Chapter 349 Birthday Meal (3)
Jiang Feng followed Zhang Guanghang to see how he could talk and gesture when buying vegetables. As a result, Jiang Feng found that Zhang Guanghang was very good at Chinese and knew everything. He could even speak uncommon vegetables such as zucchini and turnips. The common name of kohlrabi and kohlrabi.
With Zhang Guanghang's Chinese proficiency when he was buying groceries, it was impossible not to know how to say grouper, eastern star grouper and matsutake in Chinese.
Jiang Feng had reason to suspect that the reason why he would say a word or two in French from time to time was just to take the opportunity to call Xia Mubing Grandpa.
With a standard European and American face and a standard Beijing movie, the stall owner was very enthusiastic regardless of whether he recognized Zhang Guanghang or not. He felt that he was too young to pick vegetables and even took the initiative to help him pick vegetables, even selling them. Take them with you to show the enthusiasm of the people of Peiping to international friends.
When Zhang Guanghang went to the meat stall to look for Xia Mubing with both hands full of vegetables, Xia Mubing was still picking at the meat stall but didn't find the pork belly he wanted.
Palace Wanfu Pork was born not long ago. In the late Qing Dynasty, in order to please Lafayette, a certain imperial chef presented a dish with the same name at the birthday banquet that required multiple processes such as steaming, boiling, deep-frying, cooking, and croquettes. Hi, it is a famous palace dish with attractive appearance and extremely complicated preparation process. It is said that this dish was favored by Lafayette and the middle-ranking concubines in the harem as soon as it was introduced. After it spread, it was improved by famous chefs of successive generations and the recipe has also been greatly different.
Since it is a palace dish, the selection of ingredients is naturally the first priority. Everything must be the best. Even the chopped green onions sprinkled on top for decoration must be the tenderest tips of top-quality spring onions.
"Mr. "Why don't you come here to pick out the meat and buy the vegetables?" The butcher stall owner who is talking to Xia Mubing is his regular meat supplier.
"Can it be the same today for my apprentice's birthday?" Xia Mubing turned his head and saw Zhang Guanghang, waved to him, and skillfully took the bag containing the whole chicken from his hand, "Okay, okay, just these two Come on, I want them all.”
"Okay!" The butcher stall owner quickly weighed and calculated the money, and helped Xia Mubing wrap the meat.
Xia Mubing led Zhang Guanghang back the way he came, and bought a few kilograms of shrimp from the shrimp stall that Zhang Guanghang had chosen before. Finally, he led Zhang Guanghang to the old man who sold candied haws at the entrance of the market every day.
So why are candied haws sold at the entrance of the wet market?
Generally speaking, the candied haws-along season will end at the end of March or early April, which is early spring. Winter is the most suitable season for eating candied haws. Based on the clothes of the pedestrians on the road at this time, Jiang Feng estimated that it should be almost March at this time. The temperature began to gradually warm up, and the candied haws of sugar haws became a food that could not be kept.
The icing of authentic candied haws will melt at high temperatures. Those that are sold outside at more than 30 degrees in the summer and the icing still doesn't melt are basically because other things are added to it.
The candied haws sold by the old man at the entrance of the market are very good. The large hawthorns are strung together in different sizes. The only common feature is that the outer layer is coated with sugar. The sugar coating on the sharpest hawthorn has begun to melt, slowly falling down like a melting iceberg.
"I want this one!" Zhang Guanghang said, pointing to a candied hawsful of sugar-coated haws that had not yet completely melted.
The old man handed the candied haws to Zhang Guanghang, and Xia Mubing was responsible for paying. At the same time, he took the rest of the bags from Zhang Guanghang's hand and carried them himself.
“Mr.
"I don't like eating this stuff. It's so sweet and sour that it's troublesome to spit out the core. If you accidentally eat it at this time, the sticky syrup drips all over your body." Xia Mubing looked disgusted, "Xiaohang, be careful when you eat it. , don’t let it drip on you.”
"I understand, Master." Zhang Guanghang did not drip onto his body, his face was completely covered in it.
Xia Mubing just led a child with syrup all over his face back. Along the way, he didn't notice that less than half of Zhang Guanghang's face was covered in syrup. This also highlights Xia Mubing's ability to take care of children, as well as Zhang Guanghang's difficulty in growing up healthily and living to this day.
