The Chinese food culture is profound and has a long history, and one of the important reasons for this is the use of various spices in the processing process of ingredients. For the catering industry, a top-notch restaurant often reaches the point of perfection in the use of seasonings. Among them, the red case is naturally the main one, because the red case chef pays attention to the degree of use of seasonings, categories, and a complete variety of seasoning reserves, which is the key to determining whether a chef can cook a good table. For example, the hotel where Qi Shaoling is now is not a star-rated hotel, but it is still very famous in the local area. Especially in the processing and production of seafood and other ingredients, it can be said that it is second to none except for those foreign-related star hotels. A large part of the reason why it can occupy a place in the strong catering industry is that there are many kinds of seasonings in the back kitchen of this hotel, and some of the seasonings are even specially imported from abroad.

After mastering the skills of knife work and turning spoons, Qi Shaoling next had to familiarize himself with all kinds of spices, since there was such a good meeting, there was no reason to waste it, so he plunged into the ocean of seasonings. As the saying goes: Barilla salt is the first. Salt, which is inconspicuous in life, is actually the most important of all spices. Salt is indispensable for almost every dish, even those for sweet dishes, and salt must be present in the processing of its base taste. Without the seasoning of salt, the dessert dish will also be eclipsed, lose its mellow base taste, and the whole dish will not appear to be layered enough in taste, and the taste will naturally be bland and tasteless. There is a saying in the folk that is very clear: if you want to add a little salt to sweetness, this is the truth. Sweet and salty, salty and sweet, so as to make a great dessert dish. Of course, the use of salt varies from region to region. The proportion of salt in the dishes is much higher for the northerners with heavy tastes, and the utilization rate of salt in the dishes is much lower for the lighter tastes of the southerners. If you have to talk about who is doing the right thing, I'm afraid no one can answer, these are all related to the local food habits and customs, and cannot be generalized.

Qi Shaoling's hotel is biased towards southern cuisine in the production of dishes. Most of the dishes have a very small proportion of salt, and the overall flavor is a little sweet. His focus is on the signature dishes, the specialties. The use of spices is crucial in the preparation of these dishes. There are many cooking methods, and even the seemingly simple steaming method has a lot of attention to it. In particular, the role of seasonings in the process of steaming is simply incredible. The order in which the seasonings are used and the amount used will have different effects on the finished product of the whole dish.

For example, let's make a plate of steamed mandarin fish, which is very common. After the mandarin fish is cleaned, it is necessary to change the flower knife to facilitate the flavor, and the whole fish body inside and outside the chamber should be evenly smeared with a small amount of refined salt, MSG, cooking wine; and also stuff the ginger shreds, garlic slices, green onions, etc. in the fish chest, and let it stand for a period of time to marinate into the flavor. Before steaming, take out all the spices in the fish chest, boil the upper drawer and steam for five minutes. After the pot is removed, spread the shredded green onions, ginger and chili peppers on the fish, and pour some excellent seafood soy sauce. Heat the seasoning oil in another pan and pour it over the fish, then sprinkle a few coriander cubes before serving. The key to making this dish is to absorb the flavor and highlight the freshness, aroma and lightness of the mandarin fish. Refined salt and MSG is the base taste, cooking wine, ginger shreds, garlic slices to remove the smell, seafood soy sauce to enhance freshness, as for the final seasoning oil is the key. The quality of the seasoning oil directly affects the quality of the whole dish. The seasoning oil is different for each family, and there are more or less seasonings in it when boiling. There are seven or eight kinds, a dozen or even dozens of things. Of course, for different dishes, the seasoning oil will be different, it cannot be the same, and there is no 'all-purpose oil'.

What Qi Shaoling has to learn now is to be familiar with the names and basic flavors of various spices, as well as what the compound flavors will be after matching. Then there is the order of putting in the seasoning and the amount of it, but these are almost all secrets of the chef. Therefore, for a long time, he did not touch the doorway. In the process of stir-frying, chefs often clear the scene at a critical moment, which means that when he stir-fries, no outsiders are allowed to be present. Especially those signature dishes and specialties, just to prevent someone from stealing from learning, Qi Shaoling couldn't get to the stove at all, as for which spices to put and how much to put in, I don't know.

