Chapter 252 Chen Taiji's Ice-Scorched Meat
Yue Ning brought his people to Luo Guoqiang. Luo Guoqiang was holding a glass of wine in his hand. He opened the lid of the casserole, and a rich aroma of wine mixed with the aroma of meat wafted out.
Luo Guoqiang poured the wine in his hand into the pot and covered it.
Yue Ning said: "Brother Guoqiang, let me introduce the leaders and colleagues from Beijing."
After Yue Ning finished the introduction, he said, "This is Chef Luo Guoqiang from Yuecheng Fuyunlou. He is also my grandfather's senior brother and the grandson of the late national chef and southern Cantonese cuisine master Luo Changfa."
Luo Guoqiang shook hands with them shyly. The leader asked, "Chef Luo, what are you doing?"
"I'm making Chen Taiji's Ice-roasted Pork Jinxiu. This is one of the representative dishes of southern Cantonese cuisine and is also my grandfather's specialty. Just like the Dongpo pork in Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, the meat is stewed with wine. But our dish is different from Dongpo pork..."
"Brother Guoqiang, let's leave it in suspense and let the leaders taste it later." Yue Ning interrupted him with a smile.
This dish is like crispy glutinous rice chicken. With the death of Luo Changfa, there are few people in the mainland who can make it well. Luo Guoqiang relearned this dish from Yue Baohua.
Speaking of Chef Luo Changfa, Chef Dong recalled his youth. He said, "That was 20 years ago, when Chef Luo came to Beijing for an exchange. I still remember his skill in stir-frying sweet-scented osmanthus shark's fin."
"Then today, let's eat fried osmanthus wings." Yue Ning looked at Luo Guoqiang with a smile, "Brother, it's up to you."
"good."
Yue Ning took everyone to the private room and asked Lu Peide to invite Sophie and Cai Zhiyuan over.
Cai Zhiyuan was sitting in Sophie's office, drinking coffee. Just now he wanted to smoke. He used to smoke in front of her at will, but now Sophie asked him to go outside to smoke.
"You weren't like this before." Cai Zhiyuan said.
"You used to be the boss, the boss is the most important person in the world. Now you are just Ningning's guest. Don't you know what 'the guest should follow the host' means?'" Sophie asked him.
Cai Zhiyuan gave up and asked, "Have you really decided to be with Lu Peide? It hasn't even been a year yet and you've already entered into another relationship?"
Sophie put down the documents in her hand: "I knew from the beginning that I was wrong to be with you. I can't see a future and it can end at any time. But with Ade, he is careful and steady. If I marry him, I can imagine us together with gray hair. It's been almost a year since I broke up with you, and it's been a long time before I entered into the next relationship."
"Sophie, can't you just lie to me?" Cai Zhiyuan said.
"The truth hurts. But you have a thick skin, so this little force shouldn't be able to penetrate you." Sophie heard a knock on the door and said, "Come in."
Lu Peide pushed the door open and said, "I'm going to have dinner."
Sophie put down the documents in her hand, Cai Zhiyuan put down the coffee cup and walked out.
Lu Peide held out his hand: "Mr. Cai, please."
Seeing that Lu Peide was going to accompany him, Cai Zhiyuan couldn't help but roll his eyes. But he was right next to him, so Cai Zhiyuan had no choice but to go with him.
After entering the box, Yue Ning and Cai Zhiyuan served as hosts to entertain the guests, while Lu Peide and Sophie sat down to entertain the guests first.
Yue Ning asked several guests about their preferences and taboos, and the leader smiled and said, "You decide."
Since they are all professional guests, they naturally order dishes that reflect the characteristics and craftsmanship of their own restaurant.
Yue Ning ordered a bottle of red wine. This batch of red wine was produced by a winemaker with a unique personality at the Durand Family Winery. Only two to three thousand bottles were produced each year. Because of the low production, low market share and low popularity, it was highly sought after by collectors.
The waiter came in and served the cold dishes. Radish Meeting was indispensable, and today the side dish for Radish Meeting was shredded abalone; a portion of cooked and drunken shrimps was a must; water chestnuts soaked in basil and bayberry, the water chestnut meat was soaked in bayberry juice and turned pink, and covered with a layer of crystal clear jelly, which was sweet and sour and delicious; the braised platter contained lion head goose forehead and goose liver, and there was also a dish called Chen Taiji's Braised Pork.
The meat, cut into pieces the size of fermented bean curd cubes, was neatly arranged. Because there was a layer of caramel on top, it did not feel shaky like Dongpo pork. Each piece of meat was padded with crispy lotus root and cucumber slices, and a few mint leaves and delicate flowers were leaning on the side.
The leaders looked at the cold dishes in front of them and were amazed. Even restaurants across the country have been moving towards simplicity in recent years. The State Guesthouse is still special, after all, it has to receive foreign guests.
However, their plating techniques, although seemingly sophisticated in carving and splicing, were not as comfortable as Ning Yan's.
"Ms. Yue, this presentation is really beautiful." The leader said, "We should learn from you!"
