Life is a Game

Jiang Feng followed Zhang Guanghang to see how he even talked and gestured to buy vegetables, but Jiang Feng found that Zhang Guanghang's Chinese was very good and he knew everything, even zucchini and turnip, which were not very common dishes. The common name of hairy melon and kohlrabi.

With Zhang Guanghang's Chinese proficiency when he was shopping for vegetables, it is impossible not to know how to say grouper, dongxingban and matsutake in Chinese.

Jiang Feng had reason to suspect that the reason why he popped out a sentence or two of French from time to time was simply to take the opportunity to call Grandpa Xia Mubing.

With a standard European and American face, and a mouthful of standard Beijing movies, regardless of whether the stall owner recognizes Zhang Guanghang or not, he is very enthusiastic. He thinks that he is too young to pick vegetables, so he offers to help him pick vegetables. Show the enthusiasm of the people of Peking to international friends.

When Zhang Guanghang went to the meat stall with his hands full of vegetables to find Xia Mubing, Xia Mubing was still picking at the meat stall but couldn't find his favorite pork belly.

Palace Wanfu Meat has not been born for a long time. In the late Qing Dynasty, in order to win the favor of Lafayette, a certain imperial chef presented a name called "Wanfu Meat" which can only be made after steaming, boiling, frying, cooking, buckling and other processes at the birthday banquet. Hi, it is a famous court dish with an attractive appearance and an extremely complicated production process. It is said that once this dish was launched, it won the favor of Lafayette and the concubines in the harem. After it was spread, it has been improved by famous chefs in the past. There are also great differences.

Since it is a palace dish, the selection of ingredients is naturally the first, and the best everything is used, even if it is the green onion sprinkled on it for decoration, it must be the tenderest tip of the top-grade shallots.

"Master Xia, don't embarrass me. These two pieces of pork belly are already the best two pieces in our stall. I have never had such high requirements when you order meat from us. What kind of customer is here today?" , I’d like to thank you for running over to pick meat and buy vegetables yourself." The butcher stall owner who is talking to Xia Mubing now is his regular meat supplier.

"Can it be the same for my apprentice's birthday today?" Xia Mubing turned his head and saw Zhang Guanghang, waved at him, and skillfully took the bag containing the whole chicken from his hand, "Okay, okay, just these two Come on, I want it all."

"Okay!" The meat stall owner quickly weighed and counted the money, and helped Xia Mubing wrap up the meat.

Xia Mubing led Zhang Guanghang back the same way, bought a few catties of prawns from the shrimp stall that Zhang Guanghang liked before, and finally led Zhang Guanghang to the grandfather who sold candied haws at the entrance of the vegetable market every day.

So why sell candied haws at the entrance of the vegetable market?

Generally speaking, the candied haws season will end at the end of March and early April, that is, early spring, and winter is the most suitable season for eating candied haws. According to the clothes of the passers-by on the road at this time, Jiang Feng calculated that it should be March at this time, the temperature began to warm up gradually, and the candied haws became an unbearable food.

The sugar coating of authentic candied haws will melt at high temperatures. The sugar coating that is sold outside at more than 30 degrees in summer is basically added with other things.

The candied haws sold by the grandfather at the entrance of the vegetable market are very good. The big and big hawthorns are connected together in different sizes. The only common feature is that the outer layer is coated with sugar. The icing on the outer layer of the most pointed hawthorn has begun to melt, slowly sinking down like a melting iceberg.

"I want this one!" Zhang Guanghang pointed to a candied haws whose sugar coating was not obvious.

The grandfather handed the candied haws to Zhang Guanghang, and Xia Mubing was responsible for paying the money, and took the rest of the bags from Zhang Guanghang's hand to carry them himself.

"Master Xia, I sold it for the last day and I won't sell it tomorrow. Would you like to have one too?" The old man who sold candied haws obviously knew Xia Mubing.

"I don't like this stuff. It's sweet and sour. It's troublesome to spit out the core. At this time, I accidentally ate the syrup dripping all over my body." Xia Mubing looked disgusted, "Xiao Hang, be careful when eating , don't drip on your body."

"I know Master." Zhang Guanghang did not drip on his body, and his face was completely covered.

