[Red Mansion] A little chef came to the Grand View Garden

Liu Mei really felt that she needed to take a break.

This huge and splendid tea garden is in front of her eyes, but her heart is restless, and her eyes have been anxiously wandering among the countless bright corridors, aisles, seats, and seats in the garden, looking for...

"It seems that you are not much calmer than Master Shao!" Xie Xiaochuan walked to her side at some point.

Liu Mei stretched out her hand and patted the railing heavily, "It's so annoying!"——The person next to him is so annoying.

Xie Xiaochuan ignored her complaints, "Do you know why my master chose Hongshun Building to participate in this competition?"

Xie Xiaochuan's master, Bai Hongtai, was originally the treasure of the town building of Taibailou in the capital, but now he is the mascot of the culinary circle in the capital. It is said that he has devoted himself to tasting food in the past two years, and he often has unique insights.

"I heard that you are familiar with the taste of His Royal Highness Prince Zhongshun?" Seeing that Liu Mei didn't answer, Xie Xiaochuan continued to ask questions.

Prince Zhongshun's taste?

Liu Mei seemed to understand something.Holding on to the railing with both hands, she stood up straight.

"There are many famous restaurants in Beijing. With Master Shao's craftsmanship, there is no big problem for Hongshun Restaurant to be ranked in the top ten, and even the top five. .”

"Master Xie, what do you mean, you deserve to represent the 'official cuisine' in Beijing?" Liu Mei immediately retorted and turned back.

Xie Xiaochuan was not angry, and said flatly, "I didn't come here to argue with you."

"Prince Zhongshun...will come out to comment on today's competition, right?" Liu Mei pondered slightly.Once she disagreed with Xiao Chuan's bickering, her thoughts immediately straightened out—this explained why she saw Shi Qing's figure earlier.

This person has now returned from Ping'an Prefecture, but her system has not returned to her for a long time.Could this system... have given up on her?So what should she do?

"You guessed right." Xie Xiaochuan nodded, "His Royal Highness Prince Zhongshun is strict, has extremely picky tastes, and is extremely difficult to be satisfied with ordinary people, but he is a frequent visitor to Hongshun Building. Although the Prince himself is absolutely impossible to favor any particular family , but familiarity with the prince's taste will always be an advantage!"

Xie Xiaochuan said it calmly, and Liu Mei felt that what he said was quite reasonable.

"If you win this competition, the restaurant will get a plaque written by the imperial pen, and the cuisine it belongs to will also be sealed by the present, with the word 'Zhonghua' on it. This is a great honor for a chef! "

Chinese official cuisine, Chinese Shandong cuisine, Chinese Cantonese cuisine...

It sounds really tall!

"So, I want to win!" Xie Xiaochuan's tone was always lukewarm, but his eyes on Liu Mei became slightly warmer.

Liu Mei naturally interpreted Xie Xiaochuan's words as: "Please, please don't lose the chain!"

So, like the other party, she put on an indifferent face and said, "Then don't worry! With Lao Shao and I here, we won't lose. It's you, don't hold us back."

Unexpectedly, Xie Xiaochuan was satisfied after hearing this, nodded and said, "Very good!" He changed the subject suddenly, and then asked, "Who do you think will be eliminated in the first round?"

Liu Mei thought for a while and said, "Nine bowls!"

Xie Xiaochuan nodded and said, "It's the same as I thought." After speaking, he turned around Shi Shiran and went back to the kitchen to prepare the first round of dishes.

Liu Mei continued to stay outside, and the cool fragrance breeze from the tea garden gently passed over her cheeks, refreshing her spirits.

She can't lose!For whatever reason.

Liu Mei has such a temperament, the more Shiqing observes her coldly and stays away from her, the more she will show her strongest fighting spirit.Because she is not a person who is so weak that she needs to rely on a man and a system to assist her to work hard and realize her dreams.

Moreover, since Shiqing is the one who criticizes and judges, Liu Mei doesn't want Shiqing to show favoritism.She not only wants to show her best self in front of Shiqing, but also hopes to impress the world with her own strength.

