Food customizer.

As per past practice, the first thing Su Chen had to do was prepare the soup base.

There are clear soup, milk soup, soup, red soup and chicken soup. The preparation methods of these soup bases are basically the same, but because of the differences in cooking time and added seasonings, the roles they play during cooking are also different.

This is the most time-consuming thing, and it will not be reflected in the finished dish. Almost all of it is used as a condiment during the cooking process, so it must be prepared in advance, and there is no need to worry about it going bad if it is not used in time after preparation.

Cui Yu assigned several people to place the processed ingredients in front of the signs that classified them as finished products such as clear soup, milk soup, etc.

Su Chen couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

From this point of view, being a state banquet chef is actually quite easy. You don’t need to handle the ingredients at all, you just need to start cooking.

At this moment, the kitchen on the 19th floor was just like Su Chen's real practice room, except that in the system practice room, Su Chen could summon the ingredients just by thinking about it.

Here, you need to move your mouth before someone will put the food in front of you.

Several soup bases were prepared very quickly. According to the task allocation table, there must be a chef watching over each soup base.

After Su Chen adjusted the heat, the chef who was watching only needed to watch the time. When the alarm rang, he would quickly call Su Chen over to proceed to the next step.

The soup base begins to boil, and the next step is to prepare some ingredients in advance.

For example, some water-soaked ingredients need to be soaked in water in advance. Some need to be soaked in cold water, some need to be soaked in warm water, and some need to be washed repeatedly after soaking to ensure that there is not a grain of sand or dust in the ingredients, otherwise it will hurt your teeth when you eat it, and that would be the end of it.

In addition to the soaked ingredients, there are also ingredients that need to be cooked in advance.

For example, the beef in the dish Dengying Beef has to be dried in advance, but there was no Dengying Beef in this banquet.

At the same time, a new charcoal-burning oven was added to the kitchen.

At the beginning, Su Chen was quite opposed to defining Beijing cuisine as Beijing roast duck.

When it comes to eating duck, Beijing roast duck is actually a relatively common way of eating it. On the contrary, the smoked duck in Sichuan cuisine and the set duck in Huaiyang cuisine are both more palatable ways of eating them.

But Su Chen's opposition was useless.

In Zhang Maolin's words, "You can't just give the old man and the old lady two fried dough sticks and a bowl of bean juice, right? Shabu-shabu mutton is not suitable for this kind of occasion, right?"

In the end, there was no better solution, so we had to decide on roast duck as the dish.

When it comes to making roast duck, the people in this room don't know how. Zhang Maolin slipped into the kitchen at some point, bringing with him a distinguished guest - Li Wenkui.

As one of the managers of this banquet service team, Li Wenkui came here for a very good reason: if I am not here, these people will be difficult to manage.

"As for roast duck, shouldn't we invite a chef from Quanjude? There's still time if we invite him now." This was Zhang Maolin's first reaction.

Although Quanjude is now very commercialized, and even many people who go there find the roast duck is just so-so, but that's just ordinary people.

When prominent people go to Quanjude to eat, the food they eat is somewhat different from that of ordinary people.

And the best roast duck chef in Beijing is undoubtedly at Quanjude!

Li Wenkui agrees with this statement. "Every profession has its own specialty. Whether it is Quanjude or Bianyifang, there are good roast duck chefs. If our restaurant makes these dishes, we will invite people from there."

This is not something to be ashamed of.

When the chef of Quanjude is roasting duck, he has to keep his full attention on the duck and make specific responses based on the duck's real-time situation. Su Chen has to cook so many dishes now, and it is impossible for him to take care of everything.

Moreover, roast duck is a craft that requires experience. Zhang Maolin had never seen Su Chen cook this dish, so he had such an idea.

"That's not necessary." Su Chen waved his hand, and the little kitchen helper brought three lively ducks from the back. "We have to test the heat first. The heat of this hanging oven is not so easy to control. Once we get the heat right, it will be easy."

The three ducks were thrown on the chopping board in the corner of the kitchen, and the knife started to cut!

Using the boiling water nearby, Su Chen quickly plucked the duck's feathers and cleaned it, leaving Li Wenkui and Zhang Maolin dumbfounded.

"The way he handled it doesn't seem like a man who has never been a gigolo!" Li Wenkui gave his conclusion directly.

Zhang Maolin took a breath and nodded, expressing his deep agreement.

Only Su Chen always felt that there was something wrong with what Boss Li said, but he was too busy to figure out what was wrong.

I simply changed the subject, "Is this duck okay? Is it authentic forced-feed duck?"

Zhang Maolin looked at the treated duck and said, "Don't worry, this is the genuine white duck raised in Beijing. This is the one we found when we were breeding in Moscow. There is nothing wrong with it."

The characteristic of this duck is that the newborn chicks are all yellow, and their feathers turn into snow-white when they grow up. They have short wings, a long and wide back, a well-developed chest, and very short legs.

