Chapter 26: Master Chef Liu
Chen Fan turned a deaf ear to the surrounding discussions and smiled at Accountant Liu. "I'm not just making this up. Soft-shelled turtle is not only nutritious but also has very high medicinal value.
It's recorded in Volume 15 of the Compendium of Materia Medica that soft-shelled turtle primarily nourishes and replenishes qi, removes blood heat, supplements yin deficiency, and can treat heat and rheumatic arthritis. However, pregnant women shouldn't eat it, especially in the early stages of pregnancy. It's best to avoid it altogether because soft-shelled turtle can invigorate blood circulation and remove blood stasis, and eating it may cause the risk of uterine contractions."
Hearing these words, Captain Yang and the others suddenly understood.
They didn't understand soft-shelled turtles, nor did they understand medicine, but they had heard of the Compendium of Materia Medica. Since it was even recorded in medical books, it must be true.
The people around them also discussed it.
"Huang Ying, aren't you pregnant? Then you can't eat it."
The woman named Huang Ying was speechless. She had originally thought she could enjoy a feast, but she didn't expect it to be a dish that was so picky about who could eat it.
After chatting for a while, Captain Yang pointed to a strong-looking man in his forties, "This is Master Ju Jiang from our team. He's responsible for handling banquets for weddings, funerals, and other celebrations in several nearby teams. People from other production teams also come to him by name. His surname is Liu, just call him Master Liu."
Ju Jiang was the local term for a village banquet chef.
If someone in the village had a wedding or funeral, they would need to find a Ju Jiang to take charge of the banquet. At this time, the Ju Jiang would discuss the menu with the host. If the family was rich, the master chef would arrange a more lavish banquet. If the family couldn't afford much money, they could only buy some minced meat and save a few eggs, but the master chef could also act according to the budget and arrange a banquet with both meat and vegetables.
Since all the matters on the stove were handled by the Ju Jiang, the host didn't have to worry about anything, so it was also known as a "one-stop shop."
Chen Fan looked at Master Liu and quickly extended his hands, "Hello, Master Liu."
But he was wondering in his heart, do they still have village banquets these days?
He would believe it if they had them in the 1950s and early 1960s, but didn't they later promote thrift and frugality, and curb the trend of eating and drinking? It wasn't until around 1978 that it gradually recovered. How come they're having them now? Or have they always had them, but no one publicized them?
Master Liu looked quite honest. He seemed a little surprised by Chen Fan's handshake. When he reacted, he quickly reached out and shook it, "Hello, hello."
Captain Yang and the others watched Chen Fan's behavior and couldn't help but look at each other, seeing the smiles in each other's eyes.
If he didn't come from a cadre family, they wouldn't believe it even if they were beaten to death.
Master Liu stiffly let go of his hand. The attitude he had been holding earlier had long been thrown to the winds. He looked at Chen Fan with a polite expression and coughed, "Comrade Chen..."
Chen Fan quickly smiled again, "Don't call me that, you can just call me Xiao Chen or Xiao Fan."
Master Liu smiled awkwardly and coughed again, "Then, then I'll call you Xiao Chen. Xiao Chen, I haven't worked with soft-shelled turtles before. You said to skin them, how do you skin them?"
He had never heard of soft-shelled turtle as a dish before, so he was a little unwilling when Yang Ju called him over this morning, especially since he couldn't even skin two of them properly, so he didn't believe their nonsense.
But when he heard Chen Fan talking, even bringing out the Compendium of Materia Medica, plus Chen Fan's way of shaking hands with people, he no longer had any contempt, and was just waiting for Chen Fan to teach him a trick.
If soft-shelled turtle really could be eaten, then he would have a few more dishes to choose from when he handled village banquets in the future.
Especially for families who couldn't afford much money, they could just go to the pond and find a few soft-shelled turtles. One soft-shelled turtle could be worth two chickens, which would be both impressive and economical. Most importantly, it would save money, which would be like having a trump card!
Chen Fan smiled, "It's simple. You're an experienced chef. I'll do it once, and you'll understand as soon as you see it."
Master Liu nodded repeatedly, "That's good, that's good."
Then he stepped aside, waiting for Chen Fan to show his skills.
Chen Fan didn't delay. He walked to the big pot and looked at it. "The water isn't hot enough. It needs to be about 80 degrees Celsius."
Master Liu's eyes lit up. "Can't you use boiling water?"
Chen Fan shook his head. "You can't soak it in boiling water, it's easy to make the outer membrane fall apart."
Master Liu clapped his hands. "I knew it! I used boiling water just now, and the outer membrane looked soft, but when I tried to tear it off, it fell apart and wasn't clean. According to you, most of the fishy smell is on the outer membrane. If the outer membrane isn't cleaned, it definitely can't go into the pot."
He was smiling so widely that he couldn't close his mouth. Just this one sentence was the real secret!
It was a pity that it was said in public, otherwise, this skill would be even more valuable if it was kept secret.
Chen Fan nodded. "That's the idea."
One taught, one learned, and the others watched with wide eyes.
"There are so many things to pay attention to when killing a soft-shelled turtle. No wonder no one discovered that this thing could be eaten before."
"Then how did other people discover it? The Team Captain said that this is a famous dish in other places. They must know how to kill it and how to make it before it can be a famous dish."
"Didn't you hear the Team Captain say it was in Yangzhou? There's an old saying that 'with ten thousand strings of cash, go down to Yangzhou.' There were mountains of rich people in that place in ancient times. What delicacies hadn't they eaten? It's just that chefs found ways to get some strange things to eat, and that's how they discovered it?"
"Hey, what kind of person do you think this Chen Fan is? How does he know about this dish?"
"Who knows? It's strange that he doesn't remember where he came from, but he remembers how to cook. Maybe someone in his family is a chef."
"Remembering how to cook means he's a chef? Is there a chef as fair-skinned as him? In my opinion, it's probably because he used to eat this kind of dish often, and over time, he learned how to make it."
"It's like 'a long illness makes a good doctor,' right?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
In the middle of the crowd, Chen Fan saw that the water couldn't boil for a while, so he called Master Liu to handle the soft-shelled turtle, and then looked at Jiang Lili, "Xiao Jiang, please fetch me a basin of water."
When Yang Ju heard this, she wanted to go, but Captain Yang stopped her with a look. Keeper Huang also glanced at Chen Fan meaningfully and pursed his lips without saying a word.
Chen Fan asked Jiang Lili to fetch water, not because he wanted to be lazy, nor was he deliberately making things difficult for her, but to give her a chance to show herself.
According to her, apart from the normal work and collective activities of the team, no family in the team had ever invited her to do anything.
But Captain Yang had invited her today, and it was even to kill soft-shelled turtles.
After killing the soft-shelled turtles, they had to cook them, and after cooking them, they had to eat the meat. Captain Yang had asked her to come along, naturally so that she could eat together. There was nothing wrong with this, but with her background, if she didn't do anything and just sat down to eat with chopsticks, who knows if someone would gossip.
Now that Chen Fan was asking her to help, it could be considered as participating, and it would also leave a good impression on people. Then, when she ate with everyone, no one would gossip.
(End of Chapter)
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