Stop pretending, I am the God of Cooking and I am showing off my cards! - Chapter 802

c802 Delicious but not luxurious high-end banquet for Nixon’s visit to China

Chapter 802: A delicious but not luxurious high-end banquet—Nixon’s state banquet during his visit to China! 【Please subscribe】

“Brother, is this dish easy to make?”

When Lao Huang heard about coconut steamed chicken, he immediately became interested. If it was simple and easy to make, he would have the opportunity to show off his high-end cooking skills in front of his family later.

Lin Xu said:

“It’s really not difficult. Just get a little rooster, kill it and put it in a pot. Pour in some coconut milk and cook it for twenty minutes. Then cut the chicken into pieces and put it in the coconut shell. Pour in the original chicken soup and season it with a little salt. According to the taste, put it in a steamer and steam it for half an hour, and the coconut steamed chicken is ready.”

Old Huang blinked:

“The state banquet dish is so simple?”

Lin Xu smiled and said:

“This is just a more common practice. The coconut steamed chicken used at the state banquet is a little more complicated. For example, the chicken needs to be deboned. When steaming, the coconut meat must be scraped into noodles and steamed together with the chicken. This not only It tastes good and looks even better.”

In the early years, there were basically no scruples about the dishes served at state banquets. However, in order to cater for the eating habits of foreign guests, they were generally required to be without bones, thorns, or shells.

Naturally, the state banquet to welcome Nixon would not neglect this point.

In fact, at the several state banquets hosted by Nixon, the ingredients were basically deboned, dethorned, and shelled.

The eating habits of Westerners are different from those of Easterners. Westerners are not used to spitting out bones, fish bones and other behaviors when eating. In their view, these are very rude behaviors.

So the food they bring to the table will be processed in advance during cooking.

When Lao Huang heard this, he backed down:

“Remove the bones? Forget it. As a knife expert like me, I guess the chicken bones haven’t been removed yet, so I’ll chop off the palm first.”

While they were chatting, Xie Baomin walked in accompanied by Uncle Gao.

“Are the ingredients ready?”

Today, all the teachers are in battle together, and Uncle Gao is very concerned about the preparation of the dishes.

Lao Huang said:

“Everything is ready, Uncle Gao. All the dishes are double portions. I also specially bought two pieces of herring weighing more than ten kilograms, so that you can cook them more easily.”

Xie Baomin checked the ingredients and made sure they were fine. He turned to look at Zeng Xiaoqi and said:

“We are ready. When can you start?”

“Immediately, the lighting and radio equipment will be taken care of. It will probably take no more than ten minutes.”

The recording of this kind of program requires multiple cameras to operate at the same time. The director station needs to test all the audio and video signals. In addition, the sound must be stereo, not mono, which is very troublesome.

So it doesn’t matter that these people came very early, but until now, they haven’t set up the equipment yet.

With nothing to do, Lin Xu took a look at all the dishes at the banquet. The first was the five appetizers, including five-spice braised eggs, egg roll meat, Jinhua ham, Northeast sausage, cold meat stuffed duck and other dishes.

These appetizers are served in small plates, with very small portions, basically just for a taste.

The appetizers are purely to liven up the atmosphere for the appetite, and at the same time allow both parties to relax a little. This is the first time to toast and greet each other.

Then it’s time to heat up the dishes.

There are not many types of dishes, and they reflect the frugal side of the leader.

There are also five hot dishes, including hibiscus and bamboo fungus soup, three shreds of shark’s fin, two large prawns, straw mushrooms and coconut steamed chicken, and five cold dishes to form a perfect ten-course meal.

This banquet, which symbolized a new chapter in Sino-US exchanges, was not as extravagant and wasteful as imagined.

Even if the leader added boiling water in the end, there were only eleven dishes, and the only expensive ingredient was shark fin, and the price was not very high at the time.

As for desserts, there is only one almond cheese dish, one pastry, and a fruit platter.

But the host and guest were very happy at that time. Premier Zhou also took out the Moutai that he had treasured for many years and shared it with Nixon to celebrate this ice-breaking moment.

It is said that before Nixon arrived, he practiced chopsticks and Chinese liquor for a long time, and also had a detailed understanding of table manners.

On the day of the state banquet, I was worried that our Western friends would not be used to using chopsticks, so the Great Hall specially prepared knives and forks.

Instead of using a knife and fork, Nixon showed off his skill with chopsticks, expressing with practical actions that his visit to China was prepared with full sincerity.

