Chapter 23 Instant Noodle Seasoning
Everyone was waiting for Yue Ning to continue. Yue Ning looked at Qiao Junxian. Qiao Junxian noticed her gaze and asked, "What's wrong?"
Yue Ning asked with an inquiring look: "What is this?"
"Cola."
“Is it delicious?”
"Would you like to taste it?"
Yue Ning nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, making everyone laugh. Qiao Junxian turned to the waiter and said, "Waiter, bring another can of Coke."
The goal was achieved. Yue Ning continued, "You think it's difficult, but it's actually more difficult for others. If it weren't for Mr. Qiao's help, I wouldn't have come to Beijing. The farthest place I've ever been is the county town. With Mr. Qiao's help, I came to Beijing from Xiaoyanggou in just a few days. You are Hong Kong businessmen and can access resources above, but for most people, they can only wait. From this perspective, you have the advantage."
Now that you put it that way, it really makes sense.
The waiter brought the Coke, Qiao Junxian took it, Yue Ning reached out to take it, but Qiao Junxian did not hand it to her directly, but opened the can with a "pop". The smile on Yue Ning's face disappeared instantly, and Qiao Junxian handed the Coke to her. Cui Huiyi said: "Junxian, you flattered the horse's leg."
Qiao Junxian was confused: "What do you mean?"
"Ningning wants to open a Coke by herself." Cui Huiyi said, turned around and laughed. Yue Ning's resentful expression was really funny.
No one else smiled as straightforwardly as Cui Huiyi, only Qiao Junxian asked stupidly: "Do you want to drive it yourself?"
"It's okay." Yue Ning said quietly, but she also tacitly agreed to the idea of opening the can. Although this was just a small regret, after taking a sip of Coke, she felt comforted in her heart. This damn, long-lost taste.
Cui Huiyi laughed and turned back to ask, "Is it delicious?"
This is not just a matter of taste. Yue Ning felt like a fellow villager meeting a fellow villager. Her eyes were filled with tears. She nodded and said, "It tastes good."
"So, Ningning means that these are not problems?" Cui Huiyi returned to the topic.
"Since my sister is able to calm down and investigate, and recognizes that she is Chinese, and wants to do something for this newly opened country, then she should face the challenge head-on. Solving these problems is only a matter of time. In these areas, I am just talking on paper. However, my sister and Qiao Junxian said that they are worried that the food they make will not suit the tastes of northerners. I think I have some talent in cooking, and I happen to understand the tastes of both the north and the south, so maybe I can help."
Everyone was looking at Yue Ning, but there was a pair of eyes that looked over at him sideways, as if the person was worried about something. Yue Ning felt very uncomfortable, so he simply met that gaze and looked into the other person's eyes.
After meeting her gaze, the second wife avoided her gaze again. Yue Ning asked, "Second wife, you just said that you can't get used to the food here. Can you tell me in detail how you feel about the food here?"
"I didn't say the food here is bad, I just can't get used to it."
"What did you say just now? Have you forgotten? You said the chefs here can't cook without sauce." Cui Huiyi didn't let her go at all.
Boss Cui couldn't stand his daughter anymore and reminded her again: "Hui Yi."
"Sauce?" Yue Ning smiled and looked at Mrs. Cui. "My father said that sauce is the soul of local cuisine. How to use the sauce well, from light, thin, to rich and mellow, mastering the changes of sauce is equivalent to understanding half of Chinese cuisine."
"I don't know how to cook, I just think it's not to my taste." Mrs. Cui responded with a smile.
"Oh!" Cui Huiyi sneered and turned to ask her father, "Dad, when you asked Aunt Wan to join Huihuang, didn't you say that she was the daughter of a famous chef in the mainland and knew how to run a restaurant, so you asked her to join Huihuang to help my eldest sister with daily affairs? Why do you say you don't know how to cook now?"
"I said that I understand the daily operations of a restaurant, but I can't cook. In our family, the skills are passed down from father to son, not from father to daughter." Mrs. Cui explained hastily.
"Is there such a thing?" Yue Ning asked in surprise.
Yue Baohua nodded: "Many craftsmen will not pass on their skills to their daughters, for fear that outsiders will learn the skills and steal their business."
"My daughter is not as good as my apprentice?" Yue Ning rolled up his sleeves angrily, "Second Madam, which famous chef is so feudal? Now that we have reform and opening up, there are many opportunities in Hong Kong, they will definitely go to Hong Kong, we can't have such people?"
