The next morning, after washing up, Li Hehua quickly ate some brown rice porridge and went out again.
Today, she is going to other villages to find out which family is going to hold a wedding banquet.
Li Hehua walked out of the village along the road and headed west. The houses there were densely packed and it was obviously a big village.
After walking for about an hour, they finally arrived at the village. Li Hehua wiped the sweat from her head and found a place to sit down and rest. She wanted to wait until the sweat on her body dried and she was no longer out of breath before sitting down. Otherwise, she would look untidy, sweating profusely and giving people a bad impression.
After resting for a while, Li Hehua tidied his clothes and headed towards the village.
When the villagers saw her, they all looked at her curiously, and occasionally lowered their heads and whispered to each other. Without listening, you could tell that they were talking about her figure.
Li Hehua pretended not to see it, put on her brightest smile, walked straight to a middle-aged woman, and said with a smile: "Sister, I want to ask you something, is there anyone in your village going to have a wedding?"
The middle-aged lady looked Li Hehua up and down, then asked, "Why are you asking this? What's the matter with you coming to our village?"
Li Hehua was sweating. Why did this lady's eyes look like a scanner? This had nothing to do with her. Hey, I guess everyone here has a curious and gossipy heart.
Li Hehua had no choice but to tell the truth: "Sister, to be honest, I am a chef, but I am no longer working in my original place. I want to take on banquets from villages around me, so I came to ask if there is any in your village."
The middle-aged lady was stunned when she heard this, her eyes clearly expressed "How can you be a chef?" She was very unconvinced.
Li Hehua continued to laugh: "Big sister, I don't look like one, do I? In fact, I am a real chef, and no one can say that my cooking skills are bad. See my figure, it's all because of what I ate during all these years as a chef. I can't help it, I eat too well, and I'm getting fatter and fatter."
After hearing what Li Hehua said, the middle-aged lady believed it a little and said, "You came at the right time. There is indeed someone in our village who is going to have a wedding. It's Old Man Wang's family. You can go and ask."
Li Hehua's eyes lit up. "Sister, is that true? Then could you take the trouble to take me there? Thank you very much."
The villagers at that time were still very simple and honest, and with nothing to do, they especially liked to watch the fun. Now, when they saw a fat woman saying that she was a chef and was going to cook a banquet, they all came over curiously to listen.
Seeing that Li Hehua was going to Old Man Wang's house, everyone became interested and offered to take her there.
The middle-aged lady stood up and waved her hand, "Come with me, I'll take you there."
Li Hehua quickly thanked her: "Thank you, sister, you are such a good person."
The middle-aged lady felt very comfortable with the compliment, and the curve of her mouth became wider.
After walking for a while, they arrived at Old Man Wang’s house. The middle-aged woman walked into the yard first and shouted, “Old Man Wang! Old Man Wang! Is he here?”
The people in the room heard the shout and responded immediately: "Hey, here, here, I'm coming!"
An old man came out of the house. He was the old man Wang that the middle-aged sister called.
"Aunt Cao, what does she want me to do?"
The middle-aged lady let Li Hehua out and said, "Isn't your family going to have a wedding? This lady said she is a chef and wants to come and prepare the feast for your family."
Old man Wang's eyes fell on Li Hehua, and suspicion flashed in his eyes, "Aunt Cao, my family has already planned to hire Zhou Laogen from Hexi Village as the chef, so we don't need him anymore."
Li Hehua knew that this was a rejection, but she would not give up so easily. She stepped forward and said to Old Man Wang, "Hello, uncle. My name is Li Hehua. I am a cook. I am very skilled. No one would say that the food I cook is not good. Your family is going to hold a wedding, and the taste of the food is very important. If the food is good, it will be very prestigious, right?"
Li Hehua's words touched people's hearts. Indeed, the banquet for a wedding is a very important thing. If the banquet is delicious and the guests eat well, it is a matter of face and other families will look up to you. Therefore, even if a family is not rich, once there is a wedding, they will buy enough good dishes and then invite someone who specializes in preparing the banquet to prepare it.
