Chapter 150 Lou Family "Reminiscing"

The most troublesome part of making Tan’s cuisine is soaking it. There are some methods for this in the notes left by He Daqing.

Later, He Yuzhu got a notebook from Lou Xiao'e's mother, Tan Yali.

He Yuzhu was not very clear about the relationship between the two families in terms of master-disciple transmission.

He Daqing has never been reliable in these matters.

He Yuzhu was riding his bicycle, humming and groaning. Riding a bicycle was a torture that day.

Frozen hands and feet.

The hot breath exhaled from the mouth was exchanged for frost on the eyebrows.

He Yuzhu has been in the Lou family for several days. He specifically followed the method that Tan Yali taught him in her previous life to soak the dried goods.

He Yuzhu was not timid about the magnificence of the Lou family because he had never seen it before.

The key is that he really saw it.

In the previous life, after the reform and opening up, Lou Xiaoe came back and the street office returned the small Western-style building to the Lou family.

Lou Xiao'e hired an experienced craftsman to restore the house to its original appearance.

However, when Lou Tan passed away, Lou Xiao'e and her son were extremely disappointed with He Yuzhu, so they sold the house and returned to Hong Kong Island.

So when it comes to this house, He Yuzhu is quite familiar with it.

Of course, the current Lou family is three points more noble than the Lou family after the reform and opening up.

That’s because the tables, chairs, benches, and various furnishings in the Lou family are all valuable items.

There is nothing we can do about this.

After the reform and opening up, although part of it was returned to the Lou family, it was badly damaged after having experienced those years.

For example, there are several paintings of shrimps and bamboos in the Lou family’s living room, which add a unique elegance to the living room, but in fact, those paintings are the best scenery.

For example, the tables, chairs and benches in the living room are rare and valuable items that are hard to come by in later generations and are in short supply.

As expected, He Yuzhu's cooking skills quickly attracted Tan Yali, who is also proficient in cooking.

Tan Yali asked about He Yuzhu's inheritance. Logically, Lou Bancheng should know about this.

After all, Lou Bancheng was impressed by He Daqing's craftsmanship back then, so naturally he wanted to explore the inheritance clearly.

This aspect is quite particular.

Without a tradition, no matter how good the food is, it will not be considered elegant.

But Lou Bancheng did not communicate with Tan Yali about this.

He Yuzhu shook his head and said, "I really don't know. Since I was old enough to understand, my father has been working alone. After my mother died, no relatives or friends came to visit."

He Yuzhu naturally knew nothing about anything. Anyway, it was his father who taught him. As for who his father's master was, He Yuzhu really didn't know.

When He Daqing came back in his previous life, he was more concerned about the affairs of Sha Zhu and the widow, and he did not explain these aspects in detail.

Of course, even if he explained, He Yuzhu didn't have the patience to listen.

In his previous life, he was annoyed just by looking at He Daqing.

Tan Yali was also amazed. The difficult part in exploring this aspect is that, whether it is "Southern Tan or Northern Tan" (Note ①), in fact, at that time, it was not a cuisine.

To put it nicely, it is called gathering the strengths of many schools. To put it bluntly, it means inviting private chefs of various cuisines, and either learning from them secretly or paying a price to preserve the cooking methods of their best dishes.

So there are Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, and Shandong cuisine.

Both hosts were considered wealthy at one time, and their guests were either rich or noble. They became famous for their elegance, and their reputation grew over time, but in the end it was hard to get a seat at their table.

It was during this flow of people that the North Tan, named after the Bangyan dish, and the South Tan, named after the "Zu'an dish", were formed.

But it should be made clear that among the top private banquets in the city at that time, Tan's cuisine was not among the top three. (Note 2) One is in the south and the other is in the north. Now the second-best cuisine restaurant is opened in Guozi Lane, while the southern Tan is in decline.

