"But... did I say we would make these dishes at the Spring Banquet?" Ye Chui said with a smile.
His words made everyone at the table stunned at the same time. If they were going to have pork dishes for the Spring Banquet, they would naturally have to choose the best pork dishes. All of the pork dishes at Manhan Building were top quality, so they would naturally have to have these dishes if they were going to participate in the Spring Banquet. But after hearing what Ye Chu said, did he have other types of pork dishes
Aren’t the pork dishes in the Manchu-Han Banquet the most delicious pork dishes
"Boss, do you have other dishes?" Qin Yiyue was picking up a piece of fried pork ribs with chopsticks. When she heard Ye Chui's words, she put down the ribs in her chopsticks involuntarily and looked at Ye Chui.
"Chinese food culture is extensive and profound. Although the Manchu-Han Banquet is the highest realm of Chinese cuisine, it does not completely include all the delicious dishes. Some folk delicacies have not been included in the Manchu-Han Banquet because they have only been around for a short time or for other reasons." Ye Chui explained with a smile, "Besides, our Manchu-Han Restaurant has been open for half a month, and the menu is definitely not a secret. Some people with ulterior motives will definitely guess that we are participating in the Spring Banquet to prepare the pork dishes on the menu. They have put a lot of effort in this regard, and even if we make the most delicious dishes, we may lose a lot of votes because of this."
Ye Chui was referring to Shenghua Garden.
Knowing what dishes Ye Chui is going to cook, Shenghuayuan will definitely take some targeted measures. Jim was born in Chinatown, so he might know many cooking methods similar to the pork dishes in Manhanlou. Ye Chui never took this eight-star Chinese chef seriously, but he would never underestimate him.
The dining table is like a battlefield.
Especially for banquets involving cooking competitions, extra precautions should be taken in this regard. This is also what Ye Chui often tells Tian Xiaodu and others.
Dong Youyou was chewing an elbow in an unseemly manner. She had stopped eating it, but she was too embarrassed to put it down. She just held it in her hand and asked, "So, Ye Chui, you've thought so much about it. What dish are you going to cook for the Spring Banquet?"
"I've been thinking about this for the whole afternoon." Ye Chui smiled, "At the Spring Banquet, we're going to prepare... a whole pig banquet."
"Whole Pig Feast?" Everyone at the table was attracted by the name, and Dong Youyou couldn't wait to ask, "What is a Whole Pig Feast?"
"As the name suggests, these are dishes made from a whole pig, including the pig's head, pork elbows, pig's trotters, pig's stomach, pig's spine, etc. Every part of the pig is made into dishes and served on the table. This is a true pork banquet." Ye Chui said with a smile.
He wanted to do this because he thought of the village banquet in his previous life.
A village banquet is a party where the whole village dine together. When Ye Chui was seeking culinary skills, he met a village banquet chef. His village banquet was famous far and wide. His method was to cook a whole pig, and each part was made into a dish. It was not only delicious but also had a great flavor. This is also the essence of Chinese food culture. In some areas, there is even a custom of slaughtering a whole pig and cooking it for entertaining guests during festivals, which symbolizes reunion.
The most important thing is that this cooking method is definitely unexpected, and even if it is stolen, it cannot be copied - even if it is copied, they will definitely not be able to reproduce the flavor.
Ye Chui's words shocked everyone at the table. Tian Xiaodu asked, "Master, aren't you taking a risk? Many parts of pork... shouldn't be suitable for cooking, right? For example, pig stomach, can you eat it? How can you make it delicious?"
"Of course you can eat pig stomach, and it's delicious. It's also one of the most delicious parts of pork. It's just not taken seriously because of the lack of cooking methods. It was recorded as early as in the Compendium of Materia Medica that it can 'warm the stomach, eliminate cold and dampness, nausea, bloating, cold accumulation, and poison', and there are many dishes related to it." Ye Chui explained with a smile.
Although the world's meat products are experiencing a full recovery, many delicacies are not served on the table due to the lack of recipes. Pork tripe, lamb tripe, beef tripe, etc. are a big pity. These ingredients are often deemed unusable and abandoned, and are regarded as not presentable.
Of course, there are also dishes made with these ingredients in the Manchu-Han Banquet, but Ye Chui took this factor into consideration when formulating the menu of Manchu-Han Building and did not use them.
In fact, even if Ye Chui wanted to make dishes of this kind, there was no supply of ingredients - pig stomachs and the like were thrown away directly at the slaughterhouse. If Ye Chui contacted the slaughterhouse directly to purchase pig stomachs, it might cause some trouble and affect the business of Manhanlou.
Ye Chui glanced at everyone at the table, and when he thought of something interesting, he continued with a smile, "There are recipes for ingredients like pork tripe in the Manchu-Han Banquet, but I didn't write them down in the menu. For example, there is a dish called pine flower tripe in the original Manchu-Han Banquet, and I plan to put this dish in the Spring Banquet."