Old Man Wang said, "Of course we have to prepare this banquet well. We have invited a chef who is an expert in banquet making in the surrounding villages. His cooking skills are praised by everyone."
In fact, what Old Man Wang didn’t say was, how could a young woman like you compare to a chef who has been cooking for decades?
Li Hehua sensed the distrust in Old Man Wang's words, but she didn't get angry. She just continued, "Uncle, I believe that other people's cooking skills are definitely not bad, but I also believe that my own cooking skills are definitely not worse than theirs. If I didn't have this real ability, I wouldn't dare to say this. Otherwise, let me try. I'll cook a dish and you can taste it and see whether my cooking skills are better or theirs. If you think my cooking skills are not as good as theirs, then I won't say a word of nonsense and will leave immediately."
Li Hehua's words caused the people around who were watching to talk a lot.
"This woman is so arrogant, is she just bragging?"
"Zhou Laogen has been cooking banquets for decades. Can this woman's cooking skills compare to his?"
"That's not necessarily true. She's brave enough to say she's going to try to cook a dish. Maybe she's really good at it."
At this time, someone said, "Old Wang, just let her try. It's almost time for lunch anyway, so making a dish is just right for lunch."
This statement was immediately echoed by the people around.
At this time, Wang's family members also came out. One of them, a young man who looked about 18 or 19 years old, pulled Wang's sleeve and said, "Dad, just let her try. If it doesn't work, we can just not use her. It won't be a big loss. If her food is really better than Zhou Lao's, then we will definitely let the better one prepare the feast."
Seeing that everyone was saying let her try, Old Man Wang no longer hesitated and nodded in agreement, "Okay, then let you try, but make it clear that it's a free trial, and we won't pay you."
Li Hehua quickly said, "Of course I won't charge you any money. I'm just making it for you to try."
Old man Wang turned around and said, "Then come with me. I just caught a fish today, so you can cook it."
Li Hehua was overjoyed and hurried to follow.
The villagers who were watching the fun from behind refused to leave and followed him into the kitchen. Since the kitchen was not big enough for them to stand, they stood outside and watched.
Li Hehua didn't care how many people were outside and went straight into the kitchen, where he saw a black fish that had already been killed.
Black fish is a very good ingredient for making sauerkraut fish, so Li Hehua plans to make it.
Li Hehua asked Old Man Wang: "Uncle, do you have any pickled vegetables at home? Can you bring me a bowl?"
Old man Wang nodded and said, "Okay, wait a minute." Then he asked his wife to get the sauerkraut.
Li Hehua began to process the black fish.
First, cut the thick part of the fish into slices diagonally, then cut off the head, tail, and ribs of the fish as the material for making fish soup later. Then marinate the sliced fish with egg white and cooking wine.
When marinating, Li Hehua prepares ingredients such as ginger slices, garlic, peppercorns, and chili peppers, then heats the wok and pours in oil. He then adds ginger slices, garlic cloves, peppercorns, and chili peppers and stir-frys until fragrant. He then pours the fish head, fish tail, and other soup ingredients into the wok and stir-frys, then pours in cooking wine and continues to stir-fry.
Soon, a tempting aroma came from the kitchen.
Many villagers watching didn't know what she was going to do. Besides stewing fish, fish can also be braised. Why did she slice it into pieces? And why did she need so much pickled cabbage?
Old man Wang’s wife, Aunt Wang, was also very curious and asked, "Girl, what are you doing? I seem to have never seen it before." Li Hehua continued with what he was doing and replied, "I'm making sauerkraut fish. Most people don't know how to make it." It seemed that the people here really didn't know how to make sauerkraut fish.
After hearing what Li Hehua said, everyone understood that this dish was her unique recipe, and they immediately felt more favorable towards her and believed more that she was indeed capable.
Li Hehua didn't care about other people's comments, just continued his work. After the fish pieces turned white, he poured boiling water into the pot, and then poured the pickled cabbage into the pot and cooked it with the fish soup. When the fish in the pot was cooked to 90%, he poured it into another pot. Then, he used chopsticks to evenly pick up the marinated fish slices and put them into the pot, and blanched them over high heat until they changed color and were cooked through, and then turned off the heat.
