bowl, add appropriate amounts of salt, pepper, soy sauce, a little yellow sauce, and then beat an egg.
Stir it evenly in one direction with your hands to make the meat filling firm.
Finally, add some starch and continue stirring. During the process, beat it several times until the meat filling sticks to the bottom of the bowl and does not fall off when turned upside down. Du Shaojie then stopped.
Then divide the meat filling into four portions, roll them into meatballs of equal size, and put them on a plate for later use.
After washing hands, start heating the pan, pour in a wide amount of oil, and raise the oil temperature to 60% hot. At this time, Du Shaojie re-rolled the meatballs and put them into the hot oil along the edge of the pan for frying.
When the meatballs are golden and their surface has hardened, take them out immediately.
Pour out the oil in the pan, then add chopped scallions, ginger slices, two star anises, a little cinnamon, and quickly pour in boiling water.
Boil the water, add soy sauce, salt, a little cooking wine, a little white sugar, and then put in the meatballs to stew.
Du Shaojie looked at the time. There was still 1 hour and 20 minutes before the end of the game, so the stewing time was set within 1 hour.
After 45 minutes, he blanched the cleaned rapeseed.
The method used is "oil and water frying", that is, put oil in the pan first, add an appropriate amount of hot water and some salt after the oil is heated, and finally put in the rapeseed.
After the rapeseed is cooked, take it out and place it around the plate as a side dish and embellishment.
When the meatballs are cooked, remove them and place them on a plate. Remove the spices and impurities from the pot, add water starch to thicken the soup, drizzle a little oil, and pour the thick soup on the four meatballs.
This [Four Joy Meatballs] is done.
At this time, there were 10 minutes left before the end of the game. Du Shaojie raised his hand to indicate that he had successfully completed the second round of the game.
Next came the judging and scoring session. Du Shaojie's overall score was 93 points, while his opponent's overall score was only 76 points, and there was no suspense about the outcome.
Du Shaojie successfully entered the third round of the game, which was scheduled for next month, that is, after the Spring Festival.
The preliminary round was not difficult for him at all, but the long competition made him feel a little tired. Of course, he could understand that on the one hand, it was close to the New Year, and on the other hand, the time for the rematch was scheduled in late March, so no one was in a hurry.
After leaving the arena, Du Shaojie did not go to the unit, but went directly home.
Tomorrow is Sunday, and he has applied for a rotation in advance, and will go to work on Monday.
"I knew you would come back. I left you some food at noon. Did you eat it? If not, I'll heat it up for you. How was your result in the competition today? Yan Zi came to sit for a while this morning and asked about it."
Wang Yuxiu was sewing and couldn't help laughing when she saw her son.
Qi Yan's family came to inform them a few days ago that they would invite Du Shaojie's family, Su Dapeng's family and Liang Meiqin's parents to dinner at home tonight.
She guessed that her son would go to help, so she left him some food at noon, but who knew he would come back so late.
"We won the competition, and the next round will have to wait until after the Chinese New Year. Mom, take a rest, I'll heat up the food myself."
Du Shaojie's family, Qi Yan and Su Dapeng all knew that he was participating in the competition.
But no one took it seriously. After all, none of them knew that the follow-up effects of this competition would only gradually emerge in the next few years.
After saying that, he turned and went to the kitchen.
After eating his fill, Du Shaojie rested for half an hour, then got up and went to Qi Yan's house.
When he walked in, he saw Qi Yan and her parents were busy, so he said, "What do you need me to do? I'm taking a break in the afternoon, so I'm just sitting around doing nothing."
"You look relaxed, and I know you've definitely won the game! I don't need your help now, but how about you show off your cooking skills tonight? I want to eat the dishes you cook."
Qi Yan smiled slightly, not treating Du Shaojie as an outsider at all.
Qi's mother rolled her eyes at her daughter, "We're inviting people to dinner today, so how can we let the guests cook? You look like you dislike the dishes your mother cooks?"
"Auntie, we've been neighbors for many years, so there's no need to be so particular. Let me see what we've prepared today. I'll cook two of my specialties for you later."
Du Shaojie immediately interrupted, and Qi Yan blinked at her mother with pride.
He looked around and saw that the Qi family had prepared a rich variety of ingredients. There were chickens, fish, pork, beef, and mutton, as well as frozen tofu, sweet potato vermicelli, a few kinds of green vegetables, and pork kidneys.
Du Shaojie thought that he could make a [Kung Pao Chicken] and another [Chicken Soup]. The fish was carp, which was just right for [Sweet and Sour Carp]. It was a shape of a fish leaping over a dragon gate, which was both beautiful and delicious.
"Uncle Qi, Auntie, have you decided what dish to make? If you haven't, I can help you with some advice."
Du Shaojie certainly couldn't interfere, so he asked politely.
Qi's mother was immediately amused: "How can you be so thoughtful, kid? When it comes to cooking, we are all laymen, and you are the expert. Anyway, there are only these things at home, what dishes can you cook?"
