Chapter 289 A Day at Ningyan Lu Mansion
Mr. Jin looked at the soup bowl, where the snow-white mullet fish was spread out like magnolia petals in the clear chicken soup, and the sour and spicy aroma of pickled cucumber juice and pepper powder rose faintly. He said: "Under the seemingly simple soup color, there is a complicated process of repeatedly clarifying the soup stock with chicken puree. This dish embodies the saying of our ancestors, 'You never tire of fine food, and you never tire of fine minced meat.'"
After saying this, he scooped up a spoonful of soup. When the soup entered his mouth, it had a refreshing sour taste and a mild peppery spicy taste, which was very palatable. The chicken soup was blended with the seafood flavor of mullet eggs, and the mullet eggs had a tender texture. He exclaimed: "It is worthy of being the first soup of the state banquet."
"Chef Lu Peide also made this soup," said Yang Yuhe.
"This soup was originally prepared by Peide's second uncle and our chef Dong's brother, two national chefs, who worked together to adjust the taste." Chef Zhou said with a smile, "Yesterday Peide also adjusted the taste with me. When it comes to soup making, they are second to none and no one dares to say they are first."
“No wonder.”
Sun Yuke served a bowl of porridge, with dark brown oil residue scattered in the milky white sticky taro paste. This is a taro paste soup with oil residue, which is a home-cooked dish of Ningbo people. She said: "I told foreigners that this is Chinese potato soup."
Yue Ning scooped a spoonful of taro soup with oil residue and took a bite. The traditional Ningbo taro soup with oil residue uses the soft and slippery taro from Ningbo, while Sun Yu used the taro from Lipu, Guangxi. The lard residue in it is not pork fat, but pork belly with more fat and less lean meat. In this way, it has both the crispness of fat and the hardness of lean meat.
"Does this grease look a bit like bacon?" Sun Yuke said proudly. "My grandmother used to cook the grease according to Ningbo's traditional method, using pig fat. I borrowed the taste of bacon in bacon mashed potatoes and used fattier pork belly. Doesn't it taste more like potato soup?"
"Yes. But it is still seasoned with traditional taro soup." Yue Ning said, "Master Zhou is keeping the traditional skills of Chinese cuisine, and you want to spread the taste of Chinese cuisine around the world. Both of you are cooking with your heart."
"It's delicious, really delicious. The soup at the state banquet is good, and this taro soup is also good." An audience judge said, "In the last episode, I said those sour, sweet, and messy dishes, how can they be considered Chinese food? The chef from the UK said that he has made great efforts to promote Chinese food. He also knows that it is not authentic Chinese food, but foreigners like this taste. It is obvious that he can't cook dishes that both foreigners and Chinese like."
Everyone is still brooding over the last game.
The scores came out, and Chef Zhou still won this round.
For the last stage, the main course, Master Zhou took out the Old Beijing Noodles with Soy Sauce, and Sun Yuke and Liu Yi made dumplings carefully, using spinach juice to adjust the color and making dumplings with cabbage skin.
Sun Yuke said: "In Chinese culture, cabbage means getting rich. The Western New Year is coming soon, and after the Western New Year it will be the Chinese New Year. I would like to wish everyone a prosperous New Year."
In the last round, Sun Yu managed to get back a little bit of points with his dumplings, but the total score was too far behind that of Master Zhou. In the end, Master Zhou won the competition.
She walked over with a smile and opened her arms. Before Master Zhou could react, Yue Ning said, "Master Zhou, Xiao Sun wants to hug you."
Master Zhou had no experience of hugging a girl, so he could only hug her awkwardly.
The fat black boy Liu Yi came over and was hugged tightly by Master Zhou. Master Zhou patted him on the back and said, "Young man, you and Xiao Sun, if you have a chance in the future, come to our restaurant and try the dishes I cook."
Sun Yuke translated Master Zhou's words to Liu Yi, but Liu Yi's face fell, thinking that Master Zhou was unwilling to accept him as an apprentice.
