Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Chapter 1197 573: Basic Common Knowledge

The three of them, Qin Huai and company, spent four entire days at Jiang Weiguo's house indulging in a full pork feast.

By the end of it, Qin Huai felt that it wasn't just a pig feast; it must have been seventy-two different ways to eat pork. Jiang Weiguo's research into pork dishes was deeper than Qin Huai had imagined. Qin Huai even suspected that the variety of pork dishes Jiang Weiguo could make exceeded the number of snacks he could make. Four days, eighteen dishes each day, and not a single repeat dish.

One can only say that the versatility of pork is truly formidable.

The number of people joining the meals was also increasing daily.

At the last meal, Qin Huai looked at the round table filled to the brim, and at Jiang Weiguo's five robust sons, deeply understanding why Jiang Weiguo always made such large portions when cooking, and why their plates were so big.

He also understood why Jiang Feng was so happy during the first meal.

This unlucky grandson ate the most on the first day, able to eat whatever he wanted. As the days went by and the other Jiang Family members joined the table, Jiang Feng could no longer snag the best dishes. If it weren't for his uncles occasionally letting him have some, Qin Huai suspected that the boy wouldn't get a single piece of the popular dishes.

After the last meal, Jiang Weiguo asked An Youyou for her address, indicating he would send the leftover pork to Shan City for An Youyou to slowly enjoy. If An Youyou needed any in the future, when the Jiang Family slaughtered pigs, Jiang Weiguo would save a portion for her. There might not be much of Da Hua, but she could choose freely among Er Hua, San Hua, Si Hua, and Wu Hua. If she wanted a few pig's feet, she could have them.

An Youyou was extremely moved, feeling that though Thirteen was poor, he was just as righteous as he had been back in the day. The family only had those few pigs, yet they still thought of giving her some meat when they slaughtered them.

By the way, during these four days, Jiang Weiguo barely spoke about anything related to himself. Mostly, it was Grandma Jiang doing the talking. Of course, Jiang Weiguo was not entirely silent; he talked quite a bit with Qin Huai about everything related to pork.

It really was just about pork, and couldn't even be considered culinary talk, given that Qin Huai had very limited skills with meat cooking. There's a big difference in how pork is prepared between meat cooking and pastry. Take diced meat, for example: using the same diced meat for bun filling and braised pork involves completely different concepts.

Qin Huai wasn't adept at meat cooking, and Jiang Weiguo wasn't skilled with pastry, but that didn't prevent them from having conversations about pork. As Jiang Weiguo put it, his father was an excellent cook, but he didn't learn much from him.

Aside from the good foundation he laid during childhood, much of his culinary skills were learned while traveling far and wide, following different masters from all over.

If one could say Qin Huai started off as a self-taught cook, later discovered by a master and gradually receiving formal culinary education, then Jiang Weiguo might be considered professionally trained, but due to wartime and survival needs, was forced to become a self-taught cook.

Jiang Weiguo's proficiency in pork dishes can also be simply explained: during his long culinary career spanning much of a century, pork was the most 'premium' ingredient he had access to.

There's nothing else to it, just familiarity through practice.

Whether it was working odd jobs in a restaurant, being a head chef in a state owned restaurant, or doing banquets for extra money, the major dishes and meat dishes Jiang Weiguo made the most were pork dishes, and due to economic and ingredient constraints, Jiang Weiguo often didn't have the luxury of choice in ingredients; basically, he cooked with whatever was available.

If there were offal, he'd make offal dishes; if there was pork belly, he'd make pork belly dishes; if there were ribs, he'd make ribs; if there was elbow, he'd make elbow.

Qin Huai felt that Jiang Weiguo's understanding of the ingredient pork even surpassed his culinary skills.

When talking to Qin Huai about pork, Jiang Weiguo would occasionally mention things from the past. He'd talk about how, when he was young and full of aspirations, he thought he would one day save enough money to buy Taifeng Building and return to Beiping. Back then, he would travel far and wide, learning from local masters as a named disciple, studying famous dishes and grand cuisines.

After reaching middle age, Jiang Weiguo began to gradually resign to his fate, rarely mentioning going to Beiping, nor hoping to go there anymore. At that time, he felt that even if buying back the restaurant was just a pipe dream, at least he had five sons, and if they could all inherit his craft and promote Jiang Family Cuisine, then Jiang Weiguo would have lived up to his ancestors.

By the time he reached old age, Jiang Weiguo no longer held any hope for his five sons. The most talented eldest son had ambitions elsewhere, and his third son, who inherited his mantle, seemed to have reached his limit.

Yet at that time, Jiang Weiguo still held a sliver of hope for his four grandsons and two granddaughters. He thought it didn't matter if his sons weren't ambitious, as long as his grandchildren were; after all, he was healthy and had the time to train them.

As the grandchildren one by one became lazier and more evasive, the better they did in their studies, the only one who had developed a solid foundation over the years was the youngest grandson, and now he had to go back to school to attend high school and college entrance exams. Jiang Weiguo had already lost all hope.

What skills to pass down? Best just to live honestly in the countryside raising pigs.

Facing Qin Huai, this young man, Jiang Weiguo couldn't help but sigh, feeling that truly the times have changed. Back then, he had no choice. With the family craft, he naturally had to choose it; even in chaotic times, being a chef was still a prime occupation.

Now it's different. Nowadays, kids have choices; they can learn a craft or study. They can choose what they want to do. Jiang Weiguo isn't considered an open-minded elder, but he didn't want to force his children and grandchildren to learn cooking, understanding that forced learning yields no results, thus he's reluctantly open-minded.