Leisurely Life: I Have Ten Thousand Acres of Grassland
Chapter 363 - 360: Banquet Dishes, Masterful Knife Skills!
It’s the busy farming season.
Jiang Feng divided the land into two plots and planted potatoes and corn.
Jiang Feng explained to the viewers in the live stream:
"Potatoes take about three months to mature, and then they can be harvested."
"You can use the potatoes on your own ranch, or sell them."
"Anyway, they’re homegrown."
Seeing the busy farming scene, the fans in the live stream immediately said:
[Master Jiang, can you give some benefits to the fans?]
[How about sending potatoes as benefits?]
Nowadays, Jiang Feng frequently gives benefits to fans.
Like last year, he sent out a lot of marinated beef, and this year he gave out lots of big red envelopes when the broadcast started.
His economic condition is better now, so he doesn’t mind these things.
Seeing the messages, Jiang Feng immediately agreed:
"Sure, no problem. I’ll send out some potatoes to everyone later."
After finishing the work in the field, Jiang Feng returned home.
Today’s live stream had another big task.
That is to cook a dish: Boiled Cabbage.
He got the recipe from a lottery a few days ago, and after seeing the recipe, Jiang Feng grasped the cooking techniques.
So, he asked Old Sun to prepare the ingredients for him and got ready to cook in his courtyard.
Seeing Jiang Feng’s preparation, the viewers could tell it was another gourmet live stream session.
[What’s Master Jiang planning to make this time? Hand-grilled meat or grilled steak!]
[How about a whole roasted cow!]
[Master Jiang’s barbecue skills are top-notch, every time I watch him grill meat, I get really hungry!]
But Jiang Feng said:
"Today, I’m making a dish called Boiled Cabbage, which is part of a national banquet menu."
"This dish is particularly difficult; few people in the country can make it, perhaps only national banquet chefs dare to say they can make it with 100% success."
Jiang Feng’s words caused quite a stir.
[Boiled cabbage? What’s so difficult about it, isn’t it something anyone can do?]
[Boiling cabbage? National banquet?]
[Master Jiang, do you hear yourself?]
Evidently, the veteran fans were unfamiliar with this national banquet dish and questioned it.
At this moment, many people familiar with the culinary industry spoke up in the live stream:
[Boiled Cabbage is particularly difficult, you need to make the stock look like boiled water; it has to be as light as boiled water but retain the richness of the stock. Isn’t that difficult?]
[The host isn’t joking, this dish really isn’t something an average person can make.]
Jiang Feng took out some fresh napa cabbages and placed them on a plate.
The napa cabbages looked particularly crisp, with their green and white contrasting beautifully.
Jiang Feng explained:
"The most important thing in Boiled Cabbage is making the stock."
"The stock needs to use a rich broth as the base, then be made to look like light boiled water."
"The method is simple — just finely grind chicken breast into a paste and put it into the stock, repeating this step two or three times, and the cloudy stock can turn as clear as water."
Jiang Feng had already prepared the stock in advance.
He chopped the meat paste and put it into the stock.
Soon, that thick stock really turned light.
It was like a chemical reaction, turning the murky liquid clear.
This scene amazed the viewers.
Is this cooking? This is magical!
Jiang Feng remained calm and continued his work.
He picked up the napa cabbage, peeled off the outer leaves, and only took the heart to put into the pot.
"The ingredients for Boiled Cabbage are very particular, only using cabbage that is just mature but not fully ripe, with only the pale yellow heart as the ingredient."
"After briefly blanching it, you submerge it in cold water to remove any odor, then place it in ordinary stock until it’s cooked."
"Once you blanch the cabbage, take it out, clean it thoroughly, and pour in the fresh stock, and that’s it."
"This time it was quite successful, both the prepared stock and the meat paste absorption method had no issues."
Jiang Feng’s stock naturally has a secret recipe, unknown to the viewers.
But seeing the stock turn transparent amazed everyone.
Once the Boiled Cabbage was done, all that was visible were a few slices of tender yellow cabbage hearts in the clear soup.
Just by looking, it seems like a very ordinary dish.
But the demonstration made everyone very impressed.
Truly, the national banquet menu has impressive items.
[My goodness, it’s the first time I feel like I can’t afford a few pieces of cabbage!]
[How was that stock made, it’s amazing!]
[Master Jiang is truly impressive, making even cabbage look unaffordable!]
[So awesome, the host is definitely at national banquet chef level, and he actually made it!]
Viewers were exclaiming continuously.
But as dinner, a single cabbage won’t suffice.
Jiang Feng took out a block of fresh tofu.
The next dish he planned to make is also one of the eight major cuisines, but this dish also has a very high difficulty.
This dish could be said to require the highest knife skills among all cuisines.
"The next dish is Monk Wen Si Tofu."
"Feeling on fire today, let’s make a national banquet dish!"
