gourmet food

Chapter 674: Making up for years of regrets
Master Lin did not answer Chu Yunfeng immediately, but was stunned for a moment and then began to think deeply.

Seeing this posture, Chu Yunfeng's heart skipped a beat. From this point of view, Master Lin probably didn't know that it would indeed be a big loss if this exquisite art was really lost.

Although kimchi is inconspicuous, it is not that simple to make it well.

But once this thing is done, it will be a craft that can be passed down, which is no exaggeration at all.

"It seems that you pay more attention to the details than me. I didn't even think of going here, but this craft seems to have been lost."

Master Lin also said it with great regret. After finishing speaking, he shook his head and sighed.

Chu Yunfeng was a little disappointed when he heard the news. If he could learn the art of pickling, it would be of great help to him.

The side dishes made from this kimchi can not only be used as appetizers before meals, but can also be used to make many different platters, which can enrich your own banquet menu.

Unexpectedly, what made Chu Yunfeng depressed was that Master Lin suddenly changed the subject and said with a mysterious smile: "Although I don't know, I know there is someone who will definitely know."

your sister? !

I know you didn't tell me earlier, are you here to whet your appetite?

Chu Yunfeng knew that he had been "pranked" by Master Lin, and quickly asked: "Who is it? Where is he?"

Joking aside, Master Lin said directly: "My junior brother should know. When he comes tomorrow, I will ask him and see if I can find some clues."

"Your brother?"

Chu Yunfeng did not hide his love and pursuit of the craft of pickles at all, and the look of fascination and cheer on his face was staggering.

"Okay, okay, don't get excited. Listen to Master Lin talk about the rest of the story. It will be over soon. Can you be more serious?"

Mu Qing wanted to continue hearing the story behind her aunt's feast, but she was always interrupted by Chu Yunfeng, who nudged him to be more serious.

"Haha~! Got it, Master Lin, please continue talking."

Chu Yunfeng muttered in his heart, you really don’t understand my world.

Do you think the making of kimchi is so simple?

Even some master chefs often make mistakes when making pickles. The pickle jars are either smelly or "flowery".

Either the pickles are too sour, the kimchi is not crispy, and the flavor is not strong.
Really delicious kimchi can be derived from many things.

Pickle chicken legs?

Soak bamboo shoots?
These are ready-to-eat casual dishes.

There are plenty of other pickles that can be used in some classic dishes.

Like pickled radish and old duck soup (soaked radish)?

Fish-flavored shredded pork (soaked in chili)?
Rotten beef (soaked cowpea)?
Pickled pepper chicken offal (Kimchi collection)?

As Chu Yunfeng thought about it, the corners of his mouth could not help but curl up in a smile. It looked like he thought he was happy after listening to Master Lin's explanation.

“Many of the dishes at Gugu Feast are indeed home-cooked. Some home-cooked dishes are made into different flavors, which is why it is so popular.

For example, spicy beef tendon (the predecessor of husband and wife lung), hot and sour squid, green tube fish (fish simmered in a bamboo tube on a low fire), jar meat, watercress crucian carp, kimchi yellow spicy diced and so on.

Huang Jinglin is particularly good at using mustard seeds, using low-end ingredients for fine processing, and surprising your taste buds in an inconspicuous place.

Of course, there is no need to talk about the jar meat. I will make this dish again tomorrow, and then you will know how exquisite it is.

In fact, what I want to talk about the most is the herring dish. This dish has become famous now and will never be seen again.

Although the preparation of this dish is not complicated, no one dares to make it now, and no one is willing to make it. It has to be said to be a pity.

This is a dish based on the Dai bamboo tube cooking method. Take a new and tender Nanzhu section, leaving the bottom of the section on one side, and put the fresh fish and seasonings that are clean and well-cooked into the tube.

Then add fresh soup, seal the mouth of the tube, and then roast it for several hours on a charcoal fire. The fragrance of fresh bamboo is completely integrated into the fresh fish and fresh soup. The fish is tender, fragrant, and full of natural flavor.

No one is doing it in restaurants now. I think it takes hours to cook just one fish. Our increasingly impetuous minds can no longer get enough of this meticulous work.

In sharp contrast to the high prices, the ingredients used in Gugu Yan's dishes are not very expensive. Except for a few big dishes, the ingredients of other dishes are very ordinary, and most of the cooking methods are homemade.

Huang Jinglin once said that he is opposed to all rigid and formal banquets, and he accepts formal banquets such as bird's nest and shark fin because he has no choice but to do business.

