A Bite of Douluo Continent

During the stewing process, the pork belly is infused with the flavors of various other ingredients, instantly adding a unique taste to its original rich and pure meat aroma, making it exceptionally delicious.

Sitting opposite Tang Zi, Mu Liufeng picked up a golden, crescent-shaped egg dumpling and took a bite, a look of satisfaction spreading across his face.

Gu Jixi's One-Pot Stew uses a variety of ingredients, but there are three that are always included: fried tofu buns, pork belly, and the egg dumplings that Mu Liufeng is currently enjoying.

These three ingredients are simply the soul of Yipin Guo (a type of hot pot).

The egg dumplings in the hot pot are not entirely similar to the egg dumplings we usually eat.

It is also called "duck sandwich" because it is made by spreading duck eggs into an egg crepe and wrapping meat filling inside, instead of using regular chicken eggs.

So the golden pheasant escaped disaster once again, but this time its unfortunate brethren, the jade swan's eggs, suffered the consequences.

The egg skin on the surface has a rich and mellow egg flavor, and during the stewing process, it absorbs the aroma of the soup and other ingredients, making it exceptionally delicious. The meat filling is made by mincing pork and water chestnuts together, which is fresh, tender and smooth with a hint of sweetness. It is delicious but not greasy, truly wonderful.

The difference between egg dumplings and regular dumplings is not just the difference between using eggs and flour for the wrapper.

Because the egg skin is not as firm and chewy as dough, but rather has a loose and porous structure, the meat filling in the egg dumpling can directly come into contact with the broth during the stewing process. Therefore, it is more flavorful than dumplings. Combined with the umami of the egg skin itself, it makes the flavor even richer.

Upon tasting these wonderful egg dumplings, Mu Liufeng couldn't help but beam with delight, praising them in his heart.

Sitting next to Mu Liufeng, Zhou Long kept picking up fried tofu buns with his chopsticks.

Fried tofu buns, also commonly known as fried tofu, are actually a product made by processing tofu.

This type of fried tofu is made using firm tofu, not soft tofu.

Tofu can generally be divided into three types: firm tofu, soft tofu, and silken tofu.

Among them, firm tofu refers to tofu made using the traditional brine coagulation process, while soft tofu uses gypsum as a coagulant. As for silken tofu, it uses glucono-delta-lactone as a coagulant and is more tender than soft tofu. It is a type of tofu that has only appeared in modern times.

Because of the different coagulants used, the three have different coagulation processes, resulting in different flavors and textures.

Firm tofu has the least moisture, making it easier to fry and resulting in a crispier texture, making it the best choice for fried tofu.

As for the method of frying tofu, it is actually not difficult. Just cut the firm tofu into pieces, soak them in lightly salted water for half an hour, then drain the surface water to prevent splattering, and finally fry them directly in hot oil until they are golden brown and puffed up. The steps are very simple.

Freshly fried tofu can be sprinkled with seasoning powder and eaten directly. Many so-called fragrant tofu sold at roadside stalls are actually made in a similar way. Alternatively, the fried tofu can be cooled after being cooked and then added to other dishes.

The resulting fried tofu is somewhat similar to fried dough sticks, with a crispy exterior and a fluffy interior. The fried tofu buns in the hot pot are made by breaking open a portion of the crispy surface of the fried tofu and adding minced meat inside for stewing.

Once the surface is punctured, the broth and flavors of other ingredients can easily flow in through the opening, soaking into the meat filling and fluffy interior of the fried tofu, making it even more flavorful as it simmers.

The fried tofu buns were soaked in the broth from Jixi Yipin Hot Pot. With a gentle bite, the delicious broth, a blend of various ingredients, burst out between his lips and teeth. The crispy surface of the fried tofu buns became soft and tender during the long stewing process, but due to the original deep-frying process, they had a unique chewiness, making for a rather peculiar texture.

Unlike the meat filling in egg dumplings, the meat filling in fried tofu buns is pork and chives. The rich and unique aroma of chives and the umami of pork are completely integrated during the stewing process. The meat filling, with a bit of the chewiness of chives, is bouncy and tender, and it is full of broth, making it exceptionally delicious.

