From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 550: Techniques of Stir-Fried Shrimp Waist

Carving auspicious blocks is not easy, and it is also a test for young chefs.

The reason why Master Yan gave the young chefs half an hour.

In fact, it just gives them more time to carve auspicious blocks.

The dumbest way to carve auspicious blocks is to use a knife to cut off the excess parts on the four sides, and finally get a small triangular block.

The most time-saving way is to cut the materials into small square pieces first.

Then make a cut on the halfway point of each side of the square piece, and carve in a clockwise direction.

Finally, gently separate the two sides along the knife edge, and you will get two auspicious blocks.

This method of carving auspicious blocks is considered a fairly traditional practice.

The reason why this dish is so popular among diners, especially children, after being redeveloped by Feng Zhengming, is precisely because of these beautiful and fun auspicious blocks.

Everyone watched quietly as Gu Zhicheng, Sun Hai and Qi Jiale quickly carved out the auspicious block.

Judging from the techniques of the three of them, they must have gone through a lot of practice.

This is also thanks to Feng Zhengming for developing this dish. A large number of customers at Fengjia Dry Rice Shop and Huiquanlou order this dish.

In the kitchens on both sides, carving auspicious blocks is something that almost all chefs and apprentices have to practice.

After some careful carving, the three of them soon prepared the auspicious block.

Next, prepare the chopped onion, ginger and garlic.

Because of the presence of shrimp and kidneys, the amount of garlic will be larger.

Prepare all the main ingredients, auxiliary ingredients, side ingredients and seasonings.

The three of them took these things to the stove and then began to cook.

First, use a small pot to blanch the carrots, lettuce and some bamboo shoots.

The carrots should be put into the pot and cooked a little longer.

Blanch the three kinds of auxiliary ingredients and then remove them.

Then the three of them changed to the wok together.

Heat the oil first, then pour cold oil into the pot, when the oil temperature reaches more than 40%, put the shrimps in first.

Put the shrimps into the pot one by one.

Fry the shrimps in the pan for a little longer to let the moisture disappear.

Roll the shrimp into shrimp balls and then take them out.

Place in a metal colander and place the blanched and drained ingredients on top of the shrimp.

Then the three of them put the prepared kidneys into the pot.

The kidneys are put into the pot and are almost immediately dipped in the hot oil before being taken out of the pot.

When it’s out of the pan, pour it onto the metal colander above the oil pan.

Then use hot oil to rinse the auxiliary ingredients.

Add pepper oil to the pot and stir-fry the onion, ginger and garlic until fragrant.

After the aroma comes out, immediately put the ingredients in the colander into the pot.

Then pour the prepared sauce into the pot and stir-fry quickly over high heat.

Let the sauce evenly coat every ingredient in the pot.

Finally, drizzle some pepper oil and serve.

The three dishes were served at almost the same time.

The fragrance has filled the entire kitchen.

Feng Zhengming was quite satisfied with the performance of the first group of three people.

He was also next to the master and discussed the performance of the three people with the master.

Master Yan whispered, "These three are the three most skilled young chefs in your kitchen, right?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, Master, if Zhu Xu is not counted, these three are the best in craftsmanship."

Master Yan added: "This dish is very well made. Gu Zhicheng is the best. He added the right amount of sauce, just enough to evenly coat the ingredients without too much flowing out."

At this point, Master Yan couldn't help but sigh: "This old dish, in your hands, has regained its charm."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "This is also because of your good teaching, Master."

Master Yan laughed: "You kid."

Then the three of them brought their dishes over for the five judges to taste.

As soon as the dishes were served, Yang Bin said, "This dish of yours is obviously made by Gu Zhicheng the best. His sauce is evenly coated, and there is almost no sauce left on the plate.

Sun Hai and Qi Jiale, you two are a little bit behind."

Then Yang Bin looked at Qi Jiale and said, "Jiale, isn't this stir-frying your specialty?"

Qi Jiale said helplessly: "I'm a little nervous."

Yang Bin looked at Sun Hai again: "Are you nervous too?"

Sun Hai did not explain too much, and said bluntly: "It was not done well, the juice in the bowl should not be poured in completely."

Li Huidong spoke up at this time: "Sun Hai and Qi Jiale, when you two were frying at the end, you were obviously worried that you didn't have enough time, so you didn't pay attention to the amount of ingredients and the amount of sauce in the bowl.

You just dumped the whole bowl into the pot, so there's too much sauce."

Cao Zhiguo said: "You should first scoop a spoonful of starch sauce into the pot, see how the sauce is, and then decide whether to add more starch sauce. Don't be in a hurry when cooking."

