Chapter 61: Steamed Pork with Rice Flour, So Smooth
Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Steamed Pork with Rice Flour, So Smooth
How much can be in one bowl of fish cakes and meatballs?
Six meatballs, twenty slices of fish cake.
Shang Mingke polished off two bowls in just a couple of minutes. Each time he used his chopsticks, he grabbed a thick stack of fish cakes—at least six or seven slices—and stuffed them into his mouth.
After downing two bowls, he glanced longingly at everyone else’s.
"Alright, alright, you don’t have to say a word. Just looking at you, I know it must be delicious." Lu Yongliang was exasperated.
"It’s really good," Shang Mingke said. Having eaten his own bowl plus an extra, he was too embarrassed to ask for more from the others. "It’s a very familiar taste, but it seems even better than I remember. I can’t quite put my finger on it."
After all, he wasn’t a food critic; he could only describe his most immediate experience.
At this, Lu Yongliang finally nodded and picked up a piece of fish cake to taste.
The fish cake was a crystalline, pure white. It was soft and springy when picked up with chopsticks, but didn’t break. Upon entering his mouth and with a light chew, the fresh aroma of fish hit him with full force. Before he could savor it further, the fish cake had already melted on his tongue.
It left only a faint, savory meatiness, mixed with the flavor of the sauce drizzled on top.
It was as if he had just eaten a delicious piece of pork, and that fresh fish aroma had been just an illusion!
"Eh? Interesting." Lu Yongliang smacked his lips and immediately picked up a meatball.
Unlike the fish cake, this meatball was a glossy, pale yellow. Its surface was somewhat firm, and the texture when bitten was slightly springy, yet it wasn’t tough to chew.
A mouthful of pork aroma filled his mouth upon biting into it, but to say it was just pork...
...the texture was incredibly smooth and tender, and it was bursting with the fresh umami of fish. It wasn’t the texture of pork at all!
The sensation was truly bizarre.
"Tsk!" Lu Yongliang smacked his lips repeatedly, trying to savor the aftertaste, but he couldn’t sense anything besides the fresh umami of the fish. "I’ll try another."
SMACK, SMACK~
Lu Yongliang seemed to have forgotten why he was here, taking one bite after another. Every time he wanted to make a comment, the delicious aroma in his mouth would start to fade, so he had to quickly take another bite to keep it going!
...until his chopsticks hit the bottom of the bowl. "Oh, is it all gone?"
Su Chen smiled without speaking. "There’s still one more bowl here."
"No way!" Lu Yongliang pushed the bowl Su Chen offered back toward him. "We’re all friends here today, having a family-style meal. It wouldn’t be right if you didn’t eat. And you, young lady, hurry up and eat! Don’t just stand there dazed!"
"Oh, oh!" Ling Shuyu, who had spent a long time composing herself, had finally managed to calm down a little.
When it came to food, she didn’t have the standing to speak here, so she simply refrained from commenting and began to eat with elegant movements.
But with just one bite, Ling Shuyu’s taste buds went wild, as if celebrating. The speed at which she picked up food grew faster and faster, and the pace of her chewing quickened as well.
’This is too delicious, isn’t it?’
’Hiring Boss Su was definitely the right choice!’
"Sir, I think you should eat it. Otherwise, the next dishes will be slow to come out," Su Chen said, timely reminded by the system’s countdown timer running in his head.
"What’s there to be afraid of?" Lu Yongliang huffed, his eyes wide. "Come on, let’s go get the dishes!"
"Uncle Lu, you stay seated. I can get the dishes!" Shang Mingke stood up.
"You sit, you sit. Boss Su and I will go. We can check on how the other dishes are coming along!" Lu Yongliang’s face was wreathed in smiles as he looked at Su Chen.
Shang Mingke was very familiar with that smile.
’It’s over. I’ve fallen out of favor!’
’Uncle Lu has his sights set on this Boss Su!’
’Could it be... he wants to take him as a disciple?’
Back then, when Lu Yongliang insisted on taking him as a disciple, he had worn the exact same smile.
Watching the two head to the kitchen together to get the food, Shang Mingke smiled and shook his head. ’If Uncle Lu could truly find a disciple he’s satisfied with in his later years, that would be a wonderful thing.’
