The Garden Life of a Little Gardener

Both the Yu family and the Xu family can only be regarded as well-off families, and the previous generation of parents on both sides have lived a hard life. Even if they have small savings, they have to live on a budget.

But today, faced with the expensive representative dishes of Confucianism on the pink menu, whether it is the parents of the Yu family who advocate frugality, or the couple of the Xu family who maintain frugality, they no longer pay attention to the price but only to the dishes.

In Xu's father's words, authentic Confucian cuisine masters are hard to come by. Once you encounter them, you must grasp them, otherwise you will regret it later.

The young couple has no objection to this. After all, their family is out to play. As long as they have fun and eat to their heart’s content, it’s nothing to spend a little money. Isn’t it just for enjoyment when you come to the B&B.

Zhou Quan, who was standing on the ground waiting to order food, couldn't help raising his eyebrows slightly as he watched the big family turn backwards and forwards.

The stack of recipes was designed by him himself and made by someone else. He is very familiar with the dishes and prices on it.

In order to cater to mass consumption, the first few pages of the menu are relatively common home-cooked dishes, such as stewed chicken with mushrooms, stewed catfish with eggplant and so on.

The later the dishes are, the less common they are, and the prices are getting higher and higher because of the materials used and the time it takes.

Seeing the family discussing and writing half of the paper with the menu, Zhou Quan felt that as a service staff, he had an obligation to remind the guests.

So he coughed lightly, drew everyone's attention to himself, and said, "Everyone, the food in our homestay is very sufficient. You have a family of six adults and one child, four or five meals per meal." The dishes are definitely enough to eat, it’s a waste to order too much.”

Father Xu helped the legs of his presbyopic glasses and said, "You are a very honest young man. For the sake of our customers, you will persuade us to order less. Unlike some places, we wish we could order more, so we can fill up the whole table." , anyway, they have to pay for what they order, so they don’t care whether they can finish their food or waste it.”

As soon as Dad Xu finished speaking, his daughter picked it up on the menu and said while looking at the pictures on it: "But these dishes look delicious. I have only heard the names of some dishes but never tried them. There are also some dishes that I have never even heard of before. This time I finally got the chance, it would be a pity not to try more."

"Uh, guests, you have booked a total of two days. As long as you check out the room on our side before ten o'clock in the morning, it will be counted as the previous day. If there is no accident, you must have at least six meals at our side. What to eat, I feel that these six meals are enough for you to try your favorite dishes."

"How can it be enough for only six meals? Even if you order five dishes for each meal, there are only thirty dishes for six meals. You have more than 100 classic and standing dishes, plus uncertain daily specials. Want to eat How can it be enough for two days?"

Seeing the lady waving the menu as if I wanted to order a copy, Zhou Quan was startled. This woman actually wanted to eat all the dishes on the menu. The power of foodie really cannot be underestimated.

Probably because he felt that his daughter's idea of ​​eating all the other people's homestays was too brave. After discussing with his wife, in-laws, son-in-law and grandchildren, the steady father Xu drew five dishes on the menu that everyone wanted to try.

After looking at the comprehensive menu, the family ordered: Yipin Tofu, Emerald Shrimp Rings, Roasted Mandarin Fish in Flower Basket, Scallops and Nine-Turn Large Intestines.

It can be seen that this family is still very good at ordering dishes. The first four dishes are representative dishes of Confucian cuisine, and the other one is a traditional famous dish in Quancheng.

If these few dishes can be cooked well, then it proves that the chef's craftsmanship is no problem.

Seeing that the guests had ordered their meals, Zhou Quan continued to ask: "This is your lunch menu, do you want to order it together for dinner?"

Father Xu bowed his hands and said, "That's all for now. It's not too late to order dinner after lunch."

Knowing that the guests were waiting, Zhou Quan wanted to test the skills of their chefs with lunch, because the exquisite Confucian cuisine is not cheap, if this meal is not well done, it is estimated that the dishes ordered by their family in the future will not be cheap. It should be sauerkraut stew, fried potato chips with green peppers and other popular goods.

Hearing this, Zhou Quan put away the menu and said with a smile: "Then I'll deliver the menu to the back kitchen. The restroom and shower room are on the right side of the yard. If you have anything to do, you can go to the first entrance to look for our staff. Before lunch, guests can visit the old yard at will. Now is the time when the roses are in full bloom, and the photos will be very beautiful. After lunch, please write down the dinner menu, and then I will take you to the flower shed. picking experience."

"Okay, we got it, sorry to bother you."

After Zhouquan left, the family began to study the layout and furnishings in the room again. The more they looked at it, the more they loved it, and their mobile phones almost ran out of battery.

After being lively for a while, Mr. Yu finally studied the things in the room and said with some regret: "Everything is good, but there is no TV in the room, and it feels a bit boring when I want to watch it."

