Chapter 42: Ordinary Ingredients, Unusual Dishes

The onions that Xu Le chose were from Beijing. Moreover, they had to be fresh onions harvested from the ground after the frost descended and before the weather became frozen.

Only when the ground was covered in frost would the texture of the onions become more crisp and delicious. Only such onions could be considered high-grade onions.

The onions were very thick, about two centimeters thick. Xu Le peeled off the outer skin of the onions, leaving only the white parts. Then, they were cut into about six centimeters long.

Everyone in the kitchen was focused on Xu Le.

In the program team of Taste of China, from the director to the cameraman, from the producer to the lighting staff, and even the accompanying staff who were in charge of arranging accommodation, all of them were interested in delicious food.

There were even two gourmet consultants in the team, both of whom were chefs from Beijing Hotel.

At this moment, everyone was focused on Xu Le.

They wanted to know the taste of this long-lost dish, stewed onions, that originated from Mr. Wang Shixiang.

“These onions are really not bad.”

Xu Le muttered softly.

The onions were not prepared by him, but were brought over by the program team. However, it just happened to meet the strict requirements of [Stewed Onions].

Xu Le took a pot and added some vegetable oil into it. He then heated it with a small flame.

Xu Le, who was standing by the hot stove, felt a little tired.

After all, he had been busy in the kitchen for the entire day. That day was the first day of the opening of the [8-year-old canteen], and the business in the restaurant was exceptionally busy.

For the entire day, the shop was packed.

The ingredients that Xu Le had prepared in advance ran out halfway through, so he hurriedly called the supplier to send him another batch.

Meanwhile, Xu Le was still trying to sustain himself.

Because he knew that being able to be participate in the filming of Taste of China was a very rare opportunity.

This was the most famous food documentary in China. Every episode would have tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of views.

Being filmed by this program would further increase his popularity.

Furthermore, Xu Le also wanted this Chinese cuisine to spread widely so that the whole world could see what Chinese cuisine was like!

This dish, Stewed onions, was such a dish.

With the theme of this episode, “the original taste of food”, Xu Le wanted to show the audience the charm of Chinese cuisine.

There was no need for special cooking or expensive and precious ingredients.

Even ordinary onions and shrimps could still produce a wonderful taste after being cooked skillfully.

This was the charm of cooking.

This was the essence of the Chinese people’s wisdom!

In this world, there were three universally acknowledged cuisines: Chinese, French, and Turkish. There was a reason for this.

China has vast land and abundant resources. There are 56 ethnic groups on its 9.6 million square kilometers of land.

The water and soil of the various lands were different, the climate of the various lands were different, the habits of life were different, the beliefs were different, and the crops were different. All of this led to the richness of food and drinks on this land.

In China, there were eight famous cuisines and countless other local cuisines. The richness of the Chinese food could be said to be rare even across the world.

Even the Chinese might not have a comprehensive understanding of Chinese cuisine.

Hence, Xu Le also wanted to use this show to promote Chinese food.

Or even…

After his influence increased, Xu Le also wanted to shoot a program like this and let the whole world experience the charm of Chinese cuisine!

Half a minute later, the oil in the pot had already heated up to medium hot and was bubbling slightly. At this moment, Xu Le turned the stove to a medium fire and added some garlic to the pot.

After the fragrance of garlic was released, Xu Le placed the chopped onions into the pot.

There was a lot of oil in the pot, and now the onions were completely soaked in hot oil.

A sizzling sound came from the pot.

Following that, the unique fragrance of onions filled the entire kitchen.

Before any seasoning was used, the onions were already emitting fragrance at the right oil temperature.

A minute and a half later, the onions started to glow with a golden color.

“Flip the sides!”

Xu Le’s eyes were fixed on the onions in the pot. When he felt that it was almost 30% cooked, he flipped the onions over and sprinkled a spoonful of salt.

After flipping the onions, he cooked for another one and a half minutes.

Then, he flipped them over again…

One must know that the temperature of the upper and lower layers of the oil pot were completely different.

Cooking at different temperatures could achieve completely different effects and ripeness.

This was the reason why Xu Le kept flipping the onions up and down.

After continuous flipping, he could accurately control the ripeness of the onions.

Xu Le sprinkled some white sugar and salt into the pot and then took out a seasoning that no one had expected—white wine.

“After the white wine evaporates, it will not leave any fragrance behind. Instead, the sweet taste of the white grapes will blend into this dish. It will not overshadow the main ingredient, but will instead stimulate the fragrance of the onions.”

“It looks like I have placed these onions in a pot of oil to deep fry.”

“But in reality, that’s not the case. During the cooking process, the oil pot needs to reach a very high temperature. In other words, it needs boiling hot oil.”

“However, the dish [Stewed Onion] is completely different. I’ve been controlling the temperature of the oil in the entire pot to not be too high, maintaining it at around 70 degrees Celsius. Therefore, although it looks like it’s being deep fried, it’s actually more like being ‘stewed’!”

When Xu Le said this, everyone looked enlightened.

His words resolved everyone’s doubts.

Especially Mr. Cai Lan, he couldn’t help but applaud.

“Amazing! Too amazing!”

The old man’s eyes were shining when he discovered the cooking method of such a rare dish. This surprise was as exciting as an ordinary person suddenly winning a five million lottery!

“So this is the true meaning of stewed onions!”

When Cai Lan had read about this dish in a book, he had also tried to make it at home. However, no matter how he tried, the taste of this dish was never right.

It tasted like deep fried onions, with the texture very crisp and raw. It didn’t have the soft and melted taste recorded in books at all.

Now… he finally understood.

The onions were not deep fried in oil, but stewed with oil.