The Rise and Fall of the Last Imperial Cook

10. Get the Job as a Head Chef

Translator: Yang Ting, Jia Manxin

Proofread by Peter Gong

Xu Zhiwei opens his apron package, which contains a full set of knives made by a store named the Golden Monkey in Ershaozi Hutong in Beijing. Each knife has a different function. But what Xu Zhiwei takes out from the inside is the most common one, which is called Kaisheng knife in jargon.

The shape of the knife is simple. To put it bluntly, it is a very neat rectangle. The back of the knife is thick and its blade is thin, but both are just right; the hilt is aligned with the back of the knife.

The shape of the knife is regular, but the gripping point is not at a regular point, but a handle extending from a corner. Hold the knife in your hand, and you can feel the gravity at each point from the head to the tail of the knife is different, which is equivalent to a lever with a handle as a fulcrum. But the differences are regular, just like there is an invisible ruler, marking the different strengths at each point. This ruler is not only on the knife, but in the eyes, hands and heart of the chef.

The cutting technique Xu Zhiwei uses today is very ordinary, not as complicated as that of other chefs. If he really wants to show off, no one in the Huiquan Hall could rival him. The other chefs and helpers are surprised again. They all think that Xu Zhiwei chooses the old pumpkin, so he definitely will pay attention to the cutting technique, but the actual condition does not seem to be the case.

Xu Zhiwei removes the insides of the pumpkin properly. And then he peels it, cuts it into pieces, and places them neatly in a celadon bowl. He pours the osmanthus-scented honey on the packed pumpkin, and then puts it directly in a steamer.

Seeing Xu Zhiwei steaming pumpkin, other chefs and helpers sneer at him because it is the most common and easy-to-make dish, which can even be made by a helper when the chef is busy. Moreover, this dish is usually made when the pumpkin is in season. At that time, the pumpkin is delicious and melts easily in the mouth after steaming. Therefore, Xu Zhiwei is using an out-of-date ingredient to make the simplest dish. Obviously, there is no need to taste and compare, and it is clear that he will be eliminated.

But Xu Zhiwei doesn’t seem to heed the exaggerated sniff and unbridled contempt of others. He just continues to make another dish slowly, tearing the oily gluten into small pieces. After the gluten is torn up, he slowly picks out the ingredients. In fact, as an excellent chef, the first thing to do is to be focused and attentive. If he is disturbed by the outside world, even just a glance during the process may cause an error.

In order to ensure that there is no error in the two dishes, Xu Zhiwei is waiting patiently for the fire. Only after the pumpkin reaches a certain stage can the gluten be cooked. In this way, it is ensured that the cold and hot dishes are served together to achieve the best effect as Xu Zhiwei said before. In addition, he is waiting for another fire. His two dishes must be postponed as far as possible to the end. When nearly all the dishes of the chefs have been tasted, it is the best time for the taster to taste his dishes and make an accurate assessment.

Most of the chefs have already presented their dishes in the lobby outside, and besides Xu Zhiwei, there are only three other chefs in the kitchen who are still preparing their own dishes. At this time, Xu Zhiwei finally starts the real production process. His movements are skillful, smooth, and consistent.

He first takes a copper basin to scoop a half basin of cold well water and sets it aside. Then he opens the steamer cover and uses a fan to disperse the steam. Taking out the celadon bowl at a lightening speed, he places it in the basin. This technique alone is not possible for most chefs, because the bowl is so hot in the steamer that it is usually picked by utensils or cloth. However, Xu Zhiwei makes the steam spread out to see the edge of the bowl, and then he directly takes it with his hand. This requires controlling the strength of one’s fingers, which is the so-called virtual holding, so that one can hold the bowl firmly without getting burnt. And one also needs to be quick, taking out the bowl in a flash before the heat from the bowl reaches the fingers.

Putting the celadon bowl into the copper basin, Xu Zhiwei uses his other hand to readily pick up a bottle of rose wine, half-covering the bottle with his thumb, and pouring the wine on the steaming pumpkin. Before the aroma of the wine evaporates, a plate that has been prepared a long time ago is already covered on the bowl.

