Li Erniang's brother's restaurant is right next to the Qinhuai River. It is built next to the river. It is an excellent location. The restaurant is not small in size. It is a three-story building with carved beams and painted roofs, steep cornices, and a more domineering sign. It is called "Tian Shang Ju" .
Damn, this kind of sign has not been harmonized.
Li Erniang led Ye Jiayao to meet her brother, the owner of the restaurant.
The boss was looking at the menu and told his men: "The ingredients must be fresh and well-chosen. Those princes and princes are no match for others. They are all very naughty."
"Yes." The subordinate took the menu and went to work.
Li Erniang called out: "Brother."
"Hey, the girl is here." Seeing that there was a young junior behind the girl, he asked, "Won't my brother-in-law accompany you here today?"
Li Erniang smiled and said: "I'll bring you a cook. Let him help me today and cook a few dishes. If you feel satisfied, you can use it."
Ye Jiayao stepped forward and saluted: "Shopkeeper Li, my surname is Li, Li Yao."
Shopkeeper Li frowned at his young age. How could there be such a young cook? However, since it was the second sister who brought it, I have to give it some face. Anyway, I just wanted to give it a try, but I don’t necessarily have to stay. He said, "Then you give it a try! But let me start with my ugly words. Although our Tianshangju is not the top restaurant in Jinling, it is also famous and has very high requirements for chefs."
Ye Jiayao expressed her understanding that the successful operation of a restaurant involves many factors, such as location, environment, service, marketing methods, etc., but the most important thing is the dishes. Are the dishes delicious? Can you retain guests? Are the dishes unique? The key is whether it can make a name for itself and gain a firm foothold in the Jinling catering industry where there are so many strong players.
Therefore, no matter which restaurant, they attach great importance to chefs and spend a lot of money to recruit them. Famous chefs are the second sign of the restaurant.
Ye Jiayao didn't dare to say that she was the best. There were mountains outside the mountains, and there were people outside the mountains. What's more, she had just arrived in Jinling and didn't know much about the catering industry here. She could only say: "Thank you so much, Shopkeeper Li, for giving me this." If I get the chance, I will definitely work hard next time.”
She must work hard to get this job. A high starting point can save her N years of struggle.
Shopkeeper Li didn't have anything to say, so Li Erniang took Ye Jiayao to the kitchen.
The kitchen was in the yard behind the restaurant. When Ye Jiayao entered, she couldn't help but be shocked by the scene in front of her.
On a workbench that is more than ten meters long, more than a dozen assistant chefs are processing various ingredients. The sound of chopping vegetables comes and goes, and different rhythms mix into a percussive music. Further inside is a row of stoves, with more than a dozen large stoves and small stoves. The fires are red, steaming white mist rises from the steamer on the big stove, and various soup stocks are stewed on the small stove. The whole kitchen is filled with aroma.
This scale should have been considered impressive in ancient times, and it deserves to be called a grand restaurant.
As soon as Li Erniang arrived, everyone greeted her one after another.
Li Erniang nodded, and as a return gift, she rolled up her sleeves smoothly, tied on her apron, and handed another apron to Ye Jiayao, who quickly tied it on.
"What's your best dish?" Li Erniang handed her a menu from the restaurant.
Ye Jiayao looked at the menu. She knew all the dishes on it and how to make them, but she had not tried some of them yet. Today was an interview and an assessment. Er Niang asked her to choose her own topic, which was already a special consideration. She must use her special skills to pass the test in one go.
"Wensi tofu, crab roe lion head and fried black flowers." Ye Jiayao said.
She was particular about choosing these three dishes. First of all, today was mainly for assessment. It was impossible for her to cook many dishes. Three dishes were neither too much nor too little. Secondly, these three dishes are all signature dishes of Huaiyang cuisine. Wensi tofu can show her knife skills, crab roe lion head is more about seasoning skills, and fried black flower requires the control of heat. Three dishes are enough. Reflect the level of cooking skills.
Li Erniang looked calm: "Then I leave these three dishes to you, start now."
When Ye Jiayao passed by the workbench just now, she observed the knife skills of the chefs here. She found that the level of knife skills was quite high. She had studied for at least five years, but she believed that she was not weak either.
Ye Jiayao cleaned her hands and took out a piece of soft tofu. As soon as she took it, she felt that the soft tofu here was no less tender and more flexible than the tofu elsewhere. It was similar to egg tofu and was more suitable for making Wensi tofu soup.
As soon as the chefs saw this posture, they knew that this guy was here to try his hand today. The original Chef Niu was poached by Xiangyilou. Shopkeeper Li was having a headache over this matter. Fortunately, Shopkeeper Li had a proficient chef. Yi's girl, come to the rescue. Everyone is curious about who will replace the chef of Tianshangju.
Everyone temporarily stopped what they were doing and the guys came over to watch.
Under the temper of the modern education system, Ye Jiayao has already experienced many battles and has excellent psychological quality. She took a deep breath, got rid of all distracting thoughts, gathered her mind, and then decisively struck the knife.
Tuk-tuk-tuk, the blade of the knife touched the vegetable mound, making a thin and crisp sound that was continuous.
Everyone thinks that her hand speed is very fast, but the effect of cutting depends on how the tofu looks like after being broken into water, whether the filaments are complete, and how thin they can be. This is the criterion for judging whether the knife skills are excellent.
As soon as the beeping sound stopped, Li Erniang opened a bowl of cold white wine in front of Ye Jiayao.
Ye Jiayao carefully wiped the cut tofu with the blade of the knife and put it into the cold white cabbage.
