Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Being a Frog_1 Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Being a Frog_1 “Just a few little frogs; for top chef Lin Yuan, it’s a piece of cake,” she said with a smile, without imdiately agreeing.
Instead, she teased the old man a bit, “Old sir, to be honest, I ca to the Fuman Building today just for these frogs.
If you’re brave enough, I’ll cook them up for you to try.
How about that?”
The old man’s eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously, “Yes, yes, of course!
As long as you cook them well, you can ask for anything, and I’ll give it to you!”
Shopkeeper Liu hastily coughed twice, but the old man outright ignored him.
“Also, girl, don’t keep calling ‘old sir;’ it sounds terrible.
Everyone calls Lao Fan.”
Lao Fan?
So, the old fellow’s surna is Fan.
“Alright, Mr.
Fan, I…” Before Lin Yuan could finish, the old man spat to one side in disgust, “Mr.
Fan?
Annoying is one thing, but adding ‘Mr.’?
You’re too unlovable, girl, even more annoying than that stinky boy!”
Seeing his own boss with a face dark as the bottom of a pot, Shopkeeper Liu actually held back his laughter and quickly led a puzzled Lin Yuan to the kitchen.
It wasn’t until they were downstairs that Lin Yuan wondered why the old man had suddenly changed his expression, and Shopkeeper Liu burst into laughter, giving her the answer: it turned out that the old man’s na wasn’t Fan, but because of his quirky temperant and particularly annoying behavior, he had acquired the nickna Lao Fan.
As Lin Yuan was cleaning the frogs, the image of Lao Fan’s adorable pot-bottom face kept popping up in her head.
Even though Shopkeeper Liu could hardly bear to witness his boss’s gluttonous nature, he was extrely shrewd when it ca to business.
If possible, the dish that Lin Yuan was preparing might beco another signature dish at the Fuman Building.
Therefore, when she asked for so servants to help her clean the frogs, Shopkeeper Liu promptly summoned a few servants who were idly panicking in the main hall, including the young man who had introduced her, Liuzi.
Here, almost no one had ever eaten frogs, so teaching them how to clean the frogs had to be done hands-on by Lin Yuan.
Fortunately, it was just a matter of technique, and she didn’t hold back.
When the young n saw such a delicate and fragile-looking girl personally wielding a knife to skin and debone the frogs, they were genuinely shocked.
They were hesitant to even touch these green, creepy little creatures, yet the girl didn’t even blink—an impressive show of ferocity.
Especially Liuzi, who ntally berated himself fiercely: which of his eyes had seen this young girl as delicate and adorable?
While the servants were busy cleaning the frogs, Lin Yuan also made a dessert using a small stove, Silver Ear Snow Pear Goji Berry Soup.
This dessert not only tasted good but also reduced internal heat, perfect for clearing the old man’s palate later.
Although this food-loving old man was sowhat annoying, for so reason, Lin Yuan felt quite fond of him.
At least he didn’t refuse to do business with her because she had taken back the goji berries.
Silver Ear Snow Pear was readily available in the kitchen, and the Silver Ear had been soaked in advance.
Lin Yuan only needed to tear it into small pieces, wash the pears and cut them into chunks, place them together with the Silver Ear into a ceramic jar, add clear water and a large piece of rock sugar, and finally, Lin Yuan pinched a small handful of goji berries from her small cloth bag to add in, then she left it alone, since this dessert didn’t require any special techniques, it was all about the heat and timing.
By the ti she finished these preparations, the helpers had also cleaned the frogs, and Lin Yuan washed her hands to start cooking.
This ti, she couldn’t allow anyone to enter the kitchen, as this was her exclusive secret recipe for earning her al.
Since it wasn’t ti to eat yet, Shopkeeper Liu simply let the other chefs take a break outside, leaving the entire kitchen to her.
Fuman Building was a famous restaurant, so naturally, the kitchen had all sorts of seasoning ingredients at hand, making Lin Yuan’s cooking incredibly easy, though she still needed to put in the effort to tend the fire.
Fortunately, the cooking called for high heat, so after placing a suitable amount of firewood in the stove, she was ready to begin.
Before she started the fire, she had already marinated the frog at a little with salt and soy sauce, so by the ti the fire was ready, the at was as well.
The best part of the frog was undoubtedly the legs, and although there was a good number of frogs, there wasn’t a lot of at to use after cleaning.
Nevertheless, she decided to make two dishes, a stir-fried frog and a spicy Sichuan frog, both spicy because that’s how the tastiest frog is prepared, and also because she had noticed that Lao Fan seed to particularly enjoy spicy food when eating.
The stir-fried frog was the easiest to prepare.
She poured cooking oil into a large pot, waited until it was hot, and then threw in half of the frog at to quickly stir-fry.
Once the at started to whiten, she added chopped chili peppers, as well as several cloves of garlic and a few ginger strips to remove the gay taste.
When the at was nearly done, she spotted a large jar of yellow rice wine on the countertop.
Lin Yuan greedily sniffed the intoxicating aroma of the wine before adding a generous spoonful to the pot, which made the fragrance in the pot even richer, just waiting to season with so salt before serving.
In the courtyard, Shopkeeper Liu was chatting with Fuman Building’s head chef, Master Wang, when they were suddenly enticed by the aroma.
Master Wang smacked his lips, remarking, “Hmm, chili, garlic, ginger, hey, the girl even added wine!
Tsk tsk, the sa ingredients, yet how co it slls so good when she makes it!”
Shopkeeper Liu sniffed, and together with the other helpers, they all swallowed their saliva quietly.
Inside, Lin Yuan had finished the first dish and swiftly cleaned the pot, adding two more logs to the stove before reigniting the fire to full blaze, then poured enough oil into the pot.
She preferred frying in hot oil because it made the at crispy on the outside while keeping it tender inside.
The hot oil would imdiately crisp the exterior, without overcooking the interior.
Plus, the at had been marinating a little longer while she prepared the first dish, so it was bound to be even tastier once fried.
Frog at is delicate and shouldn’t be cooked for long, so as soon as the exterior was crisped to her satisfaction, Lin Yuan quickly scooped out the at to let it drain.
Once the at was fried to perfection, it was ti to sauté the spices.
For this, one cannot use high heat; a gentle fla is needed to slowly bring out the fragrance.
She promptly removed the larger firewood from the stove, setting them in the adjacent hearth, then scooped out the excess oil into a spare jar, leaving only a little base oil in the pot.
Lin Yuan searched but couldn’t find any Sichuan peppercorns; it seed the locals had not yet discovered this spice.
She proceeded with scallion, ginger, and garlic before quickly stir-frying in a generous spoonful of chili.
Once the chili changed color and released its aroma, she poured the fried frog legs back in, seasoning with the appropriate amount of soy sauce and a bit of yellow rice wine, and finally sprinkled salt for taste.
With that, the second dish was ready to serve.
While working on her first dish, Lin Yuan had also noticed so freshly picked cilantro in the kitchen, so she chopped so and sprinkled it over the dish.
With its red and green hues, the spicy Sichuan frog was now a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate.
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