Stepping into Su Ji's kitchen, it seemed as if time and space had reversed, and Shi Jinbin seemed to have returned to more than 30 years ago.
“Hahaha, Shitou, even though you’re older, you joined the sect the latest, so you can only be my junior brother.”
"That's right, hurry up and call me Senior Brother."
"Call me Senior Brother, call me Senior Brother..."
"Shitou, you can't do this. Master will scold you if he sees you."
"Yeah, Shitou, you're definitely not good at peeling shrimps."
"Brother Shitou, you are too slow again. Master said that we must finish dismantling it in one minute. It took you more than one minute. That won't do."
…
In a trance, I returned to the most prosperous period of Su Ji, when the brothers and sisters in the kitchen studied together all day long, had fun together, and competed and challenged each other.
Su Ji at that time really made Shi Jinbin unforgettable.
"Shi Jinbin, what are you doing standing there? Are you waiting for the master to assign you a task? Are your eyes breathing? Everyone is busy, and you are standing there supervising the work alone? Do you want to be a master? Do the master's work?"
In a trance, Shi Jinbin seemed to hear his master's scolding again, and he suddenly came to his senses.
"Yes, Master, I'll do it right away."
Shi Jinbin responded subconsciously and then came to his senses again, realizing that everything was different.
Although the kitchen is still the Su Ji kitchen, and almost everything in the kitchen has not changed, but the people from that time are no longer here, including the master and the fellow apprentices.
For Shi Jinbin, Su Ji's kitchen is now completely different.
However, although the person is no longer the same person, all of this is necessary for inheritance and the continuation of craftsmanship.
If the same few old men are always busy in the kitchen of a restaurant, how can the craftsmanship be preserved? How can the century-old taste of Su Ji be preserved
Thinking of this, Shi Jinbin officially stepped into the kitchen. He first carefully put on an apron in the washroom next to the kitchen door, then washed his hands inside, and even took out the specially prepared shoe covers and hat and put them on.
This is not because Shi Jinbin likes cleanliness, nor is it just to ensure the hygiene of the food in the kitchen.
The most crucial reason is that Shi Jinbin clearly remembers his master's teachings and has always strictly followed his master's instructions. He must ensure that he is dressed neatly and cleanly when entering the kitchen, and the kitchen must also be cleaned.
This is a habit accumulated over many years, so Shi Jinbin maintains it very strictly.
When I officially entered the kitchen, I saw Feng Yifan and his young apprentices busy at work.
The young apprentices could only help their master at the side. This scene seemed to Shi Jinbin seeing that they and their fellow apprentices also helped their master in this clumsy way.
Looking at Feng Yifan again, his movements were smooth and the dishes were served very quickly.
It is especially interesting to see Feng Yifan personally arrange the dishes every time he serves them.
Shi Jinbin stood aside and watched, feeling as if he had seen his master.
The chef of Su Ji, Shi Jinbin's master, the old man Su, was the same every time he prepared a dish. When preparing the dish, he would prepare the plating and hand it to his disciples, and there was almost no need to touch it.
Feng Yifan is actually like this now, which makes Shi Jinbin look at him with a new respect.
Next, let’s take a look at the various ingredients on the cooking table. Most of them are based on various eel ingredients.
There are prepared eel shreds, eel backs with bones and abdomen removed, eel bones and eel abdomens are also placed separately aside, and even eel blood is prepared.
Seeing this, Shi Jinbin smiled and asked, "Are we having a long fish banquet today?"
Hearing the voice, Lin Ruifeng looked up and was surprised to see a strange fat old man wearing an apron and a chef's hat coming in.
What surprised Lin Ruifeng was that the fat old man was actually wearing special shoe covers on his feet.
After Feng Yifan served the dishes, he smiled and greeted Shi Jinbin: "Master, you don't have to be so well-armed when you come in. As a cook, you must be a clean person."
Shi Jinbin responded with a smile: "You still have to bring what you need. The key in the kitchen is to ensure hygiene."
Hearing this, Feng Yifan felt a little embarrassed: "Master uncle is right, I usually let Ruoruo run around, which is really wrong."
Shi Jinbin suddenly became happy: "So you are still waiting for Uncle Master here? Isn't the first thing your daughter does when she comes home to wash her hands and change her shoes? Don't think Uncle Master didn't see it."
In fact, many restaurant guests may not notice that when Feng Ruoruo comes back from kindergarten every day, she seems to go upstairs to put down her schoolbag first, but in fact she has changed her shoes when she goes downstairs.