Just like last time, the combination of two chefs, one Chinese and one foreign, Sun Yuke and Liu Yi, was deeply loved by the audience.
Someone stood up and looked at Cai Zhiyuan: "Leave Coco!"
Others followed suit and shouted, "Leave Coco, we like Coco!"
Cai Zhiyuan asked: "Don't you like Master Zhou?"
"Of course I like it, but your competition system is not reasonable! Chef Qin from Dongfenglou is also very good, he just met Chef Chen. But look at the previous rounds of competition, the excellent teams were eliminated, and the team that remained in the end..."
The audience was already dissatisfied, especially with Sun Yuke today, who was very friendly and made them like her particularly.
Cai Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Okay, then use your votes to choose the team you want to revive."
"ah?"
"We have received too many calls in the past few days, all of which are regretful for Dongfeng Restaurant. In order to prevent such a powerful restaurant from being eliminated in the preliminary round, we will launch a plan to give the decision-making power to the audience, let the audience vote, and revive the two teams that the audience thinks are the most regrettable."
After the filming of the game, Yue Ning walked into Cai Zhiyuan's office. Cai Zhiyuan asked his secretary to make coffee for Yue Ning and then called Shen Wenqi over.
One reason was to film what happened at Ning Yanlu Mansion tomorrow, and the other was to discuss the details of the resurrection match. In fact, this idea was proposed by Yue Ning on the spot.
Yue Ning took the coffee, added sugar and was stirring it when he heard Cai Zhiyuan ask, "Lu Peide is going back home to visit his relatives?"
"Well, he is worried about his uncle." Yue Ning picked up the coffee and took a sip.
Cai Zhiyuan asked: "How many days will you be back?"
Yue Ning put down the cup, looked at Cai Zhiyuan with a smile, and answered the question irrelevantly: "Sister Sophie and Brother Lu are going to Beijing together to see Auntie."
Cai Zhiyuan stared at her with wide eyes: "What did you say?"
"Brother Lu originally wanted to buy a house, but I advised him to wait two years. I estimated that after two or three years, the housing prices would drop by 30% to 40%, and it would not be too late to buy then. Sister Sophie also meant the same thing, so they will live in Sister Sophie's house first." Yue Ning said.
Cai Zhiyuan took a deep breath and said, "Am I asking you about buying a house?"
Yue Ning then answered the question: "They will be back for a week."
Cai Zhiyuan shook his head and smiled helplessly. What's the point of saying this at this time?
Yue Ning stirred the coffee spoon: "Brother, even if Brother Lu goes back alone, it's useless for you to look for Sister Sophie! She has never been in a relationship before, and she has never paid attention to you. Don't you think so? Many people are like this. They invest many years in their first relationship and get married soon after breaking up."
Cai Zhiyuan exhaled: "I'm not that tasteless. I just want to chat with an old friend."
Yue Ning smiled. If you lose me, I will become your white moonlight. When I am still here, don't you treat me like a plaster, sticking it wherever it hurts?
At this time, Shen Wenqi knocked on the door, and Cai Zhiyuan said, "Come in."
After a year of training, under the cultivation of Cai Zhiyuan, Shen Wenqi has become like another Sophie. She has clear thinking, writes down key points while asking questions, and patiently waits for Yue Ning to finish speaking.
Shen Wenqi repeated the content and immediately clarified the operation steps.
That evening, HTV broadcast the highlights of today's competition. The recording and preparation of "The Chef Competition" takes six hours. The preparation is so lengthy that it is naturally impossible to broadcast the entire process live, but there are many interesting scenes. For example, Yue Ning said that he would ask the crew to shoot a day's film, and there was also the scene where Liu Yi knelt down to worship his master. These contents are not suitable for broadcast in the main film, but they are just right as highlights.
*
At 6:30 in the morning in the kitchen of Ning Yanlu Mansion, the supply channel was wide open and suppliers were delivering goods.
This season, winter bamboo shoots from Lin'an have just come on the market. In the days when logistics in the mainland were underdeveloped, these bamboo shoots were transported through the fast channel to Hong Kong, ensuring that they reached Ningyan's kitchen within 48 hours.
