The two of them asked around and finally found Master Qin's house.

Master Qin was at home when he saw Fatty and Yu Li, and asked with some surprise, "You're looking for me?"

The fat man addressed him as "Uncle-Master," but Master Qin quickly declined, saying he didn't deserve such an honor. The fat man then introduced himself, saying, "I am a disciple of Master Lu Xingbang..."

Before he could finish speaking, Master Qin suddenly realized, "So you're the owner of Qili Pavilion! Please, please come in."

Upon entering the house, Fatty discovered that Master Qin's house was similar to his own, also a courtyard house with two rooms.

Master Qin brewed tea for him and Yu Li. The fat man took out some pastries made by Aunt Pang and said, "I've heard that Master Qin's mock meat dishes are the best in Beijing. My wife and I have come here to ask Master Qin for a favor. We were afraid that bringing anything else would be too impolite, so we had the kitchen make some pastries for Master Qin to try."

Master Qin's first reaction was that this guy was here to poach his talent!

But after thinking about it, I gave up on the idea.

Well, 1984 can't compare to 2023. At that time, vegetarian banquets and vegetarian dishes didn't have much of a market.

The target audience is only a specific group of people. Ordinary people generally cannot eat meat every day, so who would like to eat your chicken legs made of noodles or fish and shrimp made of mushrooms?

As the saying goes, when someone gives a gift, they must have something in mind. Master Qin was unsure what these two people wanted from him, so he dared not agree rashly.

He had no choice but to open the pastry shop. After just one glance, he exclaimed, "Your shop has an amazing pastry chef!"

Hearing people praise Auntie Pang, Fatty felt proud and introduced, "This is my auntie's cooking. We used to work at the No. 3 canteen of the Red Star Factory."

Master Qin picked up a piece of pea flour cake, ate it in small bites, and said, "That's right, it's the kind of food made in state-owned enterprise canteens. They use plenty of ingredients and are willing to put in sugar, but my teeth can't quite handle it."

Aunt Pang's pea flour cake is made with carefully selected ingredients, using only peas, white sugar, maltose, water, and agar.

Agar is a plant-based gum extracted from seaweed. It is added to help the pea flour cake solidify into a block.

These are all old-fashioned methods, and they suit the tastes of ordinary people in Beijing very well. They are on the sweeter side, and people who are sensitive to sweets will really get toothaches after eating them.

Master Qin made a joke, and the atmosphere became more harmonious.

The fat man told him some things about the industry, which made Master Qin even more convinced that he wasn't there to poach talent.

But I felt inexplicably disappointed. What's wrong with me?

Gongdelin is a new restaurant that only opened this year. Although business is okay, it certainly can't compare to those established brands.

Although Qilige is a new restaurant, with Lu Xingbang's last disciple in charge, it has become a well-known establishment in Beijing.

If I could work at Qilige, it wouldn't be such a bad job.

Master Qin was also a bit outspoken: "Master Chen, please don't be so polite. Just tell me what your purpose is today."

The fat man then told the story of an elder who had diabetes and couldn't eat meat and fish, but still had a craving for them.

After finishing, he explained his purpose: "If possible, I would like to learn two mock meat dishes from Master Qin. If that's not convenient, could you please come to my place and cook for me?"

So you wanted to learn how to make vegetarian sea cucumber and vegetarian pork intestines.

Master Qin frankly admitted, "Sea cucumber is easy, but the difficult part is the large intestine. Fake is fake, and it can never become real. If you want to use vegetarian ingredients to imitate the texture of large intestine, you'll have to think about it."

Master Qin didn't say he wouldn't teach him, after all, he had the face of Old Master Lu. He had received a favor from the old master in the past, and he remembered the kindness he received for a thousand years. He was a man who valued loyalty and righteousness.

What should be used to make vegetarian large intestine? The answer is gluten flour.

Also known as gluten, it's used to make grilled gluten, right?

Master Qin was right; it's really not an easy task to make large intestines in a vegetarian style that mimics meat.

The large intestine itself isn't a problem for fat people; the difficulty lies in cleaning it.

Even Gao Xiang could do these tasks very well: scrubbing with salt and vinegar, then scraping and peeling.

But how exactly should one make a counterfeit?

The fat man watched as Master Qin kneaded the dough, then rolled it up, gradually shaping it into the form of fatty intestines.

Next comes braising. To get this flavorful, it must be braised so that the braising liquid thoroughly soaks into it.

The most difficult part is that each one has to be made by hand. Since it's called "Nine Turns," it has to be the number nine. Master Qin made nine of them before he stopped.

Then he gave his seat to the fat man: "Whether or not we can cook up the flavor of Nine-Turned Intestines depends on you, Chef Chen."

The fat man was equally efficient, and with a series of smooth movements, he quickly prepared a "Nine-Turned Intestines" dish that looked remarkably realistic.

Master Qin gave Yu Li a pair of chopsticks, gesturing for her to try it first.

Yu Li carefully picked up a piece, put it in her mouth and chewed it gently. After a while, she shook her head slightly and said, "It tastes like raw beans."

Master Qin and Fatty each tried a piece, and Yu Li was right; this first attempt was a failure.

Next, Master Qin improved the recipe, but failed three times in a row.

On the fourth time, he thought for a moment and said, "The problem might be with my braising liquid."

What could be wrong with the braising liquid? The fat man took a spoonful, tasted it, and then realized what was going on.

Master Qin specializes in making imitation meat dishes, while Gongdelin Restaurant serves pure vegetarian dishes for Buddhist monks, so his braising sauce doesn't contain much meat.

This time, he innovatively added some garlic. After rolling and braising the rolls, he first let Fatty and Yu Li try them.

Yu Li's eyes lit up after just one bite: "It's so delicious! It tastes like garlic-braised pork intestines!"

Upon hearing this, the fat man quickly took a bite and found it to be true.

I heated the oil again, and worked with great speed and efficiency. When the dish was finally finished, both its color and aroma felt different from the previous times.

Master Qin couldn't wait to pick up a piece of food with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. After a long while, he finally let out a long breath and said loudly, "Good!"

Yu Li also tried it, and excitedly grabbed the fat man's arm, saying, "It's amazing, it's really amazing, it really tastes like braised pork intestines!"

"..."

With the most difficult dish solved, the vegetarian sea cucumber dish became much simpler.

There's a readily available alternative to this – sea cucumber!

Sea eggplant is actually a type of coral, and also a traditional Chinese medicine. Its scientific name is Coral hairyne in the Solanaceae family.

Because of their similarity to sea cucumbers, they are often used by unscrupulous merchants to impersonate sea cucumbers.

However, the fat man didn't plan to use sea cucumbers; they were fishy and smelly, and wouldn't fool any experts.

Chef Qin's suggestion was to use fresh mushrooms, black sesame seeds, Sichuan peppercorns, scallions, and ginger.

This method is really simple. Master Qin only taught him a few techniques, and the fat man was able to do it quite well.