Siheyuan: Starting as a Chef Apprentice

The chef of the restaurant demonstrated the preparation process of this dish on the spot, while emphasizing some precautions in the cooking process, saying:

"When cooking, don't use too high an oil temperature. First, sauté the garlic slices until fragrant, then add the yam and black fungus and stir-fry quickly. This will preserve the nutrients of the ingredients to the greatest extent possible."

The elderly people listened very carefully, some of them even took notebooks to record the key points and asked questions to the nutritionist and chef from time to time. The atmosphere was very lively.

After the lecture, the elderly people said that they had gained a lot, and had a new understanding of Chinese health food. They also praised the efforts of all Wang's restaurants.

The food booth at the community cultural festival was crowded with residents who came to taste and experience the food.

They demonstrated how to make Chinese spring rolls on site. They put the fillings on the thin spring roll wrapper, and then quickly rolled and folded it with their fingers, and a delicate spring roll was formed. The residents watched and praised, and lined up to taste the freshly-made spring rolls.

After tasting the food, a resident smiled and said to the people around him: "This spring roll is so delicious, the skin is crispy, and the fillings are fresh and delicious. I didn't expect Chinese food to be so unique. Wang's All-in-One Restaurant can always bring us different surprises."

……

As all Wang's restaurants have localized the taste of their dishes, their unique Chinese flavor has not only adapted to the eating habits of French customers, but has also quietly taken root in Paris, a city full of romance and gourmet food.

More and more French customers are beginning to accept and love the unique Chinese flavor here. The restaurant is often packed and bustling.

At lunch time, the sun shines through the windows of the restaurant onto the neatly arranged tables, creating a warm and busy scene. The waiters shuttle between the tables, holding exquisite plates in their hands and with enthusiastic smiles on their faces, delivering Chinese dishes with tempting aromas to the customers.

Customers either whispered about their love for the dishes, or concentrated on tasting the food and enjoying this unique dining experience.

However, Wang Jianye was not satisfied with the current bustle and recognition from customers.

He knows very well that in the fiercely competitive French catering market, which is like a battlefield, it is like sailing against the current. If you don't move forward, you will fall behind. Only by continuous innovation and constant introduction of new products can the hotel gain a long-term foothold and maintain its leading position.

So, one afternoon, as the sun shone into the hotel's conference room, Wang Jianye called the chef team together again. The chefs walked into the conference room one after another, found their seats and sat down. The conference room gradually became quiet, and everyone's eyes were focused on Wang Jianye, waiting for him to speak.

Wang Jianye sat at one end of the conference table, looking serious and earnest. He slowly scanned the faces of each chef, then said calmly, "Everyone, you have all seen the current situation of our restaurant. After the localized adjustment of the taste of the dishes, customers are quite satisfied with our adjusted dishes, and the business is pretty good.

But we can’t stand still. In the catering industry, innovation is endless. We have to continue to explore new dishes, integrate Chinese and French food cultures more deeply, and create unique features that others can’t make. Only in this way can we gain a firm foothold in this fiercely competitive market.”

After Wang Jianye finished speaking, there was a brief silence in the conference room as everyone was thinking. Then, Chef Pierre spoke first.

Pierre sat on the chair, leaning forward slightly, with his hands on the table, looking excited and confident. His eyes revealed that he was fully confident in his ideas. He said, "Boss Wang, I have been thinking about it for some time. I think we can use French herbs in Chinese stews.

As you know, herbs like rosemary and thyme are often used in French cuisine. They have a unique scent, a fresh and charming aroma.

If we add them to our Chinese-style beef stew, maybe we can create a new flavor. Moreover, the French have always been partial to the taste of vanilla. This way, we can retain the original mellow taste of Chinese-style beef stew and incorporate the unique flavor of French vanilla, which will definitely be popular with customers. "

As Pierre spoke, he gestured in the air, as if he had already seen the fusion dish before his eyes. The other chefs nodded slightly, as if they were imagining the wonderful picture of the fusion of these two different styles of ingredients.

