Datang First Chef

Chapter 29

The wooden round wheels of the carriage rolled on the solid ground, leaving two horizontal marks. The people in the carriage came to Luoyang for the first time, with round faces and thin faces crowded in the narrow window, trying to pull their heads out of the window.

"Red, yellow, black, are they all peonies?"

"Isn't it? Sanniang said that it's the peony season at this time, not to mention Luoyang, even the streets of Chang'an have countless flower farmers."

"I think their flowers are better than ours."

"Bah, bah, then you should stay in Luoyang, because you think Chang'an is not good! In my opinion, there is no place in the world that is more prosperous than Beijing."

"I don't mean that, Chang'an is naturally the best."

After traveling for several days, the travelers were in good spirits, especially after entering Luoyang City, the people in the car looked around, and what's more, they got out of the car and walked, walking next to the flowers and willows, which was very pleasant.When they reached the gate of a certain courtyard in Sishunfang, the driver sitting on the big horse jumped off, with his head held high, and his voice was like a bell: "Master, Sanniang, I'm here!"

Li Sanniang put down the business in hand, and rushed out like a thunderbolt: "It's finally here!"

……

Running a restaurant is a science, there is no easy job in store decoration, recruiting staff, settling accounts and collecting money, formulating dishes, and training cooks.Li Sanniang is an invincible strong woman, busy like a spinning top all day, carrying many chores.Mo Xiaoyuan, who has a specialization in art and is not good at management, automatically provokes the important task of formulating recipes and training cooks.

In modern times, he was a rare young talent. His talent in cooking was not inferior to the descendants of the royal chefs who had been familiar with him since he was a child. He was also diligent and studious, able to learn from others. He not only learned local Shanghai cuisine, but also learned from chefs from other cuisines. , promote each other, draw inferences about other cases from one example, and be brave in innovation.But he has a gentle temperament, and he doesn't have the arrogance of a genius. In addition, the chef world is very respectful of the old and the young. He thinks that he has only been a teacher for a short time, and he is not capable of leading apprentices.

Unexpectedly, in the Tang Dynasty, for the sake of his own restaurant business, he began to recruit apprentices at a young age. If he hadn't used his age as an excuse and was unwilling to accept the formal apprenticeship ceremony, those apprentices who were several times his age would meet regularly. He bowed his head respectfully.

It is rare for a craftsman to worship a master, and it is because of this that it is more appropriate to worship the master on weekdays.

Mo Wenyuan still remembered that when he celebrated his birthday last year, a group of burly men knelt on the ground and kowtowed to him.

He was making jelly in front of the hall, when he heard Zhao Shenshan's imposing shout, he immediately trotted to the front yard. Li Sanniang was a little faster than him, and was already beckoning the chariots and horses to move into the yard.

Seeing Mo Wenyuan, the eldest disciple Zhao Shenshan immediately clasped his fists, bent his waist almost ninety degrees and said, "Master!" His loud greeting brought the juniors behind him to salute together, and the shout of "Master" almost went up to the sky.

Mo Wenyuan was enshrined by them for an unknown amount of time, and after getting used to it, he waved his hands again and again and said, "You don't need to be too polite, just follow me in."

The yard has been tidied up a long time ago. A group of people rushed to Luoyang from Chang'an. Needless to say, the rest is the top priority. They entered the house and sat cross-legged on the cushions. The woman who came to help hurriedly brought steamed buns tea.After wolfing down the food, the already energetic disciples became even more energetic. They hiccupped and helped clean up the table and table, then sat on the cushions and looked at Mo Wenyuan brightly.

He has taken in a total of eight apprentices, some are good at barbecue, some are good at carving, and some are good at pastry.The technique of "stir-frying" was rare in the Tang Dynasty. Before Mo Wenyuan took a few bites of the iron pan, Ding could not handle most of the stir-fry dishes. Zhao Shenshan's best stir-fry was taught by Mo Wenyuan.

