Riding the wind of rebirth

"Xiaoyingzhou Park used to be the Guild Hall of the Five Northern Provinces. Our ancestors used to cook there."

"Amazing! It's just a pity we don't have enough people, we can't finish ordering too much. Boss lady, could you recommend some of Huili's specialties?"

"But sea cucumber and shark fin are out of the question. We have guests from Guangdong province here, and they're tired of eating those two dishes. Just bring whatever else you like."

"Is that so?" The proprietress was quite straightforward: "Then let's have 'shredded vegetables'. Shredded vegetables are made by cutting various vegetables, meats, and eggs into shreds and steaming them. This dish is quite suitable for you since you have children."

"Is this dish made in your restaurant?" This dish is actually a skill-based dish, belonging to the imperial cuisine category of steamed dishes in superior broth. In this day and age, the internet is not developed, and there are not a huge number of food pictures available for people to download at will. If this restaurant can make the dishes look like the pictures on the menu, Zhou Zhi dares to guarantee that the taste will definitely be excellent.

"Yes, this whole book was made by our boss." The proprietress seemed quite proud and confident.

"Okay, we'll take this dish. We'll also take this fish and rice soup; it's suitable for children."

Next, the proprietress ordered shredded chicken stir-fried with squid, lamb chunks, roasted meat, braised pig brains, vegetarian stew, stir-fried double crisp, fried liver rolls, and magnolia petals stir-fried with matsutake mushrooms. Then she said, "That's about it for now. We'll also give you a plate of peanuts. Do you want some drinks?"

"What kind of specialty drinks do you have?"

“We have all the brands from Sichuan,” the proprietress said. “If you like something special, we have pomegranate wine that’s been soaking for nine months; it tastes great right now.”

"Can we try it before we decide?"

"Sure. We use sorghum liquor, not corn liquor." The proprietress was very generous, placing a row of small cups on the counter, then taking a wine jar and scooping two spoonfuls of liquor from a large porcelain jar into a wine pot, filling all the small cups: "Try it. Some customers think the alcohol content isn't high enough. If you find it just okay, we'll change it to something else."

It looks beautiful when poured out, with a ruby-like color and a very rich fruity flavor that even overpowers the aroma of the white wine.

Xu Anxin loves pomegranates, and upon smelling the aroma, she grabbed a glass and poured it into her mouth: "Oh, not bad! Let's drink this!"

"You drank it without even asking how much alcohol it contained!" Zhou Zhi scolded her cousin, but it was too late. She could only pick up the glass herself, smell it, take a sip, and then down it in one gulp: "This is good, let's drink this."

At this point, everyone tried the drink and thought it was quite good. It had a rich pomegranate aroma, a sweet and sour taste, and a low alcohol content, around 40 degrees, making it very smooth and palatable.

"How about it? Our pomegranate wine has a secret recipe. No one in the whole city of Huili makes as good a pomegranate wine as us," the proprietress said.

“I know your secret recipe,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “If you add an extra dish for us, I won’t tell anyone.”

"Impossible! How could you know?" The proprietress simply didn't believe it.

Zhou Zhi leaned close to the proprietress's ear and said, "This is made from sour pomegranates, the kind from the trees that are used as rootstock for sweet pomegranates."

"Huh? No way!" The proprietress's eyes darted around. "Xiao Mei! Take the guests to room number one!" "What kind of slang were you using just now? What's this 'five pressures, three stacks, thirteen big' stuff?" Xu Anxin asked as she tied a napkin for Tie Dan'er after entering the private room.

“There might be a surprise in tonight’s dishes,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “Nowadays, many people only know about the Nine Bowls, but they don’t know that there is an even higher-level ‘Grand Feast’, which is what I just mentioned: ‘Five Pressing Tables, Three Stacks of Water, Thirteen Dishes and Ten Major Dishes.’ It was a high-end banquet in Sichuan in the past. The difference between it and the Imperial Cuisine is only in the environment and tableware; the contents are almost the same.”