Judging from Tan Yali's cooking skills, she should be from Bei Tan. Because the one who cooks the second-place dish with the best and most complete skills is not the private chef at home, but the female members of the Tan family.

This is also the reason why, although the Tan family had fallen into decline in the decades before liberation, they did not go out to host private banquets.

But He Yuzhu didn’t ask because he was not qualified!

He Yuzhu has been having a headache these past two days because of the cotton-fluffing guy upstairs.

Although he has not met Lou Xiao'e yet, he has long heard of this girl who can turn such beautiful music into cotton-fluffing.

This cannot be blamed on Lou Xiao'e. She did want to learn, but she was not qualified before liberation. After liberation, when her mother became a legitimate wife, she could ask a teacher to teach her, but she had to avoid suspicion.

And because of the Lou family, this little girl doesn’t have many friends now.

He Yuzhu could hear some loneliness from the rhythm of her cotton-beating.
He Yuzhu recalled that in their previous life, when they were together, it seemed to be because of music.

"Master He, you said that you watched some of this from your father when you were a child, but it doesn't look like you have such skillful techniques!" Tan Yali was surprised at how little He Yuzhu knew.

Soaking does not just mean soaking it in water. Take dried abalone as an example.

They had been soaked in cold water the day before, and He Yuzhu's task today was to brush each one clean and then put them in a pot of boiling water and simmer on low heat for an hour.

Finally, turn off the heat, cover with lid and simmer for three hours.

Of course, that is still the most common method of soaking hair.

A good chef needs to control the heat and time precisely according to the size, dryness and wetness of the abalone.

Only in this way can the food produced have the most authentic taste.

He Yuzhu used the method taught to him by Tan Yali, which naturally made Tan Yali feel familiar and skilled.

He Yuzhu smiled and said, "Mrs. Lou, you can just call me Xiao He. No matter from which perspective, you should be the head of our He family."

These words made Tan Yali, who had already been defeated, feel very comfortable.

Although He Yuzhu knew nothing about anything and had no idea who He Daqing learned the Tan family cuisine from, He Yuzhu was willing to admit that Tan Yali should be the successor of the Dong family.

Of course, seniority could not be discussed, but just admitting that she, who had fallen to the point of becoming someone else's concubine, was still a member of the Tan family made Tan Yali happy.

There is no way to say anything about this. Although the eldest daughter of the current generation of the Tan family is not doing very well now, it is still better than Tan Yali marrying as a concubine.

He Yuzhu suddenly asked: "Mrs. Lou, I heard a rumor, but I don't know if it's true."

Tan Yali looked a little unhappy, but still said politely: "What's the matter?"

If He Yuzhu asked her at this time how her family fell into decline and how she married Lou Bancheng as a concubine, then Tan Yali might drive He Yuzhu out of the Lou family.

That was a pain in her heart that could never be touched.

He Yuzhu smiled shyly and said, "I heard that the best Tan family dishes are not made by the private chefs hired by the Tan family, but by the women of the Tan family. Is that true?"

Tan Yali hesitated for a moment, but nodded and said, "There is such a saying, but it's not about good craftsmanship.

It’s about knowing how to deal with it. Every master will teach you something, so you know more than others.”

"Oh," He Yuzhu said in surprise.

　Bei Tan is the second-place dish on TV, while Nan Tan belongs to Zuan cuisine created by Tan Yankai, a big shot in the Republic of China. It is based on Hunan cuisine and draws on the strengths of many other cuisines. However, Nan Tan is said to have declined faster.

　　Note 2: At that time, the top three private restaurants in Beijing were all owned by powerful figures. One of them was Duan Fu Cuisine, and everyone probably knew who this person was.

　　There are also Ren’s cuisine and Wang’s cuisine.

　　These were the top three private restaurants at the time, along with Nan Tan, but the big guys are both the cause of their success and their failure.

　　As the main family declined, its cuisine was not as popular as Tan’s (the runner-up’s) cuisine.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)