A total of four apprentices came for this trip, half of them were picked up, and his apprentices were all very capable, Mo Wenyuan nodded secretly, planning a banquet for 200 people independently was not a big problem.

"I called you here this time to prepare for the opening of a new store in Luoyang, but there are more urgent matters right now. I was invited to prepare a banquet for the Luoyang Peony Flower Festival, and I need you to help me hold the spoon together."

"A feast at the Luoyang Peony Fair?"

"It's really worthy of being a master. Although we are new to Luoyang, we have heard of the reputation of the Flower Fair. If we can prepare it properly, the name of the master will spread far and wide."

"Don't speak in vain, even if there is no flower festival, Master's name has been spread all over the world, let alone tofu, there are many people talking about Master's conquest of demons and demons along the way, have you forgotten?"

Mo Wenyuan's head hurt when he heard the words "Subduing demons and demons". He was silent for a while, decided to let go of this topic, stood up silently, returned to the back kitchen silently, and silently served a plate of jelly Come out, goat milk jelly, orange jelly, peony jelly...as long as they are made by him.

"Please," he said.

The four of them are all cooks. While enjoying the food, they also taste the taste of jelly, so they took a bite of each flavor and nodded while eating.

“Roquefort has the firmest texture.”

"The peony jelly has a nice color and a bland taste."

"Is this the dish in the Peony Banquet?"

"But congeal in the same way as tofu?"

Mo Wenyuan introduced the method of fish jelly, and said that he sold it in Luoyang City, and when they returned to Chang'an, they would add it to the recipe, so as to win the popularity of Chang'an's aristocratic circle. "I was able to hold a banquet, and the peony jelly is very useful. This thing is very popular among the aristocratic families in Luoyang. Anyone who has been to the flower show has eaten jelly." Speaking of this, he is still a little proud.

Zhao Shenshan said: "This thing must be on the menu."

"That's right. For the banquet, I want to have four cold dishes, eight hot dishes, two soups, and one dessert. The peony jelly is the dessert." He glanced at the four of them, and said cautiously, "You wait for work to master the top ten dishes as soon as possible. The four-course recipe, even if it’s not possible, must help me.”

"promise!"

……

The history of Peony Banquet is not long.As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" recorded the medicinal value of peony, and "Compendium of Materia Medica" also wrote peony prescriptions, but arty literati and ordinary flower farmers preferred to focus on its ornamental value. Poetry and painting, but few want to eat it.

In modern times, people have gradually developed new uses of peonies. Petals, paeonol, pollen, and flower seeds are all beneficial to the human body. The government teams in cities with hundreds of years of peony planting history began to rack their brains to make peony The peony became the calling card of the city, and efforts were made to develop various uses for the flower.

Naturally, some people think of China from the tip of the tongue to peony on the tip of the tongue. After more than ten years of development, the peony banquet has become one of the characteristics of certain planting cities.

Before Mo Wenyuan crossed over, the best city to promote the Peony Banquet was Heze City. The city government spent a lot of effort to make the Peony Banquet famous, and it was even featured on cctv. The dishes were carefully prepared by famous chefs. It is no exaggeration Said that just to make the banquet take shape, it cost tens of millions.

With the cooperation of many famous chefs, the finished product is not bad. Leaving aside the non-professional diners, the new generation of famous chefs like Mo Wenyuan all praised the dishes and rushed to taste them.

His tongue is extremely sensitive, and he can analyze the ingredients in the dishes after eating a few times. However, analyzing the ingredients and restoring them are two concepts. Mo Wenyuan is not interested in copying other people's dishes. He remembers the delicious combinations. Hold on, and pick out the taste of the ingredients that are suitable for adding in your mind, and match them according to your feeling, so that the peony dish has a new look.

What is passed on to the apprentices is not so much the Peony Banquet in his mind, but rather a new product that he rearranged, reorganized and semi-innovated.

Among the two hot dishes, peony fish fillet and peony fried meat are indispensable. Peony fried meat is not difficult to make, and Zhao Shenshan, who is best at "stir-frying", will do it, and peony fish fillet will be prepared by Zhou Miao, who is good at sliced ​​fish. Do.

