The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 64 Friends and Wine
Lao Tan took very little care of his family.

This has something to do with his occupation. He gets off work at [-] o'clock every day, and when he gets home, Lin Yan and her son go to bed early.After he finished washing at eleven o'clock, he fell asleep until midnight.When Lin Yan and her son woke up in the morning, the three of them sometimes couldn't even talk.

There is no way, dry catering is like this, the industry is special, and there is very little time to spend with family members.Especially on holidays, Lin Yan and her son rest, while Lao Tan is the busiest, and the family of three cannot be together.Lao Tan asked Lin Yan to take her son to the dumpling restaurant, but Lin Yan was so idiosyncratic that she never went there.

Lao Tan can only rest when he is not busy from Monday to Thursday, and the rest day is the happiest.Clean up the house, buy vegetables, pick up the children, and then cook a sumptuous dinner. The family of three sits and eats happily together.

Play with my son for a while after dinner, go downstairs while my son is watching cartoons, take a walk in the small park, watch Yangko dancers and square dancers, chat with acquaintances for a while, then go upstairs to bathe my son sleep.

My son is already six years old, and he will start primary school in August of the Chinese New Year. The school has been selected, and it is the key Taishan Primary School in the district.According to Lao Tan's five little thoughts near his home, Lin Yan disagreed, saying that no matter what, his son should not lose at the starting line, and he must go to a key elementary school.Lao Tan is not afraid of spending money, but Taishan Primary School is four kilometers away from home, which is a bit far away, and it is inconvenient to go to and from school.

The son didn't care, saying that he took the school bus.

My son is very self-reliant. Since last year, he has gone to English classes by himself, and never asked Lao Tan and Lin Yan to pick him up.The English class was one kilometer away from home, and the little guy went there with a schoolbag on his back, and other people's children were accompanied by their parents.

Lao Tan asked his son if he was afraid, and the son proudly said no, he was a man.

Hehe, little man.

Brother Li, Brother Liu, Wang Ming, Xiaofeng and the others always go to the dumpling restaurant for dinner. First, the food is delicious and famous in Sandaizi. Second, they are willing to drink with Lao Tan. Knowing that he can't get out, they go to have a drink with him.

Today the four of them came again, and as soon as they entered the door, Xiaofeng shouted: "Old Tan, Lao Tan, come out and pick me up!"

The waiter was already familiar with them and greeted them warmly. Old Tan came out of the kitchen with a smile.

Brother Liu was carrying a bucket of loose baijiu, and said to Lao Tan: "Brother, a friend of mine opened a small winery in the countryside. He picked it up for me. It's pure small brew. It's very good to drink. You can try it later."

Xiaofeng patted Lao Tan and said: "Brother Liu is always thinking about you, we don't give you a drink if we want, we are biased." After talking, he laughed.

Wang Ming said, "It's still the same old four. I also drink white wine today."

While talking, the group entered the private room on the second floor, and after a while, four dishes were served, namely: Aqiao's small stupid chicken, fish head in iron pot, stir-fried yellow beef, and dried tofu mixed with soy sauce.The waiter served two more side dishes, refreshing radish and homemade kimchi.

Aqiao's Little Stupid Chicken and Iron Pot Fish Head are must-orders. Many people come here just to eat these two dishes.Of course, there are many chefs from restaurants who come to taste the stealing art, and some can't come twice or three times at a time, but it is difficult to make the taste of Ah Qiao.

This is the case with dishes. Although it is easy to copy, it is only a copy of the form. It is difficult to achieve the original taste and the essence of it if you do not research it yourself.To put it bluntly, not only did I fail to learn well, but I also gave free advertising to others.

Only what you study is unique, and you can't learn from others.So what do you learn about cooking?What I learn is not the dishes, but the skills and practices, as well as the rigor and professionalism with which people treat the dishes.

If the special dishes can be learned as they are, then every restaurant should be the same.

Lao Tan took a sip of the baijiu brought by brother Liu, and there was a very strong siu siu flavor in his mouth, a bit spicy, and the taste of the wine was strong, long and long, smooth into the throat, not like a burning knife like a burning wire, But the degree is definitely not low.

