Xiao's resume:
Ai Guangfu studied under Hu Baozhen, the founder of halal roast duck.
He is not only good at stewing roast duck, but also innovated and developed the "Palace Roast Duck" in the 1990s, which won the national patent certification in one fell swoop.
While learning roast duck from Hu Ya, Ai Guangfu also learned cooking from Yong Yang, a Muslim chef.
As a chef for more than 60 years, Lao Ai not only worked in Youyishun, Hongbin Building and Hui Zhen Building, but also served as the chef of the China delegation to the United Nations and the head chef of the Muslim restaurant of the Beijing Asian Games.
During the interview with Lao Ai, he discussed with us the "five misunderstandings of Peking Duck nowadays", which benefited a lot, so I will list them for you one by one.
First, roast duck is sold according to the theory of "only" and "set". Is this fair to diners?
Duck embryos are priced by weight when they are purchased, but when they are sold to diners, they are sold on the basis of "only" regardless of the size of the ducks. Ducks, like other animals, can't have exactly the same weight. Roast duck is expensive now, and each roast duck is several hundred yuan. A slight weight difference is unfair to consumers. Lao Ai thinks this is a typical overlord clause in the catering industry.
Second, can lotus leaf cakes that have been left for several months be delicious?
Generally, there are lotus leaf cakes, lotus leaf clips and hollow sesame cakes. With roast duck, but cake is still the staple food. Northerners are used to eating pancakes, and the process of making cakes has lasted for thousands of years. As we all know, all cakes are freshly made and delicious. Lotus leaf cake is hot, soft and fragrant, and crispy roast duck is a must.
But now, in order to save costs, most merchants give up the practice of baking lotus leaf cakes by hand and directly buy a large number of fast-food lotus leaf cakes pressed by machines at one time. This lotus leaf cake is frozen and sealed for a long time, and its taste is far from that of manual baking.
Fast-food lotus leaf cakes have high profits and are profiteering commodities. However, in terms of taste and nutrition, does this kind of food add or subtract points to the famous roast duck at home and abroad?
3. Cucumber strips are used to clean the mouth and should not be rolled up?
After the roast duck was introduced to Beijing from the south, it blended the technique of "pancakes with green onions" in Shandong and added yellow sauce. However, the yellow sauce was too salty, and then it was slowly replaced by flour sauce, which was one of the three treasures in Baoding. It was naturally fermented and slightly sweet.
In the continuous evolution, the seasoning and food collocation of roast duck have changed greatly. But traditionally, cucumbers are only eaten in winter and cannot be rolled into cakes with roast duck. In winter, when the weather is dry, diners will inevitably feel greasy after eating the roast duck with noodle sauce. At this time, take a few mouthfuls of fragrant cucumber strips just to clear your mouth.
If cucumber and duck meat are rolled together in the cake, it will not increase the freshness, but will reduce the taste of duck meat and even have a fishy smell.
Fourth, the more sliced duck onion, the thinner it is. Is it hard to please?
Traditional roast duck pays attention to "one-word onion", that is, all coarse onions are six petals and all fine onions are four petals, forming a "one-word" onion strip.
The onion strips are fresh and crisp, and the onion flavor is rich. The thickness of onion strips and the collocation of duck meat should complement each other. Now, the thinner the onion shreds, the less onion flavor. As we all know, the thinner the onion, the easier it is to bite, and the fact that the duck meat is not broken will inevitably affect the dining experience of diners.
In addition, the onions used in different seasons are also different. From the Spring Festival to April, the onions that didn't grow in the first year were used. After hibernating for a winter, the whole onion is yellow, the leaves are green and the taste is particularly good. From April to May, choose green onions. You can cut it into "daffodil onions", that is, cut it vertically for three times and put it in water to smell the grass. It will automatically roll, as beautiful as daffodils; Use ditch onions from June to September; Green onions are used at other times of the year, which is the "high foot white" in Shandong.
Fifth, should the duck rack soup after dinner be thick soup?
Usually, after eating roast duck, merchants will cook duck rack soup with the duck rack of the roast duck eaten by diners, but now the duck rack soup is as white as milk and sticky as a bowl of thick soup.
Lao Ai recalled that duck rack soup used to be very fresh, and seasonal vegetables were added in the later stage of cooking, usually radish slices in spring, cucumber slices in summer, wax gourd slices in autumn and Chinese cabbage in winter.
When there are many meat dishes such as roast duck, this bowl of duck rack soup can relieve boredom. The thick duck rack soup not only makes diners tired, but also has unreasonable nutrition and is unsanitary.