Zhou Miao is Mo Wenyuan's second apprentice. Unlike Zhao Shenshan, who was originally a small worker who shined after being discovered, Zhou Miao was originally a cook, and he still has a family restaurant. He was born in a family of cooks who have been cooks for three generations.

Their family specializes in fresh fish dishes including fish sticks, and has a small reputation in the West Market area, especially Zhou Miao's grandfather, everyone knows the skill of sliced ​​fish, and even dignitaries often come to the door respectfully Ask him to cook.

Zhou Miao was short of water in the five elements, so his parents added three waters in his name, maybe because there was too much water, he was more sensitive to fish than all his brothers since he was a child, whether it was fish filleting skills or picking fresh fish Whether your eyesight is good, it is far better than others.

A genius always has more pursuits than a mediocre person. He is not satisfied with guarding his own small shop to make fish meat. After arguing with his family, he went out with a burden on his back, claiming to learn all the dishes in the world. His old man growled "Who will give you the recipe?" I didn't care about him, and said in my heart that I would go home after seeing clearly the fickleness of the world.

But what their family didn't expect was that before leaving Chang'an, Zhou Miao found the culinary resort of his dreams, which was Li Sanniang's restaurant!Mr. Mo Xiaolang from Sanniang's family is proficient in various cooking methods, and he teaches his apprentices everything. What's even more frightening is that he is like an inexhaustible source of inspiration, one idea after another.

Before Zhou's family could react, Zhou Miao quickly became a teacher and officially became a member of Li Sanniang's restaurant family.

These days, people value the master-student relationship very much. Zhou Miao worships a teacher in full view, so he must not do anything that betrays the teacher. There is no such thing as stealing recipes to Zhou's family. Just a neighbor in the neighborhood can spray them to death .Everyone lamented that the gentleman of Li Sanniang's family had such a big heart that he accepted Zhou Miao as his apprentice.

When Zhou Miao left, there was a lot of trouble. The neighbors, acquaintances and diners all knew that Erlang had left, and his family was also stubborn. Since they knew about him, they studied in Li Sanniang’s restaurant, and they never visited the restaurant just a few squares away. .

No matter how many stories there are before getting started, the only thing that is meaningful to Mo Wenyuan is that he has an additional apprentice who has ideal basic skills.These days the master-student relationship is strict, apprentice Zhou Miao respects Mo Wenyuan as much as he does his father.

Mo Wenyuan demonstrated the method of slicing fish several times in front of him and said, "Try it?" The method of slicing fish he used was different from the traditional method of cutting fish and sticking to it. The angle of cutting and the strength of the hand were different. After a few times, he got a glimpse of the doorway and tried it out. His cutting speed was much slower than Mo Wen's, but the finished product looked very good.

In addition, there is another dish to teach Zhou Miao, which is the soup "National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance".

The soup is made from pork tenderloin, mushrooms of various colors and ham kelp. The "Peony Flower" carved vividly.

The peony is a red and white peony. Mo Wenyuan put the round reed in his hand, and the knife as thin as a willow leaf rotated in his fingertips. Looking at his light movements, he seemed to be peeling an apple. In a matter of minutes, successive skins can be peeled off.

"Wow--"

"As expected of a master!"

Of course he wasn't peeling the skin, otherwise the apprentices wouldn't have sighed like this. The "petals" as thin as a cicada's wings are clustered together one after another. , the darker the color of the petals, the larger the petals, and the more delicate and pleasant.There was a real peony of the same color on Mo Wenyuan's cutting board, and he put the flower carved by himself next to it, unless he got closer and saw the food fiber, he would not be able to tell which was real and which was fake.

[Task: Elementary Carving Skills (1/1)]

[Reward points: 10]

Even the system was impressed by Mo Wenyuan's skills, and reward points were issued, but it was certified as an elementary carving skill. Mo Wenyuan felt that this judgment was not unfair. Carving is a public carver and has no creativity. Even ordinary cooks can do it, but the carvings are not beautiful enough, not lifelike enough, or the "petals" are of different thickness, and the technical content is not enough.He is just doing better than ordinary people, not considered a skill.

