The Food Guide of a Little Lucky Girl (Part 2)

234 The Cook's Exclusion

Song Yue plans to make crispy pork belly, classic poached chicken, wine-scented duck, charcoal-grilled lamb chops, braised goose, steamed egg with shrimp and mushrooms, fried rice with scrambled eggs and mixed vegetables, meat pie soup, etc., which children will love to eat.

　　When the cooks heard about such a big project, they doubted whether it could be done.

　　One of the oldest women couldn't help but question, "The menu the girl ordered is full of hard dishes, and it's not long before lunch."

　　Does that mean it's still in time?

　　Song Yue was just about to wash two free-range chickens and put them in the pot. Hearing this, she said calmly, "It's still in time. Just follow my instructions. If you can't make it in time, I will bear any responsibility."

　　She said this in a very arrogant tone.

　　The cooks were dissatisfied but they could only swallow their anger, exchange glances with each other and go about their business.

　　They had to take the food to the yard to wash it, and when they got to a place where Song Yue couldn't see them, they started to grumble.

　　"That's a nice way of saying it. She's a guest and we're servants. If something goes wrong, how could the masters blame her? They might even pin the blame on us."

　　"That's right. She will blame us then. This Miss Song better know how to cook. If she can't cook and the food she cooks isn't tasty, I'm afraid she will blame us. She's really black-hearted."

　　"Look at her attitude, she's ordering us around like we're her servants. She's not our master."

　　The cooks in the Lu family had long been dissatisfied. It would be strange for them to be happy if their master kept comparing them to such a person and spoke so badly of them, the servants. They just didn't dare to show it normally.

　　Song Yue was a thorn in their hearts. While the other servants of the Lu family were full of curiosity, the cooks felt like their hearts were being pricked by needles.

　　Now that I really saw such a person, I thought she was a country girl, but I didn't expect her to be so outstanding in appearance, looking like a lady from a wealthy family.

　　Would such a person stay in the kitchen and cook?

　　The cooks couldn't help feeling jealous, and were naturally in a bad mood as they were ordered around by her. However, they didn't dare to be lazy, because after all, they would be the ones to suffer if they couldn't prepare lunch in time.

　　Song Yue didn't care what these people said behind her. On the contrary, the cooks all avoided her, which made it easier for her to cheat. She could prepare the seasonings for each dish herself when there were not many people around and use them directly later.

　　The poached chicken was also cooked on low heat first. The duck had been chopped and was very fresh. Song Yue only had it simply washed twice, drained and then began to stir-fry, adding some star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves and rock sugar. The most important thing was enough mellow rice wine. Finally, it was simply seasoned and then simmered in a small ceramic pot.

　　Just then, the maid who was helping out brought in the washed meat again.

　　Since the first time those cooks showed up, they have been preparing ingredients by the well, looking like they don't want to have any interaction with Song Yue.

Song Yue wanted them to help, but they didn't want to come in. Then there happened to be a maid who was diligent enough to run in and out, so she called her and asked, "Are you willing to help me?"

　　The maid looked quite old, about the same age as Dingxiang, but she looked much rougher than Dingxiang and her face was sallow. She paused for a moment before nodding, then uttered "ah ah" twice and pointed at her throat.

　　Song Yue realized that she couldn't speak, but she didn't show any pity for her. She just said, "It doesn't matter if you can't speak. It's okay as long as you can understand."

　　The maid nodded and stood aside waiting for Song Yue's instructions.

　　Song Yue asked her to help chop the meat patties, "Do you know how to use a knife? Help me chop the meat."

　　The maid nodded and did as she was told readily. Song Yue watched her start to chop the meat skillfully. Her experienced technique made her laugh at herself. How could she not know how to chop meat when she was working in the kitchen?

　　After giving the instructions, Song Yue turned around and continued to work on her own things. She planned to make some pot stickers later, so she would need a little more meat filling.

　　Dingxiang was busy watching the fire, managing several stoves by herself. She was too busy to look up. Only after she had adjusted the fire did she look up and see that there was one more person in the kitchen.

　　He asked, "Hey, finally someone came to help. The Lu family's cooks are really interesting. Master Lu asked them to help, but they all hid outside the kitchen. What's the matter? I have to pass on the message to ask them to help. How troublesome is that?"

　　Song Yue also guessed that they didn't like her, so they deliberately ignored her, but she didn't care. "Okay, stop talking. Don't we have someone to help us? One person in the kitchen is enough."

　　It would be difficult for her to do anything secretly when there are too many people around. This world still lacks some seasonings.

　　Song Yue has to buy it from the system.

　　Dingxiang was speaking up for her master, so she pouted and muttered a few words before stopping short.

　　Song Yue also picked out some pork belly from the basin of washed meat that had just been delivered. She had to boil it in water first as she would make crispy pork belly later.

　　The lamb chops also need to be marinated so that they can be grilled while grilling the pork belly later.

　　The maid's name was Ah Hong, a very common name. Anyway, every maid's name would contain characters like Hong, Lu, or Cui.

　　Ah Hong was bought by Old Lady Lu on the street. She had been sold by her gambler father. Seeing that she was pitiful, Old Lady Lu just pointed at her and bought her.

　　Because he couldn't speak and it was inconvenient to serve in front of people, he stayed in the kitchen in the backyard.

　　Madam Lu was kind-hearted, but the other cooks were somewhat bullying and looked down on her. Everyone knew that staying by the master's side would give one the best chance of success, but she lost this advantage because she couldn't speak.

　　She will be stuck in the kitchen all her life and will never be able to make a comeback, so everyone looks down on her.

　　There are also different levels among slaves, and Ah Hong is the lowest one.

　　But she didn't expect Song Yue to think so highly of her. Although she was also asked to do work, she didn't use a condescending tone. She was not at all like the cooks outside complained about. Instead, her instructions were particularly neat and clear.

　　All Ah Hong has to do is concentrate on doing what she is told, and she will even be praised if she does a good job.

　　For example, after she chopped the meat, which took her only a short time, the beautiful girl was very surprised and praised her, "So fast? You look skinny but you are so strong? You chopped all the meat?"

　　Song Yue was really surprised. She chopped a whole pot of minced meat in just a few strokes, and she didn't look tired at all.

　　When she praised her, the maid even smiled shyly.

　　A nice guy.

　　Song Yue gave her a new task, "My meat is almost done. Could you please find some bamboo sticks to help me prick the skin."

　　Ah Hong had never seen pork belly being pierced with bamboo sticks, but she immediately nodded and did as she was told.