Quick Transmigration: The Supporting Female Lead Stays Out of It - Chapter 27: Chef 26

When Lin Dan arrived, Chef Qiu was standing by the back door, looking out, and upon seeing the carriage, immediately came over, “Master, be careful when you get out of the carriage, don’t jump, don’t jump, I’ll help you.”

It’s a pity that he was still too slow; Lin Dan had already lifted the curtain, jumped out nimbly, and strode into the door, “I heard that Yan Family Restaurant has released another signature dish called Deconstructed Braised Fish Head?”

“That’s right, it’s made with boneless silver carp heads, and it has received good reviews from diners as soon as it was launched. I originally wanted to ask a friend to help me pack a portion and bring it out, but Yan Family Restaurant refused to sell it, saying that if you want to eat it, you can only go to the restaurant and eat it; they don’t do takeout. This is to prevent me from Qiao Garden Restaurant. Master, I heard that the fish head has no bones at all, and after being cooked, it is tender and smooth, and the taste is very wonderful. How do you think they did it? What kind of knife skills can remove all the bones from the fish head? It’s too exquisite,” Chef Qiu exclaimed.

“There’s nothing exquisite about it,” Lin Dan simply explained, “There are two methods for removing fish bones, one is raw deconstruction, and the other is cooked deconstruction. The fish head has little meat and many bones, which seems impossible to disassemble, but in fact, putting it in water and cooking it until the bones and meat separate can make it easy to deconstruct.”

With Lin Dan saying this, the problem that had perplexed Chef Qiu for a day and a night was immediately solved. In terms of cooking, he had never seen anyone more knowledgeable and clever than Lin Dan. Previously, Yan Family Restaurant had launched three new dishes, one was Squirrel Mandarin Fish, the second was Braised Large Sea Cucumber with Scallions, and the third was Crab Roe Lion’s Head. The Squirrel Mandarin Fish originally sold very well, snatching all of Qiao Garden Restaurant’s regular customers, almost causing Chef Qiu to close down his business. But since Lin Dan launched the Golden Lion Fish, the regular customers all came back, waiting eagerly for Lin Dan to come to the shop to teach them every afternoon, so they could eat a few bites of the dishes she made at a bargain.

In order to help Qiao Garden Restaurant, Lin Dan would make five tables of dishes every day, but with only these five tables of dishes, she managed to retain the most discerning gourmets in the capital. Nowadays, even if these people were to starve to death, they wouldn’t want to eat at other restaurants, and just sat in the shop waiting.

Seeing that Squirrel Mandarin Fish couldn’t withstand the banner of Yan Family Restaurant, that Chef Yan also developed a new dish called Braised Large Sea Cucumber with Scallions. The whole sea cucumber was simmered in a thick sauce over low heat, with a soft and waxy texture, yet also with a few strands of chewiness, and the taste was very unique.

Lin Dan seemed to be competing with the other side and also made a dish the next day, called Shrimp Paste Stuffed Large Sea Cucumber. The craftsmanship, and the exquisite seasoning, were far superior to the Braised Large Sea Cucumber with Scallions. “Stuffed” is a special way of cooking ingredients, stuffing, or clamping, or filling another ingredient to make a dish. This method is called “stuffed.” Common stuffed dishes include stuffed tofu, stuffed eggplant, stuffed bitter melon, and so on, but Chef Qiu had never seen stuffed sea cucumber before.

The sauce in the so-called “sauce stuffing” does not refer to the sauce, but shrimp paste. Take a certain amount of shrimp roe, stir-fry it, then mix it with soy sauce, cooking wine, fine salt, and other seasonings, seal it in a jar, and wait for it to ferment. After complete fermentation, knead it into long strips, stuff it into the belly of the sea cucumber, first dip it in milk soup, then dip it in red soup to collect the juice over high heat and simmer over low heat, so that the salty and fresh flavor of the shrimp paste is completely integrated into the sea cucumber, and this is the dish. After serving it to the guests, the waiter also had to take a small knife and cut the sea cucumber into small sections, about an inch long, for the guests to share.