Zhou Miao asked eagerly, "Master, can you do it again?"

Mo Wenyuan picked up the other half of the carrot and said, "Yes."

The color of the petals is inseparable from the color of the reed itself. Of course, what Mo Wenyuan used was not ordinary white radish, but the beauty in his heart.Thanks to China's large land and abundant resources, in the Tang Dynasty, radishes entered thousands of households and became a food that people used to eat. The output of beautiful radishes in my heart is not as high as that of white radishes, but it is still planted in large quantities in Northeast China and other places. It is sold in Luoyang City, but it is relatively small. White radish is more expensive.

"Cut the reed in half, and cut the outermost layer into seven to eight pieces. The knife edge is sideways, and be careful not to cut it." The usual cutting method is to cut five pieces, but Mo Wenyuan thinks that the five pieces are too wide, and there is no beauty. It was not dense enough, so I added three slices.

"Use a knife to remove the cyan reed skin, and start cutting the second circle of petals. Each petal falls between the two petals of the first circle, and the thickness of the slice increases."

Zhou Miao watched carefully, and he was not slow to learn. When Mo Wenyuan finished carving the second flower, he had already tried it. The other apprentices were also very curious, and each took half a reed, and held it in his palm.

He looked at the finished products of all the people, and praised: "A Miao's finished products are the best and the most spiritual."

"For those of you who are not good at carving, you should practice more diligently. This is the basic skill. Whether it is making tofu dishes or shredded fish, knife skills are essential. When you can carve reeds and cut vegetables well, you will definitely be able to do it. No problem."

Apprentices responded and returned to their posts, doing what should be cooking and practicing what should be practiced.

……

When a new dish is released, it is necessary to find someone to try it. Except for the cook, the first person to eat the dish is not Wang Wei, nor Li Sanniang, but the monster pen pal Xiao Taotie.

From the previous note exchanges, Mo Wenyuan could feel that the other party was an extremely qualified gourmet. He has a sensitive tongue, and it is only the most basic to distinguish whether it is delicious or not. Surprisingly, it is a shallow taste He can feel whether the ingredients are in conflict with each other, whether the fragrance is strong or weak, and he speaks clearly and logically.

Mo Wenyuan thinks he has an excellent sense of smell and taste, so he is willing to bow down to his mysterious pen pal.

He delivered peony soup and other dishes today, and when he was ready to go to the hall, he came back and saw the latest comments and clean bowls.

"The peony soup is clear and the carving is exquisite. Separated, both are top-grade, but blended together, the taste is not very good."

"The taste of reeds is astringent, and it doesn't match the taste of white jade mushrooms in the soup. If you remove the white jade mushrooms, there will be less umami. If you try to remove the taste of reeds, then it will be a good soup."

Mo Wenyuan was so excited that tears filled his eyes after seeing the comments, as if he saw a friend in his soul. When he tasted the soup himself, he felt that something was wrong, but the sense of disobedience was too shallow, and after several adjustments, it was not satisfactory. Let Zhou Miao and the others drink it. Their tongues are not as sensitive as their own. They all agree that the peony soup is already very good and there is no need to correct it, let alone ordinary people. Even if they have not given it to them, he can imagine Wang Wei He drank so much that he made an indecent noise like a pig.

He kissed the note in one mouthful: "My friend is wonderful!" Guessing that his monster friend might not have gone far, he could hear his own voice, and sighed directly: "My friend is to me, just like my son is to Uncle!" Tooth, you can hear from the sound of the zither, 'As high as Mount Tai' and as 'Oceanous as rivers'."

"To be able to distinguish the strangeness of the fusion of reeds and jade mushrooms is really a god-man."

After expressing his emotions, he left the yard, leaving only the little black sheep shyly curled up in the grass, constantly moving its hooves, scraping the turf, leaving deep marks.

