Here Comes The Lady Chef Chapter 7 Part1

"Ka dang!" Wen Rou got up hastily from her seat, and accidentally knocked over the stool that she was sitting on. The sound of the stool crushing onto the floor was very loud, and gave everyone a fright.

At that time, Wen Shoucai had just picked up a slice of red braised pork belly with his pair of chopsticks.  He was about to place the meat into his mouth the sound of the chair falling rang out. He jumped with fright, and his chopsticks loosen its hold on the slice of pork belly.

With a "peah" sound, the slice of pork belly dropped onto the floor.

'What a pity!' He thought as he glanced at the slice of the pork belly on the floor. He was slightly annoyed as he chided Wen Rou, "Rou Er, why are you so careless! This is a very good slice of fatty pork. What a pity!"

Then he looked at Wen Ting and said, "Ting Er, go and pick it up. After washing it, you can still eat it."

Wen Ting was very angry. Why did this uncle of his ask him to eat the food that had dropped onto the floor? He retorted, "Why must I be the one who do it? Why don't you pick it up and eat it? Don't you have hands and feet to do it yourself?"

At this time, Wen Shouzhen stepped in, "Ting Er, no matter how useless your 2nd uncle is, he is still an elder. You cannot be so rude to him!"

Wen Shoucai almost spat out the food in his mouth, "3rd brother, how can you say that! Who is useless?"

Wen Rou stuck out her tongue, and turned towards her father, "Father, I need to tell you something important.

"If you have something to say, sit down and say it." Wen Shouzhen nodded his head.

"Father, recently there is something wrong with my nose and tongue." Wen Rou picked up her chair and reset it, before sitting on it.

"Rou Er, are you ill?" Zhou Shi immediately asked. Her face was full of anxiety.

"Mother, be at ease, I am all right. What I mean is that my nose and tongue is very sensitive to food." Wen Rou immediately allayed her mother's fears, and continued.

"Oh?"Wen Shouzhen immediately picked up his ears. When it comes to food or matters relating to food, Wen Shouzhen is all ears.

"Father, recently I discovered that, if I smell a type of food, I will immediately know what type of food it is. And if I tasted it, I will know how to cook it." Wen Rou told her father her secret.

Frankly, talking about her tongue, it has been a few days already. That day, after trying the gold thread rolls and the white cut chicken, her brain is suddenly filled with the images of how these dishes were cooked.

At first, she did not believe it, but when she secretly tried to recreate the brine, she succeeded!

As for her nose, she is confident of her ability to distinguish food by their scene because she could identify that her dad was making red braised pork belly with just a whiff.

Wen Rou was very thankful for these unexpected blessings after she was reborn.

"Do not lie!" Wen Shouzhen was sceptical. "Our cooking skills and methods are not something you can learn with just a few words!"

"Dad, this is really true! Your daughter did not lie to you!" Rou Er was really tensed. She had barely sat down, and she immediately stood up again.

"Utter rubbish! I start learning how to cook when I was 7 years old. First I washed the dishes and vegetables for 3 years, then I cut the vegetables for another 3 years. After which, I had learned to dress the vegetables for another 3 years.  Finally, I earned the right to watch my Shifu cook and learn cooking skills from him! How dare you, who have not even mastered the basics, spout these words of rubbish in front me?" Wen Shouzhen did not believe his daughter.

"If you do not believe me, you can test me. We will bet on the food that you cook! If I win, you will let brother continue to study; if I lose, then brother will learn cooking skills from you!"

Hearing the first part of Wen Rou's words, Wen Ting immediately nodded his head and smiled in agreement.

But the last part of Wen Rou's words immediately turned Wen Ting's face blue, and his face lost all colours.

Wen Ting had never seen his sister cooked before. He immediately pulled Wen Rou on her sleeve and whispered to her, "Little sister, are you sure you are not setting a trap for me to jump into?"

"Relax! Brother, I got the situation under control!" Wen Rou was full of confidence as she a.s.sured her brother.

Wen Ting could not be at ease. But since things have come to such a situation, regardless of the outcome, he will have to accept it. At least he still had hope.

Wen Shoucai the gambler heard the words, 'bet' and immediately become interested. "Great! This plan is very good! I will be the witness, and I bet 10 copper coins that Rou Er will win this challenge!"

"2nd brother, do not make trouble!" Wen Shoucheng immediately shouted.

"Ohhh.." Wen Shoucai muttered something under his breath, but his facial expression showed that he was unhappy.

"All right! This is your words! Today I will gamble with you! And cook a few more dishes for everyone!" Wen Shouzhen noted that his daughter was filled with confidence, and this piped his interest. Seeing that the extended family had finished most of the food on the table, he banged on the table and stood up.

"Yeahhhhh! Awesome!" As soon as the children heard the words, 'cook a few more dishes' they immediately broke into cheers.

"3rd uncle, roast a fish!" Wen Xin licked her lips.

"3rd uncle, cook more meat!" Wen Shan swallowed his saliva.

"And that duck is also not bad."

"3rd brother, there is also a chicken in the kitchen. I have been eyeing it for a long time. Why not cook it as well!" Wen Shoucai noted that n.o.body is willing to bet with him, and he set his sight on taking advantage of his brother by eating more food.

Wen Shouzhen immediately stopped him, "Enough! These ingredients are expensive!"

Wen Shoucai snickered as he replied, "3rd brother, with you around, when did we ever paid for any ingredients we eat?"

"2nd brother, what do you mean by this?" Wen Shouzhen’s face turned beet red, but he angrily shouted, "I will cook everything except the chicken!"

Wen Shoucai also become furious, "3rd brother, you are channelling your shame into anger!"

