Gan Lan looked at the barrage of comments begging for the banquet’s address so they could camp out and scavenge for leftovers. Her feelings were a bit complicated. She didn’t know whether she felt more amused and helpless, or more heartbroken for them.
Four shrimp dishes had already been completed. Gan Lan had already decided that the fifth dish would be dry-pot shrimp. The amount of shrimp she had scavenged yesterday far exceeded her expectations. Even though she was making an entire shrimp feast today, she had only used a small fraction of her stash.
For this, she had to thank one of the greatest inventions of this era: the temperature-controlled boxes. Otherwise, these shrimp might have genuinely gone to waste. Even if she had frozen them, the texture of frozen cooked shrimp would probably not be as tasty.
First, she started simmering the bone broth, intending to use it later as the soup base for the dry-pot shrimp. Making hotpot base from scratch took too much time, so she decided to substitute it with the bone broth mixed with her secret chili sauce.
Gan Lan butterflied the raw sashimi shrimp. The robot assistants had already been assigned to wash vegetables, chop ingredients, and peel shrimp. She was severely short-handed.
"Gulu, come help!" Gan Lan shouted at Gulu, who was squatting to the side, sucking on shrimp. "If you don’t help, you won’t get any of the upcoming dishes!"
She really didn’t understand how a robot with no stomach to digest food could insist on eating several plates of shrimp. It was such a waste.
"I never said I wouldn’t help," Gulu said, finishing his last bite of braised shrimp and spitting out an intact shrimp shell. Looking like he hadn’t had enough, he stared at his sauce-covered hands, hesitated for a second, then opened his mouth and licked his fingers clean one by one.
The knife in Gan Lan’s hand trembled, and she nearly lost her grip. Since when was Gulu such a glutton? This had never happened before. Not only was he gluttonous, he was being gross.
"Before you come over to help, please wash your hands with detergent ten times! And after washing, put on a pair of gloves!" Gan Lan paused and immediately corrected herself. "No, put on two pairs!"
Gulu was speechless. Was that really necessary? He had clearly licked his hands spotlessly clean. He complained silently but still obediently went to wash his hands. It was just washing up and putting on gloves—he would humor her, considering she had made so much delicious food today.
Otherwise, what would he do if she actually refused to feed him later? Although he could just snatch the food, one should still be civilized. Fighting and killing wasn’t good.
Gulu shot Gan Lan a doting look and slowly ambled off to wash his hands.
Catching that look, Gan Lan shivered from head to toe. Gulu was being incredibly strange and disgusting today!
She first poured an appropriate amount of cooking wine over a portion of the butterflied sashimi shrimp to marinate them. Then, she had Gulu—who had washed his hands and donned two pairs of gloves—take over butterflying the rest.
Her marinated hot and sour shrimp was ready, and she wanted to taste-test it now. Taking a large basin of lemon hot and sour shrimp out of the refrigerator, she scooped out a small portion.
"Let me test the flavor for you first. I think I might have added too much salt just now," Gan Lan said, offering a high-sounding excuse for her own cravings.
She picked up a piece of shrimp. The moment it entered her mouth, she was instantly captivated by the sauce, which was tart, spicy, and infused with the unique fragrance and zesty kick of lemon. Biting into the shrimp, she found it springy, sweet, and perfectly fresh. The meat had soaked up the hot and sour juice, making for an absolutely stunning texture!
Gan Lan ate piece after piece, completely unable to stop. It was spicy, sour, and incredibly appetizing.
"Gan Lan, how can you hog it all to yourself? Let me have a taste too—just one piece, I swear! I’ll get right back to work after one piece! I can even speed up my chopping!" Saying this, Gulu held up a single finger and winked his right eye at her.
Gan Lan glanced at the eyesore that was Gulu. Her heart didn’t even ripple; in fact, she had already grown immune to his antics.
She picked up another hot and sour shrimp and popped it into her mouth, her tone completely flat. "Just focus on your work. I saved a huge bowl for you."
Gulu pouted and muttered under his breath, "Stingy. You’re so stingy. You clearly made so much, yet you can’t even bear to spare one tiny piece for me."
