Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Braised Chicken Feet with Mei Cai

After Qian Liwei’s contract was settled, the kitchen started bustling again. It wasn’t far from the lunchtime rush, and they had to quickly start preparing the dishes.

“Ah Wei, the students at our dining hall eat in batches, so we can’t have too few dishes. That’s why we prepare twelve dishes for each meal at lunch and dinner. Since you’re new today and might not be used to it, just make three dishes for now, alright?”

Jiang Yu had Qian Liwei change into his chef’s outfit and put on a chef’s hat before bringing him into the kitchen, asking,

“Think about it first, which three dishes do you plan to make? Just so we don’t overlap with what we’re making.”

He and Lu Shuwu had already discussed the dishes they were going to make the day before. As a newcomer, Qian Liwei could only decide on his dishes on the spot.

Qian Liwei thought for a moment and tentatively asked, “I’ll make stir-fried pork with peppers, eggplant with green beans, and loofah with scrambled eggs, is that okay?”

“Sure, then go ahead and prepare the ingredients.”

After sending Qian Liwei off, Jiang Yu turned to Lu Shuwu and said,

“Brother Xiao Wu, since Ah Wei is making stir-fried pork with peppers, you don’t need to make your farmhouse-style stir-fried pork. Let’s switch it to chili pickled chicken gizzards.”

“Alright.”

Lu Shuwu answered and also headed to the ingredient preparation area.

After arranging the tasks, Jiang Yu finally took a deep breath and started on his own tasks.

The dishes he was going to make today were similar to yesterday’s. After all, this was a student canteen. Changing the menu every day was neither practical nor convenient, but occasionally introducing one or two new dishes was doable, and would also give the students something new to enjoy.

For example, today, he wasn’t planning to make steamed ribs but was preparing to switch to a new dish that Jiangzhou people particularly loved—braised chicken feet with pickled mustard greens.

This dish wasn’t complicated. First, trim the nails off the chicken feet, cut them in half from the middle to let them absorb flavors better, then put them in a pot with cold water, green onions, ginger, and cooking wine to remove odors. Boil it on high heat, then turn to low heat, skim off any foam, and cover to simmer for fifteen minutes.

Next, soak the pickled mustard greens in hot water for ten minutes, rinse twice, and squeeze out the excess water.

Then, mince garlic and ginger, slice dried and small chili peppers, and chop the scallion greens into segments, setting them aside.

Once the chicken feet are cooked, take them out, rinse them, and drain the water.

With the ingredients ready, the next step is to start cooking with oil.

When the oil in the pot is hot, add minced ginger and garlic, stir-fry until fragrant, then add the chicken feet, stir-fry for one to two minutes, and add the squeezed-dry pickled mustard greens.

After stir-frying to release the aroma of the pickled mustard greens, add clear water to submerge the chicken feet, then add salt, braising soy sauce, a bit of rock sugar, switch to low heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Put the small chilies and dried chilies into the pot, then season with oyster sauce and chicken essence.

After stirring evenly, finally add the scallion greens, continue to stir-fry for a moment, then it’s ready to be served on a plate.

As soon as the braised chicken feet with pickled mustard greens came out of the pot, the savory, spicy aroma filled the entire kitchen, even drawing out Ma Guoqiang and others who were hiding in the ingredient preparation room. Several pairs of eyes were fixated on the dish in the tray.

Ma Guoqiang couldn’t help but swallow and ask:

“Boss Xiao Jiang, did you make braised chicken feet with pickled mustard greens?”

Isn’t that obvious? You’ve seen it with your own eyes and still need to ask—it’s clear you just want to ask if you can have some!

Jiang Yu said nothing more, taking a big spoon and scooped a large serving of braised chicken feet with pickled mustard greens onto a clean dish, then pointed and said:

“Alright, you can all have a taste, but after tasting, get back to work quickly!”

After all, this tray of braised chicken feet with pickled mustard greens wouldn’t be enough to sell, and they’d definitely need to make another batch later, so letting them have a taste now was no big deal.

“Alright!”

Ma Guoqiang immediately broke into a wide grin, turned around, and grabbed a pair of chopsticks, picked up a chicken foot and some pickled mustard greens into his bowl, and went to the side to savor them slowly.

Hu Zhihai, although a step late, was quick in action, lunging forward with his entire body, and his chopsticks entered the plate at the same time as Lu Shuwu’s.

The two exchanged a glance, snorted with feigned disdain at each other, picked up a chicken foot each without even needing a bowl, and started chomping right away.

The others, intimidated by these two “big shots,” waited until they moved aside before swarming in to grab some for themselves.

Before long, the crowd who had tasted the freshly prepared braised chicken feet with pickled mustard greens started to praise it:

“Boss is amazing. These chicken feet are tender and flavorful, with the aroma of pickled mustard greens and a spicy kick. It’s downright a rice-staple!”

“Not only are the chicken feet delicious, but the pickled mustard greens are also tasty—savory, fragrant, spicy, very satisfying!”

“As a native of Jiangzhou, I’ve eaten so many braised chicken feet with pickled mustard greens, but I’ve never had any this good. Boss is truly remarkable!”