His father, Mr. Yu, disagreed and said, "This is an old house, an old courtyard from the previous dynasty. The selling point of this homestay is its ancient charm. What's the point of setting up a TV? It would be nice to have electricity and WIFI, so just come out." After playing for two days, you can’t forget to read financial reports, right?”

"No, it's just a habitual question."

"Tch, don't pay attention to him, let's go outside and have a look. When I came in just now, I found a lot of roses planted in the yard. There are all kinds of colors, and they bloom beautifully."

"Yes, there is also the old house behind. We walked around the courtyard wall for such a long time when we came here. It seems that there must be more than two entrances."

The family thought of this, and immediately walked out excitedly.

While the guests were visiting the yard, Zhou Quan came to the kitchen with the menu they had ordered.

Almost all the staff of Bao's old house are here, even that guy Bao Erlong left the grocery store to his mother, and came here by himself to see if there is anything he can do to help.

After taking the guest's menu, Chef Bao quickly went through each main ingredient and side dish in his mind, and called the assistant chef's aunt to enter the kitchen with him.

As soon as Chef Bao got busy, Bao Erlong came over with two cleaning aunts.

"Brother Ah Quan, how are the guests? Are you welcome?"

"That is, are they satisfied with the room I cleaned up? What else do you need?"

"Satisfied, very satisfied, almost lying on the old furniture in our house. Bao Erlong, if you really want to see it, you can bring a pot of hot water to them, and just ask yourself."

Bao Erlong, who loves to be lively, felt that this proposal was very good. He immediately made a pot of hot tea, carried the teapot and the cup, and hurried to Houjin to chat with the guests.

Duh, duh, duh, blah, blah, blah.

The sound of work, the regular sound of cutting vegetables and the sound of food being oiled quickly came from the burning kitchen, and the smell of fragrance came out after a while.

Even though he was already familiar with this scent, Zhou Quan couldn't help but take a deep breath, and was immediately intoxicated by the aroma of the food.

Even he is like this, not to mention the rest of the people, the two aunts in charge of cleaning are always guarding the outside of the kitchen and poking their heads, and the aunt who helps the cook inside is so caught by the smell that she almost cuts her finger.

Seeing this, Aunt Lanhua poked the colleague next to her quietly, and said in a low voice, "Sister-in-law, what does it smell like? Why does it smell so evil?"

Aunt Gui next to her replied not very calmly after hearing the words: "I don't know, but this smell is very familiar. When the old man was still there many years ago, every time I passed by their door, I could smell it." I saw this kind of taste. First it was the old man, then Baoyan, who said it was a Confucian dish, and he was the successor of the eight scriptures, and he had worshiped the master and offered tea."

"Really, no wonder it's so seductive."

While they were talking, the guests who had been visiting the old house in the yard also came over smelling the fragrance.

As a cultural worker, Father Xu, who is very interested in the world's intangible cultural heritage of Confucian cuisine, asked Zhou Quan a little embarrassedly: "Young man, can I take a closer look at your chef? The production process? Don’t worry, I’ll take a look at the kitchen door, and I will definitely not go in to make trouble.”

Zhou Quan was a little embarrassed when he heard the words, but this was the first group of tourists at Baojia B&B, so he felt that there should be some special treatment.

So Zhou Quan said: "I can't make the decision, just wait a moment and I'll go in and ask our chef."

Zhou Quan, who entered the kitchen every few seconds, came out again, and said to Papa Xu, "Brother Baoyan promised that you can visit, but just don't get too close, so as not to burn you."

Being allowed to visit is already a pleasant surprise to Xu's father. This kind of skill that has been passed down for thousands of years with history and culture is not easy to see.

While the family was crowded in front of the kitchen, Chef Po was frying emerald shrimp rings inside.

Wash the fresh green prawns to remove the shrimp lines, wash the cucumbers and cut them into round slices, poke a small hole in the middle, pass the prawn tails through, and put them on a plate for later use.

Heat the oil until it is [-]% hot, put the finished shrimp rings into the oil pan for a few seconds and then pour them into the side to drain the oil.

Add sesame and sesame oil to the pot as a base. When it is [-]% hot, add peppercorns to the pot. Ginger cooking wine removes the fishy smell. The broth is refined and salted to enhance the flavor. Pour in the oiled shrimp rings and stir-fry quickly.

It’s a simple stir-fried dish, but Chef Bao is very serious about it, because shrimp is an ingredient that is easily overcooked. Once the heat is not well controlled, raw shrimp is not safe to eat, and overcooking will affect the whole dish. Taste.

When this emerald shrimp ring was served, the room was filled with the aroma of sesame oil and peppercorns, but even so, they could not steal the charm of the main ingredients.

Looking at the white and tender prawns on the plate, Dad Xu, who was paying attention to his personal image, swallowed his saliva in a daze.

