Here Comes The Lady Chef Chapter 8
"En." Wen Shouzhen had not recovered from his shock, and absentmindedly agreed.
When he regained his senses, all he saw was a furry of chopsticks. And the duck that was in the claypot had vanished.
Who can he blame? With an "En" sound, he acknowledged that Wen Rou is right, and like a pack of starving beggars, the extended family members immediately polished off the entire duck.
Wen Ting looked at Wen Shouzhen's facial expression, and he calmed down. Before Wen Shouzhen could say a word, he had already grabbed hold of a big slice of the duck breast. Before long, his mouth was filled with the juicy duck fat while he asked, "Father, little sister is right?"
"En" Wen Shouzhen replied was another 'En'.
At this time, what could he say?
This must be a coincident!
He must have leaked the name of the dish "8 Treasure duck"! That is why Wen Rou could tell the ingredients used and the cooking methods! That little girl must have memorised the recipe from his cookbook!
"Hey, hey! Eat slowly. Do not s.n.a.t.c.h! This duck leg is mine! Little sister, this is yours!" Wen Ting s.n.a.t.c.hed a duck leg from Wen Shoucai and immediately gave it to Wen Rou.
"Brother, you eat first! There are still 2 more challenges. Once I finished guessing them, I will eat!" Wen Rou smiled, and prepare to guess the second ingredient.
At this time, everyone excitedly turned silent and watched her.
Wen Shouzhen very carefully opened the lid. Again, there was only a very tiny gap. But this time, the gap is even smaller, and is nothing more than a vertical line.
"Father, you are a sore loser!" Wen Ting was very unhappy with his father's behaviour.
"3rd brother, you are cheating!" Wen Shoucai also declared indignantly. He took his pair of chopsticks and beat it against the bowl in protest.
"Go ahead and guess!" Wen Shouzhen ignored the two men, and asked Wen Rou to guess. In his heart, he was conflicted. On one hand, he hoped that his daughter could guess correctly. On the other hand, he was afraid that his daughter could guess correctly.
Wen Rou just sniffed and then her eyes lit up.
"It is tofu (bean curd)!"
Wen Shouzhen eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What did you say?"
This dish is a Szechuan speciality. In Xianyang, this dish is not available. I had learnt how to cook this dish from my Shifu, and had cooked it a few times. Today, when I cooked this dish, I could only try to recall the memories of the past. In this dish, the tofu has been enveloped and covered by the smell of the sauce and the meat. So how did she tell that this is a tofu dish? Wen Shouzhen could not help but be astounded.
Everyone who saw Wen Shouzhen's face could tell that Rou Er had definitely hit the nail on the head!
Once the cover was lifted, the truth became clear for all to see.
As what Wen Rou had said, this is indeed a tofu dish. The plate of brightly coloured Mapo Tofu was hot, and steam can be seen rising from the dish. In addition, a thick aroma that whispered of spicy and tangy taste immediately enraptured all who smelled it.
Wen Ting was so happy that his sister had guessed right – he was all smiles.
Wen Xin did not ask Wen Shouzhen for permission to eat, and immediately used a spoon to scoop up a piece of tofu and placed it into her mouth. "It is aweeesooomeee!" She shouted, and looked as if she was on cloud nine as she eats.
"It is acceptable." Wen Shoucai also tasted a mouthful, but he immediately frown. He criticised, "3rd brother, your 2nd brother is not trying to criticise you. But your skills in cooking had regressed. This tofu sauce taste is very thick! Although it is not up to your usual standards, but it could be considered quite good!" Despite what he said, he did not stop eating at all.
"En, this tofu is really good, but the taste is really thick." Wen Ting nodded his head in agreement. Suddenly he thought of something and looked at his father in suspicion. "Father, you did this on purpose?"
Immediately Wen Shouzhen understood. He pointed at Wen Shouzhen and seemed to be angered at the latter's underhand tricks, "3rd brother, you are too cunning!"
"I do not have the time or skills to take of you two. Go away!" Wen Shenzhen waved his hands as if he was trying to swat a fly.
