Chapter 215 Recruiting Customers
Lunch was held in the open-air courtyard of the manor. Lucas gentlemanly pulled out a chair for Yue Ning. Then, the carefully prepared bibimbap was placed in front of each guest in turn.
Paul picked up a spoon and scooped up a spoonful of foie gras and beef abalone sauce mixed with rice under Lucas' expectant gaze. Instantly, the rich abalone sauce and the fat aroma of foie gras came to his nose. When the foie gras touched the tip of the tongue, the rich fat melted instantly, and only a little abalone sauce added a different oriental style to the foie gras. The beef soaked in abalone sauce blended perfectly with the delicious and mellow oriental sauce, and the soft abalone exuded a pure oriental flavor.
Wait! Not exactly. Paul captured the unique oak aroma of his own ham in the abalone juice, and he asked tentatively: "Did you use our ham?"
"I used your ham bones to make the base flavor of the abalone soup." Yue Ning responded, "Your ham is fermented and then dried on a wooden rack. It has a unique oak aroma, which I like very much." At this time, the program was being filmed, so Yue Ning of course had to do product placement for them at the right time.
Paul understood and continued to enjoy the food. After two or three bites, the rice on the porcelain plate was gone. He sincerely praised: "This rice really has the magic to triple our foie gras sales."
After Lucas finished his meal, he stood up and said, "I'm going to the kitchen to cook."
The maid poured the guests a glass of chilled Chardonnay wine. The appetizers were served on the table. Cai Zhiyuan looked at the salad on the plate and said to Yue Ning, "It seems that your 'Radish Meeting' is not expensive at all at 180 yuan."
Paul looked up, and Yue Ning explained, "Mr. Cai said that this dish reminded him of the radish salad I made."
After translating, Qiu Chunming added, "That is the most popular salad in Hong Kong. Miss Yue uses Italian balsamic vinegar to mix it, and in autumn and winter, she will add black truffles or white truffles to enhance the flavor of the salad."
"Sounds delicious," Paul commented.
Yue Ning gently swirled the wine glass and smelled a faint scent similar to lime. He took a sip and the taste was the sweetness of ripe pear flesh and even had a hint of almond nuttiness.
“Good wine.” This is indeed a wine produced in the Côte de Beaune, which is known as the “Mecca” of the wine world.
Paul introduced the family company while eating. It has been a century since its establishment in 1875. The company's current business covers: poultry breeding and poultry product processing units, with a foie gras brand and a Bresse chicken brand; a meat processing unit responsible for processing ham and sausage; and a wine unit that sells Burgundy wine.
They own 4 Grand Crus and 9 Premier Crus. The vineyard in front of us is a Grand Cru. The wine produced is highly sought after by sommeliers and collectors around the world. In short, this is a company that provides top-notch ingredients. Even the restaurant opened by Lucas is Michelin three-star.
At this time, Lucas came over. On the silver tray held by the maid behind him, the pig bladder had swelled into a big ball. Through the translucent pig bladder, you can see the whole chicken inside.
Yue Ning introduced the dish to the camera, "This dish has a history of more than 300 years. It was originally a primitive technique invented by farmers to preserve meat: wrap a whole chicken with a pig bladder, bury it in stove ash and slowly roast it. The bladder naturally expands under high temperature, forming a natural sealed cabin, which not only locks in the gravy, but also allows the aroma of ingredients such as truffles and butter to penetrate into the chicken texture. Speaking of this, does everyone think of the beggar's chicken in our Chinese cuisine? After the chicken is seasoned, it is wrapped in lotus leaves, sealed with yellow mud and baked."
Qiu Chunming translated these words to Lucas and Paul. Lucas asked in surprise: "Really? China also has similar practices?"
Yue Ning smiled and said, "There are more similar methods. I will demonstrate them at the cooking exchange meeting tomorrow."
"What method?" Lucas asked.
"You cut it first, let me introduce the bladder chicken first." Yue Ning kept the suspense with a smile.