"Hubby, do you need me to help out?" Zhou Shi got up from her seat.

"What are you going to do in the kitchen? Are you going to discreetly help Rou Er to cheat?" Wen Shouzhen face was full of caution. He immediately waved his hand, "n.o.body is allowed to enter the kitchen, except for me and my disciple Dashi!"

Having said this, he immediately grabbed Fang Dashi and rushed towards the kitchen.

Everyone just quietly sat there and continued to eat slowly. Only Wen Ting paced around the room in anxiety, unable to relax.

Shortly after, 3 large pots were placed on the large round dining table. But all of these pots were covered.

"3rd uncle, all these pots are covered, how do we eat them?" Wen Xin was already drooling in antic.i.p.ation. She could not wait for her uncle to uncover these dishes so that she could eat them.

"Xin Er, do not be in a hurry. Since Rou Er had said that her nose and tongue are very sensitive, you should let Rou Er guess the food, then we eat them." Wen Shouzhen showed a cunning smile as he thought, 'I had never cooked these dishes at home before, and these dishes are quite rare. I bet that Rou Er could not guess what dishes are these. I even……..

"Father, let's begin!" Wen Rou eyes shone, and she was extremely confident.

"En, since you have gambled, you must honour the results if you lose!" Wen Shouzhen smiled, and carefully lift up a part of the pot cover, and placed it in front of Wen Rou's nose.

The gap is very tiny, and n.o.body around the table could see what is held inside.

"Father, this gap is too small. It is even smaller than 2nd uncle's eyes!" Wen Ting cried out in dissatisfaction.

"Rascal! What did you just said?" Wen Shoucai kicked Wen Ting, and peered at the gap. He also remarked, "This gap is really too tiny!"

The whole extended family members turned their neck and tried to peer through the tiny gap, but they could not make out anything. In their hearts, they could not help but to worry about Wen Rou.

"Father, inside this claypot is … duck!" Wen Rou closed her eyes, and sniffed around, and immediately cried out.

"Ah!" Wen Shouzhen was shocked. She is so accurate! This is only the first pot!

Seeing Wen Shouzen's face, the entire table knew that Wen Rou had hit the nail on the head. They relaxed a little bit, and took a deep breath.

"This is 8 treasure duck. You are half correct. The other half is how this dish was cooked." Wen Shouzhen unwillingly opened the clay pot. As he opened, the scene of a duck came into view. The aroma of this dish quickly effused out and filled the room with its fragrance.

"Oh, it smells incredible! 5th sister, quickly tell him how this dish is cooked!" Wen Xin impatiently begged. She really wanted to eat this dish, and listen to Wen Rou's explanation while she tried.

Wen Rou picked up a pair of chopsticks and gently poked the duck. The chopsticks easily tore into the glistering duck meat, and easily gripped a slice of the duck meat.

Wen Rou sniffed at the duck meat and opened her mouth and chewed it.

The duck meat was fat but not greasy, but rather, it contains the fragrance of the stock used to braise it.

"Father, this duck was wrapped in Lotus leaf and steamed. And the taste is quite complicated….."

"Oh?" Wen Shouzhen seemed to be pleased. In his heart, he wanted to say, "Now, you cannot tell how I cooked it? This 8 treasure duck was really complicated to cook!”

Wen Rou had closed her eyes as she continued, "The duck was rubbed with wine, with its belly up, and placed into a large bowl."

"And this smell…." Wen Rou sniffed around, as she listed the ingredients used to cook the dished, "there are mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, ham, chestnuts, scallops, and chicken. These are then minced and fried, then stuffed into the duck. Dad, you probably used the 'Lao Wei Fang' brand of soy sauce, and also added some spoonfuls of sugar. En. Not more than 2 spoonfuls of sugar."

"And one more ingredient!" Listening to his daughter's words, Wen Shouzhen could not help raising his eyebrows. "That ingredient is a key ingredient and is very important!"

Right, how did he get rid of the greasy taste of this fat duck and yet infused a pleasant smell into the duck meat? Looking at the fat duck, Wen Rou's small mouth began to pout as she thought in earnest.

Suddenly Wen Rou's eyes seemed to look around everywhere in the room, and suddenly she thought of the red braised pork belly…… Of course!

"It is glutinous rice!" She did not wait for her father's smirk to disappear, and used the pair of chopsticks to pry open the duck and reveal the stuffing inside. The insides of the duck were stuffed with 5 colours and 8 treasures - there was the red colour Chinese sausage, the gold colour chestnut, the white colour scallops…

All of the ingredients that Wen Rou had mentioned immediately become visible to all!

And among the ingredients that came into view was the glutinous rice that had been soaked and turned into a golden colour by the gravy.

Wen Shouzhen could not believe his ears. This is an ingredient that had no smell or taste! How could she tell?

"Father, you are really incredible. First, you use the glutinous rice and the rest of the fried ingredients and stuff them into the duck. Then you use lotus leaves to wrap the entire duck, and steam it. Finally, you placed the dish into the pot, and added shrimps, peas and use flour to thicken the soup. The duck is really tender, smells wonderful and the taste is superb!" Wen Rou explained.

All the extended family members heard what she said and were dumbstruck.

Wen Shouzhen was amazed!

The entire process of cooking this 8 treasure duck was accurate to the last detail. Did this girl really use her sense of smell and taste to guess these?

"3rd brother, 3rd brother!" Wen Shoucai waved his chopsticks. "Is she correct? Is she correct?"

The hidden meaning of his words are, "Now, may we eat this?"

What delicious food will her dad cook next? Will Wen Rou be able to tell?

Look forward to some tasty and exotic Chinese recipes and get ready to drool!