Food: Starting with Wonton Noodles

As Zhou Yu looked over, Lin Wenhui said, "It's only because the house next door is a cultural relic that it wasn't demolished."

Seeing that Zhou Yu was still in a daze, Lin Wenhui continued, "If you really want to open a shop in this building, I'll have someone ask around for you."

Zhou Yu: "No need, let's go."

He was simply curious as to why Fengming Tower had moved here.

He didn't plan to tell Lin Wenhui about his conflict with Qi Shijie, since it wasn't a big deal anyway.

As for moving here, that's even more ridiculous.

He noticed that the entire building, including the apartments, bar, and Chinese restaurant, was integrated, making it extremely difficult for outsiders to sneak in.

After walking through the eastern suburbs, it was almost noon.

Zhou Yu didn't look at any other areas. He planned to go back and organize the location information for today, and send it to the real estate agent to provide him with the shop information again according to the location.

He smiled and said to Lin Wenhui, "It's getting late, let's stop here for today. Come to my house for lunch, I'll cook!"

This time, Lin Wenhui's response wasn't fear, but rather a brightening of his eyes: "Great! What are you planning to cook today?"

He was eager to try it out; it was a rare opportunity to eat something good.

Zhou Yu laughed and said, "Salt-baked chicken, how about this? I'll treat you to salt-baked chicken today! What do you say?"

"Get lost! You're the one riding the motorcycle now, believe me or not, I'll stab you in the back right now!"

......

Lingnan cuisine, broadly speaking, encompasses many branches of Cantonese cuisine.

The three largest branches are Cantonese cuisine, Chaoshan cuisine, and Hakka cuisine, which correspond to the three major ethnic groups in Lingnan.

Dongjiang Salt-Baked Chicken, Stuffed Tofu, and Braised Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Greens are arguably the three most well-known Hakka dishes.

Zhou Yu planned to make two dishes for lunch: Dongjiang Salt-Baked Chicken and Eight-Treasure Stuffed Tofu.

While passing by the market, Zhou Yu bought all the ingredients needed for both dishes.

When it came time to pay the bill, Zhou Yu stopped Lin Wenhui from doing so.

Lin Wenhui took back his phone without ceremony and said with a smile, "If I had known I would be having lunch here, I would have brought you some seafood."

Zhou Yu: "You can make it up next time."

However, Lin Wenhui still bought a bag of oranges before visiting the door.

After greeting Cao Xuezhen, Zhou Yu went straight into the kitchen.

He cooked the broth for the wonton noodles that evening before starting to cook the other dishes.

Due to the numerous southward migrations of Han Chinese from the Central Plains throughout history, Hakka cuisine in Lingnan has not only retained its original salty and savory style but has also incorporated unique Lingnan flavors and cooking ideas.

Originally, the Hakka people only had Hakka salted chicken. Before refrigerators, the Hakka people would use salt to dehydrate and air-dry the chicken, and then wrap it in oil paper for easy storage and consumption.

Later, when the salt industry flourished in the Dongjiang area, the Hakka salt merchants, having more money and leisure time, combined with the local Lingnan braising techniques, and improved and invented salt-baked chicken.

Including Eight Treasure Stuffed Tofu, the original Hakka stuffed tofu only contained pork and mushrooms, but later it gradually developed into a fixed combination of pork with mountain delicacies and seafood.

Zhou Yu first dealt with the chicken, starting with the salt-baked seasoning. He simply chose pepper, sand ginger, and a little salt.

After coating the chicken with the prepared salt-baked marinade, stuff the chicken cavity with shallots (small red shallots) along with sand ginger and crushed shallots.

Finally, after sealing the chicken with a layer of lard, it was wrapped in lotus leaves.

Actually, the best way to make salt-baked chicken is with traditional oil paper, but Zhou Yu couldn't find any in the market, so he used lotus leaves instead.

The dried lotus leaves are scalded with boiling water before being used to wrap the chicken.

While the chicken marinated for a while, Zhou Yu began making stuffed tofu, also known as Eight Treasure Tofu.

There are no fixed requirements for the eight treasures in Eight Treasure Stuffed Tofu; generally, it only needs to include meat, mountain delicacies, and seafood.

Zhou Yu chopped the pork with a little fish, then added only diced shiitake mushrooms, diced squid, dried shrimp, and water chestnuts. After seasoning, he added cornstarch and stirred to lock in the flavor.

Then cut all the salted tofu you bought in half, made a small hole in the middle of each half, and stuffed the prepared filling inside.

After processing the tofu and marinating the chicken, Zhou Yu began to stir-fry the salt.

There are several methods for salt-baking chicken, but Zhou Yu used the most traditional hot salt-baking method.

He put three pounds of coarse salt into star anise and bay leaves and heated it directly.

Then, put half of the heated coarse salt into a clay pot, put the chicken wrapped in lotus leaves into it, and finally cover it with the other half of the heated coarse salt. Simmer over low heat.

Once the salt-baked chicken was almost finished, Zhou Yu began processing the stuffed tofu.

To make stuffed tofu with eight treasures, you need to use lard.

After heating the oil, Zhou Yu put pieces of tofu into the pot and slowly fried them until golden brown.

Then remove the tofu from the oil after frying until golden brown, drain it, add it to the broth, season it, and simmer for five minutes.

Traditional stuffed tofu broth is made with old chicken and old duck, stewed with pork bones, ham and spare ribs, and finally Hakka glutinous rice wine is added.

However, since it was a family meal and he cooked it himself, Zhou Yu simply used the soup base from wonton noodles with Shaoxing wine to make a simple version of the broth.

Watching Zhou Yu busily preparing and gradually completing the two dishes, Lin Wenhui couldn't help but say, "Honestly, I still can't believe how much your cooking skills have improved. How can you cook such delicious food all of a sudden?"

Hakka cuisine is known for its strong, savory flavor; the aroma emanating from stir-fries is enough to whet the taste buds.

Cao Xuezhen chimed in, "It's delicious, but it always takes a ton of ingredients to cook, which is a real waste. Every time I cook a dish, it's either a huge amount of oil or a huge amount of salt."

Zhou Yu: "Alright, alright, let's get ready to eat."

After being seated, Zhou Weiqiang was the first to pick up his chopsticks.

He really enjoys eating slightly stronger flavors now, but Cao Xuezhen's cooking is very light, so he especially likes Zhou Yu's cooking now.

Cao Xuezhen felt sorry for Zhou Yu because he always used a lot of ingredients when cooking, so he naturally didn't dare to say anything.

But now Zhou Yu is doing it himself. Although he doesn't dare to say it, his hands don't slow down at all.

Lin Wenhui wanted to maintain his composure for a moment, so he picked up the pan-fried overnight carp made by Cao Xuezhen.

Cao Xuezhen placed a chicken leg in his bowl: "Eat chicken leg, fresh chicken leg is delicious!"

Lin Wenhui: "Auntie, this carp is also delicious, very fresh!"

Cao Xuezhen was delighted by the praise: "Really? I went to the docks with his father to snatch it back. Isn't it delicious!"

However, when she looked at Zhou Weiqiang, he was busy eating and didn't cooperate with her at all. She got a little angry and couldn't help but pinch him.

Zhou Weiqiang suddenly looked up: "Yes, yes, this fish was snatched from the dock, it's super fresh!"

Lin Wenhui originally wanted to stick to his guns. But when the chicken leg meat entered his mouth, the unexpected sweetness overshadowed his flattering words.

No, it's not sweet. It's the natural sweetness of the chicken itself.

He had expected the salt-baked chicken to be too salty, but the first bite was surprisingly sweet and delicious.