Starting from the deputy company commander of the Soldier Assault Team

After entering the house and tidying up a bit, Zhang Anbang rolled up his sleeves and started working, while Gu Xiaonan leaned against the kitchen door with a smile, watching him.

Zhang Anbang turned his head and looked at the scene, then said with a smile, "Wife, what are you doing? Just go sit in the living room and watch TV for a while. It'll be done in a bit. Let me tell you, my cooking is definitely reliable."

"You'll know once you taste it; it's definitely the most authentic military cuisine among the nine major cuisines of our country, the really authentic kind."

Gu Xiaonan couldn't help but laugh even louder when she heard this. "Isn't there only the eight major cuisines: Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, and Anhui? When did we get a ninth major cuisine, a military cuisine at that? And what kind of adjective is 'gaga'?"

Zhang Anbang, with freshly washed green peppers twirling in his hand, turned around and raised an eyebrow at her. He then slowly sliced ​​beef on the cutting board with a cleaver. "The eight major cuisines have a long history, but our army's food is in a different category."

You tell me, our army, navy, air force, Second Artillery Corps, and military police, with over three million active-duty soldiers, are super loyal users of our military cuisine, eating it every meal. How can we not be ranked ninth?

Our big pot dishes included stewed potatoes with pork belly, stewed pork with vermicelli, stewed meatballs with vegetables, stir-fried green peppers with pork slices, and stir-fried pork with onions.

In addition to these, we also have specialty dishes, such as mixed stew in a big pot, mixed braised dishes from the company, braised pork with dried radish, braised pork in a military pot, stewed dried vegetables in a big pot, handmade mixed dumplings, ants carrying food, and clear soup from the vast sea.

Oh, right, there are also super hearty dishes, such as sand-mixed rice or half a bowl of rice and half a bowl of sand, yellow sand stew, sand-soil steamed buns, earthen noodle soup, rain and snow mixed rice, cold wind and ice shard stew, and frozen soil dry food.

Sea salt rice, sea breeze-infused stew, rice with mosquitoes, rice cooked with wood ash, a stew of fallen leaves, a starving man overpowering a local bully—how about this, wife, just tell me about these local specialties, which of the eight major cuisines can compare?

"Haha, you really know how to find joy in hardship," Gu Xiaonan said as she walked to the pool and started washing tomatoes. "These cuisines are so unique, from the Gobi Desert and snowy plateaus to the seaside islands and mountains and jungles, you've named them all."

But what are those "ants moving house" and "clear broth across the vast sea" things? And you still haven't told me, Gaga.

"That," Zhang Anbang replied while cutting potato chunks, "haha, that's Northeastern dialect, it means 'super good,' but it's only used in the three northeastern provinces."

It doesn't work in other places. In Sichuan and Chongqing, "ga ga" means meat. In northern Hubei, "ga ga" means maternal grandmother. In Jiaodong, ducks call each other "ga ga". In western Shandong, it is used to refer to the moon.

As for the saying "ants moving house," it's a simplified version of the Sichuan and Chongqing home-style dish "ants climbing a tree." The cooks put too little minced meat in the stir-fry, and you could hardly see any meat in the vermicelli. The veteran joked that all the ants had run away, leaving only the vermicelli and the tree trunk.

"Clear Broth of the Sea" is essentially a seaweed and egg drop soup. It consists of only a few pieces of seaweed floating in the soup, with the rest of the pot filled with plain water. It is bland and tasteless, hence the name "Clear Broth of the Sea".

However, this kind of thing is all done by frontline staff; you usually eat in government offices and have never tried such specialty dishes.

While cracking eggs, Gu Xiaonan laughed and said, "Okay, okay, you really have a lot of twisted logic. I accept your Ninth Cuisine Army System."

However, your super-hard dishes are too tough. Who in their right mind would want to eat that stuff? Even people with bad teeth can't chew it.

Zhang Anbang was making cuts on the sea bass. "Haha, wife, you're wrong about that. Don't be fooled by how tough those hard dishes are; the old buddies who retired really miss this taste."

"Um," Gu Xiaonan handed the peeled scallions to Zhang Anbang, "Although I've been in the army for several years, there are still some things I can't understand about the mentality of you frontline soldiers."

"Honey, there's nothing incomprehensible about this. What they miss isn't the awful food."

Zhang Anbang stopped slicing his knife and gently placed the sea bass on the cutting board. "What they miss is the time when hundreds of people sat around a big pot to eat together, and when they saluted each other as they trained and endured hardship together."

Those were their unrestrained youth, their most unforgettable memories.

Gu Xiaonan flicked the water droplets off her hand and made a stop gesture. "Stop, stop, stop, Comrade Xiao Zhang, you're talking like an old man who's been through a lot reminiscing about his youth."

Get back to normal right now, we just got our marriage certificate today!

Zhang Anbang chuckled, "Old man? What old man? Wife, you'll find out tonight whether your husband is an old man or not."

Gu Xiaonan's face flushed red instantly, all the way to her ears. "Comrade Xiao Zhang, you're spouting nonsense. Hurry up and cook, I'm hungry."

After saying that, Gu Xiaonan turned around and walked quickly out of the kitchen.

"Hehe," Zhang Anbang chuckled a few times, then changed to a pitiful tone, "Wife, didn't we agree to go back to camp first thing tomorrow morning? You lied to me."

"Hurry up and cook your meal. If you keep talking, I'll go back to the camp this afternoon and have dinner at the canteen."

"Yes, sir, I'll do it right away. I'll take you to the military region first thing tomorrow morning," Zhang Anbang replied, preparing to start cooking.

With Gu Xiaonan's help, all the food preparation work has been completed, and the plates are neatly arranged with meat and vegetables, and all the ingredients are complete.

The sea bass has been cut and marinated. The pork belly and chicken pieces have been cut into chunks and drained. The beef has also been sliced ​​thinly across the grain. The green peppers and tomatoes have been chopped. The carrots, dried tofu, and mung bean sprouts are also ready and waiting to be cooked.

Looking at the three-burner stove in front of him, Zhang Anbang secretly rejoiced at his decision.

In his past life, when he cooked in a cramped rented room, there was only one lonely stove. Every time he wanted to cook a proper meal, it was never enough, which gave him a headache.

This dish was just cooked and plated, while the dishes in front of it were almost cold. Although his cooking skills weren't that great, the feeling of always having to eat a mix of hot and cold dishes was very unpleasant.

So when he bought a house and renovated it, he specially asked Brother Wang to renovate the kitchen, installing three stoves so that dishes could be served at the same time, creating a warm and lively atmosphere for the whole table.

Anyway, his kitchen space was big enough. Even with the addition of three burners, the countertop was still spacious enough, the sink was also a large sink, and even a bunch of storage cabinets were installed.

"Light the fire, let's get started."

After pouring the oil into the pot, Zhang Anbang muttered something, turned on the stove, and methodically adjusted the heat.

Turn down the heat on the far left stove, add potatoes and braised pork belly, and simmer slowly to allow the broth to gradually seep into the ingredients, resulting in a tender and flavorful old-fashioned military camp taste.

Place a steamer on the middle burner, and once the water boils and steam rises, put the sea bass in. Precisely control the time to lock in the freshness and sweetness of the fish.

As for the large stove on the far right, with the fire at full power, hot oil is added to stir-fry the braised chicken pieces, then tossing and turning the wok to reduce the sauce and color, all in one go.