"Thank you for the compliment." Yue Ning smiled and replied, "The leaders of the import and export company and the leaders of Guangdong Province all call me 'Xiao Yue'. If you don't mind, you can also call me 'Xiao Yue'?"
The leader laughed: "Then I'd better obey your command."
Lu Peide continued: "Ningning has always emphasized to us that we should pay attention to two aspects: inheriting traditions and keeping up with international standards. French cuisine and Japanese cuisine represent Western and Eastern food cultures respectively. The core cultures they lead are: small quantities; using high-quality ingredients, using less seasoning, and advocating health. Under this trend, the shape and presentation of dishes have also begun to be simplified. This requires us to ensure artistry while considering international trends and tell food stories in a concise and precise way with plenty of white space."
Yue Ning indicated: "Try this 'Chen Taiji Ice Roasted Pork Jinxiu'."
The leaders listened with great interest. One of them picked up a piece of ice-roasted pork. The caramel made a slight "crunch" sound when he took his bite. The aroma of the ice-roasted meat mixed with the richness of the meat spread on the tip of his tongue. The crispy lotus root slices underneath instantly balanced the heaviness.
He couldn't help but laugh and said, "After taking a bite, the traditional spirit is still there, but the experience is very fresh! I always thought that old dishes should be eaten in the old way, but now I understand that old dishes can also be dressed in new clothes."
Yue Ning smiled and said, "I hope you can give me more suggestions so that we can move forward more steadily on the road of revitalizing old dishes."
"Let's communicate with each other and work together to promote Chinese food culture," said the leader.
Since the leader said so, Cai Zhiyuan continued: "Yes! Our HTV has held three "Hong Kong and Macau Chef King Competitions", and each one is better than the last. In the last competition, Chef Lu won the title of Chef King with his skills as a state banquet chef. We can watch some wonderful videos tomorrow. This program is very popular in the Chinese circles in Hong Kong, Macau and even the entire Southeast Asia, and it has also received very good ratings in Japan. This year, we plan to use our influence to hold a larger-scale chef competition and invite restaurants and hotels around the world to participate. Currently, most of the applicants are Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan, as well as three Chinese restaurants in France and one Chinese restaurant in the United States."
Yue Ning has been busy lately and doesn't know this information: "There are three in France?"
"That's all your credit. You made a big splash at the French chef exchange conference and all the Chinese restaurant owners in France saw it." After Cai Zhiyuan finished speaking, he told the leaders about Yue Ning's trip to France.
As they were talking, the waiter came to serve the dishes. This time, each person had a bowl of soup. The waiter opened the lid for the leader, revealing a soup in the shape of a Tai Chi pattern.
Chef Lu Yongding looked down and said, "Isn't this Tai Chi Jade White Jade Soup?"
"No, this is our store's signature Tai Chi soup, which is made up of fish soup and Emerald Chicken Soup." Yue Ning explained, "This is what Chef Luo came up with when he was talking about the Tai Chi National Defense Soup."
The leaders scooped a spoonful of soup and took a sip. The fish soup was sweet and fresh. Then they took a sip of the emerald chicken soup. The chicken soup was dense and chewy. The leader looked up and asked, "Is this the fish maw that has been soaked in oil?"
"Yes, we put fish maw crumbs in it. The fish maw can absorb the soup and make it taste more layered." Yue Ning said.
"The two soups have different tastes, but they blend well together." Chef Lu took another bite and said, "This soup is well made."
Yue Ning looked at Lu Peide and said, "This is all thanks to Brother Lu. With his arrival, the quality of our Baohualou soup has reached a new level."
"It's not all my credit. I also learned a lot of Japanese and French soup-making techniques from you," said Lu Peide.
Yue Ning smiled: "Speaking of this, I haven't had time to talk to you since I came back. This time I talked to Lucas, and he and I plan to send chefs to each other's restaurants to learn."
"Wow! Lucas's restaurant is a Michelin three-star restaurant," said Cai Zhiyuan.
The leader had some doubts: "Xiao Yue, I have heard colleagues say that France has a Michelin rating, but I don't know what this Michelin is."
Yue Ning carefully told everyone the origin of Michelin, the source of the great changes in French cuisine, and how this list further promoted the celebrity status of chefs.
It was also the first time for several leaders to have these concepts explained to them in such detail.
"Come on, try the bag chicken made by Chef Chen. Many guests from Taipei come to our restaurant just to eat the chicken made by Chef Chen." Yue Ning said, pointing to the new dish.
The leader looked at Chef Dong and said, "Old Dong, this is your specialty. Come taste it first."
Chef Dong was not to be modest. He picked up the knife and gently cut the chicken skin. The chicken skin was filled with evenly distributed fillings, and juice was now flowing out.
After he cut the chicken, the others picked up spoons, scooped a spoonful of stuffing from the chicken's belly, and then picked up a piece of chicken with chopsticks.
Chef Dong took a bite of the filling and found it well seasoned, especially the sea cucumber inside. After being blanched and then fried, the sea cucumber processed in this way can absorb more soup. When he took a bite, the sea cucumber cubes burst with rich chicken soup between his teeth.
