A man in his 40s looked at Liu Yifeng with an unkind face, looked at him for a while, and then looked at Lao Wang behind Liu Yifeng, and then snorted lightly with his nose and sneered: "Your master?" ”

Liu Yifeng glanced at him and didn't bother to pay attention to him. You can only convince this kind of person with facts, and arguing with him is a waste of words. So Liu Yifeng also stopped Lao Wang, who wanted to explain, and directly took Lao Wang to start preparations.

"Hmph, is this my opponent today? Looks like it's going to be easy. ”

While saying the classic lines of a typical villain tool man, the man bowed to the two people sitting on the table and began to make preparations.

"Zhang Jun, if you want to admit defeat, just admit it directly."

Zhang Jun's mouth was crooked when he said this, but he endured it and turned his head to look at the person sitting next to him. This person is about 40 years old and wears a well-cut brocade, which means that this person is not an ordinary rich man.

"Fan Ting, can you talk less, why do you people in the Southern Army like to talk so much?"

The man named Fan Fei was neither angry nor annoyed, and continued to talk trash to stimulate Zhang Jun with a very serious look: "Zhang Jun, I'm a cook, but I'm a third-in-command person in Lianchun Garden in Yingtianfu. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Jun was a little panicked in his heart, but he didn't admit defeat: "The third-in-command of Lianchunyuan is almost 15 people in one session." If you really want to dig the second-in-command, how powerful the third-in-command can be. Fan Fei, don't be fooled. ”

"Hmph, the third-in-command of Lianchunyuan is also more powerful than the head chef of the average restaurant. Zhang Jun, don't pretend to be confused, the leader of Lianchunyuan is the retired imperial chef, don't tell me you forgot this. ”

As long as you have been in the capital, you have naturally heard of Lianchun Garden. The owner behind Lianchun Garden is said to be King Lu. King Lu is the favorite brother of today's saint, who has been living in Yingtianfu and has countless properties. When the Maritime Safety Bureau was first established, all industries under the name of King Lu actively participated in the construction of the Maritime Safety Bureau overseas, and at that time, few people in the entire Central Plains could have thought that Nanyang, which they called the land of the Southern Barbarians, was actually full of "gold".

Because of this relationship, most of the imperial chefs who retired from the palace spent their old age in Lianchun Garden. Their skills were also left in Lianchun Garden, and Lianchun Garden became the most famous restaurant in Yingtianfu.

Zhang Jun put down the tea bowl, still with a face full of indifference, and Fan Fei, who was full of pride, walked towards Liu Yifeng at a glance. In fact, he was very panicked in his heart, and he regretted very much that he took Fan Fei's challenge yesterday, and now he can only count on Liu Yifeng.

"Liu Yifeng, let me tell you, your opponent is not ordinary!"

Liu Yifeng turned his head to look at the man who was shouting at the five of them and shouting at him to help the cook move faster, and asked, "Why is it not ordinary?" Can it still be a royal chef? ”

Unexpectedly, Zhang Jun was stunned for two seconds and said, "He is indeed a disciple of the imperial kitchen." ”

Then Zhang Jun told the origin of the cook and the background of Lianchun Garden.

"The third-in-command is not the personal disciple of the imperial chef, but the disciple of the disciple, right?"

"Having said that, after all, he is the apprentice of the imperial chef, Liu Yifeng, are you sure? If we lose, we won't be able to open tomorrow! ”

"There must be a certainty, but Lord Zhang, I beg you not to bet with others easily, okay?"

Zhang Jun was also a little blushing when he was stared at by Liu Yifeng, it was indeed because he couldn't stand the cynicism of his old friend, so he made this bet with him as soon as his mind was hot: the winner is allowed to open on the Lantern Festival, and the loser chooses another time.

He didn't know that this unnecessary gamble actually helped many business house shopkeepers in Jinshan City. Because Zhang Jun's restaurant and Fan Fei's restaurant opened at the same time, both sides could not afford to offend them, and both sides wanted to stammer.

Zhang Jun is naturally because of the captain of the Navy, and Fan Fei is not an ordinary person, another armed force in Dongshan Prefecture: the commander of the Southern Army, and Zhang Jun is also from the 4th grade.

If the biggest officer of the Dongshan Prefecture Navy is the captain of the fleet of Zheng 4 Pin, then there are several Zheng He-level captains of the wave breaking class. And the biggest officer of the Southern Army in Dongshan Prefecture is naturally the commander of the same 4th grade, so it is the command of the next step.

