Chapter 90 - Smells Good!
Chapter 90: Smells Good!
“No problem, I’ve already posted it.”
Xu Le replied Lu Yuxi. The next moment, someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Lu Yuxi pushed the door open and made an OK gesture. She did not forget to say, “Alright, Boss. Remember to raise my salary next time!”
A few days after Auntie Liu was employed, on a weekend, a small and skinny boy with slightly tanned skin carrying a schoolbag leaned on the counter and asked Lu Yuxi, “Have you seen my mom?”
Lu Yuxi lowered her head and estimated that he was about the same age as Xu Tian. She asked warmly, “Little kid, who is your mother?”
“My mom is Liu Guifang.” After the boy said that, he turned around and saw Auntie Liu. He immediately shouted, “Mom, I’m starving. Give me 10 yuan.”
Auntie Liu glared at him and said, “Did you eat the food I left for you this morning?”
The little boy shrank his neck. The meaning was obvious.
Auntie Liu introduced him to Lu Yuxi. “This is my son, Sun Zhi. There are only the two of us in our family.”
Realizing that they were from a single-parent family, Lu Yuxi said unbothered, “So he’s your son. Is he attending primary school?”
Sun Zhi was very afraid of this kind of question. He exploded at the mention of it and said, “I’m already in fifth grade! I’m not a child!”
“I know, I know.” Auntie Liu said to him to stay quiet. She took out her wallet and said, “10 yuan? What snacks do you want to buy again? Those are all junk food. Look at you eating non-nutritious food every day. You don’t eat properly. You’re already in fifth grade, yet you still look like a kindergarten kid!”
Sun Zhi snatched the money from Auntie Liu’s hands and ran out after throwing his school bag. Xu Le saw his back and asked curiously, “Is that your son?”
“Sigh.” Auntie Liu let out a long sigh and said with a worried expression, “There’s no way to scold that brat! He doesn’t eat every day. Apart from snacks and soft drinks, water and milk, he doesn’t eat or drink properly at home. He’s already in his teens but is always recognized as a kindergarten kid. He’s also the shortest in class…”
Auntie Liu grumbled for a while. Sun Zhi, who ran fast, bought a big bag of potato chips and rushed back excitedly. He tore open the packaging and stuffed it into his mouth. As he ate, he said, “I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything since this morning!”
Auntie Liu was furious. “Did I not leave you any food? Can’t you heat it up in the microwave?”
Seeing Sun Zhi’s stubborn expression, she had no choice but to continue with her work. It was lunchtime.
Xu Le asked for everyone’s opinion. “What do you want to eat for lunch? Porridge?”
Lu Yuxi had her phone by the cashier counter and was scrolling through a short video. She said, “Look at this. Crispy pork belly. It’s the latest delicacy popular online. It looks delicious!”
Xu Le raised his eyebrows. “You just ate pork belly last night, and today you’re eating crispy pork belly again. How many pounds did you gain this month?”
“I’m not fat! I’m just chubby. I’ll lose weight soon!”
Lu Yuxi pouted unhappily.
Xu Le explained, “This kind of crispy pork belly needs to be roasted in the roaster. The kitchen is equipped with an oven. It can be made, but it definitely won’t taste as good as the one made in the roaster.”
Lu Yuxi pouted and said in a soft voice, “Boss, Brother, Handsome, I want to eat it, so can you make it…”
If it was before, with a pure-looking and beautiful black-haired beauty acting coquettishly in front of Xu Le, he would definitely be moved. However, after spending close to Lu Yuxi for a month, he knew very well how silly she was in private.
He turned around and retched when he saw how awkward she looked. He hurriedly stopped her. “Lu Yuxi, don’t do this. It’s too disgusting.”
Lu Yuxi wriggled around him and pestered him. “Make it for me. If I can’t eat it today, I’ll be dreaming of that crispy sound the whole night.”
Xu Le said bluntly, “Then go and eat crispy skin in your dreams.”
Lu Yuxi snorted and said, “I’ll buy a roaster in the afternoon!”
“The cost will be deducted from your salary.”
“No, Stingy Xu, you are squeezing out the hard-earned money of the laborers!”
“All you can think of is buying. Stay quiet first. What are we having for lunch?”
After beating around the bush for a long time, they went back to the original topic. Lu Yuxi said, “Give me a pan-fried tofu. Tofu is low in calories and high in protein content. Eating it will help me lose weight.”
“Only eating tofu?”
“That’s right!” Lu Yuxi swore. “I promise that I won’t eat anything else today.”
Xu Le looked at her speechlessly and was too lazy to retort. He turned to Auntie Liu and asked, “What about you?”
“I’m not picky. I’ll eat whatever the boss cooks, but…”
She looked at her son worriedly and said, “Rascal, what are you eating?”
Sun Zhi took Auntie Liu’s cell phone and starting playing games. He shook his head and said, “I’m full. I’m not hungry.”
“You only ate a bag of chips!”
“Aiya, stop asking. I’m not eating!”
The more he behaved like this, the more Xu Le wanted to make a tempting dish to tease him.
When he entered the kitchen, he was about to prepare steamed white chicken first. Lu Yuxi kept urging from the side, “My tofu! Don’t forget!”
“Later. Your dish is the easiest to prepare so it will be the last.”
After saying that, Xu Le took out a chicken that was delivered that day. It was from Qingyuan and the meat was fresh and tender. It looked hundreds of times better than the frozen chicken in the supermarket.
Then, he entered the ‘Strongest Master Chef System’ and bought the recipe for ‘Steamed White Chicken’.
This dish was easy to pick up, so he only needed to practice it five times in the system before he succeeded.
Steamed White Chicken had a light taste. It was acceptable to both adults and children. Most importantly, it was nutritious and had low calories.
Xu Le took out ginger, scallions, garlic, vanilla, aniseed, and fennel.
First, he cut a large piece of fresh ginger from the middle. Half of it was cut into thin slices while the other half was directly grounded.
A small amount of ice was added to the cold water, and the chicken was directly placed inside. This way, the meat would be more tight and solid. It was the same principle as icing mutton. After the fire was started, the ice would slowly melt into water. Then, scallions, ginger slices, aniseed, and pepper would be added. By the time the water was boiled, the chicken was basically half cooked.
He changed to medium heat and boiled the meat for two minutes before turning it over. Then, he placed the lid on, turned to the lowest heat and waited until it was cooked. This way, the meat would be soft and tender.
Taking advantage of this time, he began to make the sauce. He added soy sauce to the ground ginger and added a small amount of dark soya sauce.
He poured some oil into the frying pan. Then, he added fennel and a small amount of dried chili pepper. When the surface of the two was slightly brown and the dried chili pepper was slightly burnt, he filtered out the pepper and dried chili pepper. Then, with a sizzling sound, he poured oil into the sauce to produce the fragrance.
At this moment, the kitchen was already filled with the fragrance of fennel, chicken, and chili. The fire was turned off and the stewed chicken was scooped into the ice water.
This step was based ont he principle of heat expansion and cold contraction, causing the chicken muscles to suddenly tighten, so that it was fragrant and crisp.
Sun Zhi, who was focused on playing games, raised his head and said with interest, “Wow, it smells so good!”