This stir-fried dish is the representative masterpiece of sichuan-style stir-fry: fish-fragrant shredded pork.
Starting with hot wok and cool oil, he covered the preliminary preparation of the various ingredients, the points to note in knife skills, and even the origins of the dish's development and the changes it had undergone in detail.
The flesh on Ma Hua's excited face kept twitching. He knew this was no perfunctory lesson—his Master was passing his true skills on to him!
As He Yuzhu stir-fried the dish, he watched Ma Hua's serious expression, and an ache welled up in his heart.
It seemed that different eras truly meant completely different fates. A promising, hardworking learner like Ma Hua would have been given priority training long ago in He Yuzhu's era.
But in 1961, he could only follow those traditional dregs, such as washing pots for three years and cutting ingredients for two, supposedly to temper one's character.
In reality, it was merely making a joke of young people's youth. It was nothing more than creating a lofty, untouchable status for the Master and making the young obey every command.
“Ma Hua, I can tell that you like learning. From now on, whenever I have time, I'll teach you every day. I'll strive to have you graduate from your apprenticeship in a year and stand on your own in two.”
Although He Yuzhu spoke lightly and his voice was not loud, to Ma Hua's ears it was practically like a thunderclap!
Anyone apprenticing in the Canteen had to spend at least two years merely cutting ingredients. After that, it still depended on the Master's mood; whether he taught the real techniques also depended on fate.
Today, however, it was obvious that Master intended to support him with all his strength and make him a formal head cook.
When that time came, he would also be qualified to participate in the mess hall cooks' grading. His wages, benefits, and status in the factory would rise by leaps and bounds!
“Thank you, Master! Thank you! I will definitely provide for you in old age and funeral rites!”
He Yuzhu was so amused by what he was stir-frying that he laughed aloud. In truth, he understood that this was merely the customary rhetoric of the old feudal master-apprentice system.
Back then, if a Master passed on his genuine skills to an apprentice, the apprentice treated him almost like his own father and had to provide for his Master in old age and funeral rites.
He Yuzhu said with a laugh, “I'm still so young. Besides, I'm about to get married and will have a son of my own. I won't need a filial son and grandson like you.”
“We're people of the new era now. We don't follow those feudal rites anymore. Don't say things like that in the future. I'm teaching you to cook because you have good character, so stop overthinking it.”
The more open-minded and indifferent He Yuzhu was, the more Ma Hua's gratitude became impossible to express in words!
In his heart, he had already regarded He Yuzhu as the benefactor of his lifetime. From now on, he would serve him through thick and thin and give his all, even through fire and water!
The fish-fragrant shredded pork was soon ready. It was also part of the day's luncheon reception, as Factory Director Yang was entertaining leaders from a sister factory.
Normally, the dishes would be carried out by dedicated Canteen servers, so there was no need for the head cook to handle it himself.
However, He Yuzhu carried this dish out on a tray himself, saying that he wanted to explain its origins to the leaders, and brought it to the reception room.
When he pushed open the door, he saw eight people seated around the table. All of them wore crisp mao suits, with fountain pens tucked into their breast pockets. There was no need to ask—they were all leaders.
Including the fish-fragrant shredded pork, there were only four dishes on the table, along with a large soup bowl containing nothing more than cucumber and egg soup.
Seeing this, He Yuzhu secretly sighed. Eight people eating four dishes and one soup was indeed rather shabby.
It seemed that in the early 1960s, supplies truly had become scarce to an extraordinary degree.
What he did not know was that in this era, being able to eat a few bites of meat and have as many large steamed buns as one wanted already counted as exceptionally high-level treatment.
Factory Director Yang was somewhat surprised to see He Yuzhu push open the door and enter.
“Master He, why did you bring the dishes in yourself? Where's the Canteen server?” Factory Director Yang asked in surprise.
“This dish is a little particular. I was afraid the server wouldn't be able to explain it clearly, so I brought it myself,” He Yuzhu said with a smile.
The factory directors became interested when they heard this. As the saying went, seeing a sight was not as good as hearing its story.
In other words, no matter how beautiful a scene was, one also needed to know its cultural origins; only then would the scenery gain several more layers of cultural depth.
The same applied to cooking and eating. Every dish had a long history and a story passed down to the present. Being able to listen to a story while eating a dish—that was true enjoyment.
“I didn't expect your factory's mess hall cook to be so cultured. Come, come, tell us about this dish.”
One of the factory directors beside him became interested. Hearing this, Factory Director Yang also said, “Then we'll trouble Master He to tell us about the origins of this dish.”
He Yuzhu had been fully prepared and spoke confidently: “The fish-fragrant flavor of fish-fragrant shredded pork is one of the cornerstones of sichuan cuisine. It was invented by the famous Sichuan chef Du Xiaotian.”
“The original version contained only shredded pork and scallions. Later, some chefs began adding embellishments—side dishes—with each having its own clever variations.”
“According to our local eating habits, we should have added some side dishes, but the Procurement Department couldn't buy any today no matter what, so I could only use the most traditional method.”
On the surface, He Yuzhu was discussing the dish, but in reality he was complaining that the Procurement Department could not acquire supplies. His implication was that if this continued, even a clever housewife would be unable to cook without rice.
Everyone present was a factory director, an outstanding person of that era. How could they fail to hear the deeper meaning in those few sentences?
“I say, Old Yang, you have it hard. You can still arrange several meat dishes for us at a time like this. To be honest, if you came to our factory, we'd probably only have cabbage stewed with tofu.”
“Isn't that the truth? It's too difficult to procure anything these days. The people in the Procurement Department aren't failing to work hard; there truly is nowhere to buy anything.”
Several factory directors began complaining, each voicing his own grievances.
He Yuzhu quietly listened from the side before suddenly saying, “I do have an idea. I know quite a few people in the nearby Hongxing Commune. I could go and see what I can do.”
“The Hongxing Commune mainly focuses on animal husbandry. Most of the meat, poultry, eggs, and vegetables in our city are supplied by them. Since the Procurement Department can't manage it, why not let me give it a try?”
Factory Director Yang was stunned, then said with a smile, “I never realized you had such connections. All right, when the time comes, we'll have the factory provide a vehicle, and you can give it a try.”
“The procurement prices are basically fixed as well. Use your own judgment, just don't go too far.”
It had to be said that Factory Director Yang was extremely quick-witted. Private procurement of this sort was essentially skirting the rules.
Every Commune would haggle endlessly with procurement personnel. Without some room to adjust the price flexibly, no one could get the job done, which was why he had put it that way.
“Got it. I'll go tomorrow. Also, I've already learned to drive this vehicle with the people from the Drivers' Team. I could have driven it long ago.”
“If the factory can help me take the driver's test and get a license, there'll be no need to send a driver. I can handle it myself.”
He Yuzhu's little scheme had been clattering away in his head for a long time. With an extra pair of eyes around during this sort of business, the truth would eventually be exposed.
If he could drive out to make the purchases himself, everything would be much more secure.
Factory Director Yang was even more astonished. He had never expected He Yuzhu to be practically a universal key—there was nothing he did not understand and nothing he could not do.
“All right. I'll make the decision on this. The factory will register you for a driver's test!”