Cooking for great people, never putting soy sauce, and destroying the menu after meals
**'s chef has a puzzling habit of never putting a drop of soy sauce when cooking food for him. This peculiar habit has been going on for 22 years.
What's even more mysterious is that after each cooking, the chef always burns the menu as soon as it is finished to prevent anyone from seeing the contents. Why is that?
As a common condiment, soy sauce is normal to use in cooking, but why did this chef not let *** eat soy sauce for 22 consecutive years, and he was so afraid that the content of the menu would be seen?
Is there some secret hidden in this? Now let's follow along with ** to explore the answer to this question.
In 1954, during a field visit, many problems were identified that needed to be solved urgently. He convened local people in charge of these problems to work together to solve them.
In the heated discussion, time passed imperceptibly, and by the time everyone came up with a solution, it was already starry late at night. As a result of the focused discussion, they suddenly realize that they are hungry and tired.
** Looking at them distressedly, he ordered the secretary next to him to tell the cook to work overtime and let them eat first before going home. After receiving the order, the secretary immediately went to the chef's lounge to convey ***'s instructions.
However, problems arise. There was only one cook, and there were more than a dozen staff waiting for the meal, which was obviously too busy. In order not to make everyone wait too long, the chef approached the person in charge of the railway and asked him to find a helper for himself.
The person in charge of the railway attached great importance to this matter and immediately came to Cheng Ruming's house and asked him to help cook. Cheng Ruming is a chef on the railway, and after receiving the news, he immediately went to the chief's special train and got busy with the chef of the special train.
When the meal was ready, they brought it to the chief's car. Cheng Ruming thought it would be an unfamiliar leader, but he never expected that the person sitting in the carriage would be ***
Seeing that *** was right in front of him, Cheng Ruming was so nervous that his whole body stiffened, and he didn't even dare to say hello, so he could only be busy mechanically. * As careful as a hair, I could see at a glance that Cheng Ruming was very nervous, so I took the initiative to greet Cheng Ruming and talked cordially.
Looking at this unpretentious and kind-speaking chairman, Cheng Ruming gradually forgot about his nervousness.
Cheng Ruming, an ordinary chef, because of his skills, was brought to Beijing by the secretary to cook for ***. He had never thought he would get such an opportunity before, because he just wanted to find a job and support his family.
Cheng Ruming was born in the twenties of the last century, during a time of war and chaos, life was difficult, but Cheng Ruming was determined to be a chef since he was a child, and he wanted to stop people from starving.
He studied with his relatives and soon mastered the practice of Chinese and Western cuisines. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was favored by the Railway Bureau with his excellent cooking skills and provided food for foreign guests.
His cooking skills were recognized by everyone and he eventually became the best favorite chef. Cheng Ruming's experience tells us that as long as we have dreams and determination, we will be able to realize our own value.
Cheng Ruming's Western food prepared for foreign guests won unanimous praise from them, praising it as authentic and classic, just like the taste of their hometown. These praises made Cheng Ruming more confident and appreciated.
This also paved the way for him to later be selected as a chef on the *** special train. In the process of cooking for ***, Cheng Ruming learned that ***'s favorite dish is braised pork by constantly learning and understanding other chefs.
So, he made a big bowl of braised pork for *** according to his habits, and after seeing the braised pork, he was refreshed and tasted it with a smile. However, after eating the first bite, ** turned his chopsticks to the plate next to him and no longer touched the braised pork.
Cheng Ruming stood aside nervously observing ***'s reaction.
Looking at the chairman's actions, Cheng Ruming's heart beat faster, speculating whether the chairman only ate one bite because his braised pork was not to his taste. If the chairman doesn't like his craft, can he continue to cook for the chairman in the future?
