After finishing the work, it was almost noon, so Feng Yifan asked everyone to prepare lunch together.
"Everyone, let's do your best today and put together a lunch. There will be no other guests at noon, just us. Everyone can come up with a dish and I will make the rest. What do you think?"
Feng Yifan's proposal naturally won everyone's unanimous agreement.
In the following time, everyone in the western restaurant showed off their skills and cooked their own dish according to their abilities.
While Feng Yifan was preparing, Su Jinrong came to his son-in-law and said, "I'll make a dish too."
Feng Yifan was a little surprised. He didn't expect that his father-in-law would also be interested.
He turned his head and looked his father-in-law up and down, and the latter nodded seriously and persistently.
Finally, Feng Yifan nodded and agreed: "Okay, Dad, I'll help you. Just tell me what dish you need to cook."
When they heard that Su Jinrong was going to cook himself, everyone in the kitchen was very excited.
Su Ruoxi stood up and walked over, still a little worried: "Dad, are you feeling well?"
Su Jinrong smiled casually: "It's okay, isn't Yifan still here?"
Feng Yifan said: "It's okay, if Dad can't handle it, I'll do it."
Su Jinrong patted his son-in-law: "Okay."
Feng Yifan asked again: "Dad, what dish do you want to cook?"
Su Jinrong smiled again, and it was obvious that he had already made up his mind.
"Let's have a more traditional side dish, crispy crucian carp."
When the young people present heard about this dish, they had never heard of it before. Even Feng Yifan still felt a little unfamiliar with it.
Instead, Shi Jiahui walked out of the back door with a smile and soon came back carrying a small net bag.
There are many fresh little crucian carps in the net bag.
This kind of small crucian carp is very common in the fish market. Usually because it is too small, many merchants will not buy it, and it may even be bought by others as a cat feed.
This inconspicuous little crucian carp in the net bag formed a sharp contrast with the various ingredients that Feng Yifan and his team had handled before.
Just in terms of price, Feng Yifan’s ingredients are many times more expensive than a net bag of small crucian carp.
The dishes that other people in the kitchen are preparing to make all have ingredients that are relatively expensive.
Perhaps the small crucian carp in this net bag is the cheapest food.
Seeing that everyone was surprised, Shi Jiahui smiled and said, "This was bought by my uncle-in-law at the fish market this morning. The boss was very happy because I bought all the small fish in one go."
Everyone couldn't help but feel curious.
What kind of dishes can Su Jinrong make with these cheap small crucian carps
Shi Jiahui then said: "You may not have heard of this dish, but don't underestimate this small crucian carp. This dish has a great origin. It was once our Premier Zhou's favorite dish. It is also a must-have dish on the state banquet menu."
This shocked everyone.
And Feng Yifan seemed to have remembered this dish as well.
An authentic Huaiyang dish.
Su Jinrong smiled and waved his hands: "Jiahui, don't make such a big fuss. You're scaring everyone. It's just a cold dish that can go well with wine..."
When Feng Ruoruo heard grandpa say that it was for drinking, she immediately said, "Grandpa, grandpa, Ruoruo doesn't drink."
Su Jinrong immediately said, "It can also be eaten with rice. It's delicious."
Feng Ruoruo clapped her hands happily: "Great, Grandpa, you make it. Ruoruo wants to eat it too."
Su Jinrong nodded: "Okay, our Ruoruo will eat too."
Just do it when you say it.
Shi Jiahui originally wanted to help, but was rejected by Su Jinrong: "Jiahui, go and do your own thing. Leave this to Yifan. These small crucian carps are troublesome to handle. Let Yifan do it. He will be faster and can clean them more carefully. We can't waste your time."
Shi Jiahui had no choice but to hand the small crucian carp to Feng Yifan.
Naturally, Feng Yifan had no complaints. He immediately took it to the pool, poured it out, and started to process the small crucian carp with a small knife.
The fish scales must be scraped off, and then the internal organs must be removed. The key is to clean the fish properly.
Don't leave any dirty places.
If the fish is not cleaned properly, the quality of the dish will be affected.
Feng Yifan's hands and feet were still very quick, and he quickly cleaned up the small crucian carps one by one.
Even the mucus and dirt on the surface of the fish were cleaned up by Feng Yifan.
After finishing the process, Feng Yifan handed the small crucian carp to his father-in-law.
