The middle-aged couple who won the super jackpot, both of them are middle-level people in the brothers' Hao Electric Appliances Company. Naturally, they were not short of money. It only took them two days to buy all the ingredients listed by Zhou Yan and bring them to the store.
In a small shop.
Zhou Yan only left a few things that needed to be dealt with, and asked the two customers to take the rest back and put them away first.
A state banquet sounds very impressive, but excluding the appetizers, desserts, and fruits, there are only four dishes and one soup.
Of course, even if there are only four dishes and one soup, many chefs cannot make many of them.
"Four Dishes" focuses on Huaiyang cuisine and incorporates scenic dishes from the eight major cuisines across the country, such as Buddha Jumping over the Wall, Lion's Head, Soft Pocket Long Fish, Squirrel Mandarin Fish, etc.
The "one soup" is more particular. Most of the dishes are enough to stump a large number of chefs, such as boiled cabbage, clear soup with matsutake, Wensi tofu and other soups.
The Liu family received this version of the state banquet menu. Because the banquet was for old Red Army soldiers who had experienced the Anti-Japanese War, the ingredients used were relatively "solid": in addition to soups such as boiled cabbage, there were also mushroom-flavored beef, braised lion's head, and squirrel mandarin fish.
Assorted fish and casserole.
Although the cold cuts and desserts are not listed with specific names, Zhou Yan also knows that these seemingly trivial "side dishes" are not that easy.
In addition to the four hot dishes, boiled cabbage, cold dishes and desserts all need to be made in advance, otherwise Zhou Yan himself will not be able to make it in time.
Naturally, the first thing to bear the brunt is boiled cabbage. Old hens, ham hooves, ribs, and scallops are used to make the soup. Then, use minced chicken and minced pork to make the soup become "boiling water."
The boiled cabbage made with ordinary ingredients is already fragrant, and the Liu family bought some high-end ingredients, so before the "boiling water" is boiled, there are already many customers in the store who smell the aroma.<
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The soup was half full, and Zhou Yan secretly scooped some out with a small spoon.
To be honest, Zhou Yan is very curious about the effect of using the "Cooking Heart" that can only be found in "The Spirit of the Halberd" and "The Little Master of China" on himself.
After just a small taste, Zhou Yan began to see illusions in front of his eyes. Although he knew that he used the "kitchen heart" when making the soup just to let customers see these scenes, Zhou Yan himself was still excited...
After the illusion disappeared, Zhou Yan showed a happy smile on his face: "Cooking heart" is related to personal personality, and his understanding of dishes is different from that of the young masters Liu Pleiades and Xing Ping Soma.
Of course, apart from being pleased, Zhou Yan was also a little surprised: Scorpios have strong empathy, but the system can't make our "chef's heart" convey the chef's feelings, right?
In the menu provided by the Liu family, not only the boiled cabbage requires "boiling water", but the steamed lion's head soup also requires "boiling water". However, the ingredients used in the soup are slightly different. Compared with the boiled cabbage, there is less seafood and more old goose. While hanging two pots of "boiling water" to take care of the store's business, Zhou Yan also had to prepare cold dishes in advance based on the information he had collected before.
Cold dishes are usually served as appetizers, and the flavors are limited to satisfy the guests, but the dishes should not steal the spotlight from the main course.
According to Zhou Yan's memory, although the quantity of cold dishes at the state banquet is small, the types of ingredients used are relatively complex and the colors are relatively beautiful. Sometimes vegetables, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, asparagus, abalone, straw mushrooms, etc.
Such delicacies from mountains and seas...
Zhou Yan worked for a whole day before preparing the ingredients needed for cooking.
The next day, after selling the buns, Zhou Yan closed the door, carried a large box of ingredients, tools, and his apprentice and rushed to the agreed place. After that, he took a car and a ferry with the Liu family.
Hai, go to Mr. Liu’s residence in the opposite city.
The rest of the Liu family had been waiting for their tickets for a long time. They were a little disappointed when they saw that the person who boasted about Haikou was a young man.
"It's better to go to a five-star hotel and hire a special chef!"
With Zhou Yan's sharp ears, he could naturally tell who was complaining, but he didn't bother to care about it and just smiled politely.
After entering the door, Zhou Yan took his apprentice and went straight to the kitchen.
Open the insulating box, put the "boiling water" that is still hot, put it on the fire, and continue heating.
I raised my hand and looked at the time. It was almost half past nine, so there was plenty of time.
Four dishes and one soup, the main stem of the boiled cabbage "boiling water" is already in place, so there is no need to worry about the remaining cabbage.
Among the remaining mushroom-flavored beef, steamed lion head, squirrel mandarin fish and casserole vegetarian assortment, the squirrel mandarin fish and steamed lion head are more troublesome.
Especially the braised lion's head, which is standard for state banquets. It's four fat and six thin. It can only be cut, not chopped. After cutting it, smash it with your bare hands and smash it into a ball.
While Zhou Yan was cutting the meat, Liu Chuang stood by, smiling awkwardly as he watched: "Master, please give me some orders!"
"Pull up the pot and boil the water!"
After a dozen lion heads are put into the pot, you don’t need to worry about it anymore. Steam it over low heat for three or four hours before it is ready.
Next, we need to deal with the mandarin fish.
Cutting a fish is not very difficult, but the state banquet is a separate meal system, and the chef needs to handle more than a dozen fish. For a formal state banquet, there is a large group of chefs serving the ingredients, and Zhou Yan is alone, relying solely on his hand speed, which he had been single for forty years in his previous life.
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Outside the kitchen, the people of the Liu family suppressed their original criticisms after seeing how quickly Zhou Yan handled the ingredients.
After drying the mandarin fish, put it aside, and then deal with the beef needed for the mushroom-flavored beef, as well as the bamboo shoots and fungi needed for the assorted casserole...
Time passed by second by second, and before he knew it, there were fine beads of sweat on Zhou Yan's forehead. Liu Chuang, who was standing aside, picked up a towel from time to time and stepped forward to wipe Zhou Yan's sweat.
At half past eleven, the final preparations began.
The cold dishes that have been prepared need to be plated again.
While Zhou Yan was handling the ingredients, there was a commotion in the living room. Although Zhou Yan did not raise his head, his ears, which were comparable to bugs, could still determine the location of Mr. Liu from the intermittent footsteps.
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"Xiao Zhou, get ready to serve!"
"It'll be ready soon!"
At 11:45, Zhou Yan finished plating all the cold dishes.
A feast begins.
The melodious "Jasmine" played in the living room, which was specially prepared by Liu Weiguo to match the state banquet dishes.
The appetizers used a lot of plates. Just four cold dishes required more than forty five-inch plates. Although the characteristic long dining table in Liu's restaurant can accommodate more than twenty people, it was blocked by Zhou Yan's
A wave of cold dishes is piled high.
"Dad, try the cold dishes made by the chef for the state banquet..."
Although only cold dishes were served as appetizers, the guests sitting at the table were all excited when they saw the colorful presentation.
However, Mr. Liu, no one dares to move his chopsticks!
"Let's all eat together!"
Mr. Liu tremblingly picked up the chopsticks, picked up a small piece of asparagus, and put it into his mouth. When he was about to bite it, he found that the asparagus had been chopped into pieces by his tongue...
Melt in your mouth?
While the thought was in Mr. Liu's mind, a dazzling light suddenly flashed in front of his eyes...
A stadium shaped like a bird's nest appeared in front of Mr. Liu.
This is the Bird's Nest, isn't it still under construction?
Before Mr. Liu could react, he suddenly arrived above the Bird's Nest. Below, a giant landscape painting slowly unfolded...