Little Black Sheep: I, I’m not too spicy, okay!

Yu Boya Zhong Ziqi is so shy!

……

After the apprentices who beat Mo Wenyuan arrived, Wang Wei's interest in restaurants increased, and he ran here whenever he had time.He didn't come alone, he followed Shen Yu and several other young gentlemen, trying to get a glimpse of the secrets before the Peony Banquet started.

Mo Wenyuan joked: "Isn't it better to wait until the day of the banquet? Knowing the answer in advance is really boring."

"It's not boring, it's not boring, how can it be boring?"

"Just taste it first, so that you won't lose your composure on the day of the meeting."

Shen Yu yelled: "I want to leave a poem at the peony meeting, and describe the taste of food. I'm not Cao Zijian, who can compose a poem in seven steps. Of course, I have to drink it first, and then draft it. I go home and think about it for a few days, and I get you flowers. For the banquet."

As soon as he said this, Mo Wenyuan didn't say anything, but he first attracted the ridicule of several other people. Among the gentlemen who played well with Wang Wei, only Shen Yubo was famous, and the others asked him how to do it first. Poetry, this person hypocritically said, "When the poetic quality is reached, it will be done", even if other people scolded hypocrisy, he would not change his rhetoric, but today, the fox's tail finally showed!

Mo Wenyuan couldn't stand a few people: "Okay, okay, I'll just give you a cup of soup, I don't have anything else."

The ducks waiting to be fed said, "Just one cup of soup? Can't you have more?"

"Don't push yourself too hard, isn't one cup of soup enough? Eat it first."

"Okay, no problem, let us eat!"

Each of them looked like a starved ghost reincarnated, drooling and stretching their necks to keep looking around.

It's not that they want to lose their composure, the smell in the main courtyard is so fragrant that they are hungry even if they sniff it, and Wang Wei is not a thing, and he keeps talking about Mo Xiaolang's cooking in their ears every day So much, so much better, he was amazed at how delicious the peony and cauliflower was made at the beginning, and the delicacy would never be forgotten for the rest of his life.

The soup container was provided by You Huahui. It was exquisite and small, with a lid on the top. As soon as the soup was served, everyone couldn't wait to lift the lid, their eyes glistening with oily green.

The lid was lifted, and the white smoke evaporated. The aroma of the soup diffused with the water smoke and penetrated into the nostrils of several people.

The pink and white "peony flowers" floated on the water. After pointing out the problem in Xiao Taotie's words, Mo Wenyuan washed these flowers in boiled and cooled water, which not only removed the smell of reeds, but also Let the petals be juicy.

When the soup was scooped up with a spoon, Wang Wei squinted his eyes to see its color: "The color is like amber, and the raw stone has no luster. It has been honed for thousands of years, and it is warm and moist."

In normal times, someone must have teased him, why Wang Lang has become a talented man, and he can still chant a few words, but now, no one pays attention to him, the spoon is put into the mouth, and the salty fragrance of the soup is suddenly in the mouth. It blooms in the mouth, like a peony in full bloom, showing its presence with its teeth and claws.

"!!!" Shen Yu opened his eyes wide, what a smell!

He thinks he has eaten a lot of delicacies, but he can't tell what kind of ingredients the soup is made of. It seems to have pork, fish, and vegetables, but none of them can cook the taste. The ingredients are put into the pot in a specific order and at a specific time to achieve a perfect harmony.

One spoonful after another, the soup was almost bottomed out, and they stopped. Wang Wei reminded himself: No way!Hurry up and eat "Peony", and there will be more surprises.

He manipulated his arms with great willpower, put down the spoon, picked up the chopsticks firmly, and fished out the peony.Look carefully at it with your eyes first, it is not a real flower, if it is a real flower, it would have withered long ago. The "petals" are thin, but transparent, and have no silky touch. They are probably carved from melons and fruits.

Such exquisite craftsmanship!

