Chapter 473

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

After the oil entered the wok and heated up, it didn't have that greasy smell of ordinary cooking oil; instead, a faint, elusive fragrance wafted out.

"This Boss's range hood works really well, you can't smell any cooking fumes even when stir-frying, what brand is it? I'll get one like this for my place later."

Liao Tong watched Lu Feng heat the wok and add oil in the kitchen, twitched his nose, and didn't smell any cooking fumes; he couldn't help asking curiously.

Zhang Xianyang beside him couldn't help laughing out loud, reached out and patted Liao Tong's shoulder: "Get this straight, this has nothing to do with the range hood, it's that Boss Lu uses a different oil."

After all, he'd eaten at Lu Feng's shop so many times, no matter how close he sat to the kitchen, he'd never smelled cooking fumes once.

At first he also thought it was because Lu Feng's range hood worked well, but later he discovered it wasn't.

Even when white smoke sometimes filled the kitchen, he couldn't smell a trace of cooking fumes inside.

Lu Feng in the kitchen didn't pay attention to the conversation outside; all his focus was on the oil wok in front of him.

Seeing the oil temperature in the wok rise, he immediately picked up a marinated shrimp tail, gave it a light roll in the prepared starch, coating it with a thin layer of powder.

"Sizzle——"

The first shrimp tail went into the wok; the semi-transparent shrimp meat turned opaque pale pink at a speed visible to the naked eye, the tail shell slowly curling upward.

Lu Feng added the shrimp tails one after another; the oil bubbles in the wok consistently maintained a sparse state.

Before long, the fried shrimp tails were fished out and arranged on a plate; each one was bent into a crescent shape, tail shell arched high, tail fins spread open, already looking quite a bit like a phoenix tail.

Lu Feng switched to another stir-fry wok, poured in a little of the special oil used just now; after the oil heated, he first poured in the peas that had been drained of moisture.

"Hiss-hiss——"

Amid the stir-frying sounds, the fresh sweetness of the peas mixed with the oil fragrance wafted out; each pea was coated with a thin layer of oil, turning an even more vivid emerald green.

Then Lu Feng poured half a bowl of clear broth simmered from mountain spring water into the wok, added a few grains of fine well salt, and drizzled in half a spoon of aged rice wine.

The alcohol volatilized upon meeting heat, leaving only the faint mellow fragrance of the rice wine.

Finally Lu Feng stirred in a little thickening sauce; the soup/juice became thick, coating the peas in the wok with a milky white luster.

Lu Feng took the oil-drained shrimp tails from the side and dumped them into the wok, quickly stir-frying.

His left hand held the wok spatula, continuously stir-frying the shrimp tails in the wok; his right hand picked up the bottle on the side, evenly drizzling in the clear special oil, letting each shrimp tail be coated with a layer of transparent, bright oil sheen.

After another brief stir-fry, Lu Feng scooped the shrimp tails and peas from the wok together into a white porcelain round plate.

In diners' eyes, the dish's flavor is the foundation, but the plating skill is the final step that injects soul into the deliciousness.

Plating seems merely to put food into a plate, but in reality it also requires some technique.

Lu Feng's current plating skill, even Cheng Fan who originally challenged him saw it, would probably only be able to silently say a sentence of self-deprecation.

The stir-fried Fengwei shrimp's orange-red tails arched high, neatly arranged in a circle on the plate; each shrimp's position looked as if precisely measured with a ruler, the spacing completely equal.

In the hollowed-out center of the plate, Lu Feng took out a section about one finger thick, looking like a tree trunk, and stood it upright in the center of the plate.

Next, he picked up the pale purple radish soaking in clear water on the side, right hand picked up a small carving knife; the blade clung to the radish flying up and down, radish shavings falling very regularly into the garbage bin below.

In the blink of an eye, exquisite Wutong flowers carved from radish appeared before everyone.

Immediately after, Lu Feng decorated the carved Wutong flowers on the tree trunk in the center of the plate, and paired them with a few emerald green vegetable leaves; it looked just like a Wutong tree in bloom.

Looking at the whole dish now, a circle of white shrimp tails arched high with orange-red tail shells, surrounding a lifelike Wutong tree.

The heat rising from the plate made the radish-carved Wutong flowers sway gently, truly possessing a bit of the artistic conception of "Phoenix Perches on Wutong".

"Fengwei shrimp can be served."

Lu Feng adjusted the tree trunk's angle one last time, ensuring it looked upright from every direction, then shouted toward Hu Xiaoyun outside.

"Coming."

Hu Xiaoyun heard the call and walked quickly into the kitchen; seeing this incomparably exquisite plate of Fengwei shrimp, she couldn't help revealing a surprised expression: "Boss, this dish you made looks too good! The flowers on it look just like real ones!"

Then she moved very carefully, placed the plate onto the tray, and served it to Liao Tong and Zhang Xianyang waiting by the counter: "You two, your Fengwei shrimp is ready; Yangchun noodles and stir-fried asparagus lettuce will be right up."

"Boss Lu, this Fengwei shrimp of yours, the presentation is truly not bad."

Liao Tong took the tray, lowered his head and examined it carefully, then couldn't help clicking his tongue in wonder.

Although the Yangchun noodles and stir-fried asparagus lettuce they ordered hadn't come up yet, the two of them had already impatiently found seats and sat down in the hall.

"This Fengwei shrimp Boss made is too exquisite."

Liao Tong looked at the aesthetically pleasing Fengwei shrimp before him, holding chopsticks but not knowing where to start: "I want to taste this Fengwei shrimp's flavor, but feel that if I pick up a piece, this plate won't look good anymore."

As he spoke, he even fished his mobile phone out of his pocket and took a photo of the Fengwei shrimp before him.

Liao Tong never used to do this when eating before; the reason he did so today was because the plate of Fengwei shrimp Lu Feng made was simply too beautiful, like a work of art.

"Look at you, eating a meal and still dilly-dallying."

Zhang Xianyang at the side was drooling watching; seeing him not move his chopsticks for a long time, he said rudely: "If you're not going to eat, I'll help you eat the first bite."

"Scram scram scram, I bought this dish, the first bite must be me eating it."

Liao Tong blocked Zhang Xianyang's extended chopsticks with one hand, right hand picked up his chopsticks and directly clamped a shrimp from the plate.

Actually, there was another special reason why Liao Tong was willing to spend 588 on this plate of Fengwei shrimp at Lu Feng's shop today.

After graduating university and returning to his hometown, he dated a girlfriend locally; during their first date at a restaurant eating a table of specialty dishes, this Fengwei shrimp was among them.

However, this relationship of his didn't last too long before reaching its end; after a few months the two broke up due to incompatible personalities.

When they broke up, the last time they ate at a restaurant together, they still ate Fengwei shrimp.

It was precisely because of this that Liao Tong had a special sentiment toward this dish, Fengwei shrimp.