Thinking of this, Liu Mei took a deep breath, turned around, followed the direction that Xie Xiaochuan had just gone, and entered the big kitchen of Mingyuan.

The kitchen in Mingyuan is exclusively for the use of Hongshunlou and Qidingju.Speaking of the kitchen, it looks even better than the pavement of the lobby of an ordinary restaurant. There are all kinds of stoves and kitchen utensils, and even the floor is paved with white marble bricks, which has been cleaned spotlessly.

Under the leadership of Chef Shao, the help chefs of Hongshun Building are working on the first few cold dishes with all their strength.

Since cooking the "Six-In-One Magical Tofu" last time, Chef Shao has improved a lot on this "concentration".I saw that he was concentrating on completing every step at the moment, completely forgetting himself, and sometimes he couldn't even hear the second chef next to him calling him.

But Xie Xiaochuan was much more relaxed.He was sitting in an armchair next to the stove, humming a little song contentedly.There were only a few helpers he brought with him from the temporary residence, and they were all dressed in blue cotton robes, neatly dressed, very clean and fresh.

"Tell me, why is it 'Nine Big Bowls'?" Seeing Liu Mei coming in, Xie Xiaochuan smiled slightly, "Let's see if we also want to go to one place."

Liu Mei originally saw that the atmosphere in the kitchen was a little tense, but now she saw that Xiao Chuan was relaxed and talking and laughing happily, so she understood the other party's purpose.

"Nine Big Bowls" is the name of the restaurant that represents Sichuan cuisine in Beijing. Earlier Xie Xiaochuan asked Liu Mei which side would lose in the first round. Liu Mei didn't say "Sichuan cuisine" but "Nine Big Bowls"①.

Because she loves Sichuan food so much—saliva chicken, rattan pepper chicken, husband and wife lung slices, chicken feet with pickled peppers, Dengying beef... If these were served one by one, she would probably kneel down drooling on the spot.

Just hearing the name of the "Nine Big Bowls", Liu Mei knew that Sichuan cuisine in this time and space was probably still in its infancy.The Sichuan cuisine at this time should correspond to the Sichuan cuisine in the early Qing Dynasty. It was greatly influenced by the northern cuisine, so it still inherits the characteristics of the dishes served in the homes of ordinary people in various places, and the style is relatively rough.It is quite difficult to not fall behind in the delicate first round of cold dishes.

Hearing Xiao Chuan’s question, Liu Mei explained to the people present—the atmosphere in the kitchen suddenly relaxed a lot. The second chef of Hongshun Building looked at Liu Mei in admiration with an "inexperienced" face, and said with a smile With a voice, "So it is!"

Chef Shao next to him suddenly sighed, and said loudly, "It's finally done!" He didn't even listen to a word of Liu Mei's words just now.

When Liu Mei and Xie Xiaochuan heard this, they came forward to see his achievements together.

Chef Shao cooks duck feet with mustard, abalone rolls with bean curd skin and scallion oil dipped chicken.

Liu Mei raised her eyes, and saw the mustard duck paws were unfolded one by one and placed on the plate, like a fan.On the other side of the fan, Chef Shao carved out a bunch of fan tassels out of a red-heart radish, which is so vivid that it looks like a fan tassel made of silk ribbons dancing in the wind.

The other two dishes are slightly ordinary in color and shape, but it seems that Chef Shao is trying to win with the taste.The bean curd skin snail and abalone roll, the bean curd skin on the outside has been oiled and fried very crispy, but the snail abalone inside is fresh and tender; and the scallion oil dipped chicken, you can smell it even without getting close The scallions are tangy and mouth-watering.

Liu Mei's expression was a bit serious, not because Chef Shao didn't do well, but because the mustard duck feet reminded her of a rival.

"When it comes to melon carving and radish carving, I'm afraid that no matter which one, it's hard to beat the Sanhe Pavilion in Yangzhou. Master Shao's fan fringe carving is extremely vivid, but if you want to compare it with Yangzhou cuisine, it may still be a bit inferior. .”

Liu Mei was telling the truth, but Chef Shao immediately panicked, biting his lower lip and looking at Liu Mei.