"Rou Er, you try and tell me what you have tasted."
Everyone on the dining table did not have any intention to stop eating. Wen Rou also picked up a spoon and helped herself.
In their past life, Wen Shouzhen had become an imperial chef, and the Wen family moved to the capital. Wen Rou had the opportunity to try all kinds of cuisines from all over China. This dish of Mapo Tofu is one of the finest dishes she ever had the pleasure to taste. Although, she had only tried it once, but the 5 tastes combined into one is truly superb, and she still remember that dish until today.
"Is it tasty? If you could not tell how I cooked it, then you eat more." Wen Shouzhen was grinning as he saw Wen Rou who seem to be intoxicated by the taste of the dish.
"The red colour of the chilli, the white colour of the tofu, and the green colour of the young garlic leaves! This combination of colours really whets the appet.i.te! Father, this dish is really incredible in terms of colour [1]!" Wen Rou licked the spoon as she replied.
"Father, the taste of the tofu and the meat are in perfect harmony!"
"Although the smell is a bit thick, the taste is warm. There are minced pork, garlic, bean curd, red chilli, sweet sauce, and then there is the soul of this dish, black bean paste! When you first tried it, the tongue is totally encapsulated by the spiciness, and it is really exciting!" Wen Rou continued as she licked her lips.
"Continue!" Wen Shouzhen eyes gleamed.
"After cooking the soup, then the tofu is added to the soup. Season with wine and seasonings, and cooked under a small fire. Finally, add the leaves of the garlic as garnish. The flavour of the spice is played out most vividly, father, the third criteria is 'fragrant'!"
"Rou Er!" The extended family members love to eat while listening to Wen Rou's explanation. Somehow, when you hear what she was saying, it enhanced the flavour of the food, and made eating it more enjoyable. While she was talking, the entire family except for her and her father had repeatedly grabbed the tofu. All around her, you could hear the slurping noise as they devoured the dish, and the fragrance of the Mapo tofu.
"After adding some flour to thicken the flavour of the soup, you added some oil to the wok, and immediately turned the fire to high. Then you fried all the ingredients and the heat to lock in the flavour of the sauce. Father, this is what you mean by the term, 'one pot to lock the freshness [3]'" after saying this, Wen Rou took the opportunity to grab another spoonful of the tofu.
Wen Shouzhen could not do anything but to stand there gasping in amazement. But he was secretly pleased. This little girl could taste the finest detail of the food.
"Finally, you added a lot of pepper! This is the most amazing taste, 'Ma La [3]'!" When Wen Rou said this, the spoon in her hands suddenly stopped moving.
"Sister, what happened?" Wen Ting was quick to notice the change in his sister's behaviour and immediately enquired. He was afraid of losing this bet.
"Father, why did I felt that the 'Ma La' taste is insufficient? It was as if it lacked some kick!" Wen Rou asked her father.
"Ah! This is a Szechuan cuisine, if you want the authenticate taste of 'Ma La', you need to use the Szechuan peppers to get this taste!" Wen Shouzhen replied. This girl is amazing! She could tell that I have used local peppers instead of Szechuan peppers!
"Hubby, is Rou Er correct?" Zhou Shi asked.
Every sentence that Wen Rou said seemed to make sense. It looked as if she had everything well in hand. If not, how could she describe everything in such detail?
Wen Shouzhen could only nod his head as he replied, "En."
But this time, the 'En' sound he made is one of happiness instead of the 'En' sound he made in conceding his defeat.
Wen Shoucai did not stop eating as he placed spoonfuls after spoonfuls of Tofu into his mouth. At the same time, he could not help but sigh in regret, "That was a winner! If I were permitted to place a bet just now, I would have won 10 copper coins! But eldest brother forbid me from betting! What a killjoy!"
When he lifted his spoon to try to get another serving of tofu, he heard a 'dang dang' sound.
Wen Shoucai looked up and discovered to his surprise that the entire big plate of tofu had been totally polished off by his extended family members. Even the gravy was gone!
Everyone saw the look of surprise and astonishment on Wen Shoucai's face and they immediately snickered.
