Siheyuan: A Cook in the 60s

Many people don’t understand what level a palace dish is at.

Let’s put it this way, in most eras, imperial court cuisine can be regarded as the pinnacle of the era.

Ancient chefs did not have as many seasonings as modern ones. All they could do was to extract the ultimate freshness from the ingredients. This was especially true for imperial court cuisine, which was so extravagant that ordinary people could hardly imagine it.

Tan cuisine has always been based on roasting, braising, stewing, steaming, grilling, frying, roasting, and making soups, but there are very few stir-fry dishes, and the cuisine does not emphasize techniques such as shaking or flipping the spoon.

Take this small bowl of shark fin in my hand for example.

The processing time takes three days.

"In the past, there was a condition for eating Tan's cuisine, that is, the host of the Tan family must be invited as well. It is said that whenever the Tan family hosted three tables, no matter whether the diners knew the Tan family or not, an extra seat would be reserved for the host of the Tan family, and the host of the Tan family would always come to taste a few bites. There is also an unwritten rule for eating Tan's cuisine, that is, no matter how powerful the diners were, they had to go to the Tan family to eat Tan's cuisine. Many celebrities had invited guests in the capital, hoping that the chef of the Tan family could come to the "outside meeting", but they were always rejected."

"Don't waste time on that. Eat quickly. It tastes delicious." Cao Wei urged.

"Eat, eat, eat! You're more anxious than I am." Lou Xiao'e picked up the spoon and put it into her mouth. As soon as it entered her mouth, her eyes lit up: "The juice is thick, the taste is rich, and it tastes soft, smooth and delicious. It must have taken a lot of effort!"

"It's delicious!" Qin Jingru nodded repeatedly: "Brother Wei, I want to eat what you cook, too."

Cao Wei rolled his eyes and said, "This matter will take three days."

"So long?!" Even Qin Huairu, who was eating silently, was shocked.

"Tan's cuisine is like this. Most of them are slow and meticulous. Take shark fin for example. There are more than a dozen ways to cook it."

"Hey, you have to be a foodie." Sha Zhu walked in wearing a chef's uniform and hat, pushing a small cart: "Come, serve the dishes to you. Lao Cao, don't pick on me. I asked a few days ago, and we don't have "yellow meat wings" there, so we can't make this braised dish. This one is not bad either."

Among all shark fin dishes, the best is "yellow braised shark fin". This dish uses precious yellow meat shark fin (i.e. Luzon yellow) to make it. It is important to eat the whole shark fin, and a shark fin must be braised on the fire for several hours. Tanfu shark fin dish is golden and shiny, rich and smooth, rich but not greasy, mellow and delicious, with a long aftertaste. For a dish like this, it must be paired with top-quality ingredients.

"This meal of yours makes my heart tremble." Cao Wei teased, "It's a lot of money, isn't it?"

"Well, actually, it's not expensive." Sha Zhu said as he served the dishes, "For this matter, I went to Tianjin myself. There are quite a lot of seafood there."

Actually, Sha Zhu has wanted to cook "Tan family cuisine" for a long time.

His ancestral cuisine was not the Tan family cuisine. It was his father who taught him how to make Tan family cuisine. As for how he learned it, Lou Xiaoe didn't say. Tan family? There were not many people in the Tan family a long time ago, so no one cared. In the past, he had hardly done it because of the environment. Since he joined the Samadhi Tower, he had the materials, and Cao Wei allowed him to do it.

In fact, he has been busy with the "Tan Family Cuisine" business over the years.

These seafood products were expensive in ancient times. Nowadays, there are more fishermen going out to sea, and various technologies are being introduced, so the prices are naturally lower. In fact, for people living by the sea, these things have long been boring.

The meal was a great pleasure for both the host and the guests.

Cao Wei wiped his mouth and said with emotion: "Every restaurant has its own specialties. It is not easy to make dishes that are fresh and fragrant without being greasy."

At Chinese banquets, every dish is carefully prepared.

Most dishes that can be served on the table are a combination of meat and vegetables.

I love to eat big fish and meat, but the whole banquet cannot be all fish and meat, there must be green vegetables to complement it. If it is all meat, you will feel sick after eating too much. How to match it is a test of the chef's level.

Especially for the Tan family dishes, the soup is boiled to such a rich level that if you are not careful, you will eat too much and it will be too greasy to eat. It is said that the real thick soup of bird's nest, abalone and shark's fin is considered a hero if you can drink two bowls.

The fact that Tan’s cuisine can always make diners feel fresh, fragrant and not greasy at all during a banquet is quite remarkable in itself.

After finishing their meal, several women ran around chattering and looking around.

Cao Wei, on the other hand, started talking to Sha Zhu: "How are you? Are you busy?"

"I am very busy, you know what, business is good. I am okay, but I only take care of things during banquets. On weekdays, it is Erzhu who does the work."

Erzhu, the fourth apprentice of Cao Wei, ended up working with Shazhu.

Generally speaking, when they are young, young chefs will be placed under the tutelage of their senior or junior brothers in the same school, or other peers to learn skills. When they grow up and return to the family, the elders in the family will teach them some special dishes of the family, which can be regarded as secrets. However, Cao Wei has a lot of skills, and the two pillars are not willing to follow the silly pillar.

Later, Sha Zhu had no choice but to take out the legendary Tan family cuisine.

You know what, He Daqing is a capable person. He has basically learned 99% of the dishes of the Tan family. Not to mention the taste, the order of serving and the number of dishes are all arranged clearly. What is this called? This is called mastering the whole. In addition, Sha Zhu has been learning for many years and has gone further and further on this road. Cao Wei can taste that Sha Zhu's level is not low.

In this forty-nine city, it is already considered one of the most famous ones.

"In the future, will it be mainly Sichuan cuisine or Tan's cuisine? Your teacher's side?"

"Hi, the teacher is with a senior brother. Oh, by the way, Senior Brother Li said that he wants to join our Samadhi Building and will come to see you in a few days."

"Hmm? Didn't he go to Jincheng?"

"I don't know. I heard that life is not easy."

"Okay, what about you? Can you handle this situation? Don't overwork yourself."

Tan’s cuisine is indeed exquisite, but oftentimes, a single dish takes days to prepare. Some dishes are so greasy that you have to wait for them to finish cooking.

"Hey, I won't eat those boring dishes." Sha Zhu laughed, "My wife did the math for me, and she told me that those dishes are delicious, but just so-so. How much do I earn a month now, minus the labor cost? If I have to work so hard, I have to add my salary. Guess what will happen if I add that up?"