Chapter 127 Restaurant Food Tasting
On Saturday, after making the day's pork trotter rice and sweet soup, Zhao Xiaojing found a restaurant in the center of Jiangcheng Jiangliu District according to the address given by Master Gu.
It takes about an hour by subway from here to where Zhao Xiaojing lives. After getting off the subway, it's a ten-minute walk to get there.
It was already three o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived. Most of the restaurant employees had already left work, leaving only two front desk staff.
"Hello, I'm looking for Master Gu." Zhao Xiaojing had just finished talking to the front desk staff when the door of the private room behind her was opened.
"Xiao Zhao, right? Hello, hello. I'm Gu Shanfeng." Master Gu is about the same age as Master Sun, and he looks very elegant, with a slightly plump figure and soft, fair facial features. At first glance, he looks gentle like a scholar, not like a cook at all.
Zhao Xiaojing hurriedly stepped forward and shook the hand that Gu Shanfeng extended to her. When they looked at each other carefully, they were both surprised.
"I didn't expect you to look younger and prettier in person than in the video I took. The young are truly formidable, haha. Come inside and sit down." Master Gu extended his hand and ushered Zhao Xiaojing into the private room. "Xiaoling, pour some water."
The front desk staff at the door quickly brought up the tea.
Zhao Xiaojing took a look at it with great interest. It was a very elegant set of white porcelain kettle and cups with the same pattern as the restaurant's sign. The restaurant's logo was also printed next to the pattern.
It seems that Master Gu's restaurant pays great attention to details. The toothpick box and tissue box at the front desk also have the same pattern and logo. When Zhao Xiaojing approached the lobby, she also noticed that all the stools were stacked up and the floor was very shiny, obviously it had just been cleaned.
"Xiao Zhao, I've told you the general situation here. We're shorthanded for the National Day holiday, so we'll only be cooking lunch. You should come at 9 a.m. and finish by 12:30 p.m. As for which section you'll be in charge of, we'll discuss it in the kitchen later."
This is our menu for the day. Since there are so many people this day, we're offering set menus. Customers can choose from several options. Take a look." Gu Shanfeng handed Zhao Xiaojing an exquisite menu.
Zhao Xiaojing flipped through the menu. It was only nine pages long, with a total of eight banquet categories, and each category had two set meals to choose from.
Each of the eight types of banquets has a nice name, such as the Perfect Couple Banquet, the Golden Boy and Jade Girl Banquet, the Heaven-Sent Marriage Banquet, the Dragon and Phoenix Banquet, etc.
The price of each banquet is different, starting from 2980 and capped at 8880. Two sets of the same type have the same price, but with different dish combinations, you can choose freely.
The cheap banquet dishes were a bit ordinary, the expensive seafood accounted for a larger proportion, and half of the dishes that sounded very high-end were ones that Zhao Xiaojing had never seen before.
Of course, Zhao Xiaojing can't cook those uncommon dishes, but helping to prepare them is not a problem. Not to mention some other relatively common dishes, Zhao Xiaojing is already quite skilled at making them.
After all, what she practices in the virtual space every day is seasoning and cooking, and every once in a while she will look for different restaurants to project into and practice new dishes based on the different preparation methods of the restaurants.
"Do you have any other questions?" Gu Shanfeng asked when he saw Zhao Xiaojing finished flipping through the menu.
"No. I haven't cooked the high-end dishes here, but I can help prepare them as required. I can cook other common dishes. How about we go to the kitchen to try the dishes and then discuss other things." Zhao Xiaojing knew that the other party was not fully aware of her level and it was not easy to arrange work, so she directly suggested trying the dishes.
"Okay! Let's go over there." Seeing that Zhao Xiaojing was honest and quick-witted and took the initiative to try the dishes, Gu Shanfeng showed admiration in his eyes and led her into the kitchen.
Zhao Xiaojing was amazed as soon as she entered the kitchen.
It is very spacious inside, the kind that can accommodate forty or fifty people standing at the same time and working without being crowded. Each area is carefully divided, such as the cooking area, cold dish area, pastry area, steaming and baking area, etc.
In the cooking area, the atmospheric range hood directly covers the entire countertop, and a row of stoves with appropriate spacing on the countertop can be operated simultaneously.
At the same time, there are a wide variety of kitchen utensils and tableware, all neatly placed, and the washing table, walls, and floors are all wiped clean. The hygiene and cleanliness can be said to be quite in place.
There is also a ducted air conditioner on the top, so you don’t feel hot at all when standing inside in this weather.
As soon as Master Gu entered the kitchen, he put on a white chef's uniform and chef's hat, and took another set for Zhao Xiaojing from the side.
After Zhao Xiaojing got dressed, she didn't waste any time. She walked around the kitchen to look at the ingredients and seasonings, and chose three dishes from the wedding menu she had just looked at.
A dish of salt and pepper spare ribs, a dish of stir-fried beef, and a dish of refreshing black fungus, one fried, one stir-fried, and one mixed.
The items in Gushanfeng's refrigerator are very complete. They are all categorized and labeled with the type of ingredients and the freezing date. They are also stored in three states: fresh-keeping, soft-freezing, and freezing according to different needs.
Zhao Xiaojing directly took the ribs and beef from the freezer that did not need to be thawed.
Soak the black fungus, wash and marinate the ribs with cooking wine and starch, then start making the first dish, stir-fried beef.
The process of making stir-fried beef is actually quite simple. The difficult part is to cook it within one minute and keep the meat fresh, tender and refreshing.
First, cut the beef into thin slices against the grain, add a spoonful of oil, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce, mix well and set aside.
Then cut the green pepper, millet pepper, and pickled pepper into small pieces, mince the garlic, cut the coriander into large pieces, and separate the stems and leaves.
Then heat oil in a pan, add chili peppers and minced garlic after the hot pan cools down, add beef immediately after sautéing, stir-fry quickly over high heat, season the beef quickly after it changes color slightly, and stir-fry frequently to fully blend the spiciness of the chili peppers, the fragrance of the green peppers, and the sourness of the pickled peppers with the beef to release a rich aroma. At this time, add coriander stalks and continue to stir-fry for about ten seconds, then turn off the heat, add coriander leaves and stir-fry before serving.
The whole dish takes less than a minute to prepare, and it is done in one go. Although it looks simple, the simpler the dish, the more it tests your skills.
I learned this dish when I was chatting with Master Sun in Yangcheng. Although this dish is not served in the cafeteria, Master Sun explained it in great detail and clearly. Zhao Xiaojing has always remembered it and has even made many failed attempts at making it privately in the virtual space.
Later, when she was learning the seasoning course, the teacher gave examples of dishes that needed to be seasoned quickly and in one go, and explained it in detail. Only then did Zhao Xiaojing begin to understand it a little. She continued to practice dozens or hundreds of times before she was able to cook it a little better.
Zhao Xiaojing put the stir-fried beef into a small bowl, placed it in front of Gu Shanfeng, and started preparing the second dish.
Gu Shanfeng picked up the chopsticks, held the bowl and looked at it for a long time, then smiled and shook his head, a hint of long-lost nostalgia in his eyes, and then he slowly began to taste it.
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