Siheyuan: Sizhu starts blindly and takes a new path

Master Sha Zhu lived in a large courtyard with two entrances. Since he was a famous chef before liberation and had plenty of money, he bought three main rooms in the backyard of this courtyard.

After knocking on the master's door, the master's wife was surprised and said, "Sha Zhu, you are here. Come in quickly. You kid, it's been a long time since you came. Your master mentioned you a while ago. I wonder how you are doing recently?" While the master's wife asked Sha Zhu to come in, she called Master Sun in the room next to the wall and was busy pouring water for Sha Zhu.

"It's cold outside. Drink some water and warm yourself up." The master's wife handed over a cup of tea that was smoking.

Sha Zhu's heart went from being worried and nervous at the beginning to feeling happy being surrounded by family love.

Sha Zhu took the water handed to him by his master's wife and drank it in big gulps. He was a little thirsty on the way here. There was no need to be polite in his master's house. He could eat when he was hungry and drink when he was thirsty.

"How dare you come here? Aren't you afraid that I will scold you?" Master Sun came out from the inner room and didn't give me a good look.

"Cough cough cough." The water that just entered his mouth choked Sha Zhu's throat. He looked at Master Sun with embarrassment on his face, and then looked at his master's wife with grievance.

"What are you doing? Look how scared the child is. You thought about him when you didn't see him, but now you're scolding him." The master's wife came over and patted Sha Zhu on the back, exposing her husband's secrets.

Sha Zhu recovered his breath, stood in front of his master and bowed his head to admit his mistake, "Master, I was wrong. I was young and ignorant before, and I didn't understand that your love was deep and your criticism was severe."

"Oh, you are not young now." Master Sun said in a yin-yang way.

"Old man, what are you doing? You're not done yet, are you?" The master's wife came out to help.

Although Master Sun is the master chef of Fengze Garden, he has no temper with his wife. In his words, it is called respect. There is no way to make Shazhu laugh, so he can only complain to his wife: "Just protect her."

"Why, I'm happy with it." The master's wife was very protective of her son.

"Okay, as long as you like." Master Sun coaxed his wife, then turned to Sha Zhu and said, "Why did you come here today? Is there anything else besides admitting your mistakes?"

Sha Zhu asked his master and his wife to sit down, and then he told them about his blindness a few years ago. He only talked about recognizing people's hearts, and didn't dare to say anything else. Even the master's wife cried while listening, saying that Sha Zhu had suffered a lot, and she touched Sha Zhu's face, stared at his eyes for a long time, and let go only after she was sure that there was nothing wrong.

Sha Zhu said that the main reason he came this time was to take in a disciple. Yes, Sha Zhu wanted to take in a disciple. Through the visit of Ma Hua when he was blind and the revelations in his dreams, Sha Zhu was sure that Ma Hua was a kind and good boy and decided to take him in as a disciple. Since his master was still alive, he had to ask for his master's permission to confirm the inheritance.

"Have you grown all your hair yet? You dare to accept a disciple? Don't delay the child's birth." Master Sun is a strict person, otherwise he would not be able to become a master chef. "Come back to the building with me later, I will check your quality first before talking about accepting a disciple."

Sha Zhu understood that this was a test of his cooking skills. "No problem, I will never let you down and I won't embarrass you when we go out." Sha Zhu was still very confident in his cooking skills.

"You seem quite confident." Master Sun was also very happy to hear that Sha Zhu was confident.

After listening to the master and apprentice finish talking about business, the master's wife asked about Yu Shui's recent situation. When she heard that Yu Shui was in a technical secondary school, she lamented that time passed quickly and asked Sha Zhu to bring Yu Shui back. Master Sun's family originally had two daughters and a son. The two daughters got married and stayed at home to take care of their parents-in-law and children, and rarely went back to their parents' home. A few years ago, Master Sun asked a guest who often came to eat in the building to get his son to join the army. The old couple really have nothing to do at home now.

It was time to go to work, and Sha Zhu followed Master Sun to the building. Before leaving, the master's wife repeatedly told Sha Zhu to come when he was free.

When they arrived at Fengze Garden, Sha Zhu's fellow apprentices excitedly surrounded him, hugged him and asked about his recent situation.

Master Sun and his younger brothers had almost finished chatting when a guest came to the front hall, so he told them to go about their own business.

Just then, a customer ordered deep-fried crispy pork with garlic sauce, and Chef Sun thought this dish would be a good way to test Sha Zhu's cooking skills. His fellow chefs and other cooks gathered around to watch Sha Zhu cook and cheer him on.

Then Sha Zhu took out the prepared pig stomach and duck gizzards, carefully checked whether the fat skin and hard tendons on them were cleaned, and scraped off the last bit of fat from the pig stomach with a knife; put the hard side of the pig stomach downwards, and cut a 5mm wide cut along the grain on the soft side, stopping at only two-thirds of the way, and then cut horizontally and diagonally, but this time the cut was two-thirds of the way every 1 cm, and the next cut was cut off; remove the white tendons from the duck gizzard slices, break each into eight pieces, and use the tip of the knife to make a 2mm wide cross cut on it;

Then Sha Zhu cut the garlic sprouts into sections, diced the green onions, and added minced garlic, ginger juice, Shaoxing cooking wine, MSG, salt, wet starch, some water, and scooped some chicken broth to make a thick sauce for later use;

Open the air damper to increase the fire, add water to the pot, put in the pig's stomach and duck gizzards when the water boils, Sha Zhu stares at the color of the pig's stomach and duck gizzards and counts to tens silently, takes out the ingredients with a colander, rinses them with cold water, this will make the pig's stomach and duck gizzards more crispy, drain the water; Sha Zhu uses a spatula to move the pig's stomach and duck gizzards in and out of the hot oil pan quickly like a meteor.

Pour out the oil in the pot, keep the base oil and add a little pepper oil, turn on the blower and turn up the heat, pour in the greasy pork stomach and duck gizzards, add the prepared starch sauce, and stir it seven or eight times before serving.

The pork belly and duck gizzards on the plate were white and red, with a thin golden sauce about to fall off, and the faint aroma of pepper oil stimulated the mouth to salivate.

Several fellow apprentices and chefs watched Sha Zhu's movements and finished products intently, comparing themselves with Sha Zhu in their hearts to see if they could cook as well as Sha Zhu. Some were delighted, some felt inferior, and some were jealous of Sha Zhu's skills.

Master Sun took a piece and found it crispy, tender, smooth, fresh and refreshing. He nodded and said, "Not bad. It seems that your skills have not declined and you can become a master now."

"Is it just a way to become a disciple, Master?" Sha Zhu looked at Master Sun with a rogue but somewhat expectant look on his face.

"Pa" a slap landed on the silly head, "Okay, you can cook in our Fengze Garden now. I agree with you taking in a disciple. Bring the child to me when you have time."

After coming out of Fengze Garden, Sha Zhu went to find Aunt You to ask about the progress of his blind date.

When Aunt You saw Sha Zhu, she told him a good news. There was a pretty girl living five or six alleys away from Sha Zhu's yard. Her surname was Yu and her given name was Li. She graduated from high school and was 22 years old. Her father was a worker in a machinery factory, her mother was an ordinary housewife, and she had a younger sister who was in school. Her family and social relationships were simple.

Aunt You then began to boast: When the girl's family first heard about Sha Zhu's conditions, they felt that their daughter had no parents and no one to help her, and that many things would have to be supported by the young couple on their own, which would be a bit difficult. What's more, the man was just a cook with little education.