Lin Xu finished reading the menu left back then and asked his senior brother:

“Are the dishes at modern state banquets becoming less and less homely?”

Xie Baomin took a sip of the tea prepared on site:

“It can’t be said that modern state banquets only start from themes such as saving, greenness, and health, taking into account time control, and the dishes are relatively restrained. There are a lot of restrictions, and the shape must be elegant, so it can only be done in a small area. Brain, but no matter how state banquets develop, there will never be an oversized plate with only one bite. Chinese food has its own beauty and will not follow the Michelin style line.”

Uncle Gao added from the side:

“Under normal circumstances, state banquets in the capital are more frugal. For major international events held in local areas, state banquets are relatively sumptuous. Because this kind of state banquet not only entertains foreign guests, but also promotes the local area, it will be more grand.”

While chatting, Zeng Xiaoqi strode over:

“Okay, let’s get started. Which dish should we take pictures of first?”

Uncle Gao put down his tea cup and said while adjusting his chef uniform:

“Let’s take the cold dishes first. These are easier to store, so it doesn’t matter if you wait a while after making them. The taste of hot dishes is likely to deteriorate once they cool down.”

Among the several cold cuts, the one that takes the longest is probably the braised eggs.

Xie Baomin took half the pot of water, put the eggs in one by one, sprinkled two more spoons of salt, and started cooking.

Sprinkling some salt into the eggs when boiling can effectively prevent the eggshells from cracking.

In addition, you can also remove the water from the flame after the water in which the eggs are boiled, and then wait for a few minutes before cooking. This can also prevent the eggshells from cracking during the cooking process.

After the eggs were boiled, Lin Xu began to prepare the egg rolls.

Almost all over the country, there are dishes rolled with eggs and steamed. In most places, they are rolled with meat fillings, and mashed potatoes or other ingredients are also rolled.

Lin Xu chopped the pork belly into minced meat and marinated it with condiments such as onion, ginger salt water and Sichuan pepper water.

Taking advantage of this time, he beat a few eggs, added some starch while beating them, and then spread them into egg skins.

Spread out and cut the egg skin from round to square, then spread the meat filling evenly on the egg skin, about one centimeter thick.

Then roll it up from one end. When rolling, pay attention to the fact that the volume of the meat will shrink when it is cooked, so roll it as tightly as possible.

In this way, the steamed egg rolls will not be loose, and the presentation after being sliced ​​and plated will be more attractive and beautiful.

As for ham and sausage, it’s relatively simple. Northeastern sausages are ready-made, so there is no need to prepare them, just cut them and put them on the plate.

Jinhua ham is comparable to Spanish ham. After years of curing, the most essential upper part can even be eaten raw.

However, they did not do this at the welcome state banquet. Instead, they fried the ham.

Cooking it in the way Westerners like fully expresses the leader’s diplomatic philosophy of respecting the West and pursuing peace.

The two dishes of ham and sausage are relatively simple and require no special preparation.

The stuffed duck as a cold dish is more particular. This is a cooking method of marinating the duck first and then roasting it, just like the roast duck and Jinling roast duck in Cantonese cuisine.

The Yanjing Hotel has a roast duck oven, and Uncle Gao plans to go to the roast duck oven himself to operate it and present the dishes as perfectly as possible.

Lin Xu prepared the egg rolls, carefully placed them on the steaming tray, and then sent them to the steaming cabinet to start steaming.

At this time, Xie Baomin had also boiled the eggs until they were eighty-ripe. He took out all the eggs and put them in cold water to cool down. He took the opportunity to peel off the eggshells and put the soft eggs into the prepared braised soup pot.

“The braised eggs cannot be fully cooked, and are best when they are runny. This is not only easier to peel, but also allows the flavor of the braised soup to penetrate into the inside of the eggs better.”

Xie Baomin explained the steps and essentials while operating.

Put all the eggs into the stewed soup, turn on the heat, bring the stewed soup to a boil first, and then simmer over low heat to allow the flavor of the stewed soup to penetrate into the eggs as quickly as possible.

The way to judge whether the braised eggs are done is also very simple. Take out one and cut it open. If the whole egg changes color from the outside to the inside, it means that the eggs have been completely braised and are ready to be taken out of the pan.

Braised eggs are usually eaten cold, cut into crescent shapes, and topped with a little bit of the original broth of the braised eggs. The taste is both alcoholic and satisfying.

By the time Uncle Gao roasted the duck that Cheng Jianshe had marinated in advance, the preparations for the five appetizers were almost complete.

