Chef at the University Canteen-Chapter 485 - 275: Seventh Dining Hall Is Our Class’s "Base

Lao Jiang, be a decent person!

"Alright, Fatty, hurry back to sleep. Don’t think just because you’re graduating you can relax. You still need to go to the library and study tomorrow!"

Jiang Yu raised his hand to pat Hu Zhihai on the shoulder and said earnestly,

"If you don’t get into graduate school this time, you’ll have no choice but to go back and take over your father’s job!" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

As he spoke, he shook his head helplessly, turned around with hands behind his back, and walked into the Seventh Dining Hall, leaving Hu Zhihai standing alone in the wind, feeling lost.

...

A while later, the thesis defenses of the 2015 graduates of Jiangzhou University were all completed.

After finishing the thesis defenses, graduates who had hurried back to school from various places completed all sorts of graduation formalities and once again gradually left the campus, starting their journeys for unknown futures.

Unlike before, this time leaving school felt like fledglings leaving the nest, perhaps never to return again, carrying a bit of the sadness of farewells.

However, the graduates leaving once more brought a sigh of relief to Lu Shuwu, Ma Guoqiang, and others.

During the past few weeks, the return of graduates for thesis defenses had sharply increased the number of diners at the Seventh Dining Hall, adding a lot of workload for the chefs in the first-floor kitchen, who had to start preparing meals early in the morning and work until late at night.

Had it not been known that this extra group of diners was temporary, only present until the end of the thesis defenses, Lu Shuwu and others might have considered hiring more chefs to help.

With the graduates gone now, everyone suddenly felt like a heavy burden had been lifted off their shoulders, feeling much lighter.

Of course, whether it was Lu Shuwu, Ma Guoqiang, or Jiang Yu, everyone knew clearly that it wouldn’t be long before it was September again and with the new students arriving, the Seventh Dining Hall would be crowded once more, and the chefs in the first-floor dining hall obviously wouldn’t be enough.

So, before September arrives, they still need to strengthen the chef team in the first-floor kitchen; otherwise, they would be running around frantically again.

Perhaps because the thesis defense went smoothly, Jiang Yu was in a great mood these days, often taking breaks to go down to the first-floor kitchen and make some unique snacks not often available to the students.

For example, right now, Jiang Yu was in the first-floor kitchen, holding a large skimmer spoon in one hand and pouring the freshly cooked rice paste into it with the other, draining it into a prepared basin of cold boiled water.

The hot rice paste, once it seeps into the cold water, cools down and forms shapes like small fish, somewhat resembling the special oat noodles of Jin Province.

This rice paste fish is a very common delicacy in Jing Chu Yiling, called ’cool shrimp’.

Because it’s made from rice paste, cool shrimp has a smooth, refreshing, and icy texture, making it a great dish for summer.

However, cool shrimp comes in two flavors: one is a dessert, with iced brown sugar water added to the cool shrimp, giving it a refreshing sweetness.

The other is the Sichuan recipe—spicy and sour cool shrimp, known for its delightful taste, spicy and sour, refreshing and appetizing, perfect for summer.

Neither flavor of cool shrimp is considered superior; some people like dessert, while others prefer salty foods.

Thus, Jiang Yu didn’t bother to choose between them, making half of each flavor, and letting everyone pick whichever they liked.

The method of making cool shrimp isn’t complicated; in just a short time, Jiang Yu had made a whole big bucket of cool shrimp.

He divided the finished cool shrimp into two portions, adding iced brown sugar mint water to one and pre-mixed spicy and sour sauce to the other.

And just like that, the two flavors of cool shrimp were ready.