Zhu Ziqiang, the meat supplier, heard that Yue Ning would personally inspect the goods today, so he came to the store in person.
In the beginning, Po Wah Lau was just a Cantonese restaurant in Mong Kok, and Zhu Rouqiang was just a small boss who delivered meat to various restaurants. He earned his money with hard work all year round and lived a stable life that was not as good as others but better than others.
Later, Ding Shengqiang opened Shenghualou and also bought pork from him. After Ding Shengqiang's accident, he did not receive the money for the pork for two months.
Fortunately, Yue Ning still gave him the pork delivery business. Although Baohualou needed a wide variety of meat, the sources were all contacted by Baohualou itself. He only needed to pick up the goods from the designated slaughterhouse in Hong Kong on time and then deliver them to various stores according to requirements.
He did not need to advance funds, he only needed to deliver goods as required, and he could get paid on time every month without any arrears. In just one and a half years, his life became more comfortable.
"I met the fishmonger Rong a few days ago and wanted to say hello to him, but he turned his head away and ignored me." Zhu Rouqiang sighed. Back then, they were all able to make a fortune thanks to Yue Baohua taking care of their business.
"You are living a good life, but he is still struggling for a little business. No one wants to be seen in such a miserable state. He was able to sell the rat spots reserved by my grandfather to Ding Shengqiang and cheated my grandfather. Now my business is bigger. If a competitor gives him some benefits, who knows what he will do. Naturally, I can't use him." Yue Ning said to him.
"I didn't mean that. I just wanted to express my feelings."
The inspecting staff cut two pieces of meat, put them in plastic bags and labeled them. Later, all the sampled materials will be sent to Lide's laboratory for testing of relevant indicators.
Since the last borax incident, Cui Huiyi has purchased various testing equipment. Now Li De’s food testing equipment can be said to be the most comprehensive in Hong Kong.
The stores under Baohua Building collect samples on site for inspection every day.
After filming the inspection process, the crew followed Yue Ning into the kitchen.
The cleaners are busy inside. A transparent kitchen is good, but how many restaurants dare to be truly transparent? Just ensuring the cleanliness of the large glass is not an easy task.
Therefore, after the evening market ends at 10 o'clock every night, the store will carry out preliminary cleaning, and deep cleaning will be scheduled from 5 to 8 o'clock every morning.
At around eight o'clock, Zhu Liling, her grandparents and Liu Yi came to Ningyan Lu Mansion accompanied by Cai Zhiyuan.
At this time, the cleaners had just left, and the waiters began to set the table. One group of people began to lay the tablecloth: two people laid the tablecloth, and another person came with an iron. If there were creases on the tablecloth, they would carefully iron it flat, and at the same time check whether the four corners of the tablecloth were aligned and whether the distance from the chair to the table was appropriate.
The florist delivered the day's flowers, and the waiters placed a different flower arrangement on each table.
Waiters wearing white gloves began to set the table, checking again under the light to make sure there were no water stains on each glass.
Yue Ning came out of the office with a stack of freshly written menus in his hand.
She personally placed each menu on the corresponding table and introduced it to the grandparents and grandchildren. This step was a requirement proposed by Lu Peide. The chef must write the menu personally and place it on the table that day to show that he is aware of the situation of each table of guests.
"Wow! So particular?" Sun Yuke looked at her grandmother and said, "Grandma, I thought you were meticulous enough, but I didn't expect there would be a restaurant that pays more attention to details than you."
"Details determine success or failure," Yue Ning said. "There is an essential difference between the operation of high-end restaurants and mid- and low-end restaurants. Most of the customers of mid- and low-end restaurants eat for the sake of eating, without any other purpose; while most high-end restaurants are banquets, which are not just about eating, but also occasions for customers to achieve a certain wish or purpose. Therefore, high-end restaurants should be committed to improving the customer experience..."
While they were chatting, the chefs arrived at their posts one after another.
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