A farming master in Stardew Valley

Chapter 155: BBQ Outlook

After chatting with Emily for a while, Gus walked out of the kitchen carrying a large tray of food.

"Gus, thank you for your hard work."

Leon waited for Guts to place the food in front of him, then thanked him.

"Haha, it's not hard. After all, I'm a chef. It's my duty to cook delicious food for the guests." Guts waved his hand and smiled at Leon and replied, "The Star Fruit will always welcome you, Leon."

"Hahaha, then I will come to bother you often in the future." Leon agreed with a smile.

"Okay." Gus nodded, and then reminded Leon: "But I still suggest that you cook for yourself occasionally. I heard from Emily that you are an excellent cook and have developed some new cooking methods. I think you have the potential to become a great chef. Don't waste this talent because of laziness."

"Hahaha, that's not something I researched. It's just the cooking method of my hometown." Leon explained with a smile.

"That's about it. Anyway, I still hope that you can improve your cooking skills, so that maybe we can have additional cooking exchanges in the future." Gus said, and then leaned close to Leon's ear and whispered.

"If you want to learn a new recipe, I can give you my personal recipe. This is Old Gus's secret recipe, so don't tell anyone else."

"Isn't this inappropriate?" Lyon was a little moved when he heard this. After all, he and Gus had only known each other for a short time, and the other party was already planning to teach him everything he knew. This made Lyon a little flattered.

"There's nothing inappropriate about it. After all, only through constant communication and learning can we further improve our cooking skills. Besides, I don't have any children. If I don't teach you, my friend who has a talent for cooking, those recipes that I have modified and improved myself will be wasted." Gus patted Leon's shoulder and encouraged him.

"Don't you plan to find an apprentice to pass on the tradition?" Lyon asked.

Gus replied with a wry smile, "Few young men in Stardew Valley like to cook. Some girls are interested, but their physical strength can't withstand the high-intensity work environment in the kitchen." (Gus's opinions do not reflect the author's! Please don't extend the character's views to programmers. I hope you understand and thank you!)
"How about I exchange recipes with you?" Leon suggested.

"That's even better. I look forward to seeing your recipe, but your task now is to fill your stomach first." Gus nodded happily, but did not forget to remind Leon to eat.

"Okay, it's a deal."

Leon extended his hand and bumped fists with Gus before picking up his knife and fork and starting to enjoy his dinner.

The dinner that Gus prepared for himself was very special. The staple food was bread stuffed with ham. There were both meat and vegetarian dishes. The meat dishes were basically fish dishes with bones removed, coated with starch and squeezed until golden, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and full of juice.

The vegetarian dish is not a simple salad, but a cooking method of blanching, baking and sprinkling seasonings. It tastes very similar to grilled vegetable skewers, but without chili powder and cumin, and has a sweet and sour taste.

"This is a modified dish I came up with after hearing Emily describe your cooking method. I tried it before and it seemed okay, but I always felt like something was missing. The dehydrated vegetables with the salad dressing don't taste as refreshing as fresh vegetables. Do you have any suggestions?"

Looking at Leon eating his special vegetables, Guts couldn't help but ask.

"How do you plan to cook the vegetables?" Lyon asked.

“A new flavor that maintains the original flavor of the ingredients even after dehydration,” Gus concluded.

"Then the cooking you need should be charcoal grilling and seasoning with spices." Lyon answered Gus's question according to the barbecue cooking style.

"Spices? Things like laurel, nutmeg, sage, and rosemary?" Gus thought for a moment and asked, "Won't the strong smell of the spices mask the unique flavor of the ingredients?"

"You don't need these. The best spices to choose are chili powder, cumin and other spicy seasonings. These spicy foods can stimulate the appetite. As long as you don't use too much, they can better bring out the taste of the vegetables themselves and add a charcoal-grilled flavor to the food." Lyon explained.

"I see. It's an interesting combination. Just thinking about this style of food, you can guess how stimulating it is to the taste buds. It seems to be very suitable for pairing with beer."

Gus is indeed a great chef. Just by listening to Leon's description, he can analyze the most suitable way to eat barbecue.

"Indeed, we can refer to the BBQ method, just replace the meat with vegetables. Of course, meat can also be grilled in this way, and it may also have good results." Lyon gave an example. He and Gus had been chatting for so long that he couldn't help but recall his favorite late-night snack spot, the barbecue stall.

