Chapter 1024: Chapter 424: Who Could Resist Freshly Cooked Sweet-Skinned Duck? Dundun, Help Daddy With the Lucky Draw!

The lunch was quite simple.

Cabbage and pork stew with vermicelli, braised mushrooms with bok choy, braised mutton with skin, and pork rib soup.

Three dishes and a soup, it was exactly like the employee meal at Building No. 2.

Even though all the head chefs were here, after trying out the cost-effective clear soup noodles, the main meal was kept simple. Anyway, even if everyone had something good to eat, they’d still keep praising the taste and texture of the clear soup noodles.

Lin Xu found that the braised mutton with skin surprisingly tasted good, especially the skin part, which was soft and tender.

Being used to eating mutton without skin, this mutton felt like eating pork, but the taste was incomparable to pork.

After downing a bowl of soupy noodles, Lin Xu felt no fullness, but instead, his appetite was stimulated.

At this point, with the delicious braised mutton with skin and cabbage pork stew with vermicelli, Lin Xu happily ate two large bowls of rice, thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Lin, my brother, you like big stew dishes, huh? When you’re not busy, come to Building No. 8. Our Northeast dishes are more authentic than those at the Black Office, Ji Office, or Liao Office."

Yuan Debiao got up and served himself another bowl of rice.

He continued eating heartily with the pork cabbage stew with vermicelli.

The vermicelli was smooth and tender, having absorbed the broth, tasted even better than the meat, while the cabbage was stewed till mushy, eaten warm, bringing comfort all over.

He referred to the Black Office, Ji Office, and Liao Office as the provincial liaison offices from Northeast China in Beijing, known for authentic Northeast cuisine.

Lin Xusheng served himself a bowl of pork rib soup, took a couple of sips, and said with a smile:

"I’ll find you, Brother Biao, to eat meat when I’m not busy."

"Absolutely, just let me know in advance when you’re coming. Brother Biao will cook meat for you. There’s no shortage of meat in Northeast cuisine."

Song Dahai mumbled from the side:

"Usually you can’t even borrow a cold water fish, but now he’s acting all generous. Don’t really go, Master Lin, Old Yuan is just being polite. If you really go, he’ll start worrying."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Debiao immediately glared:

"Old Song, if you keep babbling, do you believe I’ll spread herbicide all over your vegetable patch?"

The mention of grass was fine, but bringing it up, Song Dahai immediately said:

"Hurry up, I was just annoyed by that piece of land."

The sugarcane he planted was damaged before it could be eaten, after painstakingly growing some greens, and putting daily effort into tending them, on a particular night when they were almost fully grown, half disappeared.

The remaining little greens were just enough to stir-fry a plate.

Since then, Song Dahai understood that at the Fishing Platform, it’s better not to indulge in such hobbies.

Otherwise, the more hobbies one has, the more weaknesses.

Look at Old Xie and Old Dai, who neither grow vegetables nor flowers, having no other hobbies, there’s no way for others to retaliate.

After eating and drinking their fill, Lin Xu chatted with his senior brother for a while, then drove with Old Dai to Building No. 18, preparing to pack some marinated snacks.

Upon arriving in the kitchen, Lin Xu saw the iron racks specifically for hanging ducks in the marinating department were full with plain ducks exuding the fragrance of marinade, seemingly finished.

Nearby, in the morning, the pot was simmering red-brown syrup, the unique aroma of caramel making one feel comfortable all over.

"Isn’t this ready for frying yet?"

"No, just applied the first coat of syrup, once it’s dry, we’ll start frying... Oh, Master Lin’s here."

The people from the marinating department warmly greeted him.

Lin Xu asked with a smile:

"I could smell the fragrance from afar, nothing here an outsider like me can’t see, right?"

Dai Jianli swiftly fished out a few spicy rabbit heads soaking in the marinated soup with a plate and passed it to Lin Xu:

"You’re the supervisor of the Dining Department, all the kitchens in every building are open to you... Brother, give them a try first. The sweet-skinned duck still needs a little time; want any other marinated food?"

Other duck-related items are available in the store.

Lin Xu wasn’t very interested; today, he only planned to get sweet-skinned duck and spicy rabbit heads.

He picked up a rabbit head, put it into his mouth, first sucking the red oil on top, with a blend of spicy and fresh flavors; with a dozen or two of these rabbit skulls paired with an old movie, that would be the greatest enjoyment.

He quickly cracked open the rabbit head’s jaw, ate the scant meat inside the mouth, and then focused on eating the meat inside and outside the upper jaw and skull.

As for the most essential rabbit brain, naturally, he reserved it for last.

While he was eating, the master next to him was holding cleaned and soaked raw duck embryos and blanching them in a pot.

Making sweet-skinned duck requires the duck with wings and feet removed to soak for several hours, extracting the blood from the duck meat, then blanching.

Blanching ensures the marinade’s longer preservation.

When making marinated food, if using old soup, the ingredients definitely need to be blanched, keeping raw meat away from old soup; otherwise, the marinade spoils easily.

Ducks are placed into a pot of clear water, as the water temperature rises, using a spoon to skim off the scum allows the duck’s skin to become whiter and taste more delicious.

Upon boiling, with the scum skimmed clean, simmer for three to five minutes, thoroughly cooking the duck.

Then it’s fished out, cleaned once more, before it’s placed into the marinade for marination.

As Lin Xu finished a rabbit head, the cleaning step also completed.

Curiously, he asked:

"How long does the duck need to be marinated?"

"About forty minutes, depending specifically on the quality of the duck."

Dai Jianli was eating rabbit heads too; such fragrant and spicy flavors can’t be refused by anyone. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He ate as he said:

"Generally speaking, the better the duck’s quality, the longer the marination time; conversely, the poorer the quality, the shorter the marination time, preventing over-marinating and difficulty in removing."