Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 429 - 375: Three Cold Dishes to Elevate the Occasion (Part 2)
The utensils were placed on the table.
Wang Heng was the first to grab the chopsticks.
Normally, when so many colleagues gather for a meal, everyone acts all proper, at least no one’s in a hurry to eat.
Someone would distribute the chopsticks and spoons, and then a few polite phrases like "let’s eat" or "start eating" would follow.
Sometimes they’d even open a bottle of baijiu, and everyone capable of drinking would have a glass full before raising their glasses for a toast before the meal starts.
But today, everything was different!
Wang Heng sat there, and the moment the chopsticks were in his hand, he didn’t care about anyone else. He just aimed at the newly served [Qianlong Cabbage] and took a big bite.
"Damn Wang Heng, why are you so ruthless?"
Liu Jingqi didn’t even care about whether her makeup was done or not, her eyes widened, "How did you take half the plate with just one chopstick grab?"
Wang Heng didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed, he stuffed his mouth wide open and mumbled, "You’re impressive, don’t eat then!"
Liu Jingqi looked at him disdainfully, picked up the plate of braised beef in front of her, removed the plastic wrap, and grabbed a piece of beef.
"Wow! Which supermarket did you get this from? It’s so delicious?"
"These pig’s trotters are great, especially with this little bit of red oil on top, simply amazing!"
"Oh my, you guys have to try this sliced beef and ox tongue in chili sauce, it’s bomb!"
"Damn, this sesame sauce cabbage is so good! Wang Heng, that beast, ate half the plate in one bite, is he even human?"
Wang Heng truly felt no embarrassment at all.
A big meal like this, to put it bluntly: the fast hands get, the slow ones don’t. Anyway, whoever acts quickly eats more.
Besides.
Wang Heng swallowed down the braised beef and whatnot in his mouth, took a sip of crystal grape drink to wash it down, and seriously looked at his colleagues, "I eat more cold dishes now, so I’ll eat fewer hot dishes later, what are you worried about? Afraid there won’t be enough to eat?"
That’s true.
With the number of dishes on a Jingzhou banquet, there’s never been a table that could finish it all.
According to the folk rules of Jingzhou, when eating at a restaurant, generally, it’s one dish per person, and finally, a staple food; this is definitely enough to eat.
At a banquet, on average, each person gets one hot dish, one cold dish, and a staple, and since the hot dishes are all big meat dishes, there’s basically no shortage of food.
Liao Feng looked at the four empty plates on the table and put down his chopsticks, "It’s true, but you can’t eat half of a dish yourself, at least let others taste it, right?"
The leader spoke, and Wang Heng just grinned foolishly, not daring to argue anymore.
The same thing happened not only at their table.
Near where Chen Mo sat, the "stocking moms" gathered around a table. Although they were all women, their fighting power was not weak at all, as evidenced by the five empty plates on the table.
Compliments were pouring non-stop.
The difference between mature women and young girls was that young girls were always the ones being teased, while mature women were the ones doing the teasing.
"Boss Xiao Chen’s cooking skills have improved again! Even a dish like cabbage can be made so delicious, it’s truly amazing!"
"Oh, if only I had a husband like Boss Xiao Chen, I’d keep him at home and not let him go anywhere. I’d earn the money and let him take care of cooking at home~"
"Truly, comparison can drive people mad. My man gets home and just sprawls on the sofa, I have to call him several times even after the meal is ready before he eats!"
"Oh right, does Boss Xiao Chen have a partner? I have a sister, you know. Are you interested? You two can add each other on WeChat?"
Amidst his busyness, Chen Mo’s face was slightly red from the teasing of the mature women, pretending not to hear, he turned to Hou Yao and said, "All set, let’s serve together."
"You’re quite ruthless!" Hou Yao gave a thumbs up, "With these three, today’s banquet level is immediately elevated."
With that said, Hou Yao watched as the assistant chefs busily put the dishes on trays ready for serving, curiously asking, "When did you get these crabs?"
Chen Mo grinned, "Secret."
This matter, naturally, couldn’t be disclosed.
