Food Stall: Customers Chase Me across the Country-Chapter 395 - 396: A Peerless Patriot Deserves a State Banquet
At ten o’clock the next day, Wang Fan parked his car at a guesthouse in Turpan City.
And for the first time, he finally saw the old lady who had brought sweetness to countless people.
She sat quietly in an ordinary wheelchair, with sunlight slanting across her face, making her appear exceptionally warm and kind.
Wang Fan and Zhuo Qianqian’s family were all very excited, wanting to approach but afraid of disturbing the old lady, so they were temporarily frozen in place.
The old lady sensed the arrival of several people and unexpectedly greeted Wang Fan with a smile, saying, "Old Lin, how did the pollination work go today?"
Bai Zongchen arrived late at this moment, and after hearing the old lady’s words, he whispered in Wang Fan’s ear, "The old lady can mistake people, she’s taking you for a former colleague, just play along."
Wang Fan nodded, quickly walked a few steps toward the old lady, and with a smile said, "It’s all done, I’m sure we’ll have big, sweet melons."
"That’s good, that’s good..."
Bai Zongchen turned his face away. He, who had weathered many storms, couldn’t hold back his tears at this moment.
An old lady who had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for 13 years had even forgotten who her children were, yet she still worried about the melons in the field.
This is the perseverance and character of the older generation of scientists; these people are truly the treasures of this country!
"The old lady needs to go to the melon field to taste the newly ripe watermelon in the morning, and is expected to return around 12 o’clock. Mr. Wang, do take care of her lunch for me. The old lady lived a life of thrift; a simple, easy-to-digest meal with Great Border characteristics will do."
Bai Zongchen and his group took the old lady out, Mr. Zhuo and Mrs. Zhuo also followed, while Zhuo Qianqian stayed behind to prepare the old lady’s lunch with Wang Fan.
Today, Wang Fan planned to prepare three dishes: a dessert, a meat dish, and a vegetable dish, so it wouldn’t waste nutrients and would be balanced, just control the portion size.
He quickly decided on the lunch menu for today.
Dessert — Traditional Watermelon Juice.
Vegetable dish — Great Border Tofu.
Meat dish — Lamb Stew with White Radish.
The staff at the guesthouse canteen assisted with the ingredients. Wang Fan told them what he needed, and soon the staff prepared the ingredients properly.
Mainly, everything Wang Fan asked for was relatively simple, nothing about those exaggerated things like "thousand-year-old ganoderma" or "ten-thousand-year-old ginseng," just common lamb, radishes, watermelon, soybeans, etc. If the guesthouse couldn’t manage to gather those, could they even run the place?
The only uncommon item was agar, which was also easy to buy.
Once all the ingredients were ready, Wang Fan began the preparation.
The first thing naturally was the meat dish, Lamb Stew with White Radish. Although the ingredients are simple, this dish is an authentic hard dish featured on state banquets. The standard for state banquet dishes isn’t necessarily about being extravagant, but the dish must be very palatable, gentle in nature, and beautifully shaped; this dish perfectly meets the requirements.
The state banquet standard focuses heavily on aesthetics, but it doesn’t significantly improve the quality of the dish itself; it just looks more refined.
Usually, Wang Fan wouldn’t make it this way, but today he decided to.
A state banquet dish that others eat, Wu Granny naturally deserves to eat too. Such a national hero deserves to be served by state banquet standards!
The white radish was carefully selected for the freshest and most tender parts, peeled and cut into chunks, then further shaped into elongated strips. With a carving knife, he meticulously carved small radish chunks into oval shapes, pointed at both ends and bulging in the middle. Carrots were handled the same way, their orange-red color contrasting beautifully with the white radish ovals.
The lamb ribs were chosen from the rib meat, covered with a thin film, combining fat and lean, soft in texture, making it best suited for this dish.
Every ingredient is common, but each is carefully selected from the best parts of common ingredients, while he didn’t waste the leftover bits.
He started boiling water, and when the temperature had just risen, Wang Fan tossed a few pieces of rock sugar into the pot. Once the rock sugar melted, he added the white radish, as only rock sugar could remove the slightly gamey smell of radish.
After blanching the radish, it was set aside.
The lamb ribs, almost equal in size, lay quietly in the iron basin, as Wang Fan rubbed them with a handful of flour and salt to remove any blood.
In order to retain the original flavor of the lamb, he still chose not to blanch it.
He boiled water again, placing the leftover radishes from the olive carving into the pot. These radishes won’t appear in the finished dish; their mission is merely to provide flavor.
But Wang Fan wasn’t about to waste them; keeping them to eat for themselves was quite fitting.
He put in radishes and ginger, followed by bay leaves and white pepper wrapped in gauze, along with the cleaned lamb, and stewed them in the pot.
As the water temperature rises, the lamb gradually whitens and tightens, but only a few specks of froth appear, and with two scoops it becomes clear and bright again.
The water in the pot gradually boils, and the bubbling brings out the aroma of lamb and radish; the sight of bubbles in the creamy broth is also quite pleasing.
Wang Fan took out the clay pot and poured the entire pot’s contents into it, then covered it and left it to simmer on low heat.
At this point, Zhuo Qianqian had already peeled the watermelon and removed the small white seeds from it, leaving only the bright, sandy watermelon flesh in the bowl.
Holding a piece in her hand, Zhuo Qianqian offered it to Wang Fan’s mouth, and the grainy watermelon tasted sweet and juicy, refreshingly cool even without being chilled.
Pouring the watermelon flesh into the juicer soon turned it into watermelon juice, just with the watermelon flesh fragments inside.
Pour into a sieve, and gently stir with a spoon, as the pink watermelon juice flowed into the cup, splashing white bubbles.
After straining the cooked agar mixture into the cup, Wang Fan used a spoon to clean off the white foam on top of the watermelon juice, and then spooned the juice into bowls.
He filled six bowls in total, placed on a tray, then put them directly into the refrigerator.
Turn on the heat and add water, putting a large piece of rock mint candy into the pot and letting it slowly melt; the mint aroma wafts out, striking directly into the brain upon inhalation.
The throat felt immediately refreshed, with a cool sensation.
Wang Fan greatly enjoyed this scent; it brought a sense of refreshment and relaxation.
Having prepared both items, Wang Fan didn’t combine them yet; the next step was just to wait for the lamb to finish stewing and for the old lady to return to taste it.
Even though he wasn’t sure if the elderly with dementia could still discern taste, Wang Fan still adhered to the highest standards, as this was his expression of sincerity, a sincerity he didn’t want to mar with flaws.
The flavor of the lamb stew in the clay pot began to change. Wang Fan estimated that it would be done in about 20 minutes, lifting the lid to fish out the white radish and carrot inside, placing the olive-shaped ones in, adding a little salt and a few pieces of scallion before covering it again.
At this time, it was about 20 minutes until 12 o’clock, just right.
