Chapter 294: Chapter 190: The Cost Explosion of Yangzhou Fried Rice! A Good Chef Understands How to Tailor Dishes to the Customer! [Seeking Monthly Ticket]_2
Fried rice dishes priced below sixty yuan were typically just Egg Fried Rice or Mixed Fried Rice. Only those priced above sixty yuan, featuring ingredients like Shrimp, Ham, and Sea Scallop, could truly be called Yangzhou Fried Rice.
A standard Yangzhou Fried Rice uses two whole Eggs and four additional yolks, creating delicate egg threads. This particular requirement alone was enough to set many netizens’ imaginations racing.
With such rich ingredients, how delicious would this fried rice be?
"Lin Xu is going to make Yangzhou Fried Rice."
From the audience, Shen Guofu, the ’Gourmet Prince,’ recognized it immediately. This dish was his favorite. He had visited several famous Huaiyang cuisine restaurants in Yanjing.
Savoring a serving of Yangzhou Fried Rice, even one costing several hundred yuan, made life feel complete.
Now, seeing his son-in-law prepare this very dish filled him with anticipation.
Whenever my son-in-law cooks, the results are always spectacular. Now that he has chosen to make Yangzhou Fried Rice, it’s bound to be exceptionally delicious, isn’t it?
In front of the stove, Lin Xu set down the ingredients he had gathered, poured the chicken stock into the wok, and cranked up the heat.
All the supplementary ingredients for Yangzhou Fried Rice had to be blanched and cooked beforehand. This crucial step enhanced the overall flavor of the fried rice and prevented any rawness or off-putting tastes from the individual components.
Ordinarily, plain water would suffice for this step. But Lin Xu opted for a rich chicken stock.
From the consultant seats, Qiu Zhenhua, the foremost authority on this particular dish, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses on his nose and stated earnestly, "Blanching ingredients in chicken stock, especially a rich one, can make them overly greasy. Lin Xu’s choice could easily backfire."
Everyone on the panel, all seasoned experts, recognized this potential issue.
Dai Jianli plucked a cookie from the nearby snack table and, munching on it, remarked, "Too much of a good thing, no need for that... Hey, Boss, these cookies here are pretty good! How about you get me twenty or thirty kilograms of these to take with me when I leave?"
The ’Boss’ he referred to was He Baoqing, the executive chef of Building One. Since the buildings were numbered starting with Building One, everyone called him ’Boss.’
By that logic, Xie Baomin from Building Two should have been called ’Number Two.’ However, no one in the entire Fishing Platform dared to call him that.
"Asking for twenty or thirty kilograms right off the bat, Dai, are you some kind of bandit? I also think he shouldn’t use chicken stock. Fried rice can be greasy enough as it is; blanching with chicken stock will only make it more so."
Song Dahai chimed in, "And don’t forget he also picked lard... Old Xie, isn’t your junior brother’s choice a bit ill-advised here?"
Xie Baomin chuckled. "What do you lot know? My junior brother is tailoring the dish to the diners!"
Tailoring the dish to the diners?
Dai Jianli popped another cookie into his mouth. "Isn’t that usually a derogatory term? Old Xie, you really should try to curb that habit of badmouthing people behind their backs."
Xie Baomin jutted his chin towards the judges’ panel. "What’s your first impression of these judges?"
Why suddenly ask this?
Everyone unanimously turned towards the judges’ seats. Looking them over, not a single judge was particularly thin; in fact, several were clearly overweight.
"Plump!"
"They look like they enjoy their food."
"I bet their ’three highs’ are all up there."
"Probably all have fatty liver disease."
The executive chefs chimed in one after another.
Xie Baomin explained, "It’s almost eleven o’clock, peak time to feel hungry. And these judges, they all look like they appreciate richer, oilier foods. That’s why my junior brother chose the rich chicken stock and lard."
The judges’ table was in a prominent position. Plus, with today’s dual live broadcast, they couldn’t very well be seen snacking to tide themselves over for appearance’s sake, so they had to endure their hunger.
Imagine, at a time like this, a wonderfully aromatic Yangzhou Fried Rice is placed before them... It’s bound to get high scores.
Hearing his explanation, everyone else understood. A true chef, after all, must be flexible, adjusting the flavor and ingredients of a dish according to the diners’ specific needs and preferences.
Guo Weidong, who had been quiet until then, remarked somewhat pensively, "And yet, some chefs out there seem to take pride in defying their customers’ wishes. Particularly in those high-end private kitchens where you can’t make requests or choose your dishes—you eat what they decide to cook. The reputation of genuine chefs is ruined by people like that."
Dai Jianli countered, "I wouldn’t say ruined. They’re just fleecing the rich, not scamming the poor."
He Baoqing listened to their banter, then turned to Xie Baomin. "Your junior brother’s new restaurant won’t be like that, will it?" he asked.
Xie Baomin scoffed. "My junior brother’s restaurant won’t have such poor business. Once it opens, it’ll be absolutely packed every single day, with queues for both lunch and dinner. His customers wouldn’t even give him the chance to pull such pretentious stunts or gimmicks."
In front of the stove, Lin Xu deftly shelled the Large Shrimp, deveined them, and then minced the shrimp meat into roughly five-millimeter pieces. He placed these in a bowl, added a pinch of dry starch, and mixed it through.
The Shrimp needed to be quickly blanched in the chicken stock to remove any seafood odor. To prevent the Shrimp from losing moisture during this quick blanching, they were first coated with a thin layer of dry starch.
Soon, the chicken stock in the wok came to a boil.
Lin Xu added the Jinhua Ham to the wok to begin the blanching process. This was a prime cut of the ham, considered its essence, and so flavorful it could even be eaten raw.
The Ham naturally contained salt. As it cooked, this salt would infuse the chicken stock, eliminating the need to add extra salt when blanching the subsequent ingredients.
After poaching the Ham for a short while, he removed it. The heat served to awaken the umami compounds within, so it was ready to be taken out.
Next, he added the sea cucumber. The rehydrated sea cucumber shouldn’t be blanched for long—a few seconds was all it needed. Any longer, and the collagen would start to break down, compromising its texture.
After removing the sea cucumber, he proceeded to blanch the other ingredients in sequence: shiitake mushrooms, Fresh Bamboo Shoot slices, Sea Scallops, green peas, diced Chicken Thigh, and finally, the Shrimp.