Chapter 123: The Map of Mountains and Rivers, Crab Stuffed with Orange
Yue Lengxin and Fu Ya's actions of preparing dipping sauces reminded everyone that their ordered dishes had not yet arrived, providing an opportunity for them to prepare their sauces.
Cao Rang had never cooked before, and he didn't even recognize all the condiments. It was unlikely for him to prepare his own dipping sauce. Fortunately, there were over a dozen recipes listed on the menu's back for him to choose from. After browsing through them, he made his choice quickly.
He wasn't fond of oil-based sauces; instead, he found dry sauces more appealing. After locking onto a dry sauce recipe, Cao Rang murmured quietly, "Two spoons of chili powder, one spoon of crushed peanuts."
His voice suddenly stopped, and he looked at Tang Qianqiu sitting across from him with a strange expression.
Tang Qianqiu was also murmuring something while holding a menu. Sensing Cao Rang's gaze, he couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. "What are you looking at? Even I haven't cooked before."
That's alright then.
Cao Rang silently withdrew his gaze.
People always said he, as their senior, cared a lot about face. It seemed to be true.
After memorizing the dry sauce recipe, Cao Rang confidently walked to the condiment table. As a few other students passed by him, he nodded happily at them.
Picking up a clean small plate, Cao Rang meticulously followed the recipe to prepare his dipping sauce.
Each condiment on the condiment table had labels explaining them to ensure that even unfamiliar guests could easily prepare their sauces.
With a slight surge of Spirit power, he mixed the sauce in the small plate until it reached the right consistency. A satisfactory dry sauce was completed.
He even took a chopstick, dipped a bit of the sauce, and tasted it. The spiciness with the hint of peanuts was quite pleasant, making him nod in satisfaction.
This was considered his first time personally preparing anything. Even the taste of the dipping sauce seemed to enhance the experience.
Once everyone else finished preparing their sauces, Tang Qianqiu leisurely got up and walked to the condiment table to prepare his.
Unlike Cao Rang, Tang Qianqiu preferred sesame sauce. He loved the fragrant sesame sauce, and adding some scallions and fermented bean curd, he believed it would make an excellent dipping sauce.
Carefully following the recipe, Tang Qianqiu's Spirit power surged, thoroughly blending the various ingredients in the small plate. The resulting sauce was a viscous, light brown liquid, with finely chopped scallions and a hint of red bean curd floating on top. A faint aroma of sesame mingled with the unique fragrance of the bean curd slowly spread out, causing Tang Qianqiu to narrow his eyes and nod in contentment.
After everyone finished preparing their sauces and sat back down at their seats somewhat anxiously awaiting, they all thought that Boss Qi would bring out the hot pot next. However, they were surprised when Qin Yue and Qin Yao came up to the second floor, each holding large oranges in their hands.
These oranges were quite large and looked very plump. They emitted steam, and a faint crab and orange fragrance wafted from them, along with a hint of wine aroma, filling the entire second-floor dining area.
Yue Lengxin widened her eyes, guessing what was coming next.
Her guess was confirmed the next moment.
With smiles on their faces, Qin Yue and Qin Yao placed a cup of oranges in front of each diner. "This is the new dish of the restaurant, Crab Stuffed with Orange."
Sure enough, this unfamiliar delicacy in the form of oranges was indeed the new dish called Crab Stuffed with Orange.
But just one orange?
Yue Lengxin leaned in closer, only to smell a rich aroma of wine mingled with faint hints of orange and crab. It slowly gathered in her nostrils, causing her to unconsciously swallow a mouthful of saliva.
On the outer surface of this Crab-Stuffed Orange, a remarkably exquisite map of mountains and rivers was engraved using the technique of intaglio. The mountains were majestic, the rivers flowed gently, and the whole scene was vividly depicted.
Amazing!
Yue Lengxin's expression was filled with astonishment. Such marvelous craftsmanship, was it possible that the boss himself carved it? She hadn't expected him to have such excellent skills in carving.
Soon, she noticed that the top of the standing orange seemed a bit different. Pinching the fruit stem slightly upward, the entire top of the orange was effortlessly lifted off, revealing the strands of orange flesh, crab meat, and crab roe stuffed inside.
The moment the orange was opened, the aroma of crab and orange suddenly intensified, even overpowering the scent of wine, rushing straight into Yue Lengxin's delicate nose. She couldn't help but widen her eyes and subconsciously pick up a small spoon from the side, scooping up some crab meat from inside the Crab-Stuffed Orange and putting it into her mouth.
Mmm!
As the Crab-Stuffed Orange entered her mouth, she experienced an extremely refreshing and savory taste, accompanied by a hint of the fresh flavor of oranges and the deliciousness of crab meat. The two flavors blended perfectly together, indistinguishable, lingering in Yue Lengxin's mouth for a long time, leaving behind a unique and delicious taste.
It's really delicious!
Yue Lengxin's eyes lit up suddenly, picking up another spoonful and sending it into her mouth.
"Huh?"
Cao Rang looked at the map of mountains and rivers carved on the outer surface of the Crab-Stuffed Orange, his eyebrows couldn't help but twitch slightly.
The beautifully carved landscape paintings were not unfamiliar to Cao Rang, but the one before him seemed somewhat different from the others, yet he couldn't quite pinpoint what made it different.
Subconsciously, he glanced at Tang Qianqiu, and Cao Rang noticed that his master's gaze was also fixed firmly on the mountain and river map, but his expression was very serious.
Unable to suppress his curiosity, Cao Rang couldn't help but ask, "Master, about this map..."
"This mountain and river map has a divine presence," Tang Qianqiu's face showed a solemn expression. "It is said that mountains and rivers have spirits. Boss Qi has managed to carve out the essence of the mountains and rivers."
With just a glance, on each of the seventeen Crab Stuffed with Orange, there were seventeen completely different mountain and river maps, each depicting the essence of the mountains and rivers vividly.
Compared to the realm of Spirit power, skills like painting and carving were minor, but being able to easily carve out such detailed mountain and river maps was enough to make Tang Qianqiu deeply impressed.
After admiring it for a while, Tang Qianqiu finally pinched the top of the orange and opened it. He indulged in the scent of crab and orange, mixed with the fragrance of wine, and let out a soft sigh. "Boss Qi clearly has good wine, yet he doesn't bring it out to sell. I'll have to talk to him about that later."
The hint of wine fragrance in the Crab-Stuffed Orange was unmistakably the taste of fine wine, and Tang Qianqiu wouldn't mistake it.
Wine was also one of Tang Qianqiu's hobbies. Previously, in Qi Han's little shop, there was no wine, and the only beverage available was a kind of Qi Nan fruit juice, which left Tang Qianqiu regretful for a long time. Now, a dish like Crab-Stuffed Orange had exposed Qi Han's secret of having good wine.
"Achoo! Achoo!" Qi Han suddenly sneezed twice, looked around strangely, and said, "Who's thinking about me?"
[Host, do you know what 'thinking once, cursing twice' means?]
"Thinking once, cursing twice?" Qi Han suddenly realized, "Are there two people thinking about me?"
"..."
"Never mind, let's not talk about that." Qi Han shook his head and looked at the ingredients in front of him: a large block of syrup made from sugar, a small bowl containing nine white nuts, and a large piece of lard from a century-old fragrant pig.
These three items were the main ingredients of the Ginkgo Biloba Dish.
With the Crab-Stuffed Orange cooked, it was now time for the Ginkgo Biloba Dish.
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