The sea cucumber, simmered until it was well-cooked, was wrapped with smooth and tender, yet richly flavored shrimp roe. It was fresh and sweet when it entered the mouth, and fragrant with saltiness, leaving an endless aftertaste. The stuffing of the sauce can also be adjusted according to the guest’s request, replacing it with more chewy mullet roe, or directly using fresh fish roe, both of which are possible. With this dish alone, just by slightly changing the cooking method and the filling, it could produce three or even more flavors. How could the guests not be satisfied? Therefore, the Braised Large Sea Cucumber with Scallions also failed to make much of a splash, and was completely overshadowed by Qiao Garden Restaurant’s Shrimp Paste Stuffed Large Sea Cucumber on the second day of its launch.

Chef Yan was, after all, an imperial chef, and she would not easily admit defeat, so half a month later, she launched a new dish called Crab Roe Lion’s Head, which was made with chopped pork and crab roe, with a tender and juicy texture, and it was very delicious. Seeing that Yan Family Restaurant’s business was picking up again with this dish, Lin Dan also launched a new dish called Rich Meatballs. The name sounded very mysterious, but in fact, it was also made with chopped pork, but the flavor was even fresher, more tender, and juicier than the Crab Roe Lion’s Head.

She soaked the chopped pork in green onion and ginger water. This green onion and ginger water must be squeezed from the flesh of the old ginger with bright yellow flesh and the green onions with beards, otherwise the taste would not be strong enough to mask the fishy smell of the pork. In order to make the meatballs more tender, she also mixed the minced fish paste in. In this way, the stickiness could be increased, making them less likely to deform, and finally, she broke the pig bones, took out the bone marrow, and blended it into the minced meat to make them fully integrated, then kneaded them into shape. After three procedures, the meatballs were already extremely fragrant, delicious, and juicy. They could be fried or braised in red sauce, or boiled in clear broth, and the texture would be so soft and tender, that every bite felt as if you were biting into solidified nectar, with your mouth full of rich meat juice.

And so, the diners who had finally returned to Yan Family Restaurant flocked to Qiao Garden Restaurant again, it was truly a dramatic rise and fall, and the business was bleak.

After two rounds of competition, the diners could also see some clues. Seeing that Chef Yan had launched a new dish called Deconstructed Braised Fish Head, they came to Qiao Garden Restaurant after tasting it, and the purpose was self-evident. The waiting time was inevitably boring, so the old shopkeeper invited some street performers to tell stories in the hall, and served melon seeds and fresh fruit, treating the guests very well.

Lin Dan only made five tables of dishes in Qiao Garden Restaurant every day, so if they didn’t come and occupy a spot early, they wouldn’t know when they could eat her cooking. For gourmets with particularly picky mouths, this was even more difficult than being tortured. Seeing that it was almost time for the time of day called Wei, the Prince of Cheng took the lead in urging, “Shopkeeper, hasn’t that chef arrived yet? Look at Yan Family Restaurant, they’ve already launched this Deconstructed Braised Fish Head for a whole day, it’s time for her to reveal her signature dish, right?”

“That’s right, that’s right, I waited from last night to this afternoon, my stomach is all deflated,” the Prince of Gong unabashedly patted his stomach, which made everyone laugh.

Although the new dishes of Yan Family Restaurant were delicious, they had become the barometer of Qiao Garden Restaurant, and when they pointed out the direction there, the diners would all go to Qiao Garden Restaurant, which was a conditioned reflex formed after two consecutive months of competition.

Although Chef Yan was an imperial chef, and favored by the Emperor, she was, after all, just an imperial chef, whose status was lower than that of these princes, dukes, and first-rank officials by who-knows-how-many levels. The fact that they came to your restaurant to eat was a show of respect, and there was no reason to go out of their way to curry favor with you. It was still the same saying—delicious is delicious, and slightly inferior is slightly inferior; the diners’ stomachs couldn’t be fooled.