In this way, it will be difficult for Qi Shaoling to learn the essence of stir-frying. But he has his own way, don't you let you see it? Okay, then I'll peek at it. As the saying goes: it's better to learn art than to steal it. Since I can't see it on the surface, then I will use the most primitive method and rote memorization. Whenever the chef stir-fries, as long as he is free, he will silently note down in the distance which spice box the chef takes, which spices in the spice boxes are used, and the amount of each seasoning. In his spare time, he would pull out a small notebook and write it down. When there was no one in the kitchen, he ran to the chef's stove and corresponded to the spice boxes one by one to see what they were. Then while the plate is served, he secretly stretches out a finger to dip the juice on the plate, puts it in his mouth to taste, and notes the taste of each dish.

After knowing what seasonings and the taste of the finished product are practice, of course, it is not possible in the back kitchen of the hotel, and besides, people will not let it. He went to the market to buy all kinds of spices and raw materials, and tried them again and again at home. At the beginning, because there was no experience and no reference to draw on, it could only be done according to the records in the book, little by little. The dishes are either salty or light, and the taste is so strange that you can't eat it and have to throw it away. When he got back to the hotel, he looked at it again and figured it out. This was not enough, he also asked his uncle to buy him some cooking books, and in addition to practice, he read related books every day. Referring to the introduction in the book, combined with his own speculation, coupled with continuous practical operation, finally, he made the same taste as the chef of the restaurant. He brought the prepared dishes to the dining table and invited his uncle and aunt to taste them, and several people nodded frequently after eating, praising the dishes he made, which were good in color, aroma, and taste, and could almost reach the point of being fake. Whenever this happened, Qi Shaoling would stand aside and smile stupidly, with relief and pride in that smile. This was the first time he had smiled so happily since he left the Han family. Although behind this happiness is the countless efforts and hardships he has paid.

The praise of his family was the greatest encouragement to him, and it strengthened his determination to one day become a chef who everyone admired. In order to achieve this goal, he studied harder and practiced harder, and improved his cooking skills little by little. He is still one last step away from reaching perfection, and that is food carving. Food carving is an extremely demanding process, which requires the chef to have a good aesthetic and preferably artistic skills. The second is to have a full understanding of the ingredients, to know that each suitable ingredient for carving, the quality and condition of the ingredients determine whether the finished product you carve meets the requirements. As the decoration of the dish, it should be both beautiful and nuanced, and it is a test of the chef's basic skills and the overall layout concept, which should complement the dishes rather than dominate the guests.

In order to practice carving well, Qi Shaoling deliberately went to the kitchenware store to buy two carving knives, and sharpened the two carving knives very sharply at home. Having a good carving knife is the first step, and the next step is the specific operation. He once saw the chef carving roses in the hotel, which was very beautiful, and if he didn't look closely, he thought it was a real rose! This made him very envious, and he often wondered when he would be able to carve such beautiful roses. can be envious, and you still have to practice diligently. So he bought a few roses, carefully observed the shape and posture of the flowers, and then found red heart radishes, and began to carve food according to the methods and methods recorded in the carving book. At the beginning, I didn't know the essentials, and when I went under the knife, I couldn't grasp the strength and angle, and half of the radish was cut off when I cut it, and I talked about carving. He started over with a radish again, lightly knifed, and slowly removed the material, from the plausible at the beginning to the appearance later, it took him nearly a month. By the time he was able to skillfully carve the god-like rose, it was already three months later.

Roses are just a very common carving style, and the real test of carving skills are those buildings, small animals, shrimps, birds, and ------ people that are the most difficult to carve. Most of the raw materials used in character carving are pumpkin vegetables, which are relatively dense in texture, good in plasticity, and not easy to run knives. Ever since Qi Shaoling began to learn figure carving, there have been pumpkins everywhere in his home. The neighbors on the left and right were very puzzled, and asked Qi Shaoling's mother curiously: Your family loves pumpkin so much, why do you buy it at home out of ten or eight? Qi Peiyun had no choice but to answer them with a wry smile: It was his son who was learning food carving, not for daily consumption. Even so, it can't be wasted like that, those scraps that have not been carved out successfully, leftovers, etc., can be eaten after processing and maturity. So, during that time, their family ate pumpkin almost every day, flipping over and over the pattern. But later, there were too many raw materials left, not only Qi Shaoling, but even Qi Peiyun had a headache when he saw the pumpkin, and even vomited when he saw the pumpkin, let alone eat it. In this way, after carving for more than half a year, Qi Shaoling finally mastered more than a dozen commonly used food carving styles. Among them, he is most satisfied with the old birthday star carved by himself, with a kind and charming demeanor.