After the three professional judges finished speaking, all five judges began to taste the food.

The three plates of stir-fried shrimp waists tasted satisfying.

He Yunqing said: "I was eating and I really couldn't tell the good from the bad among the three plates."

Grandpa Feng smiled and said, "All three are excellent. It's hard to tell who's better in terms of taste."

Feng Zhengming did not rush the judges to announce the results, but asked the next group to start.

"Okay, second group, Xia Hui, Bao Feng, Yao Zhenhui, the three of you go and start."

After hearing Feng Zhengming's words, Xia Hui and the other three walked towards the desk.

Just like the previous group, Feng Zhengming started timing after they selected their materials.

Soon, everyone noticed Xia Hui.

Compared with Bao Feng and Yao Zhenhui, Xia Hui works obviously faster.

Especially she was very skillful in peeling shrimps.

Cleaning the kidneys afterwards is also quite neat.

So Xia Hui actually finished processing the main ingredients even faster.

Xia Hui is also faster at carving auspicious blocks.

It can be seen that Xia Hui has practiced these many times, so she is really quite familiar with them.

Moreover, the blocks cut by Xia Hui were more regular, and the auspicious blocks she carved were almost all the same size.

Just in terms of processing ingredients, Xia Hui saved a lot of time compared to others.

So she first stood in front of the stove and started cooking.

After frying the shrimp, kidney and other ingredients.

When Xia Hui started frying, she put the shrimp heads into the pan to stir-fry the shrimp oil.

Then use shrimp oil to stir-fry the minced garlic, and then add the fried ingredients.

Pour the sauce into the bowl and stir-fry over high heat. Also within the specified time, I worked with Bao Feng and Yao Zhenhui to complete the dish.

Master Yan watched Xia Hui cooking and whispered to Feng Zhengming, "It seems that Xia Hui came prepared this time. Did you reveal the topic to her in advance?"

Feng Zhengming quickly said, "Master, how could I be so partial?"

"If it hadn't been revealed in advance, Xia Hui's performance might have been the best among everyone." Master Yan praised Xia Hui's performance highly.

Because Xia Hui thought of using the shrimp heads, she did a better job in this regard.

Other chefs also kept the shrimp heads, but none of them used them in time.

This also shows that Xia Hui was well prepared for this competition and knew how to adapt during it.

Xia Hui used the shrimp heads to make some shrimp oil, which undoubtedly added flavor to her dish.

So her dish also won praise from the five judges.

However, Li Huidong still said: "You thought of using shrimp heads. It is more or less an advantage to be the second group to perform. After all, you can see the first group's cooking first and have time to figure out how to improve it."

Hearing this, Xia Hui also nodded: "Master uncle is right, I did watch the previous group do it, and then I thought of frying the shrimp heads with oil first, and then stir-frying this dish with shrimp oil."

Li Huidong continued, "But you didn't coordinate the process well. In fact, you should prepare the shrimp oil first. You shouldn't fry the shrimp oil after the main and auxiliary ingredients are fried and before stir-frying."

Yang Bin immediately agreed, "Yes, frying the shrimp oil later will take time, and the fried ingredients will be left for a little longer."

Cao Zhiguo also said: "Moreover, the shrimp heads were not fried long enough to fully release the aroma of the shrimp oil."

The three professional chefs gave their comments respectively, and Grandpa Feng tasted Xia Hui's dish with a smile.

"It's great that Xia Hui thought of frying the shrimp heads. Her dish really adds a lot of flavor."

He Yunqing also nodded in agreement: "Yes, Xia Hui's dish should be recognized."

After Feng Zhengming and other judges tasted the dishes, the last group could start preparing.

In the last group, Guan Wei’s cooking skills are actually not bad.

Feng Zhengming arranged him in the last group so that he could guide Shen Rongsen and Lu Chongshan.

After all, Shen Rongsen and Lu Chongshan don’t have many opportunities to cook alone, so they still lack some experience.

Shen Rongsen still had some bad habits in the past.

During this period, I was working in the kitchen of the restaurant, following Yang Bin to slowly change my habits.

So Feng Zhengming had some expectations as to whether Shen Rongsen could cook the dish well.

Lu Chongshan learned from Feng Zhengming for a long time, but he never had the opportunity to cook on his own.

On the one hand, the other chefs in Huiquanlou’s kitchen are quite capable, so Lu Chongshan doesn’t need to intervene in many cases.

On the other hand, it is also because Lu Chongshan is the only chef in the kitchen.

