The lettuce kept rolling in the pot. An Xiaoxiao held a pair of chopsticks in her hand and kept stirring the wild vegetables in the pot. This was the first thing she did using the things in the kitchen: boil the wild vegetables in water.
Ye Chui, Qin Yiyue and Han Yuyan were standing on one side. Seeing An Xiaoxiao doing this, Ye Chui showed an expression of approval on his face, while Qin Yiyue looked as if he had suddenly realized something: "Ye Chui, you also boiled the raw horse lettuce in advance, so that you can effectively remove the sour and bitter taste in the horse lettuce. However... if you boil it, the texture of the horse lettuce will become cooked, how can it maintain that crispy texture?"
"It's very simple. Just cook the wild vegetables until they are cooked through and then take them out of the pot." Ye Chui said with a smile, pointing at An Xiaoxiao, "She seems to understand this principle."
Even as she was talking, An Xiaoxiao had already turned off the fire. She carefully scooped out the wild vegetables from the pot with a colander and placed them in a basin. At this moment, the lettuce was half-cooked, its color darkened but still maintaining a crisp texture. This is what is called "breaking the rawness", which means that the vegetables are just between cooked and not cooked.
"So she made the right move?" Han Yuyan asked from the side, "What's next?"
"She is really smart." Ye Chui praised with a smile, "It seems that she really tasted how this dish was made."
I saw An Xiaoxiao set up another wok, and after it was heated, she directly poured the lettuce she had just taken out into the wok - this was dry-frying, but without adding oil. This step only allowed the water in the lettuce to evaporate, thus achieving the purpose of drying.
When the wild lettuce came into contact with the iron pan, there was a hissing sound. An Xiaoxiao took a spatula and kept turning the wild vegetables in the pan to make them evenly in contact with the iron pan.
Qin Yiyue had guessed this step before. As the process progressed, white mist rose from the iron pot. The stems of the lettuce gradually shrank and the leaves turned black. This was due to the loss of moisture. When An Xiaoxiao poured the wild vegetables in the iron pot into a small basin a few minutes later, the appearance of the wild vegetables was already 70% to 80% similar to the dishes made by Ye Chui.
"She did the right thing in this step, right?" Han Yuyan asked Ye Chui in a low voice.
It was Qin Yiyue who answered her: "The best way to use wild vegetables like purslane is to dry them. Stir-frying is to speed up this process, but it is easy to destroy the structure of the vegetables. Blanching them in water before dry-frying can fix the structure of the vegetables and maintain the taste of the wild vegetables. She did the dry-frying step correctly, and she thought one step further than I did."
After completing the dry-frying process, An Xiaoxiao began to prepare the seasoning for the raw horse lettuce. She chopped the garlic into minced garlic and cut the green part of the green onion into thin strips. She put the two seasonings into a bowl and stirred them carefully. Then she added salt and some sesame oil, stirred them evenly, and poured them into a plate. At this point, the raw horse lettuce was ready.
The whole dish was very simple and took no more than twenty minutes to prepare. The dish that An Xiaoxiao finished was extremely similar to the one made by Ye Chui, and it was almost impossible to tell the difference from the appearance.
An Xiaoxiao's dark face also had a somewhat joyful smile, obviously because she felt a sense of accomplishment for completing this dish. She held the dish on the plate with both hands and walked in front of Ye Chui with a proud look: "Hey, look at the dish I made."
"Let me try it first." Han Yuyan said impatiently. She picked up a piece with chopsticks and put it into her mouth. A surprised expression appeared on her face. "This seems to be no different from what Master made!"
Having said that, Han Yuyan looked towards Ye Chui with some worry. Did his omnipotent master lose
Qin Yiyue also picked up the chopsticks, took a bite and put it into her mouth to taste it carefully.
"Hey, Mu Tou, what do you think?" Han Yuyan asked Qin Yiyue hurriedly, and in desperation directly called out the nickname that Dong Youyou gave to Qin Yiyue.
After taking a bite, Qin Yiyue couldn't help but ask Han Yuyan, "Is Mr. Han really your grandfather?"
"Ah?" Han Yuyan was stunned.
Qin Yiyue did not answer Han Yuyan, and continued to say to An Xiaoxiao: "This dish is indeed very similar to what Ye Chui made, but the taste is slightly different in some subtle places. It should be said that those subtle differences directly lower the quality of this dish."
When he said this, it was obvious that he believed that An Xiaoxiao's dishes were far inferior to Ye Chui's.
An Xiaoxiao suddenly showed an angry expression on her face, as if she felt that her cooking skills were insulted. She immediately reached out and picked up a piece of lettuce and put it into her mouth. Then her eyes opened wide involuntarily, revealing a puzzled look.
She frowned and whispered, "How could this happen... What did I do wrong?"
"It's actually very simple." Ye Chui said with a smile, "All your procedures were correct. The only mistake was the timing of adding salt."
"When to add salt?" An Xiaoxiao was stunned.
Ye Chui nodded and continued to explain: "The steps I follow to make this dish are the same as yours, with only one difference, that is, I add salt when blanching the vegetables at the beginning."
