Shopkeeper Liang's words were like cold water poured into a frying pan, causing the entire kitchen to explode.
Su Qingluan complained in her heart: This fat guy Liang can really attract hatred for her!
As expected, after hearing what Shopkeeper Liang said, Chef Xu Yuanwei's brows knitted into a knot and he glared at Su Qingluan: "Shopkeeper, you are not making fun of me, are you?"
He waved his hand at Su Qingluan and sent her away: "Little girl, get out of the way! This is the kitchen, not a place for a child like you to have fun!" He turned around and shouted, "What are you looking at?! Get to work! The guests are waiting!"
Shopkeeper Liang didn't say anything, but looked like he was just watching a show.
Su Qingluan looked at the master chef opposite her and felt that he looked familiar, but she couldn't remember who he was.
But she did not rush to get close to the other party - in this situation, showing some real ability is more convincing than trying to gain connections.
"I have a few questions I would like to ask the master chef." Su Qingluan bowed to the chef opposite.
Although Xu Yuanwei didn't like the little girl who barged into the kitchen, he wasn't unreasonable. Seeing that she had been polite first, he suppressed his temper and said, "Go ahead and ask!"
He doesn't seem to be a stubborn person who can't be reasoned with.
Su Qingluan nodded secretly, then she asked slowly, "Did the fish soup pass through your hands, Master Chef?"
"It's me, so what?" This fish soup is a popular dish in "Hongfulou". Although its sales are average in summer, it is very popular in winter.
Su Qingluan shrugged: "Not really."
Before the other party could clearly get angry, she said, "The fish soup contains white pepper, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, star anise, and cardamom..."
Xu Yuanwei initially listened with indifference, but then he became more and more shocked the more he listened, until Su Qingluan said, "There should be a few more herbs, perilla, cinnamon, angelica... I'm not sure about the rest..."
"Wait a minute!" Xu Yuanwei was shocked. "Did you taste all this yourself?!" Although it was not 100% correct, he guessed it was about 80% correct.
Then he turned around and asked behind him: "Who of you said too much?!"
Su Qingluan sighed, "It's none of their business. This is my first time at Hong Fu Lou, and these spices all have unique flavors. It's not difficult to tell them apart if you taste them carefully."
Now, both Xu Yuanwei and Manager Liang thought that the young lady in front of them might have some real skills in cooking, so their expressions became serious.
Xu Yuanwei asked Su Qingluan to follow her to the main stove and assigned the important tasks to the cooks and apprentices below. Then he turned around and asked, "Tell me, why is my fish soup not so good?"
Su Qingluan asked, "Master Chef, what do you think is the most important characteristic of fish soup?"
“Of course it’s delicious!”
"Since 'freshness' is the most important thing, the word 'freshness' cannot be overshadowed by other flavors." Su Qingluan pointed out incisively.
Xu Yuanwei had been the chef at Hong Fu Lou for many years, so he immediately understood the shortcomings of the fish soup that Su Qinglu pointed out:
Although a large amount of spices and medicinal herbs mask the earthy smell of the fish, they also completely cover up the deliciousness of the fish meat, and the fish soup tastes spicy and slightly bitter.
Although it can be used to warm the body and keep out the cold in winter, it is not very delicious.
Xu Yuanwei glanced at Su Qingluan and snorted, "You little girl, you're really talking without any hesitation. Don't I want my fish soup to be both delicious and not have any earthy smell?"
It’s like some people don’t take the imperial examination. Is that because they don’t want to?
"Black fish won't have such an earthy smell..."
"Oh, what a big mouth!" Xu Yuanwei snorted coldly, "Do you know how much a black fish costs? Is that something that ordinary people can afford?"
Even if "Hongfulou" can afford to accommodate guests in the elegant seats on the second floor, after all, the restaurant is located in just a small town.
A restaurant in a small town is destined not to have delicacies such as dragon liver and phoenix brain, so the fish soup is made with the cheapest and most readily available carp.
Naturally, the earthy smell of carp needs more spices to cover it up.
Although they are also expensive, compared with the black fish, which is ferocious by nature, difficult to preserve and expensive, spices and medicinal materials that can be preserved for a long time in large quantities have become the only choice for "Hongfulou".
Su Qingluan smiled and said, "Why don't you try my method of making fish soup?"
Under the skeptical gazes of Xu Yuanwei and Manager Liang, Su Qingluan walked to a spare chopping board nearby, selected a slender, narrow-bladed knife, and stared at it with shining eyes.
Being stared at by that gaze that could almost be described as "hungry", Xu Yuanwei felt creepy and couldn't help asking, "Are you... okay?" It looked as if he wanted to swallow the knife in one gulp.
Su Qingluan exclaimed with envy: "Is this a fine iron knife? I have never touched one in my life!" What she said was true. Since she traveled through time, she had indeed never touched a fine iron knife - it was too expensive!
Xu Yuanwei: ...
Shopkeeper Liang: ...
Just when both of them were speechless, Su Qingluan's originally distracted gaze suddenly became sharp.
She quickly fished out a lively carp about a foot and a half long from the water tank, wrapped a wet towel around the fish's body to prevent it from slipping, and with a flick of her wrist, she slapped the fish's head twice.
The carp's tail twitched slightly a few times and then stopped moving.
She gutted the fish, scraped off the scales and gills. This time, Su Qingluan did not cut the fish body, but removed the carp's skull and spine, and sliced the rest of the meat into slices.
Her movements were quick and swift, and she cut with ease. Not to mention the apprentices who stole a glance at her, even Xu Yuanwei was secretly surprised: this girl is really good at cutting!
Who is she?!
She took out a palm-sized porcelain jar from her arms, poured the contents on the carp meat and bones, and rubbed them evenly.
"What did you add?" Xu Yuanwei took the small jar and put it to his nose to smell it, raising an eyebrow. "What is this...?"
Xu Yuanwei glanced at Su Qingluan and saw that she did not stop him from picking up the jar, so he simply handed the jar to Manager Liang to smell it.
Sour hook is a very common wild fruit, and the two of them could naturally smell it at once. The jar contained fruit puree made from fresh "sour hook".
Although Shopkeeper Liang knew that Xu Yuanwei disdained to do such despicable things, seeing that Su Qingluan did not mind revealing the "secret recipe" at all, he could not help but remind her:
"Young lady, you showed us the recipe so easily, aren't you afraid that I might take it for myself?"
At this point, Shopkeeper Liang guessed the purpose of the young lady's visit - she probably had a better fish soup recipe and wanted to sell it to "Hongfulou".
It’s not like Hongfulou hadn’t encountered such chefs before, but they always negotiated the price before handing over the complete recipe to Boss Liang.
Just like the young lady in front of me, she not only does not hide it, but is the first one to show it openly in front of everyone.
Su Qingluan's hands kept moving. "I believe that Boss Liang has a long-term vision and will definitely not do something like exhausting the resources."
Shopkeeper Liang smiled with an ambiguous smile: "What if I insist on 'draining the pond to catch all the fish'?"
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