Liao Chen is nearly seventy years old. After returning to Huaicheng from other places in recent years, he has gotten used to eating at Fujinglou once or twice a week.
For an old man in his seventies, coming to Fujinglou is actually more about retrieving a sentiment.
However, after coming to Fujinglou so many times, the old man did not find the plot he was looking for.
This is not to say that the food at Fujinglou is bad.
On the contrary, in Liao Chen's opinion, the food at Fujinglou has been very good over the years, at least much better than when he came here half a year ago.
But the old man still didn’t get to taste the dishes he wanted at Fujinglou.
Today, the old man came to Fujing Building alone again.
The waiter who received Liao Chen was already familiar with him: "Grandpa Liao, you are here again? Do you still want to sit in your old seat?"
Liao Chen responded with a smile: "Yes, still the same position."
The receptionist guided the old man to his usual seat.
Liao Chen is different from most people. Most people who come to Fujing Building like to sit near the lake, but Liao Chen is just the opposite. He likes to sit on the other side.
This is a corner near the entrance of Fujing Building. Sitting here, you can clearly see the gardening outside the window.
When Liao Chen sat down, the waiter immediately asked, "Grandpa Liao, are you still the same today?"
Before Liao Chen could answer, the waiter suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, Grandpa Liao, we are promoting a few new dishes in our restaurant today. Would you like to try them?"
Liao Chen didn't take it seriously, he just simply responded and asked, "Well, tell me what new dishes you have."
The waiter immediately said, "There are three new dishes today, Chicken Marrow Bamboo Shoots, Rouge Goose Breast, and Snow-Celery Sprouts. Grandpa Liao, would you like to try them?"
Liao Chen didn't take it seriously at first, but suddenly heard the names of these three dishes.
The old man was stunned at first, then he remembered that Fujinglou was holding a cooking competition these days, so he hadn't been here for almost a month. He also heard that the competition was over, but the result that people talked about was not the champion and runner-up, but a dish of "Chicken Marrow Bamboo Shoots" made on the spot by a chef named Feng.
Liao Chen is a fan of Dream of the Red Chamber and has also conducted research on the dishes in the Dream of the Red Chamber.
However, due to his limited cooking skills, he was unable to recreate the dishes in the novel.
When he first heard that someone had made Chicken Marrow Bamboo Shoots at the Fujinglou cooking competition, the old man was surprised but didn't take it too seriously, and didn't think of ordering anything when he came today.
But now, after hearing the waiter introduce that in addition to the "Chicken Marrow Bamboo Shoots", there are actually two other dishes: "Rouge Goose Breast" and "Celery Sprouts in Snow", Liao Chen was really shocked.
"Rouge Goose Breast" and "Chicken Marrow Bamboo Shoots" are dishes mentioned in the book "Dream of the Red Chamber".
However, the dish "Snow-bottomed Celery Sprouts" is not a dish in the book, but a dish specially created by a chef to commemorate the author of Dream of the Red Chamber. Liao Chen had heard of this dish when he traveled around the country, but he had never seen it, let alone tasted it.
Today at Fujinglou, he didn't expect there would be this dish.
The waiter saw Liao Chen standing there in a daze, and asked curiously, "Grandpa Liao? Grandpa Liao, do you need anything?"
When Liao Chen was awakened by the waiter, he immediately said, "Well, I'll order chicken marrow bamboo shoots and snow-bottomed celery sprouts."
The waiter immediately agreed and then asked, "Grandpa Liao, do you need the dishes you usually order today?"
Liao Chen smiled and replied, "No need for those dishes. I'm an old man and can't eat that much. Two side dishes are enough. And give me a pot of Huadiao wine."
The waiter used the electronic ordering device to record the dishes ordered by the old man.
"Okay, Grandpa Liao, please wait a moment. I have already placed your order."
Liao Chen nodded: "Okay, thank you."
After the waiter left, Liao Chen sat alone at his seat, turned his head to look at the nearby garden scenery outside the window, and was full of anticipation for the two dishes.
After coming to Fujinglou so many times, the old man suddenly felt that perhaps today he could find the taste he had been longing for.
Feng Yifan was in the kitchen, deboning a turtledove, removing the skin and tendons, and then cutting the remaining lean meat into thin shreds.
In terms of quantity, such a turtledove can only be stir-fried into one dish.
As for the remaining bones and skin, Feng Yifan did not waste them. He asked the people in the kitchen to use them to make soup.