An Xiaoxiao's delicate eyebrows wrinkled, as if she couldn't understand the reason behind this: "Is there such a big difference between adding salt early and late?"
"Of course there is a big difference." This time it was Qin Yiyue who answered. He also liked An Xiaoxiao. If Ye Chui hadn't shown interest first, he would have wanted to take this girl as his apprentice. "In addition to increasing the saltiness of dishes, salt also has another function, which is to absorb moisture from vegetables. Adding salt when blanching can make the moisture in wild vegetables more effectively absorbed, and at the same time make the saltiness more flavorful. The level of texture is much higher than adding salt at the end."
An Xiaoxiao lowered her head and stopped talking, but her eyes were flashing.
She didn't expect that a simple step could change the taste of a dish so much. Although she was talented, she still overlooked such things. Looking at the dish she made, she curled her lips. Although she didn't want to admit it, she knew that she had lost the bet with Ye Chui.
Although Su Laosan and others standing at the kitchen door didn't know much about the issue of adding salt to raw horse lettuce, they knew that An Xiaoxiao had given up when they saw her look. An Xiaoxiao was a very strong-willed person, and she would rarely look like this unless she was convinced.
These people all showed a look of regret.
But Su Laosan didn't look depressed at all. Losing might not be a bad thing...
He walked to An Xiaoxiao cautiously and patted her head lovingly: "Are you convinced? I always told you before that there are always people who are better than you. Even if your cooking skills are great, you can't be the best. If you want to learn how to cook, you have to practice hard."
"I will practice hard in the future." An Xiaoxiao said angrily, "I will definitely not lose if we try again."
"You need someone to teach you how to practice. How can you learn if you follow us and become a beggar?" Su Laosan said angrily.
"I was a beggar before, but I still learned well, didn't I?" An Xiaoxiao said with a puffed face.
"Then what's the use of you learning well? We beggars don't have to be so particular?" Su Laosan raised his voice a little.
"I don't care. I'll be satisfied as long as I cook for you." An Xiaoxiao still said angrily.
"You...what can I say to you!" Su Lao San was a little angry. He didn't bother to deal with An Xiaoxiao for the time being. Instead, he looked at Ye Chui. A hint of apology appeared on his unshaven face. He said to Ye Chui, "Young boss, since our girl has lost, I will ask her to leave later. I won't bother you again in the future. Alas..."
As he said this, he looked at An Xiaoxiao with regret. Ye Chui seemed to be a good person. He was smart and could see that Ye Chui was interested in An Xiaoxiao. If he talked to her carefully, maybe Ye Chui would agree to let An Xiaoxiao stay...
But he knew An Xiaoxiao's personality very well. She was very stubborn and no one could persuade her once she made up her mind.
Ye Chui vaguely saw something, a smile appeared on his face, and he walked in front of An Xiaoxiao: "Your name is Xiaoxiao? Haha, Xiaoxiao, do you like cooking?"
An Xiaoxiao tilted her head and looked at the ground beside her, and said in a muffled voice, "I like it."
"Then do you want to make the most delicious dishes in the world?" Ye Chui continued with a smile, "The realm of gourmet food is endless. Cooking ingredients into dishes, letting delicious flavors come into being in your hands, and watching your delicious food move others, that wonderful feeling is beyond words. You must understand this, right?"
An Xiaoxiao remained silent and kept her mouth tightly shut.
"All kinds of food ingredients are gifts from nature, and food is the endless exploration of mankind." Ye Chui paused and continued to say to An Xiaoxiao, "You are very talented in cooking, but talent alone is not enough to become the best chef. Steaming, boiling, mixing, blanching, soup, stewing, stir-frying, roasting, deep-frying... our ancestors created a variety of cooking methods for us. Perhaps there are more cooking methods and delicious dishes waiting for us to explore and discover. An Xiaoxiao, don't you think this is a very interesting thing? But you can't do all this by exploring on your own. You need a guide."
Ye Chui's words were plain, yet seemed to be filled with some kind of dramatic power.
Qin Yiyue and Han Yuyan, who were standing next to them, had their expressions changed. These words clearly touched Qin Yiyue's heart. The exploration of food was his lifelong pursuit. As for Han Yuyan...
The elder sister suddenly whispered to Qin Yiyue: "Master's ability to stir up emotions is really amazing."
Qin Yiyue: “…”
Well, the atmosphere just now is gone in an instant.
Ye Chui gently patted An Xiaoxiao's thin shoulders, and continued: "An Xiaoxiao, I am willing to be your guide in cooking. Do you... want to continue exploring the mysteries of cooking?"
With a "plop", tears slid down An Xiaoxiao's dark little face and dripped onto the floor, making a crisp sound.
She wanted to stay with Su Laosan forever, and she was willing to cook the most delicious dishes in the world for him, but she had no way of denying that after trying the food again and again, she had fallen deeply in love with the taste.
Cooking is really interesting.
She really wanted to be at the highest point in this regard to see the best view.
She looked at Ye Chui with tears in her eyes, and choked up a bit as she spoke her most sincere thoughts to Ye Chui -
"Master, I want to learn how to cook from you." (~^~)