When Yue Ning asked this, beads of sweat appeared on the tip of the Second Wife's nose.
Cui Huiyi rolled her eyes and said, "Maybe there is no such famous chef?"
"Don't worry about these things all the time. Since you want to form a joint venture, just focus on the factory." Boss Cui scolded his daughter.
Cui Huiyi saw that her stepmother's lies were exposed, but her father still scolded her. She twitched her lips and said, "Ningning, go on."
Yue Ning was a little embarrassed: "I have been talking about the taste, but the problem is that I don't even know what the instant noodles you are talking about are like. You can't ask me to make a statement out of thin air, right?"
“Instant noodles are…”
Qiao Junxian was about to explain to Yue Ning when Cui Huiyi said, "Come on, I have some in my room. I'll take you to try it and you can give me some advice."
When Cui Huiyi talked to Qiao Junxian about the taste problem just now, Qiao Junxian thought of Yue Ning, but he didn't discuss it with Yue Ning, so he didn't mention it to Cui Huiyi first. Now Yue Ning is analyzing the factory construction for Cui Huiyi and talking about the taste, and it's clear that he is willing to help, so he agreed: "Yue Ning, let's go."
Yue Ning stood up and looked at Yue Baohua, who also stood up.
Qiao Qiming said: "Let the children discuss it themselves, and we old brothers will talk."
Boss Qiao had said so, so Yue Baohua couldn't continue: "Ningning, instant noodles are not very nutritious, don't eat too much. We still have to eat dinner later!"
Qiao Qiming laughed: "Baohua, Ningning is such a strong-willed child, and you still treat her as a kid who needs to be chased and fed."
Yue Baohua also knew that he was too worried, so he smiled and said, "Go!"
"Um!"
Yue Ning followed Cui Huiyi forward.
Qiao Qiming watched his little grandson walking next to Yue Baohua's granddaughter. He didn't know what they were talking about, but they were smiling happily.
My grandson was very naughty when he was young. In a family like theirs, under education, the child gradually developed a sense of propriety, but he lacked the liveliness of childhood. But how come he became lively again after only a few days with Yue Ning?
Qiao Qiming took out a cigar box and handed cigarettes to Boss Cui and Yue Baohua, and the three of them started smoking.
"Baohua, did Ningning really grow up in the mountains?" Qiao Qiming asked after exhaling a puff of smoke.
When asked this question, Yue Baohua was unable to react for a moment: "Of course! She has not even been to the county town many times."
"If such a child can be raised in the mountains, why would we send him to study abroad?" Qiao Qiming shook his head, "It doesn't seem possible, it really doesn't seem possible."
*
Yue Ning entered Cui Huiyi's room, sat down on the sofa with Qiao Junxian, and listened to Qiao Junxian talk about the relationship between the two families.
The Qiao family and Cui Huiyi's grandfather's family were both wealthy businessmen who came to Hong Kong during the Anti-Japanese War.
"Grandpa Qiao first came to Hong Kong to make plans, helping merchants who fled from the mainland to resume production and support the country. With his help, my grandfather reopened the Li De Food Factory in Shau Kei Wan. When I was a child, I heard my grandfather talk about how he set up a stall to sell cakes, from a shoulder pole to a shop and then a factory. It was my grandfather's last wish to return to his hometown in his lifetime. He couldn't come back, and the same would be true for Li De. Of course, I know that if you really want to make money, you have to wait two or three years until everything is clear and the risk is smaller. But this is the difference between helping someone in need and adding icing on the cake. I hope to do the former." Cui Huiyi took a Coke from the refrigerator and asked Yue Ning, "Another can?"
Yue Ning waved her hand: "No, it's too sweet."
Qiao Junxian picked it up and handed it to Yue Ning: "Open it and I'll drink it."
"You drank sour plum soup and cola today. It's not good to eat too much sweets. You should stop drinking them."
All right! Qiao Junxian put down the Coke.
Cui Huiyi came out of the bedroom and took a few bags of instant noodles and put them on the table. She pointed at the bags of instant noodles and introduced them: "This is from Japan, this is our instant noodles, this is from Shanghai, and this is from Indonesia."
These are all plastic packaging, and the printing is naturally not as good as the instant noodles in Yue Ning's impression, but it is also exquisite. Only the one produced in Shanghai is paper packaging, and the pattern is not clear enough, which makes it look a bit inferior when put together.
Yue Ning asked: "Can I open it and take a look?"