Before returning to Jingzhou, Chen Mo had been thinking about the banquet, and his first reaction was that he had to prepare some seafood dishes.
Because in Jingzhou restaurants, if seafood dishes appeared on the table, the price of the entire table would definitely rise.
Coincidentally, at that time, Chen Mo was in Yangzhou, the aquatic products in Huaiyang were quite good, and especially many local restaurants had delicacies like "Crab Meat Lion’s Head" and "Crab Roe Bun," so it was very easy to buy good crabs.
So Chen Mo bought some seafood from the market before even deciding what to cook, using a magical function of his cabinet to temporarily preserve them.
After returning to Jingzhou and finalizing the banquet menu, he began preparing in advance.
Of the three cold dishes now being served, two were prepared in advance, and only one was made on the spot.
Seeing Chen Mo being so mysterious, Hou Yao no longer inquired, he just sneakily took a crab from under the table and hid it behind the backdrop on stage.
"Tsk, drunken crab. I’m wondering how Xiao Chen handled this thing." Hou Yao cracked open the crab shell, the crab roe inside jiggling, the aroma of wine wafting through, he hesitated, "Xiao Chen, are you sure this is safe?"
Chen Mo gave him a look, "Guaranteed safe."
Hou Yao nodded, about to pour the crab roe into his mouth.
Then Chen Mo added, "If there’s a problem, I’ll cover the medical expenses."
Hou Yao: ???
He really wanted to curse.
But seeing Chen Mo’s cheeky smile, he was certain there wouldn’t be a problem, otherwise, would Chen Mo dare to serve this at the banquet?
"Sluurp~"
The semi-liquid crab roe was sucked into his mouth, it was creamy like salted egg yolk, with the mellow aftertaste of Shaoxing wine, initially a bit fishy, but upon careful reflection, it was full of endless umami!
It was marvelous!
Hou Yao closed his eyes, savoring the comfort, thinking to himself that even if there were parasites, being able to taste such a bite was worth it!
No wonder, Huaxia people are really brave when it comes to eating, parasites are nothing, they’re not even afraid of Amanita mushrooms, right?
The three dishes simultaneously appeared on the table in the courtyard, just as Chen Mo expected, when a group of Northerners saw three seafood dishes, and all as cold dishes.
The noise in the courtyard rose even higher.
Jiang Fei stared at the dish on the table, "Pickled crab? What’s this?"
Zhang Yaling was picking at her fingers, "I don’t recognize it, that little thing looks like fish roe?"
At their table, mostly Jiang Fei’s relatives were curious about these three dishes, aside from the crab, they didn’t recognize any of them.
At that moment.
A naive voice came from behind Jiang Fei.
"This is called drunken crab, not pickled crab!"
"Yo, Mu Mu? Why aren’t you seated yet, come here, squeeze in with your sister-in-law."
There were no vacant seats in the courtyard, Zhang Yaling also got up and brought a stool to her side, everyone shuffled a bit to make space.
After changing her clothes and seeing the stocking women leaving Chen Mo, and Chen Mo being very busy, Mu Mu sensibly did not disturb him.
She thought, after the meal, she must impress them with her youthful charm!
"Mu Mu, do you know these dishes? Please introduce them to us."
This was right up Mu Mu’s alley.
Not just recognizing, Mu Mu was actually getting tired of eating this stuff.
"Drunken crab, this is a dish from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, where the crab is eaten pickled raw."
Eww...
Northerners naturally resist eating raw, their expressions were a bit awkward.
"This, cold jellyfish head with caviar."
Though they didn’t know what jellyfish was, hearing caviar, everyone at the table thought this dish was too high-end, right?
"And this, chilled wasabi conch slices, it’s likely made from whelk, it’s so delicious, you should try it!"
With that, Mu Mu helped herself to a crab, broke open the shell, and poured the flowing crab roe into her mouth.
Seeing her face of enjoyment, the others couldn’t resist, and everyone started to dig in.
As these three dishes were gradually tasted by everyone, the atmosphere in the courtyard became even more heated!
