Chapter 76 - Four Dishes and One Soup
Chapter 76 Four Dishes and One Soup
Ye Yinian originally tried to clamor. After all, the Ye family was big and influential. Defending one person was nothing difficult for them. But he was out of luck. The top 5% of the Empire’s bigwigs were seated in the gallery, even Her Majesty was in attendance.
When he saw these people, he could only look like a dumb and silent duck. He no longer dared to struggle. He can only confess his guilt and try his utmost to not implicate the Ye Family, insisting that he had done these things on impulse.
Even with the last call he made, he successfully brought along a band of notorious star pirates.
His maternal uncle was one of the wanted leaders of this band. He was extremely vicious. He repeatedly plundered spacecrafts for their supplies and cargo and killed dozens of innocent passengers. After committing a crime, he would find someplace to hide and once the heat died down, he would reemerge. It never ever occurred to him that with a single phone call from his sister’s son, would tie him together with the army.
In the end, Cai Xin was deprived of guardianship status and sentenced to six years in prison. Wei Zhuo paid a total of 300,000 GM coins to Ruan Tang and his brokerage company. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Ye Yinian suffered a heavier penalty for intentional injury. Altogether, he was sentenced to ten years in prison.
After successfully severing the mother-child relationship with Cai Xin and obtaining Ruan Yu’s custody as was his wish, Ruan Tang no longer cared about anything else. He walked out of the court with He Yun Chen and Zhou Jing. When he went to express his thanks to the people in the gallery, these powerful people were actually very proud and did not admit that they came to support Ruan Tang. They left him with a cold nod and didn’t give Ruan Tang the chance to invite them to a meal.
“Mr. Zhou, Brother Chen, it is really thanks to you that I won the case. In order to express my gratitude, might I make a sumptuous meal for you at home?” When they left the court, Ruan Tang extended this invitation to Zhou Jing and He Yun Chen. He didn’t do anything to settle this matter, it was basically these two people who handled everything for him and this made him very embarrassed.
“I’ve long since heard that your craftsmanship is extraordinary, and today I finally have a chance to sample it myself. Then, I will gladly accept.” Zhou Jing answered with a smile.
“OK.” Naturally He Yun Chen would not refuse.
“Then I will send another message to Big Brother He and ask him to come with us.”
The three got on He Yun Chen’s flying car and headed for Ruan Tang’s home.
Since it was for celebration and expressing his thanks, the meal was naturally more sumptuous. Ruan Tang decided to make a luxurious meal of four dishes and one soup– Dongpo Pork Shoulder, Four Happiness Meatballs, Spicy Sesame Chicken, Double Mushroom Choy Sum and Yan Du Xian. Aside from the vegetable dish, the rest were quite laborious to make. He was sure that it would be a meal that would satisfy all his guests. In addition, he could also make more of the Four Happiness Meatballs for the lottery.
After arriving home, Ruan Tang went on the shopping site and purchased the needed ingredients. Because it was a meal for four people, plus a lottery, he bought quite a lot. The items were delivered in two large boxes.
Never one to miss a chance to eat a great meal, He Yun Yi, the chowhound, went straight to Ruan Tang’s after receiving message. He arrived just behind the interstellar express delivery and was flabbergasted. “Why did you buy so much? Looks like I have the gourmet’s luck today!”
“Big Brother He, when did you not have the gourmet’s luck?” Ruan Tang opened the door, signed for the courier and teased He Yun Yi a bit. He and the Academy of Sciences had long ago reached an agreement to cooperate. He Yun Yi also specifically requested that every time he made a dish, he would send a sample to the Academy of Sciences as feedback to allow them to continue to improve the ingredients. Now it seemed that this was all due to He Yun Yi’s greediness.
He invited the guests to sit down and brought them drinks and a few appetizers. Ruan Tang put the delivery in the kitchen and started the live broadcast.
“Hello everyone, I am the anchor, Ruan Tang. Today I will bring you Dongpo Pork Shoulder, Four Happiness Meatballs, Spicy Sesame Chicken, Double Mushroom Choy Sum and Yan Du Xian. There are four dishes and one soup.”