Cui Huiyi brought some water over: "Drink some water first. I'll have someone bring a bowl over. Let's soak all of these and compare the taste?"
This bag of noodles from Japan was one of the representatives of Hong Kong instant noodles in the previous life. This bag of noodles was sesame oil chicken soup flavored, and the package said "additional sesame oil". Yue Ning opened the package and found a piece of noodles, a bag of seasoning powder and a bag of sesame oil.
Cui Huiyi told her how popular this noodle was in Hong Kong, and how it was a representative of instant noodles. Yue Ning opened the one from Cui's family, and found an extra packet of soy sauce inside. She looked up at Cui Huiyi.
"Japanese seasoning packets contain too much MSG, which makes your mouth dry. We removed the MSG and used light soy sauce to increase the umami flavor."
Well, the Cantonese people’s aversion to MSG is deep-rooted.
The Shanghai pork noodles were not only packaged in a simple way, but also contained only a piece of seasoning. She had no idea what the noodles tasted like yet. The Indonesian noodles also came with a packet of seasoning.
The doorbell rang, Cui Huiyi went to open the door, and the waiter brought a bowl. Cui Huiyi put the noodles into the bowl, picked up the seasoning packet and prepared to open it, Yue Ning said: "Don't put it all in, leave some for me."
Cui Huiyi finished soaking the noodles. Yue Ning went to wash his hands, dipped his fingers into the powder bag, and tried the Japanese one first: "Black pepper, onion powder, ginger powder, garlic powder, chicken powder, and powdered soy sauce? There is indeed too much MSG. This chicken flavor is very strong. What's in it?"
"Chicken fat essence." said Cui Huiyi.
Since Yue Ning is engaged in the catering industry, he is naturally familiar with these additives. For example, ethyl maltol is commonly used in meat production. Adding a little can not only keep the fragrance for a long time, but also has a preservative effect. This thing is not harmful if it is used within the safe dosage range, but it can cover the taste of frozen meat, increase the flavor, and narrow the gap with fresh meat.
Instant noodles are the worst hit by additives. They are famous for smelling good but tasteless. At this time, the seasoning of instant noodles is still at the 1.0 stage. Later, sauce packets, dehydrated vegetable packets, and later vacuum-packed luncheon meat and braised eggs were added. There are so many different ways to add additives, and many competitors are vying for the top spot. Who would have thought that additives have already taken the lead?
She tasted the Cui family's seasoning again. Just now, Yue Ning could accurately tell the ingredients of the Japanese seasoning. Now Cui Huiyi felt like she went to the Wong Tai Sin Temple to find someone to tell her fortune and found the immortal.
"Did you add dried seaweed powder? The MSG is half less than theirs? No chicken oil flavoring?" Yue Ning asked Cui Huiyi.
Cui Huiyi opened her mouth wide. If a colleague could guess this, it would be amazing, let alone a little girl who had never even seen instant noodles.
"Since there is less MSG, if I want to increase the flavor, I add these two things. It's not just about reducing MSG and essence, I think the seasoning itself can be improved." Cui Huiyi said.
"That's right. Don't just use the powder ratio. The chicken breast should be fried first and then roasted. You can also add celery. Celery doesn't have as strong a smell as coriander, but it can add flavor."
In her previous life, Yue Ning studied this kind of powdered seasoning in order to unify the seasoning of certain dishes, especially the base flavor of the soup. After countless times of mixing, she created two concentrated soup powders, chicken soup and pork bone soup, called Ningyan No. 1 and Ningyan No. 2.
At that time, the catering industry's "technology and hard work" became a hot topic on the Internet, and additives were criticized. At this time, it was revealed that the high-end restaurant "Ningyan" used seasoning powder to make soup instead of traditional boiling, which immediately became the number one hot search and became a typical representative of "technology and hard work".
Whether it's good or bad, Yue Ning has always been active on the Internet. After the incident broke out, she live-streamed a video on several platforms titled "Yue Ning teaches you how to make soup stock powder." In the video, she used the most common ingredients in the market to teach everyone how to make Ningyan No. 1 and Ningyan No. 2 soup stock powder at home.
As she added salt furiously, she said, "We add sodium chloride, which is an additive that increases the saltiness and serves as a preservative."
Netizens went crazy to copy her two soup stock powders, shouting “YYDS”, which brought another wave of traffic to Ning Yan.
