BXBX NOVEL Chapter 56 - Eight Treasures Meatball
He Yun Chen silently pressed his finger on the place where the delivery box had the word “food” marked on it and replied faintly. “You go ahead. I have to check these documents first.”
“Well then...” Gilbert shrugged with disappointment and followed the two government-appointed people towards the direction of the canteen.
As soon as they arrived at the cafeteria, Gilbert and others were attracted by the delicious smell of the food. When he saw the spectacular scene of tens of thousands of soldiers dining in the large hall, he could not help but say admiringly, “This is amazing! How many apprentices does Mr. Ruan Tang have?”
“He has six.”
“There are only six?” Gilbert was somewhat unbelieving. How can six people make the food for so many people?
The man also saw his doubts and explained, “In fact, all the actual cooking are done by smart robots. Mr. Ruan Tang’s apprentices only need to draft the daily menu, prepare the ingredients, and then direct the smart robots to make them.”
“Really? Can food made by robots be delicious?” Gilbert asked curiously.
“Of course, you will know when you taste it.”
The man opened the light brain and guided the Rute people to choose the dishes they wanted to eat. By coincidence, today’s menu had red braised pork as a main dish. The Rutes who just tasted the delicious red braised pork yesterday did not hesitate to choose this dish.
They found their empty seats and sat down. After a while, the food was served up. The appearance was very good and the portions were ample. All that was left was to taste it.
Gilbert picked up the spoon and put a piece of meat into his mouth. The same thick red sauce, the same tender meat but somehow the taste felt a little lacking. It wasn’t as good as the red braised pork they tasted yesterday. That one was so delicious, it made people infatuated with it. But this one was not half-bad. Seems like it was true when they said his apprentices were 60-70% to his level.
“Since you won’t let me take Mr. Ruan Tang away. Could I take a few robots?” Gilbert asked suddenly.
The man hesitated: “This... you would have to negotiate with His Majesty. The two of us don’t have that kind of authority.”
“Alright, when I go to Cheng Ji in the afternoon, I’ll talk to him about it.” After Gilbert finished, he looked at the empty plate in front of him. “Can I have another one?”
“Us too!”
***********
Ruan Tang was unaware that Gilbert’s group of people had taken a fancy to the empire’s smart robots. After lunch, he took a comfortable nap and began to prepare for the evening broadcast. At this time, he received a message from the government personnel saying that he had prepared too little for lunch. Gilbert did not get enough to eat, and tactfully asked if he could prepare more that evening.
[Miao Miao loves to eat all the dishes of the anchor: Oh, oh, it’s on air! Waiting for the Shui Zhu beef! ]
[Can’t stop hugging trees: Ever since I heard the news that day, I had already been salivating! ]
[Salted fish was originally fish: The lucky one who received the steak has come to deliver a report! It! Was! Super! Delicious!]
[Li Yue Star: Come on, help me kick out that commenter above! ]
Amidst the audience’s gags and antics, Ruan Tang smiled and gave his regular greeting. “Hello everyone, I am the anchor, Ruan Tang and today I will bring you Shui Zhu beef and eight-treasures meatball.”
[Small St.’s meaty garden: Hey, just hearing their names makes my mouth water! 】
The method of cooking Shui Zhu beef was similar to that of Shui Zhu fish’s, but the ingredients were more abundant. In addition to bean sprouts and potato strips, it was also necessary to add other garnishes like enoki mushrooms, cabbage and asparagus lettuce. This combination of meat and vegetables went very well with rice.
Ruan Tang first took a piece of beef tenderloin, cut it into thin slices with a kitchen knife, then added salt, soy sauce, pepper, scallion-ginger juice, cooking oil and starch and mixed them all together. He then let it marinate for 20 minutes to let the beef absorb all the flavors.
He then washed all the vegetables he needed to use. He put them in hot water to blanch and then set it aside in a bowl for later use.
He heated the oil in a pan and added the minced garlic and onion. He next added soy bean paste and chili oil. He used low heat to fry out the red oil and then added water and salt. After the red sauce boiled, Ruan Tang put in the well-marinated beef. After the beef changed color, Ruan Tang poured the blanched vegetables in the bowl. After sprinkling with dried chili peppers, crushed peppercorns, and topping off with boiling oil, a dense spicy flavor spewed out.
[I wish for tranquility: My God! This smells so good!]
[The April turtledove flicks its feathers: it tastes even better! It’s so spicy! My throat feels like it’s on fire! But the spiciness is so crisp! The taste is also super tasty!]
The deep red beef was soaked in bright red savory soup with green vegetables and sprinkled with chopped green onions. The colorful scene was very appetizing, not to mention the strong and numbing spiciness. Unlike the fried beef slices, the beef that was cooked in the spicy soup was rich in flavor and exceptionally tender. The more they ate, the more addicted they became.
