Chapter 211 Chen Jinying Enters the Kitchen
Before the dinner market starts, it is the chef’s teaching time as usual. Lu Peide called a chef who came from Yuecheng for training to conduct a demonstration teaching together.
He said to Chen Jinying, "Sister Jinying, Yuecheng is about to have its Spring Fair. Many of our chefs came here from various restaurants in Yuecheng to learn, and they have to go back to support us this time. Ningning has selected dozens of dishes these days, requiring them to be simple to prepare, with easy-to-obtain ingredients, and to suit the tastes of foreigners. Today I'm going to teach you how to cook sea urchin wasabi shrimp balls."
Chen Jinying nodded and said, "Understood."
Lu Peide asked the chef to peel the shrimps, and then began to introduce: "We are now going to make the French honey mustard sauce. When you hear the name of this sauce, you should know that this is a sauce developed by the French with inspiration from Japanese cuisine."
"Ningning has already told you how to make mayonnaise last time. This time I will use the bottled mayonnaise that you can buy on the market." Lu Peide scooped out a large spoonful of mayonnaise, "and add yellow mustard sauce..."
Chen Jinying watched Lu Peide add mustard sauce, turmeric powder, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, honey... She never expected to see the preparation of Western-style sauces in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant.
"If you don't add sea urchin, you can add mustard seed sauce to the sauce. The granular texture of mustard seeds is also one of the characteristics of this sauce, but this time we don't need mustard seed sauce to highlight the taste of sea urchin." Lu Peide added the sea urchin and stirred it evenly. "Okay, the sauce is ready. Xiao Zou, turn on the oil in the pan."
Xiao Zou turned on the oil pan, and Lu Peide stood beside him, instructing him how to fry the shrimps into shrimp balls.
After the shrimp balls are fried, Xiao Zou pours out the oil, rinses the pot with water, reheats the pot and turns off the heat, then pours the sauce he had just prepared into the pot.
"Our dish today needs to be served hot, but the sauce cannot be stir-fried over high heat, so what should we do?" Lu Peide asked.
“Use the residual heat from the pan to heat the sauce.”
At this time, Xiao Zou had already poured the shrimp balls into the pot and let the shrimp balls be evenly coated with the sauce.
Xiao Zou served the shrimp balls. Two white porcelain plates were placed in front of Lu Peide. He said, "We are now learning the simple French way of plating. Do you remember what Ningning said?"
“Less is more, more is better, and more emphasis is placed on leaving blank space.”
"right."
Lu Peide placed the cucumber segments neatly on the plate, placed a shrimp covered in light yellow sauce on each segment, and finally sprinkled with powdered parsley.
He said: "This is a platter for multiple people."
Then he went to another plate, scooped a small spoonful of honey mustard sauce with a spoon, drew an arc on the plate, and placed two simply seasoned green asparagus crosswise on the mustard sauce, with a shrimp ball in the middle, decorated with a green leaf.
"Shrimp balls have a rich taste, so they need to be paired with some light side dishes," explained Lu Peide.
Someone said disapprovingly: "Only one shrimp ball on such a big plate? How many plates do you need to eat to be full?"
Ah Song knocked on his apprentice's head and said, "One shrimp ball will be sold at the price of a plate of shrimp balls."
"Oh! If one person eats twenty plates in one meal, then we will make a lot of money." said the young apprentice.
Lu Peide shook his head and handed him a plate with a shrimp ball on it: "Here, you can have a big plate."
Lu Peide handed Chen Jinying a pair of chopsticks: "Try it."
A group of people rushed over and snatched up all the shrimp balls that had been served and those that had not been served.
If you prepare the mustard sauce in advance, the dish can be prepared very quickly.
Chen Jinying took a bite of the shrimp ball, and the sweetness of honey and the spiciness of mustard blended together wonderfully. There were also sea urchin particles and the saltiness of the sea urchin. The shrimp ball was wrapped in a layer of crispy shell, and under the crispy shell was the soft, tender and sweet shrimp meat.
Lu Peide looked at her and asked, "How does it taste?"
Chen Jinying hesitated for a moment. The shrimp balls were delicious, but she was not very satisfied with the crispy shell.
"Do you think the crispy shell is not good enough?" Lu Peide asked.
Chen Jinying felt a little embarrassed that Lu Peide hit the nail on the head about what was really in her mind. After all, it was only her first day at the job and she really shouldn't have made such suggestions.
"When Ningning was tasting the dishes with me, I had the same idea. At that time, I thought, why not use the method of soft-frying shrimp? Ningning told me that under the current conditions in Yuecheng, it is not easy to hold such a large-scale trade fair. There are insufficient resources such as catering and accommodation, and there are always long queues of people eating. In this case, our dishes must be fast and delicious, but they don't have to be extremely delicious. The most difficult part of soft-frying shrimp is to accurately control the oil temperature. It has to be fried slowly with warm oil. Ningning removed this process."