Du Shaojie smiled embarrassedly, first said a few dishes he had just thought of, and then continued to add: "There are also [fried barbecue], [beef stew], [stir-fried kidney], and three vegetarian dishes and a chicken soup to complete it."
Counting it all, it was exactly eight dishes and one soup, the level of a banquet.
"See, I said you are a professional, right? So, I will stew the chicken soup, and I will also take care of the three vegetarian dishes, and the rest is yours."
Qi's mother didn't bother to be polite with Du Shaojie, and made the decision happily.
Of course, the happiest person was Qi Yan, who actually knew very well why the other party took the initiative to come to help today. So, she got up to wash her hands, and then made a cup of Maojian for Du Shaojie.
This tea is still Qi Yan's father's collection, and he usually doesn't want to drink it.
After all the things were cleaned, Du Shaojie went to the kitchen to prepare various ingredients. There was no way, Qi's mother's knife skills were far from what he required, so he had to do it himself.
Before dusk, all preparations were ready, just waiting for the guests to come.
At the appointed time, Wang Yuxiu arrived first with Xiaomei and Xiaoya, followed by Su Dapeng, his mother, and Liang Meiqin's parents.
Su Dapeng's father did not come. The other party had a temporary shift today and needed to work the night shift, so he really couldn't make time.
Du Shaojie immediately started to heat the pot and stir-fry. One delicious dish after another was served on the table, which really let everyone see the speed of serving dishes that only big restaurants can have.
The last three vegetarian dishes were also fried by him. Except for the chicken soup, all the dishes today were from his handicraft.
"Come on, Shaojie, sit down quickly."
Qi's mother greeted Du Shaojie with a smile and asked him to sit next to Qi Yan.
Qi's father pointed at the Sweet and Sour Carp and said, "What a great dish! It's really appropriate. Yan Zi was able to get into college thanks to the help of all the neighbors, especially Shaojie, who is young but has great vision. Sometimes a word can make a person successful."
"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it! Let's congratulate Yan Zi on her success first."
Du Shaojie shook his head repeatedly, and then Liang Meiqin's parents raised their glasses. Everyone said a blessing, and the banquet officially began.
There were many people drinking tonight. Qi Yan and her parents, Liang Meiqin's parents, Su Dapeng and his mother, and Du Shaojie all raised their glasses. Wang Yuxiu and the two girls didn't drink, so they had to drink tea instead of wine.
Then everyone started eating. When they moved their chopsticks, they found that the dishes today were so delicious that the dishes made by the chefs in the restaurant were just like this.
Liang's father and mother looked at each other. They found that Du Shaojie's cooking skills had improved a lot, and now they didn't even have the qualifications to comment on him.
Su Dapeng's mother was even more shocked. She had only heard that Du Shaojie's cooking skills were good, but she had no clear concept of how good he was.
She had only eaten [Dezhou Braised Chicken] a few times, so it was difficult to draw a correct conclusion.
Today's table of dishes can roughly represent Du Shaojie's level, allowing Su's mother to have a more comprehensive understanding of Du Shaojie's cooking skills.
In her heart, this is the level of a chef. This childhood friend of her son is extraordinary!
"Shaojie, let's have a match with Yan Zi. Meiqin left first, Yan Zi followed closely, and in the end, only the two of us were left."
Su Dapeng pulled Qi Yan and Du Shaojie to chat. Several elders were also chatting enthusiastically. Only Xiaomei and Xiaoya buried their heads in eating. Anyway, they couldn't get a word in.
Du Shaojie didn't show much sadness, or he wasn't sad at all.
After all, he was a human being in two lives, and there were many things that could be thought of. One has his own life, and others have their own lives. If one day the lives of two people overlap again, perhaps fate has arrived.
However, Qi Yan was not as rational as him, and her eyes were red unconsciously.
Fortunately, she knew how to restrain herself. She used the excuse of washing her face to calm down before sitting down at the table again.
In general, the dinner was a great pleasure for both the host and the guests. Before leaving, everyone took out gifts for Qi Yan, which were basically pens, scarves, diaries and so on.
Only Du Shaojie's gift was the most special, a bag of beef jerky he made himself.
This thing was very troublesome to make, and it took him a lot of thought. But it was not that difficult, because he was too busy.
"Shaojie, I like the gift you gave me very much. My mother said that she would go to my aunt's house for the Spring Festival this year, and then go directly to school after the Spring Festival."
After eating and drinking, the guests left one after another, and Wang Yuxiu also returned home with her two daughters in advance.
Du Shaojie left a little later, and then took a stroll outside with Qi Yan.
Because Qi Yan's family was going to another place to celebrate the New Year, this meal was actually a farewell banquet, no wonder she secretly cried today.
Du Shaojie had a premonition, otherwise he wouldn't have taken the initiative to come over and cook today.
(End of this chapter)
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