It was already eleven o’clock. Lin Xu looked at the time and asked:

“Should we continue or shoot in the afternoon?”

The five hot dishes didn’t take too long.

Although ingredients such as bamboo fungus and shark’s fin require a long time to prepare, the ones used on-site are all prepared in advance, so there is no need to prepare them from scratch, so there is no need to rush.

Luo Jiayao was the person in charge of the entire scene. He said:

“Then let’s tidy up and start having lunch. It happens that the camera needs to be charged and the recorded material needs to be saved.”

Upon hearing this, the staff on site immediately became busy.

As a migrant worker, everyone loves lunch break.

At the same time, the airport.

Shen Jiayue hugged Dundun and finally met Chen Yan and Ren Jie in the arrival hall who had returned by private charter flight.

“Hahaha, Yan Bao, how did you become Mo Bao?”

Seeing Chen Yan, Shen Jiayue couldn’t believe it. The sexy lady who was fair and beautiful when she left now has dark skin and is a little rough.

Even my lips were a little chapped. I didn’t know where I thought I had escaped from the wilderness.

Chen Yan knew her cousin would have this reaction, so she said helplessly:

“Ultraviolet rays are strong in the plateau area. I took full protection, but I still got sunburned like this… Just laugh if you want, don’t hold back.”

In places with strong ultraviolet rays, it is normal to get tanned. The local people all have dark skin and even have plateau red on their faces, which is the physical characteristics of residents in high-altitude areas.

“Dundun, get in the car!”

Chen Yan and Ren Jie each pushed a luggage cart, and each cart contained three or four suitcases. It looked like they were shopping locally.

Dundun jumped onto the suitcase, her little nose couldn’t help but sniff, and then she pulled up a red box with her paws.

“My eldest nephew has a really good nose. He found the yak meat I bought for him when he came up.”

Chen Yan pushed the luggage trolley to the elevator entrance, and went to the parking lot below with Shen Jiayue. She and Ren Jie drove here after their wedding, and the car is still stored in the parking lot.

Putting all the boxes in the trunks of the two cars, Shen Jiayue asked:

“It’s eleven o’clock now, where are you going to eat?”

Chen Yan asked:

“Are you starting to shoot the state banquet series of dishes today?”

“Yes, Xu Bao and my master and brother have been taking pictures all morning. I don’t know how many dishes they took. I originally planned to taste them, but in order to pick you up, I reluctantly gave up.”

Chen Yan looked at her cousin with some disbelief:

“Really? This is a bit unlike you.”

“I can’t help it. We are biological sisters whose blood is thicker than water. By the way, what gift did you bring me? I won’t accept it if it’s cheap.”

Chen Yan closed the trunk:

“I brought you the gold jewelry that the locals are accustomed to match. Let’s go for a walk. Let’s go to Yanjing Hotel for a meal first. After eating and drinking, we will take out the gifts. Now I really miss the delicious food in Yanjing. .”

Although you should try local delicacies when you go out, Chen Yan can’t stand the butter tea yak meat every day.

Relatively speaking, the home-cooked food in the capital is more in line with her appetite. This may be determined by the growing environment.

Ren Jie drove Chen Yan’s car to lead the way, and Geng Lele followed. The two cars went straight to the Yanjing Hotel, intending to have lunch and feel the atmosphere of the state banquet.

It took almost an hour to get from the airport to Yanjing Hotel. By the time they arrived, the film crew’s lunch was basically over.

Today’s lunch was cooked by Chef Qi Zhentao, and it was a set of luxurious box lunches.

The lunch box consists of two meat dishes and two vegetarian dishes. The meat dishes are braised pig trotters with soybeans and lychee fish fillets. The vegetarian dishes are tomato eggs and stir-fried cabbage sum. There is also a mushroom soup.

This set meal may seem simple, but each dish is carefully prepared and the portion is large. If you don’t have enough, you can still order more.

Lin Xu ate a lunch box, ordered another portion of rice, scooped some stewed egg soup into it, filled it with two more braised eggs, and sat down to eat the stewed soup and rice.

The soup used to braise the eggs is not the ordinary braised soup, but is specially prepared with stock. After the preparation, two elbows are braised first, so that the soup is thicker and fatter. No matter what you eat, it is very delicious.

Now mixed with rice, the meaty aroma of the soup and the salty taste of the stewed soup itself are all mixed with the rice grains.

Use a spoon to take a spoonful and put it into your mouth. The rice grains are fragrant and delicious, and there is rock sugar in the stewed soup. Lin Xu can eat a big bowl of this salty and sweet stewed soup mixed with rice.

