Traveling to an ancient peasant family: I got rich by doing business

Everyone was a little slow to react when they heard the words "stewed pork".

Because Princess Jianing was present at this cooking competition, they all thought that the dishes would be those that sounded elegant and were delicate to cook, but in the end it was stewed pork that ordinary people can cook.

Everyone was puzzled.

But the note was drawn by Princess Jianing, and no one dared to raise any objections.

After the shock of the first dish’s name, everyone no longer felt much when they heard that the second dish was cold vegetables.

Fortunately, the third dish gave everyone some hope. The third dish was sweet and sour fish fillet. This dish tested both knife skills and cooking temperature and was not easy to make.

After the three dishes were finished, Li Yu and Cheng Danian walked to the kitchen of Tianxianglou together. Han Xiaomei followed behind Li Yu, who would help light the fire while the dishes were being cooked. Cheng Danian also brought an assistant, a boy about the same age as Han Zheng.

The figures of several people disappeared, and the shopkeeper of Tianxianglou turned around and walked towards the kitchen. The little girl next to Princess Jianing called out to him, "What are you doing in the kitchen?"

The shopkeeper laughed, "Competitions must be supervised."

"It's not your turn to be supervised." The little girl ran outside, and after a while, she came in with three men and three women.

Someone in the crowd was sharp-eyed and asked, "Aren't those the young masters and young ladies of the Zhou, Qi, and Chen families?"

"It's these people." The little girl turned around and said, "These people are here to supervise today."

After saying that, she led the group to the kitchen.

The shopkeeper of Tianxianglou couldn't help but said, "Princess, these people are all from wealthy families and don't know how to cook. Isn't it inappropriate to let them take care of it?"

Princess Jianing took a sip from the water cup. "Why not? The young masters and young ladies of the Zhou, Qi, and Chen families have always been at odds with each other. Letting them supervise together will ensure the fairness of the competition."

Tianxianglou shopkeeper: "......" It is indeed appropriate to say so. These young men and women love to grab the limelight and will not give in to each other. In order to leave their names in front of the princess this time, they will definitely keep a close eye on the two contestants to prevent them from making any small moves.

*

For today's competition, the Tianxianglou kitchen was divided into two areas. Each area had three pots and the same ingredients were placed on the stove.

Since it takes one hour to cook, and all three dishes can be served after one hour, there is plenty of time, so Li Yu is not in a hurry and cooks slowly.

First, pour water into one of the pots, add onions, ginger, rice wine and pork belly cut into small pieces, and turn on the fire to boil until the blood foam comes out.

Then take out the meat, wash it, and stir-fry it with sugar to color it.

Hearing the sizzling sound of meat and oil coming from Li Yu's side, Cheng Danian laughed sarcastically: "It's been a quarter of an hour and she's just started frying the meat. She really can't cook."

Li Yu didn't hear Cheng Danian's comments and concentrated on making the pork belly.

Stir-fry some of the oil in the meat and change its color. Then drain the oil and add an appropriate amount of water, a small amount of wine, bay leaves, onions, ginger, sauce and other seasonings. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat.

Reminding Han Xiaomei to pay attention to the heat, Li Yu picked up a knife on the chopping board and prepared to kill the fish.

Making cold vegetables is really simple, and it’s never too late to make them at the end.

*

In the middle of the two areas, the young men and ladies from the Zhou, Qi and Chen families leaned their heads over to watch Li Yu cook.

Seeing Li Yu knocking the fish unconscious with a grindstone, Miss Zhou screamed, "How cruel!"

Master Qi couldn't stand her, rolled his eyes and said, "You just scream all day long. If you are really scared, don't eat fish in the future."

The weakness on Miss Zhou's face disappeared completely, and she glanced at Master Qi, "What does it have to do with you whether I eat or not?"

Master Qi said, "It's none of my business, but I just can't stand your expression."

"Sister Zhou, Brother Qi, it's all my fault, please stop arguing." Miss Chen shook her handkerchief, tears welling up in her eyelashes, looking so weak that she couldn't take care of herself.

Miss Qi couldn't bear to watch it any longer, and said sternly, "Have you forgotten why we came here today?"

Several people fell silent for a moment, then turned to look at Cheng Danian at the same time.

Cheng Danian was also killing fish. He grabbed a grass carp with one hand and stabbed a pair of scissors into the fish's belly while the fish was still struggling.

Several people:"……"

It’s better to watch Chef Li kill the fish. At least it’s not so bloody.

*

While the fish was motionless, Li Yu quickly gutted it, then scraped off the scales, removed the gills, removed the thorns, and sliced ​​it. His movements were as smooth as flowing water and pleasing to the eye.

In modern times, she specially learned how to kill fish. Some of them were useful but not pretty enough, while others were pretty but not very practical.

Considering that she was in a competition, she used this nice-looking knife technique. It was fancy and attractive enough. The only drawback was that it took more than a dozen cuts to clean the fish.

Miss Zhou forgot to say "cruel" when she saw it. After Li Yu put all the fish fillets into the bowl to marinate, she coughed twice and said softly, "This guy seems to be better than Chef Cheng."

Master Qi subconsciously challenged Miss Zhou, "It's just slaughtering fish. Chef Cheng is not inferior to her."

Miss Qi glared at him, "Look for yourself at Chef Cheng's fish fillet."

Master Qi turned his head and shut up the next moment.

There is no problem with Chef Cheng’s skill in killing fish, but the fish slices are not thin enough, at least not as good as Chef Li’s.

Not far away, Cheng Danian heard a few young men and women whispering to each other, but he didn't take it seriously. What did these people know? He had been killing fish for decades, how could he lose to that guy named Li.

Asking his young apprentice to light the fire quickly, Cheng Danian picked up the flour and poured it into a bowl to make the batter for frying the fish later.

*

On Li Yu's side, after marinating the fish fillets, he looked at the braised pork, and after making sure that there was no problem, he found a small stool and sat down to choose the vegetables.

If you want the sweet and sour fish fillet to be delicious, there are two requirements: the fish must be fried well and the sweet and sour sauce must be prepared well.

However, the competition would only end in an hour. If she cooked it too early, the crust of the fish fillets would not be so crispy when Princess Jianing tasted them after the competition. So she had to wait until there were fifteen minutes left before the end of the competition to start frying.

*

Li Yu took his time, picking and washing the vegetables one by one, then, behind the backs of Cheng Danian and his apprentice, he slowly divided the vegetables into two groups.

She acted mysterious, and the six people supervising her seemed concerned, but Han Xiaomei was just making a fire and didn't help at all. They looked at each other and said nothing.

After a while, Miss Qi said, "I feel more and more that this chef Li will win."

Ms. Chen and Ms. Zhou agreed.

Mr. Qi argued as usual, "No matter how fancy it is, taste is the most important thing."

Miss Qi: “Hmm?”

Master Qi closed his mouth in anger, and prayed in his heart that Li Yu would lose. Jinyinju had a gambling game today, and he bet 200 taels. If Li Yu lost, he would have no money to spend next month.

*

Li Yu prepared the chili oil first. Tianxianglou had all the spices, including dried sesame seeds. She put green onions, ginger, onions, fennel, cinnamon, bay leaves, garlic, etc. into the oil and boiled them. When they were cooked, she used a colander to remove the fried vegetables that could not be used, then scooped out the oil with an ordinary spoon and poured it on the sesame seeds and chili peppers.

The air was instantly filled with the overbearing aroma of chili peppers.

In another area, Cheng Danian smelled the smell and lost his grip on the chopsticks in his hand, causing them to fall to the ground.