After all this is done, Xu Zhiwei turns to the stove to heat the oil. First, he fries such ingredients as day lily, fungus, wild rice shoots and mushrooms, then adds the oily gluten to it. He adds soy sauce and water and then covers the pot to braise. Finally, he opens the lid to add the sugar and flavor juice, boiling it until all liquids are well seasoned and absorbed.

In fact, when Xu Zhiwei prepares these ingredients, other chefs guess that he is going to cook Triple Delight. There are many types of Triple Delight all over the country, but the ingredients are roughly the same. It’s nothing more than dried tofu, gluten and so on, and some include shredded pork. But even if they think so, they are not sure about that because they all feel that no one would use the most common dish like Triple Delight to compete for the head chef.

People’s surprise starts when Xu Zhiwei pours rose wine into the pumpkin. No one would add wine to Honey Pumpkin, let alone pour so much rose wine. Furthermore, no one has ever seen a steamed pumpkin covered tightly with a plate and cooled with cold well water. People are also surprised by the process of Triple Delight, because this dish uses the methods of braising and boiling. It is not just a fried dish, but a dish with mixed cooking methods.

After Xu Zhiwei’s Triple Delight is finished, those cooks take on a curious look, and when the porcelain plate on the celadon bowl is lifted, their astonishment grows stronger. This is because they smell something different from the two dishes.

The really surprised people are those tasters, especially the owner Zhao Hudong. Having been disappointed, he was going to pick one of the previous cooks to be the head chef. But just before the end of the trial, two seemingly ordinary dishes show him what a truly outstanding chef is like.

Almost everyone who first sees Xu Zhiwei’s steamed pumpkin thinks it’s a Honey Pumpkin. But when the aroma of the wine wafts out, they immediately realize that it might not be the case. They have eaten Honey Pumpkins many times, but they have never smelled bouquet from it. And the aroma of this wine is not the same as the usual one, which is a sweet mixture with flowers and fruits.

Xu’s pumpkin does not taste the same as before because the flesh of the old pumpkin preserved in the shade becomes compact, and one needs to chew it several times. While it is chewed, one feels a refreshing sensation coming from the pumpkin, which highlights both the sweetness of honey and the sweetness of pumpkin. It slides down the tip of one’s tongue. However, the mixed bouquet will always pervade the mouth.

Xu Zhiwei adds rose wine to the Honey Pumpkin when it comes out of the steamer. This rose wine is produced by Liu Zhihe in Jiangyin City. And it once won a grand prize together with Moutai at the Panama World Expo. So one can imagine its high quality.

But the charm of Xu Zhiwei’s dish is not due to the good wine. He believes that even ordinary sweet rice wine can achieve the effect he wants. He sprinkles the rose wine onto the pumpkin while it is still warm and he immediately covers it with a plate. In this way, the spicy gas in the wine can quickly rise with the heat, clinging to the covered plate. But the aroma of wine can quickly condense on the pumpkin under the cooling effect of the cold well water, completely blending with the flavor of pumpkin and osmanthus-scented honey. The taste bud that first tastes the sweetness at the tip of the tongue sends the taste to the brain the fastest, causing a sudden taste shock.

But this is still not the real charm of this steamed pumpkin. The real charm is to borrow the taste, suppressing other dishes by means of their own tastes.

Xu Zhiwei has carefully observed the dishes prepared by the chefs who are competing for the job. Those dishes select the best ingredients and strive for authentic taste. But in this way, the taste will not be prominent or even will be mixed.

Xu Zhiwei is almost the last cook, so there is a drawback: the tasters have already eaten too many various dishes, and almost tasted all the flavors, so their gustation has already gotten dull and repulsive. Therefore, Xu Zhiwei must use a special taste that has not been available before to stimulate the gustation of the tasters, and use the taste of the previous dishes to highlight the special taste of his dishes.

