CHAPTER 388: CHAPTER 132: PLAIN DONGPO PORK AND DONGPO PORK

"That’s true." He Yuan said, also smiling, as she saw Du Xixi picking up half a winter melon and walked away a bit to start practicing her cooking with the ingredients she’d chosen.

Looking back, every day they spent at Blue Star University was immersed in culinary practice. The ones who originally couldn’t cut properly or add enough ingredients were soon to become professors for dozens of students...

Each person was making the dish they wanted, but when Zhang Ye placed a plate of perfectly flavored and fragrant spicy shredded potatoes on the table, he found another dish had already been placed there—a large piece of meat tied with scallions, finely scored with four cuts on the surface, appearing crispy on the outside and tender inside, incredibly appetizing.

"Xixi, did you make this Dongpo Pork?" Zhang Ye turned his head, knowing that He Yuan and the others had not learned to make Dongpo Pork, so he targeted Du Xixi.

"Yes." Du Xixi was just closing the pot lid when Zhang Ye looked over, and it seemed that something was still simmering inside, with the smell of alcohol and meat already permeating the air, "But also no."

With those words, He Yuan and the others, who hadn’t been paying attention, also looked over, apparently puzzled by the connection between Xixi’s words. But after the four of them took a closer look at the "Dongpo Pork" on the table for a while, it was He Yuan who first understood.

"I took physiology as an elective in college, and looking at these lines, they don’t resemble meat patterns but rather..." He Yuan hesitated a bit, using her eyes to seek Du Xixi’s permission, and upon receiving a nod from Xixi, she carefully pierced the side of the "meat chunk" with chopsticks, trying not to damage its integrity.

Bamboo chopsticks aren’t particularly sharp, being polished before being used to ensure there are no splinters. But when they came in contact with the "meat chunk," it clearly broke a small opening.

"Indeed, it’s winter melon." He Yuan’s face showed some relief, "Winter melon doesn’t become very tender during a certain level of simmering, but I’ve watched Xixi’s livestream and know that Dongpo Pork needs to be simmered for quite a while, and winter melon at that level of simmering turns tender and colored like meat."

"Right! The ’Dongpo Pork’ in front of you is actually a ’Vegetarian Dongpo Pork’ made using winter melon, tofu, and mushrooms." As she spoke, Du Xixi lifted the lid of the pot, which had been stewing for a long time, and gently scooped the actual Dongpo Pork onto a similarly pure white porcelain plate.

If the Vegetarian Dongpo Pork and Dongpo Pork were placed together, without the chopstick marks on the side of the Vegetarian Dongpo Pork, it might take several moments for them to recognize which dish was made of real meat.

Du Xixi used generous ingredients in making these two plates of "Dongpo Pork." Even though there was only a quarter piece of "Dongpo Pork" on each plate, Xixi herself did not intend to eat any. The other four people each shared two pieces, requiring several bites to finish.

To make Dongpo Pork, you need to cut the pork belly into square pieces and simmer it with soy sauce, cooking wine, Shaoxing wine, sugar, scallions, and garlic, having beforehand fried it in thin oil, resulting in a skin-soft meat that’s red and shiny, with a rich taste.

It can be described as "melt-in-the-mouth yet not fragmented, fragrant yet not greasy."

Vegetarian Dongpo Pork doesn’t use pork; you just cut the green-skinned winter melon to the desired size, peel it, then add a mix of mushroom and tofu mince as the "lean meat" under it. Fry the peeled side in oil to create a meat skin texture, then simmer it like Dongpo Pork, and the dish is complete.

As the saying goes, the working people are great, perhaps this Vegetarian Dongpo Pork was specially innovated to satisfy those who can’t afford meat or don’t eat meat.

Du Xixi had mastered many cuisines during her time at Blue Star and learned plenty of innovative dishes. Dish types that resemble not only in appearance but also have a taste similar to the "authentic" dishes were still very interesting to Xixi.

She made it specifically for He Yuan and the others, so Xixi was sitting to the side, waiting for them to finish eating, and then eagerly asked, "Is it delicious? How does it taste?"

He Yuan was the first to discover the raw materials of the Vegetarian Dongpo Pork, so she was eating the fastest and naturally spoke first: "Dongpo Pork is rich but not greasy, tender without losing crispness, with a faint aroma of wine lingering on the palate, truly perfect! Vegetarian Dongpo Pork may not be real meat, but the texture of winter melon combined with mushrooms and tofu is just as firm and springy, no less inferior to Dongpo Pork!"