Chapter 281: Glistening Posturing
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
At that time, Wu Hai became slightly satisfied after finishing the Smoked Fish Silver Thread Noodles. After that, he took the chopsticks and reached for the steaming hot Dongpo Pig Knuckle that he had been looking forward to.
The major characteristic of Dongpo Pig Knuckle were its thick meat and the alluring flavor deep in the bones. During ancient times, it was even called the celestial meat.
As a literate person, Wu Hai knew something about that.
"Let me savor the taste of the celestial meat now." Wu Hai picked a piece of pork lightly and stuffed it directly into his mouth.
Then he discovered that although the pig knuckle appeared incomparably soft, it wasn’t actually easy to break. When he picked it with the chopsticks, the fat and lean meat still remain stuck together. He took it closer to himself and then found a layer of fat that wasn’t oily right under the skin.
"Suo". With a light lick, that layer of fat directly melted in his mouth and tasted incomparably delicious. Moreover, it wasn’t greasy at all but was instead quite refreshing and pleasant, bringing with it the intrinsically typical fragrance of pork.
"Yum!" Wu Hai stroked his mustaches and then stuffed the entire piece into his mouth.
After a slight bite, he first touched the pork skin that wrapped the lean meat. It left people the feeling of a colloidal matter with a mellow texture. While munching, it tasted smooth with a barely noticeable chewiness. But when it got to the lean meat in the middle, it had a sense of elasticity. Meanwhile, it tasted neither too dry nor too greasy as if it hadn’t touched the oil at all. The lean meat just melted upon entering the mouth.
"Ba Ji Ba Ji". Wu Hai couldn’t spare even some time to notice the plain cooked rice at the side.
As for the pork hock weighing 1 kilo, Wu Hai was never worried that he can’t finish it himself. He indicated that he could just eat up another 1 kilo. This pork hock was really too small.
Ling Hong was just one step away from holding it up with his hands and gulping it down.
"Gee? Is this edible too? Wonderful." Just as Wu Hai got to the central part and thought it would be the bone, planning to skip it first and then lick it after eating the meat up, he nevertheless found it was actually an amber-like stuff, like a soft fruit jelly that was wrapped inside.
It would be even better if it was edible. Not having time to feel curious, he directly stuffed it into his mouth. Instantly, he felt a surge of refreshing taste. It was absolutely different from the single pork and meanwhile combined the merits of both. Incomparably delicious!
Ling Hong beside him had also gotten to this bone that turned to be not. "It’s surprisingly not the bone. What an amazing idea!" While eating, he didn’t forget to sigh with emotion.
"Look. There are no bones in the pork hock cooked by Yuan Zhou." Other customers at the side who had been watching Ling Hong and Wu Hai eating immediately noticed that.
Although they were unable to afford it, it was no problem for them to look at it.
"Indeed. Its color is like the amber and it’s just so beautiful. Furthermore, it appears soft and smooth." Girls were usually more attentive and careful.
"You’ll know the taste after having it in the mouth." A confident but arrogant voice sounded suddenly.
It turned out to be said by the man who had originally caught much attention of others. Now that he got his turn, he said directly when he heard the discussion.
"What a joke! How could I afford it at such a high price?" Some customers answered dumbly in the heart.
The price was clearly marked on the price list as, Dongpo Pig Knuckle, 2080 RMB /serving.
It was even more expensive than the tea egg. Finally, the tea egg could remove the title of the most expensive dish now and retire after winning its well-deserved merits.
However, this arrogant man whose hair was standing upright was really a rich guy. He straightway ordered his dishes, "Dongpo Pig Knuckle, plain cooked rice, Translucent Beef Slices, Silk Twined Rabbit and Jinling Grass as well as a serving of Phoenix-Tail Prawns."
"Sir, we have a rule in our restaurant that no food is allowed to waste. So?" Seeing the man order so many dishes, Zhou Jia reminded warmly.
"I know I would be blacklisted if I waste any food. But don’t worry, I can eat them up. I’m a man with many muscles," the man said confidently.
"Alright. Payment first, please." Zhou Jia calculated the price and reported to him. The man also chose to make the bank transfer. But his account name was a little strange. It was surprisingly an anonymous debit card.