Take a chopstick and gently pull it apart.
There were gasping sounds all around.
Obedient, as thin as hair is just a description, describing the fine workmanship of the knife and the silk as thin strands, but at this moment, the tofu silk displayed in front of everyone is even in length and thickness, and the hair is as thin as hair.
Everyone couldn't help but secretly praise "amazing" in their hearts. You know, as long as one of the swords is slightly off, it will not have such an effect.
A flash of surprise flashed across Li Erniang's eyes. Brother Li's knife skills greatly exceeded her expectations. He had to admit that he was better than her.
Ye Jiayao's nerves were still tense. The matter was not over yet. Next came the bamboo shoots.
Tofu is soft and brittle and difficult to cut, while bamboo shoots are crisp and easy to break. It is even more difficult to cut it into the same thickness as shredded tofu. She raised the difficulty level by more than one level, so the next step will not be easy.
After all the ingredients were shredded, Ye Jiayao's back was already sweating, but she finally got over it.
In the Marquis of Jingan's Mansion, Xia Chunyu's maid Qingliu came to ask for instructions on what to eat for lunch today.
What to eat? Xia Chunsu used to be very particular about this issue, but now he doesn't seem to be interested in the word eating at all. Lalan said: "Whatever."
Qingliu was not surprised to receive these two words of instruction. It had been seven or eight days since the prince returned home. Every time he asked him what he wanted to eat, the answer he got was "whatever".
The prince wanted to be casual, but the servants didn't dare to be casual, so Qingliu ordered the kitchen to cook according to the prince's previous taste, but the prince just ate and put down the bowl and chopsticks.
This made the servants very worried, wondering if there was something wrong with the prince's health. This incident also alarmed the old lady, who specially invited the imperial doctor to come and diagnose Xia Chunyu's pulse, which made Xia Chunyu dumbfounded.
Lunch was delivered, including a steamed anchovy, a plate of braised chestnut chicken, pork ribs with Wuxi sauce, braised lion's head, and agarwood soup.
Xia Chunyu looked at the exquisite dishes, especially the lion's head dish, and thought of Yaoyao's cooking again.
I don't know if it's a psychological effect, but he always feels that no one's food is as delicious as Yaoyao's. It's because Yaoyao has spoiled his stomach and made him spoiled, or because he is only greedy for her taste.
Seeing the prince holding up his chopsticks for a long time and not taking them down, Qingliu and Qiao Xi looked at each other with worries in each other's eyes.
The prince has lost a lot of weight when he came back from this trip. He is taciturn and seems to be very worried.
"Your Majesty..." Song Qi walked in with a smile, carrying a bowl.
Xia Chunyu sniffed and frowned: "What did you get? It smells so bad?"
Song Qi chuckled and put the bowl in front of Master Shizi: "Master Shizi, these are the preserved eggs brought back from the mountain. Miss Ye pickled them. They said they can be eaten in forty-five days. I'll give them to the little ones." forget."
Xia Chunyu raised his eyebrows and said in surprise: "She made it? It's so smelly, are you sure you can eat it?"
Not only did this preserved egg smell bad, it was also ugly. It was dark, yellow, and translucent, with white snowflake-like patterns on it. I had never seen such a strange egg.
Song Qidao: "I haven't tasted it since I was little, but I heard from Miss Ye that this preserved egg is a good thing. It can clear away heat and reduce inflammation, nourish the heart and mind, and is delicious."
Xia Chunyu looked at the size of the egg and asked, "Is it made of duck eggs?"
"Yes, it's the duck eggs that Aunt Jiang gave me. Miss Ye heard that the prince didn't like duck eggs, so she pickled them into preserved eggs."
"Since you know I don't eat duck eggs, you still bring them?" Xia Chunyu said indifferently.
Song Qi pursed his lips. Ever since Miss Ye disappeared, the prince had not had a good meal, and nothing he ate tasted good. Today, he suddenly thought of this preserved egg and quickly brought it over to the prince to try. Zhi was disliked.
"Take the little one away," Song Qi said sadly.
"Let it go!" Xia Chunyu said expressionlessly.
He thought he would never eat Yaoyao's food again in his life, but he didn't expect that she also left preserved eggs for him. It's made by Yaoyao. No matter how unpalatable it is, you still have to eat it!
Xia Chunyu crushed the egg with chopsticks, dipped it in some dipping sauce, took a sip, and couldn't help but be stunned.
This thing smells bad and looks ugly, but tastes delicious and smooth, with a very special taste.
Xia Chunyu actually finished a bowl of rice with only two eggs, and seemed to still have some unfinished food.
"How many eggs are there?" Xia Chunyu asked.
Song Qi thought for a while: "About twenty or thirty."
Xia Chunyu sighed, there were only twenty or thirty, and they were all eaten soon, and then they were gone.
"From now on, I will have one every morning. It is not suitable to be paired with rice. It is more suitable to be paired with porridge."
"Hey, the little one gave all the eggs to the kitchen." Song Qi said happily.
Qingliu and Qiao Xi were both curious, who was Miss Ye? Why is it that the prince still eats the stinky food she made with gusto
"By the way, Crown Prince, Prince Yong'an is hosting a banquet in heaven today. Please come to the banquet. This is an invitation." Only then did Song Qi remember the business and took out a post from his arms.
Xia Chunyu's enthusiasm was waning. He was tired of dealing with all the celebration parties these days and felt a headache. He said, "Just say I'm not feeling well and go back!"
(End of chapter)