The processed appearance alone makes it look very strong, and unlike ordinary ducks, the muscle fibers of white ducks are mixed with white fat, and the meat is red and white, delicate and fresh. After roasting, the meat is pink and white, and tastes tender without sourness.

Therefore, the reason why Beijing roast duck is famous throughout the country is not only due to the craftsmanship, but also has a lot to do with the quality of the raw materials themselves.

This dish is one that Su Chen spent a long time learning in the practice room.

The main problem is that the slaughtering process is a bit complicated.

It is divided into eight steps: slaughtering, scalding, dehairing, inflating, gutting, washing and hanging, scalding the skin and sugaring, and drying the skin.

Moreover, each process has its unique meaning and is not a process in the literal sense.

For example, in the step of scalding the skin and beating sugar, Su Chen held the duck hung on the iron hook in his left hand, and held a spoon filled with boiling water in his right hand. He first poured a spoonful of water on each of the duck's wings, and then poured another spoonful of water downwards from the hook.

After the duck is blanched in boiling water, its pores shrink and it immediately looks white, tender, shiny and smooth.

Moreover, the amount of water to be poured is also very particular. Su Chen poured about two and a half spoons. If it was more, oil would start to flow out from the pores of the duck skin, which would make it difficult to color the places where the oil flowed, and the roasted duck would have an uneven color.

After the duck is poured with water, it is then drizzled with three spoonfuls of sugar water using the same method as before. The chef in charge of frying the sugar water is an apprentice of Cui Yufen. The production of sugar water in Shandong cuisine is quite professional.

After pouring sugar water, the three ducks are hung aside to wait for them to dry before pouring sugar water again. This is the secret to the crispy skin of the roast duck.

The hanging oven I bought imitated the authentic hanging oven as much as possible. It was built of bricks, square outside and round inside. The left and right rear walls and the top of the oven were all closed, with only a small rectangular door in the middle of the front wall. There were two iron beams in the upper middle of the interior, and the duck would be hung on them to roast.

Su Chen put the burned fruit wood into the stove, dried the ducks until they were almost dry, poured some sugar water over them, and then used a small tube to insert it behind the ducks and began to pour water into them.

Then he poured about 70% boiling water into the duck's right armpit, and then hung the duck in the brick oven.

"It only takes about 30 to 40 minutes to roast a duck this size. Maolin, you are in for a treat today. You should eat earlier than the other guests."

Zhang Maolin had been salivating at the sight of the plump duck just now. Now he was being polite but a little embarrassed. He rubbed his hands and stared at the burning stove. "That's so inappropriate. Do you want to try all the dishes today?"

Su Chen shook his head, "Not really. Roast duck is special. We need to light a fire today to roast it once, and keep the fire to keep a balanced temperature in the oven. This way, the roast duck will taste better tomorrow. So, if you think the taste is just average later, don't blame me."

Zhang Maolin waved his hands and said no, no, he thought that even if the taste was a little off, after all it was made by Boss Su, how bad could it be?

So on the surface Su Chen made three roast ducks, but in fact the purpose of doing all this was to lubricate the oven.

After studying in the practice room, Su Chen discovered that the main reason why the roast duck is so crispy is that it is matured under the action of internal boiling water and external heat, and the source of external heat does not entirely come from the firewood at the bottom.

The temperature emitted by the firewood at the bottom must be refracted into the oven, allowing the entire hanging oven to reach a very balanced temperature, and directly roast the surface of the duck. Only in this way can the roast duck be even in color and shiny.

Therefore, you must adjust the temperature of the furnace one day in advance, so that it will be much easier the next day.

The roast duck was put into the oven, and Su Chen walked around the kitchen to make sure that everyone's work was proceeding in an orderly manner. After all, in the last few days in the practice room, Su Chen had almost completely simulated today's scene in the kitchen several times.

Everyone knows what they should do and to what extent at this time without having to look at the task list; they have already memorized it.

A young man in the crowd saw Su Chen was about to walk towards him, and he took two deep breaths.

As a chef in a Sichuan restaurant, Lin Hai has always been responsible for the cooking of several spicy dishes. Now that he can join the kitchen on the 19th floor, the young man was so excited that he couldn't sleep for several days.

What was assigned to him at the moment was the "Boiled Cabbage" from Sichuan cuisine that often appears at state banquets!

Lin Hai had followed his master Wang Shijun in preparing this dish many times at the State Guesthouse, so he was very familiar with it. However, after receiving Boss Su's task list yesterday, he found that the dish Boss Su had specified was completely different from what he had made before.

In the past, boiled cabbage was cooked like this: first boil the cabbage heart, then put it in a bowl with the clear soup, add cooking wine and salt, steam it on high heat for four or five minutes, finally drain the clear soup, pour in the special clear soup and serve.

But what I am doing now is a little outrageous.

You need to remove the side leaves of the cabbage, get the heart of the cabbage, and then start cutting it.