"Later, the famous chef Georges-Auguste Escoffier introduced it to high-end restaurants, turning it from a common food into a palace-level delicacy. Today, it has become a reserved dish for the French president to entertain foreign guests."
Qiu Chunming translated Yue Ning's introduction to the French people, and the sales manager Julian said, "Ms. Yue, you know too much about French cuisine, don't you?"
“Several chefs in Japan said she also knows a lot about Japanese cuisine,” Lucas said.
Qiu Chunming translated it for Yue Ning, who said, "French cuisine is the benchmark in the culinary world, so of course I have to understand it!"
As Lucas cut open the pig's bladder, the aroma of truffles and butter quickly spread. Cai Zhiyuan took a deep breath and said, "What a nice smell."
Qiu Chunming had eaten this dish before, and couldn't help but exclaim: "It's so delicious. The cooking of a Michelin three-star chef is indeed unique."
Yue Ning said: "This is the biggest charm of bladder chicken. So it must be cut in front of the guests so that the aroma can be fully released."
Lucas gently picked up the chicken breast with the tip of the knife, and the gravy oozed out from the tender texture. He placed the chicken breast on a porcelain plate with asparagus, morels and other side dishes, and scooped a spoonful of white sauce on the chicken breast. The maid then served this French state banquet-level delicacy to Yue Ning.
Yue Ning cut a piece of chicken and put it in her mouth. She had eaten it in her previous life and had made bladder chicken herself, but Lucas's dish had a unique recipe. The truffle flavor was rich yet soft and warm. Lucas sat down next to her and asked, "How is it?"
"Perfect. So delicious." Yue Ning praised with a smile, "Not to mention the unique seasoning of this chicken, the chicken itself is tender and juicy, and has a light milky flavor. This is not just the flavor of stewing in butter."
After listening to Qiu Chunming's translation, Paul said: "Each chicken will be raised on our grassland for 120 days. In addition to feeding them grains and corn, we will also feed them whey left over from making cheese."
"Do you want to know what I'm going to cook tomorrow?" Yue Ning said to Lucas, and Qiu Chunming helped translate.
"What?" Lucas asked curiously.
"Chicken with pork belly." Yue Ning said.
"What?" Lucas was surprised.
"Chicken wrapped in pork stomach is a traditional Cantonese dish with a history of two to three hundred years. I wrap the chicken in pork stomach and cook it in bone soup." Yue Ning introduced the method of making chicken wrapped in pork stomach in detail.
"How could there be such a coincidence?" Lucas was very surprised.
"This may seem like a coincidence, but it is not accidental. It is the resonance caused by the common pursuit of delicious food by human beings." Yue Ning said. Lucas nodded in agreement.
"So please help me prepare the ingredients. I don't want a mature chicken. I want one that's been slaughtered on the same day. I also want the stomach and bones of a black pig." Yue Ning made his request to Lucas.
"No problem. Anything else?" Lucas asked.
"That's all. I brought the rest myself." Yue Ning replied.
When Yue Ning saw Qiu Chunming had an embarrassed look on his face when he was talking to the French sales manager Julian, he looked at him questioningly.
"Julian said that they would like to expand their business in East Asia, but Durand has always been targeting high-end restaurants. They will not neglect high-end restaurant customers in order to compete for the supermarket market," Qiu Chunming explained.
Paul then said a few more sentences, and Qiu Chunming continued to translate: "Paul said that their foie gras industry is facing difficulties. Environmental regulations are becoming more and more stringent, and labor costs in Western Europe are rising year by year. Even if the demand in the East Asian market surges, their production capacity will be difficult to keep up. And although they are happy about the consumption power of the East Asian market, they are also worried that the brand image will be affected after foie gras enters the supermarket."
Yue Ning reacted instantly. At that time, the Berlin Wall had not yet fallen, and Europe could not take advantage of the low cost of Eastern Europe. In the past, most of France's top-quality foie gras came from China and Hungary. After years of development in Western Europe, the cost was already very high. Coupled with the inflation caused by the second oil crisis, the cost of all industries remained high, and the scale of poultry farming in Western Europe was also limited. Now they can only take care of the old market.
