Han Yuyan, An Xiaoxiao, and Qin Yiyue had already sat down at a dining table in the lobby of Manhan Building. On the table were several dishes prepared by Qin Yiyue, and next to it was a small bucket of freshly steamed white rice. But they had not yet started eating, waiting for Ye Chui to prepare the three pieces of ham, which would be the highlight of tonight's meal.
In addition, there was a dish prepared by Han Yuyan on the table: scrambled eggs.
Sister Han had a look of anticipation on her face. Her dishes could finally be served on the table. She wondered what the master’s reaction would be when he ate her dishes
Qin Yiyue also looked towards the kitchen. What kind of flavor could Ye Chui make with his diced ham
Soon, Ye Chui came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of food, and the three of them looked over.
Three-diced ham is a dish invented by Qin Yiyue, but when competing with Miao Shengsong today, the three gourmets unanimously agreed that his dish was not as good as Miao Shengsong's and there was something wrong with the choice of ingredients for the dish itself. Ye Chui and Old Han both believed that the key to whether this dish could win the competition was whether Qin Yiyue could bring out the deliciousness of the ham made by Ye Chui, and the result was obviously that Qin Yiyue failed.
Now Qin Yiyue really wants to know how Ye Chui will improve this delicacy
"Try this dish of three-diced ham that I made." Ye Chui put the dish in his hand on the dining table and sat down at the side.
An Xiaoxiao was well-behaved and sensible and immediately helped Ye Chui serve some rice.
Han Yuyan also hurriedly pushed the scrambled eggs he had made to Ye Chui and said, "Master, eat the scrambled eggs I made."
Ye Chui took a look at the scrambled eggs made by Sister Han. The eggs were orange-yellow, with a soft texture. He could smell a refreshing aroma by taking a deep breath. At least the color, aroma and taste were fully achieved. Ye Chui nodded with satisfaction, picked up a little egg with chopsticks and put it into his mouth, chewing gently.
Ye Chui originally had no expectations for the taste of the eggs. Han Yuyan's talent for cooking was truly amazing. Both Qin Yiyue and Tian Xiaodu had been tortured by her scrambled eggs. But to Ye Chui's surprise, the eggs tasted surprisingly good, with the right amount of saltiness and a soft texture. Apart from the main points of the dish, this dish had already achieved the qualities of looseness, fragrance, smoothness and tenderness that scrambled eggs should have. Although it was not perfect, it had already amazed Ye Chui.
"Dayu, these scrambled eggs are delicious." Ye Chui said to Han Yuyan with a smile.
After receiving Ye Chui's praise, Han Yuyan immediately smiled happily: "It's worth it that I spent the whole afternoon experimenting. I still remember all the key points of scrambled eggs that you taught me, Master."
"Scrambled eggs are simple, but this simple dish reveals something extraordinary. If you, Dayu, can make this scrambled egg to perfection, it will be a shortcut to reaching the highest level of chef." Ye Chui said with a smile.
Of course, cooking is not the same as in martial arts novels, where there is no such thing as "one method to master all methods". But if you can make a simple dish like scrambled eggs into a machine-made delicacy, what you need is a superb ability to control the heat, the technique of beating the eggs, the timing of plating, etc., which all need to be practiced seriously. If you can do this perfectly, it will naturally be more helpful when making other dishes.
Han Yuyan was rarely praised by Ye Chui for her cooking skills, and a happy expression immediately appeared on her face. She nodded hurriedly and said, "Master, I will definitely practice scrambled eggs seriously in the future and try to make them the best!"
"Senior sister, you have great ambitions..." An Xiaoxiao couldn't help but joked. At the beginning, An Xiaoxiao thought that her senior sister was also a master of cooking, but obviously she no longer thinks so.
Ye Chui smiled and said, "This may not be impossible, Da Yu, I support you."
—The fact is, Han Yuyan was determined to learn cooking skills this time. She was determined to keep going. She knew she was not good at other things, so she focused on scrambled eggs. After persistent practice, her cooking skills improved greatly. Her scrambled eggs even became a specialty of Manhanlou. She was even called the scrambled egg beauty. It made people sigh that her funny life did not need explanation...
Of course, this is a later story.
At this moment, when Ye Chui was eating Han Yuyan's scrambled eggs, Qin Yiyue and An Xiaoxiao took a piece of the diced ham made by Ye Chui and put it into their mouths.
"The side dishes for my three-diced ham are wrong. The dried tofu and edamame are the same, and the dried tofu and shiitake mushrooms are a bit conflicting. I've heard Dayu say all this." Qin Yiyue chewed carefully and said admiringly, "Boss, you chose to use cucumber, carrot, and corn kernels to go with the ham. The taste is indeed much better. The refreshing taste of carrots, the freshness of cucumbers, and the fragrance of corn kernels, when combined together, can indeed fully bring out the deliciousness of the ham, but... In this case, boss, your three-diced ham should be similar to mine, but I feel that your dish is obviously more delicious than mine, and the ham has a mellow and rich fragrance. Where does this rich fragrance come from?"
