The Garden Life of a Little Gardener

The preparation that Mr. Zou said was to ask the apprentices to clean up the back kitchen of Mingyue Tower and prepare all the ingredients needed for the first round of fighting vegetables.

During this period, the disciples will change their clothes and maintain their kitchen utensils, and then wait.

Mingyue Tower's fighting process is kept strictly confidential to the disciples who are qualified to participate in the fighting, but for foreign guests like Zhou Quan, as long as they don't ask special core questions, the old man is in the mood to answer him.

Originally, outsiders like Shimen Doucai and the others would be politely invited out, but today is the old man's birthday banquet, and old man Zou is in a good mood, especially allowing his disciples and grandchildren's close family and friends to stay and watch the game.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, everything was ready in the kitchen. The old man stood on the stairs on the third floor and looked down. There were nearly a hundred people standing in the lobby on the first floor.

They are about 40 to [-] years old, both men and women wear uniform chef uniforms and chef hats.

These are all the disciples of Mr. Zou's disciples and grandchildren, a total of 89 people.

The old man couldn't hide the smile in his eyes when he looked at the disciples and grandchildren who were in full bloom and vigor.

With a light cough, the old man held the microphone in his hand and said: "The rules of the master's school, the Doucai Conference is once in a lifetime. As long as you are a disciple of my master's generation, no matter whether you are a master or not, you are eligible to participate. This is to test your cooking skills." The moment of level is also the moment that determines your future destiny, so what skills and special skills can be used. The rules of the competition treat all disciples equally. I also hope that what you show is your true skills, don't play tricks. What cleverness, if you are found out, I don't care whose apprentice you are, you will be removed from the family tree of the master immediately, do you hear me clearly?"

"Listen clearly, Master."

"Okay, the disciples who are going to participate in the Doucai Conference will stay here. Guests, please go to the second floor."

After saying this, the old man originally thought that someone in the crowd in the lobby on the first floor would leave, but he didn't expect that there was no one moving.

Seeing this, the old man frowned slightly, and pointed his eyes at the guy who was particularly conspicuous among a group of yellow-skinned, black-haired and black-eyed people, wondering why the foreign devil hadn't left yet?

Could it be that your Chinese is not very good and you didn't understand what I just said?

In fact, Mr. Zou had already seen the foreigner who was in the team of his apprentice and grandson, but because the other party was brought back by his only female disciple, the old man let that guy go all day long because of his apprentice's face and respect for the guests. Going around in the back kitchen.

Although Ali said that the child was her disciple, she neither served incense and tea in front of the patriarch's tablet, nor registered her name in the family tree of the master. Such a child is actually a student and not a disciple, so the old man didn't bother That verbal thing.

However, now that the Doucai Conference is about to start, the foreigner has no intention of leaving, which makes the old man very unhappy.

The junior standing next to him also saw the situation in the team, and he leaned over to his senior brother and asked in a low voice: "Senior brother, whose apprentice is that guy with yellow hair and blue eyes? I don't remember which senior nephew We have accepted foreign disciples, and there is no such record in our family tree."

Now that people have asked, there is no need to whitewash the peace.

Holding the microphone, the old man turned sideways and asked, "That foreign friend, did you stand in the wrong place?"

Mr. Zou hoped that by reminding the other party, he would be able to leave in a sensible way, but he didn't expect that the other party still didn't move, and there was someone talking at the spectator seats on the second floor.

"Master, George is my apprentice. He came here specially today to pay respects to you on your birthday, and to participate in Dou Cai by the way. There is no problem at all."

If this was said by someone else, with the old man's temper, he would have reprimanded the apprentice for not knowing the rules.

However, looking at the person on the second floor whom he hadn't seen for many years, the old man paused before he said lightly: "Ali, the qualifications for Doucai have always been acquired by direct disciples. Although I am old, I am not stupid. My memory Among them, I have never drank the Tusun tea respected by any foreigner."

