Food starts with Mapo Tofu

Chapter 281 My Uncle Yule (ask for a monthly ticket at the end of the month)

And at this time, Chen Nian realized that he hadn't noticed just now that when he was pinching the meat, there were a few shreds of plum vegetables on it. When he impatiently put the meat on the chopsticks into his mouth, he realized that there were also plum vegetables mixed in. Come in.

However, this does not affect the taste, but makes the taste even better.

Since the plum vegetables were laid flat on top when the meat was steamed just now, the aroma of the meat rose continuously during the steaming process, and was absorbed by the hungry plum vegetables.

At the same time, after the plum vegetables are absorbed to saturation, the juice in the body overflows again and returns to the top of the meat, so under this mouthful, the dried plum vegetables are covered with a strong meat fragrance.

And the top of the meat is pure with a touch of prunes.

Combining the two with each other, together with the seasonings that were marinated just now, this mouthful is moderately salty and fresh, and it is suitable for fat and thin.

Although the white meat occupies half of it, it turns into a stream at this moment, with a mellow aroma and the joy of reunion after a long absence, constantly rushing on the tip of the tongue, fully blending with the carefully prepared sauce, regardless of the taste. each other.

Together to build a delicious net, it only takes a moment to capture the taste buds of the age.

"Meat eaters are contemptible, except for meat!"

Chen Nian couldn't help admiring his cooking skills, as if looking in the mirror every day would make him look so handsome, Chen Nian is now deeply impressed by his cooking skills.

But even so, while eating, Chen Nian brought up the recipe in his mind and took a look. The meat with pickled vegetables on it is only 97% done now, which means there is still 3% room for improvement.

"It's so delicious, isn't it perfect?" Chen Nian was puzzled.

In the past, he didn’t have a deep impression of Cantonese cuisine. If he put a few labels on it, it would probably be light, seafood, soup, porridge, and Fujianese.

But since coming to Guangrong Restaurant, Chen Nian has a new understanding of the dishes here. Although the overall taste is light, there are still huge categories of Cantonese cuisine.

Moreover, there are not a few dishes with strong flavors, which makes Chen Nian sigh that it can become one of the eight major cuisines. It really deserves its reputation, and the title of Guangdong Province of Foodies is not for nothing.

Looking at Mr. Qiao again, he also has the same expression, but compared to Chen Nian, the expression on Mr. Qiao's face is more pure. It is for the enjoyment of delicious food, not so much comprehension, only the respect and exploration of food. .

Then Chen Nian took another big mouthful of rice, but when eating the pork just now, the thick soup attached to the pork inevitably fell on the rice. The sweetness and the saltiness of the pork form a delicate balance.

Chen Nian is just a cook, he can't think of too many gorgeous words to describe it, so there are only two words in his mind at this time.

"Fuck! It's delicious!"

Although only one serving of preserved vegetables and pork was left in the end, Mr. Qiao still cooked some green vegetables, and because Mr. Qiao was old, even if he liked to eat preserved vegetables, he couldn’t eat more. He only ate three or four. The chopsticks were stopped after one slice, so all the rest are aged.

So much so that the old man ate two bowls of rice with the pickled meat, and in the end he even poured out the soup in the pickled pork and ate the third bowl of rice.

Thinking about it this way, the last time I ate so deliciously, it seemed to be when I was making braised pork.

Sure enough, meat can bring happiness to people. If you can't bring it, it's not good enough.

But when they finished eating, Chen Nian was packing up the dishes and preparing to go to the back kitchen to wash the dishes, but Mr. Qiao didn't immediately go back to the room in the backyard to take a nap.

Instead, he just stood at the door and looked at Chen Nian.

"Ah Nian, I kind of want to retire."

Hearing this, Chen Nian couldn't help but stop what he was doing, and turned to look at Mr. Qiao suspiciously: "Master, why do you say that? You are still young, and cooking has not always been your favorite thing to do. thing?"

