Cooking System: Street Food Rules
Chapter 81: Campus Interview, The Unforgettable Dongpo Pork!

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Campus Interview, The Unforgettable Dongpo Pork!

A few new students got their meals and found a table to sit down at.

The hot dishes on their plates looked incredibly appetizing. The fish-flavored shredded pork glistened with oil. The Sweet and Sour Pork Fillet was crystal clear and tender.

But the pièce de résistance was the Dongpo Meat.

A perfectly square piece of Dongpo Meat was uniformly a deep, soy-sauce red. This redness wasn’t achieved by caramelizing sugar for color; it came from the cooking process of the meat itself. Most meats with a rich, rosy color involve a step of caramelizing sugar, but Dongpo Meat required none of it. The meat was also coated in juices. It had several layers. The top layer was translucent pork skin, followed by a layer of soft, sticky fatty meat that had absorbed the broth, and below that, a layer of firm lean meat. This piece of Dongpo Meat had been braised until it was extremely soft and tender. If you poked it with chopsticks, you could easily separate the pork skin and the soft, sticky fat.

A freshman picked up a piece of Dongpo Meat and bit off about a third. The pork skin and meat entered his mouth, soft and tender. The exquisite sauce burst from the meat, spreading throughout his mouth. As he chewed, he could feel the springiness of the pork skin, the melt-in-your-mouth quality of the fat, and the tenderness of the lean meat.

"My goodness!"

The freshman was instantly captivated by the Dongpo Meat.

Jiang Feng sold his Dongpo Meat for six yuan a piece. Although it cost six yuan, it was absolutely worth more.

The sublime taste had the freshmen all excited.

"This is so delicious! It’s much better than the food in Canteen One!" he exclaimed.

He looked at the Dongpo Meat in his bowl, reluctant to finish it, but unable to resist, he took another bite. The flavor was heavenly, each mouthful just as delightful as the last.

The other new students were also feasting to their hearts’ content. They were already hungry from military training and ate heartily. Moreover, the dishes made by Jiang Feng were especially good with rice. They mixed the rice with the dishes and shoveled it directly into their mouths. The rice in their mouths, mixed with the savory meat, made eating incredibly satisfying.

The more they ate, the faster they became, eating as if famished. Some lowered their heads, their mouths close to their plates, shoveling food in with their chopsticks. Others lifted their plates, eating eagerly.

Once, there was a story.

The emperor asked the Imperial Chef, "What is the most delicious thing in the world?"

The Imperial Chef replied, "The most delicious thing in this world is ’hunger.’"

"As long as you’re hungry enough, any delicacy seems like the tastiest."

The state of the new students was exactly that: hungry. And they had encountered such delicious meals. Like coming upon a bucket of water when parched and tongue-tied in the desert, their movements naturally sped up.

The hustle and bustle of Canteen Two continued. The Dongpo Meat made by Jiang Feng won praise from every student who tried it.

"Today’s specialty dish is so delicious! How did you make this Dongpo Meat!"

"He truly lives up to his reputation as Executive Chef! Awesome!"

"I must say, he is really impressive!"

"I wish I could eat this every day!"

"I regret only buying one piece; I should have bought five."

The students were full of wonder and praise. Compliments were heard left and right.

Today’s Dongpo Meat made everyone very happy.

Jiang Feng then prepared a few more dishes in the back kitchen. The line of students and teachers waiting outside grew longer and longer. Since his second day at the University of Science and Technology, this kind of excitement seemed to be intensifying.

Around one-thirty in the afternoon, as the bustle was winding down, Jiang Feng finished processing the last order. He took off his chef’s coat, washed his hands thoroughly, and prepared to leave the back kitchen.

At that moment, four students stood up from outside the stall area and called out to him, "Executive Chef Jiang, Executive Chef Jiang!"

Hearing the shouts, Jiang Feng immediately stopped. He looked towards the four—two young men and two young women, all looking youthful and vibrant. One of the young women was very pretty, and Jiang Feng had an impression of her.

"What’s up?" Jiang Feng replied with a smile.

One of the young men introduced himself, "Executive Chef Jiang, we’re from the campus television station. Our TV station is an excellent club, covering campus news, broadcasting, hosting, directing, and camerawork. You’ve received a lot of attention at our school recently. We would like to do an exclusive interview with you. Would that be okay?"

The student spoke with utmost politeness, giving a very good impression. The university had a great atmosphere, probably the most relaxed environment at any stage of a person’s growth.

A campus television station? Jiang Feng was somewhat interested. He found that setting up his stall in different places allowed him to observe the lives of different people. People were so diverse. For example, when he set up in the mountains, he saw monks in temples and Taoists in Taoist Temples. Setting up in a shopping mall, he saw the daily lives of government law enforcement personnel. Setting up in a school, he could feel the enthusiasm and vibrant energy of university students.