[Miao Miao loves to eat all the dishes of the anchor: Wow! So luxurious! Tang Tang must want to celebrate after winning the lawsuit today!]
[Can’t stop hugging trees: What can I do? Just hearing these names makes me drool... ]
[The scenery from my hometown: Weakly asks the anchor if he would have a lottery draw today?]
As usual, the restrictions on the level of shielding and the frequency of speech by the audience were both set to the highest possible level. Ruan Tang was in a good mood and chose to answer the questions of a few familiar viewers.
“Yes, I’m in a good mood today, so I invited my friends over for dinner. There will also be a lucky draw today so good luck to everyone.”
Hearing the words, the audience immediately jumped for joy.
“Dongpo Pork Shoulder takes more time to make, so let’s do this first.”
The ‘shoulder’ was actually pig’s trotters with the thigh, which was the part of the leg connected to the body. It could be divided into the front part and the hind part. Ruan Tang used the thick-skinned, lean and gelatinous hind portion for the Dongpo Pork Shoulder.
Ruan Tang washed five large trotters with clear water, then put them into a soup pot filled with boiling water. He boiled them at high temperature. When they no longer expelled any blood, he scooped them out and allowed them to air dry. He then used soy sauce to color them evenly.
He put out another oil pan and heated it at medium to low temperature until it was 60% to 70% hot, then he put the trotters to deep fry. Because it had been coated in soy sauce, the trotters looked quite pretty, glossy and shiny. The pork skin looked very tight and elastic, and even a little sexy. After the skin had turned red-brown, Ruan Tang took them out into a colander to drain the oil, and then placed them into a bowl for later use.
He placed the trotters into a pressure cooker, poured in water, add ginger slices and chopped scallion, seasoned it with salt, sugar, and soy sauce, and then let it cook for an hour.
“Dongpo pork shoulder needs to be cooked for about an hour. While that’s cooking, we’ll make the soup.” The method to cook Yan Du Xian was easy, but it takes a long time to stew. That’s why Ruan Tang decided to cook it now.
The main ingredients for Yan Du Xian were spring bamboo shoots and fresh and salted pork belly slices. “Yan” referred to cured bacon; “Xian” referred to fresh pork belly and “du” meant to cook using a small fire. So, the way to make this soup was actually obvious at a glance.
Ruan Tang cut the fresh and salted pork belly into thin slices. The fresh and tender spring bamboo shoots and Chinese lettuce were cut into chunks. He put all the ingredients together into the pressure cooker and used fresh water to let it stew. He also added ginger slices, scallion slices and some salt. After simmering for an hour at low temperature, it will be ready.
The next thing Ruan Tang wants to make was Four Happiness Meatballs, which was actually large meatballs braised in soy sauce. It had the implied meaning of ‘good fortune, riches, longevity and happiness’ and was a famous Yangzhou dish.
Ruan Tang washed two pieces of pork belly. After removing the skin, he chopped them into minced meat. Then, he put the minced meat into a large bowl, added salt and light soy sauce and stirred well. Finally, he added eggs and stirred quickly with a pair of chopsticks. Generally, horse’s hoof also known as Chinese Water Chestnuts, were added to Four Happiness Meatballs to create that unique texture. Unfortunately, this ingredient has not yet been restored by the Academy of Sciences, so in the end Ruan Tang could only use fresh bamboo shoots as a substitute.
Ruan Tang chopped the tender bamboo shoot tips and added them to the meat filling. He also put in scallions, minced ginger, starch, ground pepper, soy sauce, etc. and stirred well until it was distributed evenly. He then beat the filling vigorously in order to make it more flexible. Finally, he began to shape it into equal sized meatballs.
He arranged the meatballs on a tray and then took out an oil pan. When the oil was 50% hot, he held the tray and put in the meatballs one by one. When they were fried a golden brown, he fished the meatballs out. He left a part of the oil in the bottom of the pot, poured in water, added salt, sugar, and soy sauce then waited for the sauce to turn red. When it did, he then put in the fried meatballs and let it simmer for 10 minutes at medium to low heat until it was cooked through. He used a starch slurry to thicken the sauce and then dish was complete.
