"So that’s how a ’fishing net’ is sliced out!"
Jiang Yu looked at the carrot "fishing net" spread out in front of him, and his eyes couldn’t help but light up.
The lines of this "fishing net" were uniform in thickness, each strand crossing straightly, with the "fishing net" grid forming a diamond shape, evenly textured, looking just like a real fishing net.
The effect of this culinary "masterpiece" was indeed quite astonishing, but creating it wasn’t complicated. As Jia Dequan had said before, once you mastered the technique, even an ordinary person could easily slice out a "fishing net."
Of course, the process of slicing the carrot with a knife is somewhat dangerous. If you’re not skilled with the knife, once you don’t manage your strength well, you might end up cutting your own hand.
"Do you want to try?"
Seeing Jiang Yu’s somewhat surprised expression, Jia Dequan couldn’t help but laugh. He placed the kitchen knife on the chopping board, wiped his hands with a towel, and said with a smile,
"You said earlier that you’ve already seen how I slice it, so let me see if you can slice out a ’fishing net.’"
Jiang Yu thought for a moment, didn’t refuse, and nodded in agreement: "Sure, let me give it a try."
Saying that, he took a carrot from the fridge, washed it clean, and started slicing with the kitchen knife.
From the beginning, Jiang Yu had already figured out the order in which Jia Dequan sliced the carrot, so he didn’t find this step difficult. As he had previously indicated, just follow the order of "A-C-B-D" to make the cuts.
Of course, since it was the first time he was cutting in a rolling motion, and he needed to control the cutting depth to keep it consistent, Jiang Yu naturally wasn’t as fast as Jia Dequan.
Even so, it only took him less than a minute to finish slicing the entire carrot.
This made Jia Dequan, who had been observing from the side, show a look of surprise, with his grey-white eyebrows unconsciously twitching a few times. He was probably as surprised as he didn’t expect Jiang Yu to be so fast.
The more it was like this, the more curious he became. Was Jiang Yu truly clear about his cutting technique, or did he think it was merely a regular rolling cut?
While Jia Dequan was pondering over this, Jiang Yu, standing at the chopping board, had already started the next process—slicing the carrot.
With the experience from making Li Village White Meat before, Jiang Yu had mostly mastered the flat slicing technique. Compared to the soft and somewhat slippery pork, slicing the crisp and tender carrot into long slices was much harder.
Although carrots are easier to cut into, they don’t have the toughness of pork. If you’re not careful, it’s easy to slice through, so you have to be extremely cautious at this step; otherwise, it’s all for naught.
When Jiang Yu was slicing the carrot, his movements were much slower; he rolled the carrot on the chopping board with one hand and slowly sliced with the kitchen knife in the other. After a while, he finally finished slicing the whole carrot.
Then, imitating Jia Dequan’s earlier actions, he sprinkled some salt on the carrot slices, rolled them back up and gave them a gentle squeeze. After the carrot softened a bit, Jiang Yu spread it out again, and with both hands, gently pulled it apart—
An orange-red, finely gridded "fishing net" appeared right in front of him.
"Not bad at all."
Though Jia Dequan had anticipated this, Jiang Yu, having only seen the demonstration once, might actually be able to replicate it.
But when he indeed saw Jiang Yu slice out the carrot "fishing net," Jia Dequan couldn’t suppress his surprise, even his eye corners started to twitch.
This kid, really something else!
He had sliced so fast before, and the cutting sequence was complex, yet this guy could grasp the essence and emulate it so well!
Anyone else, apart from cutting their knife blunt, wouldn’t have been able to slice out such a neat "fishing net" without guidance on how to cut.
No wonder this kid’s cooking tastes so good at such a young age—what a genius!
Suppressing the urge to complain, Jia Dequan reached out and pulled Jiang Yu’s carrot "fishing net," studied it closely, and suddenly, with a light in his eyes, he put on a serious face and said,
"Xiaojiang, although your ’fishing net’ cut isn’t bad, your depth control isn’t quite there yet. Look, the ’net lines’ vary in thickness.
But, you did quite well for your first try, just a tad below how I was back then.
No worries, don’t be disheartened, just practice more."
"Oh, okay, I’ll practice whenever I have time."
Having been around Jia Dequan long enough, Jiang Yu knew what’s on his mind. This old fellow just felt embarrassed seeing him cut a "fishing net" on his first try.
He didn’t mind, just smiled at Jia Dequan, and said,
"Lao Jia, thanks so much this time. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t know where to learn this culinary ’stunt.’
"No need for thanks, next time you have some time, just make a couple of good dishes for me to try."
As Jia Dequan said this, he recalled the Li Village White Meat and Steamed Lion’s Head from yesterday, the taste of which was truly unforgettable.