"2nd uncle, you ate the most! Why not eat the plate as well?" Wen Ting teased him.
"Rou Er, this is the last dish. Are you ready?" Wen Shouzhen ignored the rest of them. But this time, his facial expression is a bit strange, and he actually look sly. He face also revealed that he looked forward to testing Wen Rou.
Wen Rou had successfully guessed the two dishes. She was just one step away from victory.
"Father, let's begin!" Wen Rou was quietly confident. It was as if she was a pool of calm water, and was unaffected by the ripples on the water surface.
"This time I will increase the difficulty!" Wen Shouzhen did not open the lid of the 3rd dish, and kept everyone in suspense [4].
"What did you mean by this?" Wen Ting immediately bit the hook, and become extremely anxious. His fists were tightly clutched, and if Wen Shouzhen is not his father, he would have hit the latter.
"Just now, we opened the lid of the dish to create a small gap, and placed the dish in front of Rou Er for her to smell. It is possible that she had secretly seen the contents through the gap. Therefore, this time I will stand in front of the door, and also open a small gap in the lid. Shi Tou will use a fan to fan the smell of the dish toward Wen Rou. Wen Rou will smell the aroma of the dish and guess what dish it is." n.o.body knew how Wen Shouzhen suddenly thought of this method.
"This is too much! The door is so far away from the dining table. In addition, you only opened a small gap. Even if you catch a whiff of the food, how could you guess what it is?" Zhou Shi also expressed her dissatisfaction with her hubby.
"3rd brother, if you gamble and lost, you should accept the outcome. n.o.body is as shameless as you, and cheats in such a clear manner. I do not agree with your suggestion!" At this time, Wen Shoucai seemed to be possessed by the spirit of Bao Qingtian [5].
"2nd brother, n.o.body cares if you agree or not!" Wen Shouzhen immediately turned towards his daughter, Wen Rou: "Will you guess or will you give up?"
"Father, let's begin!" Wen Rou just smiled confidently. Seeing the confident smile on his daughter's face, Wen Shouzhen could not make heads or tails of it.
From where did this girl get her confidence from? Did she really have immeasurable talents?
Wen Shouzhen was determined to find out. He carried the 3rd dish and stood outside of the door, and lifted the lid to open a tiny gap.
Fang Dashi frowned. This gap is so small, how do we fan it?
"Use more strength, Brother Shi Tou!" Wen Ting shouted.
With a "Hehe" smile on his face, Fang Dashi immediately fanned with all his might, and managed to create a fierce wind.
"Brother Shi Tou, you are fanning towards the wrong direction! All the smell of the food are fanned out of the door!"
Fang Dashi turned beet red, and repositioned his body on the other side of the dish. Then he continued to fan hard.
Wen Rou closed her eyes, and slowly, her nose begin to twitch.
Wen Ting also mimicked his sister, and closed his eyes, stretch out his neck, and fantically breath in and as he tried to catch hold of any odour. But try as he might, he could not smell anything. He gave up almost immediately.
"Yi? What smell is this? Why does it stink? It smells horrible?" Wen Rou suddenly smelled something pungent and disgusting, and was about to open her eyes, when she heard Wen Ting roaring in laughter.
"2nd uncle, please do not help to blow the wind towards Rou Er. You had not rinsed your mouth for several days, and your bad breathe is too overwhelming!"
Wen Shoucai immediately turned red from embarra.s.sment, and immediately returned to his seat.
Almost everyone also tried to see if they could smell anything. But all they could feel was the winter chill, and did not even catch a whiff of anything else.
This dish probably had a very mild smell.
After a while, a loud 'Achoo!" rang out. w.a.n.g Shi could not stand the chill of the winter winds, which was fanned into the room by Fang Dashi, and immediately sneezed.
Wen Xin and Zhou Shi also shivered.
Seeing this, Fang Dashi immediately stopped fanning.
"Rou Er, you can now make your guess." Wen Shouzhen said with a smug look on his face.
"Father, this is a bowl of soul, and is made using fish meat and vegetables." Wen Rou smiled as she glanced at Wen Shouzhen. Her face was full of confidence.
