gourmet food

Chapter 726 Who Says Chinese Style Can’t Make Appetizer Clear Soup

Yo~?

A bearded foreigner?
I don’t know which country you are from. Do you speak Chinese?

The taxi driver saw the foreigner outside the car making a gesture to him and opened the trunk. At the same time, he secretly wondered how to communicate with him for a while.

Thinking back to when I first started working as a taxi driver, I had little experience in receiving foreigners. Many foreigners did not understand Chinese and could not communicate at all after getting in the taxi.

Some of them are okay. They will hand you a piece of paper with the address written in Chinese. Thank God for this situation. It is so simple to know the location.

For those who don’t have a note, some will take out a map and point you to where they want to go, which is very convenient in many cases.

The most difficult thing is that there is no note or map. The foreigner chatters there for a long time, and then you ask him "jabbering", and neither party knows what the other is talking about.

A well-prepared driver will bring a translator so that he can easily cope with the embarrassing situation of picking up a foreigner.

"Master, go to Kuixinglou Street!"

After putting away his suitcase, the foreigner sat directly in the front row and told him where he wanted to go in fluent Mandarin.

The driver looked at the foreigner curiously and was a little surprised that he spoke Mandarin so well, especially when he saw that this man was very different from the foreigners he usually rode with.

First of all, his clothes are very gentlemanly, with a touch of classical elements. Combined with his temperament, he should be a very cultured person.

"No problem, you speak Chinese very well. Are you going there for snacks?"

The driver was very interested in the foreigner, so he started asking to see if the foreigner was talkative.

"Hmm~! Yes, I heard that there is a very popular store over there. There are many people queuing up every day, is that true?"

The foreigner's interest in talking seemed to be aroused, and he turned his head to ask the driver brother.

"There are a lot of stores lined up over there every day. Which one are you talking about?"

There are many famous snack shops on Kuixinglou Street, so the driver didn’t know which one the foreigner was referring to.

"I heard that there is a restaurant that is very expensive, but there are still so many people eating there, right?"

The foreigner added that the words "extremely expensive" immediately made the driver laugh, and he obviously knew which company he was talking about.

"Hi~! Are you talking about the Yipin store? Their prices are quite expensive. There are indeed a lot of people eating there, but they use real ingredients and the ingredients are very expensive."

The driver brother became excited when he mentioned Yipin, because he has attracted many customers to Yipin, and everyone's evaluation of this store is very good.

"Oh~? But that is a snack street. It is said that the price is ten times more expensive than other restaurants on the snack street. Will anyone go to eat like this?"

Foreigners seem to still have some doubts in their minds, especially when it comes to such expensive prices opening on a snack street. Logically speaking, such a store should be opened in a place like the CBD.

"It tastes really good, so what does it have to do with where it is opened? I heard that the boss is very young and his cooking skills are amazing."

The driver brother seems to be more concerned about the taste, but the style and grades that foreigners care about have no idea. After hearing his answer, the foreigner laughed twice and stopped talking.

After seeing that the foreigner seemed to have no interest in talking, the driver concentrated on driving, while the foreigner took out a thick notebook and a pen, and opened the cover of the notebook.

This notebook is very thick and seems to be almost finished. The front part of the paper is slightly yellowed, and a lot of things are densely recorded on each page.

The foreigner picked up the pen and wrote a paragraph of French on it. When he was about to put down the pen, he suddenly paused. After thinking about it, he wrote another paragraph on it before closing the notebook.
"You guys go get busy. I'm going back to the hotel first. The kimchi is good. I'll make more later."

After finishing breakfast, Mu Qing came over to say hello to the two of them, especially the kimchi, which she seemed to like very much.

"I'll do it later at noon when I'm done and have a rest. Come pick me up in the afternoon and take a few cans back with you."

The store will not close at noon today, but it needs to take an hour's rest. While making kimchi, Hu Yue and I will continue to experiment with dishes. We will open as usual in the afternoon. After all, rewards will continue to be distributed.

"Well, I'll come here early and help me check the gifts when they arrive. If it doesn't work, you can go shopping with me."

Mu Qing's words made Chu Yunfeng laugh. It seemed that she was still a little nervous, otherwise she wouldn't be so concerned about the gift.

"Just keep it simple. There's no need to be so nervous. Your vision is much better than mine."

Chu Yunfeng had always admired Mu Qing when it came to shopping. If she couldn't make up her mind, he would be even more helpless.