"This wine is not bad, much better than bottled wine. It is estimated to weigh four to fifty-one catties." Old Tan said.

Brother Liu said: "You guessed it right, he sells 51 catties for takeaway, let's buy [-], this barrel of wine is free, it's free."

Old Tan said: "It's worth [-]. Drinking must be made of pure grain. Drinking can't make people bad, and it's not good."

Both Wang Ming and Li Ge tasted it, and they both said it was very good.

Xiaofeng took a sip, tasted it and said, "I can't taste anything, it's just spicy."

Everyone laughed.

Seeing that Xiaofeng's face was flushed abnormally, and it was slightly yellow, Old Tan asked, "Sister Feng, do you have a bad liver?"

Xiaofeng was taken aback, and said: "It's a little bit, I don't dare to eat oil and water recently." Then she pointed to her stomach and said: "Sometimes it hurts, is it the liver?"

Old Tan said: "Well, I see that your face is a little yellow, are your eyes astringent?"

"A little bit." Xiaofeng said.

"If you have time, go to the hospital for a check-up. I guess you have something wrong with your liver. Does your stomach feel bloated?" Old Tan asked.

Xiaofeng said: "Sometimes it goes up, not often." Then she asked with a smile, "Is it alcoholic liver?"

"No, alcoholic liver hurts, you can't stand it. It is recommended to go to the hospital for an examination and test the liver function. If you are sick, treat it early. Don't worry if you are not sick. I guess it is inflammation. Otherwise, your face will not be so yellow. Just take some anti-inflammatory drugs. It's gone." Old Tan said.

The reason why Lao Tan said that Xiaofeng's liver was faulty was because one of his chef friends was like this at the beginning, his face was yellow and flushed. At the beginning, Lao Tan advised him to drink less and go to the hospital for examination.My friend didn't care much, and didn't go to the hospital for an examination. He should eat and drink. One year later, he felt pain and went for an examination. It turned out that he had liver cancer, and he lived for more than a year and died young.

Hearing what Lao Tan said, Brother Liu said with concern: "Xiaofeng, you should drink less alcohol after drinking, you can't drink some beer."

Xiaofeng said carelessly: "It's okay, if you drink to death, you are a martyr, if you don't drink to death, you are earning money."

Having said that, I was still worried, thinking that I would have to go to the hospital for an examination when I had time, and changed the liquor to beer on the spot.

Less than half an hour after everyone drank, Lao Feng and Li Wanshan came, and everyone was familiar with them, so they sat down at the same table, added tableware, and ordered two more dishes.Immediately afterwards, Lao Deng also came, so he called Yanhua and Yanzi to join in the fun.

Everyone chattered about while drinking, and there was no clear theme, so what to talk about.First he talked about some current news, then he talked about political news, and then he talked about gossip in the entertainment industry.In short, everyone enjoys happy things, and criticizes uncomfortable and unaccustomed things.

Turning around and talking about drinking, Wang Ming said: "Who did you say researched this wine? You all know it's not a good thing, and you can't live without it."

Li Wanshan said: "You can't have a banquet without wine. Now you have to drink no matter what you do, and you can't do anything without drinking."

Xiaofeng and Li Wanshan were old friends, and they joked, "It looks like you've been drinking a lot of corrupt wine, and a village official like you should be arrested."

Everyone laughs.

Brother Liu said: "Who knows you, I drink it well, tell me to quit smoking, I can't quit drinking, I have to drink some every day, and I can sleep comfortably after drinking."

"Then you're okay, I can't drink alcohol, sometimes I don't want to, and I can't smoke." Li Ge said.

"If you want me to say that you can quit smoking, you can quit. There is no benefit at all. Drink less alcohol, it will relax the muscles and activate the blood, which is good for your health." Xiaofeng said.

Old Feng said slowly: "Well, I agree with what Xiaofeng said, smoking is not good at all, if you can't smoke, don't smoke, but you can't drink too much alcohol, drink less, two taels a meal, it is really good for your health. In addition, don’t try to persuade you to drink, drink as much as you can, don’t persuade anyone. There are many accidents caused by drinking, and if you die because of drinking, everyone who drank together will be responsible.”