Su Jinrong took a closer look and said with satisfaction, "Well, very good, Yifan, you really are not a novice."
Then, Su Jinrong sucked all the water out of the small crucian carp.
Then let Feng Yifan light the oil.
He picked up the knife himself, very slowly, with his hands still trembling slightly, and slowly cut a cut on the back of each small crucian carp.
The cut should be made until the fish's backbone is exposed.
When Feng Yifan was sitting nearby and boiling oil in the pot, he saw his father-in-law cutting open the back of a small crucian carp and became a little worried.
Especially when he saw his father-in-law taking the first cut, it was obvious that the blade had deviated. He was even worried that his father-in-law might hurt his hand and wanted to rush over to help.
But Su Jinrong put away the knife, took a deep breath, and calmed himself down.
Then the old man struck again.
This time there was no deviation and the cut was made smoothly on the fish's back. As the knife continued to go deeper, the fish's back was completely cut open, and finally it reached the fish's spine. When I retracted the knife, I gently moved it towards the fish's tail.
The knife was retracted, and at the same time the fish's back was cut open, without cutting the fish body into two pieces.
Feng Yifan secretly breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his father-in-law catch a fish.
With the experience from the first point, Su Jinrong became more efficient afterwards.
The backs of small crucian carps were cut open one by one.
Arranged neatly on the plate.
After completing the last one, Su Jinrong was already sweating profusely.
This was partly because the temperature in the kitchen was still a little high, and partly because Su Jinrong was exerting all his strength, so when he was opening the back of the small crucian carp, all the muscles in his body were tense. This made him very tired, and naturally he would shed a lot of sweat.
At this time, Su Ruoxi came over holding Feng Ruoruo.
Feng Ruoruo held a towel in her hand and stretched out her little hand to wipe the sweat off her grandfather's face with the towel.
"Grandpa, take your time, don't be in a hurry."
Su Jinrong asked his granddaughter to wipe his sweat off his face and said with a smile, "Okay, Grandpa, take your time. There's no rush."
The next step is to fry the small crucian carp with its back opened in a pan.
Because it needs to be fried completely crispy, the oil temperature needs to be well controlled during the frying process.
This time, Feng Yifan did not let his father-in-law put the fish into the pan directly, but helped his father-in-law put the fish into the pan himself.
Su Jinrong did not force it and stood by and watched his son-in-law fish.
One by one, I watched the small crucian carps gradually become golden brown in the oil pan.
Su Jinrong was watching carefully from the side, wondering whether to let Feng Yifan stir it gently with a colander.
Throughout the entire process, Feng Yifan followed his father-in-law's instructions completely.
Finally, the small crucian carps were fried and taken out of the pan. Each one was emitting a burnt aroma. It was clear that each fish had been fried extremely crispy, and was really crispy to the bone.
Because the small crucian carp is very small, and the flesh on its back is thick, a cut was made.
Allow the oil to fry directly to the fish's spine, so the whole fish, including the bones, is already crispy.
Su Jinrong waited for the fish to cool down for a while, then picked up a smaller one and handed it to Feng Ruoruo, who was being held by her mother and holding a towel in her hand, ready to wipe her grandfather's sweat at any time.
"Come, let my little baby Ruoruo have a taste first."
Feng Ruoruo took a look and said, "Grandpa, this fish has no bones removed. Ruoruo doesn't like bones."
Su Jinrong smiled and said, "It's okay. Try it. You don't need to spit out the bones of this fish. You can eat it with the bones. But you have to be careful when eating it. You must chew it carefully before you can eat it."
After hearing what her grandfather said, Feng Ruoruo opened her little mouth doubtfully, leaned forward and took a small bite.
After taking a bite, Feng Ruoruo was surprised that the fish actually broke into pieces.
Su Jinrong also quickly caught it with his hands to prevent the fish from falling because it was too fragile and broke.
When Feng Ruoruo ate it, she felt a crispy "crunch" feeling in her mouth. It really felt like she was eating potato chips. It was very delicious and very crispy.
"Grandpa, this, this is so crispy, it breaks into pieces when you bite it."
Seeing that his granddaughter liked it, Su Jinrong was also very happy: "Eat slowly, even though it is very crispy, you can't eat it too fast. You must chew it in your mouth before swallowing it."
While grandpa was talking, Feng Ruoruo had already eaten the food in her mouth and opened her mouth to show grandpa.
"Hahaha, Grandpa, I ate it."
