Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 305 Let me teach you how to make a simple and delicious steamed dish

When the water in the pot boiled, Shen Yu poured all the drained chicken, ribs, and bone shanks into the pot.

Add a piece of scallion and two slices of ginger, and ask 7-Up to reduce the heat at the bottom of the stove so that the soup in the pot remains slightly boiling.

Qi Xi followed instructions and picked out some coal from under the stove.

Shen Yu looked over and thought it was almost done, so he covered the pot and said with a smile, "This pot of soup needs to be boiled for two hours. You and I will take turns to watch over it. Don't add too much coal at a time."

Qi Xi rolled his eyes and asked, "Girl, is it okay to keep it like this for two hours?"

Shen Yu nodded, and Qi Xi said, "Wait a minute, girl. I'll go find some suitable firewood."

Having said that, he stood up from the stove and ran out.

Shen Yu smiled and shook his head, then had to sit in front of the stove and carefully add some broken charcoal into it.

She looked at the stove in front of her.

The stove mouth is very large. It may have been used to burn firewood in the past. Although it was later changed to burning charcoal, the stove mouth was not modified. There is no stove door, and the size of the fire can be adjusted by adding or removing charcoal.

Shen Yu muttered to himself: "It would be better if we could use the stove in the restaurant. If we want a low fire, we can just seal the stove door. But at this moment, we have to keep an eye on it all the time and can't leave."

Not long after, Qi Xi came in dragging a large bundle of branches, followed by a yamen runner carrying a large sack on his back.

The runner put down the sack, Qi Xi thanked him and let him go.

Qi Xi dragged the branches and sacks to the stove, telling Shen Yu not to worry about the fire, as he had a way to avoid having to watch over it all the time.

Shen Yu didn't know what Qi Xi was going to do, so he got up from the small stool in front of the stove and stood aside, watching curiously.

Qixi broke off branches and stuffed them into the bottom of the stove, saying, "These were dragged from the big kitchen in front. The sacks contain wheat bran."

"Put this kind of pine wood under the stove, wait for the fire to burn, and cover it with wheat bran. This will make the fire very small and keep it burning."

"If you add a bunch of firewood to the bottom of the stove, it can burn for more than half an hour. It's the best for making soup, and you don't need someone to watch it all the time."

Shen Yu had no experience in burning firewood. After hearing what Qi Xi said, he said happily, "This is a good idea. After adding firewood, people can free up their hands to do other things instead of always thinking about adding firewood."

Qi Xi chuckled and said, "My father taught me this. If he cooked a big pot of thick soup, he would cook it like this."

Shen Yu no longer cared about the cooking of the broth. He took two pieces of chicken breast and a piece of tenderloin, put them on the chopping board and started to mince the meat.

After cutting them separately, roll them into several meat patties and use them to absorb impurities and make clear soup when the soup is ready.

Because it is still early, in order to ensure freshness, the tofu and cabbage have to be cut in the afternoon.

Shen Yu had chopped two kinds of minced meat. For a moment, he had nothing to do but wait for the broth to be cooked.

Shen Yudong was used to being busy in the store on weekdays. When he had some free time, he looked around and asked Qixi, "How are you going to eat lunch? Do you want me to cook for you? I'm free right now anyway."

Qi Xi was overjoyed and said happily: "That's great, I usually eat with the young master in the small kitchen in the back kitchen. The master usually eats vegetarian meals, so we have to follow him."

"But he's gotten much better recently. When the young master went back this time, the old man and the others thought that he was much thinner than before he came to the county town."

"The old lady is still worried that the young master is sick and uncomfortable."

"The young master refused to tell me at first, but later he called me in for questioning, and I told him about the old master's obsession with vegetarianism."

Qi Xi said this with a sly smirk on his face, looking innocent: "I didn't complain, I just answered whatever the old man asked me, and I told the truth."

"The old master was furious after hearing this. He said that the master was too idle and must find something to do."

"I turned around and went to the study to write a letter for the young master to bring back, and also gave the young master five hundred taels of silver as private money."

At this point, Qili chuckled and said, "Thanks to the old man, we have had meat on the table these past two days since I came back."

"Hehe, although it's a bit lighter and there aren't many meat dishes, it's still much better than before."

After hearing this, Shen Yu felt that Old Master Lu was truly majestic and couldn't help but laugh as well.

Qixi said flatteringly: "Miss, our chef's cooking skills are too poor. The dish is not only old and woody, but also bland and tasteless."

"Oh, no, they just boil it in water. They cook chicken, duck, and mutton in the same way as vegetarian dishes. It tastes really bad."

"How about Miss Shen make two delicious and tasty meat dishes for Master to taste at noon to see what delicious meat dishes taste like."

Shen Yu asked with a smile on his face: "Since the food cooked by the master chef is not tasty, why do you still let him cook it?"

"If your county government recruits a cook, won't there be many good cooks vying to do the job?"

Qi Xi said with a bitter face: "That won't work. The master specially asked him to cook vegetarian dishes, saying that vegetarian dishes are well cooked and suit his taste."

Shen Yu’s cooking skills are limited to stir-frying green vegetables and stewing tofu. She has no idea how to cook vegetarian dishes to make them delicious.

Seeing Qixi's helpless expression, Shen Yu could only smile and comfort her: "It's better to rely on yourself than on others. You know some cooking skills."

"How about I teach you a steamed dish that is simple to make and tastes great."

"After washing and cutting the meat and adding seasonings, just steam it thoroughly. There is no need to stir-fry it over high heat. There are no specific requirements for the stove. All you need is a steamer or a casserole, and the food will taste great."

Qi Xi was overjoyed when he heard this, and said happily: "That's great, the vegetarian chef the master hired is very arrogant."

"Except for the master, he doesn't pay any attention to anyone else's words, let alone change his behavior. I don't dare to provoke him."

Shen Yu thought for a moment and said, "What kind of meat do you usually eat? Chicken, duck, mutton? Do you eat pork?"

Qixi said, "Except for pork, I eat everything else. The dishes made by the girl with pork are delicious. I have never seen other cooks cook them."

"My father tried to make it, but he said pork has a fishy smell and it tastes terrible if it's not cooked properly."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Pork is cheap and tastes delicious when cooked. It is actually more suitable for ordinary people who don't have much money."

"Mutton is expensive, and ordinary people generally don't want to eat it. Even if we cook it in a restaurant, it won't sell. So I mainly use pork when I open a restaurant."

Qi Xi nodded and was about to say something when Lu Lang stepped in.

I saw Shen Yu and Qi Xi sitting in front of the stove which was slightly steaming, chatting with each other.

When he heard Shen Yu's last words, he smiled and said, "What are you guys talking about? You're chatting so lively. Tell me about it."