"Yeah, I have been working in restaurants since I was a teenager. At first I just cleaned up the dishes, and then I went into the kitchen to wash vegetables, and then I gradually cut and bought vegetables... I did it back and forth. After working for more than ten years, I finally achieved the position of chef.

In the following decades, I often went to some famous chefs for advice and learning, and I have been here for decades.

In fact, I still don’t want to rest before today. Even if my back hurts after standing for a long time, even if I can’t handle the spoon anymore, I still want to stand in front of the stove and listen to the stinging and stinging sound of the vegetables coming out of the pot, and listen to the sound of the iron spoon and the iron spoon. The sound of pots colliding. "

Hearing this, Chen Nian couldn't help but nodded in agreement. These sounds are really addictive.

"But when I was eating just now, I kept thinking, I have been doing what I like for so many years, and now I should do the same when I am old."

"Yes." Chen Nian asked in confusion at this moment, "Then why do you still want to retire, Master?"

"Actually, since I was 60 years old, my bones often hurt, sometimes when I was sleeping, sometimes when it was cloudy... Actually, I still wanted to cook like this all the time to achieve my goal. I can’t move, but just now I thought about it again, Ah Nian, your talent is so good, it’s the first time you can make preserved vegetables so delicious, I can teach you all the skills, and then when I want to make Just do it when you don't want to do it, and let Ah Nian do it when you don't want to do it."

"In this way, I won't be too tired, and I can live longer with a healthy body."

Chen Nian looked at Mr. Qiao, thinking that such an open-minded old man is really rare now.

Nowadays, people of a certain age either just don’t want to be idle, and want to go out and move around even if their legs and feet are inconvenient, or they simply give up those things and live a leisure life of walking in the park and playing cards downstairs every day.

"However, it will take a while." Mr. Qiao added.

But Chen Nian smiled indifferently and said: "This is all up to you, Master, and the apprentice will remember your kindness no matter what time it is!"

For these masters who have taught him, Chen Nian is sincerely willing to be filial to them. At first, he thought that Mr. Qiao was actually a relatively pure businessman, and his son was the president of the chamber of commerce, so he must be ruthless. Yes, just like Mr. Qiao said before, the previous handyman at the Glory Hotel has been sent to the mine to work as a coolie.

But after getting along during this period of time, Chen Nian felt that Mr. Qiao was not like this kind of person.

He is actually the kind of little old man with a hard mouth but a very kind heart.

Therefore, Chen Nian couldn't help wondering whether his predecessor was sent to be companions of those black slaves.

But today, Mr. Qiao confessed his feelings to himself, which also showed that Mr. Qiao admitted that he was getting old.

Although I still like to cook and I still don’t want to take a break, I also see clearly that if I live longer, I have more opportunities to cook, because once a person dies, there is nothing left.

After saying this, Mr. Qiao walked slowly through the backyard and went back to his room to rest.

Chen Nian looked at the back of Mr. Qiao walking towards the backyard, and found that his master was indeed a little old, his back was a little bent, and his legs and feet were even a little vain when he walked.

Suddenly, for some reason, Chen Nian's eye sockets suddenly felt a little moist...

Is this the inheritance of new and old?

Then the sound of clinking dishes and dishes resounded in the kitchen.

……

In the afternoon, Mr. Qiao didn't say anything about confiding in Chen Nian at noon, but continued cooking.

But at about five or six o'clock, Chen Nian suddenly heard someone talking in English outside.

"Uncle, this is the Chinese restaurant I told you about before. Last time, a friend on the pier took me to eat it. It was so delicious! I have been missing the taste of this Chinese restaurant since that day, but I I also remembered that Uncle, you are also a gourmet, so this time I will bring you here to have a taste."

The two walked in while talking, and Chen Nian took a closer look: "Good guy, isn't this David?? I ate a lot when I came last time!"

Chen Nian still remembers this foreigner. After all, there are very few foreigners here, even if there are some low-level Americans. After all, the price here is cheap, but more Americans are more accustomed to their local food.