Ruan Tang only plated four of the Four Happiness Meatballs. He blanched some green leafy vegetables to be used for plating. He put them in the center of a white porcelain plate and arranged the meatball on top of it. The four meatballs were rosy and glossy. It had both lean and fatty parts. With how they were arranged on top of the vegetables, it created the scene that seduced people’s appetites. And that alluring scent made everyone lose control.
[Ting Ting want to eat sugar: Oh, it’s so so delicious!]
[The April Turtledove flicks its feathers: The outside of this meatball has been fried crispy, but the meat inside is still so tender. And these crunchy bamboo shoots! It tastes so rich, I just can’t stop!]
[Dazzled Flowers: It’s just exploding with deliciousness! I hope the anchor will be in a good mood every day!]
The rich and dense savory taste of the meatball mixed with the meaty juices made an explosion of flavor in their mouths. It almost drove the audience crazy!
The fourth dish was Spicy Sesame Chicken, whose main ingredient was fresh chicken leg meat. There were many ways to make Spicy Sesame Chicken. Ruan Tang choose the simplest and most convenient one. He first cleaned the chicken leg, put it in boiling water and blanched it. He then cut it into thin pieces of chicken and spread it on a white porcelain plate. The key point to this dish was the control of the scalding time. It is necessary to ensure that the chicken is not as loose as “braised chicken”, and that it would showcase the tastiness of the chicken itself.
After that, he removed the raw pepper seeds, mixed the fresh scallion leaves and salt to make a very fine “scallion pepper paste”. He put it into a bowl and poured hot oil over it. He then added soy sauce, sesame oil, fragrant oil and sichuan pepper powder to make the pepper-sesame sauce that he poured over the chicken slices.
“Well, let’s give this a taste.”
[Mo Dan Qing: Hey! It’s tasty! It’s tender! It’s spicy! It’s numbingly tingly! Super delicious!]
[Su Su Su Su Su: Is this really chicken? How come it’s so tender? Although it’s hot and spicy, it has a fresh and refreshing taste.]
[I don’t care if I don’t want to pay off: If you can give me a bowl of white rice, I think I can eat two big bowls!]
This Spicy Sesame Chicken used boneless chicken leg meat. Free from any bones and dregs, it was tender, smooth, tasty and fragrant. It had great texture. The specially prepared pepper-sesame sauce made the chicken taste numbingly spicy and savory but at the same time, it was also clear and refreshing. Its taste was extraordinarily delicious.
The last dish was Double Mushroom Choy Sum, which was very easy to prepare. Ruan Tang took out the old leaves from the bunch of Choy Sum and washed it with clean water. He let it blanch in salt water then fished it out and then washed it. He then stir-fried it with some hot oil and seasoned it with salt, after which he then ladled out onto a plate.
He then took out an oil pan. He removed the stems from the shiitake mushrooms and fresh mushrooms and stir fried them together. He added the appropriate amount of salt, soy sauce, and pepper to taste. When the sauce was slightly reduced, he used the starch slurry to thicken it and then poured the entire mixture over the choy sum. The dish was done.
This vegetarian dish was fresh and tasty. It was perfect to temper the rich taste of the previous two meat dishes and it received the audience’s approval.
At this time, the Dongpo Pork Shoulder which had been stewing for a long time was almost ready to be taken out of the pot.
As soon as the pressure cooker was opened, the strong aroma that assailed the viewer’s nostrils made their saliva overflow. He placed the pork elbow on a large plate. The large and bright red pork elbow looked particularly impactful.
“It’s ready to eat.” Ruan Tang poked the pig’s elbow with his chopsticks and parted it easily, showing how tender and completely cooked through it was.
[Boundless River: Wow, what a big piece of meat! It’s dripping with oil and it’s so chubby! I just want to take a big bite of it!]
[Old Age Stupid Notions: I couldn’t wait for the anchor to give the signal. I’ve already pounced on it and taken I bite. It was so delicious, I thought I was going to fly off to heaven!]
