In the middle of last month, when Shanghai was warm and cold in early spring, the national special restaurant "Green Wave Gallery" on the banks of the Jiuqu Bridge in Yuyuan Garden welcomed a distinguished guest, King Sihamoni of Cambodia. Responsible for the reception of the day's luncheon was Lu Yaming, general manager of Green Wave Gallery. Just 48 years ago, it was Lu Yaming's father, Su Bang Dim sum giant Lu Goudu, who made an evocative Chinese dim sum for Sihamoni's father, Prince Sihanouk, and a series of exquisite dim sums won the praise of "a little feast in the world", and even contributed to the "birth" of the Green Wave Corridor.
Downwind leaves, eyebrow crisp, date paste, gourd crisp, sydney pear fruit... Nowadays, the acclaimed state-level delicacies can be tasted by citizens and tourists in the Green Wave Corridor, how are these popular state-level snacks created and baked? How are these "taste" arts passed on and innovated? Lu Yaming, one of Asia's top ten celebrity chefs and a master of Chinese cooking, said that it depends on "heart".
Wow the King's Chinese dim sum
6 cold dishes, 4 hot dishes, 10 dim sum, this time for the King of Sihamoni to prepare a luncheon, Lu Yaming did not completely copy the 1973 "King's menu", but integrated tradition and innovation: Small dumplings, jujube paste, eyebrow crisp, Ningbo tangyuan These are the dim sum made when receiving Prince Sihanouk 48 years ago, black truffle crisp lotus tender beef with vegetable buns, orange chrysanthemum rich fish with downwind leaves, etc. are the "sleet" dishes that combine tradition and innovation (Note: dim sum sandwiched with dishes are jointly launched, Folk customarily known as "sleet"), and the gourd crisps, pear fruit, walnut balls and koi fish presented on the four-spice dot platter are all "miniature snacks" that are not on the old menu.
After the meal, when Lu Yaming asked King Sihamoni "whether today's dishes and dim sum are suitable for taste", the king used the word "amazing": "Amazing!" Every dish, delicious and beautiful, I can't eat it, next time I want to come! The king said with a smile.
The same praise happened nearly half a century ago. On February 19, 1973, Prince Sihanouk and his wife visited Shanghai Yu Garden. Before coming to Shanghai, Prince Sihanouk had tasted 12 dim sum dishes at the Confucius Temple in Nanjing, and in order to let the prince experience the delicious taste of Haipai cuisine, the "elite soldiers" of many restaurants in the Yuyuan Garden were specially selected, including Lu Goudu, a Subang dim sum taidou, as well as famous chefs such as Zhou Jinhua and Xie Chichuan. At that time, with the concerted efforts of the masters, 14 small and exquisite "miniature snacks" were baked. Prince Sihanouk was full of praise after tasting it, and that night the chefs were informed that he wanted to send two more boxes of each variety by 10 a.m. the next morning.
Lu Yaming said that compared with 1973, when materials were relatively scarce, the abundance of materials now gave food a greater choice and gave room for delicious innovation. "Like this vegetable bun, the core chooses seasonal grass heads, with bamboo shoots and matsutake mushrooms, rather than traditional vegetables but the green vegetables that have been 'put on the market' in the season, so as to ensure that the taste is delicious and crisp."
To make a snack, you must have two "hearts"
Buns are Lu Yaming's "unique skills". "If the bun can be done well, basically more than half of the Chinese dim sum can be done." Lu Yaming said with emotion that he came to Shanghai from his hometown of Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, when he was 16 years old, and "replaced" his retired father and entered the Green Wave Corridor to work. Learning to do dim sum and play the basic skills, Lu Yaming started by rolling out the bun skin and making buns. "At that time, the third floor of the store was a dormitory, and I got up very early every day and went downstairs to the kitchen counter to start making noodles and rolling skins." Lu Yaming said that when doing apprenticeships, others make buns, and even if the agreed number is wrapped, it is a difference, but he does not seek speed, and what he thinks in his mind is whether each package of a bun can be better than the previous one. "Every week I pick one that I think is the best, compare it to the one I picked last week, and see if there's any improvement in quality." Lu Yaming said that although the bun is ordinary and common, in addition to the taste, the appearance pays attention to the neat and delicate pattern, the mouth is flat, and the overall roundness is full.
