CHAPTER 341: CHAPTER 116 SQUIRREL MANDARIN FISH_2

It seems Du Xixi is serious now.

Rarely seen outside the office, the head director quietly adjusted his posture to follow everyone more comfortably, while waiting for the delicious food.

Once Du Xixi gets serious, it’s as if she’s the only one in this space. She didn’t pay attention to what Zhang Ye and the others were cooking. She simply picked up a lively mandarin fish and, without hesitation, chopped its head off with the kitchen knife.

Today, let’s make Squirrel Mandarin Fish!

Squirrel Mandarin Fish is a dish with excellent color, aroma, and taste. The orthodox method uses carp to the bone, carves patterns on the fish meat, marinates it slightly with seasoning, coats it with egg yolk batter, deep-fries it until cooked, then pours over hot sweet and sour sauce. The shape resembles a squirrel, crispy outside and tender inside, with a sweet and sour flavor.

Among many dishes, Squirrel Mandarin Fish isn’t considered difficult to make. The only technical challenge is creating the diamond-shaped patterns on the fish meat with knife skills, so when fried, the Squirrel Mandarin Fish will stand crisply.

Du Xixi squinted her eyes, her hands moving continuously. She sliced open the snowy white fish belly and made a small cut at the rear of the tail, skillfully detaching the fish tail from the spine, leaving two thick fillets obediently on the cutting board.

An ordinary kitchen knife in her hand was played like a trick. Just now, it had neatly removed most of the fish bones, then it seemed to transform into a roller, and after some rapid knife cuts, the fish fillet was already cut into regular diamond shapes.

This shape, this speed, cannot be achieved without practicing hard Kung Fu skills.

Lin You squinted slightly. Having seen many elite talents, she naturally realized what good knife skills mean, but having specially learned about Du Xixi from Star Network, she was momentarily stunned, showing no expression on her face.

Coated in dry starch, the mandarin fish took a carefree hot oil bath, with the sizzling sound resembling a mouse’s "squeak". After frying, it looked like a squirrel raising its head. Du Xixi found the name Squirrel Mandarin Fish quite fitting.

The prepared sauce, thickened with starch, was poured over the crispy fried mandarin fish, the yellow and red perfectly blended together, and the aroma resembled a squirrel looking up at the moon. Du Xixi placed it on the table nearby and, after washing the pot, began preparing new dishes.

Since she promised to showcase her skills, Du Xixi would hardly be stingy, showing only one signature dish. She picked up a piece of fatty, lean pork belly, casually but with knife skills hardly reflecting any casualness.

Half-hand thick slices, almost each identical in size, neatly stacked together. Du Xixi then began slicing potatoes and washing greens.

This arrangement seems like she won’t be satisfied until she makes a whole table of dishes!

The nearby few were all attracted by Du Xixi’s actions. Their signature dishes hadn’t even left the pot, yet Du Xixi was already moving on to other dishes? That’s too discouraging!

Noticing the requesting glances from Zhang Ye’s group, Lin You coughed, caught Du Xixi’s puzzled gaze, and warmly said, "Xixi, just one signature dish is enough."

As an observer who could see everything happening on the scene, Lin You naturally knew that Du Xixi’s dish, whose name remains unknown, was already the best in the venue.

Just that one dish was enough to overshadow Zhang Ye and the others somewhat. If Du Xixi made a few more, the promising talents painstakingly drawn from the Cultural Relics Bureau might be lost in confidence due to Du Xixi.

"It definitely is a signature dish." Du Xixi innocently blinked her big eyes, pointing at the Squirrel Mandarin Fish, then at the remaining processed ingredients, "The Squirrel Mandarin Fish is the signature dish I wanted to showcase to you all. Other dishes are just made casually."

Though saying so, both Du Xixi and Lin You understood well that if Du Xixi decided to prepare dishes, they couldn’t simply be described as "casual." Just look at the preparation; it’s already detailed enough, surely the finished dishes won’t be rough?

But since Du Xixi said it like that, no one could accuse her of "cheating." Zhang Ye and the others exchanged a few helpless glances, only to concentrate more earnestly on their signature dishes, while Lin You leaned closer to Du Xixi, curiously examining the Squirrel Mandarin Fish.