Zhou Long shook his head, still wanting more, then picked up another one and swallowed it in one gulp.

This hot pot is truly wonderful!

Chapter 415 Heading to the Gourmet Association (Seeking monthly tickets and recommendation votes)

Leaning back lazily in his seat, Mu Liufeng's face was filled with satisfaction.

As a middle-class native of Xingluo City, he inherently possessed the romantic and etiquette-conscious qualities of the Xingluo people. He would not have acted so rudely unless he was extremely comfortable.

But this Jixi hot pot was so delicious that Mu Liufeng had probably never eaten so much in over thirty years, so he no longer cared about his manners.

The other three Tang Clan disciples at his table were the same; they were all full and leaning lazily in their seats.

On the table in front of the four people, the cast iron pot with a diameter of one meter was now reduced to a little bit of soup, with not a trace of food left.

After resting for a while, Mu Liufeng stood up first and looked at the other three Tang Clan disciples with a smile on his face. "Thank you all for sharing the pot with me today. I have some things to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."

"Brother Mu, you're too kind." Tang Zi waved his hand. "You go ahead with your work."

Mu Liufeng nodded, first walked to the ballot box for voting, and cast his vote for Jixi Yipin Guo without hesitation, then stepped out of Hanshi.

Now that we've finished eating, it's time to get down to business.

Weaving through the crowds and traversing two blocks, Mu Liufeng arrived at the entrance of the Shrek City Culinary Association with practiced ease. A friendly smile graced his face as he greeted the receptionist, "Hello, I'm Mu Liufeng, editor-in-chief of Xingluo City Food Review Magazine. I had an appointment with Vice President Zhang of your association today..."

...

Goodbye, boss!

Qi Han smiled and nodded, watching the five employees leave. He then turned to look at his disciple, "Ling Qing, you can continue practicing your cooking skills this afternoon."

"Okay, what about you, teacher?" Sensing that Qi Han seemed to have other plans, Ye Lingqing asked curiously.

"I'm going to the Food Association now to discuss some things with them." Qi Han smiled, without specifying what he wanted to discuss.

"Huh?"

Ye Lingqing was slightly surprised. Having stayed in Hanshi for so long, he naturally knew that his teacher and the Food Association usually didn't have much interaction. Why would he take the initiative to discuss things with them this time?

Although he was curious, he didn't ask anything, but simply nodded sensibly, "Teacher, you go ahead, Gulu and I will stay..."

"Meow~"

With a soft gurgle, it nimbly darted into Qi Han's arms.

Seeing this, Ye Lingqing could only shrug and, with a wry smile, change her mind, saying, "Alright, I'll watch the shop."

Qi Han chuckled, rubbed Gu Lu's head, nodded, and stepped out of the shop.

Ye Lingqing can manage the shop by herself without any problems.

He suddenly went to the Food Association to discuss something, which was closely related to the eighth side quest he had just received yesterday.

This task requires selecting a one-star recipe and having one thousand people learn and master the cooking of an excellent-level recipe.

While not as stringent as the Perfect grade, the Excellent grade is not easy to achieve either.

To complete this task, Qi Han faces only two problems.

First, choose which one-star recipe to use.

The second is how to teach others.

If you simply want to complete the task as quickly as possible, just choose the easiest one-star recipe, such as cucumber salad.

But after thinking about it, Qi Han decided to give up.

Although cucumber salad is a simple dish, the ingredients themselves have a great influence on the taste. You can't find the kind of cucumber that Ruyi provides in Douluo Continent. Without it, even if you use local cucumbers of excellent quality, it probably won't taste as good.

Of course, the more important reason is that, despite going to such lengths to teach so many people how to cook, they only teach how to make a simple appetizer like smashed cucumber.

Even if the people learning it have no objections, he himself would feel embarrassed to present it.

So, since it's a rare opportunity to teach, Qi Han plans to deliver something substantial and informative, ensuring that everyone learning will feel they've gained something.

After much thought, the most suitable recipe to use as a teaching recipe is actually the original fried rice.

Although fried rice may seem simple, it requires a lot of basic skills. Frying rice until each grain is distinct and coating each grain evenly with egg is not an easy task. Moreover, teaching fried rice in the context of Douluo Continent has another layer of meaning.

