Chapter 265: Ningyan Lu Mansion Food Tasting
The competition with the tutoring institution is not something that can be completed in a day or two. It takes a week to register, divide into groups, set questions, and then compete, which takes at least half a month.
Yue Ning doesn't have time to care about this these days, she is busy with the new season of "The Chef Competition".
Last week, she received a notice from Yuecheng that the originally scheduled Fuyunlou and Dongfanglou were asked to suspend their participation in the competition.
Song Ziqiang told her that their current project was reported to be colluding with Hong Kong capitalists and worshipping foreign things. Yue Ning became worried. At the beginning of reform and opening up, the upper echelons were still very cautious, and they were afraid that Director Song would be implicated.
Song Ziqiang told her not to worry too much, as he believed the higher-ups' determination to open up would not change.
Fortunately, two days before the draw for the "Chef King Contest", Song Ziqiang called and said that the competition was proceeding as usual and the cooperation would continue to move forward.
Yue Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief. Lu Peide had been anxious about this matter for several days.
Lu Peide heard from his senior in Beijing that the report was written by Lu Yude. Because of this, his second uncle was so angry that he beat his son, while his second aunt protected her son and the couple had a big fight.
What can be done? After meeting Lu Yude, Yue Ning felt that he was not a bad person, but he was narrow-minded and there was no need to spend too much time on him.
Fortunately, Lu Yongding has two sons and one daughter. The youngest son is already 18 years old. After graduating from vocational school, Chef Lu asked him to become a disciple of a master of Huaiyang cuisine. Originally, Lu Peide's second aunt favored the eldest son, and this youngest son was not favored, so he developed a down-to-earth character.
Although it is a bit sarcastic to say “the big account is useless, so start a small account”, it is better than having no “small account” at all.
Yue Ning asked about Lu Yongding's daughter, and Fan Xiuqin said that Master Lu had never thought of teaching his daughter cooking, and his daughter had never thought of learning cooking. After studying at a technical secondary school in tourism, she worked as a travel receptionist in a hotel, found a partner, and got married the year before last.
After his daughter got married, Lu Yongding urged Fan Xiuqin to find a reliable partner and get married as soon as possible.
All right! After hearing this, Yue Ning felt that Chef Lu somewhat deserved it.
The chefs from Fuyunlou and Dongfanglou, who participated in the competition in Yuecheng this time, were all studying at Baohualou. As for Fuyunlou, Yue Ning originally wanted He Yunbang and Luo Guoqiang to go, but He Yunbang said that his reputation was already big enough, so he recommended Chen Jian. Chen Jian was the young man who asked Yue Ning for the recipe of fried rice noodles with pearl oil when she first went to Fuyunlou. He was also a person who was particularly willing to study. He and Luo Guoqiang were a strong team.
Dongfanglou sent two apprentices of Master Lao Dong. Master Lao Dong did not inherit the skills of a famous master, but he relied on his own exploration to train himself into a famous master. The Cantonese cuisine he cooked is a system of its own, or in other words, it is a dish that suits the taste of the working people. The dishes of several apprentices are very popular with diners in Baohualou. The two apprentices have improved a lot in Baohualou, but their foundation is still Master Lao Dong's style, which is very different from the chefs of Fuyunlou.
Representing Hong Kong City Baohualou are the master and apprentice pair of Chen Jinying and Wu Zhihai. Although the chefs from Baohualou, Fuyunlou and Dongfanglou were all trained at Baohualou, the styles of the three teams are very different.
Considering the long distances each team had to travel, a lottery machine was used to determine the order of appearance. The result showed that the first match was between Shanghai Jinhua Hotel and Tokyo Fukuyama-ro.
Jinhua Hotel didn't expect to be drawn in the first game and became nervous all of a sudden.
It just so happened that Yue Ning and Ye Yunxian invited Director Li of the Second Shanghai Commercial Bureau and the leaders of the Jinhua Hotel to visit Gangcheng Hong'an and Ningyan to learn about the operations and services of outside hotels and restaurants.