Of course, Zhou Jia didn’t know much about it. Well, neither did Yuan Zhou.
Therefore, Zhou Jia didn’t reveal any different expressions. After confirming receipt of the payment, she directly reported the dish to Yuan Zhou.
It would naturally arouse people’s interest to order that many dishes alone. However, the man didn’t actually care about others’ opinion and just got seated unhurriedly to wait for his dishes.
With Yuan Zhou’s cooking speed, it was naturally all done quite quickly. Within about 20 minutes, all of his dishes were served. Of course, the man likewise tasted the dishes one after another very carefully and attentively.
The previous arrogant confidence also diminished a lot.
The last dish that he ate was the plain cooked rice eaten together with the gravy in Dongpo Pig Knuckle, which was fairly appetizing.
However, he suddenly heard a remark that made him want to laugh when he had just finished the dish.
"What good is the pig knuckle? I have already been fed up with it on various banquets which always include this dish. There isn’t any technical content for this particular dish. It’s still the Golden Fried Rice that requires the intricate craftsmanship. Get me another serving of Egg Fried Rice," the person said quite confidently.
Before Wu Hai could find time to say something and as Ling Hong had just finished the meal, the arrogant man uttered straightforwardly with the apparently insolent manner.
"Ho Ho. If you can’t afford it, please don’t talk rubbish. Why don’t you order one serving for a try and compare it with the things that aren’t well processed like those common offal?"
"Pardon?" The man was made dumbfounded immediately. This person might have only wanted to act cool. But coincidentally, he was heard by the several people at the same time.
"First of all, the pork hock was called the celestial meat in ancient times. It’s common sense." The man paused for a while and then continued.
"The words of pork hock also have a meaning of blessing. Alike to modern people, the ancients were also quite interesting. Ever from Tang Dynasty, people who passed the highest imperial examinations would always ask for a peer calligrapher to inscribe his name in red on the Great Wild Goose Pagoda of Cien Temple in Chang’an, the current capital. It meant that he made it.
Once he spoke, he brought out some uncommon knowledge. Therefore, all the customers on site, no matter they were eating or not, started to listen to him carefully.
With a strong aura from the inside out, this person revealed a manner of "I’m well-educated and knowledgeable. You just listen to me."
Seeing everybody listening to him earnestly, the man then continued contentedly, "What’s related to the pig knuckle is that all his relatives and friends will give him pig knuckles as the present before he goes to the capital for the examination. You know why? The two characters pronounce the same to ‘inscribe the name in red color’, meaning success in examination. Let me tell you something more about it."
After that, the man continued generously, "In south regions, the pig knuckle is also called Tibang, which has the same pronunciation with ‘being listed as the successful candidate’. So people give it as the present in hope that the person can succeed in the examination."
"I see. I have never known there’s so much knowledge about the pig knuckle. This really increases my knowledge." Most of the customers directly became dumbfounded. This person truly knew a lot.
Having been greatly surprised for quite a while, the man who had given the unfavorable remark finally reacted and felt he had grasped the main point.
"I’m talking about the technical content of the cooking, not the matter of pig knuckle." He regained some confidence.
"Tsk. Ignorance is so dreadful. You even dare to evaluate foods that you haven’t eaten before." The arrogant man first took a look of contempt at the man. The sense of contempt was even revealed from every single strand of his hair that stood upright.
"Yeah, you are right. I haven’t eaten it before. But Dongpo Pig Knuckle is nothing but a piece of meat being boiled in plain water with some gravy and bland sauce added and then being simmered until it’s well cooked. And of course, some other people would boil it first and then fry it in the edible oil until the skin wrinkled. Nothing else. I have been fed up with it." This man likewise knew much and immediately brought out the two cooking methods.
"Don’t make the comparisons with those things that resemble the unprocessed offal. It’s so disgusting." The man said with contempt.
"Forget it. Let me just tell you something about the pig knuckle cooked by Boss Yuan in case you feel too proud of yourself." Said the man confidently.
Yuan Zhou was also looking at him with great interest. Ordinary people wouldn’t know his cooking method of the pig knuckle. Could this man bring it out?
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