Chapter 186: Fried Rice With Soup: Everyone Shows Their Skills
The air was filled with the aroma of fried rice.
Four pots of fried rice were placed on the control panel, with the rice grains distinct and glistening with oil. The beef fried rice overflowed with meaty fragrance, carrying a hint of chili’s heat; the vegetable chicken fried rice was vibrant in color, with sour and salty flavors intertwined, making it especially appetizing; the spicy potato fried rice was pungently spicy, with golden potato shreds interwoven with green vegetables, whetting the appetite; and the egg fried rice was the classic golden yellow, with egg fragrance blending with the rice aroma, simple yet tantalizing.
Everyone in the kitchen was almost using all their reason to stop themselves from publicly robbing the fried rice on the spot.
But the employees serving rice outside the kitchen weren’t faring as well. They looked at the white rice in their meal boxes, then at the four plates of enticingly colored fried rice on the control panel across the transparent glass window.
The white rice that had just been handed out, not even tasted yet, instantly lost its appeal.
Xiang Chuan couldn’t be bothered with what the two groups inside and outside the kitchen were agonizing over; she had just finished stir-frying four portions of rice and was thoroughly exhausted now.
She picked up the small spoon and bowl prepared nearby, scooped two spoonfuls of beef fried rice into the bowl, put it in her mouth and chewed carefully, then took a sip of water, and repeated the process for the next portion of fried rice.
After tasting the fourth portion, she put down the bowl and said:
“Little Chef, start processing the other rice according to my previous operations, and also reduce the chili powder by one-third for the one with potatoes.”
[Beep—Roger, the instruction will be completed in ten minutes.]
This emotionless response from the kitchen AI sounded like heavenly music to the Class Eight Grade One crowd in the kitchen.
Xiang Chuan had been fiddling alone for so long, and they thought they would have to wait at least half an hour before eating, but they didn’t expect the kitchen AI to be so efficient.
Liang Gong, who was cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks for Xiang Chuan, happened to chat with her about this. Xiang Chuan pondered for a moment, organized her thoughts according to her understanding, and said:
“It’s mainly because the rice used for fried rice is already pre-cooked ingredients. What really needs processing before stir-frying is actually ingredients like potatoes and beef, so once they are cooked, the subsequent process of heating the rice won’t take much time.”
“From the perspective of ancient people’s thinking, fried rice emphasizes convenience and speed. In the past, when people cooked without kitchen AI assistance, they could only make one dish at a time, though rice could be steamed in advance. But healthy dishes often start with three dishes and one soup; from preparing ingredients to serving on plates, it takes at least five minutes, and some exquisite dishes require nearly half an hour.”
“To quickly intake staple food and dishes, ancient people devised many cooking methods that allow simultaneous consumption of dishes, such as fried rice, braised rice, buns, noodles… Everyone knows that slowly savoring gourmet food is the most flavorful, but not everyone has so much time, let alone corporate slaves.”
Xiang Chuan recalled her busy life as a 996 corporate slave, when she could only order takeaway by bundling orders every day, and her eyes became a bit dazed.
At this moment, the kitchen AI took out an empty meal box and handed it to Xiang Chuan. Xiang Chuan decisively packed the four portions of fried rice into the four compartments of the meal box, and under the drooling gazes of everyone, firmly closed the lid.
Just then, the soup handled by Ouyang Yating and the other two came out of the pot. The three immediately scooped a small bowl and simultaneously handed it to Xiang Chuan.
Seeing this, Xiang Chuan’s mouth twitched: Normally, shouldn’t the chef taste it first? Why are they all shoving it to me? Making me test for poison?
Having Ouyang Yating and the other two handle the soup was something Xiang Chuan came up with on the spot. They had learned quite a few basic stir-frying, stewing techniques by following Xiang Chuan, but they rarely completed stewing dishes independently without her guidance.
Perhaps due to modern people’s innate dexterity, the three were quite adept at shaping operations like pinching buns and cake decorating, but they seemed to have an instinctive animal-like fear of behaviors involving heating to cook food, keeping somewhat distant from it.
Back then, to get the three to fry a barely qualified poached egg, Xiang Chuan had spent several days… Well, actually, it was mainly because they were afraid of oil splattering.
However, boiling soup only requires paying attention to whether the water is boiling and whether the ingredients are cooked. Apart from the steam when starting the pot, there were no other elements that would make modern youth keep their distance, so Ouyang Yating and the other two did quite smoothly this time.
—Naturally, Xiang Chuan had long ago freely authorized the cooking method for vegetable soup to the public, and the twenty or so people present must have seen their family members or kitchen AI making vegetable soup at home, so their psychological fear of the unknown was naturally much less compared to other cooking methods.
It would be a wonder if they actually messed it up.
Xiang Chuan thought, took the soup bowl handed over by Ainuo, which had only a small half bowl of soup with golden egg drops and tomatoes floating on top, and she could smell the fresh aroma of eggs and tomatoes—it looked like a qualified egg drop soup.
Just now, Xiang Chuan had been stir-frying rice and tasting saltiness; even after drinking a few mouthfuls of purified water, her mouth was still dry. Now, with a visually appealing egg drop soup right in front of her, she naturally chose to down the whole bowl without hesitation.
