Xu Qinyu was willing to let Dongqian work as a kitchen helper at Xu's Restaurant and teach him how to cook, so they signed the contract on the same day.
Because Dong Qian is not only the kitchen helper of Donglaiju, he is also the eldest son of the owner of Donglaiju. With his different status, the contract naturally restricts him from secretly giving the dishes he learned from Xu Qinyu to Donglaiju. But after leaving Xu's, he can naturally do whatever he wants with the dishes he learned.
Xu Qinyu didn't care about this. She had so many dishes, and she was confident that even if Dong Qian followed her for a few years and used the same ingredients, seasonings, and cooking time, the dishes he made would be slightly inferior to hers. This was her greatest confidence in her cooking skills.
Others say that teaching a disciple will starve the master to death, but this is impossible for her.
After reading the contract, Dong Qian pressed his fingerprints readily.
He is not an ungrateful person. Not to mention when he was learning from Xu Qinyu, even if he left Xu's, he would not directly give the recipe to Donglaiju. Even if it was the dishes he learned from Xu's, he would create his own dishes. He even added Xu Qinyu's name to the Dong family recipes. He would write down all the dishes he learned and created for future generations.
Moreover, even if he becomes the owner of Donglaiju in the future, he will not open Donglaiju and Xuji in the same place.
But Dongqian knew that when his father finally stepped down, it was hard to say who would take over Donglaiju. But before that, if his father wanted the recipes he learned from Xu Ji, he wouldn't give them to him.
After signing the contract, Dong Qian did not return to Donglaiju directly, but stayed at Xuji Restaurant.
Although he was the assistant chef of Donglaiju, he was also the young master of Donglaiju and did not sign a contract with Donglaiju. He did not spend much time cooking at Donglaiju when he was the assistant chef. There were other chefs in the restaurant, as well as his father's apprentices.
After Dong Qian stayed at Xu's, Dong planned to leave.
Watching Dong get on the carriage, Dong Qian knocked on the door. Dong opened the curtain and said with a smile, "Brother Qian, is there anything else?"
Dong Qian smiled and said, "Mom, don't tell father about these things when you go back. When I get back tonight, I will tell him in person."
He knew what his father was thinking. His father had always refused to admit that his master, despite his young age, was a better cook than him. So, he would be furious when he knew that he came to Xu Ji to learn cooking. He didn't want his mother to face his father's anger, as it would affect their relationship.
That is, he stayed in Xu's and learned from Xu Qinyu. Even if Miss Xu did not accept him as her apprentice, in his heart, she was still his master and should be given a respectful title.
Dong hesitated for a moment, then finally said, "Okay, then I won't tell your father when I get home."
After Dong left, Dong Qian went to the kitchen to help.
He was Xu Ji's first kitchen helper in over a year, but because of his identity, everyone was inevitably wary of him.
Dong Qian knew it in his heart. He originally thought that his master would ask him to help with the side dishes first.
Unexpectedly, when the master was preparing dinner at night, he asked him to watch.
With the arrival of summer, more customers ordered prawns and snails in juicy sauce. Xu Qinyu carefully explained the recipes of the two cold dishes to Dongqian and showed him. "This is made by drying and grinding several kinds of mushrooms into powder, which can be used as a seasoning. In fact, there are many things that can be used as seasonings. Some fruits can be used as seasonings, and there are spices, including this mushroom powder. There are also some other things that can be used as seasonings to enhance flavor. Shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimps dried and ground into powder in a certain ratio can also enhance the flavor. In addition, seaweed and scallops can also be used to make delicious seasonings, and so on."
In fact, these are all seasonings that can increase the flavor and can replace MSG.
In addition to the ones she mentioned, there are many other recipes for this kind of flavor-enhancing seasoning, and the seasonings used are different according to the flavor and taste of the dish.
She currently has about five kinds of flavor-enhancing seasoning powders. Some are made by drying and grinding them into powder, while others need to be cooked and then go through some other processes. However, not all dishes use these flavor-enhancing seasonings.
Dong Qian couldn't help but wonder, could it be that it is because of these seasoning powders that Xu Ji's food is so delicious?