The noodles were already soaked. Yue Ning took an empty bowl and picked up the noodles with chopsticks. This type of Japanese noodles is still smooth and chewy even when soaked in boiling water. In the previous life, this type of noodles sold only moderately in Japan, but it occupied half of the instant noodles market in Hong Kong and became synonymous with instant noodles.
Taking another bite of Cui's noodles, the seasoning style is almost the same as the Japanese one, but with less MSG so the umami taste is slightly lacking. The noodles are softer and a bit mushy when soaked. They will be more elastic if boiled. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages compared to Japanese noodles.
Both of these noodles are sesame oil and mushroom stewed chicken flavors. Want to open up the market in the mainland? Yue Ning recalled that during the epidemic in his previous life, the only noodles left on the supermarket shelves were mushroom stewed chicken noodles, which shows that this classic flavor of noodles is not popular in the mainland.
The noodles from Shanghai were soft and mushy, not to mention the seasoning. They were also fried in palm oil, which had no taste, but Yue Ning could taste the oily smell. Yue Ning took a sip of water to rinse her mouth and continued to try the noodles from Indonesia. This noodle was similar to the one from Hong Kong, with a sweet and spicy seasoning, but the noodle bag should have added dried shrimp powder, which had a seafood flavor that reminded her of the Southeast Asian sauce Malachan, with a more distinctive seasoning.
Yue Ning put the one from Shanghai aside and said, "All three are OK. The noodles from Japan are chewier, the seasoning from Indonesia is different, and the noodles from your restaurant are ordinary, with no special seasoning. And this pork noodle is not even up to standard."
Cui Huiyi was a little dissatisfied when she heard this evaluation: "These two types are very popular in Hong Kong. This one from Indonesia is also the best instant noodle in Hong Kong. Now tea restaurants all sell our noodles. Add luncheon meat and fried eggs, and it becomes egg noodles."
Yue Ning leaned back on the sofa: "Then what? People in Hong Kong like to drink soup, light chicken noodle soup. Even if yours can't compare to the Japanese ones, I guess it's because of the price advantage that it can sell well. But this is the mainland. Your father's concubine said that we in the north have a strong taste. You said you have been to Shanghai, Wuhan, Chengdu, and now you are in Beijing. What does Shanghai's spicy noodles, Wuhan's hot dry noodles, Chengdu's dandan noodles, and Beijing's fried noodles have to do with this? Not to mention the vast northwest, beef ramen, oil-splashed pulled noodles, sauerkraut noodles, pulled noodles, and rice noodles."
Cui Huiyi's face turned ugly. Lide Food Company was founded by her grandfather. After her grandfather passed away, the shares were in the hands of her mother. Her mother had always been a good wife and mother, and she didn't know how to run a business, so the management had to be handed over to her father. After a few years, the Cui family's seasoning factory was thriving, but Lide Food was half dead. After her mother died of stomach cancer, half of the company's shares went to her father and half to her and her sisters. Her father wanted to sell the company on the grounds that Lide was not doing well. At that time, her sister was running the Brilliant Restaurant and was still in love, so she had no time to take care of it. Only she insisted on keeping the food factory. In order to keep Lide, she, who had just returned to Hong Kong from the United States and had no experience, walked into this precarious food factory, facing biscuits and candies that had not changed in more than ten years.
She struggled to think of a way out, and went to each food store to observe what food sold well. Qiao Junxian returned to Hong Kong for the summer vacation. After hearing her situation, he learned that his mother was the director of Hongan Group and the general manager of Hongan Supermarket in Gangcheng. He obtained the food sales data from his mother and found that the fastest growing sales was a Japanese instant noodle. After investigating the consumer group, she decided to make instant noodles.
She refused to sell the Lide Food Factory, which was a bit unrealistic. Now she wanted to invest in expansion? Her father naturally strongly opposed it. However, when her sister just got pregnant, her father sent his concubine to the Huihuang Restaurant on the grounds that her sister should focus on the child. The sister was holding her breath and fully supported her investment in expansion, and her father compromised.
It was because of the right taste and the right timing, plus she had the help of Mrs. Qiao. Otherwise, how could she, a newcomer, have made it so smoothly from advertising to sales?
Starting from 1974, in just five years, this instant noodles has become the second best-selling instant noodles in Hong Kong, following the Japanese noodles. With the help of Mrs. Qiao, it has also entered the Southeast Asian market.
Such results are among the best among the young masters and young ladies in Hong Kong City. She dared to be so disrespectful to her father because her results were obvious to all.
