541 Steamed Chinese Cabbage in Supreme Soup

Jessica shrugged. "I don't want to be biased against Chinese cuisine either, but I went to Ming House a few days before, and it didn't meet my expectations."

Elena was evidently frustrated. "I already told you that that's not the best Chinese cuisine in Jingzhou."

Jessica: "You were very disappointed as well, weren't you?"

Jia Nuo smiled without chiming in on the ladies' conversation. Just as planned, he served the dishes one by one according to the schedule.

The first dish was a small appetizer—the Four Seasons Cold Platter.

The Four Seasons Cold Platter contained four appetizers: pickled cucumbers, vegetarian goose meat, braised bamboo shoots, and candied plums. There was a variety of flavors in that one dish.

Immediately after that came the Lettuce-Wrapped Shrimp Floss. It was made by dicing and stir-frying fresh shrimp, onions, celery, and other ingredients; mixing them with golden, fried, and crispy dough sticks; and then wrapping them all with lettuce.

Then came the famous traditional dish—the Braised Pork Belly Pyramid.

Elena was very adept with her chopsticks while Jessica looked like she was struggling more. Still, that did not stop her from enjoying the delicacies.

Before serving the dishes, Jia Nuo introduced each of their special characteristics and other details in English. He had prepared the introductions well. They were short and sweet.

If they were too short, he would not be able to cover every detail hidden inside the dish. Yet, if they were too long, the customers' enjoyment of the dish would be affected.

After all, most Chinese cuisines had to be served warm. Once too much time passed, they would not taste as good. At the same time, customers could not be expected to divide their attention and listen to complicated processes and steps while eating the food.

Trying to achieve too much often resulted in customers not being able to enjoy the taste of the food or remember details in the introduction.

Thus, Jia Nuo had revised the contents of his introduction multiple times to make sure that he had a perfect grasp of the timing. That would ensure that customers understood each dish well enough and yet managed to enjoy their taste without interruptions.

As Elena listened to Jia Nuo, she nonchalantly touched the sides of the plates. The minute details determined one's experience of dining in high-end restaurants.

Some high-end restaurants that didn't pay enough attention to details would not even bother to check if all water droplets had been wiped off the goblets after washing them.

If they neglected to do that, just a little bit of dust in the surroundings would cause marks to be left behind after the water droplets dried.

Of course, very few high-end restaurants committed such mistakes these days.

Another common problem was the temperature of the plates.

Cold dishes had to be served on cold plates, and warm dishes had to be served on warm plates. If waiters were slow to serve the dishes, the plates would get cold, and the dish would have to be prepared from scratch.

Elena had already lightly touched the sides of the plates for the three dishes that had been served so far. At once, she could tell that the temperature of each plate was within the acceptable range. Everything has been well taken care of.

On top of that, Elena had been taking note of the plating.

Matching of shapes, blending of colors, and types of cutlery… all of it was like art. The chef could give each dish emotions and a soul through his plating. The plating of the last three dishes could be called works of art, and Elena was very satisfied.

On the other hand, Jessica did not know as much. All she knew was that the Chinese cuisine that she was having today was different from anything she had had before. It looked about the same, but for some reason, it felt so mystifying that she could not find the right words to describe it.

As Jessica ate, she exclaimed, "Is this Braised Pork Belly Pyramid one of the two complicated dishes that we ordered?"

Elena shook her head. "Apparently not."

She turned to Jia Nuo. "Lucas, the first few dishes were outstanding, but I've had all of them at other high-end restaurants before. Take the Four Seasons Cold Platter for example—I had it in an outstanding Chinese restaurant in Silicon Valley before.

"As for the Braised Pork Belly Pyramid, I had it at an elite private kitchen in Xiamen. Each has its own merits in terms of taste. You're not lacking compared to the other restaurants, but I'm not completely won over by you either."

Jia Nuo smiled. "Then, you must have had the next dish before as well; it's a Western dessert called Verjus in Egg."

Elena and Jessica looked at the dishes that had just been placed in front of them.

It was… an egg.

Jessica was confused. "Did you boil this egg using Verjus drizzled in water? Lucas, I recall you saying that this is a dessert."

Verjus was a rich and sour juice made from raw grapes. It was not common in countries outside of England, and ordinary people would not like it either. However, Jessica and Elena were obviously pleasantly surprised.

To provide a picture of how they felt, one could think of how those born and raised in Beijing would feel upon finding Beijing's orange soda in Silicon Valley.

Looking excited, Elena said, "Yes, this is a dessert. Everything on this plate can be eaten."

Jia Nuo smiled as he began his introduction of the dish. "I guess Miss Elena is familiar with this dish. This little 'egg' is a product of close to a hundred steps and over seventy ingredients."

Elena reminded Jessica, "Jessica, you had better eat the eggshell, the egg yolk, and the egg white together. The mixture of different flavors would be perfect."

Jessica tried a small mouthful of the dish, and her eyes immediately lit up.

"Oh, what a familiar taste! What are these egg-like things?"