[Old driver wants to get in the car: Actually, I don’t like fatty meat at all, but it looks super appetizing!]
[Little swallows fly: It’s simply so delicious that it can’t be described with words!]
The deep-fried elbow skin is crispy and was slightly tough, but the fat attached to the underside of the skin had been cooked through. It could be said to be fatty but not greasy. The meat was firm but it was stewed until was completely soft and tender. It was melt in your mouth tender. The rich sauce that it was drenched in was dripping everywhere. One mouthful of this meat was enough to get someone intoxicated.
The audience had yet to recover from the deliciousness of the Dongpo Pork Shoulder when the Yan Du Xian was done. Ruan Tang took a deep soup bowl and filled it with soup from the pot. In the thick white soup, the yellow spring bamboo shoots and the green lettuce enhanced each other’s beauty. The meat slices were cut so thinly and the fatty parts were stewed until it was almost transparent. The oiliness had been completely absorbed by the bamboo shoots, and the soup looked rich and appetizing.
Without even waiting for Ruan Tang’s signal, the viewers, couldn’t wait any longer, and went to sample this soup.
[Following you inexplicably: God, I have never had such delicious soup!]
[Yue Mingya: Hey, it tastes so good. And it’s so simple to make. I’m going to try and make it at home!]
[Following broadcasts to learn how to cook: I have learned another delicious dish, and I feel more and more powerful!]
After cooking for a long time, the soup tasted extremely delicious. The bamboo shoots had soaked up the meaty juices and were crisp and tender. The fresh and salted pork belly was quite palatable. It was simply indescribably delicious.
Although these four dishes and one soup were not difficult to make, their level of deliciousness was hardly modest!
“Now it’s time to draw the lottery. Today, I’ve made a lot of Four Happiness Meatballs, so we’ll be using these for the lottery today. Today, there will be ten lucky viewers. Good luck to everyone.” Ruan Tang said that he started the draw function.
The audience held their breaths and waited for the lottery winners, while silently praying in their hearts, their bearings were incredibly pious.
“Congratulations to I just want to watch the sunrise, Yuan Bao Bao, The April Turtledove flicks its feathers, Gulu Gulu Sweet and Sour Pork ... and other ten lucky viewers, the express delivery will be sent later, please remember to check and receive. Those who didn’t win, don’t be discouraged. A few days later I will have a pleasant surprise for you.” Ruan Tang said with a smile.
The number of Ruan Tang’s viewers were growing by the day, and he could only give a limited number of prizes. The extremely low chance of winning has made countless of viewers very sad. Ruan Tang also felt very sorry for them. He wanted more people to be able to taste delicious food.
Therefore, he discussed with He Yun Yi the preparations need to make those ready-made lunch boxes and instant noodles that were available in supermarkets during his previous life. Nowadays, with the interstellar world’s advanced technology, the fresh-keeping effect of the preservation boxes was very good. There was no need to add preservatives and other substances to ensure its shelf life. The freshness of the food inside would last for an entire week.
Those automated quick meal factories that existed in the past could now be built. There was no need for any kind of manual labor. The entire process from cooking rice to cooking the dishes and then packing it in a fresh box, could be completed conveniently and quickly.
Instant noodles were even easier. They just need to use double layered fresh keeping boxes. You could boil the fresh noodles and then place them in the bottom of the fresh-keeping box. Then you pour in the soup and garnishes that were on the upper layer. People just need to open the box and mix the soup, garnishes and noodles to enjoy fresh and healthy noodles.
The construction of quick meal factories on various planets were now underway, coupled with a developed interstellar express delivery system, things couldn’t be more convenient.
The only problem was that Ruan Tang simply handed over an industrial chain of operations that could support a mega company to the Academy of Sciences. This made He Yun Yi feel very guilty and apologetic and he insisted on paying Ruan Tang huge patent fees and nearly half of the subsequent profits.
Ruan Tang couldn’t help but put his face in his hands. He originally wanted to be just a little rich, have some financial security. Who could have thought that he had now amassed millions upon millions in the interstellar world?