"I have no issue with it at all. What is this interview for?" Jiang Feng asked.

"Actually, it’s quite simple. We’ll just ask a few questions, and you answer them," the young man explained. "Then we’ll edit our conversation into a program that will be broadcast over the school’s radio. We have a fixed day every week to broadcast the campus radio. The broadcast must feature what everyone loves to hear, and right now, what everyone is most interested in is the new stall that just opened in Canteen Two. So we want to do a special interview with you."

"No problem," Jiang Feng agreed with a smile. This really wasn’t much trouble, and it was nice to help others.

"Great! I’m Xun Fei, president of the campus television station," the young man said. "This is Ji Mingming, the host at the campus television station. And this is our photographer Qian Jia, and our planner Sun Yu."

Xun Fei introduced them to Jiang Feng.

"Nice to meet you all," Jiang Feng greeted them politely.

Jiang Feng was quite the figure around the school now; everyone knew his food was delicious. But people weren’t clear on what kind of person he really was. It was only after chatting with him that they realized Jiang Feng had a gentle personality and was a genuinely nice guy. These students held Jiang Feng in high regard.

Then, they started to discuss the topics for the interview. The questions were written down, and Jiang Feng quickly glanced over them.

The questions included: Why do you change your stall location weekly? What has your experience been running a stall at the University of Science and Technology? What is the most unforgettable thing about the university for you? Will you be leaving the University of Science and Technology next week?

Jiang Feng responded to these questions gracefully. It was mostly just praise for the school being excellent, the teachers and students being enthusiastic, and how the place had left a very good impression on him.

Jiang Feng was quite articulate; after all, he had graduated from a prestigious university, and handling such scenes was a breeze for him.

The interview was conducted by Ji Mingming, and Jiang Feng handled the whole process with ease. The students from the campus television station noticed that Jiang Feng wasn’t the least bit nervous during the interview; instead, he exuded a unique sense of relaxation. They had interviewed many people before, and usually, as soon as the recorder was switched on, the interviewees tended to get nervous, sometimes requiring several takes to get it right. But Jiang Feng was completely relaxed, and what he said was also very good. He didn’t come across as a chef but more like a junior leader.

This was understandable. Jiang Feng had been tempered by real-world experiences and wasn’t nervous about university matters at all. University was, after all, a place to learn through trial and error.

After the interview, the students expressed their gratitude to him.

As she was about to leave, Ji Mingming confirmed with him, "Executive Chef Jiang, are you really not going to be operating at the school in a couple of days? Everyone will really miss you."

Hearing this, Jiang Feng responded with a smile, "I answered this just now. I want to experience running stalls in different places. The University of Science and Technology is really good. But I also want to experience other places. So, I’ll probably leave."

He hadn’t expected that merely by opening a stall in the canteen, he would be interviewed by students from the campus television station. Quite interesting, really.

The news that Jiang Feng was being interviewed by the campus television station had somehow leaked. Before long, many students gathered, looking for him.

By the time Jiang Feng finished the recording and stepped out of the television station, more than a dozen people were already waiting for him.

"Executive Chef Jiang, will you be selling Dongpo Meat tomorrow? I didn’t get to try it today."

"Make some more Dongpo Meat!"

"Your meat dishes are simply too delicious!"

"Why don’t you open in the evening? I’d like to have it for dinner."

Everyone was very enthusiastic. He hadn’t expected these students to be urging him to work overtime. Was working overtime supposed to be easy?

For contemporary, delicate university students, a tasty stall was like a lifesaver. They looked forward to that bit of delicious food all day to brighten their spirits.

Jiang Feng said with a smile, "I’ll work overtime the day after tomorrow. I’ll open the stall in the afternoon and sell only Dongpo Meat. Then everyone will get to eat."

Hearing this, the students finally broke into smiles. The reason they had gathered was mainly because those who had eaten the Dongpo Meat that day were gushing about its deliciousness. They spoke with such passion that it inevitably attracted others. Who could resist that? Hearing that they could get some the day after tomorrow, they also breathed a sigh of relief.

「Afterward, Jiang Feng got into his car and drove home.」

The rest of the time was completely his to enjoy at leisure. He wanted to play a game, but seeing Little Black’s eager face, he decided to take it for a walk first. The little guy ran around happily and even made friends with a few other dogs in the neighborhood. Those dogs were all pedigreed. Their owners never looked down on Little Black for being a mixed breed; in fact, they adored Little Black, saying it was really cute. The residents of the neighborhood were pleasant to get along with.

After walking the dog, Jiang Feng returned to his room to play on his computer and catch some Pals.

His daily life was very relaxed.

This was how life should be.