Put it in your mouth and "crunch——"

The sliced ​​reeds are thin and crisp, and I don’t know how Mo Wenyuan marinated them. The taste is far thicker than the soup. The crystal clear soup hangs on the surface of the petals, hidden in the heart of the flower, and the sweet and sour taste from the inside of the petals. The taste complements each other.

"crunch" "crunch" "crunch"

The gentlemen chewed the reeds regardless of whether the voice was elegant or not, and they all chewed happily. The red and white reeds rubbed against the white teeth, playing a wonderful symphony.

Someone said vaguely: "Shen Lang, do you have any good poems?"

"Poetry flourishes!"

……

Since the middle of April in the lunar calendar, peonies have been blooming one after another, and flower fairs in the suburbs of Luoyang have been held one after another, with gentlemen, ladies and literati coming in one after another like a tide.

The previous flower fairs were mostly minor events. After May, the main events will be staged one after another. The one Mo Wenyuan is in charge of is not the most precious one. It is impossible for the dignitaries in Luoyang City to choose a child, but with the aristocratic family It is also the most precious event for the son to intervene in the agitation.Almost all second generations will be present.

There are more second generations, so it's fun to play.If they are older, they will pretend to be an upright gentleman because of their skin, and will not bring prostitutes or enjoy music, but young people are different.It has become an international law that a romantic and talented man must be accompanied by a beautiful woman.

"This, this, this, this, this..."

Mo Wenyuan's third apprentice is called Bai Shaojun, who is not very old and has not yet been crowned. He is shy and timid by nature, and treats girls like a scourge. , not daring to look up, for fear that he would see the woman with a sweet smile.

This is the case when meeting ordinary women, not to mention seeing prostitutes. There were two types of prostitutes in the Tang Dynasty, either they were very good-looking, or they were famous for their talents.Even though the latter looks mediocre, he has an aura that ordinary women don't have in his body, which is probably the case with the so-called poetry and calligraphy in his belly.

Zhou Miao and the others all made fun of Bai Shaojun: "Bai Si, look up!"

"How do you cook without looking up?"

"You are so stupid, Bai Si!"

"I don't even look at Master, you are much younger than Bai Si, so you can appreciate beauty?"

Bai Si still didn't dare to raise his head, his eyes were evasive, he stammered, and his tone was quite straightforward: "Master is a disciple of Buddha who descended to earth, born with the roots of wisdom. How can I compare myself with Master?" He emphasized his Theory, "It's normal for Master to be calm and composed. Can the girls at the flower party be more beautiful than the fairies in the sky?"

The rest of the apprentices listened to his words, not only did not find any logical problems, but respected him instead.Yes!If the master is a disciple of the Buddha, he must have seen a fairy in the sky. No matter how beautiful a girl in the world is, there is no beauty in the sky!

If Mo Wenyuan heard what they said, he would definitely be crying and laughing, but luckily he didn't hear it.While the few people were chatting, he first walked around the banquet venue to see if the arrangement was appropriate, and feast his eyes by the way.

The aesthetics of ancient China has undergone several changes with the change of dynasties.The beauties of the Tang Dynasty are not necessarily good-looking to the public in modern times, but they are also very charming.He saw Persian prostitutes with big eyes and high nose bridges, classical beauties with thick eyebrows and narrow eyes, and even more bookish temperament beauties.

Feasting his eyes, Mo Wenyuan sighed in satisfaction: It really is "a hundred flowers blooming"!

Wang Wei also noticed his admiring expression, patted him on the head and said, "You are so young, you already know how to look at beauties?"

Mo Wenyuan fled the scene in a few steps, fearing that he would pat him on the head again: "Everyone has a love of beauty, so how can there be any difference between old and young?"

The gentleman next to Wang Wei said: "That's right, children can see beauty and ugliness, why can't Lord Mo Xiaolang see?"

Someone eagerly said: "Of course I can, but Mr. Mo Xiaolang, is your food ready?"

Seeing their salivating expressions, Mo Wenyuan laughed loudly and said, "Don't worry, we'll be here right away!"