"Is this dish made with pig stomach?" Lin Wei, who was sitting next to Ye Chui, asked quickly.
"It's not made of pig's stomach, but..." Ye Chui had a wicked smile on his face, "pig's bladder."
"… "
After a few seconds of silence at the table, Han Yuyan said to Ye Chui in a serious tone, "Master, let's consider using the pork dishes on the Manhanlou menu for the Spring Banquet..."
Ye Chui rolled his eyes: "Pork is a treasure from head to toe, but nowadays many of its delicious parts are not properly recognized by people because of their poor appearance. How regrettable is that?"
This is also what Ye Chui felt.
Things like pig tripe, sheep tripe and cow tripe have always been looked down upon by people since humans began to train cattle, sheep and pigs. It is unknown how many years passed before they were officially served on the dining table. Now that meat ingredients are in short supply, since Ye Chui wants to revive Chinese cuisine, it is naturally his responsibility to make people re-acquainted with these delicious ingredients.
“Master, I know what you mean, but… I’m afraid the gourmets attending the Spring Banquet won’t be able to accept it.” Tian Xiaodu continued to persuade him. These dishes felt almost like dark cuisine. Not to mention whether anyone would eat them after they were made, he was also afraid that he would be arrested directly on the charge of dark cuisine.
Today is the era of gourmet food, and the selection of ingredients for cooking is a very serious matter.
Seeing the expressions of the people at the table, Ye Chui sighed, thought for a moment, and continued, "How about this, I'll tell you a story about cooking with pig stomach, maybe you will change your mind after listening to it..."
Then Ye Chui told a story about pig stomach.
Pig's stomach is a food ingredient that is not valued by people. Since ancient times, only some poor families in the folk would eat these things. Pig's stomach was officially used as a delicious ingredient in dishes during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.
It is said that Emperor Qianlong's favorite concubine, Concubine Yi, was in poor health. The imperial physician, following the principle of "food supplements are worse than medicine", wrapped chicken with pig stomach and boiled them together to make a dish. The dish was surprisingly delicious. Emperor Qianlong even praised the dish as "the reincarnation of the phoenix". This dish also has another widely circulated name called pig stomach chicken.
Pig stomach and chicken is not a dish in the Manchu Han banquet, but it has still been spread and become a famous dish.
This dish also made pork belly popular.
"Chicken with pig's stomach? This name is interesting, and it is a dish specially selected by Emperor Qianlong. This dish does have some history." After listening to Ye Chui's story, Tian Xiaodu nodded, "Then Master, if you want to make pig's stomach, are you going to make this chicken with pig's stomach?"
"Of course not. I'm going to prepare a whole pig banquet, so I'll use pork. The dishes I'm preparing are different." Ye Chui shook his head. "I told you this story just to tell you that pig stomach is not as bad as you think. It can be very delicious if cooked properly. Moreover, I think most people in China would not think that we would cook something like pig stomach. It's a surprise, and it will leave a deep impression on the gourmets participating in the banquet, right?"
Ye Chui's words do make sense, but everyone still finds it hard to accept...
"I always feel that many people will lose their appetite just by hearing the name of this kind of thing." Han Yuyan sighed, "Anyway, I don't want to eat this."
Ye Chui glared at his second apprentice, then smiled and said as he thought of something: "Dayu, do you remember that not long ago when we were cooking at Xiaoyu's house, you were weak and didn't feel well, so I made you red tofu soup, and you thought it was delicious?"
"Red tofu soup?" Han Yuyan's eyes suddenly lit up. The red tofu soup that Ye Chui was talking about was made by Ye Chui for her once when she was weak after her period. At that time, she thought the soup was very good and could replenish her energy.
But when she asked Ye Chui what the red tofu soup was, Ye Chui remained mysterious and refused to tell her...
At this time, she couldn't help but continue to ask: "Master, what exactly is this red tofu? You should tell me now, right?"
"Okay, I'll tell you now..." Ye Chui smiled mischievously again, "The full name of red tofu is pig blood tofu, which is actually a kind of tofu made from coagulated pig blood. Red tofu soup is actually pig blood soup."
Han Yuyan: “…”
The elder sister was originally quite expectant, thinking that the origin of the red tofu was extraordinary. But when she heard Ye Chui say that it was actually pig blood, she couldn't help it. She suddenly covered her mouth and hurriedly ran away from the table...
Everyone at the table looked at Ye Chui, their eyes were speechless: How could you tease your own disciple like this...
Ye Chui shrugged, "Pig blood tofu is indeed a good thing. Its origin is so long that it is hard to trace. It was famous throughout the country during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. I was planning to make a pig blood tofu soup for the Spring Banquet."
Everyone at the table was completely speechless at this moment.
It feels like... if this continues, Chunyan will be ruined by Ye Chui. (~^~)