It is said that opportunities are good for those who are prepared, in the early 1990s, Lu Yaming, who was just old enough to compete, participated in the first World Culinary Competition. First with the "family" competition in the restaurant, and then to the Yu garden area for cooking competition, and then to the district level, municipal selection, Lu Yaming rushed all the way to the final, and finally won the gold medal in the dim sum category with vegetable buns and eyebrow puff pastry. At that time, after the judges tasted the taste, they also took a ruler to measure the eyebrow puff pastry made by Lu Yaming, and the pattern intervals on the puff pastry were exactly the same, not different.
"The most important thing in making dim sum is two 'hearts', one is the filling core, and the other is the heart." In the interview, this sentence was mentioned by Lu Yaming many times. "Like the filling core of jujube paste, we use the best black dates, which must be made after 10 hours of burning, stewing, 3 hours of stir-frying, and more than 5 hours of pitting and stirring." Lu Yaming said with deep experience that such "not afraid of trouble" is what remains is the classic taste. The "eyebrow crisp" shaped like an eyebrow, the layers of crispness on the taste, come from the unique ingenuity of the dough making process: water, oil, flour, oil crisp, wrapped together, wait until the oil crisp, layer out, and then roll out the skin... A process takes nearly three hours to prepare, "every link is the key, to do it with heart!" ”
State-level dim sum is brought to the customer's table
As the son of a generation of famous teachers, Lu Yaming has many interesting memories of his father. Among them, what impressed him was that when he was a child, his father would mysteriously "disappear" for a period of time, and when he came home, he would bring a variety of novel snacks, delicious and good-looking, which really made his eyes shine. This also influenced him to enter the industry in the future, and he had a dedication to the continuous innovation of dim sum.
What kind of food can make people "want to come after eating"? How is "King's Menu" memorable? Lu Yaming said that every time he receives an important event, he will bring such thinking with him and start innovating on the basis of traditional classics.
The "Lotus Rhyme Set Point", which can now be ordered by the public in the Green Wave Gallery, debuted at the welcome dinner of the first CIIE in 2018. This set of dots consists of two parts, the three-flavor lotus root crisp and the carp dumplings, "The inspiration for the lotus rhyme comes from the Nine-Curved Bridge and the Lotus Pond, and the connotation of the dim sum is an update to the traditional filling core." Lu Yaming said that the decorations on the plate are lotus leaves and lotus flowers made of spinach juice and dragon juice, just like a beautiful Chinese painting, in the nearly 8 cm long lotus root crisp, they are wrapped in pretzel cashews, jujube egg yolks, orange peel walnuts, one bite after another, let people not forget the "mouth".
At the CICA Summit to customize the development of "Lady Set" for the first ladies of various countries, Lu Yaming led a team of dim sum chefs to conduct research and analysis on the cultural background, personal preferences, taste preferences, etc. of the heads of state' wives, and after repeated experiments, finally determined the "Lady Set of Things as Expected" composed of gourd crisp, longevity peach, downwind leaves, and mini dumplings. "Like 'Downwind Leaf', spinach juice is used to tone, which means that guests come from far away, come smoothly and smoothly, and return smoothly and smoothly." While pinning on the beautiful meaning, dim sum not only retains the charm of traditional dim sum, but also brings in fashion elements. "We do not pursue the expensive and rare ingredients, but pay attention to the inheritance of craftsmanship and the novelty of taste, while implying good wishes in delicious beauty." Lu Yaming said with emotion.
In Lu Yaming's view, food should have vitality, so that ordinary people can also eat. Nowadays, the "Lotus Rhyme Set" for entertaining overseas VIPs, as well as the "Lady Set", as well as the crab shell yellow, tangyuan and other state banquet snacks on the "King's Menu" 48 years ago, have not been "shelved", and after development, they have been put on the menu of the Green Wave Corridor and served on the table of ordinary consumers.
"The Green Wave Gallery is being upgraded and renewed, and we will continue to design and develop new delicacies in the future." Lu Yaming said with a smile that unlike before, the development of delicious food now not only to meet the tastes of customers, but also to make people's mobile phones "full" and the circle of friends "satisfied". And the "leader" of the green wave gallery is also constantly trying new things, and recently often does "anchor" on the cloud, through the digital platform, teaches everyone how to make state banquet dim sum, and outputs the delicious and feelings carried by the old brand to more food lovers online
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