"So that's how it is." Chen Jinying nodded, "Then this recipe is very good."
"Wait, Brother Lu, what's the matter with the crispy paste?" the young apprentice asked, sticking his head out.
"There is a dish called soft-fried shrimp in Shandong cuisine. The outer layer is covered with a thin and crispy batter that melts in the mouth with a slight burnt aroma. The shrimp inside is tender and chewy, with delicate meat. You can feel the firmness and juiciness of the shrimp meat when you bite it. The difficulty lies in making the batter crispy but not burnt, and at the same time making the shrimp cooked through without losing moisture. If you use the soft-fried shrimp method to make this shrimp ball, the taste will be more perfect." Lu Peide explained to everyone.
"It's so delicious, Brother Lu, show us your cooking skills!" said the young apprentice.
Lu Peide looked at Chen Jinying and said, "I'm making soft fried shrimp in front of Sister Jinying, which is just showing off my skills. Sister Jinying, how about you try making this dish using the method of soft fried shrimp?"
"Yes! Yes! Chef Chen, show us your skills and let us taste the dishes made by Chef Wu Angkor."
"Yes! Chef Chen, show us how to make it!"
Seeing everyone so enthusiastic, Chen Jinying nodded and said, "This is also the first time I try this Western method. If I don't do it well, please forgive me."
"I'll peel the shrimp."
"I'll come too." Several young men vied to peel shrimps.
Lu Peide handed the mustard sauce recipe to Chen Jinying: "Sister Jinying, you have to mix this sauce yourself."
Chen Jinying looked at the recipe carefully and began to mix the sauce. The young cooks had already peeled the shrimps and removed the shrimp threads, and said, "Chef Chen, the shrimps are ready."
"Give me a towel with water squeezed out." said Chen Jinying.
"Give."
Chen Jinying put the shrimp into a towel to absorb the moisture on the surface. She said: "This step is to make the shrimp better coated with batter."
She added crushed ginger slices to the shrimp, and then added a little Huadiao wine and salt, and pinched the shrimp with her hands: "This step is just like when we process fish fillets, we need to squeeze out the mucus."
"The batter for soft-fried shrimp is fluffy and soft, but today we have to coat it with sauce, so when preparing the batter, it should be crispier and thinner. Then just add egg white and beat it into fine foam." Chen Jinying beat the egg white until it became dense and fine foam, and then added corn starch and flour.
"This batter is really hard to mix."
"No wonder Ningning wanted to remove this process."
Chen Jinying prepared the batter, put the shrimps into the batter and coated them with the batter.
Chen Jinying stood in front of the stove, poured oil into the pot, and waited for the oil temperature to rise. She said: "Ade said to use warm oil and fry slowly. The oil temperature should be like this. Put them in the pot one by one, don't be in a hurry."
This really can't be rushed, the shrimps were fried three times.
Afterwards, she followed what she had just learned, using the residual heat to heat the sauce and poured the shrimps into the pot to coat them with the sauce.
Lu Peide brought a black porcelain plate, first sprinkled parsley powder on the edge of the plate using a patterned mold, then garnished it with cherry tomatoes, and then helped Chen Jinying serve the dish.
"Brother Lu, let's try the food ourselves. You're still so particular about the presentation. Isn't that unnecessary?"
This outspoken disciple was given a slap by his master again. Ah Song said, "If you keep talking nonsense like this, I will throw you to your senior brother."
The little apprentice shrank his neck and stopped talking. Ever since his senior brother A Zhong followed Ning Ning, his status in Baohualou has been rising day by day. After one year, he has been listed as a chef, and he is the most strict one among the chefs. He doesn't want to follow his senior brother.
Chen Jinying finished her shrimp with a smile and said to Lu Peide, "Ade, please try it."
Lu Peide looked at the others and said, "Let's try it together."
As soon as he said this, everyone else stretched out their chopsticks. Those who ate quickly already shouted, "Change this crispy shell, it's so much better!"
This thin layer of crispy skin is truly amazing. The crispness is so fine that it cracks when it touches your teeth and melts when you touch your saliva. The shrimp inside is tender and juicy.
“This is Angkor’s master!”
“That’s amazing!”
"Ningning has a really good eye. When she saw Chef Chen on TV, she said that he was a very good chef."
"Thank you for your compliments. I only know Shandong cuisine. Next, I want to learn Cantonese cuisine. I hope you can help me." Chen Jinying said, "Also, don't be so polite. Just call me Jinying like everyone else."
