Riding the wind of rebirth

"Elbow seems to be very knowledgeable about barbecue." McGeff looked at Zhou Zhi who was handling the ingredients skillfully and felt that this kid was very knowledgeable, even better than the neighbors around him who loved barbecue.

"Elbow wrote a book about the cooking of their hometown, which was on the bestseller list. It's called "Fragrance Flavor of Szechuan"? "

You definitely investigated me, and now I don't even want to pretend! Zhou Zhi complained in his heart, but he was very respectful and smiled, "Yes, that set of books was later picked up by Mr. Cai from Hong Kong and Cambridge Publishing House in England, and they published Hong Kong, Taiwan and English versions. It was my first pot of gold in life. When my parents' combined income was only three or four hundred yuan a month, I earned one million pounds from that set of books, which was indeed a crazy income at the time."

In fact, Zhouzhi had some income before, but this was foreign exchange. The exchange rate was 1 to 10 for the British pound, 1 to 7 for the US dollar, and even 1 to 1.23 for the Hong Kong dollar. The black market was even higher. It was so cool to earn money abroad and spend it in China when the average salary in China was only a few dozen yuan.

Moreover, with these foreign currencies, plus the commissions from overseas sales of anti-theft door locks given by Anxin and Anran, Zhou Zhi soon seized his first opportunity to get rich - shorting the European financial crisis.

Without this first pot of gold, even if you knew that the financial crisis was coming, it would be useless if you didn't have the foreign exchange to short it.

"I also ordered a set from Amazon." Louise said, "It's a contribution to your sales. This book seems to be selling well now. It can be considered a bestseller."

"This is a bit of a trick. It became famous relatively early, and when people talk about Eastern culture, or rather books introducing Chinese subculture, it's easy for people to think of it," Zhou Zhi said modestly, "so it still sells well."

"But this also reminds us that many people abroad still like our culture. The key lies in how to promote and introduce it."

"I'll definitely take a good look at it then." McGeve was looking forward to it: "Maybe I can learn a couple of dishes, too."

"But my book didn't introduce barbecue," Zhou Zhi said. "I actually learned how to make barbecue from the local folks after I arrived in Liangshan Prefecture. Their barbecue is quite good, but it's a pity that the seasoning is different from here, so I can't make it the same. When your uncle and aunt come to China for a visit, Xiao Miao and I will take you to taste it."

As he was talking, Elbow had already mixed a sauce with olive oil used to fry onions, diced mushrooms, diced German sausage, chickpeas, starch water and salt. He then gave it to Mai Xiaomiao to scoop into an egg custard bowl and add a basil leaf as decoration. A fusion of Chinese and Western egg custard was ready.

With this dish as the start, the banquet begins.

Due to the limitation of materials, Zhou Zhi grilled the meat while guiding Mai Xiaomiao to make cola chicken wings, scrambled eggs with tomato and bacon, and stir-fried lettuce with garlic. The rest were fried steak, roast beef, and grilled sausage.

The staple food is toast.

The cold dish is shredded cabbage, celery, boiled raw potato and carrot, mixed with lettuce mixed with cola, lemon juice, chopped herbs, salt, ginger and garlic juice.

The key is that Zhouzhi uses soaked dried chilies, mixes them with salt and water, and then pours boiling oil on them to make a special chili sauce, so that everyone can add it to their own portion of shredded cold dishes according to their own acceptance. This sweet and sour cold dish is paired with barbecue and a glass of iced lemonade. It is so comfortable to enjoy in the courtyard in early summer.

Apart from the precise seasoning required, the processing method is really simple, so Mai Xiaomiao naturally serves them all on the table as his own dishes to show off.

Louise and McGeff smiled at each other and liked Zhou Zhi even more. This kid really knew how to provide emotional value to Xiao Miao.