As soon as Lin Dan entered the kitchen, to explain the method of deconstructing the braised fish head to Chef Qiu, the old shopkeeper rushed in in a hurry, and respectfully said, “Chef Lin, the guests are all waiting anxiously, will you make a new dish today?”

“Of course, I’ll make a new dish,” Lin Dan slowly rolled up her sleeves, “It was agreed at the beginning that Yan Family Restaurant would launch a dish, and I would teach you a dish here. Unless Yan Family Restaurant closes down, this will always be the case.”

You’re trying to bring down Yan Family Restaurant! Chef Qiu lowered his head and mourned for the Yan family, but then immediately raised his head and looked at the master, his eyes shining.

The old shopkeeper was completely relieved and quickly ran out to tell the good news to the waiting diners.

Lin Dan washed her hands, selected a four-jin sea bass, knocked it unconscious and placed it on the chopping board, and said slowly, “I said earlier that there are two methods for deconstructing fish bones, one is cooked deconstruction, and the other is raw deconstruction. The dish I’m teaching you today is called the Immortal Boneless Fish, which is also boneless. It combines the raw deconstruction method with the cooked deconstruction method. Watch carefully.” With that, she cut from the fish’s spine, completely severing the spine and ribs, while the meat of the fish’s belly was still connected, and it separated into beautiful butterfly wings, then pressed the fish tail and removed the whole fish spine in the direction of the fish head, and then sliced two thin slices to separate the ribs.

The sea bass had few bones to begin with, with only one spine and two rows of ribs. Lin Dan cut four times, and all the bones were gone. Below the head and above the tail, it was all whole meat.

“This is the raw deconstruction method; the knife skills emphasize cleanliness and thinness.” Lin Dan put the two slices of fish meat together and bundled them with green onion leaves. In this way, it looked like a whole fish again, and this prevented the fish meat from scattering during the process of boiling in the soup.

“This dish absorbs the techniques of Huaiyang cuisine and can be braised with various flavors.” Lin Dan put the boneless fish in the pot to cook and continued, “If you put it in milk soup, it can be braised with three fresh flavors; if you put it in red soup, it can be braised with red braised flavor; if you put it in spicy soup, it can be braised with spicy and sour flavor. It all depends on the customer’s request. With different people, you can braise different flavors, and the flavors are rich; this is the biggest characteristic of the Immortal Boneless Fish.”

Chef Qiu took notes as he listened, seeing Lin Dan’s exquisite and unparalleled techniques in his eyes, and the vivid explanations of Lin Dan in his ears, at which moment he was completely captivated, and couldn’t help but sigh, “Master, how do you know so much? My father and my grandfather were old imperial chefs in the palace, but it seems that they don’t know as much as you do.”

Lin Dan chuckled softly: “If we follow the established system, cuisine can be divided into court cuisine, official cuisine, and folk cuisine. But do you know? In this world, there was originally no court cuisine or official cuisine; both of these evolved from folk cuisine. True deliciousness all comes from the folk. If you eat more, see more, and do more, naturally you will understand more. To hone my culinary skills, I would work as a traveling chef in every place I went, cooking banquet feasts for those hosting weddings and funerals. Folk banquets are diverse, including Eight Great Dishes, Nine Great Dishes, Thirteen Masterpieces, and even a banquet with fifty-two dishes, which is not inferior to a court banquet. Think about it, fifty-two dishes, with no repetitions, how much effort does that take? And because of weddings and funerals, it must be grand and solemn, and the guests’ appetites cannot be diminished, so how much knowledge is there? If you thoroughly study all this effort and knowledge, your culinary skills will naturally be learned.”

Chef Qiu was silent for a long time, and only when the Immortal Boneless Fish came out of the pot did he sincerely say: “Master, compared to you, that Yan Langqing is really far, far behind!”

Lin Dan shook her head and chuckled, but did not respond, and had the waiter serve the dish. Then, she immediately selected another sea bass and stunned it, then began removing the bones.

TL notes: These dishes really make me want to eat fish, too bad I can’t eat fish until I get better. Time to watch some mukbang I guess hehe.