"Oh?"

Saotome was stunned for a moment, looked at Mochi carefully, and said with a smile: "It turned out to be a guest from China, hello Mr. Magician." ”

"I have admired your name for a long time, please advise!"

Mo Qi bowed slightly, he was very respectful of the artist, although he was not a peer, but he was also very focused on his career, and love could reach the peak.

"Okay, okay, you're welcome, please take a seat!"

Saotome smiled and nodded, beckoning everyone to sit down, in front of him was a bar, about ten positions, a large operating table, a large oil pot, and a hat-shaped range hood on the oil pot. He cooks right in front of his guests and now he can taste the freshest food right away.

Saotome turned around to prepare the ingredients, and Rinko took advantage of the time to introduce everyone: "Many high-end tempura restaurants use sesame oil to fry tempura, or use sesame oil to mix with other oils to fry. It turns out that one of the factors of using sesame oil is that the boiling point of sesame oil is low, and the optimal temperature of tempura is 180 degrees, so it is better to control the oil temperature with sesame oil. But now that there is a machine that can keep the oil temperature at 180 degrees, this is not very useful. ”

"However, many haute cuisine restaurants still use sesame oil, which is expensive, because the aroma of sesame oil is stronger. The oil pot of the mountain house is very huge, full of oil, and a large amount of oil ensures that the oil temperature will not be lowered after the ingredients are put in. It is a mountain house that never uses back to the pot oil, and fresh sesame oil is used for every meal, which is costly. ”

The apprentice put a plate of dipping sauce in front of each of them, and Linzi said: "It is a tempura dipping sauce in a mountain house, in addition to the common radish puree, there is also sea salt, Saotome thinks that there are some ingredients that can be tasted with simple salt to better express the deliciousness of the ingredients." ”

"The only thing that's not so good about eating in front of the three masters is seriousness!"

Linzi secretly said to Mo Qi: "These three have one thing in common, they definitely don't smile when they work. In most of the traditional cuisine of the island country, the meticulous "craftsmanship" is emphasized. Therefore, even if you put your heart into honing your skills, preparing the ingredients, and carefully designing, you should never boast about your craftsmanship in front of customers. ”

"Mr. Jiro Ono once said that the communication between a chef and a diner should not be conveyed through words, but through food. ”

So there have been cases where Mr. Ono angrily threw away the pinched sushi because the guests were just chatting and didn't care about eating sushi. Mr. Saotome was even more interesting, and the first time I ate at the Yamaju restaurant, I was full of praise for his craftsmanship, and praised him for "it was delicious". And he just replied lightly: "That's what it is." ”

"According to common sense, when the chef is complimented, he will politely reply with a "thank you!" but when the old man said this, he did not mean to look down on the customers at all, but was confident that he was "conveying his heart" through his craft. ”

"The best place in the tempura restaurant is the counter because it's a place where you can have direct contact with the chef. For foodies, being able to see how their food is prepared, how it is cooked, and even see the skills of the chef is an integral part of the culinary experience. This is especially true of tempura, because only freshly cooked tempura is the most delicious. ”

"Most tempura restaurants have a small bamboo basket in front of the diners, covered with blotting paper. The chef uses long chopsticks to hold the freshly fried tempura into a bamboo basket in front of you, and the golden tempura exudes an appetizing aroma and heat of the ingredients, mixed with the fragrant smell of sesame oil. ”

As soon as you enter your mouth, the crunchy dough makes a pleasant "click" sound between your lips and tongue, and the deliciousness of the seafood wrapped in it stimulates your taste buds as you chew it. ”

"A skilled tempura chef will take care of the other guests in an orderly manner while secretly observing the speed at which you eat and preparing the next ingredient. While you're reminiscing about the taste of the previous tempura, the next tempura has just come out of the pan, so leave it next to the pan and empty the oil a little. ”

"Saotome's stunt is to take care of the 6-8 guests at the counter while methodically controlling the heat of each different ingredient in the pot!"

"The fried time of peony shrimp tempura is 20-30 seconds, the hole is 35-45 seconds, the maitake mushroom is 50-60 seconds, and the sea urchin only takes 10-15 seconds. The pace of each guest's meal is different, but the old man has never been too short or too long. This is the strength of the "god of tempura"!

Everyone looked at Linzi's admiring expression, and became more and more curious about the food for a while, Linzi saw that Saotome was not paying attention, and secretly said: "I have personally experienced the difference! Once I finally chased two pieces of squid heaven, and after the first piece came out, the old man had something to leave for a while, and let the apprentice in the store take over." ”

"That apprentice also seems to be quite experienced, and he is quite handy with it. But when I put the second piece of squid in my mouth, I clearly felt the difference: the texture of the squid meat was completely different. ”

"The first piece is fried by the old man, the texture of the squid meat is quite tough on the outside, but it is full of silky feeling inside, and the second piece is more tough, but the silky feeling on the inside is a lot worse, although it tastes more textured, but the taste is obviously not as sweet as the first piece. It may be just a few seconds, but the difference in skill can make the ingredients take on a completely different taste. ”

"So awesome?"

After listening to this, Xiao Li looked at Saotome's emaciated back not far away, and couldn't help but straighten up, with an inexplicable respect.

"Linzi, you're a regular customer, show them the menu first!"

Saotome walked over and handed Linzi a menu with her own hands, and when Mo Qi saw it, it was actually hand-painted, drawing shrimp soldiers and crab generals with a brush on white paper, and she almost laughed.

"Don't laugh!" Rinko said in a low voice: "This is a hand-drawn painting by Saotome herself, and every guest who finishes eating will give one before leaving, as well as his autograph." The year before last, he also published a book dedicated to tempura, saying that it is a profound art!"

"Let's go!"

Kazumiko straightened up with a nervous face, watched Saotome with full attention, and all the ingredients were ready, and finally started cooking!

Saotome stood calmly in front of the huge oil pot, with an apprentice on the side, all the ingredients were processed and placed on the side, because the time for frying the ingredients was very short, so the apprentice needed help.

Saotome picked up a large prawn wrapped in a coat with chopsticks, quickly put it into the oil pot, and with a squeak, the white coat instantly turned golden yellow, he picked up the chopsticks and shook it a few times, less than thirty seconds, and put it on the plate in front of Mochi.

"The first tempura is fried shrimp, which is a large Jiwei shrimp selected by Shanju, which is called Jiujie shrimp in China, and this shrimp is sweeter than the prawns. ”

He looked at Mo Qi and said, "Please taste it!"

Mo Qi picked up the prawns, the surface was clear, there was no trace of excess oil stains, gently put it in the mouth, the first bite went down, amazing!

The dough is crispy and clear, the shrimp body is tender and juicy, more tender than the boiled and steamed shrimp, and you can only experience the so-called principle of water insoluble oil when you eat it yourself!

It looks like it is fried, but in fact, it uses high temperature to generate water vapor, and the ingredients wrapped in the dough are steamed, which can not only ensure freshness, but also absorb the fragrance of sesame oil, and it is indeed a top delicacy!