Living in the Hong Kong Film World

Chapter 443 Flavor
Zhao Gangsheng came in with a basket of dried abalones, fighting with Jiahui. Seeing Feinan and Ou Zhaofeng in front of the shelves, he asked curiously, "Brother Nan, master, what are you talking about?"

"It's nothing."

Feinan threw the dried bear's paw back on the shelf: "I want to remind you master to be careful of Huang Rong's tricks and make a fuss about the safety of ingredients."

"These ingredients are so expensive!"

Jiahui came forward and pouted at Ou Zhaofeng, complaining, "He spent several million just to buy these goods, and usually he wouldn't even give me pocket money."

"Didn't I give you a few hundred pocket money every week?" Ou Zhaofeng stared and patted her on the top of the head.

Zhao Gangsheng put down the basket and asked, "Brother Nan, how does that Huang man play dirty tricks?"

"Use these three main dishes!"

Feinan knocked on the shelf: "These three main dishes are no longer as simple as wild animals. They are all protected animals. This is obviously Huang Rong's trick for your master. I reminded him early in the morning, but he just didn't listen."

"I've figured out a way!"

Ou Zhaofeng took the bear's paw and said, "I bought this bear's paw specially from Russia as a farmed bear's paw, and it has a certificate. The elephant pullet is also a farmed elephant pullet imported from Thailand. What's the problem?"

"What about the monkey brain?"

Feinan pointed to a little monkey locked in a cage in the corner: "Is it also bred?"

"Of course!"

Ou Zhaofeng said confidently: "I got it from the mainland, and it was raised by a monkey trickster."

After finishing speaking, he took out a certificate from Xiangba's packing bag and handed it to Feinan: "Look, this is a breeding certificate, stamped by the customs."

Feinan took it and looked at it. It was indeed true. Now, he couldn't say anything more.

Jiahui squatted in front of the cage, teasing the little monkey, and turned to Ou Zhaofeng and said, "Dad, can you discuss with that Huang Rong and change the ingredients? It's so cute, let's not kill it, okay?"

"The contract has already been signed, how to change it?" Ou Zhaofeng frowned.

Handing the certificate back to him, Feinan smiled and asked, "Master Ou, we are purely for communication! Do you think it is advisable to eat wild game?"

"It depends on the situation!"

Ou Zhaofeng stuffed the certificate back and said, "Aren't pigs, horses, cattle and sheep all wild game before domestication?"

After clapping his hands, he said sternly, "Hey! But I agree with you on one point. It is definitely not allowed to eat protected animals, and I am also very opposed to it."

Feinan shook his head and said, "I don't think it's advisable to eat protected animals or wild animals."

"You mean you only eat farmed products?"

Ou Zhaofeng smiled and shook his head: "How can there be so many farmed products?"

After a pause, he asked, "Let me ask you, are fish caught from the sea considered wild animals?"

Feinan was taken aback, and Zhao Gangsheng on the side interjected, "It's not farmed, of course it's a wild animal!"

"Yes!"

Ou Zhaofeng spread his hands: "Then do you know how many sea fish the people of Hunan and Hong Kong eat in a day?"

"do not know."

Zhao Gangsheng shook his head.

"I do not know either."

Ou Zhaofeng crossed his arms and said, "Anyway, when Man Han Lou was open, it sold at least a hundred catties of marine fish every day. This was only my family's sales. There are so many restaurants in Hong Kong, and every household also bought fish to go home. Burn. If you can’t afford grouper, you can afford yellow croaker, right? Who in Hong Kong has never eaten yellow croaker?”

Feinan didn't interrupt, he knew what Ou Zhaofeng meant, the relationship between wild animals and people's dining table was far more intimate than people thought.

Not to mention later generations, but in this era, except for the southern coastal cities and the central and northern regions of the mainland, frozen hairtail is almost the only fish that everyone can eat in winter.

If one size fits all according to the standard of either breeding or wild, then hairtail is a standard wild animal, not to mention all kinds of shrimp, crab and shellfish scattered in the sea.

During this period, a large part of the purpose of eating wild game was to supplement food shortages, which is also a choice that every nation that has experienced hunger has had.

"Farmed goods are expensive! Sea fish is cheap! How much is a catty of barbecued pork? How much is a roast goose? How much is a sardine?"

Ou Zhaofeng shook his head and asked: "How many places in the world are rich enough for everyone to eat only farmed products? And how many places are enough to raise so many livestock, poultry, fish, shrimp and mussels?"

"And you also know that farmed products are tasteless! Let's take fish as an example. Farmed fish doesn't have the umami taste of sea fish. Sea fish swim in the sea..."

Ou Zhaofeng made a fish gesture with his hand: "Its meat is alive!"

Feinan agrees with this point, he also prefers to eat fish, the fish caught in the wild is indeed more delicious than the farmed fish in the fish pond.

"The eel rice in Neon Country must use wild eel to be authentic; the raw material of Russian sturgeon caviar also comes from wild sturgeon caught in the river; the top truffle can only be found in the deep mountains and wild forests. These are top-notch flavors, aren't they wild?"

Ou Zhaofeng was a little angry when he spoke, and his voice became louder: "I was angry when I said it, I don't know who wrote the report in the newspaper, saying that Chinese food is barbaric, not as high-grade as Western food, and I like to eat messy things, it's just farting !"

"The consumption of marine fish in Neon Country is much higher than that in Hong Kong, and they like to eat it raw. I don't know how many people get sick from parasites every year. Don't they still eat it?"

"German cuisine also has raw pork sauce, French cuisine has raw beef tartare, and Italians eat cheese with raw maggots. Are they not eating randomly?"

Jiahui interjected and asked, "They don't eat these every day, do they?"

"nonsense!"

Ou Zhaofeng snorted: "How many Chinese people can afford it and still eat bear's paw and elephant pluck every day? Let them have some noodles, and we are not allowed to say a few words?"

"But eating wild game is indeed dangerous."

Zhao Gangsheng said, "I read in the newspaper that a lot of wild game has bacteria and viruses on it, and people will get sick if they eat it."

"Really?"

Jia Hui hurriedly stood up: "Then isn't this monkey carrying a virus?"

"How can it be so exaggerated?"

Ou Zhaofeng frowned and said, "Of course there are risks in eating wild game, but puffer fish is also poisonous! Isn't it still eaten by people?"

"That's not what it says."

Feinan shook his head and said, "For things that are harmful to the body, of course it's better to eat less, and it's best not to eat."

"I know."

Ou Zhaofeng wiped his hands with a towel and said, "Of course it is not good to eat game, but no one eats them every day. Besides, we Chinese are not the only ones who eat game. Is there any country in the world that doesn't eat game?"

"Bear meat is eaten in Russia, reindeer meat is eaten in Northern Europe, kangaroos are eaten in Australia, and rattlesnakes are eaten in Texas. Aren't these considered protected animals?"

"You're arguing."

Feinan smiled and said, "Master Ou, let's not care about right or wrong. What I mean is, since this is a cooking competition, as a chef, shouldn't the diners eat healthy and feel at ease?"

After hearing the words, Ou Zhaofeng softened his tone: "You are right, this is the most basic moral bottom line for a chef."

"Yeah!"

Feinan asked with a smile: "I know that rare ingredients have certain advantages in terms of flavor, but if you can make up for it with cooking skills, wouldn't it be more skillful?"

"If possible, I want to too!"

Ou Zhaofeng shook his head and sighed: "But the flavor cannot be compensated by cooking skills. Using beef tendon and pig's trotters to make bear's paw taste, I am afraid that only the God of Cookery can do it."

(End of this chapter)