But we must admit that the dishes all tasted very good. Louise pointed at the sauerkraut egg custard, cola chicken wings, scrambled eggs with tomatoes and bacon, stir-fried lettuce with garlic, and cold shredded vegetables with her fork: "If these dishes were served in a big New York restaurant, they would cost at least a hundred dollars." "Coke can be used to cook, and it tastes so good. It should be a Western dish, but it was invented by the Chinese." McGeff, who used to eat health sandwiches with his wife on weekends, was very happy: "The person who invented cola chicken wings is really a genius."

"There is a barbecue dish in Western cuisine called coca-chicken, which is made by marinating the chicken with cola and ketchup and then grilling it."

"It is said that the Chinese dish cola chicken wings evolved from this dish. After coca-chicken was introduced to Taiwan, people used soy sauce instead of ketchup."

"After it was introduced to mainland China, mainland chefs were very familiar with the caramel color because they often cooked braised pork. Legend has it that a restaurant in Jinan, Shandong Province, first discovered that cola could be used instead of caramel color, which was very convenient, so it spread."

"For braised dishes in Chinese cuisine, you have to fry the sugar color first, and usually add some rock sugar during the cooking process to enhance the flavor."

"Coke contains caramel, which can replace the troublesome and high-temperature process of frying sugar color. It also contains sugar, which can replace rock sugar. So it is very simple to cook with it."

"Another point is that Chinese cuisine often uses alcohol to remove the fishy smell from ingredients. Later, it was discovered that beer is more effective in removing fishy smells because the carbon dioxide in beer evaporates more quickly and is more likely to remove fishy substances."

"Coke also contains CO2, which can take away some of the fishy smell. It also contains some spices that can replace fragrances."

"So the so-called cola chicken wings are actually a modified version of braised chicken wings that uses cola instead of sugar color, rock sugar, cooking wine, and some spices."

"We Chinese are really smart." McGeve is very proud.

"Back then, the West stole so many things from us, but they never thought of stealing a recipe." Mai Xiaomiao is now very firm in his position, and immediately complained: "It made me think that General Tso's Chicken was authentic Chinese food. When I first went to Shuzhong, it was so embarrassing!"

"General Tso's Chicken is actually a new dish invented by Hunan cuisine master Peng Changgui when Admiral Arthur William Radford, commander of the Seventh Fleet in the Pacific, visited Taiwan in 1952. Radford asked the name of the dish after tasting it. Peng, who is from Hunan, wanted the dish to have a catchy name that had something to do with Hunan, so he casually named it General Tso's Chicken."

"Later, a Taiwanese dignitary brought his entourage to Pengyuan Restaurant for dinner, and Chef Peng prepared General Tso's Chicken for him. The dignitary found it delicious and began to tell others about it the next day. This dish then became Pengyuan's signature dish."

"In 1973, Peng Changgui went to the United States and opened Pengyuan Restaurant. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger hosted a banquet at Pengyuan and praised the General Tso's Chicken after eating it. With extensive coverage by the Washington Post, the New York Times and other media, this dish became famous and gradually became the 'number one dish' of Chinese cuisine in the eyes of Americans."

"In fact, this dish is made by wrapping chicken pieces in cornstarch batter and deep-frying them until they are dry on the outside and tender on the inside. Then, they are seasoned with scallion, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and dried chilies to make a sauce, and the leg meat is stir-fried until the chicken pieces are evenly coated with the sauce."

"The reason why this dish is popular in the United States is that a large amount of chicken nuggets can be fried in advance, and when it is time to serve, a spoonful of chicken nuggets and a spoonful of sauce can be mixed in a hot pan. With the pre-preparation process, the dish can be served very quickly. As a fast food, it caters to the needs of American society, so it has become popular."

"Is General Tso's Chicken not popular in China?" Louise never imagined that this Chinese dish, which is well-known in the United States, is just a "fast food pre-prepared dish" in the eyes of Zhou Zhi, a true Chinese.

"In China, sweet and sour pork and sweet and sour pork are similar in preparation to General Tso's chicken, but they are much more famous. When it comes to sweet and sour stir-fried chicken dishes, Kung Pao chicken in Sichuan and Shandong cuisine is also far more famous than General Tso's chicken." (End of this chapter)