After the beef slices were cut, they needed to be marinated with the whites of an egg for a while to ensure the at would be tender and delicious when fried. During this step, Master Tan obviously hesitated, turned his head to glance at Hua Xiaomai, opened his mouth, but in the end didn’t utter a single word. He just kept his head down, mixed the beef with other ingredients, and stir-fried it in a red-hot iron wok before plating and serving it.
As for the egg drop soup, there was hardly anything to say—it was just a pot of boiling water. After the water boiled, he took the pot off the stove, let it sit for a mont, added a little green onion and hot oil to a few beaten eggs, poured them into the pot, and stirred with chopsticks. Then the soup was ready.
Master Tan was quite nimble with his hands and precise with his timing. As he was serving the egg drop soup into a large bowl, the at pie was just finishing steaming. All three dishes were plated on a small tray and brought to Hua Xiaomai. His expression looked uncertain, and his hands were sowhat shaky.
Hua Xiaomai had watched him prepare these three dishes from start to finish and already had her opinions. She smiled and nodded at him, tasted a little of each dish, and then put down her chopsticks.
"...How is it?" Master Tan watched her face intently, afraid to miss even the slightest change in expression.
Hua Xiaomai couldn’t help but laugh, "Don’t be so nervous. It makes uncomfortable too and I’m afraid to speak my mind."
Master Tan gave a stiff chuckle and raised his hand to rub his own face.
"Actually, your mastery of the steps for these three dishes is already very good. For instance, the way you minced at on the pig’s skin, even I don’t know how to do that and should start learning. Just by seeing the way you cook, I knew it wouldn’t be bad—this is speaking frankly, not just to comfort you," Hua Xiaomai said without missing a beat, "But now, I must pick so bones out of the egg."
"Firstly, let’s talk about the stead at pie. As I said before, your thod for mincing at is very good, but at the sa ti, you made one or two mistakes. You minced the fat and lean at together, and by the ti it turned into a at pie, the fat had almost beco a puree. Stead with high heat, it all turned into grease floating on the surface, while the lean at, having lost the fat’s wrapping, beca too hard and tough, not soft enough in the mouth. In my opinion, whether you should use pig skin while mincing the at isn’t so important; what’s crucial is to cut the fat into small cubes beforehand and steam them together with the minced lean at. This way, you can avoid such problems."
"Ah..." Master Tan responded with a flicker in his eyes.
At that mont, Hua Xiaomai didn’t bother to comfort him further, but continued, "On the whole, your stead at pie is quite good, but there are more problems with the fried beef. First, after the beef slices are cut, they should be marinated with egg white for more than an hour to allow the egg to fully penetrate the at—I saw you hesitate earlier and seed to want to say sothing, but in the end you didn’t. I guess you might have been worried about ti, which I can understand, but no matter what, you should have inford . "
"Secondly, before putting the beef in the pot, you should never add salt and soy sauce first, as these two ingredients will cause the beef to contract. And you should know the result of this contraction without telling you—that is it makes the at tough and rough. Third, the essence of frying beef is that after eating the last slice, there should be no sauce left on the bottom of the plate. But look at your dish, you added too much slurry, so it could never achieve that effect."
Master Tan was lectured by her for a while, and even in the heat of sumr, cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Hua Xiaomai spoke of these matters, which were not at all difficult. On the contrary, many were the basic essentials for a cook. When she first started in the culinary field, she had also known these things by heart. But as is often the case with people, over ti, the simpler sothing is, the easier it is to overlook it, gradually pushing it to the back of one’s mind, never to think of it again easily.
Having her three dishes criticized to this extent, Master Tan couldn’t help feeling disheartened. She quietly took the plate from in front of Hua Xiaomai, unsure of what else to say, and simply prepared to leave.
Unexpectedly, Hua Xiaomai spoke up again at that mont.
"My little restaurant is still being decorated, and should... be ready to open again in August. If you don’t mind working in our poor rural area, how about being a cook at my place from now on?"
Master Tan had not expected her to offer to keep him on after pointing out so many faults. He whipped around suddenly, "I... You..." he stamred, at a loss for words.
Hua Xiaomai curved her lips into a smile, "Every cook has this or that issue—I’m no exception. But these issues, they only beco apparent when we are onlookers, so, in the future, I will still need Master Tan’s guidance. As for the wages... we can discuss in detail when we reopen in August. I can’t promise the best conditions, but at least, I will try my best to be fair to you. Also, if Master Tan knows of any other skilled cooks looking for work, I would appreciate it if you could refer them to ."
"Alright, no problem, definitely, certainly." Master Tan fluctuated between worry and joy, now a bit befuddled with happiness, nodding his head eagerly, thanking her repeatedly, and promising to do his very best, before finally leaving in high spirits.
Hua Xiaomai inquired about the sauce situation from Lei An and his wife at the Sauce Garden, exchanged a few words, felt sowhat tired, and thus stood up to head toward the ng Family residence.
She had finally recruited a cook and, despite various issues, was overall quite satisfied, feeling naturally joyful. The weight in her heart had finally lifted halfway. Zhou Yunyun noticed she didn’t look well and stubbornly insisted on accompanying her back. As the two walked down the small dirt road towards the south of the village, before reaching the ng Family’s courtyard gate, they heard a ruckus, accompanied by the sharp sound of porcelain hitting the ground.
What... What’s happening?
Her heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly sped up, reaching the front gate of the ng Family courtyard and looking inside, only to be startled enough to step back.
The courtyard was in complete chaos, with chickens and dogs running wild.
All the dishes and bowls from the dining table had been swept to the ground, Tang Maolin crouched by the wall corner, panting heavily. Old Lady ng stood on the steps, hands on hips, exuding an intimidating aura. As for Mrs. Ding and Tang Dongyan, they were both sitting amidst the shards, tears falling one after another.(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welco to vote with your recomndation ticket or monthly ticket at Qidian (qidian). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian to read.)
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