The leaders of Jinhua Hotel decided to bring the two participating chefs together. After all, Jinhua is an old-established hotel with a high status in the mainland industry. It would be too embarrassing if it lost to a Japanese Chinese restaurant in the first round.
It happened that the renovation of Ningyan Lu Mansion was completed, and Lu Peide was tasting food here with a small team. Yue Ning invited two chefs to observe, and the leaders came over for dinner in the evening.
Since the name includes "Lu Mansion", Ningyan Lu Mansion follows the rules of the century-old Lu family cuisine: first, reservations must be made one week in advance; second, customers only need to indicate their dietary restrictions and not order any dishes. The dishes are divided into four grades, with an average price of 588 yuan, 1,088 yuan, 1,888 yuan, and 2,888 yuan per person.
Baohualou has dishes that are not even on the menu. As long as the customers want to eat them and the chef can cook them, they can order them. The customers are spoiled to no end.
The Ningyan Lu Mansion, where the per capita prices are shockingly high, does not give guests the right to order dishes. They just eat whatever is given to them.
When the city of Hong Kong heard about this rule, they were in an uproar, and everyone was talking about it: What kind of rule is this? They have never heard of it!
It was at this time that Yang Yuhe wrote an account of his experience of tasting food at the Ningyan Lu Mansion, saying that this was the Lu family's rule. He also mentioned that "the third generation looks at eating, the fourth generation looks at clothes, and the fifth generation looks at writing", intending to explain that the Lu family's rules were to avoid embarrassment for diners.
Beijing? Some people prosper while others fail. How can the newly rich know the ins and outs of eating? For the Lu family's banquet, they only need to tell the Lu family what guests to invite and what food taboos they have. The Lu family will make all the decisions. As a family of Hanlin scholars who have been hosting banquets for celebrities for many years, the Lu family can naturally match the guests with appropriate and decent dishes. Without this confidence, which restaurant dares to do this?
He introduced the history and praised the dishes and dining environment of Ningyan Lu Mansion.
Yang Yuhe is a loyal customer of Ning Yan, and his article is likely to be exaggerated. But the next day, Ishikawa from Japan's TS TV station brought several Japanese gourmets to the restaurant and cooperated with HTV to film the tasting process.
After the show was broadcast, those with financial resources looked forward to the Ning Yanlu Mansion opening as soon as possible, while those without financial resources lamented that poverty limited their imagination.
At six o'clock in the evening, Ye Yunxian and the general manager of Hong'an Hotel Gangcheng accompanied three guests from Shanghai to the Lu Mansion Ningyan. Yue Ning stood at the door to greet them.
After the greetings, everyone entered the store. The screen wall, the courtyard, the lotus pot, the green bamboo, every step brings a different scene; when entering the main building, on the wooden tray in front of the red background wall, there is an ivory carving from the Qing Dynasty, depicting the infatuated man and the resentful woman in the Grand View Garden.
Further inside is the hall, with carved partitions, calligraphy and paintings, porcelain, pottery, and even the lights on the ceiling are hand-painted.
Yue Ning extended his hand to invite everyone to go upstairs. The baffle under the handrail of the stairs was carved with traditional figures, landscapes, flowers and birds. Upstairs, a huge embroidery was framed in glass, and the gorgeous colors were extremely visually impactful.
The waiter in a pea green Chinese-style uniform led everyone into the private room. Once you step into the room, you will be overwhelmed by the elegance of a beautiful day.
The waiter asked everyone to sit down at the tea table, and another waiter heated cups and made tea. Yue Ning introduced that this was a place for guests to drink tea and have snacks before all the guests arrived.
After everyone had a few sips of tea, Yue Ning asked someone to call two chefs from Shanghai to sit down at the table.
On the table, Chinese flower arrangements are cleverly combined with a menu stand. On the menu stand stands a handwritten menu, with ancient, majestic, smooth and flowing handwriting, in addition to the names of the dishes, the date is also signed at the end.
