Chapter 145 - 144: Yacai and Pork Belly
At the same time, Li You opened the Storage Pavilion, intending to look at the ingredients that had dropped in the game instance earlier.
First up was yacai.
Li You was a bit surprised that this ingredient had dropped.
Because so far, none of his dishes used yacai.
But even if he had no use for it now, he definitely would in the future.
Yacai was absolutely a great ingredient.
Yacai is sometimes called "salt vegetable," or rather, a type of salt vegetable.
Generally, it is made by shredding and pickling the tender stems and leaves of mustard greens.
In Li You’s home village, almost every household made it.
His mother made some every year, too.
It was delicious when stir-fried with minced meat, dry-fried with green beans, and more.
It could also be paired with pork belly to make Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables, which was also incredibly delicious.
Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables is a famous traditional dish from Chuansheng Province, and it’s very similar to the famous traditional Hakka dish, Mei Cai Kou Rou.
There wasn’t a huge difference between the two.
Just slight variations in the preparation process.
Also, Mei Cai Kou Rou uses "mei cai" as the vegetable base, while Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables uses yacai.
Moreover, in Chuansheng Province, Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables is sometimes just called "Kou Rou."
It just lacks the two words "Mei Cai" in front.
The yacai in the Storage Pavilion was shredded into strands.
Although it was only of medium quality, its appearance was excellent.
’I’ll use it to stir-fry some minced meat another day.’
’Even though I haven’t learned a proper recipe for it, it’s fine if I’m just cooking for myself.’
Besides the yacai, there was also a hundred jin of pork belly and a hundred jin of Two-blade Pork.
With this hundred jin of Two-blade Pork, he was well-stocked on ingredients for Twice-cooked Pork again.
As for the pork belly, he didn’t have any dishes that required it for now.
But that was fine. He could just keep it in the Storage Pavilion.
A use for it would surely come up eventually.
In addition to these ingredients, he also had one lottery draw chance.
Li You decided not to use it for now. It could wait until after he finished fishing and went back.
After checking his ingredients, Li You closed the Storage Pavilion.
He continued chatting with Ye Shengge.
A short while later, the two of them arrived at the edge of a deep pool at the bottom of the valley.
This deep pool would be the perfect spot to fish.
They began setting up their fishing rods.
Li You watched Ye Shengge set up her rod. Her movements were quite practiced; she could definitely be considered a veteran.
"Boss, how about we compete to see who catches more?" Ye Shengge suggested.
"Sure! Let’s do it."
Of course, Li You wouldn’t refuse.
One after another, the two of them officially cast their lines.
They didn’t use any bait to chum the water.
These deep pools were full of fish, so there was no need to chum.
A few minutes later, Li You was the first to get a bite—a carp weighing seven or eight liang.
For a carp, this one wasn’t big.
But now that he had the Spatial Fish Pond, he would take any fish, big or small.
"How about that? No match for me, right?" Li You said with a chuckle.
"The first one to score doesn’t always win in the end," Ye Shengge replied, unconcerned.
"We’ll have to wait and see, then," Li You added.
They continued fishing.
Soon, Ye Shengge got her first catch as well.
A crucian carp of about half a jin.
"Not bad. But it still can’t compare to the weight of my carp," said Li You.
"Maybe my next fish will surpass yours. By the way, Boss, now that you have Crucian Carp with Agastache, are you planning to introduce any dishes featuring carp as the main ingredient next? Like Sweet and Sour Carp, or Braised Carp," Ye Shengge asked.
Li You nodded. "I do have plans for that. It might not be released anytime soon, but it’ll definitely be on the menu eventually."
Ye Shengge said, "As long as it’s coming, I can wait."
Li You then asked, "What’s your favorite fish to eat?"
Ye Shengge replied, "Different fish have different preparations and textures. I wouldn’t say I have a favorite type; it’s more like I enjoy all kinds of fish. Even the most common ones, like crucian carp and regular carp, are delicious when cooked well. Just like your Crucian Carp with Agastache."