"you
I don’t want to deal with you anymore, let’s go.”

Seeing Chu Yunfeng's teasing expression, Mu Qing was very entangled in her heart, wishing to go up and give him a "trick", to let him know how much pressure she was facing the old man.

"What happened to my boss?
Haven't you already met your parents?
Why do you still need to bring gifts to your door?
Are you really pregnant?

Want to discuss marriage? "

When Hu Yue saw the two of them "flirting", she felt that something was not quite right and asked several questions in succession.

"It's nothing. Don't think too much. Let's make the first dish first. Let's cook the most time-consuming dish first. Didn't you say you have a very special soup before?"

Of course Chu Yunfeng would not tell Hu Yue the truth. What he needed now was to seize the time to experiment with the dishes.

“Fish maw soup is more time-consuming, let’s see which one we make?
Fish maw stewed sea cucumber?
Stewed bird's nest with flower maw?
Fish maw stewed with cordyceps?
Fish maw stewed with American ginseng? "

"

Hu Yue talked about several fish maw dishes in succession. She originally wanted to show off to Chu Yunfeng that she knew so many fish maw dishes, but she didn't expect that she was immediately hit by a strong "blow" from Chu Yunfeng. ".

"You're not mistaken?

Sea cucumber?

Bird's nest?

Cordyceps?

American ginseng?
These ingredients or medicinal materials are very expensive and precious, and fish maw is also a very expensive ingredient, but when these two expensive ingredients are put together, it looks very high-end.

But it does not play the role of 1 plus 1. It is a bit too wasteful. It feels like it is expensive for the sake of being expensive, and it feels high-end for the sake of high-end? "

Chu Yunfeng has now learned so many high-end dishes, and has a deep understanding of the production concepts and dish combinations, so he pointed out the problems immediately.

"Let me go, do you want to go online like this? Many restaurants do this. I don't think there is any problem. Doesn't making such high-end dishes reflect the style of the restaurant?"

Hu Yue's hand holding the ingredients stopped for a moment. She didn't understand Chu Yunfeng's thoughts. She was still a little unconvinced that her show off was ruthlessly beaten.

“The most important thing when we cook is to highlight the taste of the ingredients themselves and make the dishes more delicious and nutritious through reasonable combinations.

Take fish maw and sea cucumber as an example. How many other dishes can be made with these two ingredients alone?
Do you feel it's still necessary to keep them together? "

Chu Yunfeng can understand Hu Yue's mood very well. For Chu Yunfeng, who has understood Gugu Yan's cooking philosophy, true cooking skills can only be demonstrated by making ordinary ingredients taste high-end.

"It seems to make some sense. Just like the pot of meat you made yesterday, it can have the same effect as Buddha jumping over the wall. Is that what you mean?"

Seeing Chu Yunfeng's sincere look, Hu Yue suddenly thought of what he said in the kitchen yesterday, and suddenly felt that it did make some sense.

"Yes, that's the truth. High-end ingredients have their own special characteristics and are sought after by many people. This is understandable, but we have to make our own characteristics.

There is no need to follow the trend or imitate. What you innovate is your own, so that you can practice your cooking skills. "

While Chu Yunfeng was frying rice and weighing the spoon, he was doing handwriting with one hand, and summarizing his experience with Hu Yue. He was so distracted without making any mistakes, leaving the waiting guests stunned.

"Then what do you think we should cook with fish maw?"

Hu Yue was immediately told by Chu Yunfeng that she had no idea. She was a little undecided about the fish maw dishes that she was good at.

"Let's make a dish each. We only use fish maw, an expensive ingredient, and mix the rest by ourselves. What do you think?"

Chu Yunfeng saw a hint of unconfidence in Hu Yue's eyes. It seemed that he had been really shocked just now, so he suggested that the two of them do it separately.

"No problem, then I'll make a peppercorn stewed chicken. What's your dish?"

When Hu Yue heard Chu Yunfeng's words, she thought that he wanted to compete with her, so her somewhat decadent expression immediately disappeared and she immediately became energetic.

I am very good at fish maw dishes, and the only fish maw dish that Chu Yunfeng has made before is spinach dumplings and fish maw. I will never make this dish today, right?

The top-notch yellow lip fish belly was used last time, which directly made this dish worth millions, which is really eye-opening.

"Let me think about it, Maw?

