Food: Starting with Wonton Noodles

After Lin Wenhui finished speaking, Zhou Yu added:

"Whether it's sand shrimp or bamboo shrimp, they taste sweeter and have a natural fragrance when they're in shallow waters. When they swim to the deeper sea where the salinity is higher, they grow bigger, but they lose that fragrance and sweetness."

"The aroma becomes even more pronounced after the shrimp paste is made. So, the main reason why you have been unable to replicate Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken is that you haven't chosen the right shrimp."

After Lin Wenhui's father brought over the shrimp, Zhang Rong had already entered the kitchen to arrange the ingredients and cooking utensils without Liang Ding's instructions.

Although Zhou Yu had not yet started making Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken, he had already gone from being half-believing to being 70-80% convinced.

As everyone headed towards the kitchen, Lin Wenhui secretly pulled Zhou Yu aside.

Although Zhou Yu made perfect wonton noodles and double-skin milk, Lin Wenhui still couldn't forget the steamed ribs he had cooked before.

Zhou Yu understood Lin Wenhui's meaning and gave him a reassuring look.

After changing back into his chef's uniform, Zhou Yu found cleaned shrimp already placed to his left.

Due to its low economic efficiency, traditional pond-based shrimp farming is no longer practiced, but there are still large quantities of sand shrimp and bamboo shrimp in the shallow mudflats.

Therefore, fishermen still take advantage of their tendency to lie on the sand and catch them at low tide every day.

However, these shrimp are only the size of a little finger, so they are relatively expensive and are mostly sold in the local market, with very few being sold to restaurants or other places.

Zhou Yu picked up the cleaver, and the same effortless feeling he had when smashing cucumbers returned to him.

At this moment, the large kitchen knife in his hands moved with the dexterity of a hummingbird flitting around a flower.

Shrimp the size of a little finger were instantly transformed into shrimp meat after being slashed by the nimble knife.

This was originally a very tedious task, because extracting shrimp meat from live shrimp is troublesome in itself, and these shrimp are not very big.

But Zhou Yu's superb knife skills made the scene very pleasing to the eye.

Ah Sheng was so captivated by what he saw that he opened his mouth as if to say something but then forgot and didn't close it.

Zhang Rong had already consciously stood properly beside Zhou Yu, standing as obediently as a primary school student.

He would hand over pots and pans, and clean up the kitchen scraps left behind by Zhou Yu.

Lin Wenhui was both shocked and amused by Zhou Yu's knife skills.

To his shock, he had never realized that his longtime friend now possessed such remarkable knife skills.

He could console himself that Zhou Yu simply didn't have the necessary tools, which was why he hadn't been able to demonstrate it.

But you dog Zhou Yu, what were those steamed ribs and boiled dishes you made before?

Is it pure torture?

But what amused him was seeing how quickly Zhang Rong had changed; just moments ago he had been arrogant and unruly, but now he was completely respectful.

This made him secretly very happy.

Liang Ding, on the other hand, remained quite calm and didn't make any significant movements. From the moment he saw Zhou Yu making double-skin milk pudding, he had already acknowledged Zhou Yu's culinary skills.

It's not that double-skin milk pudding is particularly complicated, but rather the focus Zhou Yu displayed while cooking, and that genuine passion he had for it.

He didn't believe that someone so passionate about food would make such exaggerated claims without being certain of their abilities.

However, the knife skills that Zhou Yu displayed far exceeded his expectations of Zhou Yu, and his eyes revealed an unstoppable admiration for Zhou Yu.

About ten minutes later, Zhou Yu had shelled and minced all the shrimp weighing more than two pounds.

He gently patted the shrimp with a cleaver, twisted the meat with the back of the knife, and then chopped it. With a rhythm like playing the piano, he chopped the shrimp into a paste.

After taking the iron basin handed to him by Zhang Rong, Zhou Yu put the minced shrimp meat into it and began to pound it.

By this time, a number of chefs had gradually gathered around.

One of the tall, thin chefs couldn't help but say, "Aren't you going to add some pork? Won't the filling fall apart a bit if you do it like this?"

"Hundred Flowers Filling" is an elegant name for shrimp paste. To make the shrimp paste more elastic after cooking, chefs usually add a little pork while mixing it.

Zhang Rong turned around and saw a group of chefs gathered around. He couldn't help but yell, "Who told you to come here? Don't you need to cook or serve food? Or is there nothing to do in the kitchen?"

"Also, who was it that just said that the Hundred Flowers filling must include pork? They don't practice the basics and dare to criticize a chef like Mr. Zhou with only a half-baked skill? They should practice their knife skills for an extra night after get off work."

When the chefs who had gathered around saw Zhang Rong lose his temper, they quickly moved away and returned to their workstations.

The tall, thin chef didn't dare to speak and timidly walked away first.

Zhang Rong didn't really intend to pursue the people who had surrounded him. Once they had all left, he resumed watching Zhou Yu's actions intently.

At this point, he was quite convinced that Zhou Yu could successfully replicate the real Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken.

After about twenty minutes of slapping and pounding, Zhou Yu finally packed up the prepared fish maw.

He took the chicken neck (Yuanying chicken) from Zhang Rong after it had been bled and plucked.

The chicken was freshly slaughtered and weighed two and a half pounds.

Zhou Yu made a cut from the chicken breast, just one cut, like slicing tofu, or like simply removing the chicken's outer skin; the entire chicken skin peeled off directly.

After trimming the removed chicken skin into a rectangle and placing it on a bamboo mat, Zhou Yu evenly spread the prepared shrimp paste on the chicken skin.

Leave only a small amount of chicken skin exposed, and wrap the edges slightly.

After placing the entire bamboo mat into the steamer, steam it over high heat for eight minutes.

After taking out the bamboo tray, Zhou Yu broke the "chicken" piece into four strips, then cut them into pieces, each piece into a "日" shape, and arranged them on a plate according to the shape of a chicken.

After plating the food, Zhou Yu heated the wok again, added lard, a little sesame oil, cooking wine, and pepper, and then poured in a small spoonful of chicken broth.

Finally, water chestnut starch was used to make a thickening sauce, which was then poured directly over the "chicken".

Taking advantage of the warmth from the moment the gravy was poured over, Zhou Yu gently sprinkled white chrysanthemum petals onto it.

With this, the Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken is complete.

Before Zhou Yu could even lift the plate, Zhang Rong had already lifted it first.

He said, "Zhou Sheng, let me do it. You've already gone to so much trouble."

As he led the way out, he said, "Master Ding has already opened a new private room and instructed them to add some more dishes. We're just waiting for Zhou Sheng to come over and try the food and have lunch together."

Zhou Yu then noticed that Liang Ding had left the kitchen at some point.

He nodded, and without any hesitation, followed Zhang Rong to the private room.

Lin Wenhui's heart, which had been in his throat, finally settled down.

How could he not know Zhou Yu's cooking skills?

So when Zhou Yu proposed to make Jiangnan Hundred Flower Chicken, his first reaction was that Zhou Yu had been provoked.

He only kept cooperating because he saw that Zhou Yu remained calm as always.

He grabbed Zhou Yu and hooked his arm around Zhou Yu's neck, laughing and scolding, "You little rascal, Zhou Yu, were the dishes you made for me before made on purpose?"

Thinking of the dishes Zhou Yu used to cook for her, and realizing that she was the only one who had been deluding herself and worrying about that bastard, she felt a pang of sympathy.

He was even angrier.