It was not until he saw that at least half of Xu Qinyu's dishes did not contain these flavor-enhancing powders that he realized his guess was wrong.
Xu Qinyu told him, "These are just for enhancing the flavor, but not all dishes need it. Some ingredients are already delicious on their own, and the highlight is the freshness of the ingredients themselves. You don't even need to add any other seasonings. Just some salt is enough."
Xu Qinyu made another dish of bean sprouts in soup.
She grows the bean sprouts herself in hydroponics, and this dish is also the signature dish of the restaurant.
There are many ways to cook bean sprouts in soup. You can use only broth without side dishes. This is the most challenging way to make the soup. The soup must be fresh, and the heat when cooking the bean sprouts in the broth must be well controlled. This way of cooking bean sprouts in soup makes the soup base delicious, the bean sprouts crispy and tender. Even if there is the freshness of the broth, it will not steal the tenderness of the bean sprouts.
In addition, you can also add preserved eggs or ham to the bean sprout soup, depending on the cooking method.
Xu Ji now has two ways of making it. One is to cook it with broth and add only a little salt.
Another type adds preserved eggs and bean sprouts in soup.
If the ham is not ready to be eaten, it cannot be used as a side dish.
The preserved eggs are pickled and fermented by her, and are a new dish that she just launched in the past two months.
Some people particularly like preserved eggs, while others don’t.
Just like ingredients with stronger and richer flavors such as snail noodles, durian, watercress, coriander, etc., it depends on the diners' own preferences.
Preserved eggs are also called preserved eggs.
Because Xu Qinyu pickled a lot of preserved eggs, the restaurant also added a dish of preserved egg and lean meat porridge for breakfast.
There is an additional dish of cold-mixed preserved eggs for dinner, but there is no chili pepper. Otherwise, I would make preserved eggs with pounded chili pepper, which is not only delicious but also goes well with rice.
At present, there are still many diners who can accept the taste of preserved eggs. At the beginning, there were not many people who tried it, but later the number gradually increased. After getting used to the taste of preserved eggs, they felt that this thing was quite delicious, a bit cool and refreshing, and the taste was a bit strong but very fragrant.
Dong Qian had been learning from Xu Qin in the kitchen for almost two hours and was already convinced.
The master can use several stoves at the same time, and the dishes can be prepared quickly without affecting the taste at all.
Even my own father can only control two stoves at the same time, and he still has to stew meat dishes, or stir-fry or cook soup. If he doesn't control it well, the taste will be wrong.
Dongqian studies very hard.
He finally understood that the reason why his master's cooking was delicious was not because of the seasonings. Of course, every dish was seasoned with seasonings, but they were just ordinary seasonings like ginger, scallions, soy sauce and vinegar. Many dishes even tasted good with just salt. His master was truly a great cook.
Xu Qinyu taught Dongqian how to prepare the evening dishes.
That evening, Dong Qian was asked to prepare dinner for everyone in the restaurant.
There was a dish of prawns in sauce, a dish of cold half-century egg, a dish of fish with pork intestines and a dish of braised eggplant.
Xu Qinyu will ask him to cook all the dishes in the restaurant to see what kind of cuisine Dong Qian is most suitable for, and then she will teach him according to his aptitude.
After all, the same food can be made into many different flavors. Some chefs are talented in making heavy-flavored dishes, such as Sichuan cuisine. Some are good at highlighting the freshness and smoothness of ingredients. Still others focus on knife skills and delicacy, and are better at using ginger and scallions, making dishes that are more refreshing.
Xu Qinyu also ate the staff meal prepared by Dong Qian in the evening. It tasted good, worthy of being a kitchen helper who had been in charge of cooking for several years. He could learn about it about 50% just by watching her make it once and explaining the proportion of seasonings and the heat to him. The rest was just a matter of slowly controlling the heat.
After dinner, Xu Qinyu returned.
After a while, Dong Qian also returned to the Dong family.
After returning, he first went to his father Yue Weimin's study.
Yue Weimin had also returned from Donglaiju. Seeing Dongqian, he frowned and asked, "Where were you going today? Brother Xi said you wanted to go to Xuji Restaurant to learn cooking from the young cook? Did you go there today?"