At this time, another Chinese chef, Xiao Li, spoke up. Xiao Li sat opposite Pierre, with a thoughtful look on his face. He spoke clearly and methodically, explaining his ideas: "I think Pierre's idea is very good and it really gave me a lot of inspiration.

I also have an idea. We can learn from the French dessert method and incorporate Chinese fillings such as red bean paste and date paste to make some small desserts with Chinese flavor.

For example, we can make it into the shape of French mille-feuille. First, according to the production process of French mille-feuille, roll the dough as thin as a cicada's wing, stack it layer by layer, and bake it until crispy.

But what’s stuffed inside is our special red bean paste. This red bean paste is made with high-quality red beans, which are carefully boiled and ground to give it a delicate texture and rich flavor.

Finally, sprinkle a thin layer of sesame powder on the outside. The small dessert made in this way looks as delicate and beautiful as French mille-feuille. The taste has both the crispness of mille-feuille and the sweetness of red bean paste. The overall taste is very novel and should bring a different taste experience to customers. "After Xiao Li finished speaking, a gentle discussion sounded in the conference room. The chefs exchanged their views on the two ideas. Some were discussing how to control the amount of vanilla to highlight the fragrance without covering up the taste of the beef itself, and some were discussing the details that may need to be paid attention to when matching Chinese fillings with French mille-feuille dough.

Wang Jianye listened carefully to everyone's discussion, and a satisfied smile gradually appeared on his face. When everyone had almost finished discussing, he tapped the table lightly, signaling everyone to be quiet, and then nodded and praised:
“What a great idea! Everyone’s ideas are very creative and in line with our goal of deeply integrating Chinese and French food cultures.

Now that we have an idea, let's develop new dishes based on it, try more and communicate more during the process, and make sure the taste and quality of the new dishes are good. Let's launch them as soon as possible, let customers try them, and see how the market reacts."

After getting Wang Jianye's approval, the chefs were all full of energy. They stood up and left the meeting room, and walked towards the kitchen impatiently, ready to start the research and development of new dishes.

In the following days, the kitchen became a "food laboratory" full of creativity and experiments.

Pierre began to prepare for the research and development of "herb stewed beef". He first went to the food storage area and carefully selected a piece of fresh beef, which had clear texture, ruddy color and high quality.

Pierre picked up the beef, looked at it in front of his eyes, then nodded with satisfaction, put the beef on the chopping board, picked up a sharp knife, and began to cut the beef with skillful and precise movements, cutting the beef into even-sized pieces, each piece was handled just right, ready for the subsequent stewing.

Then, he turned and walked to the shelf where the herbs were placed, and picked out a few fresh rosemary and thyme from the many herbs. He put the herbs to his nose and smelled them. The fresh and rich aroma filled his nose. Pierre closed his eyes slightly, as if to feel the unique charm contained in the aroma, and then shook his head gently, as if to remind himself to focus on controlling the amount. He washed the herbs carefully and put them aside for later use.

On the stove, a large pot has been heated. Pierre pours a proper amount of olive oil into the pot. When the oil smokes slightly, he puts the cut beef pieces into the pot one by one. There is a sizzling sound, and the moment the beef pieces come into contact with the hot oil, the aroma fills the air.

Pierre held the spatula and quickly flipped the beef chunks to ensure that each piece of beef was evenly heated. After frying until the surface was slightly golden, he added ginger slices, scallion segments, garlic cloves and other seasonings commonly used in Chinese stews, and continued to stir-fry to allow the aroma of the seasoning to fully blend with the beef.

During this process, Pierre kept a close eye on the changes in the pot. He frowned slightly, his eyes focused and serious, concentrating on controlling the heat and the rhythm of cooking.

After the spices were fried and fragrant, he poured a proper amount of red wine into the pot. The red wine slowly flowed down the pot wall, and instantly steamed up a burst of hot steam with the aroma of wine. Pierre gently stirred the beef in the pot to allow the red wine to fully penetrate the texture of the beef. Then he added a proper amount of water, put in the rosemary and thyme prepared earlier, covered the pot, turned down the heat, and began to simmer slowly.

