From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 472: Master Checks Brother Five's Homework
The disciples also wanted to show off their skills to their master while his master was around, so that their master could see if they had made any progress.

The most active among them was Cao Zhiguo. He was obviously well prepared but just never got the chance.

Tonight, the master finally came to visit my junior brother’s Huiquan Tower.

Cao Zhiguo was preparing very seriously in the kitchen.

The dish he cooked was one that really tested one's skill as a spoon.

According to Cao Zhiguo's request, Feng Zhengming asked people to prepare egg whites, shrimps, young green beans and carrots for him.

He also asked for a glass of milk.

When Feng Zhengming saw what Fifth Senior Brother wanted, he roughly thought of what dishes Fifth Senior Brother wanted to cook.

"Fifth brother, are you going to make some fried shrimp with lotus root?"

Hearing Feng Zhengming's words, Cao Zhiguo immediately looked at him in surprise.

"Zhengming, you are amazing. You actually know this dish?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded, "When I saw that you asked for egg whites, I knew you were going to make lotus dishes. I thought you were going to make lotus scallops, but you asked for shrimps, so I guessed you were going to make lotus shrimps."

Cao Zhiguo smiled and said, "My cooking method is a southern Cantonese dish."

Feng Zhengming saw Cao Zhiguo preparing to peel the fresh shrimps but did not use the shrimp heads.

He reminded: "Fifth brother, I think no matter where the dishes are from, we can actually combine them to make them.

For example, in your dish, you can fry the shrimp heads to get some shrimp oil, or after cooking, pick out the shrimp brains separately and stir-fry them with your lotus shrimps. "

After being reminded by Feng Zhengming, Cao Zhiguo immediately felt that it made sense.

Cao Zhiguo immediately followed Feng Zhengming's instructions and made some shrimp oil with the shrimp heads, and also picked out the shrimp brains separately.

Then, Cao Zhiguo fried some of the carrot puree he had scraped off in shrimp oil.

This makes the shrimp oil more reddish and accompanied by the aroma of carrots.

Feng Zhengming gave Brother Five a little more advice: "Brother Five, when you beat the egg whites, you can also add a little bit of shredded scallops while adding milk to increase the flavor."

Feng Zhengming nodded frequently as Cao Zhiguo gave him some advice.

Then he really did what Feng Zhengming suggested.

After beating the egg whites, add milk and some water starch, but don’t add the scallops yet.

Instead, you need to sift the beaten egg white and milk first.

Then add a little salt, then add the scallops and stir gently.

The shrimps are blanched in advance, as are the tender green beans.

Next, it is time to truly test Cao Zhiguo’s spoon skills.

When cooking this dish, try not to add oil when frying.

But if you don't put oil in the pan, the egg white and milk will be poured into the pan and it will be difficult to stir.

Therefore, not only do you need to lubricate the pan, but you also need to keep the fire low during the frying process.

Cao Zhiguo carefully lubricated the wok, and then poured out almost all the oil in the wok.

Then turn the stove fire to a very low level, to the point where you can hardly see the flame.

Slowly pour the egg white and milk in the bowl into the pot.

After pouring it into the pot, quickly start stir-frying gently with a spatula.

Slowly as the egg white and milk in the pot is about to coagulate, try to gather up the egg white and milk in the pot before it coagulates.

In this way, it gradually takes on a fluffy shape like snowflake hibiscus.

At this time, quickly put the shrimp into the pot.

Then stir-fry with the hibiscus that has already solidified in the pan.

Then pour shrimp oil into the pot and sprinkle the shrimp brains in.

Still keep frying over low heat slowly to ensure all ingredients are evenly stir-fried.

Feng Zhengming was watching from the side and reminded: "Fifth brother, it's time to get out of the pot, otherwise the water will come out."

Hearing this, Cao Zhiguo quickly gathered the shrimps in the pot and served them out.

After taking it out of the pot and putting it on a plate, Cao Zhiguo garnished it with tender green beans and fried carrot puree, and even some coriander leaves and florets.

This instantly makes the dish more upscale.

After watching Fifth Senior Brother’s presentation of the dish, Feng Zhengming smiled and applauded him.

"It seems that Fifth Brother has really learned a lot of new things while away from home."

When Cao Zhiguo saw Feng Zhengming applauding him and praising him, he suddenly felt embarrassed.

"Zhengming, please don't laugh at me. Compared with you, what I learned in other places is not as good as some of your wonderful ideas."