Even if you patronize Han Chinese restaurants, most of them go to places that have been localized.

After all, countries are different, and there are still some differences in diet.

"Mr. David, you are here!" After seeing the other party, Chen Nian greeted him proficiently in English.

And David has seen Chen Nian's English level last time, at least much better than those Chinese on the pier. There is no problem in normal communication, and the most important thing is that Chen Nian can understand his own accent.

"He can speak English?" The man David called uncle at the door looked at Chen Nian in surprise, after all, Chen Nian was still very young.

"Yes uncle, his English is very good."

While talking, David began to introduce each other.

"Hello, this is the second time I have eaten here, and this time I brought my gourmet uncle, his name is Yu Le."

Then he went on to say: "Uncle Yule, this old gentleman is the boss here, and his name is..." Before he finished speaking, he suddenly thought that he didn't seem to know what the old gentleman's name was...

"Qiao and Yong." Chen Nian added in a timely manner.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Qiao, and this is..."

Speaking of which, David got stuck again, because he found that he didn't seem to know what old age was called.

"Old."

"Oh, Mr. Chen."

After the introduction, Yu Le looked at the two with anticipation, because he had already smelled the aroma of the food.

But when Chen Nian heard the name, his expression straightened first, and then he tentatively said, "Oyster?"

David obviously didn't know what Chen Nian was talking about, because suddenly saying the word oyster was like some kind of cipher code.

But Yu Le reacted quickly after hearing this, and then showed a look of disbelief: "Mr. Chen, how do you know that I sold oysters?"

Chen Nian thought how could I know, I just said it casually after hearing your name, I didn't know how to answer for a while, after Chen Nian looked away, I lowered my head.

And Yu Le also reacted at this time, looked at his hand, and suddenly realized: "So it is like this."

As he spoke, he raised his hand to show everyone: "There are some wounds on my thumb and palm that I accidentally left with a knife when I was selling oysters on a boat, and the color on my right hand is also quite different. The deep color is also due to holding the knife for a long time, although the cocoon is gone, but the color cannot be changed."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Chen Nian with admiration: "Mr. Chen has such keen insight at such a young age, he can even be a detective."

Yu Le also used Cantonese when he spoke, and obviously his uncle Cantonese was better than David.

Therefore, David and Mr. Qiao couldn't help but look at Chen Nian in amazement after hearing it. Obviously, they didn't expect Chen Nian to have such a skill.

But not only they didn't think of it, even Chen Nian himself didn't think of it.

Obviously David came here to eat, and wanted to show how delicious the restaurant he found was by the way.

After Yu Le praised the old age, he couldn't wait to order the same jelly chicken as last time, and Yu Le looked at the menu and the ingredients in the pot, and finally ordered a white-cut chicken .

Looking at the dishes they ordered, Chen Nian thought to himself that these people really like to eat chicken.

These dishes are all ready-made, as long as they are served, but according to the rules, Mr. Qiao still cooked vegetables for them.

When Chen Nian went to serve the dishes, Yu Le talked about his life experience again. In the early years, he was indeed selling oysters on the boat, but the captain at that time was not bad, and the captain was a person who liked reading, so Yu Le I often borrow some books from the captain to read when I have nothing to do.

Later, he met another nobleman on the boat. The other party saw that Yule often read books, and later discussed with the captain. When he disembarked, he took Yule away, and then kept him by his side as a bookboy.

Later, Yu Le gradually grew up, and the man died of illness. Yu Le became a reporter through his own efforts, and also acted as a freelance writer and gourmet.

Anyway, there are not many customers in the store now, so Chen Nian and Mr. Qiao just listened to Yu Le's story quietly...

Just as Yu Le was telling his story emotionally, A Cai brought Wang Chaoyun again.

Hearing the voice from the door, Yule subconsciously looked up, and when he saw the two of them, he couldn't help admiring: "These two ladies are really beautiful."

And when David saw his uncle like this, he wondered if his uncle's old problem was going to happen again, right?

(End of this chapter)