Arriving in the kitchen, the two men walked over to two separate steamers.
Lu Yongliang lifted the lid of the steamer for the Eight-Treasure Pumpkin Stuffed with Rice and, braving the steam, fanned the air furiously toward his nose.
"Sir, you’ll have to wait until the pumpkin itself is opened to smell it," Su Chen reminded him.
For the Eight-Treasure Pumpkin Stuffed with Rice, after all the fillings are placed inside, the top of the pumpkin that was cut off to hollow it out is put back on as a lid. All the aroma is sealed inside, and not a single whiff can escape.
"Fine, you hurry up too!"
Su Chen nodded and opened the lid of the steamer holding the Steamed Pork with Rice Flour.
First, he inverted the bowl of lotus root onto a plate, then flipped the steamed pork on top of the lotus root, and evenly sprinkled some pepper on it. "Done!"
The two men walked out, each carrying a dish.
It had to be said, Shang Mingke was fine, but Ling Shuyu was truly in an awkward position.
There were four people here in total. She was supposed to be the host, representing her side. But now, the guest of honor was cooking his own food and even serving it himself. She, on the other hand, had become the one reaping the rewards without doing any work.
Seeing the two emerge, Ling Shuyu stood up, embarrassed. She only sat back down after Su Chen and Lu Yongliang had taken their seats.
"Try this first!" Lu Yongliang said, pointing to the plate of Steamed Pork with Rice Flour.
The meat, sliced with masterful precision, was spread evenly at an angle over the lotus root. Marinated with red fermented bean curd, it had an alluring pinkish hue. The millet grains coating the outside, having absorbed the steam and fat from the pork belly, had also become plump and glossy.
"Thanks, Uncle Lu! I’ve loved this dish since I was a kid, so I won’t be polite!" Shang Mingke had completely let loose by now.
Building on his experience with the fish cakes and meatballs, this time he went straight for it, picking up two slices of steamed pork and placing them in his bowl. He then added a piece of the aged lotus root on top, opened his mouth wide, and devoured it all in one go!
Ling Shuyu watched, utterly dumbfounded.
’Those are two huge slices of meat! Even if it is pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean, it still looks incredibly greasy. And he just ate it all in one bite?’
"Mmm~" Shang Mingke let out a satisfied sound as he chewed. "GULP!"
"Delicious! So delicious!" With that, his chopsticks were already reaching for the plate again. He didn’t look like a high-ranking leader at all, but more like a little kid!
Lu Yongliang could accept that the first dish was exceptionally good.
Fish cakes and meatballs are time-consuming and laborious; when made well, they are truly delicious. But this Steamed Pork with Rice Flour...
Of course it’s delicious, but no matter how good it is, you wouldn’t eat two greasy slices at once... no, he just ate four slices in a row, didn’t he?
Even if the meat was ’fatty but not greasy,’ you’d damn well feel overwhelmed after eating four damn slices in a row, right?
Lu Yongliang didn’t believe it. He felt Shang Mingke’s reaction was a bit abnormal.
’Could it be that he hasn’t had any decent meat during his past few years in the Capital City?’
Somewhat skeptical, the old man also picked up a slice of steamed pork and a piece of aged lotus root, putting both ingredients into his mouth at the same time.
Su Chen winked at Ling Shuyu. "Go on, eat."
The young woman shook her head slightly without speaking and pointed to her phone.
Su Chen glanced down. She had typed a message on her screen: "It looks so rich, I don’t dare to eat it. Don’t they usually eat this kind of steamed pork with buns?!"
It was true. In a place like Jingzhou, this kind of steamed pork was typically served with small, thin-sliced steamed buns. You would break a bun in half and place a piece of meat inside, which would greatly cut through the greasy feeling.
Su Chen took his phone under the table and typed quickly, using his peripheral vision.
He sent the message and was just about to grab a slice of pork for himself when his outstretched arm was suddenly seized by Lu Yongliang. "Try a bite. It’s really not overwhelming."
"How did you make this!"
Su Chen tilted his head, puzzled. "Weren’t you watching?"
Lu Yongliang took a deep breath.
’That’s right, I watched him make it from start to finish!’
’The method was clearly no different from how I make my own Steamed Pork with Rice Flour, so why does this one taste so...’
’Unbelievably succulent!’