Cui Huiyi's favorable impression of Yue Ning dropped immediately after her proud product was said to be worthless. She picked up the pork noodles on the table and said, "You mainlanders are lining up to buy the pork noodles you don't like!"
Yue Ning raised his eyes to meet her gaze: "Do you know what returned grain is? In years of famine, even potatoes were not enough to eat, and the state allocated returned grain, but these grains were all old grains in stock, and some were even moldy and spoiled, and we still lined up to buy them." Yue Ning met her gaze, "Do you think I want to eat moldy millet? I will be hungry if I don't eat it! You yourself think that noodles are not suitable for northern tastes, so you asked me to find problems. I pointed out the problems and you got angry again. If you want to hear me flatter you, you should have said it earlier! I can say that you put chicken powder, seaweed powder and mushroom powder in the seasoning, which tastes delicious, and your noodles are also good. After soaking, they remain elastic and soft without being mushy. But can these solve your anxiety? You asked me to try it, isn’t it because you hope to solve the problem?"
Cui Huiyi looked at such a pair of clear yet sharp eyes and apologized, "Sorry! It's my fault, don't be angry."
"No matter how poor Xiaoyanggou is, I can't stand others belittling it. That's my real hometown. When the second wife said that the bathroom in the food factory was irritating, I also wanted to curse her. People always have biases, and I understand."
Yue Ning could understand her, and Cui Huiyi smiled again.
Yue Ning asked: "Sister, can you borrow the stove here and buy some ingredients for me?"
"What do you want to do?"
"Make some soup noodles and boil some sauce at the same time. While we are in Beijing, you and Qiao Junxian, or you can invite my grandfather, you people from Gangcheng, and the people from the food factory here, to try the sauce. When we return to Gangcheng, even if there are northerners in Gangcheng, after a period of adaptation, their taste acceptance will become higher, so we won't be able to test whether real northerners like this sauce or not." Yue Ning said.
Cui Huiyi nodded: "I'll make a phone call."
"Wait, let me make an order first."
"Come here and write." Cui Huiyi took a pen and paper and put them on the desk, then pulled out a chair.
Yue Ning went over and sat down, and began to write out a list of ingredients: "Ginger, if there is spicier small yellow ginger, it would be better, if not, ordinary old ginger will do; the garlic must be fresh and have a strong spicy taste; there are no big requirements for coriander and celery, just fresh will do; I don't think they can find Puning bean paste, so I will use Liubiju's soybean paste instead..."
Cui Huiyi looked down at her writing the bill and exclaimed, "Wow! Ningning, your handwriting is so beautiful."
"Her calligraphy is great," Qiao Junxian agreed.
Yue Ning wrote the list and handed it to Cui Huiyi, then drew a little man on the paper. Seeing Qiao Junxian standing there in a daze, Yue Ning tore off the paper and handed it to him: "I can not only write calligraphy, but also draw."
After Cui Huiyi finished her call, she came over and saw Qiao Junxian holding the paper. She leaned over and saw a chubby little man drawn on the paper with just a few strokes. It was obvious that the man was Qiao Junxian. Cui Huiyi exclaimed, "Wow, so cute! I want one too!"
Yue Ning drew a Q version of Cui Huiyi who was angry.
Cui Huiyi looked at the painting and thought: Look, even if she loses her temper in the painting, she is still so cute, she really looks like me. She happily accepted the painting and asked, "Ningning, how come you have so many talents?"
Yue Ning said proudly: "Please call me treasure girl."
"Ah?" Cui Huiyi heard a new word.
Qiao Junxian also asked: "What is a treasure girl?"
"It's like a treasure. If you dig deeper, I can always bring you unexpected surprises." Yue Ning said proudly. Thinking to himself, to open a restaurant that pays attention to style, you must have some special skills. For example, traditional fruit and vegetable carving, and using the decoration techniques and scraper skills of decorated cakes on Chinese pastries, using porcelain plates as paper, scrapers as pens, and vegetable and fruit puree sauces as paints, to paint scenes such as Jiangnan misty rain and snow-covered plum blossoms.
Cui Huiyi felt that Yue Ning was right, but the boasting was...
The phone rang, and Cui Huiyi picked up the phone: "Do you have these in your cafeteria? Can I use them anytime?"
Cui Huiyi covered the microphone and asked Yue Ning: "Ningning, when are you going?"
Yue Ning looked at the small clock on the desk: "It's 4:20 now. Is it convenient for them now? Should we go over now?"
Cui Huiyi couldn't ask for more: "Okay."
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