Next to him, Xie Xiaochuan handed over a pure white Ru kiln porcelain plate, and asked, "With this, can we beat it?"

Liu Mei glanced at it, and saw a koi swimming leisurely beside the porcelain plate. After looking more carefully, she realized that the koi was also carved out of a red-hearted radish—radish with white skin and red heart. Under Xie Xiaochuan's hands, this The two kinds of color difference also miraculously become the color and texture of the koi carp, which is extremely natural and without any sense of refinement.

Liu Mei: Are there any other koi like this?I want to retweet!

But this koi is not the main ingredient of Xie Xiaochuan's cold dish, the real main ingredient is the wind fish on the plate.Liu Mei glanced at it, and leaned closer to smell it, only to feel that the fish meat was ruddy in color, with a strong salty taste, and even a little bit of fresh bean fragrance.

She nodded: "The enemy is over!"

Seeing her approval, Xie Xiaochuan was not necessarily excited, but turned his face away indifferently.

On the contrary, the "inexperienced" second chef saw Liu Mei commenting on the dishes and pointing out the dishes, looking very imposing, so he flattered him and asked: "Master Liu, I heard that the knife skills of this melon carving are the basic skills of those who learn to cook. Are you going to show us a hand, too?"

Liu Mei didn't feel embarrassed at all, she smiled "hehe", spread her hands and said, "I'm sorry, sorry, I came out in a hurry today, I didn't bring the melon carving skills!"

"Inexperienced" didn't realize that Liu Mei was joking at all, so he went to ponder how he could not bring this knife skill, and wondered if he had heard it wrong, not to mention that Master Liu had special tools for carving, because Come out and take it with you!

On the contrary, Chef Shao and Xie Xiaochuan looked at each other, they were quite amazed at Liu Mei's free-spiritedness and confidence, and they didn't mind exposing their faults at all.

The cold dishes here were ready in no time, and a waiter from Mingyuan came over from above. First, he put a label on the plate, and then a waiter wrote down the names of the dishes on a piece of Xuelang paper.Immediately, the waiters were about to leave with these cold dishes in their hands.

"Wait a minute, may I ask..."

Liu Mei couldn't hold back and asked a question.

A waiter stopped and turned to look at Liu Mei, as if he didn't expect that someone would think of asking them a question.

"You take all these dishes away now, don't we need to be present when tasting the dishes of each family?" Liu Mei frowned her pair of beautiful willow-leaf eyebrows, and asked in surprise.

"No need!" The waiter had probably been in Mingyuan for a long time, and he had already learned to be very polite and respectful when speaking, but in his bones, he had a cold and repulsive attitude, "This girl, The cold cuts will be sent to the tasting room, and everyone will be notified when the result comes out. Just wait here with peace of mind!"

"Mei'er... Liu, Master Liu!" Lin Xiaohong was at the side, seeing that Liu Mei was not going to let it go, she quickly spoke to persuade her.

But Liu Mei didn't stop there, instead she asked: "What is the significance of the four major cuisines coming to Beijing?"

When the waiter heard this, he didn't know how to answer, so he froze on the spot.

"They came all the way here, it's not just a competition, it's as simple as you beat me and I beat you!" Liu Mei took a step forward, "Any cuisine, if you don't want to rest on your laurels, you must Keep learning and absorbing so that everyone can move forward together.”

What Liu Mei said is the truth. The four major Chinese cuisines have developed to later generations. The mutual influence, inspiration and integration of each cuisine has promoted the formation and development of each cuisine to a large extent, making Chinese cooking present a situation where a hundred flowers bloom.

"If only the dishes are presented, and there is no opportunity for us cooks to communicate with each other, the competition of the four major cuisines in Beijing will be a fun game for the superiors to watch. Food and beverages are meaningless."

As soon as Liu Mei finished speaking, she heard someone chasing out from a kitchen next to her and shouting loudly: "What the hell, take all our cold dishes away, and we won't see any other dishes." , What is this going to do!"

The words are full of Sichuan accent, cadenced and ups and downs, so cute that Liu Mei wants to laugh when he hears it.