Zhang Guanghang kept eating like this all the time, eating and getting mushy all the time. By the time he finished eating half of the candied haws, his face was almost ruined. It wasn't until the master and apprentice returned to Fenyuan and entered the kitchen to put down the dishes that Xia Mubing noticed that there seemed to be something on Zhang Guanghang's face.
"What's that on your face? Wash it yourself later. I'll borrow a bowl of beef soup and I'll be back soon." Xia Mubing said it as easily as I went to borrow a bowl of vinegar from next door, turned around and left.
Zhang Guanghang went to the sink to wash his face and rubbed it vigorously, just like rubbing mud in a bath.
After washing his face, he began to wash the vegetables consciously.
Due to the high prices of Xia Mubing's private restaurant, he usually could not receive more than a few tables of customers a day, so he did all the work himself without hiring other employees. After accepting Zhang Guanghang as his apprentice, Zhang Guanghang was left to do chores such as washing vegetables, chopping vegetables, cleaning pots, and taking out the trash.
Not long after, Xia Mubing came back with a white porcelain bowl. When he saw Zhang Guanghang washing vegetables, he stopped him: "Xiaohang, stop washing vegetables. Today is your birthday. Go out and play. You are the birthday boy. Just sit and wait to eat." .”
The best birthday gift Xia Mubing could think of was to be able to eat without having to work, and eat a big meal.
Zhang Guanghang went outside and moved a small chair into the kitchen to sit and watch Xia Mubing cook.
Xia Mubing took out the pork belly he just bought from the plastic bag, washed it, cut it into pieces, added green onion, ginger and star anise to the water, and simmered it over low heat.
To make Wanfu Pork pork belly, you need to cook it for at least 40 minutes, and some may wait.
"Master, the chicken must be marinated in advance." Zhang Guanghang reminded him while sitting on a small chair.
Xia Mubing nodded expressionlessly, seemingly as calm as an old dog, but actually he was panicking.
Very good, making saffron chicken needs to be marinated in advance, so he has mastered a little more.
Xia Mubing began to count the ingredients Zhang Guanghang had just bought.
Whole chicken, peppers, butter, turnips, radishes, zucchini, broccoli, apples, lemons.
Xia Mubing:……
These are all hemp stuff. How can these things be mixed together to make a dish?
Since he didn't know how to make saffron chicken, Xia Mubing could only rely on his intuition to remove the bones from the chicken and then marinate it. The steps were actually the same as the correct ones. Jiang Feng could only lament that the chef's intuition was really terrible.
"Xiaohang, why do you suddenly want to eat this dish?" Xia Mubing asked casually.
"Aunt Grace said this is my father's signature dish, but I have never eaten what my father cooked. I have only eaten what Aunt Grace cooked. Aunt Grace said that my father is usually too busy and will wait until my birthday or when he is free. I do it, but my father is very busy every year on my birthday, so I want to eat what Master makes for me." Zhang Guanghangdao.
Xia Mubing's hand holding the knife paused.
"This dish should be your specialty, right?" Xia Mubing asked.
"Yeah."
"Did your grandfather teach you this idiom when you are in a rural area, do as the Romans do?"
"Taught."
"Do you know what it means?"
"I know, it means that when you go to a place, you must follow the customs of that place." Zhang Guanghang didn't know why, and he didn't know why the small cooking class turned into a Chinese class.
"You have to do as the Romans do in your country, and when you get here you have to speak Chinese, and you have to do as the locals do with this dish. This chicken is cooked the way you do over there, and when you come to my place, you have to do the same as the Chinese do. You wait. "Today, master will make you a Chinese-style saffron chicken." Xia Mubing finally remembered the name of this dish.
Jiang Feng:? ? ?
Is this what the saying goes?
Mr. Xia is so clever!
"Okay." Zhang Guanghang looked at the cooking table expectantly.
Xia Mubing sighed.
There is nothing wrong with the French cooking. One dish contains chicken, kohlrabi, carrots, and cauliflower, but it also contains lemons and apples.
Forget it, just do whatever you want, as long as you can eat it.
Anyway, just do as the Romans do. (End of chapter)