Rebirth: Starting from the Cafeteria

Chapter 128: Farewell Banquet

First, slice the pork belly, then cut it into thick strips, and then cut it into dices. Then start chopping the meat, but Du Shaojie did not chop it too finely, retaining the appropriate granularity, which would taste better.

Putting the chopped meat into a bowl and setting aside, he began to prepare the side dishes and condiments.

Soak the mushrooms first and then squeeze out the water. Cut them into small pieces and put them in a bowl. Chop the green onion and ginger and put them together with the mushroom pieces.

Then, cut some ginger slices and green onion segments for later use.

The next step is to prepare the meat filling. Put the diced mushrooms and chopped green onions and ginger in the bowl into a bowl, add appropriate amounts of salt, pepper, soy sauce, a little bit of yellow mayonnaise, and then beat in an egg.

Use your hands to stir in one direction to make the meat filling firm.

Finally, add some starch and continue stirring, beating it a few times, until the meat filling sticks to the bottom of the bowl and does not fall off when turned upside down. Only then does Du Shaojie stop.

Then divide the meat filling into four portions, roll them into meatballs of equal size, and place them on a plate for later use.

After washing his hands, he began to heat the pan, poured in a large amount of oil, and raised the oil temperature to 60%. At this time, Du Shaojie rolled the meatballs again and put them into the hot oil along the edge of the pan for frying.

When the meatballs turn golden brown and their surface becomes hard, take them out.

Pour out the oil in the pot, then add the chopped onion, ginger slices, two star anise, a little cinnamon, and quickly pour in boiling water.

Bring the water to a boil, add soy sauce, salt, a little cooking wine, a little sugar, then put in the meatballs and stew.

Du Shaojie looked at the time. There was still 1 hour and 20 minutes left before the end of the game, so the stewing time was set within 1 hour.

After 45 minutes, he will blanch the cleaned rapeseed.

The technique used is "oil and water frying", that is, put oil in the pot first, then add appropriate amount of hot water and some salt after the oil is heated, and finally put the rapeseed.

After the rapeseed is cooked, take it out and place it around the plate as a side dish and garnish.

When the meatballs are cooked, remove them and place them on a plate. Remove the spices and impurities from the pot, add water starch to thicken the soup, drizzle a little cooking oil, and pour the thick soup on the four meatballs.

This dish of [Four Happiness Meatballs] is done.

At this time, there were 10 minutes left before the end of the game. Du Shaojie raised his hand and successfully completed the second round of the game.

Next came the judges' scoring session. Du Shaojie's overall score was 93 points, while his opponent's overall score was only 76 points. The outcome was no suspense.

Du Shaojie successfully entered the third round of the competition, which will be held next month, after the Spring Festival.

The preliminary round was not difficult for him at all, but the long competition made him feel a little tired. Of course, he could understand that, on the one hand, it was close to the Chinese New Year, and on the other hand, the rematch was scheduled for late March, so no one was in a hurry.

After leaving the stadium, Du Shaojie did not go to work, but went straight home.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and he has applied for a day off in advance, so he will go to work on Monday.

"I knew you would come back. I left some food for you at noon. Did you eat it? If not, I'll heat it up for you. How was your game today? Yan Zi came to sit for a while this morning and even asked me about it."

Wang Yuxiu was doing sewing and couldn't help laughing when she saw her son.

Qi Yan's family came to inform us a few days ago that they would invite Du Shaojie's family, Su Dapeng's family, and Liang Meiqin's parents to dinner at home tonight.

She guessed that her son was going to help, so she left some food for him at noon, but who knew he would come back so late.

"We won the game, but the next round will have to wait until after the New Year. Mom, you take a rest. I'll heat up the food myself."

Du Shaojie's family, Qi Yan and Su Dapeng all knew that he was taking part in the competition.

But no one took it seriously. After all, no one knew that the follow-up effects of this competition would only gradually become apparent in the next few years.

After saying that, he turned and went to the kitchen.

After eating, Du Shaojie rested for half an hour, then got up and went to Qi Yan's house.

When he walked in, he saw Qi Yan and his parents were busy, so he said, "What do you need me to do? I'm taking a break in the afternoon, so I'm just sitting around doing nothing."

"Looking at your relaxed expression, I know you've definitely won the game! I don't need your help now, how about you show off your skills tonight? I want to eat the dishes you cook."

Qi Yan smiled slightly and didn't treat Du Shaojie as an outsider at all.

Mother Qi rolled her eyes at her daughter and said, "We are inviting people to dinner today, how can we let the guests cook? Look at you, do you dislike the food your mother cooks?"

"Auntie, we've been neighbors for many years, there's no need to be so particular. Let me see what you've prepared today. I'll cook two of my signature dishes for you later."

Du Shaojie immediately interrupted the conversation, and Qi Yan blinked at her mother proudly.

He looked around and saw that the Qi family had prepared a rich variety of food, including chicken, fish, pork, beef, and mutton, as well as frozen tofu, sweet potato vermicelli, some vegetables, and pork kidneys.

Du Shaojie thought that he could make a dish called "Kung Pao Chicken" and another dish called "Chicken Soup". The fish was carp, so it was just right to make "Sweet and Sour Carp", and put it in a shape of a fish leaping over the dragon gate, which was both beautiful and delicious.

