Chapter 496: Chapter 489: Makes a Lot of Sense
Thinking about this, Fu Yu decided not to communicate further with the girl, but instead focused on her parents, earnestly saying, "Blindly trying like this isn’t a solution. To quickly find these two dishes, I suggest we ignore the taste for now and prioritize the plating effect of the dishes after cooking."
In the end, it’s still a matter of relying on luck to order dishes.
The girl’s father listened, and although he looked a bit grim, he nodded cooperatively and said, "Alright, I’ll leave it to you then, let’s be quick about it. And since you mentioned the fish meat was tender, let’s skip dishes like dry-fried ones for now."
Actually, the girl’s father had already given up hope.
After all, his daughter had dined with the others ages ago, and he was just grasping at straws.
Even himself, trying to recall what dishes were eaten at a banquet days ago, he surely wouldn’t remember.
But he had made calls and set the time for dining.
Everything was ready except for the crucial step.
After trying over a dozen dishes, adding a few more wouldn’t make a difference. If all else failed, then they’d give up.
Who knows, maybe he’d actually get lucky and find it.
Despite understanding this clearly, there was still a bit of unwillingness inside.
The girl’s father couldn’t help but complain, "If you could remember which two dishes they were, wouldn’t it be great..."
The girl obviously became emotional upon hearing her father’s words and snapped, "It’s just a meal invitation, is it worth being so humble? There’s a menu, just let them choose what they like! You pay, and that’s it! Does it have to be this complicated?"
Fu Yu couldn’t help but take a deeper look at the girl.
This kid is definitely going places!
Look at how reasonable her words are!
The girl’s father glared angrily, "What do you know! This isn’t just about ordering food, it’s about camaraderie! When people see the dishes on the table, they know in their hearts! Not everyone is like you, always arguing! You can’t even describe what you ate properly, no wonder you never get high marks in your essays!"
The girl got more agitated, hopping mad, "Who said I can’t describe properly! I..."
Fu Yu was about to turn back to the kitchen when he inadvertently glimpsed the video screen above the girl’s head, causing his steps to pause.
The close-up of the handsome guy was enlarged, and the piece of food held by chopsticks gradually became clear. Although bitten, the remaining portion revealed it was indeed a piece of fish, not battered, but pan-fried.
Fu Yu’s mind instantly flashed through several dishes: braised fish pieces, spicy and sour fish pieces, cumin fish pieces, black pepper fish pieces, pepper fish pieces...
The girl’s face was flushed red, and though she remembered what the dish looked like, she had no idea how to describe it.
And the more anxious she grew, the clearer the image became, turning her fuzzy memory into something vivid.
When the dish was served by the waitress, it happened to be placed to her right. She glanced at it, wasn’t interested, so she didn’t reach for it.
Someone asked a moment later if everyone had tried it, and only then was the table turned.
Quite a memorable dish, the golden pan-fried fish arranged so exquisitely.
She just didn’t like fish, so she didn’t pick any, but other classmates praised the dish extensively.
As her recollection unfolded, the video image clearly showed the dish’s original appearance.
Even in black and white, Fu Yu instantly recognized the dish by its plating style—it was pepper fish pieces.
It was indeed a Qianlima specialty dish.
Unlike the usual restaurant approach, this dish’s cooking process underwent meticulous improvements, innovating both its flavor and preparation methods.
Once the dish was confirmed, Fu Yu sighed in relief.
Meanwhile, driven both by urgency and stubbornness, the girl managed to recall another dish’s name amid her teapot-boiling dumpling state.
"Anyway, one of the dishes was called grape meat or something, grape something..."
Hearing this, Fu Yu immediately felt joy!
He hurriedly chimed in, "Is it grape fish? Served on an oval-shaped white porcelain plate, with spherical fish pieces inside, garnished with fresh grape leaves on both sides?"
The girl’s eyes lit up, "Yes, that’s the dish!"
Finally, the two dishes were identified!
Knowing the dish names meant no worry about cooking them.
The girl’s parents showed jubilant expressions upon hearing this.
The girl’s father asked, "Are you sure it’s this dish?"
The girl nodded, "Definitely! The waitress mentioned the dish name when serving; I noted it because it sounded special."
After a long period of worry and frustration, the girl’s father finally found some direction, and amidst his happiness, couldn’t help but grumble, "Yet you took so long without managing to mention the dish..."
The girl felt both wronged and angry, retorting sharply, "The dish wasn’t placed right before me, and by the time I started eating, it was almost finished, how was I supposed to know the plating style?"
Fu Yu left, with the faint sound of father and daughter arguing still echoing from the private room.
Back in the kitchen, Fu Yu called Zhang Jinyu to prepare the dishes.
Upon hearing the dish names, Zhang Jinyu expressed surprise, "This family is truly something; not knowing the name of pepper fish pieces is one thing, but grape fish is distinctive enough to somewhat figure out what it is just by looking at it!"
While speaking, Zhang Jinyu briskly began prepping the dishes.
Cooking pepper fish pieces wasn’t hard; the fish just needed cleaning and cutting into chunks.
These tasks were handled by the kitchen assistants.
Fu Yu heated Sichuan peppercorns and prickly ash in a pan.
Then, he took them all out to crush.
The fish, peppercorns, and prickly ash, along with salt, were then marinated.
Finally, pan-fry to a golden brown on both sides.
The key was not powdering the peppercorns or prickly ash; it was all about savoring the fragrant aroma from the stir-fry.
While marinating the pepper fish pieces, Fu Yu commenced cooking the grape fish.
Grape fish wasn’t often ordered.
Mostly because its flavor resembled squirrel fish, but lacked the crisp, tender savor of squirrel fish.
Especially in terms of cooking, it’s quite laborious, requiring bone removal and the fish meat shaped into grape-like granules, cooked, then reassembled into a fish shape, with flavor focused on red wine seasoning, addressing appearance, aroma, taste, and texture collectively.
Cooking took time and wasn’t lucrative, so waitstaff wouldn’t actively recommend it to customers.
With Zhang Jinyu bringing back fresh fish, and after kitchen assistants handled its cleaning, Fu Yu proceeded to cook.
