The booming era begins with the director of the Propaganda Department!

Chapter 382 Money and Meat!!

Sha Zhu led Xiao Pang through the front yard and into the middle yard, greeting each of the aunties living in the courtyard along the way.

After entering his own house, he stuck his butt out and pulled out a wooden box from under the bed.

The box is about 60 centimeters long, 45 centimeters high and about one foot wide. This is the special equipment for chefs to prepare private banquets. Chefs of different cuisines will put different tools in it.

When the economy was good in the first few years, Sha Zhu often went out to host private banquets.

But in recent years, due to the drought, the lives of ordinary people have been difficult. The capitalists and well-off families have also become more restrained and rarely hire people to cook for them.

The frequency of use of this set of tools has greatly decreased, and because it is placed under the bed, a thick layer of dust has accumulated over the years.

After Sha Zhu pulled out the toolbox, he stood up, turned around and kicked Xiao Pang: "Why don't you find a rag and wipe off the dust on it? You are so old and have no color at all!!! I think you are almost the same as Ma Hua, both are the same."

Xiaopang was angry but dared not say anything. He walked around the house with a wry smile, found a rag, wet it in the yard, and then carefully wiped the toolbox clean.

Everything was ready. At Sha Zhu's command, Xiao Pang followed him out of the courtyard, carrying a toolbox on his back.

By the 1960s, many more families in courtyard houses had bicycles.

Even Yan Bugui's old man spent fifty dollars to buy a second-hand bicycle at a trust store, but Shazhu didn't. In fact, he didn't even have much savings.

He had no choice but to take the bus with Xiaopang. The fare was two cents each. After tearing up the tickets, they found the only empty seat. Shazhu sat there with his legs crossed, while Xiaopang stood next to him carrying a huge wooden box on his back.

After getting off at Daqianmen Station, the two went straight to No. 12 Yunju Hutong.

Over the years, Sha Zhu has come here to host several private banquets for Zhang Shenfei, and has become very familiar with the process.

When the two entered the room, Zhang Shenfei was already waiting there.

Sha Zhu began to ask about the birthplace and taste of the guests to be entertained today. This was not because he wanted to get something for free, but it was the chef's duty.

"Today we are inviting nine people, most of whom are from Sijiucheng, one from western Henan Province, and one from Sichuan. By the way, the main guest is from Shandong Province.

He was just transferred from Shandong Province to our Sijiu City, so he is not very familiar with our place."

Sha Zhu nodded: "Lu Province is not close to Sijiu City, but most of the big restaurants in Sijiu City serve Shandong cuisine. His taste should be able to adapt..."

"Yes."

"What is the theme of our dish today?" Sha Zhu asked again.

"There's really no theme. The point is to make sure everyone eats happily and to their heart's content, and to take care of everyone. In addition,..." Zhang Shenfei said what he needed.

In fact, among the guests invited today are secretaries from state-owned canteens. In the past, many of these secretaries’ gatherings were held in state-owned canteens, but the food there was just edible at best.

Sha Zhu is different. He is good at Sichuan cuisine. When he was in Fengzeyuan, he studied under a master of Shandong cuisine. Also, since he grew up in Beijing, he is very familiar with the taste of local people.

In addition, the country is going through a difficult period right now, so going to a restaurant would be too high-profile.

It was after comprehensive consideration that Zhang Shenfei decided to let Sha Zhu come and cook instead of going to a restaurant.

After Sha Zhu carefully wrote down what Zhang Shenfei had said about the guests' hometowns and food preferences, he took Xiao Pang away from Zhang Shenfei and prepared to go to the kitchen to prepare food.

As soon as the two of them left Zhang Shenfei's sight, Xiaopang immediately asked impatiently:

"Master, Director Zhang is the deputy director of our factory. The guests he invited must not be ordinary people. Why did you ask about their tastes and hometowns but not who they are???!!!"

Only asking irrelevant questions but not the key ones, isn't this stupid? ? ?
Sha Zhu glared at him in dissatisfaction: "Do you know the rules of being a private chef? The first rule is, just keep your head down and cook, don't ask who is coming!!!
This is what my master told me when I first went out with him to be a private chef. I am telling you now too. Remember it!!!"

Xiaopang curled his lips and didn't dare to say anything.

When they entered the kitchen, they saw that Zhang Shenfei had already prepared all kinds of dishes.

There are more than a dozen kinds of vegetables including eggplant, beans, potatoes, spinach, lotus root, yam, etc.

Meat includes chicken, duck, fish, pork, lamb and rabbit. Others include fungus, white fungus, shiitake mushrooms and other wild delicacies.

Sha Zhu signaled Xiao Pang to open the tool box, arrange the kitchen utensils, and then picked out a bunch of offal, sea cucumbers, dried squid, and the second brother and the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys from the pile of ingredients.

Finally, there was a huge donkey braid wrapped in newspaper.

