Chapter 925: Chapter 391: Burning the Midnight Oil, Savoring the Most Flavorful Spicy Late-Night Snacks!

As soon as Shen Baobao went in, she happily pushed a small shopping cart and followed next to Lin Xu.

"Would you like some cola?"

"Yes!"

"How about chips?"

"Yes!"

"Crackers?"

"Yes!"

"..."

Soon, the shopping cart was filled with snacks and drinks.

As they walked, they arrived at the groceries section. Lin Xu was about to turn back but suddenly saw something stacked on a counter not far away. It was food that looked like kraft paper, each piece vacuum-packed.

"Leather bean curd? Xu Bao, what is leather bean curd?"

"It’s... it’s bean curd as tough as leather... I didn’t expect the supermarket to have such ingredients. Let’s not buy these chips and crackers. I’ll make something tastier for you."

Shen Baobao was originally pouting with displeasure, but upon hearing about tastier options, she happily returned the snacks she had picked back to their original places.

When she returned, Lin Xu had already selected the bean curd he needed.

This bean curd is quite firm, relatively thin, and its color, like tea water, resembles leather, hence it’s called leather bean curd.

Leather bean curd is chewier and more robust in texture compared to regular bean curd.

The greatest function of this food is that it can be made into a famous Zigong snack—Cold Eating Bean Curd.

The pile of puffed food Shen Baobao just got doesn’t compare to proper cuisine.

After all, both make you fat, but nothing is as satisfying as eating these fragrant and spicy bean curds.

After picking out the bean curd, the couple headed to the fresh produce section, picking some bananas, mangoes, mangosteens, pineapples, and so on.

On the way out, they passed by the seafood area. Lin Xu hadn’t intended to buy anything.

However, seeing the nice silverfish, and having been thinking about getting Dundun something to eat, he bought some.

Back at home, as soon as the door opened, Dundun leapt up from the small sofa and ran quickly to the door, his look of expectation making Lin Xu very glad.

Luckily, he bought some silverfish.

Otherwise, he’d really have a hard time facing that gaze from the kid.

"Baby, see what I got for you? Silverfish, picked one-by-one by mommy, quite laborious."

Upon hearing, Dundun immediately rubbed his head against mommy’s pants.

"You’re fooling the kid... eat some fruit and watch TV first. I’ll put these fish in the oven to make fish jerky. Adults have midnight snacks; kids also need a bit of nutrition."

"Yeah, cats don’t get fat without nighttime meat; horses don’t fatten without nighttime grass."

Lin Xu wrapped his arms around the girl’s slender waist and kissed her face:

"Why do you have so many crooked theories?"

"Because I’m your wife for life!"

Shen Baobao held onto Lin Xu, gave him several kisses like a victorious general before letting go of Lin Xu’s clothes.

Dundun looked at them in confusion, then lifted a paw to tap twice on the plastic bag filled with silverfish.

Come on, what’s the hold-up here?

This cat hasn’t eaten much in over an hour, the belly is flat with hunger!

Lin Xu changed into slippers, took off his coat, and carried the silverfish to the kitchen, firstly turning on the oven to preheat, then washing the silverfish a bit, patting each on the head to prevent them from jumping around in the oven.

After finishing these, he placed the grill on the baking tray, arranged the silverfish one by one, shoved them into the oven, and closed the lid - next would be a long baking period.

With the food for the kitty arranged, it’s time to prepare food for the people.

He took out the bean curds wrapped in plastic, sniffed to make sure they had no off taste, and arranged them neatly on the cutting board.

First, cut them into strips three to four centimeters wide, then cut those strips into diamond-shaped pieces.

Cut them all and place them in a bowl for use.

Next, begin preparing the ingredients needed to make Cold Eating Bean Curd.

Sichuan peppercorns should be washed with warm water and put in a basket, then dried chili should be cut into small sections with scissors, soaked in warm water for ten minutes to soften.

This prevents the chili from getting scorched, while also helping it release more capsaicin, making the oil redder and tastier.

Then cut some ginger into thin slices, crush some garlic. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Take some knife-edge chilies from the fridge, roast some Sichuan peppercorns and cumin and grind them into powder.

With this, the prep work is basically done.

The Cold Eating technique originates from Zigong, the birthplace of Salt Gang Cuisine, with famous dishes like Cold Eating Rabbit, Boiled Beef, Light Shadow Beef Strips, all representatives of Zigong Salt Gang Cuisine.

Cold Eating is essentially preparing the dishes, then eating them cold as a way of serving food.

Almost all dishes, in the process of cooling, have their aroma drawn into the ingredients, Cold Eating uses this principle to make dishes more flavorful and have better texture.

Once all ingredients are ready, Lin Xu heats water in a pan. While the water boils, he adds a spoon of salt to the pan, then places the sliced bean curd in to blanch.

This step effectively removes any raw taste from the bean curd while washing off surface impurities.

The blanching time shouldn’t be too long, or the bean curd will become soft, losing its chewy texture.

After about two servings’ worth of time, he takes out the bean curd and sets it aside to drain.

Pour out the water from the pan, clean it, and heat it again, adding three large spoons of seasoning oil.

For Cold Eating series, the oil must be plentiful—not necessarily to immerse the ingredients completely, but enough to drip oil when held up; only then do these dishes taste good.

Once the oil is hot, pour in the Sichuan peppercorns and dried chili that were washed in warm water.

Fry them first to bring out their aroma, which forms the natural flavor of Cold Eating series; it needs to smell nice to taste good.

After the aroma comes out, add the ginger slices and garlic, then pour in the blanched bean curd, using the hot oil from the Sichuan peppercorns and chilies to fry, getting as much water out of the bean curd as possible.