Chapter 49 will eat(1/2)
After one meal, Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan's admiration and curiosity for "Zhang Dashao" reached their peak.
Naturally, they became more and more respectful, and their hair became smoother.
Moreover, the two of them took on a task spontaneously and consciously.
Just rotate and make tea for "Zhang Dashao" every day.
The tea leaves were actually made with "Gao Mo'er", because the old man drank it smoothly and you changed it for him and got scolded in vain.
The key point is to hold on to "Zhang Dashao" and make tea for him early according to his habit.
Every time you have to clean the teapot first, and then use a bottom layer of tea leaves, no more and no less.
After adding boiling water, you have to pour out the hot water, which is called "making tea".
After that, the tea jar can be tightly covered and left to suffocate.
In this way, when the old man comes every day, he sits down there and picks up the teapot himself. The tea tastes just right and the temperature is just right.
Of course, these two guys have a purpose for being so diligent.
Like Hong Yanwu, he would always hang out with "Zhang Dashao" when he had free time, and they would get tired of back-and-forth by making insinuations.
First, he deliberately mentioned what Master Chang Jing once said, hoping to find out the origin and experience of "Zhang Dashao" from the beginning.
Second, fake imitations often replace Master Chang's craftsmanship, and no one will regret it.
He wanted "Zhang Dashao" to be saddened by the death of a rabbit and feel the danger of losing his craft, so as to stimulate the old man's desire to accept a disciple.
Third, I just got greedy again.
For this reason, he made repeated requests in return, hoping that "Zhang Dashao" would take them to continue eating delicacies such as "Peach Blossom Pan" and "Jade Soup".
It's a pity that despite all his efforts, these first two items are totally useless.
"Zhang Dashao" has a whole old cigarette bag of oil. What has he never seen in his life? That's safe.
Hong Yanwu's ability to "talk, learn, and sing", which he tried every time with others, was of no use to him.
As for the last one, "Zhang Dashao" thought about it, and when two silly boys were willing to spend money, he would not suffer any loss, so he agreed.
If you want to say it, you really have to admit that a good cook who knows how to eat and cook is the person who knows how to eat and drink best in the world, so this determines that the way of eating "Zhang Dashao" is unusual.
First of all, because he knows the cooking industry so well, "Zhang Dashao" will never be fooled by the reputation of a store and blindly follow the crowd and go to well-known "famous restaurants" to eat well-known "famous dishes".
He always has his own unique choice. To put it bluntly, he only recognizes people, not places.
For example, during the first meal hosted by Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan, "Zhang Dashao" wanted to eat roast duck.
Unexpectedly, he did not go to the famous "Judequan" at home and abroad, nor to the "Bianyi Fang" recognized by people in the capital. Instead, he called someone first.
I waited until I got a reply on the phone, saying, "You can do it, you can do it."
Then he took Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan to the inner street of Xuanwumen, found the halal restaurant "Youyishun" which operated "explosion, grilling and rinsing".
Going to a halal restaurant to eat roast duck sounds novel, right?
But anyone who thinks this way is ignorant and ignorant.
Because the roast duck in Beijing is actually divided into three schools.
One is "braised oven roast duck", one is "hanging oven roast duck", and the other is "halal roast duck".
According to "Zhang Dashao", the founder of "Halal Roast Duck" in Beijing is a chef named Hu Baozhen.
This "No. 1 Halal Roast Duck" first learned the art at the old "Bianbi Fang", and later combined the methods of "Stewed Oven Roast Duck" and "Palace Roast Duck" to create the unique skill of "Halal Roast Duck".
Therefore, the time from the creation of this dish to its fame did not take long, in fact, it only lasted less than a hundred years.
But don’t forget, in any industry, the most feared thing is “specialization”.
Precisely because Hu Baozhen has specialized in roasting duck all his life, the "Halal Roast Duck" created by him is extremely delicious.
In the late Republic of China, his craftsmanship not only surpassed the two old stores "Judequan" and "Bianbiafang", but became the most expensive roast duck in Beijing. He himself also got a nickname for this -
— "Duck Hu".
Back then, if you wanted to eat his duck, you had to have money. You had to make a reservation several days in advance.
Therefore, Hu Baozhen's status among roast duck masters is the same as that of Pan Bingheng, the "jade gourmet" in the jade shop. He is recognized by everyone.
As for today, although this famous chef has passed away, fortunately, his skills have not been lost.
The Master Ai whom "Zhang Dashao" went to find on this trip was the only successor taught by "Ya Hu".
And precisely because "Halal roast duck" did not receive the attention it deserved after the great changes in history, its reputation was buried and only survived in a corner.
Nowadays, not only the traditional method is still maintained, but a duck only sells for 7.7 yuan. It is really delicious, not expensive, and economical.
On the contrary, the famous "Judequan" and "Biandianfang" have turned into mass production due to the large number of customers they receive every day, and their technical standards have been lax.