"You said this. I'm really sorry, master. George is my closed disciple, and he has always been with me for training. You also know that I have not been in China these years, so I delayed the ceremony. But it doesn't matter. Anyway, everyone in Shimen is here today, so please be a witness for me. George is my closed disciple of Guli, and I will not accept any apprentices from now on, so he is always qualified to participate in Doucai , otherwise the master uncle can't justify it."

According to the rules of Mingyue Tower, only after offering incense, offering tea, and entering the family tree of the master's family can they be regarded as direct disciples.

However, there was a special case decades ago, and the person who caused this special case was the old man standing beside Mr. Zou now.

During the most turbulent days after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the brothers of Mr. Zou's generation were forced to separate from their masters and scattered around to find a way out.

Ten years later, the turmoil ended, and the brothers went back to Daomingyue Tower, only to find that there was another little brother next to the master.

In that society at that time, no one dared to kneel down at Xiangtang, and the situation of the masters of the old men was not very good at that time. In order to pass on Doucai, we had to start immediately.

Therefore, Mr. Zou's junior brother has become a special case in Mingyue Tower's hundreds of years of inheritance. All his procedures were added later when the atmosphere was opened up.

Now that this special case was deliberately picked out, it was taken as a matter of fact, so I asked Mr. Zou whether he recognized it or not.

Don't admit that the master did something wrong back then, isn't the junior who has been called junior for so many years?

Of course it can't be like this, but the old man really didn't expect that one day his apprentice would make it difficult for him in public.

"Ali, you've been making more and more outrageous troubles these years. What exactly do you want to do?"

"It's nothing, I just want to see if a person who doesn't keep his promise will admit it."

After hearing the words, Mr. Zou looked at the only female disciple firmly, and murmured to himself: "It's not what you think, forget it, if you think so, then so be it."

The discouraged old man bent down, waved his hands and said, "Since Ali has already said so, and there is a precedent before, let's follow the precedent and let that foreigner participate in the fight."

"Brother, you are..."

"Don't talk about junior brother, let's do it this way. I'm a little tired and go to the box to rest. Please announce the rules for the first round of Doucai for me."

After finishing speaking, Mr. Zou turned around and left, leaving his younger brother to look at his back worriedly. After a long while, he picked up the microphone and said loudly: "The first round of Doucai, you will take the number from the box in the hands of the service staff later. , and then enter the kitchen for cooking according to the size of the number. The theme of cooking is quick stir-fry, with unlimited dishes and techniques, and the time is 10 minutes. Listen well, it only takes 10 minutes from cutting vegetables, garnishes to frying, It starts immediately when you step into the side dish room, and you will lose your qualifications if you exceed the time limit, so you must allocate your time well."

As his voice fell, several service staff came out holding several cardboard boxes and began to ask the people standing in the lobby to draw numbers.

The people on the second floor and the third floor all stared at the people on the first floor, and those with relatives and friends below hoped that the numbers they drew would be ranked in the back, so that they could spend more time thinking about the dishes and steps.

Mr. Zou, who entered the box upstairs, is actually paying attention to the people below. The first round of Doucai is actually a knockout round. There is no way to do it. He has 89 disciples and grandchildren. If he doesn’t get rid of those who are not skilled enough Outside, there is no way to fight vegetables.

Seeing that all the people in the lobby had drawn their numbers, the old man who was standing by the stairs on the third floor also returned to the box.

He and his brother are the judges of the competition in a while, so they should avoid suspicion.

After he left, Master Zou announced the start of Doucai as the successor of Mingyuelou.

After the voice is over, the waiter will ask the people who have drawn numbers 1~8 to stand up, enter the cutting room and start to choose their own quick-fried dishes.

There are a total of twelve stoves in the back kitchen of Mingyue Building, but for the sake of convenience, this time Doucai is in a group of eight people, and it has started as soon as they stepped into the back kitchen area.

Everyone upstairs couldn't see the back kitchen and couldn't see the number, and the rest of the people were the same, only they knew the number.

When the two elders upstairs were tasting the dishes, only the numbers were marked on the plates brought up, and the numbers that satisfied the elders were kept.