"This handwriting is so beautiful." Director Li exclaimed.
Yue Ning smiled and said, "Chef Lu Peide wrote this himself."
The guests took their seats, and in front of each of them was a square mother-of-pearl tray with five small white porcelain plates of different shapes filled with appetizers.
Chef Zhang from Shanghai said to the leaders: "Leaders, after coming to Ningyan, I finally understood what Xiaoyue meant by 'leaving blank space', which means that we must never let the guests eat too much or too much."
Isn’t it? The tender and smooth Chaoshan goose liver is only a small mouthful, the soft and tender shrimp is only a small piece, the clam in sauce is large, but there is only one, even the conch mixed with shredded radish is small and delicate, and the assorted vegetable bun is only the size of a rice dumpling.
Yue Ning asked: "Just tell me whether she is pretty or not?"
“It’s beautiful, but can it satisfy your hunger?”
"Exquisite and small portions are the mainstream of high-end dining. If you want to eat large portions and save money, go to Baohualou." Yue Ning said, "This is also what we must pay attention to when participating in the competition. The taste is very good and the plating is also very artistic. It's just that the portion is too large, which is different from the mainstream aesthetic and we lost. How unfair is that?"
The waiter knocked on the door and came in, placing the covered tray on a trolley.
The cover was opened, revealing a pair of squabs. The waiter cut the squabs open on the spot, revealing glutinous rice and eight treasures.
Director Li saw "Crispy Glutinous Rice Pigeon" written on the menu. Yue Ning introduced that this was an improvement on Fu Yun Lou's previous signature dish "Crispy Glutinous Rice Chicken".
The two pigeons were divided into eight portions, and even with glutinous rice, it was far from being a satisfying meal.
The soup is Lu's signature "braised shark's fin with four treasures". As soon as the lid is opened, the rich and fresh aroma hits your nose.
Chef Zhang picked up the soup bowl and sniffed it, and said with emotion: "This is the Lu family's soup! During the competition that day, Xiao Lu's soup was much less fragrant, not to mention the freshness."
On the day of the selection competition, everyone was present. Lu Yude's "Peacock Manizon Wings" was obviously not fresh and fragrant enough. Not only did he lose his temper on the spot, he also went back to report it.
Yue Ning had only communicated with the leaders over the phone before, but now, after hearing what the leaders said, he realized how intense the debate was during the meeting, even to the point of "was it capitalist or socialist?" Fortunately, the big boss made the final decision.
This report almost prevented everyone from participating in the competition and the cooperation was almost cancelled. If it had happened a few years ago, I don’t know how many people would have been implicated by such a report.
"After watching the kitchen today, I found that Chef Peide is much better than Chef Xiao Lu, and he is also humble and gentle," said Chef Zhang.
The door was opened again, and the aroma drifted in. A plate of fried eel paste was placed on the table, topped with minced garlic, chopped green onions, shredded ginger, and shredded ham.
I saw the waiter at the back holding a stainless steel kettle with a heating base.
The waiter picked up the handle of the pot and poured hot oil on the eel shreds. With a "sizzling" sound, the hot oil caused the chopped green onion and garlic to rise into steam, instantly blending with the sauce aroma of the eel shreds to form a very impactful complex aroma.
Director Li swallowed subconsciously and stared at the sizzling eel shreds on the plate.
Fried eel in oil is a dish available in every restaurant in Shanghai, but Director Li never expected it to be cooked so elegantly.
Yue Ning said, "This is the fried eel paste that Chef Lu improved upon with the guidance of Chef Zhang. Please try it."
Director Li took a piece of eel with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. The eel shreds were as soft and sticky as before, with a slight sweetness in the salty taste. He carefully thought that this dish not only had the delicate and gentle taste of Suzhou cuisine, but also had a hint of fireworks.
From this dish of fried eel paste, Yue Ning knew that Lu Peide’s shortcomings in stir-frying had been made up.
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