Dong Qian said, "In reply to my father, I went to Xu's today and signed a contract with my master. I will stay at Xu's and learn cooking from him for three years."
He had received wages in the past three years, but it was only five taels of silver a month. He was not short of money to begin with. In fact, after tonight, he didn't even want to take the five taels of silver, because his master really wanted to teach him.
Yue Weimin was not angry, but asked curiously, "Is the young cook willing to teach you? Is she trying to trick you?"
Dong Qian said, "Father, you're worrying too much. Master is very kind. Today, when Master was making dinner, she asked me to learn from her. She also taught me in detail how to season and control the heat. Today, I learned how to make prawns with sauce, snails with sauce, fish with intestines, bean sprouts in soup, stir-fried shredded eel, and some other stir-fries."
Yue Weimin was a little shocked.
So what this little cook said is true?
Does she really want to pass on her cooking skills to others?
Isn't he afraid that teaching his apprentice will starve him to death? Even if he accepted an apprentice, he would not easily teach him several of his signature dishes.
"Did she really teach you?" Yue Weimin still didn't believe it.
Dong Qian nodded, "Master has cooked more than 20 dishes today, and I have been learning from him."
Yue Weimin couldn't help but ask, "Does she use any special, addictive seasonings in her cooking?"
Dong Qian glanced at his father and said, "No, Master also has a few seasonings that enhance flavor, but they are the same as the Dong family's. They are made by thickening or drying ingredients. There is nothing addictive. Father, Master's cooking skills are unquestionable. Her talent in cooking is simply unmatched."
In fact, this kind of seasoning for enhancing flavor is available in some big culinary families, and it is never passed on to others. The Dong family is no exception. They use seven or eight kinds of dried seafood broth to make it, and then go through a series of tedious processes. The cost is relatively high, so the dishes at Donglaiju are not cheap. Some small restaurants do not have this seasoning.
Because the chefs in small restaurants all learned cooking skills from their masters, ordinary masters will not teach the recipe of this seasoning to others.
Just like back then, if Yue Weimin had not married his mother and married into the Dong family.
My grandfather would never give the recipe for this seasoning to my father.
Dong Qian even only knew the original recipe of the seasoning called "Seven Fresh" in the Dong family's cookbook. The "Seven Fresh" seasoning used in Donglaiju now was improved by his father, and the recipe was not told to him. As for whether his father told his brother, he never knew.
Many of the dishes on the Dong family’s menu today were improved upon by my father.
Yue Weimin was speechless. If Xu Ji also had this kind of seasoning to increase the flavor, it was no wonder that Xu Ji's dishes were delicious and tasted even better than Donglai Ju's. It must be that Xu Ji's seasoning was better than his "Seven Freshness".
He couldn't help but ask, "Brother Qian, do you know how Xu's seasoning is prepared?"
Dong Qian glanced at his father and said, "I think he knows. Master has five kinds of seasonings to enhance the flavor."
These things cannot be hidden, his father will definitely find ways to get them from him, so it is better to tell him directly, but he will definitely not give his father the seasonings or cooking recipes.
In fact, compared with the "Seven Fresh" of Donglaiju, the recipes of the seasonings that enhance the flavor of the food are really simple. There are two that are particularly simple. The master directly tells you that you just need to dry and grind the two ingredients into powder according to the proportion.
Yue Weimin's eyes widened immediately. "Five?"
He had spent most of his life perfecting the Seven Fresh Seasonings, bringing the flavor to its peak, and attracting so many customers to Donglaiju. But how did that little cook possess five different seasonings? How did she do it? Could it be that her master was a renowned chef? Was he willing to teach these recipes to a young cook?
He remembered that the young cook's family came to Yuanbao Town suddenly. Could it be that the young cook's ancestor was also a cook?
Yue Weimin thought about it and said to Dong Qian hesitantly, "Qian'er, since you know the recipes for two of them, as well as the recipes for those dishes, can you tell me about it? Don't worry, I won't use these recipes for the food at Donglaiju. I just want to study them."