"Rou Er!" Wen Shouzhen suddenly beamed in delight, and open the lid of the pot in his hands.
The contents of the pot revealed the soup that was held within.
There were green vegetables in the soup, as well as white colour round b.a.l.l.s that resemble Tang Yuan [6]. But these round b.a.l.l.s were not made using glutinous rice flour, and are smooth and moist. There is a nice fragrance that seemed to drift upwards from the dish, and it hinted of the sweetness of this dish, whetting the appet.i.te.
Everyone was surprised.
A few seconds later, the lid of the pot holding the soup was covered by white coloured spoons.
Then a sound of 'ping ping, pang pang' rang out, follow up by loud slurping noise.
"Rou Er, tell me how did I cook this dish." Wen Shouzhen was too lazy to see the scene of his family eating.
"Father, first you used a spoon to scoop out a large fish meat into fish b.a.l.l.s, and cut the Chinese cabbage into minced vegetables. Then you added ginger, green onions and a small amount of oil and fried them. These fried ingredients are added to a broth, and boiled. After the soup is cooked, you add the fish ball. Once the fish b.a.l.l.s are cooked, it will float up. At this time you add the minced Chinese cabbage and a pinch of salt. This creates a perfect harmony between the fish and the Chinese cabbage!"
"Father, am I right?" Wen Rou was enjoying a bowl of fish soup as she asked her father.
"Shifu, Rou Er is simply incredible! She had managed to describe perfectly the steps that you took to create this new dish!" Fang Dashi was dumbfound by Wen Rou's detailed description, and immediately praised her.
"Ai ya ya! It is my good fortune to have a daughter who is also a rare genius in cooking!" Wen Shouzhen was very happy as he clapped his hands in delight. His was all smiles and could not stop grinning in happiness.
"Hehehe, good little sister!" Wen Ting immediately ran up to Wen Rou and immediately filled her bowl with soup, vegetables and fish. He was so happy and wanted to thank her.
Wen Rou smiled as she saw Wen Ting busied himself to serve her. She immediately looked at her father and asked, "Father, you will honour the agreement, right?"
"Of course! I, Wen Shouzhen is a man of my word. From now on, Rou Er will learn cooking skills from me, and 3 days from now, she will a.s.sist me in the Drunken Immortal Restaurant! As for Ting Er, you just focus on your studies! Hahahaha!"
Notes:
[1] In ancient China, all food is judge by 5 criteria as follows:色，香，味，形，意
Colour色- refers to the look of the dish. The dish should look appetising. This is the first impression of the dish. This is why many top grade Chinese restaurants added elaborated sculptures to their food to improve the colour of the dish.
Smell香- refers to the smell of the dish. The dish should smell good. If the food smells bad, many people could not stand it, and will not eat it. This is the second impression of the dish.
Taste味- refers to the taste of the dish. The dish should taste wonderful.
Shape形- refers to the size and shape of the dish. The shape of the food should be in bite size portions and easy to eat. This is why many of the Chinese cuisine comprises of bite size food, and seldom do you need to cut them.
Meaning意- refers to what the dish symbolised. Unlike many other cultures, Chinese food are made more enjoyable and popular when there are meaning attached to the food. For example, during the Chinese New Year, most of the waiters or waitress in China would say "Gong Xi Fa Cai, Nian Nian You Yu" while serving fish dishes. Gong Xi Fa Cai is a Chinese greeting that means "may good fortune comes your way." Nian Nian You Yu, means "may you have prosperity in this coming New Year." The words Yu sounds like fish in Chinese, and gave meaning to the fish dish.
It is also why some chef in China added some tofu and green vegetable into a soup and call it 'Green Dragon White Tiger soup' mentioned in Kitchen Xiuzhen novel. Or why they like to call chicken feet 'Phoenix claws' when you have dim sum. All these are attempts to add meaning to a dish.
When Wen Rou is talking about the colour, smell, taste etc, these are all accordingly to the 5 criteria above. Of course these criteria had since been extended in modern cooking. Some versions had 8 criteria. Please do not ask me about these.