The leader usually doesn't eat southern Cantonese cuisine, but he is quite knowledgeable about Beijing-Shandong cuisine and can tell the subtle differences. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "Boss, this chef Chen's cooking skills are on par with yours!"
Chef Dong was also very happy. His sister's cooking skills were indeed not worse than his own. He said, "It's really good." He was thinking about telling his older and younger brothers about it later.
Yue Ning continued to chat with the leader while eating: "French cuisine has very high requirements for chefs. Not only must they be stars and artists, but they must also be nutritionists and even psychologists. They must be compound talents."
The leaders nodded repeatedly. They came from Beijing and knew that all departments, colleges, and even industries in Beijing were talking about sending people abroad to gain more experience. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in particular was planning to send people abroad in batches.
French cuisine is the benchmark of the industry, and everyone hopes that chefs can have the opportunity to go abroad to broaden their horizons. But the reality is that the country's foreign exchange reserves are limited, and those who are sent abroad for study and exchange are only given a set of clothes, a plane ticket and 30 US dollars. They rely on overseas Chinese and some aid organizations for funding. The donations from overseas patriotic Chinese are for the development of the motherland, and they must be used where they are needed, naturally first in those important departments, and it is difficult for chefs to get such opportunities.
As he was speaking, the waiter came in with a plate of fried osmanthus wings. As soon as the porcelain plate of fried osmanthus wings was placed on the turntable, the delicate aroma of wok cooking wrapped in the fragrance of eggs, ham and crab meat wafted towards you.
"It smells so good!" said the leader.
"Stir-frying Shandong cuisine emphasizes the skill of cooking with fire, while stir-frying Cantonese cuisine emphasizes the aroma of the wok." Chef Dong picked up a piece of shark fin with a serving chopstick and said, "I remember Chef Luo said there were more than a dozen ingredients."
"Yes, the standard for our Ning Banquet is sixteen ingredients." Yue Ning said.
The leader picked up a piece of crab with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. The soft egg drop wrapped around the flexible shredded shark fin, the crispness of the bean sprouts colliding with the sweetness of the crab meat, and finally the salty and fragrant Jinhua ham, with distinct layers.
"I have been to Yuecheng many times and have also been to Fuyunlou. Is this Fuyunlou's dish?" the leader asked.
Chef Dong smiled and said, "This dish was only available when Chef Luo Changfa was here. Over the years, Lao Lu and I have been leading the team to support the Guangdong City Trade Fair. What happened to Fu Yun Lou's reputation before? No one considered it the best Cantonese restaurant. This year, Fu Yun Lou's reputation has suddenly turned around."
The leader turned his head and asked Yue Ning: "You recommended Chef Luo Guoqiang to me, but Fuyunlou has been declining and has just started to improve. If I transfer the person you have worked so hard to train, will you be willing to do so?"
"In fact, the talent in Fuyunlou is not dwindling, but many people don't have the opportunity and their ambition has gone. Through this year's learning, not only Luo Guoqiang, but also several powerful chefs have grown up. Otherwise, how could Fuyunlou become so popular at the Spring Fair? Southern-style Cantonese cuisine has me, my grandfather, Uncle Abang, Axing, Ajian, etc., but I only have Brother Lu and Sister Xiuqin for Northern-style Cantonese cuisine. I know Brother Lu's talent, so I will naturally not let him go, but I also know that leaders cherish talents. Then I can only exchange Chef Luo Guoqiang with you." Yue Ning said with a smile, "But Luo Guoqiang will need another year to complete the training, and during this period I will send him to France for exchanges, so you have to wait."
She was going to send Luo Guoqiang to France for exchange? The leader laughed: "Xiao Lu has already run away, how can I catch him back? You are so kind, thank you in advance."
Then stir-fried zucchini and water spinach were served, and today's main dish, Wagyu beef, foie gras and abalone rice, also arrived.
Cai Zhiyuan said: "Try this lao fan, which is popular in Japan and France. Ning Ning won the opportunity to raise geese for goose liver for Guangdong Province with this rice."
"Okay, I'll try."
The leader used a silver spoon to gently crush the goose liver, and the fat instantly melted into the abalone sauce. The rice grains were wrapped in thick soup and shone with oil. He put a mouthful of rice into his mouth, and the smoothness of the goose liver, the fresh fragrance of the abalone sauce, and the fat fragrance of the wagyu beef wafted from his teeth, and the aroma was layered. Western ingredients are used in Chinese soup and seasoning, and the taste can be so good. This dish is also good for entertaining foreign guests!
It can be seen from this meal that the leaders and the two chefs enjoyed it very much. On the way back to the hotel, the leader kept chatting with Yue Ning.
"Xiao Yue, I will help you ask about the wood carving tonight." The leader said to Yue Ning before saying goodbye.
"Thank you!"
Yue Ning and the others watched the guests enter the elevator.
The four of them left Hong'an, Yue Ning followed Cai Zhiyuan, and Cai Zhiyuan said, "Ningning! You and Sophie both live in Repulse Bay, so let Sophie take you back. I'll take Chef Lu back."
Sophie rolled her eyes and was about to speak when Lu Pedra pulled her hand and said to Cai Zhiyuan, "Thank you, Mr. Cai."
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