Since the middle of the Wanli Dynasty, the Northern Expedition to the South and the West have not stopped, except for the Han and Tang Dynasties, there has never been such a scale of expansion in Chinese history, and the status of the military has soared. The people's big families and landlords and wealthy businessmen were full of interest in being able to have a relationship with the military. Whether it is the opening of Zhang Jun's restaurant or the opening of Fan Fei's restaurant, they participate. As a result, now that they are bumping together, it's no longer a matter of whether they want to participate or not, but what if they participate on one side and hate themselves on the other?

In the past few days, these shopkeepers have really lost their hair one by one. In the end, the result of their deliberation was to let the person who spoke to test the attitude of the two, hoping to persuade one of them to change the opening time.

Zhang Jun was tempted by the fact that the scissors were in vain, so the main force of persuasion came to Fan Fei's side. Fan Fei was quite reasonable, found Zhang Junzhi and said that both of them opened to make it difficult for others to do, and finally proposed to simply have a competition, and the loser would open at another time.

To be honest, whether it is Zhang Jun or Fan Fei, they really don't care so much about whether their restaurant has to open during the Lantern Festival. Although both of them are currently in Dongshan Prefecture, a place that has been used by the Ministry of War as a pension state, both of them are capable, and they are in the prime of life, and they also have connections in the imperial court, so it is possible that they will return to their homeland after a period of time in Dongshan Prefecture to entrust them with important tasks.

has such a smooth career, and the two don't care much about accumulating money. But the two have known each other for a long time, and it is a coincidence that the areas on duty in the past ten years have been in the same area, and I don't know when it started, and the two like to fight each other very much.

So with a simple agitation method, Zhang Jun made this bet.

"Now is not the time to talk about this. I ask you, can you do it if you ask for something sweet? ”

"No problem."

"Don't fool people with sweet and sour pork ribs, that thing can't be elegant."

The prototype of sweet and sour pork ribs came from the Tang Dynasty, and it was a high-end dish in the Song Dynasty, but in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, the economy was developed, and the folk hedonistic style prevailed, and the sweet and sour pork ribs gradually became a dish that the folk could eat with a little money. In the Ming Dynasty, you can just find a bigger city, and ordinary restaurants can order this dish.

"What is he going to do?"

"How do I know, what are you going to do?"

"Squirrel fish."

"Squirrel? Fish? ”

Zhang Jun's eyes widened and looked at the ingredients that Lao Wang was processing, there were indeed 3 fish being processed, but he didn't see the squirrel.

And squirrels can eat it too?

How many taels of meat can there be so small......

"Where's the squirrel?"

"No squirrels."

"You can call a squirrel fish without a squirrel?"

"I don't have a wife in my wife's cake."

The prototype of the wife's cake came from the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Yifeng did not know this, but he noticed that there were wife cakes sold in the market in Zhushan City and in Jishan City, and the name was also wife cakes.

"There's always a meaning."

"When it's done, Master Zhang, you can understand why it's called squirrel fish at a glance."

The reason for the squirrel fish is the scorching fish, and it is not clear when it appeared, it may be the Han Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty. But the grilled fish is only its basic cooking method, and what really makes the squirrel fish endure for more than 200 years is the knife work.

From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China to later generations, squirrel fish has changed from a simple fried fish to a famous dish that tests knife skills and paste skills. In terms of taste, it is not much different from other sweet dishes, and the real highlight is the creativity of the dishes after they are formed.

The reason why the squirrel fish takes this name is that the body of the fish is changed to a knife wrapped in batter and fried and set, which is very similar to the pine cones that squirrels love to eat.

"Are you ready?"

Since it is a competition, there are naturally referees, and it is quite rare to choose a referee who convinces Zhang Jun and Fan Fei and is not afraid of offending the two of them. In the end, Liu Yifeng suggested choosing 10 foodies, and then voting anonymously to determine the winner.

When he said foodie, he said it in passing, but he didn't expect Zhang Jun to understand it in seconds.

Of course, the selected foodies are also famous people in Jinshan City and even Dongshan Prefecture.

"Ready." Liu Yifeng nodded at one of the referees, and let him check his stove, mainly to see if there were any finished or semi-finished products secretly hidden, after all, the cooking competition must start from processing the ingredients, and at most the ingredients are only allowed to be rough.

"Let's get started." The other side also finished checking, and the two referees nodded to Zhang Jun and Fan Fei, who were seated, and announced the official start of the game.