That is, it will allow people on the Douluo Continent to experience the brand-new cooking method of "stir-frying" for the first time.

Stir-frying is an ancient cooking method originating from the ancient Chinese civilization on Earth. It is rarely seen in other regions, and even now, apart from Chinese restaurants, no one in Western countries uses stir-frying to cook food.

The earliest record of "stir-frying" can be traced back to Jia Sixie's "Essential Techniques for the Common People" during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which recorded how to stir-fry eggs. However, the use of iron was strictly controlled in ancient times, and due to the limitations of iron pots and oil, stir-frying was not popular before the Tang Dynasty. It was not until the prosperous Tang Dynasty that the people had the leisure and money to study stir-frying. By the Song Dynasty, stir-frying had become completely popular.

When stir-frying, various ingredients can be cut into smaller pieces, and as they tumble in the pan, they are heated evenly and their flavors blend together, achieving a more perfect cooking effect. This cooking method is groundbreaking in terms of the variety and flavor of food. In other words, the emergence of stir-frying has raised the upper limit of the variety of dishes and cooking methods.

This is one of the reasons why China's eight major cuisines have a long history and a far greater variety and number of dishes than those of other countries.

Once this cooking method spreads and becomes popular as fried rice is taught, it will grow wildly on the Douluo Continent and inevitably collide fiercely with the local food culture, creating countless new delicacies in a short period of time.

And that's exactly what Qi Han wanted to see.

He even sensed that Ruyi had this in mind when she arranged this side quest for him.

As for the second question, how to teach others to cook fried rice with eggs.

To complete this task as quickly as possible, Qi Han naturally couldn't adopt a one-on-one teaching method; he even felt that teaching several people at once was too slow.

Ideally, you should be able to instruct dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people on cooking at once, which will greatly increase the speed at which you complete the task.

On Earth, all he needed to do was upload detailed instructional videos to various platforms. But in Douluo Continent, Qi Han clearly didn't have that kind of advantage, so he had to find another way.

This is also why Qi Han took the initiative to go to the Food Association.

He needs to use the food association's channels to spread the news of his egg fried rice recipe to interested chefs in a short period of time.

Well… it’s mainly the food street vendors, and some residents of Shrek City who love cooking.

On the other hand, he also needed to use the food association's territory.

There is a huge square in front of the Food Association, which can easily accommodate thousands of people. Out of respect for Xuan Ye, the president of the Food Association and a senior member of the Sea God Pavilion, this square was placed under the jurisdiction of the Food Association.

Qi Han wanted to teach fried rice on a large scale, and he needed a relatively spacious area.

Thus, this square naturally came to Qi's attention.

"tread."

Qi Han paused, having already arrived at the entrance of the Food Association.

He patted the little creature in his arms and then stepped inside.

Chapter 416 Tinnitus

"Good afternoon, excuse me, may I ask...?"

After entering the Food Association and looking around, Qi Han quickly headed to the reception desk. He wanted to ask if President Xuan Ye was there, but before he could explain his purpose, the receptionist on duty stood up excitedly.

"Hello, Mr. Qi." The receptionist greeted him with a warm smile. "Please don't hesitate to ask if there's anything I can help you with."

If Mu Liufeng, who was upstairs discussing food tasting cooperation with Vice President Zhang, were to see this scene, he would be extremely annoyed, because the receptionist hadn't been this enthusiastic when he inquired earlier.

"Uh... hello." Qi Han scratched his head. "Excuse me, is President Xuan Ye here?"

"Your Majesty Taotie?" The receptionist looked somewhat troubled. "Does Mr. Qi need to see him? You may not know this, but although His Majesty is the president of the Food Association, he usually only appears to preside over the food festival held once every three years. So I'm afraid you'll have to go to the Sea God Pavilion to find him."

"I see?" Qi Han finally understood and quickly asked, "If that's the case, then who is in charge of the Food Association now?"

"The Food Association is run by several vice presidents on a rotating basis," the receptionist explained. "After all, our association doesn't have many daily affairs, at most handling some food-related disputes, so we don't need too many people."

"Vice President Zhang Heng is in charge of affairs during this period. He is currently upstairs discussing matters."