Su Jinrong put the rest in a small bowl and handed it to her daughter: "Okay, let mommy eat with you. If you want a little more flavor, you can dip it in a little ketchup."
Feng Ruoruo said happily, "Great, Mom, let's go eat quickly."
Su Ruoxi just held her daughter aside to eat.
Su Jinrong then started the next step.
The so-called "Crispy Crucian Carp", crispy means fried, and after frying, there is another step which is "?", which is also the key to the final seasoning of this dish.
Su Jinrong first asked Feng Yifan to find a casserole and put a bamboo net on the bottom to prevent it from getting sticky.
Then put the cooled crispy small crucian carps into the casserole one by one.
Afterwards, Su Jinrong began to stir-fry the ingredients.
The first step is to stir-fry the sugar color.
Pour a little oil into the pan, then add rock sugar and start frying.
First slowly fry the rock sugar until it melts, then slowly stir it in the pan little by little with a spoon.
At this time, you absolutely cannot use high heat, you must use low heat, and you must be patient and keep stir-frying and stirring the melted sugar in the pot.
The sugar will gradually begin to change color, from white to yellow, then to brown, and finally to a dark brown.
At this time, Su Jinrong quickly added a bowl of water into the pot.
Then pour out the fried sugar color first.
Wipe dry the water at the bottom of the pot, pour in a little oil, then add the scallion and ginger to stir-fry, add some rice wine, and then add salt and pepper to season.
Finally, pour all the sugar color into the pot, and add some broth after it boils.
Then pour all into the casserole with the fish.
When the soup completely covers the fish, cover the pot and start cooking.
Su Jinrong took out some more pickles and cut the pickled radish and pickled cucumber into strips.
Some of it is put directly into the pot.
At this time, Su Jinrong did not turn down the fire.
"The next step is the cooking process. You need to use high heat to quickly reduce the juice. When half of the juice is reduced, turn to low heat and cook slowly until all the juice is almost dried up. Then the dish is done."
Feng Yifan stood nearby and listened, and also carefully wrote down the recipe of this dish.
He knew very well that after taking over Su Ji, this dish would definitely still be needed.
Su Jinrong almost finished the whole dish by himself.
The others saw this and were full of admiration for Su Jinrong.
He went through a lot of hardships. He suffered a stroke because of his sister's visit to his house. Later, his lower body became disabled and at one point he had to rely on a wheelchair to move around.
But the old man still did not give up, and worked hard to recover with the company of his family.
Today, the old man is not only able to get rid of the wheelchair and walk with the help of crutches, but he can also start cooking.
Maybe today's dish is not a big dish.
Maybe this dish isn’t that complicated after all.
But everyone present today still admires Su Jinrong very much, and are happy that the old man was able to complete this dish.
Feng Yifan turned his head and found that everyone had stopped what they were doing and were almost all looking at Su Jinrong.
He immediately frowned and said, "What's the matter? You're all thinking about stealing my skills, right? Why don't you hurry up and make your dishes? Are you only going to have this one dish for lunch?"
After hearing Feng Yifan's words, everyone came back to their senses and hurried to cook their own dishes.
Because of their panic, several people almost bumped into each other.
Feng Ruoruo saw how messy everyone was and started laughing over there.
Feng Yifan also laughed: "Alright, alright, just do it slowly, don't be so anxious. As for stealing my skills, you can learn slowly in the future. You don't have to focus on stealing my skills right now."
Su Jinrong said with a smile: "Cook well. If you really want to learn this dish, you can come to me to learn it in the future."
After talking about the others, Su Jinrong said to Feng Yifan: "You also go to cook, and you say you will cover the cost. You only let others cook, and you don't cook yourself. How can you cover the cost for everyone?"
Feng Yifan also started cooking immediately.
In the kitchen of the western restaurant, a group of people were busy. After Feng Ruoruo and her mother finished eating the crispy crucian carp, the little girl naturally didn't want to be idle, so she immediately started wandering around the edge of the kitchen.
The little girl naturally spends most of her time next to her father, and would go up to him and ask him many questions.
Lu Cuiling and Su Ruoxi, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, looked at the happy atmosphere in the kitchen with smiles on their faces.
What made Su Ruoxi especially happy was that she once again saw her father and husband standing in the kitchen at the same time. This was a scene she had not seen for many years, and her eyes became wet unconsciously. She now finally believed that her husband's return really made this family better.