Whether it is silver thread rolls, hand-rolled noodles, or flower cakes for wedding banquets, Lu Chongshan needs to make them himself.

Especially when it comes to wedding banquets, Lu Chongshan would start designing and preparing flower cakes a few days in advance.

It was indeed quite hard work, even though he had two apprentices to help him.

Lu Chongshan still needs to do many things by himself.

Under such circumstances, Lu Chongshan really didn't have many opportunities to cook.

Lu Chongshan took the initiative to request to participate in this competition. He also wanted to show his skills and demonstrate to everyone that he can not only cook plain pastries, but also dishes.

The third group went to choose the ingredients, and Feng Zhengming still waited until they had chosen the main and auxiliary ingredients before starting the timing.

The three of them started cooking, and Guan Wei was obviously faster than Shen Rongsen and Lu Chongshan.

However, Shen Rongsen and Lu Chongshan are proceeding steadily and cautiously.

They were not affected much by the fact that Guan Wei was faster than them.

Both of them followed what they learned and saw in the kitchen step by step.

Master Yan looked at the last group and whispered to Feng Zhengming, "Shen Rongsen is a little old. He still can't completely change the bad habits he developed in the past."

After hearing what his master said, Feng Zhengming looked at Shen Rongsen and saw that he did have some bad habits.

"Mr. Shen is indeed a bit older, and he has not received any systematic training before, so he has developed some bad habits."

Master Yan sighed and whispered, “Many people always feel that the traditional things we old guys teach and the strict requirement to follow the tradition are out of date and a restriction on their free expression.

But in fact, the reason why traditional techniques are passed down from generation to generation is that they are the result of generations of chefs making mistakes.

The fact that it has been passed down until now just proves that it is the most suitable approach.”

Feng Zhengming followed up by saying, "Master said that traditional things should be learned carefully. Only by practicing the traditional old skills well can we innovate on the basis of tradition."

Master Yan is still very satisfied with his young apprentice.

Because the little apprentice can always understand some of his thoughts.

Master Yan, like other masters, is not against innovation.

There is no need to strictly control the practices of young chefs.

The old chefs just hope that Shandong cuisine should look like Shandong cuisine.

After all, Shandong cuisine once had its own glory in the entire north.

However, if traditional dishes cannot be cooked well, many people will have various misunderstandings about Shandong cuisine.

This is what the old masters are worried about.

Because some young chefs use their own ideas to arbitrarily change traditional Shandong cuisine.

As a result, many people misunderstood that Shandong cuisine is so bad.

This can be said to be a smear campaign against Shandong cuisine.

In the end, even if the chefs try hard to restore the reputation of Shandong cuisine, many people have already formed a stereotype that will be difficult to reverse.

So in Master Yan's opinion, some people who claim to be Shandong cuisine chefs do not follow traditional techniques.

This results in the dish being neither right nor wrong, which is absolutely intolerable.

Fortunately, today at Huiquanlou, the chefs prepared the stir-fried shrimp kidneys that Master Yan ordered, and he was satisfied with it.

From the dish made by the chefs, Master Yan could tell that the young apprentice was indeed very attentive.

I have carefully taught the chefs in the kitchen how to do it.

Although Shen Rongsen has some bad habits, there is nothing wrong with his overall process.

In this group, Guan Wei was faster, so he also learned from Xia Hui and fried the shrimp heads with shrimp oil.

The process of Shen Rongsen and Lu Chongshan preparing materials was already quite slow.

So the two of them still completed the dish according to traditional methods.

The last group of three dishes were also completed.

It was placed in front of the judges.

Li Huidong was the first to speak: "Guan Wei's dish should be regarded as a result of some of the previous problems. Not only did he control the heat the best, but he also made the sauce very well.

Shen Rongsen's dish was a little off. You used too little vinegar when seasoning it, and it took too long to stir-fry, so the kidneys were a bit tough.

"Lv Chongshan, I didn't expect that you, a simple chef, could make this highly technical stir-fry dish so well."

Hearing Li Huidong's affirmation, Lu Chongshan immediately said: "It's all thanks to the chef's good teaching. This dish is often ordered at Huiquanlou. I have learned it many times from the chef."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "You are more careful. I don't usually teach you in detail."

In the end, in the ranking of the first dish, Gu Zhicheng was still first, and Xia Hui was second.

Following them are: Guan Wei, Sun Hai, Qi Jiale, Bao Feng, Lu Chongshan, Yao Zhenhui and Shen Rongsen.

(End of this chapter)