When they were about to finish eating, Shen Jiayue walked in with Dundun in her arms:

“Xubao, Xubao, what good things are you eating?”

She smelled the delicious smell, and immediately took the spoon and took a mouthful of rice to taste. She also took a bite of braised eggs, and a trace of surprise suddenly appeared in her eyes:

“Wow, this braised egg rice is delicious, I want to eat it too!”

Lin Xu put his finger to his mouth and shushed:

“Don’t make any noise. There are so many people, and the braised eggs are a bit lacking. They’re not quite enough to eat. Wait, I’ll serve you one.”

Normally, if you are filming a video in the company, you can eat it directly, but today, in addition to people from Happy Media, there are also representatives from CCTV and advertisers. With half the room full of people, it is a bit difficult for everyone to taste it.

So I might as well give it a try myself.

Soon, Lin Xu brought the lunch box over and poured a spoonful of stewed soup on Shen Jiayue’s rice and put an egg in it.

Zeng Xiaoqi brought two lunch boxes, looked at Chen Yan and Ren Jie, and immediately felt that she was no longer evil.

“Sure enough, it’s easy to get tanned when you go to the plateau. I was right not to go traveling with you. Looking at the darkness, those who didn’t know thought it was the princess and prince from Ayi Country.”

“Go, go, no ivory comes out of the dog’s mouth… The braised eggs Yueyue ate are pretty good, little Qiqi, go get two for me.”

Zeng Xiaoqi said helplessly:

“That’s for filming the show, big sister. How can we film the show you asked us to do after we finish eating?”

Chen Yan sighed helplessly:

“I brought you a Tibetan wooden bowl inlaid with pure gold. Since you…”

Before she finished speaking, Zeng Xiaoqi walked over to the pot where the braised eggs were soaked, filled four braised eggs and a large spoonful of braised soup, and brought the bowl to Chen Yan:

“Why is it possible that our own program is not enough? We have prepared double copies. I was just kidding you.”

Chen Yan took a bite of the braised egg and said with a smile:

“Actually, I was just kidding you. The gold-inlaid wooden bowl was too heavy, so I didn’t buy it.”

“Spit out my braised eggs!”

Shen Jiayue next to him took a mouthful of rice and asked curiously:

“Xubao, do you want to do it later?”

“Yes, it’s time to heat up the dishes later. I’m in charge of coconut steamed chicken. You can learn how to steam chicken. It’s very simple.”

In fact, Lin Xu still wants to make hibiscus and bamboo shoot soup. This soup is slightly simpler than the bamboo shoot and liver paste soup that she made before, but it is not something Shen Jiayue can learn.

So he didn’t mention this soup, but directly asked Shen Jiayue to learn coconut steamed chicken.

Compared with other dishes, this dish is really not difficult to make at home, and even steps such as removing the bones can be eliminated.

Shen Jiayue became interested as soon as she heard this:

“Okay, okay, I’m just trying to learn a lighter dish.”

After lunch, everyone continued to record the program.

Lin Xu rubbed the prepared rooster inside and out with salt to remove impurities, and then pulled out the lymphatic trachea and other parts of the chicken’s neck.

After doing this, clean the chicken.

Then take a few old coconuts, remove the dry outer skin, and expose the coconut shell.

First cut off the top fifth, pour out the coconut milk, filter it and add it to the pot, put the chicken in and start stewing.

Taking advantage of this time, he took an elbow knife and scraped out strips of coconut meat from the coconut shell.

This step is very particular. You cannot scrape randomly, but scrape them side by side to keep the length of the coconut meat as consistent as possible.

The raw coconut meat looks like solidified milk, which makes people greedy.

When Shen Jiayue saw this, she immediately clicked on the online shopping platform and placed an order for a set of coconut opening and coconut scraping tools.

After placing the order, she was about to continue studying when Shi Wenqing suddenly sent a message:

“Yueyue, wouldn’t it be bad if I took Luo Yulin to the filming location to eat and drink?”

Shen Jiayue glanced at Dundun, who was squatting in front of the monitor and pretending to be a director. It doesn’t matter if he brings his children here to eat and drink. My children have started to become directors, okay?

She replied in a squeaky voice:

“I’m making coconut steamed chicken. If I come late, I won’t be able to taste it!”

Seeing this news, Shi Wenqing quickly packed up the bottles, diapers, etc. that his daughter had brought with her, and set off to have some food!

————————

This chapter has 5100 words. Please subscribe and vote monthly!