Chapter 13 – Receiving Free Labor
"One bowl of wonton with one egg! Gourmet, please taste it!"
Shu Yu personally brought over the wonton dish. Gu Zheng took out a small digital camera and took a few photos of the wonton. He had already taken a couple of photos, such as the one he had taken of the door.
Food reviews must have illustrations. If the writing didn't have any pictures, the commentary would lose credibility. Furthermore, when it had picture, it looked more appealing and would attract more viewers. Since Gu Zheng knew that he was coming to Shu Yu's shop to write a review, he had brought his camera with him.
After taking the picture, only then did Gu Zheng sit down properly. He took out a bottle of water and gave his mouth a rinse. The work of a food critic wasn't as easy as it would seem. Since this was a serious matter, he needed to remove anything that could remain in his mouth from before. This was so he could taste it completely, and make an accurate commentary.
"These wonton are decent. These should be classified as large wonton. It has a thick skin and is packed with filling, one mouthful is just enough. My initial impression is of it being above average!"
He used a spoon to lift out a single wonton as he spoke. If it was someone else, he wouldn't have said anything, and would've only written his honest feelings in the draft. Only then would he decide what to write, and what not to write. However, since Shu Yu and Hu Yue Yue were fellow students, he spoke a bit more.
"Large wonton? Does that mean there's small wonton?" Hu Yue Yue curiously asked.
"Of course there are. There's many different sizes of wonton. Large wontons are more common towards the south. Furthermore, they have different names depending on the region. For example, in the Sichuan Province they're called Chaoshou(抄手), in the Jianxi Province they are called Qingtang(清汤) or Yuntun(云吞). In some places they're called Baomian(包面), or dumplings(bianshi or 扁食). The north is somewhat more unified, they all call it wonton. Over there, small wonton are more common!" (T/N: When I use the word wonton, it's referring to the north's usage of wonton, Huntun or 馄饨.)
In small wonton, the skin was a bit thicker, and it was a bit smaller. Using chopsticks to take a little bit of meat paste was enough to wrap a wonton. Small wonton and large wonton looked similar from the outside, however their taste was quite different. Small wonton were typically lighter, and when you placed it in your mouth the skin would immediately break apart. Of course, it was typically accompanied by a bowl of chicken soup. Eating and drinking together made it extremely delicious and satisfying.
Large huntun had a thicker skin, and it could be cooked along with noodles. It was also possible to use various fillings. Thus, large wontons were more common within the market.
"Indeed you are a gourmet, you know quite a lot!"
Hu Yue Yue praised. Gu zheng laughed. He didn't reply, and merely lifted the wonton into his mouth and slowly tasted it.
Dumplings were somewhat similar to foods like wonton and buns. The first ingredient would be the skin, then it was the stuffing. The skin needed to be strong yet delicate. The requirements to ferment the dough were not high, the time it took to ferment was neither long nor short. One couldn't add too much water. This kind of wonton skin was quite strong so that when the customer bit into it, it would remain with the filling and make it even more delicious.
The wheat flour's fermentation was decent. According to Gu Zheng's scoring system, this wonton skin would score 70 points. Last time when he was in the Central Plains to taste the famous steamed dumpling, he had only give it 80 points.
That was half a year ago when Gu Zheng had personally sought out them out to try it. When he bit into the first Bianjing steamed dumpling, it had already lived up to it's name. It had a thin skin with plenty of filling and =each bite exploded with flavor. Eating it was extremely satisfying. When he thought of rumors of the difference between the local steamed dumplings to the store's, he felt they fell short.
Bainjing's had achieved the title of number one back then and had received the approval of the Great Ancestor. Proper hospitality was essential for a dish to become a staple dish. According to the legends, that year, the master who made the steamed dumplings had a son and a disciple. The disciple was equivalent to an adopted son and had received the master's surname.
The master of the dumpling provided equal care towards his disciple and his son. Both the front and back of their hands were made from flesh, he wanted them to eventually achieve the same kind of unity. He didn't want the brothers to separate from each other. So he passed his craft separately towards each of them. The son would learn to make the skin, while the disciple would learn to make the filling. The meaning was to let the son be the outside, while letting the disciple handle the internal matters.。
After the teacher became an immortal, the son and the disciple still ended up fighting. In the end, they separated from each other. (T/N: This section above was weird to translate…)
The son inherited the old master's shop, and continued to make the number one soup dumpling. The disciple went away and opened up a shop, and kept his surname. Gu Zheng had eaten from the son's establishment. The son had learned the skill to make the skin. Gu Zheng gave those dumplings 80 points. Shu Yu's earned 70, this was far from just a few points.