"Uncle Qi, Auntie, have you decided what dish to cook? If not, I can give you some advice." Du Shaojie was sure that he could not interfere in other people's business, so he asked politely.

Qi's mother was immediately amused: "How can you be so cunning, kid? When it comes to cooking, we are all laymen, and you are the expert. Anyway, we only have these things at home, what dishes can you cook?"

Du Shaojie smiled sheepishly, first talking about the dishes he had just thought of, and then continued to add: "There are also [Stir-fried barbecued meat], [Beef stew], [Stir-fried kidneys], and three more vegetarian dishes and a chicken soup to complete the meal."

All in all, there are exactly eight dishes and one soup, which is the standard for a banquet.

"See, I told you you were a professional, right? Well, I'll make the chicken soup and three vegetarian dishes, and the rest is yours."

Qi's mother didn't bother to be polite with Du Shaojie and made the decision happily.

Of course Qi Yan was the happiest person, she actually knew very well why the other party came to help today. So, she got up to wash her hands, and then made a cup of Maojian tea for Du Shaojie.

This tea is Qi Yan's father's collection, and he usually doesn't want to drink it.

After everything was cleaned, Du Shaojie went to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients. He had no choice but to do it himself, as Qi's mother's knife skills were far from what he wanted.

Before evening, all preparations were ready, waiting for the guests to arrive.

At the appointed time, Wang Yuxiu and Xiaomei and Xiaoya arrived first, followed by Su Dapeng and his mother as well as Liang Meiqin's parents.

Su Dapeng's father did not come because he had to change his shift today and had to work the night shift, so he really couldn't find the time.

Du Shaojie immediately started to heat up the pan and cook. Delicious dishes were served to the table one after another, allowing everyone to experience the speed of serving dishes that can only be found in a big restaurant.

The last three vegetarian dishes were also cooked by him. Except for the chicken soup, all the dishes today were cooked by him.

"Come on, Shaojie, sit down quickly."

Mother Qi greeted Du Shaojie with a smile and asked him to sit next to Qi Yan.

Father Qi pointed at the Sweet and Sour Carp and said, "What a great dish! It's so fitting. Yan Zi was able to get into college thanks to the help of all the neighbors, especially Shao Jie. Although he's young, he's very insightful. Sometimes a word can make a person successful."

"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it! Let's congratulate Yan Zi on her success first."

Du Shaojie shook his head repeatedly, then Liang Meiqin's parents raised their glasses, everyone said a word of blessing, and the banquet officially began.

Many people drank tonight, including Qi Yan and her parents, Liang Meiqin's parents, Su Dapeng and his mother, and Du Shaojie. Wang Yuxiu and the two girls did not drink, so they had to drink tea instead.

Then everyone started to eat, and as soon as they started to eat, they found that the dishes today were so delicious that the dishes made by the chefs in the restaurant were just as good.

Liang's father and mother looked at each other. They found that Du Shaojie's cooking skills had improved greatly. Now they were not even qualified to comment on him.

Su Dapeng's mother was even more shocked. She had only heard that Du Shaojie was a good cook, but she had no clear idea of ​​how good he was.

She had only eaten Dezhou Braised Chicken a few times, so it was difficult for her to draw the correct conclusion based on her limited experience.

Today's table of dishes can roughly represent Du Shaojie's level, allowing Su's mother to have a more comprehensive understanding of Du Shaojie's cooking skills.

In her mind, this is the level of a great chef. This childhood friend of her son is extraordinary!

"Shaojie, let's compete with Yan Zi. Miqin left first, Yan Zi followed closely behind, and in the end, it was just the two of us left."

Su Dapeng pulled Qi Yan and Du Shaojie aside to start chatting, and the elders were also chatting animatedly. Only Xiaomei and Xiaoya were busy eating, as they couldn't get a word in anyway.

Du Shaojie did not seem very sad, or rather, he was not sad at all.

After all, we are two human beings in two lives, so we can think things through. We have our own lives, and others have their own lives. If one day our lives overlap again, perhaps fate has arrived.

However, Qi Yan was not as rational as him, and her eyes became red unconsciously.

Fortunately, she still knew how to restrain herself. She used the excuse of going to wash her face and calmed herself down before sitting back down at the table.

In general, the meal was a great pleasure for both the host and the guests. Before leaving, everyone took out gifts for Qi Yan, which were basically pens, scarves, diaries, and so on.

Only the gift given by Du Shaojie was the most special, a bag of beef jerky he made himself.

This thing was very troublesome to make, and it took him a lot of thought. But it wasn't that difficult, because he was too busy.

"Shaojie, I like the gift you gave me very much. My mother said that we will go to my aunt's house to celebrate the Spring Festival this year, and then go directly to school after the New Year."

After eating and drinking, the guests left one after another, and Wang Yuxiu also returned home with her two daughters in advance.

Du Shaojie left a little later and then took a walk outside with Qi Yan.

Because Qi Yan's family was going out of town to celebrate the New Year, this meal was actually a farewell dinner. No wonder she was secretly crying today.

Du Shaojie had a premonition, otherwise he would not have been so proactive today and insisted on coming over to cook.

(End of this chapter)