"Father," Dong Qian shook his head. "If I tell you these formulas, wouldn't I be a traitor? Do you really want your apprentice to betray their master like this? Besides, my master and I have signed a contract. Even if you take the formulas and don't use them, I will be betraying my master and violating the contract. So, please forgive me, I cannot tell you these formulas."
Yue Weimin was a little unhappy. "Brother Qian, why do you doubt me so much? I'm just curious and want to research it. I won't reveal the formula and make you a traitor."
Dong Qian sighed, "But, father, if I tell you the formula, regardless of whether you will use it or not, I will have already committed a betrayal."
Yue Weimin's face fell, and he swung his sleeves, saying, "Forget it. If you doubt my intentions so much, I want to see what you can learn from that little cook. Will she really teach you her special skills?"
Dong Qian was a little sad, "Father, then I will go back first."
Yue Weimin waved goodbye and Dong Qian left.
When he returned to the yard, he saw his wife playing with her daughter in the yard with a big belly. A smile appeared on his face, and he went to accompany his wife and daughter.
After a while, Dong came to look for him, "Qian'er, have you told your father? Did your father scold you?"
Dong Qian told Dong Shi what happened in the study.
Dong felt a little uncomfortable when she heard this. In recent years, Donglaiju has been the only dominant player in Yuanbao Town. Now with Miss Xu and Xu's Restaurant, her husband must be feeling uncomfortable and unable to accept the situation.
She said, "Don't worry about your father. I will try to persuade him. He's just stuck in a rut for the moment. He'll figure it out in time."
Dong Qian also nodded. After all, he was his father. His father loved him very much when he was a child. He often took him and his younger brother out to play, and held him in his arms while they enjoyed flowers and ate snacks in the courtyard.
…
Dong Qian did not tell his master about what happened between him and his father.
All he could do was learn the skills from his master, and he could also guarantee that he would not teach the recipe to his father or sell it to anyone else.
In fact, this kind of thing happens a lot. When a master teaches his apprentice, other restaurants and food shops will buy the recipe from the apprentice. Some apprentices cannot resist the temptation of money and will sell the recipe and break their promise.
Xu Qinyu knew Dong Qian's identity, but she didn't guard against him. She didn't have a brain as smart as her fourth brother, and she couldn't tell a person's character from his micro-expressions and actions. All she could do was to have a clear conscience. Since he was willing to teach her cooking skills, she would definitely teach him diligently and well.
However, because Dong Qian is the young master of Donglaiju, Xu Qinyu gradually got to know Donglaiju.
I know the Dong family recipes and that the chef of Donglaiju married into the Dong family. The eldest son and youngest daughter took their mother's surname, and the second son took his son-in-law's surname.
When Xu Qinyu heard that the second son had the same surname as the son-in-law who married into the Dong family, her heart skipped a beat.
We cannot say that everyone is selfish, but it is strange that in the eyes of some people, surname is more important than blood.
Even in later generations, there are many such examples. When two families marry, the children born have different surnames. Both sides love the children with their own surnames, and each side wants to leave the family property to the child with their own surname.
This situation is less common in mothers because their children are born after ten months of pregnancy, and mothers generally have the same feelings towards their children.
Mothers rarely worry about surnames, but there are some mothers who do not love their children.
In short, human emotions are very complicated. Xu Qinyu doesn't know the situation of the Dong family, and the affairs of the Dong family actually have nothing to do with her. She only needs to teach Dong Qian cooking skills well.
By midsummer, Dongqian already knew how to cook dozens of dishes at Xu's Restaurant.
Xu Qinyu found that he was better at cooking heavy-flavored dishes, such as fish with pork intestines, fish with pickled cabbage, boiled pork slices, and chicken with green pepper.
Xu Qinyu also talked to Dong Qian and told him that he was better at dishes that were both rich and flavorful, so he could put more effort into these dishes, and in the future, he could be the chef of these dishes in the restaurant.
Dongqian himself also felt that he performed better when making these heavy-flavored dishes.
Although Xu Qinyu asked Dongqian to cook dishes of this flavor, if he really wanted to be the chef, he would need several months of practice.
The taste of his cooking now is still somewhat different from that of Xu Qinyu's.
Even women like Yuan and Lin, who don't care much about food, can taste it.