Someone next to him said, "That's right, even if we have to lose, we want to lose with confidence, and we don't want to lose our heads. Seeing what others have done, and comparing ourselves to ourselves, we know where we are -"

The waiter who stopped stopped sighed and said: "In that case, please let the person in charge here follow me to meet the person above!"

Liu Mei first turned to look at Master Shao and Xie Xiaochuan.Master Shao hurriedly took a step back, expressing that he would never dare to compete with Liu Mei; Xie Xiaochuan raised his eyebrows, as if he thought such things were boring, and said: "My master is at the top, he will understand my opinion, you think If you want to say anything, go yourself!"

So Liu Mei was about to take a step, but was suddenly pulled by Lin Xiaohong behind her.

"This little brother, my surname is Lin, and I'm the head of Hongshun Tower. I'll go and answer with you!" Xiaohong articulated clearly, lowered her voice slightly, and spoke with a rather masculine tone.

"Red..." Liu Mei's heart felt hot when she heard this.

Xiao Hong turned around and said to Liu Mei: "You should calm down and prepare the following dishes. I think what you said is very reasonable, so I will explain it for you."

Liu Mei became anxious, and pulled Xiaohong's arm: "It's my idea, if you say it, it should be me."

Thinking of Shiqing's moody temperament, she felt even more that Xiaohong had taken a huge risk by going here.

But Lin Xiaohong patted her hand and said with a smile: "No matter what, I'm in charge. If I want to stand up for Hongshun Building, I should naturally go." The meaning in her words is that her starting point is different from Liu Mei's. Shunlou's dishes were put into a black box, and it was unclear at which link he lost.

After finishing speaking, Lin Xiaohong turned around.Liu Mei was stunned, Xiao Hong had already gone out.

Xie Xiaochuan came to Liu Mei's side, lowered his voice and said to Liu Mei: "It would be better for Master Lin to go, you go, and as soon as you open your mouth, your identity as a woman will be exposed first."

Liu Mei has no interface.

"It's a good thing to have a big heart, and you have to have enough ability to support it." Xie Xiaochuan said, and walked away with his hands behind his back.

Liu Mei let out an extremely dissatisfied "cut" in her heart, knowing that Xie Xiaochuan had begun to take pleasure in belittling her, "Isn't it just that I'm not good at carving melons and radishes!"

In fact, she is not only not good at it, the watermelon she carves is still a watermelon, and the radish is still a radish, which will not remind people of other things.

Everyone waited quietly in the kitchen for about half an hour. A waiter came over and passed Xie Xiaochuan, Liu Mei and Chef Shao to the front hall.There were a lot of people bustling in the front hall, most of them were dressed as chefs, with their sleeves tied or aprons, and they greeted each other with a half-baked Beijing accent, occasionally revealing a little bit of their original accent.

Immediately afterwards, three clear high-fives sounded in the front hall, and someone said loudly from above: "Please listen carefully!"

A person who looked like a manager of the tea garden raised his hands high and gestured to please be quiet, while Xiaohong and the other four came out behind him.

"Everyone's opinions have been heard by the higher-ups."

The person in charge said loudly: "I really think what you said is reasonable. Therefore, I have authorized three chefs from each family to go to the flower hall in front to observe the dishes of each family."

Hearing such kindness from above, everyone in the front hall burst into cheers.

"Thus, after discussion, several judges decided to change the rules to this: each round, before the start of the judging, you can observe once in the flower hall. Will be judged to be out immediately!"

This is an important rule. After all, competitions are still competitions. Although cooking exchanges are allowed, they cannot affect the competition.

As soon as this rule came out, everyone understood and nodded in agreement.

"After the judges have tasted your dishes and come to a conclusion, I will invite those who were judged out in the first few rounds to taste other dishes..."

The steward's voice fell, and there was a moment of silence in the front hall. It seemed that not everyone agreed with this new rule.

A moment later, Liu Mei heard a melodious Chuanyin, and he laughed and said, "It's a good rule!"

It was a tall man who spoke, wearing a cloth robe with the sleeves rolled up high, revealing his dark arms.

"Let me just say, even if our 'Nine Big Bowls' are eliminated in the first round, it is not in vain for us to travel all the way to the capital."