Comrade Old Yu looked at the time, and then said loudly with a smile on purpose: "It's almost eleven o'clock, no wonder I'm a little hungry, young man, can we have dinner earlier?"

Zhou Quan twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Good guest, let me ask you."

A few minutes later, Zhou Quan, who played a guest role in the hall, came out and replied: "The emerald shrimp rings and grilled mandarin fish in a flower basket that everyone ordered are ready, and I can serve them to you now, but Jiuzhuan Dachang, Yipin Tofu and Scallops are not good. You have to wait, these are dishes that require some effort."

Hearing Zhou Quan's answer, Lao Yu didn't care too much and said, "It's okay, eat whatever you have, just serve these two dishes first, and then a pot of white rice."

Now that the guest had said so, Zhou Quan had no choice but to go back to the kitchen to serve the dishes.

Bao Erlong took the first step and went to the guests' rooms to arrange the tables and bowls and chopsticks.

The saying that the food at Baojia B&B has enough food is not just talking. The grilled flower basket mandarin fish and emerald shrimp rings served first are very generous.

Chef Bao gave two crucian carp weighing half a catty. During the roasting process, the mandarin fish in a flower basket should not be in direct contact with the fire. Tight, put it on an iron hook, and bake it on both sides with charcoal fire.

After the production is completed, the roasted mandarin fish in the flower basket will not lose its umami taste, white and tender in color, and the eater knows its taste, but does not know its method.

Another emerald shrimp ring, a large plate with a diameter of more than 30 cm is full of a plate, the white shrimp tail with a crisp cucumber ring, really like a green jadeite flower.

The originally reserved family looked at the food and smelled it, and picked up the chopsticks without knowing it.

Pick up an emerald shrimp ring and put it in the mouth, the crispy and tender taste is immediately reflected.

The oiled shrimp shell is thin and crispy, while the shrimp meat inside is still tender and smooth. The cucumber slices at the end are both refreshing and relieve the greasy fried food. The pepper oil fried in sesame oil is numb and fragrant.

They watched this dish with their own eyes, and the master in charge didn't add any auxiliary materials except ginger, pepper, sesame oil, cooking wine and refined salt.

But the plate of emerald shrimp rings presented in front of them is indeed crispy, tender and delicious. The freshness of the shrimp itself is fully preserved and stimulated. Even without MSG and light soy sauce, it is still delicious. It can be seen that the master chef's control over the ingredients has reached the point of perfection.

Seeing the fish-shaped grilled mandarin fish in a flower basket wrapped in the noodle cake, the whole family was a little afraid to make a move. In the end, it was Dad Xu who gently pinched the skin of the noodle fish with chopsticks.

The skin was pinched open, and a fresh fragrance came out. Since there was no open fire from the beginning to the end, the grilled flower basket mandarin fish not only had a complete shape, but the fish also showed a translucent white color.

The crucian carp, which should be garlic clove meat, was found to be soft when they picked it up. At first, they thought that the crucian carp was undercooked, but it was only when they entered the mouth that they realized that it was not only cooked, but also cooked just right.

If the fish is less than one point, it is raw. After a little, the fish will be completely white, turning into garlic cloves and losing its unique taste of freshness and softness.

"Ah~~~, how can it be so delicious? Why can it be so delicious? The head chef looks so young, why is his skill better than those old chefs who have been immersed in it for many years? He has been learning cooking since he was born ?"

"It's probably a family inheritance. When I just visited Master's cooking art, I discovered that although their kitchen has been renovated, there are many things, such as the stove, the old-fashioned oven, and the utensils placed in the corner. They are old, at least they looked like they were four or 50 years ago."

"So we've got a treasure this time, I'm going to post it on Weibo and Moments immediately, and let those guys envy them."

"Hey, old Xu, what are you looking for with a pen and paper? Hey, when did you bring back the menu card again?"

"I'm writing recipes. You haven't heard people say that if you want to eat some kung fu dishes, you have to call in advance, otherwise there is not enough time."

"You're right. Master cooks the Confucian cuisine, and you can earn money when you eat it."

The Confucian Kung Fu dishes that pay attention to slow work and meticulous work are expensive, but this family completely ignores the three-digit prices, and only cares about choosing their favorite food.

When Zhou Quan served the guests with the prepared food again, he was greeted by the shining eyes of the guests like hungry wolves.

Zhouquan:.......What happened?Why does my back feel cold?

The author has something to say: Baojia is a famous hotel with a beautiful living environment, clean and tidy rooms, showers, WIFI, and parking spaces.The head chef has studied art for 20 years, with superb skills and exquisite craftsmanship.But please be careful, don't scare the cute little brother who runs the hall, otherwise the chef will turn into a Tyrannosaurus and catch you...

The menu in this article comes from the menu of the Confucian Family Banquet