Wang Ming said: "It's not a big deal. Don't try to persuade you to drink. This happened to Tiexi last month. The four of you drank together and drank one of them on the spot. It's going to die before you get to the hospital. The three of you will pay [-] yuan each." many."

Xiaofeng said: "This wine is expensive, more than [-] yuan, enough to drink for a lifetime."

Everyone laughed.

After laughing, Brother Liu said: "My friend who runs a winery can drink. When we went to the countryside, we were in a youth shop. I was a young man. He was big and thick, and his family was in good condition. He went home every month. , when you come back from home, you must bring wine. At that time, there was no food, just stew some tofu and drink it--now it is interesting to reflect on that time, young, don’t care about anything, don’t care about everything, he never Bring at most five catties of wine at home, and we can drink it in two meals."

Lao Feng said: "It wasn't always like that at that time, but at that time the wine was good, pure grain, and it didn't hurt people. Now wine? Hmph, it's all blended, it's good to drink, and you suffer after drinking it. People drink to death."

Brother Liu said with deep emotion: "That's not true, my eyes are just from drinking fake wine."

Li Wanshan said: "Today this wine is absolutely fine. Once you drink it, it is pure grain wine. There is nothing wrong with it. I will drink it in the future." Then he said to Lao Tan, "Old Tan, let's buy some of this wine, and the guests promise to like it."

Old Tan nodded in agreement.

Brother Liu said: "My friend told me when he gave it to me. It didn't blend at all. It would be better to drink something. It's not so spicy and it's smooth to drink."

Brother Liu's words reminded Lao Tan that when he was working at Laogen Villa, he had learned how to make health-preserving wine with Wang Lao, the original medicine box of the villa, and he made the wine after Wang Lao left.

In addition, Lao Tan really has the skill of making wine.

There is a five-guarantee household in their village, surnamed Zhang, who participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. He is from Shandong and has a stubborn temper. Even the mayor dares to scold him.The old man lives alone in the two earthen houses built by the village government. Because of his weird temper, few people go there.

Old Tan's father was willing to hang out with the old man when he was alive, and called the old man to eat at home during the New Year's festival. Although life was difficult at that time, no one would pick anyone. A widowed old man with no children can be called to celebrate the New Year together. It's enough to celebrate the holidays.

The children in the village were all afraid of the old man, maybe because Lao Tan had known the old man since he was a child, not only was he not afraid, but he was willing to get close to the old man.The old man likes to drink, and has an ancestral wine-making skill. Almost all the monthly subsidy money given by the Civil Affairs Bureau is used to make wine.

There are eight wine jars in the old man's small earthen hut, filled with various kinds of wine.There are donkey whip wine, bull whip wine, ginseng wine, apricot blossom wine, pear blossom wine, and peach blossom wine. The remaining two are medicinal wines mixed with several medicinal materials in proportion. The old man said that one can strengthen the body and the other can cure women's diseases.

Making wine requires raw materials, such as apricot blossoms, pear blossoms, and peach blossoms, which are picked up by Lao Tan when the fruit trees bloom in spring. The old man dried the flowers and soaked them with corresponding accessories. The brewed wine does have a floral fragrance. .

Later, the old man stopped doing it himself, and directed Lao Tan to make wine, and Lao Tan, who came and went, also learned to make wine.As for whether the old man's wine is effective or not, no one can say for sure. Old Tan remembered that the mayor's secretary and the old man would have a drink every six months.

The old man is in good health, with a rosy face and a childlike face with white hair. When he was 80 years old, the government worried that he would not be safe living alone, so he was sent to a nursing home.After that, the old man 85 died without a problem.

Brother Liu's friend's wine is really good, and it can be sold in the store. It would be even better if it was packaged and treated as store wine.Also, you can use it to make several kinds of health wine, and it is estimated that many people drink it.

Lao Tan thought about it in his heart, and not only had an idea.

(End of this chapter)