Food: Random stalls, customers chase me all over the country

Chapter 328-Traditional but not authentic
"Master, that Mr. Xiao Wang has already arrived in Guangdong."

In a kitchen, Xue Feng trotted in and said to a man who looked to be around 50 years old.

"Oh?"

Luo Yongduo's face lit up and he asked, "Where is it? Can we meet up and talk?"

Luo Yongduo was very curious about Wang Fan and really wanted to get to know him.

Xue Feng shook his head. "Maybe it's inconvenient. I just found out today online that he went to Meizhou to support the flood relief efforts. He's currently helping with cooking in a shelter."

"The Meizhou flood, is it serious?"

Luo Yongduo was stunned. Even he, a Cantonese man, didn’t know this, so how did Mr. Xiao Wang know it?
Xue Feng nodded. "It's quite serious. There hasn't been a flood this severe in recent years. Many villages are still disconnected, and the water shows no signs of receding."

Luo Yongduo frowned. Meizhou is an important area for Hakka cuisine, and Hakka cuisine is an important part of Cantonese cuisine. As a master of Cantonese cuisine, he still wanted to do something for Meizhou after hearing the news.

"In my personal name and the name of the Cantonese Cuisine Council, you can send 100 million and 500 million worth of food supplies respectively. Please contact Mr. Xiao Wang and arrange a car for me so I can go over and take a look."

Xue Feng was shocked and said quickly: "Master, this won't do. It's still raining over there, the weather is extremely bad..."

Luo Yongduo glared at him. "What kind of nonsense is that? A northerner came to our southern region to help with the disaster, but we southerners ourselves didn't even bother to help. How can that be right?"

"But you just got out of the hospital not long ago. It's easy for your condition to relapse if you go to a place like that. Otherwise, can I go and see you?"

Xue Feng really didn't want to let his master go. It wasn't long since he had the operation. Although it was a minor operation, going to such a humid environment would definitely be bad for his condition.

Luo Yongduo said in a deep voice, "Stop talking. Not only am I going, but you all have to go too. Go and tell your master to tell his fellow disciples who don't have any urgent tasks at home to prepare. If we don't step up when our own family is in trouble, we'll just be laughed at."

"But……"

"No buts, hurry up and go, or I'll kick your master out if you delay any longer!"

After hearing this, Xue Feng swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth. His master never joked about such things. If he really talked nonsense again, his master would definitely be expelled from the sect.

If the master was expelled from the sect, all his fellow disciples would be expelled as well. If the master and his disciples knew that they were expelled because of him, then the master and his fellow disciples would most likely cook him into Xue Feng's Eighteen Treats.

Wang Fan knew Luo Yongduo. When Xue Feng was helping out in the cafeteria, he had taught him a lot about the Cantonese cuisine masters.

But he didn't expect that his first meeting with Luo Yongduo would be under such circumstances.

The two didn't say much when they met and went straight into making dinner.

Luo Yongduo also wanted to test Wang Fan. After all, he had never seen it with his own eyes, and there were too many uncertainties just by looking at the finished product.

Wang Fan had originally planned to continue making cabbage, pork and vermicelli stew in the evening, but Luo Yongduo brought a lot of chickens this time, so he decided to change the dish out of excitement.

Most of the Hakka people live far away from the ocean, so Hakka cuisine is characterized by inland-style dishes with heavy oil and strong flavor, and many high-calorie and high-protein dishes. The dishes mostly use meat, with prominent main ingredients, and are fragrant, oily, salty, and full of local flavor.

Hakka cuisine can be divided into "mountain-based," "water-based," and "individual-customer cuisine." Mountain-based Hakka cuisine is primarily found in Meizhou and other places, with Meizhou being a prime example. It boasts a rich menu of local delicacies, featuring mountain-raised livestock and game. There are sayings like "no chicken, no invitation," "no meat, no freshness," "no duck, no fragrance," and "no elbow, no richness." Previously, conditions didn't allow for this, but now that the ingredients were available, Wang Fan naturally wanted to give his fellow villagers a taste of home. He planned to make a dish called Three Cup Chicken.

In many people's minds, three-cup chicken seems to be from Danggui Province. It is actually a Hakka delicacy in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province. It is named because it uses one cup of rice wine, one cup of soy sauce and one cup of black sesame oil when cooking.

Luo Yongduo's disciples also helped with cooking. They brought their own ingredients and kitchen utensils when they came.

Luo Yongduo had just been discharged from the hospital and was still not feeling well, so he volunteered to be Wang Fan's assistant.

Although this master looks like he is 50 years old, he is actually in his early sixties. He just takes good care of himself. Wang Fan doesn't dare to really order him around, and since it's just a meal, he doesn't need any assistants.

The chicken processing work was still the responsibility of Cheng Dong and others. After chopping the chicken into large pieces, Wang Fan would complete the preparation. A large bowl of chicken was soon placed in front of Wang Fan.

Wang Fan took out a bag of salt, a bag of sugar and some pepper, poured them directly into the large basin, and then stirred them gently so that each piece of chicken could be marinated with the base flavor.

After the first pot was pickled, the second pot was brought over. After the second pot was pickled, the third pot was brought over. Luo Yongduo was amazed by what he saw.

Although he has been cooking for most of his life, he has always used a single pot and made normal amounts of dishes. He has never made such a large amount.

Wang Fan has already entered serious mode and has completely forgotten about Luo Yongduo.

After heating the pan, pour in black sesame oil, raise the oil temperature, add ginger slices and onions and stir-fry until fragrant, then add chicken and stir-fry.

The fresh aroma of the chicken is quickly brought out, and combined with the aroma of onions and ginger slices, the smell alone at this time is enough to make people drool.

As soon as Luo Yongduo saw the steps, he knew that Wang Fan was going to make Three-Cup Chicken, a dish he often made. He couldn't help but start comparing Wang Fan's production steps with his own.

When he saw what Wang Fan used to represent the second cup, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

It’s not rice wine, but yellow wine?

"Did this kid do it accidentally or on purpose?"

Seeing this, Luo Yongduo immediately became interested.

It’s not for any other reason, but because he likes to use yellow wine instead of rice wine when making three-cup chicken.

After years of experimentation, he found that rice wine and chicken are absolutely the perfect combination. Chicken is like flowers, and rice wine is like green leaves, which can set off the flowers' beauty. The taste of these two combined is definitely not comparable to that of rice wine.

After seeing that Wang Fan chose black bean sauce instead of soy sauce for his third cup, he became even more interested in Wang Fan.

Both of these things have clearly deviated from tradition.

Could it be that this young boy had already grasped the realm of "having tradition but no authenticity"? This realization wasn't achieved until he was forty years old.

Ingredients are not static, so there are naturally more choices for seasonings. In the past, seasonings were determined because of the inconvenience of transportation and the limited selection, but they are not necessarily the most suitable and delicious.

(End of this chapter)