And every time the little girl comes home, she will ask her grandmother to re-tie her hair and wash her hands.
The purpose of doing this is to be able to enter the kitchen without bringing the dust from the shoes into the kitchen.
Shi Jinbin could guess all of this because that was what Grandpa Su had requested back then.
When Shi Jinbin and his friends first came to Su Ji, Su Lanxin was actually still in school, and she had to strictly follow these requirements many times, even though she was not allowed to enter the kitchen at that time.
Feng Yifan arranged the dishes on the plate, wiped off the excess soup on the edge of the plate, and made the final adjustments to the dishes.
After everything was arranged, he put it on a tray and asked his apprentice Lin Ruifeng to go outside to serve the dishes.
"Ruifeng, stop standing there and serve the food."
Lin Ruifeng could only quickly pick up the tray and run to the restaurant in front to get the food.
After Lin Ruifeng left, Shi Jinbin said, "It looks good. You have a bit of the demeanor of a chef, and you maintain this kitchen very well. Now it seems that Jinrong made the right choice."
Feng Yifan quickly responded humbly: "Thank you for the compliment, Master."
Shi Jinbin continued, "Don't be so quick to thank me, you still have to pass my test."
Shi Jinbin pointed at the separated eel back on the cooking table and said, "Use this to make me a pot-sticked eel back."
Hearing that his uncle had made the request, Feng Yifan naturally did not hesitate at all and quickly took action.
Shi Jinbin stood by and quietly observed Feng Yifan's every move. The more he watched, the more surprised he was, because Feng Yifan's movements were really very steady and very fast.
You can hardly see any unnecessary movements from him, as he performs every step very accurately.
The key is that Feng Yifan will break down the steps and always make it very clear what step to do and when.
So when you watch him cook, there won't be any rush or confusion. The smooth process is really enjoyable to watch.
If you go to the restaurant above and ask about the dish of pot-sticked eel back, not to mention the young new diners, even some of the old diners may not know it.
The preparation of this dish is very similar to the pot sticker dumplings made by the Lin family next door in the morning.
However, this dish is not made by wrapping pot stickers with eel meat.
This dish is made by combining eel back, shrimp paste, and a very thin piece of pork fat.
First, carefully select the whole eel back, put it into the pot, add onion and ginger water, cooking wine, salt and pepper to give the eel back a base flavor.
Just blanch it lightly, don't cook it too hard or the eel's back will be mushy.
Next, put the pork fat into the pot and boil it, and also add some onion, ginger and cooking wine to remove the smell.
During the cooking process, Feng Yifan quickly peeled the fresh shrimps and chopped them all into shrimp paste.
After that, add some onion and ginger water and an egg white to the shrimp paste and beat it in one direction into a paste.
At this time, the pork fat is almost cooked, so take it out and cool it in ice water.
Then a thin piece of pork fat is sliced on the bottom.
In order to ensure a certain degree of adhesion, first apply a layer of starch on the surface, then spread the shrimp paste on it, and finally stick the selected eel back on the shrimp paste.
In this way, a rectangular embryo is finally made.
Next, carefully cut the dough into pieces with an angled knife.
Before starting to fry, Feng Yifan also prepared a batter with egg yolks and starch to ensure that the bottom could be shaped.
When frying, Feng Yifan did not use a frying pan, but the wok he usually uses for cooking.
Put a little bit of oil at the bottom of the pan, dip the cut eel back pot stickers in a little batter, and then put them into the oil at the bottom of the pan.
He will do this one by one, and while doing so, Feng Yifan will also make adjustments to the ones that have already been finalized.
This dish must not be flipped.
Because if you flip it over, it is no longer a pot sticker, but a pan fried on both sides.
Fry slowly over low heat until the bottom is completely shaped, then add water as you would pot stickers. Cover the pot and slowly shake the pot to allow the bottom to be heated evenly.
After about ten minutes, the bottom is almost cooked. The moment you open the lid of the pot, the aroma of oil instantly fills the air.
The fire was still on low. As the fat from the pig at the bottom had been fried out, Feng Yifan used a spoon to pour the hot oil from the bottom of the pot little by little onto the eel's back.
The aroma of oil gradually emanates from the eel's back.
Finally, when the oil was almost gone and the bottom had turned golden and crispy, Feng Yifan finally took the dish out of the pan.
Zhao Daxia, who had sniffed the aroma from the bathroom outside, exclaimed, "Wow, it smells so good? What kind of dish is this?"