There are many combinations when making soup. It depends on when the dish is served during the meal. If it is used as an appetizer, the soup should have a refreshing taste.

It seems like there are some differences between appetizers in Japanese food and Western food, right?
Appetizers in Japanese cuisine seem to be called cold dishes, right?Should there be more types of appetizers for Western food? "

Chu Yunfeng pondered for a while, and he needed to learn more about these types of meal methods from Hu Yue. After all, if you want to combine Chinese and Western styles, you can't make a fool of yourself, right?

"Yes, Japanese appetizers are usually cold dishes, used to appetize and pass the time. Some appetizers will be served first.

The taste is mainly sweet, sour and salty. It is served in a small plate and comes in many varieties, such as natto, mixed lotus root, seaweed, pickled cucumber, etc.

Then there is some clear soup, which is generally called "Xianwan", which means the soup served before meals, usually made of bonito flower, which is clear to the bottom and has a light taste.

This katsuobushi flower is not a plant flower, but is made from the rare deep-sea bonito. The bonito has been baked and dried many times and sliced ​​into thin slices, which look like petals.

Western food has more types of appetizers, including not only cold dishes, but also hot dishes.

Different countries have different characteristics, but the taste is mainly salty and sour, with smaller quantities, such as caviar, foie gras, smoked salmon, baked snails, etc.

Soup will also be served later, but there are some differences in the understanding of soup in Chinese and Western food.

In the eating habits of Westerners, they like to use soup before the main course to stimulate appetite and lubricate the esophagus, so it is also called appetizer soup.

Needless to say about Chinese food, the biggest purpose of making soup is to maintain health, so ordinary Chinese soup is not suitable as an appetizer soup for the main course because its taste is too rich and greasy.

Appetizer soups in Western food are mainly divided into two types: clear soup and thick soup. Common ones include cream of mushroom soup, tomato thick soup, onion soup, etc.

These are the differences between Japanese and Western food in the set menu. So now looking back at the Chinese set meal, there is a big difference in concept.

So for the Chinese set meal you mentioned, it is not so easy to be recognized by everyone. "

Chu Yunfeng listened carefully to Hu Yue's explanation of the differences and nodded in agreement, but he disagreed with his point that the improved dishes may not necessarily be recognized.

How can you know the result if you haven't tried it, how will you know if you don't try it?

Besides, with my current cooking skills and the dishes I have learned, I am quite confident in making innovations and improvements. Those fancy Western food recipes seem to me to be superfluous.

How can the vastness and profoundness of Chinese cuisine be understood by people who use such barbaric tools as knives and forks?

Chopsticks are the inheritance of cultural heritage. There is still a lot of essence that has not been discovered in these thousands of years of cooking!

"It's too early to say this. Since you are so unsure, let me cheer you up and make a dish that embodies the essence of Chinese clear soup and let you see how it compares to other soups.

Of course, I still use fish maw to make it, but the method may be different from what you have seen before. I use the ancient method. "

Chu Yunfeng stir-fried over high heat. The flipped-up fried rice flew very high, with golden particles flying in the air. It looked very pleasing to the eye.

The word ancient method made Hu Yue stunned, and his brows immediately furrowed. It seemed that he had never heard of the fish maw stew and the ancient method. Could this Chu Yunfeng be bragging? ?

At this time, a foreigner who took a taxi from the airport happened to enter the store and saw Chu Yunfeng weighing a spoon.

He admired silently in his heart, took out his notebook and made a heavy note. He suddenly became very interested in the "fish maw" and "ancient method" that Chu Yunfeng mentioned.

When I got off the bus and walked over, the foreigner noticed that the number of people queuing up at the entrance of Yipin was obviously much larger than that of other stores. I made a rough estimate and found that the number of people queuing up here was at least double that of the second best store.

And after entering the store, I saw the price marked on the price tag. It is indeed not cheap, but there are still so many people coming to eat it, which shows that the taste is absolutely guaranteed.

So this is also recorded in the notebook.

"Ancient method? How do you do it?"

"It's done according to the ancient method, but it takes a little long."

"how long?"

"It's not bad, it only takes eight hours!"

"Eight hours is not long? Are you going to stew the Buddha and jump over the wall?"

"Who said I have to stew? My ancient method is steaming, and steaming over water!"

"I'll go and steam it over water?"

Hu Yue was completely defeated by Chu Yunfeng's method, and she immediately did not dare to underestimate this ancient method.
(End of this chapter)