The banquet dishes are very unique and are mainly divided into several aspects:
Cold cuts!

Big dish!

meals!

snack!

Dessert!

Cold cuts are all common ingredients, such as kimchi side dishes, spinal cord, chicken, green beans, etc.

What is particularly distinctive is the soft-fried finger ring, which is actually similar to the nine-turn large intestine of Shandong cuisine.

It's just that one is fried and crispy, and the other is fried and then braised. Although the styles of the two are a little different, the taste is unique.

The main dish is the essence of my aunt's banquet table. The roasted tendons are cooked until they are as soft as soup, with a bit of flexibility in the lingering texture and not sticky to the teeth.

The braised meatballs and sea cucumbers are a bit like the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, but with the Huang family’s techniques, they become more oily and mellow.

Lettuce in milk soup is cut into long strips and cooked in milk soup. After cooking, the lettuce is still green and bright, and the soup is very delicious.

The spicy and sour squid is also very photogenic. The squid slices are processed into the shape of coral, and old sauerkraut is cut into thin strips and cooked to look like seaweed.

A few dishes that have to be mentioned in the main dishes are the four dishes of "Zhangcha duck" (camphor tea duck), braised beef head square, blue tube fish, and liver paste soup. "

As soon as Master Lin finished speaking, Chu Yunfeng immediately asked: "This liver paste soup is bamboo fungus liver paste soup, isn't it also the later "Pushing the Window and Watching the Moon"?"

This dish is extraordinary, and until now Chu Yunfeng still doesn't know who invented this dish.

"Yes, this is this dish. Now some people say that this dish was invented by Luo Guorong, but it can no longer be verified.

Because not only Rong Leyuan can make this dish, but Huang Jinglin can also make it.

When Luo Guorong was learning to cook, he studied under Wang Haiquan and Huang Shaoqing respectively, both of whom were masters of Sichuan cuisine. In 1933, he was introduced to Guguyan to work as a further student.

He has pioneered the fusion of the two major Sichuan cuisine schools, integrating the boldness and red and white essence of Wang Haiquan's series with the gentleness and skill of Huang Jinglin's series.

And during the National Day in 1959, he was praised as a "handsome talent" by Premier Zhou Enlai for hosting the state banquet celebrating the [-]th anniversary of New China.

There are many legends about him, but these are not the focus of today. Although it is impossible to verify who invented this dish, it does not affect the name and status of this dish at all.

It's a pity that it has been lost for a long time now and no one knows how to do it. "

Master Lin saw that Chu Yunfeng was hesitant to speak, so he continued: "I know what you want to ask. In fact, these high-end dishes will be discussed and learned from each other among these masters.

At that time, it happened to be the stage when a hundred flowers of Sichuan cuisine were blooming, and these few people were the cornerstones of the development of Sichuan cuisine.

Only mutual confirmation and discussion can inspire inspiration and create more and more refined dishes.

Moreover, although you don’t mention the dishes that are generally created, as long as the masters take a look at them, they can basically understand them at a minimum.

If you really want to crack it, it's not difficult.

So you should have discovered that Rongyuan and Guguyan have some high-end dishes, and both of them will cook some of the same dishes.

These are the results of private communications. "

Master Lin's words left Chu Yunfeng speechless. Just now, he had wanted to tell him that Mr. Li could actually cook this dish.

But I didn't expect to be misunderstood by Master Lin. Well, since I misunderstood it, I hope he will not complain after I learn this dish.
Master Lin didn’t know that he had just missed the enchanted scene of “looking at the moon through the window”, but he continued to preach with high spirits: “The meal after the main dish is also very exciting.

Braised chicken, fenugreek, steamed pork with vermicelli, stir-fried shredded pork with lettuce, and vegetable dumpling soup, four dishes and one soup. Although these dishes have relatively common names, they have been modified by Huang's style and taste extraordinary.

The snacks available at the table include dumplings, rice noodles, siomai, etc. The fillings of the dumplings are chopped extremely finely, and the texture cannot be achieved no matter what machine is used, and the rice noodles are also very smooth.

There is also a poem about the dishes of the aunt's banquet: "I chased the gods to realize the new ideas, smiled and praised the eight treasures, the bull's head was horrifying, the fish's lips were smooth and greasy on the plate, and the burnt fat duck showed through the outside and inside. Fragrant non-orchid originates from smokiness, a few flutes with a slight fire, rotten bears and white, clean and fat, jade and soft turtle skirt, quite similar to Wu vulgarity, ginger and orange, and also learned from Sichuan flavor ginseng and pungent."