Upon hearing this, Shi Jinbin glanced towards the back door and saw Zhao Daxia coming in. He immediately smiled and said, "So there's someone else in the bathroom at the back?"
Zhao Daxia saw a fat old man in the kitchen and couldn't help but feel curious: "Who are you?"
Feng Yifan had already placed the pot-sticked eel back on a plate and introduced it to Zhao Daxia: "Sister Zhao, this is my uncle, who also learned cooking from Grandpa at Su Ji."
Zhao Daxia didn't realize at first that "grandfather" was referring to Su Ruoxi's grandfather.
She was a little surprised and said, "This old man, did he learn cooking from Ruoruo's grandfather? No way? He looks older than Uncle Rong."
Feng Yifan was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Hahaha, no, big sister, this is my uncle, he and my dad are brothers in the same school, and he learned cooking from Ruoxi and my grandfather."
Zhao Daxia finally understood: "Oh, it's the old man who was with me."
Shi Jinbin listened to the conversation between the two, looked at Zhao Daxia with interest and said, "This elder sister is really straightforward."
Zhao Daxia was also quite polite to Shi Jinbin about this matter: "Hello, old man, I am just here to help wash the dishes. I don't know much, please bear with me."
Shi Jinbin smiled and said, "It's a blessing to be able to wash dishes at Su Ji."
Zhao Daxia immediately said, "Grandpa, you are right. I used to think washing dishes was hard work, but now I feel it is quite good to wash dishes here. The boss cooks delicious dishes, and the restaurant is always full of joy."
Feng Yifan listened to Zhao Daxia's words and finished arranging the dish. He held it up with both hands and held it in front of Shi Jinbin: "Uncle Master, please taste it."
Zhao Daxia came over to take a look. She was also very surprised to see two flower-like dishes placed on a long white porcelain plate.
"Oh, boss, this dish you made is so beautiful."
Shi Jinbin smiled and said, "It does look beautiful, but this is the kitchen, not a place to eat. Please send it out and prepare a bowl of porridge for me."
Feng Yifan was a little surprised: "Uncle Master, this is all you eat tonight?"
Shi Jinbin nodded: "I'm old, and look at my stomach, I can't eat too much at night."
Feng Yifan immediately agreed: "Okay, Uncle Master, go change your clothes first, and I'll bring them out for you. Do you want to leave them at my dad's place?"
Shi Jinbin had already turned around and went to the washroom. Hearing this, he responded, "Yes, just put it next to your father-in-law."
Feng Yifan quickly served two bowls of white porridge, prepared chopsticks, put them on a tray together with the pot-sticked eel, and carried them outside.
Zhao Daxia looked at Feng Yifan's back as he walked out, and couldn't help but muttering, "This restaurant is really amazing. I've never seen the dishes they make. That dish smells so good, I wonder what it tastes like?"
Lin Ruifeng, who had already returned, heard what Zhao Daxia said and said, "It must be delicious."
Zhao Daxia turned her head and glanced at Lin Ruifeng: "Xiao Lin, it seems that you still need to study hard. You can only learn a little bit of your master's skills, but you can only use them for yourself."
Lin Ruifeng nodded seriously: "Yes, I will definitely learn well from Master."
Feng Yifan brought out the dishes and came to a table next to his father-in-law. He put the food down and pushed his father-in-law to sit in front of the table.
Su Jinrong glanced at the dishes on the table: "Oh? Pot-sticked eel back? Your uncle only wants this? Will he be full tonight?"
Feng Yifan whispered to his father-in-law, "Master Uncle said that he needs to eat less at night now because his stomach is too big and he is worried that eating too much will be bad for his health, so he eats less at night."
Su Jinrong laughed and said to his son-in-law, "Make me some stir-fried tiger tail and a plate of crystal braised pork. Your uncle and I will have a drink together."
Feng Yifan immediately said, "Dad, you should stop drinking. You just took medicine."
Su Jinrong wanted to say something, but Feng Ruoruo came over and said, "Grandpa, you can't drink. If you don't listen, Ruoruo will be angry. You are not allowed to drink."
Seeing his granddaughter coming over, Su Jinrong could only surrender obediently: "Okay, then grandpa won't drink anymore. Come and eat with us, Ruoruo."
Feng Ruoruo stayed beside her grandfather obediently, waiting for the fat grandfather to come out. In fact, the little girl wanted to supervise her grandfather and prevent him from drinking behind her back.