"Chef Chen, you must be a quick learner."
"yes!"
Lu Peide glanced at the time and said, "Okay, we are going to start the pre-market inspection. Everyone, get ready."
Lu Peide took Chen Jinying to check the preparations in the kitchen and sort out the preferences of tonight's old customers.
Lu Peide was on duty tonight, so naturally many old customers came for him. He went to check his signature dish, the pot of yellow soup.
As the saying goes, "A chef's soup is like an opera singer's voice."
The moment she opened the lid, the fresh aroma wafted into her nose, and Chen Jinying once again appreciated the exquisiteness of the Lu family's soup.
"I heard that the Lu family's soup looks simple, but it's actually not simple."
"Yes, other people's soups are stewed with old hens, ham and pork bones, but our soup is made with only old hens. One is that the quality of the chicken is good, and the other is that the heat is very important." Lu Peide explained to Chen Jinying.
“Really only use old hens?”
Lu Peide said, "I will teach you tomorrow when I'm hanging the soup."
“This…” Although Chen Jinying knew that there was an atmosphere of mutual communication in the kitchen, this was the Lu family’s unique secret skill after all.
"What's the big deal? Ningning taught me even more! And after the founding of New China, our family's dishes are no longer exclusive secret recipes. My second uncle and third uncle have taken in many apprentices, and the recipes are no longer secret. It all depends on who has the ability to learn them."
Chen Jinying realized that she was still influenced by her family's ideas and was more or less conservative.
When the evening market starts, although Lu Peide has many orders, his skills are mostly in braising, stewing, and grilling. The ingredients have basically been made into semi-finished products, and he processes them in an orderly manner after receiving the orders.
"This Kunlun Abalone was originally Uncle Hua's specialty. Ningning taught me how to make it. I combined it with our Lu family's braised abalone and improved it. I added a step, wrapping the dried abalone with gauze soaked in chicken soup, and then roasting it over low heat. After the abalone is boiled for a long time and then slowly roasted, the fibers become softer and the runnier the meat becomes..."
Chen Jinying is a chef herself, so she naturally didn't understand why she had never seen these methods before. But after Lu Peide's explanation, she suddenly understood.
Dishes were served one after another, and the kitchen was busy but not chaotic. It was not like when she was at De Xiang Hotel, where she had to take care of her own dishes and the entire kitchen. If Azhi was not there, she would be extremely busy.
"Ade, Mr. Lin is hosting a banquet for old friends today and said he wants to meet you." Someone at the door called Lu Peide.
Lu Peide said, "I'll be there as soon as I finish the work at hand."
Lu Peide finished the dish in his hand, handed the next dish to his apprentice, and walked out.
Lu Peide walked into the small compartment where two elderly men were having a meal. Mr. Lin was a famous Peking Opera actor who came to Hong Kong from the mainland before liberation and was a frequent guest at Ningyan. The other was an elegant elderly man wearing a long gown and a long beard.
"Chef Lu, this Mr. Liu is a master of calligraphy and painting. He was born and raised in Beijing."
The Lu family has always dealt with officials and celebrities. After this introduction, Lu Peide immediately knew who this person was. He quickly said, "My father mentioned that Mr. Liu Lingjun loves the braised abalone made by my grandfather the most."
"Yes! I haven't tasted that flavor in 35 years." Mr. Liu said, "This Kunlun Baofu makes me taste the familiar flavor. I can even say that you are better than my teacher."
"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Liu. This Kunlun Baofu is a fusion of northern and southern Cantonese cuisine. It is a dish that Miss Yue Ning and I improved together." Lu Peide explained, naturally not wanting to take all the credit.
Mr. Lin said, "It's unfortunate that you came this time because Yue Ning has to take an exam. Otherwise, it would be worthwhile to try the dishes she cooks."
"I just miss those dishes from old Beijing. In addition to the dishes from the Lu family, there is also the stir-fried pork kidney from Yuexianglou. Chef Huang's cooking skills are beyond reproach."
The chef he was talking about was Mr. Huang Binggang's father. Lu Peide said, "That's right! The Huang family's cooking skills are impeccable. If the old gentleman goes to Beijing, he can look for my second uncle Dong, who is Mr. Huang's disciple and has inherited all the Huang family's true skills."
"I wanted to go, but... I don't know when I can go." Mr. Liu sighed. China said that reform and opening up had taken place, but people like them still had some historical problems. "Forget it, forget it. I am satisfied to be able to eat Lu's food."
Hearing that he seemed to have regrets, Lu Peide thought that Chen Jinying was also the successor of Mr. Huang, so he said, "Mr. Liu, please wait a moment. I will go to the kitchen to ask."
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