Just when Feng Yifan had everything ready and was about to start demonstrating the dish to the two chefs, he suddenly heard the electronic bell for taking orders from the kitchen.
Then the waiter called out, "Order dishes in front: chicken marrow bamboo shoots and snow-covered celery sprouts."
Feng Yifan heard it and smiled, "What a coincidence! Let's give this plate to the guest in front."
Then Feng Yifan washed the shredded meat in clean water and drained the water.
Put it in a bowl, add a little salt and Shaoxing rice wine, mix evenly with your hands, and beat until it becomes slightly sticky. Then add starch and mix well. Finally, add some ginger juice, seal with sesame oil and set aside.
Then Feng Yifan took the eggs, cracked the egg whites, added a little bit of salt, and began to beat them with chopsticks.
Keep beating the egg whites until they become creamy. Spread them on a plate and pile them up like snow.
Then put it in the steamer and steam it for a while.
The cooks in the kitchen, including the two head chefs Zhang Fenglin and Qi Deqiang, were all shocked when they saw Feng Yifan beating the egg whites directly with his hands.
Many of the chefs present here can do it, but it may take a long time to beat it.
More often than not, the chefs in the kitchen use electric egg beaters to beat the eggs.
That will save time and effort.
But people like Feng Yifan, who beat the egg whites with his hands in a short time, really surprised the chefs.
The three little girls, Feng Ruoruo, Yang Xiaoxi and Chen Yaofei, looked at their father as if he was performing magic.
Just keep stirring in the bowl, and the egg white will become creamy.
"Oh, Dad, you are so amazing, you can even make butter."
"Yeah, Daddy Feng, how did you turn that egg into cream?"
"Dad Feng, Feifei also wants to learn this. It's really amazing to be able to turn egg white into cream."
Feng Yifan smiled and said to the three little girls, "Dad Feng's method is a stupid one. If you are in a hurry to cook, it is best not to use this method. Instead, use an electric whisk to beat the eggs. That way it will be faster. You can use that in the future."
At this point, Feng Yifan looked at the chefs in the kitchen and smiled and said, "You don't have to imitate. If you have the tools, use them."
At this time, Lin Ruilong saw all this and couldn't help but come close to his master and ask in a low voice.
"Master, is it difficult to beat the egg whites like Feng Yifan does?"
The master looked at Lin Ruilong and said, "How can you call Chef Feng by his name? Without a certain amount of strength in your hands, you couldn't have done that just now. Show some respect."
After being reprimanded by his master, Lin Ruilong appeared to be submissive on the surface, but he was actually not convinced in his heart.
Feng Yifan then picked some celery sprouts.
"Remember, you must use young sprouts for this dish. Never use old parts. Only young celery sprouts will have enough taste."
The young shoots are selected and special personnel are responsible for cleaning them.
Feng Yifan went back to prepare for cooking.
Before officially starting cooking, Feng Yifan also prepared a bowl of sauce.
Mix salt, sugar, pepper, Shaoxing rice wine, ginger juice, water starch and sesame oil to make the sauce.
Once everything is ready, add more oil to the pan.
When the oil temperature reaches about 40% to 50%, add the shredded turtledove meat into the pan and stir-fry.
Stir-fry quickly until it changes color, then drain the oil.
Add some scallion oil into the pot, then put the shredded pork into the pot, put the celery sprouts into the pot, stir-fry them together, then pour the juice in the bowl and stir-fry over high heat.
By the time the sauce in the bowl had already dripped onto the shredded pork and celery sprouts, the whipped meringue in the steamer had been brought out.
Feng Yifan also quickly took the pan off the stove and put the fried shredded pork and celery sprouts into a plate.
Finally, he made some adjustments to the presentation of the dish, handed it over and said, "Okay, serve."
Immediately, someone from the kitchen quickly brought the dishes to the food delivery window, and the waiter waiting in front delivered the dishes to the table that had ordered the dishes.
After finishing this dish, Feng Yifan said to the two chefs, "There is another dish called chicken marrow bamboo shoots. Who of you will make it?"
Zhang Fenglin and Qi Deqiang looked at each other, and after a long while, Zhang Fenglin took the initiative to say, "I'll do it."
Qi Deqiang quickly said, "I'll help Chef Zhang."
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "Okay, then you two come on."
Next, under Feng Yifan's guidance, the two began to replicate the chicken marrow bamboo shoots that Feng Yifan made in the competition.
