Food Intelligence King

Chapter 168 My child is a bit of a picky eater, sorry for the trouble.

Before making soy sauce fried rice, Chen Zhou consulted with the diners.

"Grandpa, do you need me to give you two eggs?"

“No need,” Yu Shaochun waved his hand. “Just soy sauce is fine. Do you have any lard in your shop? It would be better to use lard to stir-fry it.”

Chen Zhou smiled and said, "Yes, please wait a moment."

"Okay." There were no other customers in the shop, so Grandpa Yu also went to the vicinity of the kitchen.

Chen Zhou then began making a customized version of soy sauce fried rice.

When Chen Zhou grasped the pot handle again, he felt that what his palm was touching was not a piece of cold wood, but rather an extension of his arm.

It just happened to be convenient.

Heat the pan and add cold oil.

First, heat the pot over high heat until it's scalding hot and just starting to smoke.

Then pour in cold oil and quickly shake the spatula to evenly coat the inside of the pan.

After swishing the pan, pour out the excess oil.

Add fresh oil, then add the rice.

Use a spatula to continuously cut, press, and turn the rice to break it up.

At this point, the firepower is at medium to high intensity.

If the heat is too low, the rice will simmer in the pot, becoming soggy and losing its texture.

Continue to stir-fry until the rice grains crackle and pop in the pan, and some grains may even jump up.

Chen Zhou's gaze remained fixed on the small plot of land in the pot.

The moment rice grains come into contact with hot oil, their outer skin quickly tightens, forming a very brittle shell.

Next, Chen Zhou seemed to know exactly where the heat in the pot would accumulate, where the steam would escape from, and at what critical point the aromatic substances would be released.

He felt a calm certainty in his heart.

Grandpa Yu, being quite knowledgeable, chimed in from the side:
"This is good. It means that the moisture in the rice has been fully dried out, and each grain is distinct, dry and crisp."

Cooking with a comedic interlude? Who could stand that?

Chen Zhou couldn't help but grin.

He didn't stop working and continued operating.

Now it's time to add the soy sauce.

The soy sauce was salty enough on its own, so Chen Zhou added some sugar.

Simply spread the fried rice out evenly.

Make a small opening in the middle and pour the soy sauce directly into the hottest spot in the center of the pot.

"Stab" sound.

A plume of steam rose from the bottom of the pot.

Grandpa Yu clapped his hands and praised, "Hey, that's the feeling!"

Chen Zhou was closest to the pot and could already smell the aroma of burning meat.

Extremely high temperatures instantly catalyze the Maillard reaction in the amino acids and sugars of soy sauce, producing an incredibly rich and complex aroma.

This is the application of wok hei (the smoky aroma imparted by a hot wok).

Stir-fry over high heat. Stir-fry the seasonings evenly, then sprinkle with chopped green onions. The soy sauce fried rice is ready to serve.

Chen Zhou served it to the dining table.

"Try it, Uncle Yu."

"This is what you call full of wok hei (wok aroma), right?" Yu Shaochun tasted it. He felt he saw a trace of an old friend in this little boy.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion.

Chen Zhou sat down opposite him.

Watch Grandpa Yu eat rice spoonful by spoonful.

He thought to himself: The old man probably came looking for me after he got the pot; he must have been thirsty and hungry on the way.

With this, all matters related to Grandpa Yu, as well as the content of the "True Explanation of Culinary Arts" in the previous intelligence report, have been dealt with.

The complete two-part series, "The Breath of the Pot," elevates Chen Zhou's culinary skills to a new level.

Grandpa Yu had drunk too much tea earlier, and now he's enjoying his soy sauce fried rice with some pickled vegetables.

While eating, he also shared a homemade side dish with Chen Zhou.

Yu Shaochun described it as follows:

"Cut fresh tofu into mahjong tile pieces. Take a Jiangyi purple clay pot, fill it with freshly drawn spring water, put the tofu in, and bring it to a boil over high heat."

Even with this simple dish, you have to get the heat just right.

When it starts bubbling and bubbling, it should be removed from the heat.

Let the residual heat in the pot continue to heat it.

Eat it while it's hot, with soy sauce.

After you finish eating, pour the tofu soup into the bowl; the original soup will help digest the food.

When Grandpa Yu shared the side dishes, he had a look of great satisfaction on his face.

Chen Zhou blinked. "This side dish sounds really good."

Knowing he was quite wealthy, Grandpa Yu changed his address to Chen Zhou:

"If you don't have a purple clay pot, just use a regular pot. If you don't have spring water, just use tap water. That's simpler and more convenient."

Grandpa Yu spoke with great enthusiasm.

Chen Zhou finally received a system notification.

You've managed to get a simple and convenient side dish recipe.

Chen Zhou shook his head and smiled.

This time, without Grandpa Yu, Chen Zhou might have had to personally negotiate with Wang Shen's grand-nephew.

It might cost a lot of money to get this done.

He was very grateful for Grandpa Yu's help, even though the other party didn't see it that way.

Grandpa Yu felt that if Chen Zhou hadn't "accidentally" seen the second-hand trading information on the website, he would have missed a chance to find his old friend's belongings in time.

The other person was eating, and Chen Zhou sincerely invited them:

"If there's anything you'd like to eat, just come to the shop and find me, Uncle Yu. If I don't know how to make it, just tell me how it's done today."

Yu Shaochun was chewing the pickled cucumber with a crunching sound.

They have really good teeth.

He nodded. "Okay, no problem."