Feng Zhengming said: "Fifth brother, you are too modest. My ideas are still limited to our Quancheng. It is hard to say whether they can be applied nationwide."

Cao Zhiguo laughed: "You kid still say I am modest? I think you are the truly modest one.

Let me tell you, let alone anything else, if the Oolong Xizhu you made was made in a big restaurant in Beijing, I guarantee that many big bosses would order it every day. "

Feng Zhengming's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Really? Will the big bosses like it?"

Cao Zhiguo nodded: "Of course they like it. Those big bosses like sea cucumbers, abalone, fish maw, and scallops."

These words made Feng Zhengming feel more confident and he understood what dishes he should cook if he went south in the future.

You need to make some exquisite and gorgeous dishes with relatively expensive ingredients.

As they were talking, the two brothers served the dishes to their master.

Master Yan has already inspected other apprentices’ dishes and given them some suggestions for improvement.

Seeing Cao Zhiguo coming late, the master smiled and said, "Zhiguo has been preparing for a long time."

Cao Zhiguo quickly responded: "It's mainly cooking for the master, which is quite stressful."

As he spoke, Cao Zhiguo had already placed the dishes in front of his master.

When seeing Cao Zhiguo's dish, his fellow disciples' eyes lit up and they all started praising it.

"Laowu, this dish is cooked really well." Li Huidong, as the eldest brother, was the first to praise.

Then the second senior brother, the third senior brother and Feng Zhengming’s sixth senior brother also praised him.

Everyone thinks that Cao Zhiguo’s design for this dish is great.

The fellow apprentices all knew that cooking this lotus dish required very high skills of using a spoon.

The dish made by Cao Zhiguo is indeed very good.

The egg white was fried very tender and did not release any water.

It is served with shrimps, and dyed a little yellow by the shrimp brains and carrots.

Adding some tender green beans really makes the overall color combination more beautiful.

Master Yan didn't speak in a hurry. He first came closer, fanned the air, and smelled the scent.

Then Master Yan scooped up a spoonful with a spoon and put it in his own bowl to examine it carefully.

Finally, put the spoonful from the bowl into your mouth and taste it.

In the taste, because Cao Zhiguo added milk to the egg white, it naturally tasted milky. After tasting it carefully, Master Yan said: "Not bad, Zhiguo made this dish very well. You added milk to the egg white for this lotus, which is a Cantonese dish."

After being discovered by his master, Cao Zhiguo nodded and said, "Yes, Master."

Master Yan then looked into the plate, gently stirred it with the serving chopsticks, and saw some of the side dishes inside.

Gradually, Master Yan frowned slightly, then he raised his head and looked at Feng Zhengming.

Suddenly the master said, "Zhengming, you should have given some advice on this dish, right?"

These words startled the fellow disciples, and all of them except the fifth brother looked at Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming did not hide it, and said with a smile: "I gave some small suggestions."

When Cao Zhiguo saw that his master had figured it out, he said seriously, "The suggestion given by my junior brother is crucial. I really hadn't thought of adding some shrimp oil and shrimp brains before."

Li Huidong asked curiously: "Master? How do you know that this was my junior brother's idea?"

Master Yan looked at Feng Zhengming with a smile.

"Because Master knows that you have a set of skills to cook different kinds of shrimps. Maybe others don't know that you have many ways to cook shrimps, and you always make the best use of shrimps. You will not miss any part of a shrimp."

Feng Zhengming felt a little embarrassed after hearing what his master said.

"I like eating shrimp, so I am good at cooking shrimp. I also think that every part of a shrimp is precious, and it would be a shame to waste it."

Master Yan laughed happily: "Hahaha, your fellow brothers should learn more from you in this regard."

The fellow practitioners could see that Master’s laughter was genuinely happy.

Master Yan continued, “This is truly respecting the ingredients, and bringing out the characteristics of the ingredients to the fullest.

Just like in normal cases, Lao Wu’s dish of fried shrimp with lotus root is simply made by stir-frying the shrimp with milk and egg white without adding oil.

It is indeed very light, and has the same milky flavor, but it seems rather bland. ”

After hearing what the master said, the disciples fell into deep thought.

It is easy for everyone to understand Master’s meaning.

Simply stir-frying shrimp with milk and egg white does seem a bit bland.

Master Yan saw that his apprentices were listening carefully, thinking and pondering.