In the quiet little courtyard, Jiang Feng started to get busy.
A question mark appeared on the faces of the netizens.
[What is Monk Wen Si tofu? Never heard of it, can someone explain?]
[Master Jiang, you make me feel unfamiliar this way!]
At this moment, many chefs watching in the live stream showed expressions of surprise.
[Is the host really going to make Monk Wen Si tofu? No kidding, right!]
[This dish is not difficult to make, but the knife skills required are absolutely insane!]
[Monk Wen Si tofu requires cutting the tofu into fifteen thousand tofu threads, and the broken threads must be less than ten percent, with each thread having a specified length and thickness!]
[Only those who can make Monk Wen Si tofu can claim their knife skills are at an entry level!]
[Can he really do it? Only a master who has practiced knife skills for at least ten years would have such confidence!]
Today’s live stream is destined to be unforgettable.
What Jiang Feng personally made wasn’t some grassland delicacy, but a genuine national banquet dish!
After finishing boiled cabbage, he proceeded to make Monk Wen Si tofu.
Ordinary dishes like cabbage and tofu were played into different styles in his hands.
Jiang Feng also said:
"Monk Wen Si tofu is a delicacy from the Qing dynasty, created by a monk named Wen Si, hence the name Monk Wen Si tofu."
"The method is not difficult, just mix auxiliary materials like winter bamboo shoots, chicken breast, ham, and mushrooms with tofu."
"The challenge is cutting the tofu into tofu threads."
Jiang Feng himself has knife skills, so Monk Wen Si tofu is not difficult for him.
Then, the netizens saw Jiang Feng put a square piece of lactone tofu on the cutting board, gently placed his left hand on top of the tofu, and began to draw the kitchen knife down with his right hand.
Since culinary skills are renowned, knife skills are naturally a part of culinary skills.
All they saw was the knife in his hand move extremely fast, leaving afterimages.
But as the netizens looked on, they found that he seemed to be cutting at the same spot.
Only as time passed did everyone notice the knife gradually moving position.
This continued for ten minutes, and Jiang Feng finished cutting the tofu.
But the tofu still looked exactly the same as before.
Just when everyone was wondering if the tofu was some special effect.
Jiang Feng placed the knife against the cutting board, swiftly scraped the tofu, and placed it on the blade.
Then, he put the tofu into a pot filled with water.
In an instant, the whole tofu immediately dissolved into extremely fine tofu threads, rippling in the water.
For a moment, netizens felt their scalps tingle.
Everyone stared, mouth agape.
[Holy crap! That’s amazing!]
[Is this what a chef’s knife skills are like?]
[I’m just utterly stunned!]
[I thought the tofu was fake since it didn’t move for so long!]
Once the tofu threads were cut, the rest was simple; just mix the tofu threads with other ingredients and cook them.
Thus, Monk Wen Si tofu was served.
"Today we’ll just simply have some tofu and cabbage."
"I happen to need to eat a bit lighter these days, while still ensuring nutrition."
"Old Sun has stewed a fish for me, that’ll be dinner tonight."
Jiang Feng said to everyone.
[Master Jiang, you call this simple?]
[After seeing these knife skills, I realize Master Jiang is not just a joke as a gourmet host; which host has this ability!]
[Master Jiang, can I come to your home for a meal? No need for meat, just cabbage and tofu is fine!]
Then, Jiang Feng prepared the meal, asked Old Sun to bring over the fish, and called his wife over for dinner.
Liu Yiyi was still taking care of the child.
She really loved children and always took care of them.
She was gentle and down-to-earth, and Jiang Feng was very satisfied with his wife.
The live stream ended here, and the netizens reluctantly signed off.
Not long after, it was no surprise that Jiang Feng’s knife skills went viral.
The internet is like that; any movement from a popular host or celebrity makes them trend.
But the internet today is especially harsh, so trending is not always a good thing.
Thinking back, it’s been a long time since any celebrity actively bought trending spots; instead, they all fear appearing in trends.
If a celebrity trends, it’s surely not a good thing.
Of course, this is also because there are indeed many things they’d rather not have known, so they don’t want to trend.
But Jiang Feng doesn’t care; if he trends, so be it.
He’s always been upright and not afraid of gossip; what he does, since it’s voluntarily shown online, is open to discussion without worry.
Netizens who didn’t catch the live stream were amazed by his cooking video.
Many culinary social media bloggers even posted videos praising it.
A master chef specializing in national banquet dishes even posted a video review saying:
"His boiled cabbage is indeed authentic, especially the way he handled the stock."
"And for the knife skills in Monk Wen Si tofu, he has reached a master level."
"Master Jiang is so talented at such a young age, if he wants to join the Chef Association, we would definitely welcome him."
Upon hearing such praises from the master chef, Jiang Feng’s fans were delighted.
Jiang Feng’s culinary skills deserve recognition and admiration.