"That pomegranate wine was really delicious." Li Laosan was still savoring the aroma of the wine: "This restaurant might really have something special about it."

While the dishes were being served, Zhou Zhi began to explain to everyone: "The so-called 'five-table banquet' refers to the five plates of fruit and snacks that are placed before the main dishes are served. In the old society, these usually included rock sugar, longan, honey money, and seasonal fruits."

"Three-tiered water" refers to the flower pattern of cold dishes. For example, if you use ham slices or honeydew melon slices, you should first cut them into slices of the same length, arrange them in two rows on a plate according to the distance between the cuts, and then cover them with a row in the middle. This three-tiered arrangement is like a waterfall.

"Thirteen dishes refer to the thirteen dishes served after the initial fruit and snacks. These dishes are all served in small plates, hence the name thirteen dishes."

"The ten main dishes are the grand finale of the banquet, all served in large plates and basins, such as whole chickens and whole ducks, to show the abundance of the dishes."

“I just looked at their menu, and it’s basically designed in this style. Many of the dishes are from the imperial cuisine. For example, the roast suckling pig is not called roast suckling pig on their menu, but ‘pao’ suckling pig. And when it comes to fish, in Sichuan it’s usually fish soup, but here it’s fish stew.”

The dishes arrived shortly afterward. The first dish was the shredded pork belly dish recommended by the proprietress. Just by looking at the color of the dish and the knife and cooking techniques, Zhou Zhi knew that he was in for another pleasant surprise.

Zan Si is the first dish in traditional Sichuan banquets. Whether it's a nine-bowl feast or a ten-course feast, Zan Si is usually the first dish, and it is as important as Xiang Wan. They can be considered equally outstanding.

The method of making Zan Si (攒丝) is simple: various ingredients, usually three meat and seven vegetable, are processed into thin strips, added to broth and steamed. The meat dishes are mainly made of tripe, beef tripe, chicken, ham, and egg skin strips, while the vegetables are supplemented with kelp strips, bean curd strips, magnolia strips, bamboo shoot strips, water chestnut strips, and shiitake mushroom strips. The dish is rich in ingredients, colorful, and layered. It is arranged in a pinwheel shape, categorized by type and color, and then gathered in the center of the bowl, hence the name "Zan" (攒).

The key to this dish lies in the knife skills, the broth, and the combination and freshness of the ingredients. However, this restaurant has added some of its own ingenuity, including shredded daylily, shredded fern shoots, and shredded seasonal matsutake mushrooms, giving this traditional Sichuan dish a touch of Liangshan flavor.

We had been eating all day on our way to Huili, so no one was particularly hungry. But when this dish was served, everyone tasted it and exclaimed how delicious it was.

With the appetizer served first, the next dishes to accompany the drinks are next.

"Yang Ba Kuai" is made by cutting eight parts of Huili black goat, skin and meat together, arranging them on a plate, steaming them, and then pouring a sauce similar to that of Dongpo elbow over them. It can be understood as a Huili black goat meat version of Dongpo elbow.

The key is that the mutton is tender and not gamey, and it can almost melt in your mouth. Zhouzhi doesn't know much about eating mutton, and doesn't know which eight parts of the sheep it is, but it can put together such a dish that is as tender as a pork knuckle and has a rich and fragrant flavor.

Fish and rice soup is made by steaming grass carp until just cooked, removing the meat, adding it to a soup pot and stirring it into a porridge-like consistency, then adding fried rice and cooking it together. It is seasoned with pepper, chopped green onions and salt, and is soft, sticky and fragrant, making it especially suitable for the elderly and children.

Stir-fried chicken with squid involves stir-frying shredded chicken, chives, and squid. The squid must be in a slightly damp but still soft state, and the chicken must be made from breast meat cut into thin strips. Only then can the squid remain tender after stir-frying.

This was the only seafood dish today, but even Li Laosan, a seafood connoisseur, had never tried it before. (End of Chapter)