Jia Nuo answered, "The egg white is coconut-flavored panna cotta; the egg yolk is Verjus cooked and boiled with spices; and the eggshell is chocolate. The 'birds nest' at the bottom is made from honey and syrup, and the surrounding embellishments are Kabosu jelly—a type of citrus-fruit unique to East Asian islands.

"This is an extremely complicated dish. Every step is akin to a science experiment. Accuracy and precision are required in every detail, including the preparation of ingredients.

"The chef must be extremely careful with the ratio of ingredients, the temperature of ingredients, heat applied, and the like. A single misstep, such as making it one or two degrees hotter or adding one or two additional grams of ingredients, could lead to failure."

Elena added, "Even in England, there are very few restaurants that can produce this dessert."

The dessert had obviously surpassed Jessica's expectations. Once again, she exclaimed, "It's delicious! Thank you for giving us this surprise. However… this dish strengthens my support for Western cuisine all the more."

Locals probably would not think that the dessert was that delicious. At most, they would wonder at the skills required, the dish's complexity, and its looks.

The egg's shell, white, and yolk looked extremely real. The shell, especially, looked no different from real eggshells—it was extremely thin.

However, the taste would not suit locals' taste buds because Verjus was too sour. Most people would not feel accustomed to it.

Still, it tasted just like home for Jessica.

There were meant to be two complex dishes, but the first had already raised Jessica's expectations through the roof. Elena could not help but worry if the next dish could live up to their expectations.

If it could not, it would not help Jessica to rid herself of her prejudices against Chinese cuisine. Although it would probably be delicious, the Verjus in Egg would still leave the deepest impression in Jessica's mind.

The waiter placed a flat bowl in the middle of the table.

Elena's eyes widened.

Inside the flat bowl were four or five pieces of leaves, spread out in the shape of a water lily. It was… cabbage?

The stalks and leaves did not look like they had been cooked at all. In fact, they looked raw. There was also clear soup in the pot with no hint of oil or color. All they could see was smoke. It looked no different from ordinary boiled water.

At first glance, the dish looked like someone had arranged raw cabbage in the shape of a water lily in the flat bowl before pouring boiling water on top of it.

Elena became doubtful. She knew that cabbage was one of the cheapest ingredients in the market. In fact, it was so cheap that people would describe cheap items as being sold at a 'cabbage price'.

Jia Nuo was in no hurry to introduce how the dish was prepared. Instead, he gestured at it and said, "This is Steamed Chinese Cabbage in Supreme Soup. Please try it before I introduce it to you."

Half-suspicious, Elena picked up a Cabbage leaf and put it into her mouth.

However, it did not taste cold and raw like she expected. Instead, it felt soft and tender in her mouth. Obviously, it was fully-cooked and yet surprisingly fresh. She had never tasted cabbage as refreshing and delicious as this before!

Then, Elena scooped a spoonful of soup. A delightful and indescribable taste stimulated her taste buds and took her breath away.

Jessica's face froze as well. Obviously, she had not expected this dish to taste so outstanding.

Smiling, Jia Nuo explained, "This dish is made using cabbage that has become compact and firm all the way through, which normally happens in late autumn, when the ground starts to frost up.

"Once the cabbage becomes firm, it has to be harvested immediately. We're not in the right season now, but we can achieve the same effect by controlling the surrounding temperature very well.

"Then, we removed the two outer layers, leaving only a fist-sized portion with white leaves and tender stems. After soaking the roots of the vegetable in a prepared stock so that it becomes soft, we peeled off four or five leaves and formed a water lily on top of a flat sieve.

"We then used a silver needle to pierce the heart of the cabbage repeatedly, covering the cabbage with pores that are invisible to the naked eye.

"For the soup, we chose a chicken that was neither too fat nor too tender. It could neither be too oily nor overcooked. The fats and insides of the chicken were scraped off before it was repeatedly washed with water to get rid of the blood.

"Then, we blanched the chicken in boiling water, moved it into pure, boiling water, and then added other ingredients like abalone slices and white mushroom shreds. The soup was left to simmer for four or five hours until it was tasty enough.

"Then, we took the whole chicken out and added chicken flakes to the soup to absorb the oil. Finally, we added the meat paste formed from the chicken breast into the soup, left it to boil, and then ran it through a fine sieve.

"Combining the soup and the cabbage was the most important step. We needed two separate fires and pots. One pot was to hold the sieve with the cabbage leaves on top while the other was to hold the well-prepared soup.

"The pot with the sieve was to be kept warm over low heat. The pot with the soup was to be kept over even lower heat, so that the soup could be maintained between seventy to eighty degrees Celsius. Everything had to be precise.

"After that, a large spoon was used to scoop the warm soup and pour it over the cabbage repeatedly. Once the soup was almost finished, the last bit was poured directly from the pot.

"Once the outermost layer of the cabbage was completely cooked and soft, it was placed inside a flat bowl, and more warm soup was slowly scooped into it. Only dishes prepared in this manner can be called Steamed Chinese Cabbage in Supreme Soup."