Even the ducks selected have been changed from 120 days to 70 to 65 days, lowering the standard.
If you compare it, the difference between inside and outside is huge.
Having said that, aren't Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan interested? They were only thinking about this duck along the way.
Everyone is curious about the difference between the "halal roast duck" so praised by "Zhang Dashao" and the ones they have eaten.
When the results arrived, it lived up to expectations. It was delicious. It was the best roast duck that Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan had ever tasted in their lives.
These words are by no means empty talk, because the difference between "halal roast duck" and the two types of roast duck that people are accustomed to know is indeed significant.
One, it is as big as a duck.
Because they use the standard "Beijing White Duck" that is produced for 120 days. The roast duck that Hong Yanwu and the others ate weighed more than three kilograms. The meat should be sliced into three large plates, at least one and a half kilograms.
In addition, the taste is quite good. The meat is leaner and not so tender, but it has a duck flavor.
Second, there is a unique skill.
The unique trick of the halal roasting method is that the lymph nodes (i.e. jujube) of the duck are removed, and special spices are sealed in the duck's belly, so that the roasted duck will not be fishy at all.
These two points are the advantages of "halal roast duck" over the other two roast duck techniques. It is halal and clean.
Three, follow the rules.
Chef Ai follows the traditional method of blowing air into the duck before roasting, in order to foam the fat and separate the skin and meat.
Bake it in the oven for about 15 minutes, and the oil will come out from the hair holes, which is equivalent to self-frying, so as to ensure crispyness.
In addition, the traditional method of making roast duck slices is generally "eat two".
That is, first remove the skin from the duck breast, give each guest a piece, and taste it. Because it is very crispy, it must be eaten while it is hot, otherwise the oil will come out when it is cold.
Secondly, every cut must have meat and skin. When the duck head and tenderloin are finally served, it means that the set has been completed.
As for the 108 knives and 118 knives for sliced duck, those are just standards used for technical assessment and cannot be used in actual operations, otherwise the time will be too long and the duck will be completely cold.
However, some famous stores have omitted these essential process links. This kind of "improvement" not only makes the taste worse, but also makes the customer's experience worse.
Fourth, pay attention to details.
Excipients are also very important.
The lotus leaf cakes like the "Halal Roast Duck" are freshly baked. Although you can't read a newspaper through them, they are soft.
It's something to eat, and the appearance is never as important as the taste. Only with this kind of roll can you get the crispiness of the roast duck.
It is precisely for this reason that "halal roast duck" does not approve of rolling cucumber and duck meat together in the pancake.
Instead, I think that the fragrant cucumber strips are just for eating alone to clear the mouth. If you have to wrap them in, it will reduce the taste of the duck meat, which is burnt on the outside and tender on the inside.
There is also soup. For the same reason, the duck soup of "Halal Roast Duck" is not a thick soup, but a clear soup with vegetables, which is refreshing and relieves greasiness.
All in all, from beginning to end, this "halal roast duck" not only allowed people to appreciate a traditional skill and feel a kind of human connection, but also experienced a kind of food culture.
Not to mention the cheap roast duck that can be seen everywhere in the future, now there are not many "Judequan" and "Bianyifang" that are becoming more and more like "assembly line". No wonder it became the top dish that surpassed the two time-honored brands.
This is called real roast duck. Only a true connoisseur like "Zhang Dashao" can find it.
In addition to the above, there is another deep-rooted principle in "Zhang Dashao's" food views.
That is to say, the quality of a dish is determined by ingredients accounting for 60% and craftsmanship accounting for 40%.
Therefore, he has always had his own insistence and requirements on the choice of texture of ingredients.
Apart from anything else, you can understand it just by watching him go and not look at the menu or how the chef orders.
Take this roast duck as an example. He took his time and told Master Ai so.
"Is the asparagus fresh today? If it's fresh, just pick one for me... Are there fresh broad beans? Are they the kind with two layers of skin peeled off?... Now that it's this month, green onions, then you have to have Shandong's tall ones.
I have to peel the cucumbers. I’m old and have bad teeth... By the way, don’t forget to stew the cabbage hearts with the remaining duck racks and skim the oil in the clear soup... Also, the leftover duck racks from the roast duck.
Don't waste the oil, you can use it to give me a pickle."
(Note: Asparagus, in Jingcheng dialect, refers to winter bamboo shoots, which are derived from the shape of the bamboo shoot tips. Huangcai, in Jingcheng dialect, refers to eggs. Why it is called so has been explained before, so I won’t repeat it.)
Listen, how can you not be secretly impressed by these words?
Ah, the so-called gourmets do not follow the restaurant's menu, but have their own opinions, pay attention to the freshest ingredients, and only seek pure taste rather than luxury.
Even in the future, the more Hong Yanwu became familiar with "Zhang Dashao", the more he discovered the inertia of his views.
To be continued...