Era: Life's Big Winner

Chapter 45: Cooking at Captain Zhao's House

Spent a few hours going crazy with Qin Jingru.

Liu Hongchang left the rental house contentedly and returned to the cafeteria to continue working.

When it was almost time to get off work, Manager Li and Director Yao went to the kitchen together and reminded Liu Hongchang to go with them to Captain Zhao's house.

After the two left, Master Yang suddenly came up to Liu Hongchang, blushing and talking to him:
"Master Liu, when you go out to take private jobs, can you take me with you? I don't want any wages, I just want your guidance."

Obviously, for him who seldom asked for help from others, the fact that he asked Liu Hongchang for guidance really showed that he wanted to make progress.

"This... Master Yang, you have to work during the day and do private work at night. Can your body handle it?" Liu Hongchang hesitated.

For people with skills, taking private jobs to earn money is not taboo. Labor is glorious, and the money earned is also legitimate.

This is the case for city dwellers as well as craftsmen in rural production teams, who were often organized to engage in side businesses in the past, but can now even work on their own.

Nowadays, men retire at the age of 60. Master Yang is nearly 50 years old, but he can still work for another ten years.

Besides, he has solid basic skills and just needs guidance. If he can improve his cooking skills, he can work for another 20 years.

In a few years, Liu Hongchang will start his own business. It is definitely not enough to rely on himself and Liuzi alone, so the more chefs he has, the better.

Master Yang, who has a stubborn personality, is within Liu Hongchang's scope of investigation.

The reason why I didn't take the initiative to take him with me was because he was old and I was afraid that he would be reluctant to give up his stable job and his body wouldn't be able to cope with it.

"Don't worry, I'm in good health!" Master Yang cheered up and patted his chest and said exaggeratedly:
"Even if I run three kilometers, I won't take a breath. I will never cause any trouble to Master Liu."

Liu Hongchang just listened to this, he would not take it seriously. If something really happened, he would inevitably be implicated.

But he did not refuse. He thought that getting an assistant for free would also pave the way for his future business venture, so he would naturally agree.

Liu Hongchang agreed to take Master Yang with him, and the other chefs in the kitchen also wanted to go with them, but Liu Hongchang politely declined.

When cooking for a private family banquet, there is no need to invite so many people.

However, Liu Hongchang also left a message that he would not forget to bring them along when there was a big job.

It was agreed that after get off work, Director Yao saw Master Yang also following along and said in surprise:

"Old Yang, are you finally able to put aside your pride? It should have been done a long time ago! You can't learn a skill without putting aside your pride!"

"Haha, I feel very honored to be led by Master Liu." After taking this step, Master Yang felt more relaxed.

Director Yao agreed and said, "If you study hard, Hong Chang's skills are better than you imagined."

"If you can learn even a little bit of this, it will be of great use to you. Maybe you can even get promoted to a higher level by the end of the year."

……

In this era, housing is invested in by the state, and units score people based on length of service, position, education level, etc., and then allocate housing in a queue.

Therefore, housing resources are extremely tight, and the style is simple and relatively uniform.

It was not uncommon to see parents and five or six children squeezed on one kang, shoulder to shoulder and feet touching.

In the aisle, at a glance, there are stoves, honeycomb coal stoves, and a lot of messy miscellaneous items.

At the end of the tube building is the washroom, which is the cleaning place for residents on an entire floor. It is common to queue up to wash in the morning.

Neighbors are friendly and visit each other to say hello. If one house doesn’t have enough, they will go to another house to make up the difference.

The extra food and daily necessities bought would also be shared with the neighbors, and the sounds of neighbors fighting and quarreling could often be heard.

Captain Zhao Zhongbing's home is in a five-story tube-shaped building located in the family compound of their unit.

The house was newly built not long ago, with red bricks and green tiles, one floor for two households, separate bedrooms, kitchen, and bathroom, and the conditions are quite good.

There are quite a lot of people here today. In addition to Captain Zhao's family, Wu Benguo and others also brought their families, and even Li Yun came.

"There are at least three tables of people here today. Thank you, Hong Chang. I didn't know there were so many people."

As soon as he entered the house, Captain Zhao stuffed ten yuan into Liu Hongchang's pocket and said helplessly, "I originally just wanted to let my family try the food, but who knew it would become a treat in the blink of an eye."