“Lao Jiang is the best forever!”

“…”

Jiang Yu turned his head and glanced at this group, looking speechless.

Taste the flavor, just taste the flavor—I didn’t ask you to mindlessly praise it.

If you keep this up, I feel like I’m going to float away…

…

“Last night, I had steamed ribs with taro and black bean sauce, and damn, it was so delicious! The aroma was so good that I didn’t even want to brush my teeth before bed!”

“Isn’t your mouth stinking this morning?”

“Damn! Is that the point I’m making?! I’m saying the ribs were delicious! I’m definitely getting two servings this lunch! Two servings!”

“The fish pieces with chopped chili are delicious, especially the chopped chili, which is perfect with rice!”

“Pssh! A bunch of bumpkins, getting all surprised! Anything Senior Brother Jiang cooks, even simple dishes, taste great!”

“…”

Just past eleven o’clock, a few students with no classes in the morning ran to the Seventh Dining Hall to queue for food, and as they talked about the dishes they had yesterday, they were practically drooling.

They hadn’t chatted for long before students from other places like the teaching buildings and dormitories began to arrive, and the queue quickly stretched far away. The originally quiet hall of the Seventh Dining Hall gradually became lively.

While students were lined up at the Seventh Dining Hall, a young girl wearing a white dress and a sun hat was walking towards the dining hall, holding a phone and live streaming.

This girl is named Hua Xiaoling. After graduating from college without finding a suitable job, she started live streaming, specializing in exploring Jiangzhou’s street food and delicacies.

Since Hua Xiaoling is young and pretty, with a pleasant voice, she gathered a hundred thousand followers in just half a year. However, what fans love most is not her finding delicious food but watching her have “mishaps.”

At the moment, Hua Xiaoling was slowly walking toward the Seventh Dining Hall, introducing to her audience,

“Family, today I’m at Jiangzhou University, leading you to explore a dining hall.

Earlier, a good friend told me that at Jiangzhou University’s Second Dining Hall, there’s a ’Jiang Family Soup Dumplings’ place where the soup dumplings and saliva chicken are super tasty, attracting hundreds of people to queue every day!

However, I just found out at the Second Dining Hall that the place has moved, and reportedly the owner now manages the Seventh Dining Hall.

It’s almost mealtime, so let’s head to the Seventh Dining Hall now and check it out!”

As soon as she finished speaking, her fans filled the screen with mocking comments:

“Haha, get ready, Xiaohua’s about to ’have another mishap’!”

“Pfft! What good food can there be in a school dining hall? Has Xiaohua wandered all over Jiangzhou? If not, she should switch venues!”

“Life’s so tough, I can only find joy in watching Xiaohua’s ’mishaps’ every day!”

“Last time, Xiaohua said the mixed noodles at the street corner were super delicious, but after two bites, she found a big centipede! Guess what Xiaohua will find in the dining hall this time?”

“…”

Watching the mocking comments about her, Hua Xiaoling wasn’t angry at all. She became popular thanks to this silly and adorable persona, which was quite a unique trait.

Making money, no shame in that!

Pretending to be innocent, she tilted her head, blinked her big eyes, and smiled sweetly:

“I’m so cute; how could I ever ’have a mishap’? This time, there’ll definitely be delicious food!”

With that, she turned around and continued towards the Seventh Dining Hall.

The screen on her phone continued to be filled with comments:

“There’s really nothing tasty in university dining halls; just big pot dishes, and the vegetables look like they’re boiled to mush, so gross I feel like gagging just thinking about it.”

“Not necessarily; some university dining halls are pretty decent, though still can’t compare to restaurants outside.”

“When I was in college, a classmate got sautéed vegetables, only to find half a worm after eating half.”

“Why only half? Where’s the other half?”

“In his stomach…”

“Ugh…”

“…”

While people were chatting excitedly, Hua Xiaoling arrived at the entrance of the Seventh Dining Hall, and immediately she was attracted by this unique small dining hall with spacious floor-to-ceiling windows, brick-red walls, and surrounded by tall green trees. It was indeed special!

She quickly aimed her camera at the dining hall and began to introduce:

“Look, we’ve arrived at the Seventh Dining Hall. Isn’t this dining hall beautiful? With such a beautiful dining hall, the food inside must be delicious too!”

The comments continued:

“The dining hall is quite beautiful, but as they say, beauty outside, rotten inside…”

“Haha, Xiaohua is probably going to be enraged by your comment!”

“Hey, isn’t it still hot in Jiangzhou? How come there are people standing outside the dining hall?”

“Wow, the queue’s already outside the door?!”

“Xiaohua, if you want to eat, hurry and queue up; otherwise, it might take you one or two hours to get food…”

“This school is so stingy; there must be too few dining halls, so students have no place to eat!”

“So pitiful! Luckily, I didn’t apply to Jiangzhou University back then…”

“…”

At this point, Hua Xiaoling realized this and couldn’t help but be astonished.

The students queuing for meals have lined up outside the door! Just how delicious must the food in this dining hall be?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep