Chapter 81 (1/2)

Chapter 81: A Top Chef

“He’s not a chef here. He’s my friend that specially came over to celebrate my birthday.” Sun Ming knew this guy was kind-hearted. He was just blunt. Hence, Sun Ming said those words while smiling.

“Well, fine. But why does he only cook the Egg Fried Rice?” the guy whispered.

“It’s what I would like to eat,” Sun Ming directly said.

“Ok. You are the leading role today, whatever you say. Come, everyone, a toast to him.” While speaking, he badgered Sun Ming into drinking alcohol.

“It’s your birthday today, so you must drink until you get drunk,” KFC came up, putting his arm over Sun Ming’s shoulders and said, grinning.

“That’s right. It’s your birthday, so you have to drink a cup first.” More people joined in to persuade Sun Ming.

Sun Ming had no choice but did as requested. Then he indicated he would drink another one in a while, using the excuse that he was waiting to savor tasty delicacies first.

After walking into the kitchen, Yuan Zhou finally understood what Sun Ming had meant by saying that the kitchen was like a brand-new one. This wasn’t like a brand-new one, but really is a brand-new one. Even the wok was still wrapped in a bag.

As expected, one could never trust a single male’s word. No wonder Sun Ming frequently came to his restaurant for meals no matter if he was busy or free. It was actually because he had never used the kitchen before.

“Peng”, Yuan Zhou opened the cabinet first to check if the flavoring were all prepared. He found them not bad. The basic flavoring were all placed inside of the cabinet, but likewise, sealed tightly.

Yuan Zhou shut the cabinet. Then he picked up the wok and spatula, starting to tear off their wrappings. Afterward, he started to heat up the wok.

Almost all new kitchenware needed to go through this procedure. Otherwise, the dishes cooked basically couldn’t be eaten.

The procedures of heating up the wok were quite simple. First, wash the wok clean, and then put it onto the stove to heat it. After that, use a small piece of pig fat to wipe the entire wok before washing it again. The process had to be repeated again and again. After three rounds, the wok would be ready to be used. Yuan Zhou, nevertheless, had a slightly different habit. After filling it up with water and boiling it, he put several pieces of pork with fat meat and lean meat along with some green radishes.

The purpose was naturally not to stew soup, but to boil some soup to absorb the metallic-rusty taste that remained in the new wok.

Yuan Zhou started to boil the broth before kneading the dough, preparing the noodles so that it can be cooked immediately once the soup was done.

Although Sun Ming was a foodie, he didn’t know much about ingredients. His principle was that the more expensive the ingredients, the better it was. With a mere glance, Yuan Zhou identified the flour as the most expensive kind displayed on supermarket shelves, packaged with the currently fashionable strong paper bag. After a careful look, it was indeed all-purpose flour.

“Si La”, Yuan Zhou tore the paper bag and pinched the flour with his hand. The dryness was still alright. If one smelled it carefully, the scent of wheat was rather faint while the powder quality was too white and silky. This was the result of excessive artificial processing.

Having poured the flour into a big stainless steel basin, Yuan Zhou began to knead the dough. Due to the weakness of the fragrance and texture of the flour, Yuan Zhou used eggs to replace clear water. This was to avoid the taste of the bleach which might cover the fragrance of the flour. He also scattered some salt to get rid of the bad odor in the flour and to increase the viscosity of the wet flour.

Yuan Zhou was busy doing all the preparations. Just as he was carefully kneading the dough which had turned slightly yellow after being mixed with eggs, KFC came up to the door and asked,

“Need a hand?”

“No. You just go and have fun,” Yuan Zhou turned his head and said softly. Of course, it wasn’t because Yuan Zhou had a gentle nature; he was just afraid that saliva might fall into the bowl if he spoke loudly. There was no mask in the kitchen here.

“You’ll be very slow if you do it yourself. The earlier you finish, the earlier you can go out to have fun together.” KFC was quite ardent. While still saying that, he had already rolled up his sleeves and prepared to enter to help.

“You don’t know how to do it. I like cooking on my own,” Yuan Zhou said earnestly while turning his head towards KFC.

“Well, ok. Just call me if you need help,” KFC put down his hands and shrugged his shoulders, saying.