Fortunately, Xiang Chuan swallowed quickly; otherwise, the moment her brain received the taste feedback from her tongue, she would definitely have spat out the soup.
With a dark face, Xiang Chuan put down the bowl, looked at Ainuo, and said eerily:
“Ainuo club member, I venture to ask, did you put in the wrong seasoning?”
Ainuo widened their eyes and answered in surprise:
“Ah? What’s wrong? Isn’t it sweet enough?”
Oh, so it’s a confirmed offender! Xiang Chuan felt her temples throbbing with veins. She gritted her teeth and said:
“I remember I repeatedly instructed you: Unless making dessert, do not put sugar in the soup. You didn’t forget, did you?”
“How could I forget? My memory is excellent. I even remember you were eating steak buns at the time.”
Ainuo said proudly, chest puffed out, as if showing off their memory.
“Then why is this soup sweet?”
“Huh? Weren’t you the one who said before that some people like stir-fried tomatoes and eggs sweet, some like them sweet, so I made it sweet this time.”
“I said stir-fried tomatoes and eggs! Not tomato egg drop soup! Don’t make this stuff to ruin modern youth’s tongues!”
Xiang Chuan angrily picked up the nearby pot lid, slammed it on the soup pot, then turned to the kitchen AI and said: “Treat this pot of soup as discarded ingredients, remake a pot of soup according to their previous steps, but replace the sugar in the steps with salt.”
To be fair, after this period of training, Ainuo had improved in controlling the heat; at least the egg drop soup had no strange clumps or scorching, which was why Xiang Chuan was deceived by its appearance.
Seeing the soup pot being carried away by the kitchen AI, Ainuo looked displeased and complained: “Is it really that bad? I see you all eat cake happily usually.”
“That’s enough, don’t ruin the tomato egg drop soup. If you really want to make sweet soup, you can simmer sugar water dessert another day.”
Xiang Chuan said harshly. Of course, she could only vent verbally; soup wasn’t impossible to make, but common ingredients like peanuts, lotus seeds, taro, sweet potatoes… weren’t available, not even corn or glutinous rice, so it really wasn’t the right time to launch soup.
At least wait until staple food and side dish freedom is achieved first.
With Ainuo’s “opening thunderstrike,” Xiang Chuan’s hand trembled when picking up Liang Gong’s bowl of soup.
Fortunately, neither Liang Gong nor Ouyang Yating had Ainuo’s erratic thinking; both honestly chose the most down-to-earth cooking method.
Liang Gong made beef radish soup, and he thoughtfully skimmed off the foam, making the soup so clear it looked almost like Western-style stock, though he put in a bit too much ginger—after Xiang Chuan drank it, besides the radish’s fresh sweetness and beef fragrance, what rushed to her nose was the ginger’s spiciness.
Upon asking, she learned Liang Gong had directly put in four whole large pieces of ginger. When hearing the amount, Xiang Chuan thought the kid had some special fondness for ginger. It turned out Liang Gong thought his technique might not remove the beef’s fishy smell well, and since Xiang Chuan had said ginger helps de-fish raw meat, he added it generously.
For this pot of soup, even two pieces would be a bit much; four pieces might spice someone to death. Xiang Chuan decisively called the kitchen AI again to adjust the beef radish soup recipe.
However, she didn’t discard this pot made by Liang Gong. Considering that this production escort ship was in autumn now, with cool evening winds, this pot of beef radish ginger soup could be given to the girls afraid of cold to warm their stomachs.
Compared to the first two, Ouyang Yating’s vegetable soup seemed so plain and normal, just a bit too bland—the salt was under-seasoned.
Xiang Chuan downed a small bowl, instantly transported back to high school campus, where the school cafeteria’s large pot of vegetable soup was always so vegetable-flavored and utterly unsalted.
Though fried rice is high in oil and salt, pairing it with a low-salt vegetable soup is fitting, but high school youth are creatures who prefer heavy flavors; such bland health soup would definitely be rejected by them.
By the time Xiang Chuan finished arranging the soups, the kitchen AI also began producing fried rice according to the recipe and preset portions.
Xiang Chuan’s own portion was already packed, so she had no reason to stay in the kitchen and slipped out directly, with the Class Eight Grade One crowd following closely.
However, after leaving the kitchen, Xiang Chuan headed straight to her seat, while A Bite of China Club members including Ouyang Yating and the other two waited with Class Eight Grade One at the serving window for the fried rice to come out.
The seats were pre-arranged by Manager Wu; he had anticipated the dinner rush tonight would be packed, so he designated an open area outside the canteen in advance as the dining area for Nongda Affiliated High School first year high school students.
If it were the 21st century, there might be worries about mosquitoes, snakes, rats, etc., with seats right next to farmland, but now it’s 30,000 years later; the relevant departments strictly control biological distribution, probably no fungi capable of growing mushrooms could be found throughout the entire production escort ship, let alone small animals or insects.
Honestly, this place is quite suitable for those 21st century young men and women who yearn for pastoral life but are phonies about real rural fields. Xiang Chuan slowly sipped the beef radish ginger soup, thinking to herself.