Wow, this is really good stuff. Shazhu couldn't help but give a thumbs up. Brother Dafei is so awesome. In this day and age, he can still get so many good things.

Not to mention the dry stuff, just the donkey, if he was not mistaken, it was the donkey from Shanxi.

It is several hundred miles from Shanxi to Sijiucheng, but he saw that the donkey's B was a fresh one that had just been cut off. From this, we can see Zhang Shenfei's ability.

After three years of drought, Sha Zhu hasn't shown off his skills for a long time. Now seeing so many good things, he feels itchy and can't help but want to show off his skills.

Sha Zhu took out a notebook and pencil from his pocket, recalled the guests' preferences, and began to list the menu in handwriting.

Seeing this, Xiaopang immediately ran over and stood aside watching.

"What are you doing?" Sha Zhu glared at him. "Go prepare the onions, ginger and garlic. What are you doing here? You have no manners!!"

Don’t be fooled by the fact that his nickname in the courtyard and in the factory is “Shazhu”. He is carefree all day long and seems to be a simple-minded person.

In fact, that is just an appearance. In reality, this guy is very cunning.

He usually taught his apprentices in the cafeteria how to cut dough, knead dough, and stir-fry dishes. However, when adding seasonings, he always avoided them and ground the seasonings into powder and mixed them together according to the proportion, for fear that they would steal his skills.

Not only that, every time there was a reception banquet in the factory, Sha Zhu never let them see the menu and never let them learn the skills of menu preparation.

every time,
Only when Shazhu started to stir the wok and made the finished product did they know what the dish was.

We know that it is so, but we don’t know why it is so.

Why do we have these dishes on the menu?

What is the relationship between these dishes? How to guess what the diners like to eat? Shazhu will not tell them a word.

Don't ask, the time is not right yet.

An apprentice is an apprentice, and you learn whatever the master teaches you. If the master doesn’t teach you, it just means the time is not right yet. Why is there so much nonsense?
These are the words that Shazhu has been using to faze them.

Both Xiaopang himself and MCA were very dissatisfied with these things.

After being driven away by Sha Zhu, Xiao Pang took a head of garlic, walked to a place half a meter away from Sha Zhu and started peeling the garlic. While the other party was not paying attention, he stretched his neck and tried to take another look.

Sha Zhu saw it, but said nothing. He was not stupid at all. There is a saying that a master who teaches his apprentice to starve to death. All his unique skills are hidden. Just look at them. What's the use of seeing more? ?

You can never learn my tricks!

After writing the menu, Sha Zhu tore off the paper and went to find Zhang Shenfei to review it.

Seeing him leave, Xiaopang threw down the half-peeled garlic, picked up the notebook and held it up to the sunlight, trying to discern the specific contents of the menu through the traces.

When Sha Zhu came back, he had already started cutting onions, ginger and garlic on the chopping board.

Sha Zhu was not in a hurry to work. Instead, he drank tea from the large enamel pot that Xiao Pang had prepared in advance, and instructed Xiao Pang to continue cutting the meat. Xiao Pang felt very angry, but he could only work patiently.

While the master and apprentice were busy in the kitchen, scheming against each other, each with their own ulterior motives, someone knocked on the door of No. 12 Yunju Hutong again.

Zhang Shenfei personally opened the door to welcome them. The first to arrive were Secretary Mu from the state-owned restaurant and Secretary Pei from the cannery.

These two people were old acquaintances of Zhang Shenfei when he worked as a secretary for Director Yang. Although Zhang Shenfei went to college in recent years, their relationship remained because of the work-study program, and they would get together when they were free.

This time when Zhang Shenfei invited Secretary Fan from the Sijiucheng Tobacco Factory to dinner, it was Secretary Pei who gave advice.

After the two sides exchanged greetings, Zhang Shenfei sent the two people in and continued to wait at the door.

Soon, Secretary Jian of the garment factory's union chairman, Secretary Hong of the daily chemical factory, Secretary Shao of the sugar factory, Secretary Li of the power plant, and Secretary Ma of the water plant all arrived.

Zhang Shenfei sent them into the house one by one and continued to wait at the door.

"Brother Zhang, you must be thirsty after waiting for so long. This is the herbal tea I made. Have some to relieve your fatigue." Xu Huizhen walked over with a small white porcelain bowl.

Watching Zhang Shenfei drink it all in one gulp, her uneasy heart finally settled down a little. Because she was too nervous, she put away the bowl, turned around and left without staying.

A few minutes later, Secretary Wang from the transportation company, Secretary She from the coal yard, and a man who looked to be in his forties with a middle-parted hair walked into Yunju Hutong. Zhang Shenfei immediately greeted them with a smile.

"Brother Wang, Brother She, long time no see, I've been waiting for you."

