The old man waited a while before saying, "Can't think of any, can you? Similar dishes include blanched chicken marrow, bamboo fungus and crispy mushrooms, shredded radish, clear stewed deer antler, crystal balls, and so on! These dishes, let alone having eaten them, many people have never even heard of them. How did they become so popular?"

Let's take the middle section of this shredded radish as an example. If you ask ten people on the street, I guarantee all ten of them will think it's a vegetarian dish; but in fact, in the "Sichuan Cuisine Recipe", this dish is not only a meat dish, but also a dish made with fish and shrimp.

Grandpa Lu sighed and continued, "The second problem is that the master who taught us the skills was very stubborn and adhered to the outdated idea that 'teaching an apprentice will starve the master.' He was unwilling to even let us take the initiative to visit him and exchange ideas, thinking that we were trying to steal his secret recipes. So what happened? The dishes we have now are very different from the Sichuan cuisine of the past, and most of them are no longer on today's menus."

The story the old man told was one that Liu Lan and Aunt Pang had never heard before; even the fat man who had traveled back from 2023 had never heard of these dish names.

Back then, when people talked about high-end Sichuan dishes, he knew they were nothing more than boiled cabbage in clear broth and melon swallow's nest with tripe. If you asked him to name another one, he couldn't.

Many young people may never have even heard of melon swallows and goat's stomach.

"Du" is easy to understand; it's pig's stomach. But "Gua Yan"—does it mean bird's nest?

No, that's wrong. Guayan is winter melon. Use a knife to slice the winter melon into thin slices, then cut it into shreds, but be careful not to cut it all the way through. You have to keep it like dried flower petals, continuous and unbroken.

When preparing it, use a well-prepared broth to blanch it; just like boiling cabbage in clear broth, pour the broth over it spoonful by spoonful to cook it. Never put it directly into a pot to boil, or it will fall apart...

The winter melon prepared in this way resembles bird's nest in appearance, color, and texture, hence the name "Gua Yan" (melon bird's nest).

So what is the meaning of the character "穗" in "穗肚"? It means that each piece of pork belly after being cut looks like a bountiful ear of wheat in autumn.

Finally, the old man gave a concluding speech: "So this is what it means to be out of touch with reality. I hope you remember that food is the most important thing for the people! The dishes are ultimately meant for the common people to eat, not just for the rich and powerful. Of course, there are such dishes, like Tan Family Cuisine, right? But it almost got lost. Today's Tan Family Cuisine is very different from the past. For example, it uses some precious ingredients, which you all know, so I won't go into details."

The old man's words today perfectly explain why Shandong cuisine has remained popular for so long, withstood the test of time, and consistently ranked first among the eight major cuisines.

Grandpa Lu took a sip of tea and suddenly asked Fatty, "I heard from Brother Wang that you once made a braised shrimp dish?"

Braised prawns? Fatty couldn't remember for a moment. Oh right, it was made at the Great Spirit Guide's house. It was a four-dish meal with a soup. He didn't expect the old man to even know that.

Grandpa Lu said, "This dish is also called dry-fried prawns. I used to make it, but I don't anymore. Do you know why?"

Why? Because the giant prawn from the Bohai Sea later became endangered!

Severe pollution and overfishing brought the Bohai shrimp to the brink of extinction.

It can be said that by 1992 and 1993, it was almost impossible to buy Bohai prawns on the market, and later this dish could only be made with ordinary prawns.

Seeing that the fat man grasped the concept so quickly, the old man was overjoyed. This disciple already possessed skills, and his comprehension was exceptional; who wouldn't want to take on such a student?

※※※※※※

The first dish that Grandpa Lu taught Fatty was his specialty – braised pork hock.

This is also one of Luweizhai's famous dishes, and it was later listed as an intangible cultural heritage.

The old man taught cooking in a very systematic way. He didn't just start by telling you how to make a dish, what the tricks and secrets were, but instead started by explaining how the dish came about.

When people talk about Shandong, they all know about Dezhou braised chicken. Luweizhai was originally a braised chicken restaurant. Legend has it that in 1940, the owner's wife gave birth, so he bought four raw pig trotters, cleaned them, and put them in the kitchen to make soup for his wife.

As a result, the unsuspecting family members accidentally added the pork trotters to the pot of boiled chicken and fried and braised them; when the four shiny and tender pork trotters were taken out of the pot, the owner tasted them unwillingly and found them to be very delicious!

So I processed it according to the method for braised chicken, and it turned out to be a great success.

After thinking for a moment, he took the remaining three pig trotters to the stall and placed them together with the braised chicken.

This sale caused quite a stir. A regular customer, seeing something he'd never seen before, bought some out of curiosity. And what a surprise! It was absolutely amazing! Even better than roast chicken…

The next day, they came to our door at the crack of dawn to urge us to sell, saying we had no choice but to sell!

And so, braised pork trotters came into being, attracting a constant stream of customers. Luweizhai also changed from selling only braised chicken to now offering both chicken and pork trotters.

"..."

After teaching the story, it was time to teach the cooking method. Lu Xingbang had the fat man fetch him a set of clothes to wear, and standing by the stove, he exuded the air of a master chef.

"What does 'bā' mean? In short, it means that after adding broth, you cook the ingredients over low heat until they are tender and soft, and then thicken the sauce before serving. This is how you braise bok choy and braise three whites. Its characteristics are that it is tender, juicy, and easy to digest. But in our Shandong cuisine, bā also requires cutting the ingredients, with the good side facing down, arranging them neatly in a pattern, adding an appropriate amount of broth and seasonings, and slowly heating them until cooked; then you flip them over with a big wok, so that the good side is facing up, drizzle with bright oil, and finally pour them into a plate with a dragging motion."

Pig trotters are readily available, and you don't have to be picky about the quality.

Why do I say that? Because pork requires different processing methods depending on the type of pork.

For example, fresh free-range pigs don't need any processing on their skin; even if they are simply washed and cooked, they won't have a fishy smell.

However, pork from animals fed with feed, as well as frozen pork, including trotters, must have their skin singed over a fire before processing.

Burn off the odorous parts like the skin, then scrape it clean with a knife before proceeding to the next step.

The same applies to braised pig's trotters. The trotters are first deep-fried and then braised for a long time. This not only removes the fishy smell and greasiness, but also makes the skin tender and the meat soft. When you tear them open, a fragrant aroma wafts out.

Even people with bad teeth can eat this dish.

At this point, the old man cracked a joke: "Back in the day, I used to cook feasts for people in the countryside. Every table had this dish. There was an old man who was almost eighty years old, with only a few teeth left, who was really looking forward to this dish. But as soon as the dish was served, a young man next to him snatched it away in a flash. The old man was so angry that he grabbed the soup ladle from the table and swung it at the young man's head. I'll beat you up!"