[Gilbert: It’s so delicious! Mr. Ruan Tang, you have completely conquered my stomach and my heart with your cooking skills! You’ve rendered them drunk and stupefied, making them indulge in pleasure and forget home and duty.]
[Fengjing jing jing jing: ... I don’t even have the words match the level of ridicule this deserves.]
[To neglect the root and pursue the tip: Hahahahahahahahaha, I’m dying from laughter.]
Ruan Tang directly ignored the man’s heartfelt confession and continued on to make the second dish.
Although the names of Eight Treasures Meatball and Four Happiness Meatballs were similar, the way to make them was completely different. First, he needed to mince the streaky pork belly. In order to speed things up, Ruan Tang took two kitchen knives and quickly chopped the meat on the cutting board. This kind of crisp and neat movement caused the audience to cry out. They felt that he this kind of cooking action was really cool.
Then, he shaped the finely minced meat into meatballs. But these meatball were very big. Each was bigger than an adult man’s fist. A meatball could fully occupy a normal sized plate.
He heated a pan of oil. When the oil began to seethe he started to fry the meatballs in the pan. Such a large meatball has to be fried for a long time to be cooked through, but after waiting for its surface to completely change color, Ruan Tang quickly took it out of the pan, put it on the cutting board and cut a fifth of it with a knife. As expected, the meatball was only cooked on the outside and the inside was still pink.
[Mo Xi Ming: Ah, it’s not yet cooked?]
[Love Potion: Don’t worry, he’ll probably fry it again?]
However, everyone didn’t expect that Ruan Tang would take out a spoon and scoop out all the raw meat inside, leaving only the crispy shell of the meatball.
[Jjjjjjjing Dou: Wow wow, what is this? That seems impressive!]
At this point, Ruan Tang started to make the meatball filling. The so-called Eight Treasures Meatball referred to the delicious filling that was prepared with eight ingredients. The eight ingredients used were mushrooms, cucumbers, chicken, peanuts, onions, eggs, shiitake mushrooms and fresh bamboo shoots. They were all minced and fried together, then flavored with some pepper, salt and a little sugar. The taste was really good. Once sautéed, the aroma became rich and strong.
After the filling was finished, he put it back into the meatball shell, then fill the hole with the raw meat that he had just dug out. Ruan Tang put it back into the oil, and waited until the color of the shell changed. After the outer ball was completely even in color Ruan Tang loaded it onto a plate.
The audience was stupefied by these two large as fists meatballs.
[Ji Qiu Mo Ran: My God, how do I bite down on such a big meatball?]
[Small transparent: I think you’ll need to cut it with a knife.]
“Yes, you can eat it once you cut it, but everyone should be careful not to get burned. Ruan Tang used a spoon to divide the eight treasure meatball for easy tasting.
The shell of the freshly fried meatball was crispy and crunchy. The filling inside was full of flavor and juices. It was a double enjoyment of taste and texture. It was extremely addicting.
Numerous crystal flowers bloomed across the screen, and the audience was completely won over by this unimaginable taste.
[Honey Summer: Delicious.]
[moon: anchor I love you! This meatball is so delicious!]
“It is not convenient to use the Shui Zhu beef for the lottery, so the Eight Treasures meatballs will be the prizes today.” He looked at the amount of meat sauce and fillings left in the pan and decided on the number of lucky draws. “Today there will be eight lucky viewers. I wish you all good luck!”
[Little Swallows fly: Lord of the universe! Please let me win!]
[Sacrifice 歆 歆: Even if there’s only one-hundredth of a million chance of winning, I have to fight, I am willing to use my luck for a year to get this super delicious meatball! ]
[Miao Miao loves to eat all the dishes of the anchor: Anchor, I’m begging you, I really want to eat this meatball! o(╥_╥)o]
In the end, Ruan Tang still had a soft heart and he selected a few familiar IDs. “Congratulations to Water Colored Glass, Miao Miao loves to eat all the dishes of the anchor, Madam Qu, ID18220102, etc., To the eight lucky viewers, the prizes will be sent later, please remember to check and receive!”
After closing the live broadcast, Ruan Tang continued to fry up the remaining eight treasures meatballs — almost a dozen.
He gave Gilbert four meatballs and two large servings of Shui Zhu beef, served with white rice. This time they would surely be able to eat their fill!
As for the He Brothers, of course, they also had their share of Shui Zhu beef and eight treasures meatballs. And because He Yun Chen liked to eat spicy foods, he also gave him a spicy sauce to go along with the eight-ball meatballs.