So he decides to use wine. The most effective thing to cleanse the palate is wine. Most people eat greasy dishes to accompany alcohol. The more you drink, the more you eat. But today those tasters have eaten so many dishes without drinking, so they must feel very greasy. At this time, it is best to dissolve greasy feeling with a dish of rich wine, and at the same time, to shock the tasters’ paralyzed taste with sweetness. Then all kinds of delicious foods eaten before will be re-displayed and become the endless aftertaste after the aroma of wine.

When the taste of wine in the mouth gradually dissipates, the endless aftertaste slowly fades away, and the taster’s mouth and heart become fresh and clean as if being washed, and Xu Zhiwei’s fried, simmered and boiled Three Fresh is just right, giving the tasters a fresh, fragrant and smooth taste.

The taste of Triple Delight is another sudden change. It’s an all-vegetable dish, but it uses a fatty meat cooking method. The ingredients are directly stir-fried and then braised and boiled with condiments. The condiment used by Xu Zhiwei is the soy sauce made by Liangxi Beibu Sauce Factory. Liangxi River flows eastwards from Huishan Mountain, diverges at Xishui Pier and Huancheng River, and flows into Taihu Lake through Liqiao Bridge, Xiaoxuan and Daxuan. Liangxi Beibu Sauce Factory is located on the north bank of the upper section of Liangxi River. Sauce is dried along the river, unshaded and sunbathed. This is a bend of the river, and the water vapor gathers here, creating a perfect environment for making sauce. The soy sauce is mellow and sweet, making it an excellent cooking condiment. This kind of soy sauce is not only sticky and covering, but also penetrating after braising.

Stir-frying makes the ingredients soft and swelling, and braising allows the flavor of soy sauce to seep into the ingredients. And then add sugar and flavor juice, and the dried sauce will cover all the ingredients, especially oily gluten, its texture making it juicy.

After the wine diffuses through the mouth, a mellow but not greasy dish will naturally produce a special flavor. It stirs the already exhausted gustation of the taster to a peak, and also activates Zhao Hudong’s excitement to a peak. So instead of waiting for the last two or three competing chefs to show their dishes, he immediately places his chopsticks on the plate horizontally and then taps three times on the table. This action means to announce to everyone that the chef who makes this dish has been selected as head chef. In this way, various explanations are eliminated, and it saves the inconvenience to refuse other chefs who are competing for the job.

Fan Ada’s attitude changes suddenly after Xu Zhiwei becomes Huiquan Hall’s head chef. He is a countryman, living by collecting vegetables from farmers and selling them in Wuxi City, but he can hear and see everything when selling vegetables on the streets. So there is true knowledge in the market. This can be seen from Fan Ada, because he is a scheming and purposeful man.

Fan Ada knows well the levels of restaurants in Niren Street, and knows that it is impossible to be a head chef at certain restaurant without real skills. No, it doesn’t work if one has skills, and it works only after one stands out among really skilled cooks. The bystanders who watched the competition in Huiquan Hall are keen on gossiping. To watch the fun is to find materials for gossip. They add highly coloured details to tell the story that Xu Zhiwei defeats so many master chefs with a steamed pumpkin and a Triple Delight. So Fan Ada completely believes that Xu Zhiwei once worked as an imperial chef in the palace. It is precisely because he believes that Xu Zhiwei used to be an imperial chef, Fan Ada even turns a blind eye to the money in front of him.

Xu Zhiwei works in Huiquan Hall for only three days, and his boss Zhao Hudong takes the initiative to advance him a whole month’s salary. And he promises that if the business is good, there will be a bonus at the end of the month.

When the old restaurant is newly opened, some old customers will return. And the rumors about the trial have served as free advertising for Huiquan Hall. In addition, Xu Zhiwei does have the superb cooking skills, so the business is very booming here. In the past, when a new restaurant opened, it would take a period of time before the business would get better. But the Huiquan Hall has been prosperous since the opening day. You can’t have a seat in Huiquan Hall without a reservation. And after a few more days, even the seats at the end of the month are fully booked. Therefore, Xu Zhiwei will definitely get the bonus at the end of the month.