Liao Chen in front didn't have to wait long before he saw that the dishes he ordered had been served, along with a pot of Huadiao tea.
When this dish of "Celery Sprouts in Snow" was presented in front of the old man.
Liao Chen was really a little surprised.
Before today, Liao Chen had only heard of this dish and had never seen it before.
But now, this dish bearing the name of the author of Dream of the Red Chamber is now right in front of him.
At this moment, Liao Chen looked at the plate. The meringue was as white as snow, with the fresh and green celery sprouts in the middle, and the greasy shredded pork. The combination of the three was really beautiful.
For a moment, Liao Chen seemed to see Mr. Xueqin sitting in front of him.
Before the old man started eating, the guests at the table next to him also saw this beautiful dish.
"Wow, what kind of dish is that? Is it so pretty?"
"It looks like a cream base with some kind of vegetable in the middle."
"How amazing! Is there such a dish?"
"Waiter, what is that dish?"
Faced with questions raised by some diners after seeing this, many waiters didn't know how to answer at first.
Because although Fujinglou launched this dish today, in fact many waiters have never seen the dish before, they only know the names of a few new dishes.
When most of the waiters were speechless, Su Liancheng suddenly appeared and introduced himself to everyone with a smile.
"Everyone, the dish this old gentleman ordered is called 'Celery Sprouts in Snow'. We specially invited Chef Feng to come here to teach our chefs at Fujinglou. This is a dish related to Dream of the Red Chamber. If you want to try it, you can ask the waiter to order it."
After listening to Su Liancheng's introduction, many diners present immediately understood.
Some diners were extremely excited.
"Is this the dish cooked by Chef Feng? Is Chef Feng really going to come to Fujinglou?"
"It seems not? Didn't Chef Feng say he was setting up a stall?"
"Is he invited here?"
"Does that mean Chef Feng will be in Fujinglou from now on?"
When Su Liancheng heard some diners' questions like this, he could actually choose not to answer them, so that the diners would mistakenly think that Feng Yifan stayed in Fujinglou, which would bring more customers to Fujinglou. But after thinking about it, he was still worried that he would offend Feng Yifan.
He had no choice but to come out and explain: "Don't get me wrong, Chef Feng is only here to teach, he won't be staying in Fujing Building permanently."
After hearing this, some diners suddenly realized.
"So that's how it is. I knew it, Chef Feng would never give up Su Ji."
"In fact, the old street of Su Ji is being renovated now, and Chef Feng is also doing well at Fujing Building."
"Didn't he say that? Chef Feng is here to teach us how to cook and he won't be here permanently. If we want to eat Chef Feng's food, we still have to wait until the reconstruction of the ancient street is completed."
…
The discussions of some people in Fujing Building did not attract much attention from Liao Chen.
The old man is like this in his daily life. He doesn't like to listen to gossip and rarely goes online. He only watches TV occasionally. Most of the time, he likes to read books and newspapers.
Therefore, Liao Chen himself didn’t know much about the “Chef Feng” mentioned by the young diners at Fujinglou, as well as about Su Ji and the ancient street.
He didn't listen and turned his attention back to the food in front of him.
The old man first poured himself a glass of wine, then took a sip of it, and then used chopsticks to pick up the shredded meat and celery sprouts in the middle of the snow bottom.
Put them in your mouth and chew them slightly.
The celery sprouts are fresh and tender, and the shredded pork is smooth and juicy. While chewing, the celery sprouts dilute the greasiness of the shredded pork, leaving the faint fragrance of the shredded pork between the lips and teeth, which Liao Chen feels is really delicious.
The key is that such a small dish, paired with the wine in front, is really a great match.
Moreover, the dishes themselves are not heavily seasoned and taste fresh and elegant, which really complements the surrounding environment of Fujing Building.
Liao Chen was tasting the food and drinking some wine, and occasionally turned his head to glance out the window.
At this moment, the old man suddenly found the feeling he had been looking for for a long time.
Delicate yet simple, with a light and elegant flavor, it complements the garden outside.
This feeling of drinking together with scholars and poets makes the old man feel as if he is in ancient times, gathering with three or five scholars and elegant guests. The feeling is really that everyone is intoxicated even without the wine.
In Fujing Building, everyone was still talking about Feng Yifan's arrival.
At the same time, many diners took the opportunity to order the dishes that Feng Yifan came to teach.
I want to be the first to taste the Red Mansion dishes made by Chef Feng.