Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 317 - 294: Zhou Yu’s Taste Test, Lion’s Head Meatballs and Wen Si Tofu
Zhou Yu walked into the kitchen, "Boss Fang, is there a specific dish for the test?"
Fang Zhizhong turned his head, and Hou Yao nodded, stepping forward to communicate with Zhou Yu.
"Our idea is to have at least two signature dishes, one meat and one vegetarian. Personally, I feel that Lion’s Head Meatball is a must, and you can improvise for the rest."
"Alright." Zhou Yu took off his coat, changed into a clean chef’s uniform, first checking the ingredients in the cold storage, then arranging the seasonings on the countertop into his usual order.
"Alright, bosses, I’ll begin. According to Master Hou’s suggestion, the first dish will be Lion’s Head Meatball."
Chen Mo walked to the front from the back of the crowd, also curious about how this dish is made by a genuine Huaiyang Cuisine chef.
Zhou Yu took out the pork belly from the cold storage, which was chilled but not frozen.
Zhou Yu placed the cleaver flat, slicing along the pig skin, then cut a small opening in the middle of the skin, pulling on the pig skin, and with a flick, the skin was removed.
’Wow! That’s impressive!’
’Why didn’t I think of doing it that way?’
Chen Mo stared with wide eyes, then thought, oh, I have my Black Blade, so it’s fine. All that showy stuff is useless, humph!
One must admit, Zhou Yu’s skills at least appeared very adept, and Hou Yao nodded continuously while watching, occasionally gasping in admiration.
The pork belly was sliced, then cut into strips, then diced, mixed with similarly sized water chestnuts, and seasoned with salt, MSG, chicken essence, pepper, and scallion ginger water.
Zhou Yu started mixing the minced meat, squeezing and throwing it to gain cohesion.
"I see there’s no crab in the cafeteria, so we won’t add crab roe today. In Huaiyang Cuisine, this is known as Clear Stewed Lion’s Head Meatball."
Zhou Yu said calmly.
He heated the pot with water, shaped the minced meat into a ball between his hands, coated it with a layer of starch, and dropped it into boiling water to cook.
’I haven’t cooked seriously for three or four years, my skills are a bit rusty, but this should be enough for these interviewers to taste.’
Zhou Yu thought as he controlled the heat.
After leaving the restaurant’s kitchen to start his own business, his main focus was on management, rarely cooking personally.
Clearly, during the making of the Lion’s Head Meatball, he felt difficulty in getting the meat to the right consistency, requiring additional scallion ginger water to allow the meatball to stabilize.
Once the meatballs were well-formed in the pot, Zhou Yu set a new pot of water to boil.
He added scallions and ginger, then some fine salt scoops, then transferred the Lion’s Head Meatballs.
Not many, only four in total.
While the Lion’s Head Meatballs were being slowly simmered, Zhou Yu didn’t stay idle. The interview boss only specified one dish, leaving another vegetarian dish.
Zhou Yu already knew what he wanted to make.
"For the second dish, I’ll continue with another famous Huaiyang dish, Wen Si Tofu."
For Zhou Yu, who spent over a decade working in restaurant kitchens, he had a deep understanding of Huaiyang Cuisine, which has distinct characteristics and differs greatly from other cuisines.
One is the meticulous selection of ingredients, which is highly valued, though it doesn’t quite reflect in today’s interview setting.
Another is the exquisite mastery of heat, emphasizing the original taste. Salt, sugar, and wine are frequently used for enhancing freshness, with little use of spicy condiments, and the focus is on highlighting the original taste of the ingredients.
Another important trait is the flavor profile that is mild and compatible with both northern and southern tastes. But notably, the knife skills are exceptional, creating visually beautiful dishes.
When it comes to knife skills, nothing showcases this better than Wen Si Tofu.
Zhou Yu took out a piece of silken tofu from the refrigerator, the boxed kind from supermarkets.