"Are there enough ingredients?" Liu Hongchang asked hurriedly. Originally there was only one table, but now it has become three tables, which is not very convenient.

Captain Zhao nodded and said, "I've prepared a little more ingredients. You can make it as you like. Just make it for three tables and steam more rice."

He usually eats steamed buns, but after eating the rice steamed by Liu Hongchang at Director Yao’s house, he thought the rice was also delicious.

The main reason is that the dishes cooked by Liu Hongchang are delicious and go well with rice. Eating steamed buns always feels a little lacking and not very satisfying.

"Okay! I'll get busy first. We'll have dinner when it's ready?" Liu Hongchang said with a smile.

Captain Zhao smiled and said, "Yes, we'll start eating once it's ready. We've made an appointment early, and the guests will come on time."

After the matter was agreed upon, Liu Hongchang brought Liuzi and Master Yang to the kitchen, looked at the ingredients, and felt that it would be a bit difficult to make enough for three tables.

The dishes for the three tables must be different, so we can only order less food for each table and try to add more dishes.

Sichuan cuisine is relatively spicy, while Shandong cuisine is rich in oil and sauce and has a strong flavor.

Northern cuisine consists mostly of barbecue, which puts high demands on teeth and the stomach; Cantonese cuisine consists mostly of raw seafood, which is difficult for the stomach to adapt to.

Because the main purpose of today's banquet is to taste the food, we will prepare it for Captain Zhao's father-in-law in a while.

Therefore, the "peaceful" Huaiyang cuisine is the best choice, which can meet the requirements of the elderly for intake, absorption and digestion.

Huaiyang cuisine pays great attention to knife skills, which are quite delicate. The dishes are exquisite in shape, elegant in style and mellow in flavor.

When it comes to cooking, they are good at using heat and pay attention to the control of fire. They are good at stewing, braising, simmering, warming, steaming, roasting and stir-frying.

The raw materials are mainly aquatic products, focusing on freshness, and the taste is mild, fresh and slightly sweet.

Liu Hongchang had made this request when writing the list of ingredients for Captain Zhao, so the ingredients prepared were very fresh.

When processing the ingredients, Liu Hongchang handed over the less difficult ones to Liuzi and Master Yang respectively.

Liuzi is mainly responsible for washing and scrubbing, but Master Yang has solid basic skills and can help a lot.

But most of the dishes are prepared by Liu Hongchang himself, such as squirrel mandarin fish, Wensi tofu, braised lion head and so on.

Slow work produces fine work. The three of them were busy in the kitchen, but not chaotic.

Liu Hongchang did not hide his skills and often taught Liuzi and Master Yang how to cook Huaiyang cuisine.

I don’t know whether they can learn it or not, but Liu Hongchang’s teaching is quite detailed.

An expert can tell whether a dish is good or not with just one move. Liu Hongchang's smooth knife skills opened the eyes of Liuzi and Master Yang.

Captain Zhao's wife went to the kitchen to check the situation and screamed when she saw Liu Hongchang cutting the tofu into hair-thin pieces.

"Oh my God, I've only heard of this craftsmanship from others but never seen it with my own eyes. Today I've learned a lot," she said in amazement.

Her voice was so loud that it attracted other people. Although Li Yun had seen Liu Hongchang cook, she still couldn't help but praise him:

"Amazing! This knife skill is definitely at the master level. It is pleasing to the eyes and very enjoyable to watch!"

The woman who followed nodded in agreement: "No wonder my husband insisted on dragging me over to eat the meal cooked by Master Liu."

"Then you came at the right time today." Li Yun said with a smile, "On Sundays at my house, not a drop of soup was left after eating all the dishes on the table."

So a group of women gathered at the kitchen door, talking and laughing, and Liu Hongchang listened to the buzz.

Three women make a drama, and a group of women is a disaster. Liu Hongchang couldn't say anything, so he had to endure it and concentrate on cooking.

Time passed slowly, the delicious aroma of food gradually wafted out from the kitchen, and the group of women finally stopped, hungry.

"There's no need to taste the food. Just smelling the aroma is enough to increase your appetite!" Captain Zhao's wife said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)