Yue Ning ate dessert while listening to Paul analyze the market situation of foie gras.
After dinner, brothers Lucas and Paul invited Yue Ning to visit the wine cellar, and Yue Ning readily agreed and followed them. In the vineyard in the distance, workers were bending over to tie the brackets for the newly sprouted green buds, with a camera pointed at them from a distance behind them.
Yue Ning said to Qiu Chunming: "Tell Mr. Paul that I have an idea for the production of foie gras. I wonder if he is interested."
Qiu Chunming translated Yue Ning's words to Paul and Lucas. The two stopped walking, and Yue Ning continued, "My restaurant is divided into three grades, Ningyan, Baohualou and Ning Xiaochu. Can you set up a foie gras brand that is exclusively for mid-range restaurants and supermarkets? The foie gras used is not produced in France, but comes from countries with low costs and vast territories suitable for breeding, such as Australia. Australian wine is not sold at a high price internationally, but sales are still very good. The foie gras raised there may not be as good as those in France, but it should be enough to supply supermarkets and mid-range restaurants and make foie gras sauce, right?"
This was the initial stage of globalization, and most entrepreneurs, especially family businesses like Durand, had no concept of global layout.
After listening to Qiu Chunming's translation, Paul nodded. This is a good idea, but he also has some concerns: "Australia is indeed vast and the natural conditions are suitable for raising geese. But they raise more cattle and sheep, and the poultry industry is relatively small. If we want to develop there, we have to start from scratch."
"The poultry at our Ningyan is basically supplied from mainland China. The quality of the poultry supplied to Hong Kong is very good." Yue Ning looked at Lucas. "Lucas has eaten our Qiankun roast goose. He knows it."
It was because of the amazing Qiankun roast goose that Lucas invited Yue Ning to come to France: "That's right. And your foie gras is different from French foie gras and tastes very good."
Lucas not only talked about the braised foie gras he had eaten, but also about other poultry he had eaten in the port city.
Yue Ning said: "China always exports its best products to earn foreign exchange. China also has relatively mature poultry farming technology, especially in fattening chickens, ducks and geese. I use a large amount of poultry, so I know which farms have good quality control."
"China?" Paul knew almost nothing about China.
Yue Ning didn't intend to let him accept her point of view all at once. At this time, they had already reached the door of the wine cellar. She said: "After visiting the wine cellar, how about we talk about my understanding of the Asian market?"
Cai Zhiyuan was just thinking, given this girl's feelings towards the mainland, how could she recommend Australia at the beginning? It turned out that she wanted to bring up this topic first to prevent the other party from thinking that she had ulterior motives.
Arriving at the entrance of the wine cellar, the butler pushed open the heavy door, and the group, along with the film crew, walked into the wine cellar. Walking up the spiral staircase, they entered the slightly damp old wine cellar. As soon as they entered, they saw rows of shelves, on which bottles of wine were stacked up according to the year.
"This wine cellar has a history of more than 200 years. During World War II, it was occupied by the German army, so the earliest batch of wine here is from 1946..." Paul introduced the history of the winery. Qiu Chunming sometimes did not translate accurately enough, so Yue Ning guessed and explained the Burgundy classification system, what is a single vineyard and other knowledge clearly.
Qiu Chunming asked Paul for confirmation again. Paul was very surprised. How could this young lady have such a rich knowledge reserve? Hearing Paul ask this question, Yue Ning smiled and said: "As long as it is related to food, I am willing to learn."
Coming out of the wine cellar, the day's shooting mission was completed.
Yue Ning was still wondering how she could attract this big customer for Yuecheng Agricultural Products Import and Export Company?
Paul said a few words politely, and Qiu Chunming said, "Ms. Yue, Paul said he wants to hear your understanding of the East Asian market, because he heard from Lucas that your company is expanding very quickly."
When Yue Ning heard this, he thought there was hope!
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