He continued, "Zhengming's suggestion to add shrimp oil and shrimp brains adds the freshness of shrimp to the dish, which is obviously different from Laowu's simple use of carrot oil for coloring."

Then Master Yan said, "Also, I noticed that shredded scallops were added to this lotus. This should also be Zhengming's suggestion, right?"

Cao Zhiguo nodded: "Yes, this is also the suggestion of my junior brother."

The master said to his disciples: "So, when cooking any ingredient, every detail of a dish must be taken into consideration."

At this point, Master Yan finally mentioned the Oolong Playing with Pearls that Feng Zhengming had played in the competition.

"In today's competition, Zhengming's Wulong Xizhu won second place by one point.

In fact, the difference was due to Zhengming not carving the dishes.

But if we really talk about the cooking techniques and the harmony of flavors, Zhengming's Oolong Xizhu is definitely the undisputed number one.

And just as you think, Zhengming's dish will definitely win the gold medal in the national competition."

The master’s conclusion was a great recognition of Feng Zhengming’s trick.

In fact, the veteran players in the competition also recognized Feng Zhengming's Oolong Xizhu.

It’s just that the masters tacitly did not interfere with the scoring of the judges on site.

When giving scores, the on-site judges still need to consider more aspects of the plating and appearance.

Naturally, the dragon head and tail carved by Lin Bosheng have already added a lot of points to him.

What’s more, there is no problem with the flavor of his Oolong Dengyun dish.

The filling is also the same, and the authentic scallion-fried sea cucumber recipe is used.

The reason why the black sea cucumber is not fully flavored is actually because it is relatively large and needs to be stewed longer in advance to fully flavor it.

But this little problem does not actually affect the presentation of the entire dish.

Therefore, the judges gave Wu Long Deng Yun one point higher.

With a difference of one point, it can be said that the two dishes are equally good and there is no difference that can be used to distinguish the better one.

Master Yan said to his apprentices earnestly: "You have to remember one thing, seasoning is the basis of a dish, and it is also the key to a dish. In terms of seasoning, you can learn more from Zhengming."

Feng Zhengming waved his hands when he heard this: "No, no, Master, I can't teach you brothers."

Without waiting for the master to speak, the eldest senior brother Li Huidong patted Feng Zhengming on the shoulder and said, "Hahaha, don't be polite. We all know your abilities, and we should learn from you."

Several other senior brothers followed suit, stepped forward and patted Feng Zhengming on the shoulder, expressing their willingness to learn more from him.

Being framed by his master and fellow seniors, Feng Zhengming was left in a state of complete confusion.

Feng Zhengming could only say: "My fellow apprentices and I learn from each other, and we brothers should communicate more."

Master Yan is still very satisfied with the relationship between Feng Zhengming and his senior brother.

They are really like real brothers and always help each other.

In the past, everyone gathered together around the eldest brother Li Huidong.

Now, there are signs that Feng Zhengming is starting to win over his fellow brothers.

In Master Yan's opinion, this is something he would like to see.

This shows that the apprentices are not complacent, but will accept more new things and learn new things.

As a younger junior fellow apprentice, Feng Zhengming is definitely quicker to accept new things because he is younger.

He was exposed to and absorbed new things in advance and integrated them into traditional dishes.

Then he led his fellow students to study.

It can improve the cooking skills of yourself and your senior brothers.

Master Yan looks forward to seeing his apprentices one day being able to showcase themselves on a higher level stage.

The fellow disciples then had another discussion with their master.

Most of the time, the fellow practitioners asked Feng Zhengming and the master for advice.

Feng Zhengming also shared some of his own ideas and unique understandings with his master and fellow seniors.

After hearing some of Feng Zhengming's ideas, both the master and the senior brothers were a little surprised.

Many of his ideas were indeed things that his master and fellow brothers had never thought of.

For example, Feng Zhengming will learn some cooking techniques from other places and integrate them into Shandong cuisine.

Or, you can try to use some ingredients from other places and cook it using Shandong cuisine techniques.

These ideas are quite advanced. After all, today's transportation is not very developed. It may not be easy to transport some specialty products from other places to the Spring City.

Moreover, trying to use some techniques and ingredients from other places is still very risky in Quancheng.

If customers don’t buy it, it may affect Huiquanlou’s business.

But Feng Zhengming was willing to try, so his master gave him support and encouraged him to try more according to his own ideas.

With the encouragement from his master, Feng Zhengming naturally had more confidence to try.

(End of this chapter)