Dongqian also practiced harder.
When it comes to cooking, apart from talent, the rest is just about doing it more and practicing more, and becoming familiar with the control of heat and seasoning.
In the blink of an eye, a month passed, and the winery became even busier. The grapes in the mountains ripened in large quantities. Fortunately, Xu Qinyu did not have to worry about these. Madam Lu asked the women nearby to go to the mountains to help pick wild grapes, and then wash and dry them. She still took time to go there at noon every day to adjust the ratio of wild grapes to rock sugar, and then asked others to help pack them into jars and seal them.
Tao Qi and the other two also went up the mountain to pick grapes every day.
In addition to grapes, there are also hawthorns. If the three of them come across other sweet wild fruits, they will pick them and send them to Xu Ji.
Even though Miss Xu didn't want these wild fruits, they still wanted to send them to her so that she could try them.
There are quite a lot of sweet wild fruits in the mountains.
Seeing that the dried hawthorns were enough to last until next summer, Xu Qinyu asked Tao Qi and the others to pick a small amount every day, just enough for the restaurant to stir-fry the red fruits and cook hawthorn drinks.
If you go to the mountains to pick wild grapes, you can earn dozens of coins every day if you are diligent. This money is just a quick buck. In a month at most, most of the wild grapes in the mountains will be picked.
The recipe for making wine is not difficult, it is even very simple, and the process is also extremely simple.
Therefore, many people have some ideas in their minds.
This wine is expensive, and they have known it for a long time. The wine brewed by Miss Xu before cost one or two taels of silver per bottle, and a bottle contained about one kilogram of grapes. In addition, they watched how wine was brewed all day long, and they could estimate the ratio of grapes to sugar with the naked eye, so they naturally thought that brewing wine was very simple.
Two women in Dagu Village came up with an idea and secretly asked their family members to go to the mountain to pick some grapes and buy some candy.
After washing and drying the grapes, they also learned to do as they did in the winery, putting the grapes and sugar in a wine jar and sealing it. Because it was their first time, they didn't dare to try too much, but a wine jar must have at least dozens of kilograms. The grapes were free, and they spent almost two taels of silver on buying sugar. They thought that as long as they could make wine, this jar of wine could be sold cheaper, even for a few hundred coins, and it would be worth at least ten or twenty taels of silver, which was really a great profit.
So they waited for the wine to ferment.
Mrs. Lu also found out about this two days later. She didn't say much, but simply paid the two of them their wages for those days and let them leave.
The two were still a little unconvinced and asked Mrs. Lu, "Why were we dismissed? Were we not good at our work? Or were we being lazy?"
Mrs. Lu directly asked them whether they had secretly learned the winery's winemaking method and were making wine at home.
The two women argued confidently, "Who learned this secretly? Making wine is simple. You can't stop others from making wine just because you open a winery because you make so much."
"It's so simple?" Madam Lu smiled and said nothing more. "In that case, you can go to the mountains to pick more grapes and make more wine. You can earn more money. Naturally, you won't be interested in these few days' wages of ten cents."
In the end, the two women just left muttering to themselves.
After the two men left, Madam Lu stood in the winery and said calmly, "The method of making wine is indeed simple. You can learn it at a glance. If you have other ideas and don't care about the few dozen coins you earn every day picking grapes, you can go to the mountains to pick grapes yourself, buy some sugar, and make your own wine. I won't stop you. But from now on, the winery will definitely not let you continue to work at this time of year. Even though it's only two months of work each year and you can only earn three or four taels of silver, you should think it through."
Some people are still tempted. In fact, the profit of this wine is too huge, it is hard not to be tempted.
But most of them were very simple women, who said, "Master, we will not leave, we will work hard for you."
There were also some smart people who knew that although winemaking looked simple, it was definitely not as simple as it seemed. Otherwise, they would not have asked the owner of Xu's family to make a trip there every day. They were afraid that there would definitely be problems with the winemaking by the two women this time.
Seeing that no one was willing to leave, a few people who were a little tempted gave up and thought about waiting and seeing how the wine brewed by the two women tasted. If it tasted good and could be sold at a high price, they would brew the same wine next year.
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