Food: Starting with Wonton Noodles

Shunyilou is located next to Beihu Lake in the north of the city, not far from He Jiafu's noodle shop.

Although they are only a few streets apart, their styles are very different.

Unlike Zhongshan Road, one of the few remaining old streets that have not yet been renovated, the streets and buildings in Beihu were renovated a long time ago, and the overall style is more modern.

Lin Wenhui drove the car directly to the back entrance of Shunyi Building.

Only after getting off the bus did Linlin loosen her grip on Zhou Yu's clothes and take a deep breath of the fresh air outside.

Ignoring Zhou Yu and the others, Lin Wenhui first found the kitchen staff of Shunyi Restaurant to come and move the seafood.

Actually, there wasn't much seafood, only a few boxes.

Lin Wenhui mainly deals in small cargo boats in coastal waters and fish from fishing boats in slightly more distant waters that can return on the same day.

People in the Lingnan region like to eat fresh ingredients.

However, apart from shrimp and crab, there aren't actually many live wild seafoods.

Moreover, due to the varying tides each day, the types and quantities of seafood caught by boats are not fixed.

Therefore, larger restaurants like Shunyilou use farmed live seafood as their main ingredients to ensure product consistency.

Then, together with fishermen like Lin Wenhui, they would purchase the fresh seafood caught that day as the main dish of the day.

Before Lin Wenhui could finish, a bald, middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in a chef's uniform, walked towards them with a bright smile like that of Maitreya Buddha.

He greeted Lin Wenhui with a smile, "Wenhui, you're here! Was the fish good today?"

Lin Wenhui handed him a cigarette and said, "It's definitely top-quality stuff! How could I dare give you something inferior, Boss Ding! We just happened to have a net full of white pomfret today, and it's still whole scales, so I specially saved it for you."

There's a saying in coastal areas: "First, pomfret; second, mackerel; third, Spanish mackerel," which describes the three types of fish that are generally considered the most delicious in coastal areas.

The pomfret mentioned here specifically refers to the white pomfret from the local waters.

As for why Lin Wenhui specifically pointed out that it should be all scales, it is because white pomfret is very prone to losing scales after being caught.

Therefore, unlike other sea fish, the freshness of pomfret can be judged by the integrity of its scales. The fresher the pomfret, the more its scales shimmer and look beautiful.

However, after changing hands multiple times, or after being stored for many days on fishing boats in the open sea, the scales will fall off completely, turning it into a white pomfret with truly white skin.

The cigarettes were still Baisha cigarettes, but Liang Ding didn't look down on Lin Wenhui's cigarettes.

"Do you have pomfret?" Liang Ding asked, lighting a cigarette with Lin Wenhui's light.

"No, it's already very rare to find a white pomfret like this. Pomfret fighting is something you can only come across by chance."

Liang Ding nodded in agreement.

"Master Ding, this is my friend Zhou Yu, who wanted to buy water buffalo milk. Zhou Yu, this is Master Liang Dingding, the head chef of Shunyi Restaurant."

Before Zhou Yu could speak, Liang Ding had already grasped Zhou Yu's hand, his face still bearing the radiant smile of Maitreya Buddha. He said:

"Hey young man! You're the Zhou Yu that Brother Fu was talking about, the one who's really good at making bamboo-pressed noodles, right? Sorry, the restaurant is having lunch soon, so I just checked the order slip with Wenhui first. Brother Fu said your bamboo-pressed noodles are amazing! Even better than his!"

"Hello, Master Ding, I am Zhou Yu. But Uncle He is too kind to me. I am the one who is troubling you. Even buying some water buffalo milk requires your help."

"We're all friends, so there's no trouble at all. Especially since Brother Fu and I have been friends for many years! We learned how to make bamboo-pressed noodles from Brother Fu, but we do use a lot of them, so we can't make them as delicate as his. We mainly make them in large quantities and then dry them for later use."

"Hey, Uncle Ding, what do you think of this buffalo milk?"

"Don't worry, don't worry. Putting aside the fact that Brother Fu is an old friend of mine, I'll definitely help out for Wenhui's sake. There will be plenty of milk."

He didn't care at all about Zhou Yu buying water buffalo milk; he only distributed a small amount for his own use. He didn't even need to show up.

But He Jiafu kept praising Zhou Yu, which made him curious, so he came out to see for himself.

Holding Zhou Yu's hand at this moment, I could feel a certain amount of strength (this strength was increased by the training I received from the system these past two days).

However, he did not notice any calluses on Zhou Yu's hands, which made him somewhat suspicious.

However, his smile remained bright: "Let's not talk about that. Brother Fu said you make bamboo-pressed noodles even better than him. It's a pity we don't have a big bamboo press for making bamboo-pressed noodles here, otherwise we could see your skills, Brother Yu, and let the people below learn from you."

"However, I have all the other tools here. Brother Yu, could you make a few bowls of double-skin milk pudding for everyone to try? I'm really sorry, I wanted to treat you to dessert, but I had to ask you to cook it yourself. Brother Fu said you're really amazing, and I really want to see it for myself. Please don't mind."

As he spoke, he pulled Zhou Yu toward the kitchen.

Zhou Yu had no choice but to ask Lin Wenhui to keep an eye on Linlin. Linlin wasn't scared, mainly because he had gone out with Zhou Yu before and was quite familiar with Lin Wenhui.

Zhou Yu followed Liang Ding into the dessert-making area of ​​the kitchen.

Liang Ding called over the chef working in the dessert area and said, "Ah Sheng, this is Brother Yu. He'll be asking us for some water buffalo milk later. You can talk to him about it. But you can check out Brother Yu's cooking skills first."

After politely greeting Zhou Yu, A Sheng also gave up his seat.

The process of making double-skin milk is not complicated, so Liang Ding is not worried that Zhou Yu will mess it up. However, since Zhou Yu has been praised so highly by He Jiafu, he can't help but want to weigh the extent of Zhou Yu's praise.

Zhou Yu wasn't intimidated. After asking A Sheng about various materials and tools, he also started making double-skin milk.

After considering the number of people, Zhou Yu laughed and said, "Master Ding, then I won't stand on ceremony and will cook a few more bowls."

"It's alright, don't worry about using it! I have plenty of materials."

Zhou Yu poured three catties of water buffalo milk into a pot and started cooking it.

Then, while waiting for the water to boil, I neatly arranged three rows of nine bowls in front of me.

Then I cracked five more eggs, but only kept one yolk.

At this point, the buffalo milk slowly began to boil, reaching the perfect consistency of shrimp eye water.

Zhou Yu turned off the fire and quickly divided the freshly boiled buffalo milk into nine bowls in front of him.

Watching Zhou Yu's movements, Liang Ding praised, "No wonder Brother Fu praised you. Not only are your basic skills exceptionally solid, but your methods also adhere to tradition and are not flashy."

He gestured for Ah Sheng to look over, then laughed and said, "Ah Sheng, do you know how your methods differ from Brother Yu's?"

Ah Sheng thought for a moment and said, "Should we steam it? Should Brother Yu boil it?"

Liang Ding nodded and smiled, "That's right. Nowadays, most pastry chefs learn the shortcut method. When cooking the first layer of pastry, they just put milk in a bowl and steam it directly. It's not only faster, but also simpler, because they don't need to control the heat when boiling the milk."

"But the first layer of skin in double-skin milk pudding made this way is not as smooth and chewy as the skin formed by boiling it directly and then slapping it against the bowl."