The reason why it only earned eighty points, wasn't because the old master hadn't taught the son well. If it was the old master, or even his son who had made the dumplings, he definitely wouldn't have given only that many points towards the skin.
He chewed on a mouthful of the skin, only after that did Gu Zheng bite into the filling.
Shu Yu had given Gu Zheng the common large amount of filling with green scallions, which was more commonly known as pork stuffing. After Gu Zheng ate a mouthful, he quietly nodded.
"The fine meat matches nicely with the Zhang Qiu leek. You used Fujian soy sauce. The only problem is that you cooked the chicken for a bit too long. If you a bit less, the flavor would be much better!"
After eating a single wonton, Gu Zheng slowly spoke, Shu Yu stared with large eyes.。
She had bought the recipe for a high price. She was clear about the ingredients required, and Gu Zheng hadn't made a single mistake. Zhangqiu onion and Fujian soy sauce. While there were some Gu Zheng didn't mention, the fact that he could name those few was already extremely terrifying.
If it was another person, they wouldn't know anything. How would they be able to taste the scallions within? How about the Fujian soy sauce?
"Impressive, Scholar Gu. You truly have abilities, you can taste all of that?"
Hu Yue Yue's face was also filled with surprise. She didn't know what was inside the filling, however she could read other's expression. One look at Shu Yu's face and she was sure that Gu Zheng hadn't spoken incorrectly. He had spoken correctly.
Gu Zheng smiled and shook his head, before slowly drinking the soup.
Since it was necessary to write a review, he needed to write about it all.While one could eat a few less wonton,there needed to be an abundance of soup. The soup was also important, it could enhance the fragrance of the wonton as well as add nutrients.
The soup was made from chicken bones, it was somewhat average, which made Gu Zheng feel somewhat regretful.
"Gu Zheng, how's the fried egg?"
Along with the wonton was a whole fried egg with a golden oil. It's appearance was fairly ordinary. Gu Zheng had learned the God of Gluttony's frie egg cooking skill. Although he had yet to practice it, just one look and he knew it wasn't good enough. The God of Gluttony's fried eggs were completely round. White was white, and the yellow was yellow. There weren't any traces of oil, it looked as if it was a painting.
Looking at the traces of oil on the fried egg, no matter how he tried, he couldn't raise his appetite. In the end, he ended up not trying it. At Shu Yu's reminder, he picked it up with his chopsticks.
This fried egg had gone a bit cold, this was a major flaw. Foods like fried eggs must be hot when eaten. It being cold had a great impact in it's taste.
"What!"
He took a bite, and Gu Zheng's eye's lit up. It gave a small sound in his mouth. The fried egg really was cold, and also had a subtle smell. However, the taste wasn't bad. It was crisp and had a sweet taste. One bite of the egg white and his mouth was filled with a bright flavor.
The egg white was quite crisp. After chewing a few times he swallowed it. It's subtle cold feeling made people very comfortable.
"This fried egg is average, however the taste is decent… Why?"
Gu Zheng first ate the rest of the fried egg, then raised his head to ask his question. He ate a lot of fried eggs, and now that he had learned how to cook the best fried egg. It could be said he had high understanding of fried eggs. Even then, this fried egg gave him a surprising feeling.
"There's things even you don't know!"
Shu Yu smiled proudly and continued: "Look at the price list. I have two kinds of fried eggs, one costs 2 dollars, the other costs 5 dollars. Both are fried by a single person, but the raw ingredients are different. The two dollar one is an ordinary eggs, but, the five dollar eggs were sent to me by someone and are special. They cost more than three dollars, so we had to sell them for five dollars, only then would we profit!"
"Alright, I didn't understand in the beginning. Only after I taste both fried eggs will it be fine, so there really was a difference between the prices and ingredients!"
Hu Yue Yue helped from the side. Gu Zheng stood up, and walked towards the kitchen. As he walked he spoke: "Do you still have some of these five dollar eggs? Can I see them?"
"I have some. In fact I have a lot. There placed over there, come take a look!"
Shu Yu walked with Gu Zheng. The kitchen workers didn't block Gu Zheng, thus he went directly into the kitchen and picked up the eggs Shu Yu spoke of.
"Chicken eggs, second-class ingredient!"
Holding onto the eggs, a variety of lights flashed through GU Zheng's eyes. He had looked for two days straight and ran around breeding plantations and hadn't found any second class eggs. Yet, he found them here. This really was the saying 'You looked high and low till your iron shoes were worn out but still to no avail. Then you chanced upon it without ever looking'.
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