I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 556 - 271: A Traditional Local Dish That Gets Tough If Fried for More Than 18 Seconds — Fried Shrimp! [Subscribe Please]
Today, Lin Xu made sweet and sour pork ribs. He knew his own Shen Baobao would crave them, and even his sister-in-law might want some. So, when cooking, he directly used over a kilogram of small pork ribs.
According to the Northeastern way of serving food, this was merely a portion for one person.
But for the delicate Benbang cuisine typical of Shanghai, it was almost enough for four servings.
After all, it was a cold dish, not the main course; one or two pieces per person were enough to whet the appetite.
Lin Xu, holding a small plate with a few freshly cooked sweet and sour pork ribs, came to the door and handed it to Shen Baobao, who had spent the day idly "fishing"—slacking off.
"Here, try some," he said. "This is the traditional Shanghai method; it’s quite sweet."
Seeing the deep reddish-black ribs, Shen Baobao’s heart leaped with joy. The color reminded her of Black Sugar Shaqima, a dessert with a similar hue.
"How sweet exactly? As sweet as our love?" she asked.
She snuggled up to Lin Xu. Having not seen her Xu Bao all afternoon, she wanted to be close for a moment.
Lin Xu pinched the girl’s creamy cheeks. She’s quite the smooth-talker, isn’t she? But why does she always say such upsetting things in front of her parents?
"Take your time eating; I’ve prepared extra of all the dishes today, just to satisfy your cravings," he said.
"Thank you, Xu Bao! MWAH!"
Shen Baobao kissed Lin Xu and carried the small plate over to the booth to taste the ribs.
The sweet and sour pork ribs were still hot. They had a strong sour aroma, but the taste was excellent—a perfect balance of sweet and sour with a rich, meaty flavor.
The ribs weren’t fall-off-the-bone tender, offering a pleasant chewiness.
And the more she chewed, the stronger the appetizing sweet-and-sour flavor became.
Wow, delicious, delicious! I never expected Xu Bao’s sweet and sour pork ribs to be this good! I absolutely love this kind of sweet and sour dish.
Shen Jiayue ate two pieces in a row.
The more she ate, the tastier it seemed.
While eating, she remembered it had been several days since she’d shared food photos with her online friends. So, she picked up her phone, snapped a picture, and posted it to the Lin Ji’s Food topic:
"The happiest thing is when someone has sweet and sour pork ribs waiting for you right after work. This sweet and sour taste... it’s the taste of love!"
As soon as she posted it, replies from netizens started streaming in.
Fatty Who Refuses to Diet: Here we go again, another public display of affection.
Rat Loves Hide and Seek: Just tell us when they’ll be on the menu at the restaurant! We’ll definitely order some to taste how sweet the boss and boss lady’s love is.
Lin Daiyu Uproots Weeping Willow: @Everyone, I’m Weeping Willow, get it?
A Lupin Flower: I deeply sympathize with Brother Weeping Willow’s plight. If only someone would bully me like this every day!
Lazybones Who Can’t Tell Seasons Apart: You want to be bullied? Dude upstairs, you’re weird!
Warmhearted Little Popsicle: Hey, Lazybones upstairs, what about your "five bodies"? You’re weird too!
Invisible Chicken Wings: AHHH! I love these kinds of sweet and sour pork ribs! I’m begging you to add them to the menu! I’d spend all the hard-earned money from my voiceover work this past half-month just to try them!
Zeng XiaoqiV: Ten minutes ago, you said in the group chat that you were going to eat a weight-loss meal. So... are sweet and sour pork ribs for weight loss?
Seeing Zeng Xiaoqi’s message, Shen Baobao’s heart skipped a beat.
Oops! She’d forgotten this acquaintance from the group was the topic moderator! This was... this was... Oh no...
She quickly opened WeChat, tapped on Zeng Xiaoqi’s avatar, and sent a photo of Chen Yan, Dou Wenjing, and Zeng Xiaoqi herself holding and eating Fried Pork Chops. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
At this point, she could only drag her cousins into this. Anyway, her cousin would definitely be pestering her for sweet and sour pork ribs later. Selling her out felt completely justified. Not only did she feel no guilt, but it even seemed like the natural thing to do. They were supposed to have weight-loss meals for lunch, but it was those few who dragged me into it. So now, selling them out was also fair and reasonable.
「In the television station office」
Zeng Xiaoqi, who was just about to leave work, saw the photo and immediately...
"!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
We all agreed to get slim together, but you went off secretly eating meat! And it was a brazen group offense too! Utterly despicable!
She had been in quite high spirits today. The broadcast of "Tastes of Humanity" had led to a change in her position; she was now the program director. The former Reporter Zeng had become Director Zeng.
She had wanted to share her joy with her good sisters, but before she could, her blood pressure shot up instead.
What angered her even more was that Dou Wenjing was still in the group chat with Chen Yan and Wu Kexin, discussing weight-loss tips.
Hah! Some diet you’re on, "losing weight" with Fried Pork Chops, are you? I curse your cup sizes to shrink daily, your bellies to grow bigger daily, and your thighs to get fatter daily...
While she was still fuming, Shen Baobao sent another message:
"Come quickly, Sister Xiaoqi! I saved some sweet and sour pork ribs for you. There’s also melt-in-your-mouth Braised Pork Belly and Braised Saddle-Cut Fish simmering on the stove. Oh, and do you like Crucian Carp Tofu Soup? We have that too!"
Seeing this message, Zeng Xiaoqi was instantly tempted.
Time to leave work! I’m going to Lin Ji for a free meal!
And just like that, Shen Baobao, who had initially exposed herself, successfully redirected the trouble. She leisurely ate her sweet and sour pork ribs, occasionally replying to netizens’ comments, the picture of carefree enjoyment.
WAKAKA! Now let’s see how Sister Xiaoqi gets her revenge. If this were a Japanese manga, it would definitely have a huge title: Sister Xiaoqi’s Revenge!!!!!!!!
「In the kitchen」
Chezai walked over with a basket of green shrimp.
"Boss, these shrimp are too small. Master Zhu said they’re not suitable for White Robed Shrimp. How should we prepare them instead?"
Zhu Yong had just finished processing the larger shrimp for their meat; the basket was full of the smaller ones he had set aside.
The shells and remains from the processed shrimp would be used to make shrimp oil. But using these small whole green shrimp just for oil would be somewhat wasteful. If used well, they could make at least one dish.
