"Oh dear, I forgot to introduce the Pepper Salt Vegan Eel Strips. Although this is a cold dish, it needs to be eaten quickly."
"Everyone, don’t be fooled by the appearance that looks like Deep-fried Eel; it’s actually made of mushrooms. The mushrooms are cut into strips, coated in starch, and stir-fried in hot oil, not deep-fried, and served cold after the oil has been drained."
"This dish gets crunchy after cooling, but if left too long, it becomes soft, so eat quickly!" After saying this, Huang An Yao picked up a portion with his chopsticks.
In three seconds, the Pepper Salt Vegan Eel Strips disappeared from the plate.
"Xiao Huang, enough with the cold dishes, let’s talk about the hot dishes since they’re already here." Xu Tuqiang looked eagerly at the Soft Pouch Long Fish in front of him, not daring to move his chopsticks.
Despite Xu Tuqiang’s self-perception as a thick-skinned man, capable of doing things like borrowing Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns without hesitation, today’s setting somehow made him feel that he couldn’t touch the dish unless Huang An Yao introduced it first.
Something seemed missing without an introduction.
Moments ago, Xu Tuqiang secretly took a chopstick of Stir fried fish, and while eating, felt something was lacking. As Stir fried Shrimp, it was delicious, but it missed the feeling of listening to Huang An Yao’s introduction before eating.
Huang An Yao nodded; actually, he had introduced almost all the cold dishes. He had delayed introducing the hot dishes because what was on the table were all minor supporting dishes; the real main dishes hadn’t been served yet.
"When it comes to hot dishes, apart from the Braised Pig’s Head, Stewed Crab Meat Meatballs, and Braised Silver Carp Head, there’s another indispensable dish in the Three Heads Banquet, which is the Soft Pouch Long Fish in front of you."
"This dish’s reputation is not lesser than the three dishes I mentioned, as it was the first hot dish in the Founding Banquet, also known as the Founding Dish."
"Long Fish, also known as eel, is not particularly fat in this season; it’s best eaten between June and August. Of course, some people like to eat it in spring. Although spring eels aren’t the plumpest, the meat is tender, so it’s a matter of preference."
"Talking about this dish, it’s not that hard to make."
"The long fish is scalded in boiling water for a minute, taken out, then cold oil in a hot pan first to stir-fry the ingredients: stir-fry garlic until fragrant, then add garlic chive segments and chili strips, stir-fry for about 10 seconds before adding the eel."
"Throughout the stir-frying process, seasoning sauce and hot oil are added in succession, with constant stirring to ensure proper fire control, finally ready to be served."
"At first glance, this dish seems like it requires a simple method, no fancy techniques. You don’t need to flip the food over in the pan, nor pour hot oil over it at the end like with Sizzling Fried Eel, where it sizzles noisily, but it does require a very high control of fire control by the chef."
"Quick stir-frying requires fire control, repeated stir-frying requires even more fire control."
"The delicacy of this dish lies in the tenderness of the long fish. When you pick it up with chopsticks, the ends droop down, looking just like a baby’s bib. When eating, you can use a soup spoon to scoop it up, hence its name Soft Pouch Long Fish."
Explaining all of this, Huang An Yao himself started to drool, and he immediately picked up a portion with his chopsticks.
Everyone followed suit; Wang Gen Sheng picked up a piece, watched the ends of the long fish droop, squinted at it, and turned his head to whisper to Chen Juan: "Is this what a baby’s bib is like?"
"Just eat yours and mind your own business." Chen Juan eagerly grabbed some food.
The plate was emptied.
Looking at the empty plates on the table, Qin Huai deeply felt that Huang An Yao, over the years, had his talent confined by working as the Young Master at Huang Ji.
In creating marketing plans, Huang An Yao truly did a poor job.
In negotiating prices and ordering goods from suppliers, he also couldn’t secure prices or goods.
When going to culinary exchange conferences, he only ate and didn’t exchange ideas, claiming that the dishes at whichever conference were not tasty if asked.
But as a food introduction streamer, Huang An Yao was genuinely professional.
If Huang Ji wanted to become wildly popular, there’d be no need to wait for guo’er to join "Taste"; having Huang An Yao open a livestream to introduce and eat food in front of the camera would be more effective than anything else.
Guaranteeing that the dish introduced that day would sell out immediately.
An Yao’s selection, reassuringly reliable.
Qin Huai, while eating the Soft Pouch Long Fish, silently gave a thumbs up to Huang An Yao in his mind.
He always felt that something was missing when dining privately, and it turned out to be the absence of Huang An Yao’s commentary beside him.
Qin Huai felt that today’s two bites of Soft Pouch Long Fish were the best he’d eaten in a month.
After talking so much, Huang An Yao’s mouth felt dry, so he took a sip of water to moisten his throat.
Just after putting down the cup, the waiter served new dishes.
Crab Meat Meatballs and Braised Silver Carp Head.
The main event had arrived!
The freshly cooked, aromatic, showstoppers personally made by Huang Shengli!
As the Young Master, ordinarily, Huang An Yao only had chances to sneak bites from Qin Huai’s private dishes, not often having the opportunity to sit at the table and eat a full Three Heads Banquet. At regular guests’ wedding banquets, Huang An Yao couldn’t directly eat at the table, usually eating in the kitchen instead, so occasions , sitting properly in a private room to eat the Three Heads Banquet, were rare.
Now, seeing the Braised Silver Carp Head, Huang An Yao’s eyes couldn’t move from it, instinctively wanting to stretch out his chopsticks.
Then he realized that it seemed only he was the one who had picked up chopsticks at the whole table.
The rest were looking eagerly at him, waiting for him to give a commentary.
Huang An Yao: Seriously, you guys can hold back?
The Braised Silver Carp Head and Crab Meat Meatballs were already served on the table, and you could hold back without reaching out with your chopsticks and wait for me to talk?
Is there really someone in this world who can not reach out for chopsticks after seeing these two dishes, and a whole table of them at that!
Has the recent flu been so severe that everyone has such a bad cold that they can’t smell anything?
Huang An Yao was dumbfounded.
Quietly, he put down his chopsticks.
Huang An Yao cleared his throat.
He tried hard to tear his gaze away from the Braised Silver Carp Head.
"Since this banquet is called the Three Heads Banquet, the real stars are, of course, the Braised Silver Carp Head and Crab Meat Meatballs that have just been served."
"For the Braised Silver Carp Head, you need to choose..."