[Love Ugly Shellfish, Love Kale: I announce that my favorite shrimp dish has officially appeared! It’s this lemon hot and sour shrimp. How can it be this delicious? I don’t understand it at all. It’s just boiled, tossed in sauce, drizzled with hot oil, and marinated for a bit, yet it tastes so good! It’s cold, sour, and spicy. If you paired this with an ice-cold beer right now... my god, it would be absolutely divine!]
[BBQ Pork Bun Cutie: Cold and springy, sour, spicy, and appetizing. Even the unique fragrance of the lemon has melted right into the shrimp meat! This is wonderful! I want to learn this too. I want to learn how to make this dish. It’s the very first time I’ve ever felt the urge to learn a recipe! The other ones are too hard, so I just wait to eat, but this hot and sour shrimp looks really easy.]
[I’m Here to Learn: It looks simple enough. When the streamer started making it, I boiled some shrimp and followed along. But even though it’s clearly so simple, the flavor of mine is miles away from the streamer’s. It’s not simple at all! The ratios for the seasonings are way too hard to balance. It’s either too salty, too bland, too sour, or too spicy. T^T]
...
Gan Lan drained the moisture from the butterflied sashimi shrimp, poured in an appropriate amount of starch, and mixed it evenly, ensuring every single shrimp was thoroughly coated.
She added an appropriate amount of oil into the wok. Once the oil reached medium-high heat, she tossed in the starch-coated shrimp. She deep-fried them until they changed color and turned crispy, then scooped them out to drain the excess oil. Next, she took the cleanly washed and sliced lotus roots, potatoes, and cucumbers, deep-fried them in the hot oil for about thirty seconds, and scooped them out to drain and set aside.
Leaving a little base oil in the wok, she tossed in slices of ginger, dried chili segments, Sichuan peppercorns, and garlic, stir-frying them until fragrant. She then poured in an appropriate amount of her secret chili sauce and the bone broth, stirring until the red chili oil surfaced.
Gan Lan looked at the vibrant red oil and nodded in satisfaction. The chili sauce she made this time was pretty good.
She added some chopped onions, blanched cauliflower, and bird’s eye chilies, stir-frying the mixture before tossing in the fried shrimp to absorb the flavors. Finally, she added the fried lotus root, potatoes, and cucumber slices, stir-frying everything together.
Seasoning with the right amounts of salt, sugar, and chicken bouillon, she gave it a final, even toss. Just before taking it out of the wok, she sprinkled on some cumin powder, garnished it with celery segments, and plated the dish.
With abundant side ingredients, a rich aroma, and a bright red luster, the dry-pot shrimp was complete.
Wave after wave of the spicy, savory aroma from the dry-pot shrimp permeated the entire kitchen and drifted out into the dining hall. The crowd of onlookers in the usually bustling dining hall couldn’t help but gulp down their saliva, their eyes glued tightly to those massive plates of dry-pot shrimp.
Among them, a bald Culinary Master finally couldn’t hold back anymore. He walked hesitantly toward the kitchen door, his face slightly flushed with embarrassment, but his gaze soon turned resolute as he poked his head through the doorway.
Seeing Gan Lan turn to look at him, he spoke nervously. "Um, Ms. Gan Lan, if I come help you out, could you spare a few pieces of shrimp for me? I don’t want much—just three whole shrimp. No! Three pieces is fine!"
Gan Lan looked at the middle-aged man. He had a bald head and rather dark skin. She had seen him before; he was one of the Culinary Masters on the spaceship.
Hearing his words, Gan Lan chuckled. "Sure! If you help me until the end, I’ll give you a small bowl of every dish I make. How does that sound? It’s not that I’m being stingy, but since I’m the only one cooking, the portions are a bit small. You can also secretly learn my recipes on the side—I don’t mind. I’ll even share a small portion of the large shrimp I scavenged with you. How about that?"
Gan Lan had been wondering when these Culinary Masters would finally lose their patience. This was already the fifth shrimp dish. Was there really no one who wanted to get closer and steal some culinary secrets?