Finally, spread the dried red pepper segments and Sichuan peppercorns on the fish fillets, sprinkle with coriander, boil a large spoonful of oil and pour over it, and the sauerkraut fish is ready.
In fact, the onlookers started drooling long before the fish was even cooked. There was no way to stop them because the fish tasted so good that their mouths were watering and they couldn't wait to grab a piece to taste it.
Someone said: "This smells so good, you don't even have to eat it to know it's delicious, it's much more delicious than the dishes made by Zhou Laogen."
Many people agreed with this statement. Everyone had more or less eaten the meals prepared by Zhou Laogen, and they had always praised Zhou Laogen's cooking skills. But when they smelled the sauerkraut fish today, they could not say with a clear conscience that it was not as good as Zhou Laogen's. At least Zhou Laogen's cooking was not as delicious as this.
Old man Wang also changed from being hesitant to looking forward to it. When he saw that Li Hehua had finished, he immediately asked, "Can we eat now?"
Li Hehua nodded, "Okay, everyone try it."
As soon as these words were spoken, the Wang family members were the first to pull out chopsticks from the chopstick cage and couldn't wait to use the chopsticks to pick up the fish and eat it.
After taking the first bite, Old Man Wang paused for two seconds, his eyes slightly widened, and he glanced at Li Hehua. The next second he retracted his gaze and continued to use his chopsticks.
The other members of the Wang family did the same thing. For a while, the Wang family members were seen eating non-stop.
The crowd was waiting for the Wang family to comment, but they didn't say anything and just buried their heads in eating. What was the meaning? And it made them want to eat too.
Aunt Cao, who brought Li Hehua here, couldn't help herself and asked Old Man Wang, "Old Man Wang, what's going on? Why don't you say anything?"
Old Man Wang glanced at Aunt Cao without saying anything. After he had swallowed the food in his mouth, he stretched out his chopsticks and said, "It's delicious. I've never eaten such delicious fish."
Old Man Wang’s youngest son also took the time to say, “It’s not the fish, it’s the food that’s so delicious I’ve never eaten before.”
The people around them gasped at the words of the Wang father and son.
Is it really as delicious as they say? Is it really that exaggerated?
However, everyone's saliva was already all over the floor, and they could only watch the Wang family eat. It was really uncomfortable.
Someone was thick-skinned and said, "Old Wang, can you give me a taste too? My mouth is almost dry."
As a result, the Wang family ignored everyone and put down their chopsticks. Soon, the whole pot of pickled fish was gone, and even the pickled cabbage was eaten up cleanly.
Old Man Wang then wiped his mouth and said to the people around him, "Sorry, it's gone."
These words made the people around him very angry, but there was nothing they could do.
Li Hehua had been quietly standing aside until everyone had finished eating. Then he smiled and asked, "How is it? Can my cooking skills be enough to handle your family's feast?"
Old man Wang no longer had the aloof attitude he had before, and enthusiastically gave Li Hehua a thumbs up, "I admire you. Your cooking skills are really great. I'll leave the preparations for my family's banquet to you."
Li Hehua smiled.
Aunt Wang asked, "How much do you charge?" Such good cooking skills must not be cheap. If it is too expensive, they can't afford it.
Li Hehua didn't know the price, so he said, "I charge the same as everyone else. I charge the same as Zhou Laogen, and I won't charge more."
The Wang family laughed happily when they heard this. Old Man Wang said, "Okay, then we have a deal. We'll charge according to Zhou Laogen's rate. A table of food will cost five cents."
Li Hehua asked: "How many tables will you invite this time?"
Old man Wang held out a fist and said, "I'm going to treat ten tables this time."
This means that I can earn fifty coins each time. Considering that a steamed bun costs one coin, this price is still acceptable. So, Li Hehua nodded and said, "That's settled. I will come over early in the morning on the day when your family holds the banquet."
After that, Li Hehua discussed the specific details with the Wang family and told them some vegetables and seasonings to buy. It was not until noon that they returned home.
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