Of course, Chen Zhou had already learned the wok-hei technique from Senior Wang Shen's wok, so he simply cleaned and maintained the old wok.

It was best to leave it to Grandpa Yu for safekeeping. By the time Chen Zhou said goodbye to Grandpa Yu and returned home from the shop, Chen Taotao had already returned from playing at the children's playground.

The mother and daughter were both in Chen Taotao's small bedroom.

The little girl seems to be in a particularly good mood today.

Chen Zhou guessed that they must have had quite a few lucky peaches. He smiled and asked, "Daughter, how was it? Did you have fun today?"

"Yes! I'm happy!" Chen Taotao nodded emphatically.

"We played all morning, there were slides, ball pits, and we even tried our luck at the claw machine."

The two little girls simply couldn't resist the slide.

As for the ball pit, it should be the pool filled with small round balls.

Ms. Lin took photos of the children and sent them to Chen Zhou at noon.

Chen Zhou remembers playing a similar game when he was a child. One of his cousins ​​even lost his shoes in it and hasn't found them yet.

Nowadays, amusement parks seem to pay more attention to this aspect; to prevent shoes from getting lost, they've all switched to uniform shoe covers.

There may also be concerns about safety and hygiene.

Of course, Chen Zhou was still very curious about his daughter's experience with the claw machine.

"Did you two win the plush toy?"

Chen Taotao nodded smugly.

"Of course, Dad, I'm really good! I caught two in a row, and I even gave one to Tiantian!"

Chen Zhou laughed and said, "You only caught two?"

“Yes,” the little girl tilted her head, wondering why her father asked again, “Let’s each have one!”

Chen Zhou thought to himself that if she continued, she could catch quite a few more.

But it's good that my daughter is like this.

Be content with what you have and find happiness in simple things.

This may also be a result of her mother's education.

He patted his daughter's head and said, "You're very good, Tao Tao. Daddy has never caught you once."

Chen Taotao has learned to comfort people now. She said, "Then I'll take you next time."

"Row."

On the other hand, Ms. Lin sat at the desk in Chen Taotao's small bedroom, holding an eraser and hesitating, seemingly lost in thought.

Chen Zhou came to his wife's side:

"What's wrong with you? What do you need me to wipe?"

Ms. Lin showed Chen Zhou Chen Tao Tao's little pine cone.

It was given to Tao Tao by Liu Tianyu. It has the names of two children written on it.

Chen Zhou saw his wife write the words on it with his own eyes. Tao Tao had just learned to draw her own name and didn't know how to write the other person's name.

Therefore, it was written by Lin Yifan.

He said to his wife, "Pine Cone, I know you wrote those words on it."

Ms. Lin frowned:
"The character 'yu' in their name is the one with the 'king' radical, not the 'fish' in the sense of eating fish. I'm wondering if I should change it."

She believed Chen Taotao's words and wrote the character for "fish" as in "goldfish." Although "Jin Yu" is a proper word, it is not commonly used.

It touched on a knowledge gap for the family of two adults and one child.

At this moment, Chen Zhou finally learned the real name of little Tian Tian.

I finally found out that there was a small misunderstanding a few days ago.

He smiled and said to his wife, "This is fine, it's good enough."

“That’s right~” Chen Taotao didn’t mind.

Anyway, all she remembered was the fish in goldfish.

"Hmm~" Ms. Lin put aside her slight hesitation and talked about going out with Tian Tian's mother to take care of the child today.

The main topic is about Liu Tianyu coming to our house for dinner tomorrow.

Ms. Lin stated:
She said her little girl is a picky eater and doesn't eat well at home. She said she's caused us trouble this time and hopes we won't mind.

Chen Zhou nodded. It's just kids socializing; it's not like they're organizing a dinner party.

Eating is just an excuse; the most important thing is to come over and have some fun together.

He smiled and said to his wife, "Okay, I understand. But let's prepare according to the original plan, just in case they don't become picky about food when they come to our house."

Kids change every day.

Remembering her friend's behavior in kindergarten, Chen Taotao said confidently, "Tian Tian is a little picky about food."

Then she clenched her little hands and gestured, "Just this little bit."

According to Chen Taotao, her pickiness is only about the size of a fingernail.

Children will also protect their friends.

Chen Zhou and his wife laughed when they saw their daughter's expression.

The old father would feel guilty if he didn't tease her a little.

Chen Zhou mimicked his daughter's actions and said, "Is this all she eats?"

"Oh no, Dad," Chen Taotao said seriously.

“We have a lot of dishes for lunch, but if there’s nothing she likes, she’ll only eat a few kernels of corn, and not just a little bit. There are several kernels.”

No wonder he's only been learning Go for a month or two; he can already use measure words.

No wonder Chen Taotao specifically asked Chen Zhou to make pine nut corn.

Her friend isn't picky about the type of corn she eats.

Chen Zhou reassured the little girl, "You don't need to worry about meals, Tao Tao. Just leave it to Daddy."

"Okay~" Chen Taotao thought her dad's cooking was delicious.

Although she is not a picky eater, she always feels that her dad's cooking is the best, whether she eats at kindergarten or outside.

She gave a fair assessment, "You're amazing, Dad."

"Then thank you," Chen Zhou said politely.

"I just think you're pretty amazing."

As the little girl spoke, she gently pinched the fine hairs on her father's arm with her fingers. Perhaps describing "a little bit" had become a habitual action.

So, Chen Zhou pinched her neck as well.

The little guy was so amused that he snuggled into Ms. Lin's arms.

The family played around in Chen Taotao's small bedroom for a while.

(End of this chapter)