Li You nodded. "That’s a fair point."
And so, as the two chatted away, their respective catches grew larger and larger.
Overall, Li You’s haul was a little bigger.
Time slowly crept toward five in the afternoon.
It was time to head back.
By then, Li You had caught about ten more fish than Ye Shengge.
His total weight was greater as well.
Li You grinned. "So? Still think you’re a match for me?"
Ye Shengge smiled back and said, "I’ll just say you were luckier today. If there’s a next time, I might be the one winning."
Li You said, "Then we’ll have another competition the next time you come."
"Sounds good! I’ll definitely be the winner next time."
"We’ll see about that after we compete."
Chatting, they both packed up their fishing rods.
Carrying their fish, they returned to the restaurant.
...
Not long after they returned to the restaurant, customers began to arrive for dinner.
Among them were the teachers—Chu Yiwei, Lin Xin, and Zhang Qinghe—as well as the business owners—Deng Luping, Zhao Yu, and Xie Hai.
Li You began another busy round in the kitchen.
The customers came in waves, and by the time the last group had finished eating and left, the sky was almost completely dark.
Finally, it was his turn to eat dinner.
Tonight, he was once again having spicy crayfish and drinks with Ye Shengge, and once again, Ye Shengge was paying.
Additionally, as planned, Li You also took out about two jin of chanterelle mushrooms and made a pot of chanterelle soup.
Chanterelles could also be stir-fried.
But since they had stir-fried termite mushrooms for lunch, he decided against stir-frying chanterelles for dinner.
They were having spicy crayfish and drinks tonight.
Pairing that with a pot of savory chanterelle soup would be a perfect match.
They were on the second floor again, with the TV turned on.
When Ye Shengge saw the chanterelle soup, she was delighted. "It smells so fresh and savory! I’m going to have a bowl of soup first."
Li You smiled. "I’ll have a bowl of soup first, too."
They each ladled a bowl of soup.
After letting it cool a bit so it wouldn’t burn their mouths, they both took a large gulp.
It was incredibly savory and delicious.
Truly a delicacy bestowed by nature. To think that a simple soup could be this savory and delicious.
"When I get back, I’m going to make chanterelle soup just like this," Ye Shengge said.
Li You nodded. "It’s not complicated. Even if you make it, the flavor won’t be too bad."
Ye Shengge said, "I hope so."
After that, the two began to eat crayfish and drink.
It was pure bliss.
Slowly, after they had finished all the crayfish and each had two bowls of alcohol, Ye Shengge went to take a shower first.
Li You sat on the sofa and had the system bring up the lottery interface.
He was going to start the draw.
There were the four familiar categories: Recipes, Ingredients, Cookware, and Other.
’Which category will it land on this time?’
Li You was filled with anticipation.
He started the draw.
The wheel spun rapidly before coming to a stop, the pointer landing on the Recipe category.
The Recipe category! This meant he would be able to learn a new dish right away.
Excellent.
’So, what kind of dish will it be?’
Li You was incredibly excited!
The answer would be revealed shortly.
The familiar gift box appeared, and after the ribbons fluttered away, the answer was revealed.
"Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables!"
’It’s Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables?’
Li You was a bit surprised. The timing was just too perfect.
Just this afternoon, when he got the yacai and pork belly from the game instance, the dish that came to his mind was Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables.
He never expected to actually draw the recipe for it now.
’Is this a case of "think of a dish and you shall receive"?’
’Awesome!’
Still, it was a very pleasant surprise.
Because, as mentioned before, Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables was a delicious and very famous dish.
Moreover, it was one of the essential showstopper dishes at rural "baba" banquets.
Now he had the recipe for Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables.
This brought Li You one step closer to being able to cater a "baba" banquet.
Therefore, Li You was absolutely thrilled!
...