If Guts makes barbecue with the Stardrop, then it would be great to make an exception and have a beer and some skewers every now and then.

"That's a great idea indeed. I'll try it later. If it tastes good, I'll add it to the tavern's menu." Gus was quite tempted and quickly reminded Leon. "I'll write to let you know when the time comes. You must come and evaluate it. If you're willing, we can even develop this new recipe together. If it works well, I'll give you a share of the profits from your technology investment."

"Forget it, forget it. I can help and give suggestions, but there's no need for dividends. If you make delicious food, I will benefit too, right?" Leon quickly declined, fearing that Gus would really tie him up and have a barbecue with him.

"If it wasn't closing time yet, I would have been tempted to go to the kitchen and start researching." Gus looked at his shop full of customers and complained with regret.

Emily, who had been listening in on the side, chuckled and joked, "I haven't seen Gus this excited in a long time. Leon, it seems like you can talk to anyone."

"Maybe it's because I know a little bit about everything." Leon said.

Lyon, who comes from the era of information explosion, actually has a very broad range of knowledge. Under the impact of a large number of short videos and other fragmented information, people's values ​​and knowledge have been wildly expanded.

As long as you can filter out junk information, in the Internet age, you can even learn the theoretical knowledge of making an atomic bomb at home. Of course, how to obtain the materials is another matter.

"Okay, you young people can chat, and as for me, an old guy, I'd better busy myself with my kitchen work."

Gus glanced at Leon and Emily, then winked at them, then quickly retreated to the kitchen and hid, then made a sudden move and ran away.

Emily looked at Gus helplessly as he left, and then explained to Leon: "Gus just likes to joke around. I won't bother you anymore. You should eat first."

Then, without waiting for Leon to answer, Emily walked to the wine cabinet area behind the bar and began to clean the empty wine glasses, as if she was deliberately avoiding Leon to make him less embarrassed.

Seeing this, Leon shrugged helplessly. Without Emily's ingredients, he had to continue enjoying his dinner.

He didn't put down his knife and fork until he had finished eating everything on the plate and burped.

The portion Gus prepared was really sufficient. If Leon hadn't wanted to waste food, he would have stopped eating two minutes ago. However, he looked at the small half piece of fish fillet left and some leftover vegetables at the bottom of the plate.

He still tried hard to eat all of it, and now the food was almost stuck in Leon's throat.

"Actually, you don't need to work so hard. Gus won't blame you if you can't eat. Come, drink some water. It should make you feel better."

As soon as Leon finished eating, Emily poured a cup of hot water into Leon's cup and helped clean up the tableware left by Leon.

"Well, thank you."

Leon took a sip of water and did not forget to thank Emily. This girl always showed her care in the smallest details. If Leon was not ambitious, he would have officially launched an offensive against Emily long ago.

Emily just smiled at this, then after cleaning up the dishes, she sent them to the kitchen and brought Leon's bill for tonight from Gus.

Glancing at the number on the bill, Leon was a little confused: “Isn’t this price right?”

"There's nothing wrong." Emily picked up the bill and took another look at it, then explained to Leon, "You mean the vegetables weren't included in the bill? This is an experimental dish, and it won't be charged until it's finished. Only the fish fillet and ham bread were included. Everyone knows this."

"Are you sure?" Leon was still a little worried that Guts was giving him a backdoor.

"Of course, everyone in Pelican Town has experienced this kind of experimental dish before, and everyone is happy to help Gus taste his new dish. Gus gets suggestions on how to improve the dish, and the customers get free food. It's a win-win situation."

Emily looked as if she was used to it, and was even worried that Leon wouldn't believe her, so she called Pam, a middle-aged woman with golden curly hair who happened to come over to refill her drinks, as a witness.

"You're talking about experimental dishes? That's something we've had for a long time, but I think Guts should be launching experimental drinks."

Pam spoke with a slightly slurred accent, while shouting to Emily, "Emily, another beer, and I'll pay for it."

　Recently I see that everyone wants to see expansion mods. To be honest, I have only used functional mods before and have never played expansion mods. I will install it and try it out later, and then consider whether to add it or not. In fact, I myself have the idea of ​​expanding the Stardew Valley map, and I have already laid several pits, so there is no need to worry about the content.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)