During the stewing process, the kitchen was filled with a unique aroma of beef, vanilla and red wine, which made people feel relaxed and happy. Pierre would open the lid of the pot every once in a while to check the stewing of the beef, scoop up a little soup with a spoon to taste it, and then add seasonings and adjust the amount of vanilla according to the situation.

On the other hand, Xiao Li is also carefully developing his own Chinese-style desserts.

He first soaked the high-quality red beans in water. After soaking for several hours, the red beans absorbed water and became round and plump. Xiao Li drained the soaked red beans, put them into the pot, added appropriate amount of water and rock sugar, and began to simmer slowly over low heat. During the simmering process, he held a wooden spoon and kept stirring the red beans in the pot to prevent the pot from getting sticky. As time went by, the red beans gradually became soft in the pot, and the soup became thicker, and the sweet aroma of red beans gradually filled the air.

Xiao Li continued to stir patiently until the red beans were cooked into a fine red bean paste, then he scooped out the red bean paste and set it aside to cool. Next, he began to make the dough for the French mille-feuille. He mixed flour, butter, water, salt, etc. in precise proportions, put them on the chopping board and began to knead the dough. His hands pressed and kneaded the dough with force and dexterity, and soon, the originally loose ingredients became a smooth dough.

Xiao Li wrapped the kneaded dough with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for a while to relax the dough for subsequent rolling. After taking out the dough, he divided it into several small pieces, then picked up the rolling pin and began to roll the dough. He rolled the dough thinly and evenly, and each layer of dough was as thin as a piece of paper. Then, according to the method of French puff pastry, he stacked the rolled dough layer by layer, brushed it with butter, and put it in the refrigerator again to set.

After preparing the dough, Xiao Li spreads the cooled red bean paste evenly on the dough, then carefully rolls up the dough to make delicate long strips, cuts the strips into small pieces, and arranges them into a shape similar to French mille-feuille. Finally, sprinkles a thin layer of sesame powder on the surface and bakes it in the oven.

During the baking process, Xiao Li stood by the oven, watching the changes of the dessert through the glass door. As the temperature in the oven rose, the surface of the dessert gradually became golden and crispy, and the aroma of sesame powder also emanated, intertwining with the sweet smell of the red bean paste filling, filling the entire kitchen.

After several days of careful research and repeated experiments by the chefs, several new dishes were finally completed and successfully appeared on the restaurant's menu.

In order to make the new dishes known and accepted by customers more quickly, Wang Jianye decided to invite some well-known local food critics to try the dishes, hoping to use their influence and professional evaluations to open up the market for the new dishes.

On this day, the hotel welcomed several food critics, including the famous Mr. Jacques. Wearing a well-fitting suit and an exquisite hat, Mr. Jacques walked into the hotel steadily with a cane in his hand. His eyes revealed professionalism and pickiness. As soon as he entered the hotel, he began to carefully observe the surrounding environment, from the decoration style to the table layout.

Wang Jianye personally stepped forward with a warm and polite smile on his face. He bowed slightly, stretched out his hand and said, "Mr. Jacques, welcome to our Wang's All-Season Hotel. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to taste our new dishes. Please come this way." Mr. Jacques politely shook hands with Wang Jianye in response, and then followed him to the dining table that had been prepared long ago.

After Mr. Jacques took his seat, the waiters began to bring new dishes to the table. The first dish served was the "herb stewed beef" developed by Pierre. The waiter gently placed the dish on the table and introduced it in standard French:
"Mr. Jacques, this is our hotel's new 'Herb Stewed Beef', a fusion dish carefully developed by our chef team, which cleverly combines French herbs with Chinese stewed beef. I hope you like it."

Mr. Jacques's eyes were immediately attracted by the dish. The beef cubes on the plate were stewed very soft and rotten, with a rich color. The surrounding soup was shining with an attractive luster. A few herbs were dotted on the beef, which not only added a sense of freshness, but also made the whole dish look more delicate. (End of this chapter)