Ye Chui's three-diced ham is obviously better than Qin Yiyue's. The side dishes are also excellent, but the most important thing is the rich aroma of the ham in his dish. How did he create that flavor
Hearing Qin Yiyue's question, Ye Chui did not answer directly, but looked at An Xiaoxiao who was savoring the taste of the food beside him, and asked: "Xiaoxiao, what do you think is going on?"
An Xiaoxiao had a puzzled expression on her face, and said strangely, "This afternoon, after you fell asleep, Brother Qin made three-diced ham. I tasted that dish at the time, but it felt completely different from what you made. It was as if the aroma of Brother Qin's ham was restrained and not released, while your ham seemed to have released all its aroma..."
The fragrance is in full bloom, this is An Xiaoxiao's feeling about Ye Chui ham.
Han Yuyan also hurriedly picked up a piece of ham and put it into her mouth. Her tasting ability was not as exaggerated as An Xiaoxiao's, but she still felt something: "It smells so good, but where does this smell come from?"
When Ye Chui was cooking the ham cubes just now, he deliberately asked Qin Yiyue, Han Yuyan and An Xiaoxiao to stand far away. He didn't want them to see the cooking process, and he also wanted to test the three of them. He smiled and said, "What do you think?"
"How can I guess this..." Han Yuyan looked embarrassed and frowned.
Qin Yiyue picked up another piece with chopsticks and put it into his mouth to taste it, but still got nothing.
An Xiaoxiao didn't taste it anymore, but frowned and fell into deep thought.
"Could it be that the ham is dry-fried before cooking to stimulate the flavor of the ham?" Qin Yiyue looked puzzled, but soon he shook his head, "No, that's not the case... If it was dry-fried, the taste shouldn't be like this, but the ham must have gone through some steps before cooking... But what steps?"
"I know!" An Xiaoxiao suddenly shouted, "When I was begging with my uncle, we once got a large piece of meat. Because we couldn't finish it, I hung it on the wall to let it dry. But after it dried, the meat was too hard. It tasted like wood when I cooked it. So I roasted it before cooking... Master, your ham is similar to that kind of dried meat, and I vaguely remember the fragrance of your ham. You must have roasted the ham before making this ham, right?"
Qin Yiyue looked at An Xiaoxiao with eyes wide open, thinking carefully, his eyes lit up, this taste... indeed has some barbecue aroma, he looked at Ye Chui: "It must have been roasted over fire, right?"
Ye Chui nodded in satisfaction. "That's right. Ham, in short, is pickled meat that has been air-dried. If you want to fully bring out the aroma of the ham, it needs to be cooked for a long time. But a dish like diced ham doesn't require heavy oil or sauce. It only needs to be simply stir-fried and served. If you want to bring out the rich flavor of the ham, you naturally need other methods. The method I use is to grill it before frying it."
"I see." Han Yuyan looked at An Xiaoxiao with amazement and envy. He didn't expect his junior sister to be so powerful. Then Han Yuyan said in surprise, "Then Master, since you knew you needed to do this, why didn't you tell Qin Yiyue directly when you called? Maybe we wouldn't have lost the first game then."
"I didn't think so much at the time..." Ye Chui smiled and shook his head.
In fact, when Ye Chui heard Han Yuyan mention what Qin Yiyue was going to cook, he already understood the flaws of this dish, but he didn't say much. This was because of Qin Yiyue's face. This competition was Qin Yiyue's competition, and he was not Ye Chui's apprentice, unlike An Xiaoxiao. If Ye Chui helped him correct it, it would mean telling him that he had already lost before he even tried the dish, and Qin Yiyue would definitely not be able to accept it with his temperament.
At this time, Qin Yiyue was stunned for a moment, and suddenly understood something. He looked at Ye Chui with gratitude. Today's game was crucial, but Ye Chu was thinking about him and still took the risk to let him experiment with his dishes, which touched him a little.
However, Qin Yiyue was obviously not suited to this kind of mood. After he ate a few more bites of food, he suddenly changed the subject and said, "Boss, tomorrow the three five-star chefs and six four-star chefs that Shenghuayuan promised to give us will be here. They will definitely be dissatisfied when they are being traded as commodities. Who knows, they will come to you to take revenge. Boss, can you call Mr. Han over as well?"
"No need for that." Ye Chui shook his head indifferently, "I am the owner of this restaurant. How can I keep the restaurant going if I rely on Mr. Han for everything? If the chefs want to embarrass me tomorrow, they have to see if they have the capital to do so!" (~^~)