Zhou Quan leaned on the handrail on the second floor and stretched out his head to see the people walking out. There was no Chef Bao, but there was Fox Zou. It seemed that the number he drew should be very high.

Ten minutes passed in a flash, and soon the waiters of Mingyuelou went up to the third floor with fried dishes marked with numbers. After they left, the first group also came out from the kitchen.

After they came out, they came in as substitutes from the 9th to the 16th. The whole process was very fast, and there was no free time at all.

Zhou Quan, who was guarding the upstairs, watched groups of people go in and come out in groups. Chef Bao's senior brother and Junior Brother Dou, whom he had met once, had already gone in. Soon Bao Chef was also called out from the crowd.

"No. 56~64, it's about you."

After hearing this, Chef Bao walked out of the crowd calmly, and casually looked at the people in his group, and found that George was actually in his group.

The two of them had met once, and Chef Bao felt that the other party's temper should not be a person who valued fame and fortune. He really couldn't figure out why he had to travel across the ocean to get mixed up with their master's affairs.

The two looked at each other across the crowd, then moved away at the same time, each stepped into the cutting room and began to select ingredients.

Both of them chose beef as the main course.

When choosing beef, the two of them both fell in love with the same piece of beef tenderloin. Chef Bao got the ingredients first, but he didn't eat it alone, but quickly divided the piece of beef tenderloin into two, leaving half for the other party.

Time was running out, and the two of them agreed tacitly without saying much. They each took side dishes and went directly to the stove.

In the kitchen, master Zou and one of his younger brothers are working as supervisors. They are responsible for keeping time for the apprentices and nephews, and checking whether they have behaved irregularly.

Both Chef Bao and George's main ingredient is beef tenderloin, but the side dishes are completely different. Chef Bao chooses sand river noodles, mung bean sprouts, leeks and carrots, while George chooses onions, eggs and celery.

From the main ingredients and side dishes, Master Zou guessed that the apprentice should make fried beef. Ali's apprentice seemed to be fried beef with scallions, but the other party chose onions instead of green onions.

In this kind of time-limited fast-frying competition, it is a disadvantage to choose beef, because it needs to be processed in advance, and it takes time to simmer to keep it delicious and tender when stir-frying.

Watching the two people quickly process the marinated beef with a knife and quickly cut the side dishes, Master Zou checked the time and felt that they should be able to finish.

As time passed bit by bit, the atmosphere in the kitchen became more and more tense. The junior apprentice who was in the same room as Master Zou was in charge of the work, and his little apprentice was also in this group, and it seemed that something was wrong .

The junior dotes on the little apprentice very much, but he can only watch from the sidelines and worry until the time runs out. The junior apprentice has finished the dishes, but both Master Zou and his junior know that there is a flaw in the other party's dishes. I can't hide it from my father and uncle upstairs.

George seems to be very proficient in cooking with beef. Among the people in this group, he is the first to complete his own dish, which is the fried beef with scallions that Master Zou thought of in advance.

Master Zou checked the time, and it was less than 9 minutes. The color of the beef on the plate showed that it was very well cooked. It seemed that he had his own unique way of handling the beef.

Looking at the apprentices on the side, the beef has been oiled, and what is being fried now is rice noodles and mung bean sprouts.

I looked at the time, and there was 1 minute left before the beef, chives, and scallions were put into the pot, and the seasoning began.

A good dry fried beef requires crispy bean sprouts, Q-bomb rice noodles, tasty beef, even coloring and dry body without sticking to the plate and having pot gas.

Because it is easy to make but sees kung fu, this is a dish that Cantonese chefs often test when they are promoted.

With Chef Bao's quick stir-fry, bright flames exploded around the wok, blending with the ingredients in the wok like rising magma, giving the dishes a taste of fire.

In the last ten seconds, a large spoon was turned, and then the vegetables were turned sideways, and the dry fried beef was successfully completed.

Pressing down the timer in his hand, sniffing the familiar aroma of fried Niuhe in his nose, Master Zou shouted out: "Serve the dishes."