The key point is that Boss Su only drew a sketch, and there was nothing wrong with cutting according to the sketch. However, Lin Hai modified several choy sums in succession and still couldn't find the right method. He couldn't understand why the choy sum had to be cut in that way.

Seeing Su Chen approaching his side, he tried his best to make his breathing steady and finally mustered up the courage.

"Boss Su!"

"Ok?"

Su Chen stopped and took a look. The young man in front of him was processing cabbage hearts.

I picked up a cabbage heart at random. The spiral knife technique on the surface was almost the same as the sketch I drew. Moreover, the method of making this dish has been mature for a long time, and it would be impossible to improve it no matter how much improvement I made.

And Su Chen also discovered something particularly interesting.

The dish of boiled cabbage is probably the only S-level dish that anyone other than myself can make.

First of all, the selection of cabbage is very particular. Secondly, this dish is no longer about the cabbage itself, but the broth that has been repeatedly boiled.

For such a mature dish, what else can we do if we want to continue to transform it?

So, Su Chen came up with a solution.

He held the cabbage that the young man had cut, observed it for a few times, and then took the knife from Lin Hai. "Your cutting is not very good here. Let me correct it for you."

Su Chen picked up another piece of unprocessed cabbage heart, first cut a cross in the middle, then gently broke open the outer leaves, and cut the middle cabbage heart in half again. After repeating this several times, he let go, and the outer leaves quickly wrapped it back.

At this time, put the choy sum in a large bowl at hand, "Didn't you ask me why I did this? Bring some boiling water."

Lin Hai excitedly ran over to get the kettle and handed it to Su Chen.

I mustered up the courage to ask just now, but I didn't expect that Boss Su would be so easy to talk to. He was willing to answer my question on the spot. This commotion also attracted many people to come over to see what was going on.

Su Chen picked up the kettle and slowly poured boiling water into the center of the cabbage heart in the pot. As the hot water was poured, the hard leaves gradually became soft, and the soft leaves on the outside began to collapse toward the outer circle.

Layer by layer.

The collapse was very slow, but Lin Hai's heart began to beat wildly.

this.

Until all the leaves collapsed, Lin Hai's eyes widened and he pointed at the leaves, "How did this turn into a lotus flower?"

Su Chen put down the kettle, "That's probably what I mean. Tomorrow, the choy sum will be cooked first and then blanched in cold water. After blanching, it will be placed in a bowl in its original shape. Then the broth and choy sum will be served separately, and the guests can pour the soup themselves."

Just by saying this, Lin Hai had even imagined that scenario.

Because the choy sum that Su Chen used for demonstration just now was raw, so it would take a long time for the boiling water to pour on it before it started to collapse, but the choy sum will be cooked when it is served tomorrow!

Just pour the broth from the top. No, not just the top, no matter from which angle you pour it into the bowl, the cabbage hearts will naturally scatter along the edge of the knife.

What started out as an ordinary cabbage heart will automatically fall apart in front of the diners when it touches the soup, turning into a lotus flower with white leaves and a yellow core!

hiss!

This scene is chilling just thinking about it.

Even the diners have become a part of the cooking process!

Lin Hai looked at Su Chen's back as he walked away with his hands behind his back, and couldn't help but clench his fists tightly.

You have to work hard!

It was this scene that seemed to open up the Ren and Du meridians for the other young chefs present.

"Boss Su! Boss Su, please help me take a look at this. Why is the pork belly processed like this?"

"Boss Su! Hehe, I just can't understand why I have to chop my chicken mince much coarser than what I used to make?"

"Boss, I really want to ask you, what do you mean by 'it should disperse but it doesn't disperse'? Why haven't I tried it several times and it doesn't work?"

Su Chen was neither anxious nor impatient.

He stood in the corridor, answering every question, and sometimes even demonstrated to the kitchen helpers how to do it best.

Several veteran chefs looked at this scene and looked at each other in bewilderment.

Lu Yongliang had a complicated expression. "I remember when I was learning the craft, the master wouldn't let me touch the oil pan until I had been cutting vegetables for a few years."

Cui Yufen sneered, "Those old guys all want to keep some skills, but what will happen in the end? I think Xiao Su is doing the best. Only in this way can we pass on better skills!"

As this was said, Wang Zhijun, who was standing by, blushed slightly.

Yes, there are some little tricks that the old masters always keep back and are reluctant to pass on to their apprentices until the very last moment.

Wang Zhijun looked at the slices of meat he was processing and suddenly became distracted.

What's the point?

Zhang Maolin, who was also very moved by the performance, sniffed hard. Li Wenkui next to him joked, "Why? Are you moved?"

Zhang Maolin shook his head. "I'm not touched. I mean, do you smell anything?"

Li Wenkui also sniffed, frowned at first, then turned his head following the smell, and his eyes naturally fell on the hanging stove in the corner.

wipe!

I roast duck!