As he said that, the man bowed in all directions, "My third son, Wei, didn't expect to win this trip to Beijing, but came here to open his eyes. After all, each family has a long-standing reputation. Our 'Nine Big Bowls' land I live in a remote place, with little knowledge, and I just came here today with the intention of learning from you all. First of all, I would like to thank you all for your advice..."

"It seems that this old man in Sichuan, who came so far away, came here to steal his teacher?"

At the other end of the front hall, a middle-aged man in a robe spoke coldly.Liu Mei saw where he was standing, and knew that he was a master from the Sanhe Hall in the south.They had just discussed how powerful the Sanhe Hall was, and now the head master of the Sanhe Hall began to insult Wei Laosan.

"What are you talking about..." Wei Laosan stared at the other party.

"Look, the clothes are already so shabby, how many decent precious ingredients have been handled? How can I deal with them? By the way, which kitchen is next to the 'Nine Big Bowls', someone in Zhou should remind me , every family and sect has its own secrets, don’t let this shameless person steal it.”

This Master Zhou of the Sanhe Hall was dressed in brocade clothes. If he hadn't been standing here, he would have been regarded as a wealthy gentry.Compared with Wei Laosan, this appearance is indeed quite different.

"Master Zhou, thank you for reminding me!" A soft and clear voice sounded in the front hall, "Our Hongshun Building is right next to the 'Nine Big Bowls'."

It was Liu Mei who spoke, and she tried her best to lower her voice so that others would not hear her accent.Fortunately, she looks young, and it is possible for young people to have sharper voices.

Just when others thought that "Hongshun Tower" would also sneer at them together, Liu Mei said coldly: "It's just that I don't know if Master Zhou has heard a sentence, '30 years in Hedong, 30 years in Hexi' -"

"Lower your figure, ask for advice with an open mind, learn from others' strengths, and make up for your own weaknesses, is the way to make progress in the long run. Blindly arrogant, unable to see the merits of others, unwilling to discuss with others and inspire each other... Humph , Sooner or later, everyone will disappear."

Liu Mei's words are not aimless, after all, in her time and space in later generations, Sichuan cuisine has long been a mess, and she has never heard of a time-honored Huaiyang cuisine restaurant called "Sanheguan".

Liu Mei opened his mouth to help Wei Laosan, but Wei Laosan blushed with excitement and praised Liu Mei, "This little brother is young and promising, with such a good-looking appearance, his craftsmanship must not be bad."

Liu Mei had gone through Lin Xiaohong's disguise earlier, and had done a man's hairstyle, revealing her entire clear and handsome face without any cover.In addition, the front hall is brightly lit, and dozens of crystal clear fluorites are hung on the ceiling. The light is soft, and the pretty face of Liu Mei is reflected like a beautiful flower nephrite.

Wei Lao San stared blankly, originally wanted to reach out to pat Liu Mei's shoulder, but finally withdrew his outstretched hand.

"I'm afraid Mr. Bai is crazy, or there is no one in Beijing, and he sent these young boys to fight me." He turned his face, looking at the chefs of Shandong Simeiju and Guangzhou Yangquan Restaurant.

"Master Zhou, what you said is wrong. The new rule mentioned above is that those who have been defeated in the previous rounds can taste the dishes made by other families-as the chef, the dishes we make are for others Taste it. I would like to ask Master Zhou, how can the word 'stealing a teacher' be related?"

It was Xie Xiaochuan who opened his mouth to refute.

He went back and said only the new rules set by the judges.How dare master Zhou dare to refute now?

The steward asked loudly: "In this way, do you have no doubts about the new rules?"

No one dares to have doubts.

"So please!" The steward was straightforward, and invited the group into the flower hall behind him.

As soon as they entered the flower hall, everyone's eyes were attracted by the twenty cold dishes placed on the big table in the middle of the flower hall.

Only Liu Mei raised her head, looking at the distant sapphire blue figure on the first seat in the flower hall, slightly startled.

The author has something to say: ①Nine big bowls refer to the important dishes of Sichuan cuisine in the early Qing Dynasty. Sand pork, stewed elbow...all of them are tough dishes.