I don’t have much else to say. The Gugu Feast later opened in Chongqing, and the business was also very booming.

Unfortunately, in 1941, Chongqing was frequently bombed by Japanese military planes. The entire city was severely damaged, and "Aunt Feast" was forced to close down.

In 1942, Huang Jinglin fell ill due to fright and eventually died at the age of 68. "

After saying this, Master Lin felt a little sad. Such a great master-like figure finally passed away for such reasons.

I have to say that this is a pity. If he can live a long life, he might be able to create some more exquisite Sichuan dishes.

As soon as we started talking about the secrets of Sichuan cuisine, an hour and a half passed without realizing it.

Everyone had almost eaten by now and drank wine to their heart's content.

Now it’s time to get to the real topic.

"Brother Chu and I are going out to talk about something, please wait a moment."

After making eye contact with Chu Yunfeng and seeing Chu Yunfeng nodding, Master Lin invited Chu Yunfeng to talk outside.

After all, the matter of recovery is no small matter, and it involves the first major dish of the aunt's banquet, so the monkey cannot know it yet.

"You've been baking it for a long time, so you can eat some yourself. I've eaten it, so you don't need to bake it for me."

After the two of them went out, Mu Qing saw that the monkey had been working hard for a long time. Knowing that Master Lin was more reserved here, she reminded him to eat more.

The monkey didn't care, but asked curiously: "Sister, what are Brother Chu and my master doing? Why do you feel that they are so mysterious?"

"I don't know either. Why don't you ask your master?"

Mu Qing didn't want to tell the monkey now, so she could only prevaricate.

"Forget it, if Master doesn't tell me how dare I ask, I won't say anymore. I'll just eat a few more skewers. The sauce prepared by Master is just different.

By the way, are you really not going to eat? "

Mu Qing smiled, rejected the monkey, and then took out her mobile phone to start watching the drama
"Brother, please let me know what's going on with this dish now."

The two entered an empty room next to them, and Chu Yunfeng asked first.

"It's a pity to talk about this dish. My master also learned it from Mr. Huang's descendants. When I first learned to cook, my master didn't let us watch him make this dish.

Our junior brothers were very itchy about this dish, so we secretly watched the master while he was cooking it.

But later the master discovered it, and the punishment was severe. Not only was he forced to kneel and hit the board, but he was also punished to cut vegetables.

After this punishment, my hands were shaking for several days.

In the end, we no longer dared to peek at Master cooking. Later, we faced changes in Sichuan cuisine, and this time-consuming and labor-intensive dish was gradually eliminated.

Master did not make this dish later, so it was not until after his death that we regretted not asking him to keep these classic dishes earlier.

But it's too late to say this, and it doesn't make sense.

One time when our senior brothers got together, everyone suddenly remembered that they had peeked at this dish made by Master, so everyone became excited and wanted to recreate this dish.

So the three of us brothers began to slowly recall the steps of master's cooking at that time, what spices were used, and how was each step handled?
However, the restoration results were very unsatisfactory. Not only did the taste not meet the requirements, but the color was also very poor.

So after that time, we three brothers gave up. If we don’t know the detailed ingredient list and detailed operating steps, we will definitely not be able to make this dish well.

Reluctantly trying to make up for the dishes will only make you laughable in the end. "

Master Lin shook his head and sighed heavily, feeling helpless and heartbroken that such a famous dish was lost.

Chu Yunfeng pondered for a while and then asked: "Have you tried this dish before? What does it taste like and how you feel when you eat it?"

Hmm~?

After hearing this, Master Lin nodded thoughtfully and said, "I tasted it once. It was when the master praised us for learning how to cook and made a special portion for us to eat during the Chinese New Year.

Let me recall the taste and feeling."

Master Lin squinted his eyes, then frowned and began to recall.

This happened more than 20 years ago, so it is naturally difficult to recall it. Chu Yunfeng was not in a hurry and sat there quietly waiting.

"How should I put it? I think it should be golden and shiny in color, the scalp should be plump and glutinous, the taste should be rich and mellow, and the soup should be thick and juicy."

Master Lin slowly talked about his experience of this dish. It is still not easy to tell the true feelings of a dish after more than 20 years.

"I understand, are there any photos of this dish, from back then, or if I made it now? I want to see it."

"There aren't any from back then, but I have photos here that I made recently. Take a look."

Master Lin handed over the phone, and Chu Yunfeng frowned when he saw the photo, and let out a "huh" sound.

Then he started shaking his head.
(End of this chapter)