Cheng Ruming's heart was full of questions, but he didn't dare to interrupt the chairman's meal, so he could only wait nervously on the sidelines. Fortunately, the chairman quickly discovered that something was wrong with Cheng Ruming, and he explained with a smile: "Xiao Cheng, don't get me wrong, I don't eat braised pork because you added soy sauce, I don't like to eat soy sauce very much, it's not that your skills are bad." ”
After listening to the chairman's explanation, Cheng Ruming breathed a sigh of relief. But a new question arose in his mind, why didn't the chairman like to eat soy sauce? Cheng Ruming visited the people in the back kitchen and finally learned the answer.
It turned out that the soy sauce at the chairman's home when he was a child was made by naturally fermenting soy beans in a large vat and fermenting them in an open field. This method all depends on God's face, and the soy sauce made is of different quality.
When he was a child, he was very curious about the rows of soy sauce tanks in his yard, so he opened the lid to see how the soy sauce was made.
When he lifted the lid of the soy sauce tank, he was stunned by what he saw. On the originally clear soy sauce, there was a layer of white stuff floating, and if you looked closely, it was actually a large piece of small white meat worms alive.
** has been timid since he was a child, and this impactful picture makes him shudder. From then on, he never touched soy sauce again. After Cheng Ruming found out, he also gave up the habit of putting soy sauce in dishes.
However, if the braised pork is not put in soy sauce, it loses its attractive red color and looks unappetizing. In order to restore the color of the braised pork, Cheng Ruming tried a lot of ingredients that could be colored, and finally found a way to maintain the color without changing the taste of the dish.
Since then, the braised pork made by Cheng Ruming has been appreciated every time. However, the good times did not last long, and our country experienced three years of natural disasters. Looking at the food shortage and disaster situation across the country, ** felt pain in my heart.
In order to save food, he set a rule for himself, as long as the disaster is not over, he will resolutely not eat meat, and even staple foods and vegetarian dishes must be rationed. Looking at the thinning *** Cheng Ruming, he was anxious.
In order to let him eat meat, he secretly bought lard from the market, refined it into meat oil, and mixed it with noodles to make scallion pancakes. In this way, you can satisfy the appetite of *** and will not be discovered.
The scallion pancake with meat oil has a sweet taste and has been praised by ***. However, paper can't contain the fire after all, and Cheng Ruming's small means were finally discovered.
The chairman severely criticized him and told him that the whole country was starving, how could he eat such a good thing?
Cheng Ruming understands the dietary requirements of ***, and he is conscientious as a chef and is committed to making *** eat better. Although he insisted on vegetarianism, Cheng Ruming did not give up, but turned to research the production of vegetarian dishes, and finally succeeded in innovating a delicious roasted chili, which was highly praised by ***.
However, Cheng Ruming is most proud of not the roasted chili, but the Wuchang fish that was written into the poem. **In 1956, he came to Changsha to fish and caught a Wuchang fish.
Although he was not hungry at the time, Cheng Ruming still kept it properly and made delicious Wuchang fish at his next meal. **After tasting, he was full of praise, and wrote in the poem "I drank the water of the Yangtze River and ate Wuchang fish".
Cheng Ruming is very proud of this, and he often tells others that the Wuchang fish in this poem is what he made for ***.
Cheng Ruming is strict in secrecy, and when he cooks for ***, even his family doesn't know who he serves. When he first arrived at the Juxiang Library, the guards told him that after each meal, the menu should be destroyed and no clues should be left.
Although Cheng Ruming was puzzled, he still obeyed the order and carefully destroyed the menu after every cooking. Later, Cheng Ruming asked the guard why he did this, and the guard told him that the menu might fall into the hands of the enemy, and by analyzing the contents of the menu, the enemy could learn about ***'s eating habits and physical condition, which could be used by the enemy.
After listening to the guard's explanation, Cheng Ruming paid more attention to the destruction of the menu, and personally disposed of the ashes of the menu every time to ensure the confidentiality of the eating habits. Because Cheng Ruming's secrecy work is done well, **'s eating habits have never been revealed.
In his later years, Cheng Ruming was asked about the proudest event in his life, and he replied without hesitation that being able to serve as a full-time chef for *** and cook food for him was the proudest thing in his life.
The close contact with *** made him deeply feel his greatness and difficulty, which made people admire.