This tofu is exceptionally tender, and even experienced cooks struggle to take it out of the box perfectly without breaking it.
A small mistake could ruin its shape.
Zhou Yu sliced a corner of the plastic box with tofu, and slid the knife flat along the corner.
The sharp blade slid along the bottom of the plastic box, flipping it over, presenting a wobbling, intact silken tofu piece on the cutting board.
Zhou Yu’s purpose for this dish was clear enough that even Fang Zhizhong, unfamiliar with cooking, understood its significance.
Chen Mo stood by their side, feeling like "an errand boy at eighteen".
"Old Hou," Chen Mo whispered, "Who is this guy? Starting with a Wen Si Tofu is plain bullying, no?"
Hou Yao suppressed a chuckle.
He knew Chen Mo’s knife skills were poor.
Not really poor, just lacking time to finesse them, having all that’s needed, but far from refined.
Normally slicing vegetables, albeit slower, would be doable, though.
But once technique was involved, Chen Mo fell short.
"Can’t blame him, knife skills are pivotal in Huaiyang Cuisine. I can’t say for other dishes, but doing Wen Si Tofu well can definitely make it a signature dish here in Jingzhou."
Jingzhou people don’t love making soup, but they love drinking it.
In restaurants, simple soups like scrambled napa cabbage or seaweed egg drop soup are often made.
Chen Mo pursed his lips, silently vowing to practice his knife skills starting today!
Zhou Yu squared off the edges of the tofu, turning it into a perfect block, then flat-pushed the cleaver and halved it from the side.
Amazing.
Chen Mo nodded subtly, recognizing the steady direction of the knife and the firm grip.
Unbeknownst to Chen Mo, Zhou Yu was relieved too.
He hadn’t honed his culinary skills in years, worried he might mess up, but realized that once mastered, knife skills became a muscle memory.
Next came slicing into fine strands.
Zhou Yu wetted the cleaver slightly, gently applying the left hand on the tofu block with barely any pressure.
The right hand held the cleaver, keeping it perpendicular to the board.
Tap-tap-tap-tap...
The knife moved vertically up and down, seemingly in the same spot, though the accumulating tofu on the knife’s side showed movement inward.
The silken tofu was being sliced into thin sheets, looking nearly like a mess due to its tenderness, lacking an orderly layering.
The chopping board echoed the knife’s quickening rhythm; Zhou Yu’s hand movements accelerated.
Upon reaching about three centimeters from the end, Zhou Yu discarded some tofu with the knife, rinsed delicately in fresh water to cleanse any remnants, leaving clean tofu strips. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
Then, using the knife vertically, he removed the first few centimeters of the strips.
Extending his left thumb against the knife blade, he resumed his earlier actions.
’These knife skills.’
Even with Chen Mo’s close observation, it seemed chaotic, lacking the precision of cutting vegetables.
As the knife edge moved backward, the cut silken tofu looked more like a mushy mess than deliberate strands.
As before, Zhou Yu segmented the tofu, disposing of the last few centimeters, carefully scooping the cut silken tofu strands into a basin of clear water.
"Phew..." Zhou Yu let out a breath.
Showing this skill, he knew his 28,000 would surely secure a deal!
Regardless of other factors, his competitor was too young to have honed such knife skills!
Zhou Yu worried slightly that the interview officers wouldn’t grasp the depth of these skills.
He pinched a tofu strand from the water and turned to the cafeteria’s master chef, "Do you have string?"
"Engineering string, perhaps?"
Zhou Yu nodded, "Any other string?"
"Only my sewing thread."
"Please, bring both."
The master chef was baffled but complied.
Zhou Yu cut an engineering string and a sewing thread with the cleaver, looking at Fang Zhizhong, "Please take a look."
On the table lay three strings.
One was engineering string, one was the sewing thread.
And...
Another, akin to sewing thread, was...
tofu strand, as fine as the thread!