In this way, Xia Mubing led a child whose face was covered with syrup back, and along the way, he didn't notice that half of Zhang Guanghang's face was covered in syrup. This also highlighted Xia Mubing's ability to take care of children from the side, and Zhang Guanghang's difficulty in growing up healthy and living to this day.

Zhang Guanghang walked all the way and ate all the way like this, and ate all the way to mush. After eating a candied haws, half of his face was almost ruined. It wasn't until the master and apprentice returned to Fenyuan and went into the kitchen to put down the dishes that Xia Mubing realized that there seemed to be something on Zhang Guanghang's face.

"What's that on your face, wash it yourself later, I'll borrow a bowl of beef soup and I'll be back soon." Xia Mubing said it as easily as I borrowed a bowl of vinegar next door, turned around and left.

Zhang Guanghang went to the pool to wash his face, and rubbed his face vigorously, just like rubbing mud in the bath.

After washing his face, he began to wash the vegetables consciously.

Due to the high price of Xia Mubing's private restaurant, he usually couldn't receive a few tables of guests a day, so he didn't hire other staff and did everything by himself. After accepting Zhang Guanghang as an apprentice, Zhang Guanghang did the chores of washing, cutting vegetables, cleaning the pot, and taking out the garbage.

Not long after, Xia Mubing came back with a white porcelain bowl, saw Zhang Guanghang washing the vegetables and called him to stop: "Stop washing the vegetables, Xiaohang, today is your birthday, let's go out and play, you are the birthday star, just sit and wait to eat." .”

The best birthday gift Xia Mubing could think of was to be able to eat without having to work, and it was a big meal.

Zhang Guanghang went outside and moved a small chair into the kitchen to sit and watch Xia Mubing cook.

Xia Mubing took out the pork belly he just bought from the plastic bag, washed it, cut it up, added green onion, ginger and star anise to the water, and cooked it slowly over low heat.

It takes at least 40 minutes to make Wanfu pork pork belly, and some wait.

"Master, the chicken needs to be marinated in advance." Zhang Guanghang reminded him while sitting on a small chair.

Xia Mubing nodded expressionlessly, seemingly as steady as an old dog, but actually panicked.

Very good, the saffron chicken needs to be marinated in advance, and he has mastered a little more.

Xia Mubing began to count the ingredients that Zhang Guanghang bought just now.

Whole chicken, peppers, butter, turnips, radishes, zucchini, broccoli, apples, lemons.

Xia Mubing: ...

These are all rubbish, how can these things be mixed together to make a dish.

Because he didn't know how to make the saffron chicken, Xia Mubing could only use his intuition to take the chicken out of the bone and marinate it. The steps were no different from the correct ones. Jiang Feng could only lament that the chef's intuition was terrible.

"Xiaohang, why do you suddenly want to eat this dish?" Xia Mubing asked casually.

"Aunt Grace said this is my father's signature dish, but I have never eaten what my father made, I only ate Aunt Grace's. Aunt Grace said that my father is usually too busy, and I will give it to me when it is my birthday or when he is free. I do, but every year when I celebrate my birthday, my father is very busy, so I want to eat what master made for me." Zhang Guanghang said.

Xia Mubing's hand holding the knife froze.

"This dish should be your special dish, right?" Xia Mubing asked.

"Um."

"Do as the Romans do in the countryside, did your grandfather teach you the idiom?"

"Taught."

"Do you know what it means?"

"I know, it means that when you go to a place, you have to follow the habits of that place." Zhang Guanghang didn't know why, why the small cooking class turned into a Chinese class.

"You have to do as the Romans do, and you have to speak Chinese when you get here, and you have to do as the locals do. The chicken is cooked according to your side. When you come to my place, you have to do as the Romans do and follow the Chinese food. You wait. Today, master will make you a Chinese-style shafuluo chicken." Xia Mubing finally remembered the name of this dish.

Jiang Feng:? ? ?

Do as Romans do as the Romans do?

Mr. Xia is such a good move!

"Okay." Zhang Guanghang looked at the kitchen table expectantly.

Xia Mubing sighed.

The French have nothing wrong with cooking. One dish includes chicken, kohlrabi, carrots, and cauliflower, but there are also lemons and apples.

Forget it, do whatever you want, as long as you can eat it.

Anyway, do as the Romans do.