"Long time no see, Brother Zhang. I heard that you are doing very well in Yenching University now. Your work-study society has helped so many poor college students and it was even reported in the newspapers. It's a very honorable thing." Secretary Wang teased with a smile.

"Hey, Secretary Wang, what you said is not true. Brother Zhang has been serializing novels in newspapers since he was 20 years old, and he also writes songs... What does a mere appearance in a newspaper mean to him?" Secretary She also laughed.

"Hey, brothers, stop teasing me here. I'm just playing around with a group of kids." Zhang Shenfei waved his hands, acting like it was no big deal.

After the three of them exchanged a few pleasantries, Secretary Wang began to introduce Zhang Shenfei: "This is Secretary Fan from our Sijiucheng Tobacco Factory. He has just been transferred to our Sijiucheng not long ago. We are old acquaintances and old friends.

Hearing that you, Zhang, organized a dinner party and wanted to treat everyone to a feast of money and meat, he also became interested and insisted on following..."

Then he winked at Zhang Shenfei.

Secretary Fan didn't know that his participation in the dinner was entirely planned by Zhang Shenfei. When he heard what Secretary Wang said, he also laughed: "Comrade Zhang Shenfei, I came here uninvited. You don't think I'm too abrupt, do you?"

"Well, look at what you said. It's my honor to have you visit my humble home. I, Zhang Shenfei, have no other hobbies in my life except making friends." Zhang Shenfei smiled honestly, "Don't call me Director Zhang. Just call me Xiao Zhang or Brother Zhang like Brother Wang and the others."

"Okay, then you can call me Brother Fan like them." After just a few words, of course, the connection was established.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the few of them headed towards the restaurant where the banquet was to be held.

Although the food had not been served yet, there were a few plates of peanuts, melon seeds, candies, and a pot of Dahongpao, which was just right for drinking. A group of people were drinking tea, eating snacks, and chatting casually.

Secretary Fan arrived, and all the guests who were supposed to arrive today were also present.

After everyone talked about topics between men for a while, Sha Zhu and Xiao Pang started serving the dishes.

"The first dish is Dongpo pork elbow, and the second dish is chicken stewed with mushrooms." These two dishes are regular dishes. Although everyone heard it, they still continued with the previous topic.

"The third dish is cold-mixed pork with cashews, and the fourth dish is nine-turn large intestine."

Cold pork belly??? Good stuff!!
When they heard about this dish, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up. They all stretched out their chopsticks and went towards the large round plate of pork.

Sha Zhu is a good cook. After washing and bleeding the golden money meat, he added his secret marinade and marinated it. After letting it cool, he cut it into thin slices of even thickness.

Finally, add the secret dipping sauce, and one bite will make people feel infinite satisfaction.

Everyone picked up their chopsticks, their eyes only on the plate of pork, and ate with relish. In a short while, the plate was empty.

“It tastes really good.”

"I've eaten money meat many times, but what I ate today was the best."

"Me too, I always feel that today's money meat is much bigger than before."

"The texture seems to be more solid and tighter. Brother Zhang, where did you get this golden money meat? This is not ordinary stuff!!"

Zhang Shenfei showed an indescribable smile: "Brothers have all eaten good food before, and they can taste its goodness with just one bite.

This golden meat is of extraordinary origin. I asked my classmates from Shanxi to bring it to me from their hometown.

It is said that the donkey used here is from Shanxi, and it is cut after it is engorged with blood, so that the meat is firmer, tastes more flavorful, and has a better taste.

There are quite a few places selling golden donkeys in the city, but they all use local donkeys or grass donkeys from Rehe, Hebei. Those donkeys are not strong enough, and the product is still a little lacking.

Only in Shanxi are there beautiful waters and mountains. The donkeys climb mountains every day to exercise, so they have muscles all over their bodies and good physical fitness, so naturally they also have good things.

The one we eat is more than a foot long when it is not cut, and it is as hard as a diamond... If you eat it like this, it will be very nutritious!"

Secretary Fan was surprised: "I didn't expect that you, Zhang, also know about this? You are really knowledgeable."

"Oh, brother, you are too kind. I just like to read some miscellaneous books."

"To be able to get such a rare thing, you really are as well-connected as Old Wang and the others said, brother." Secretary Fan said again.

"Well, I got it with great difficulty. I didn't dare to enjoy it alone, so I specially invited all the brothers to come and taste it together." Zhang Shenfei smiled cunningly, "But besides this, there are other good things today."

Anything else? ? ! ! The others' eyes suddenly lit up again.

"Brother Zhang, what is that other thing? Does it have the same miraculous effect as Money Meat?" Secretary She asked hurriedly.

"Well, compared to that, the golden meat is just an appetizer. They can't be compared at all." Zhang Shenfei waved his hands, looking down on the golden meat.

Secretary Jian couldn't wait any longer: "Then hurry up and serve the food, what are you waiting for???"

(End of this chapter)