Meet Cui Di, who swapped a prestigious academic path for a chef's apron!
After earning her master's, she boldly chose culinary school, embracing the romance of cooking.
Her mission? To elevate Chinese cuisine on the global stage through innovative fusion!
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After earning her master's, she boldly chose culinary school, embracing the romance of cooking.
Her mission? To elevate Chinese cuisine on the global stage through innovative fusion!
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
Category
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm Cui Di. I got 651 points in the college entrance exam.
00:03I graduated from Tongji University.
00:07I went to Switzerland to study hotel management.
00:09How long does it take to eat sweet and sour pork?
00:11Are the shrimps ready? Can I bring the shrimps?
00:12When I came back, I asked my mom if I could learn how to cook in Xindongfang.
00:16Is the fire on?
00:17My mom said, no.
00:20It's not sour enough.
00:21I said, yes. I just want to be a cook.
00:31Xindongfang
00:34Hello, friends.
00:35We are now in a food street in Shanghai.
00:37I'm sure you've heard the saying, life is not a track, it's a mine.
00:42But we're about to visit Cui Di.
00:44She's the first person I've ever met who does this.
00:48Cui Di.
00:49Hello.
00:50Hello.
00:51We've talked before.
00:52I'm a little busy now.
00:53You can sit down and wait for me.
00:55Okay.
00:56Are you cooking boiled rice noodles?
00:59Are you kidding me?
01:00I don't know.
01:05My voice is hoarse.
01:06Why are you still shouting?
01:08It's so annoying.
01:09I'm going to turn a blind eye here.
01:12This is pineapple shrimps.
01:14You can try it.
01:16This is shrimp and beef hot pot.
01:18This is Lao Nan Yang.
01:19In fact, the restaurant is responsible for everything related to the kitchen.
01:26Chef is actually a job that can be done by hand.
01:29The chef will be more demanding, right?
01:31One is your management ability.
01:33You need your family to listen to you.
01:35And then the other one is that you have to make sure that the dishes you cook are loved by the guests.
01:39Your restaurant won't close down because of the chef you cook.
01:43Just put it here?
01:44Yes, just put it on the table.
01:46Are these all local dishes?
01:48Except for the one we just bought, this is the mushroom that Yunnan picked yesterday.
01:53And then there's Cui Shao from Guizhou.
01:56Because of the development of logistics, you can buy ingredients from all over the country in one day.
02:01That's why I want to do a fusion dish of the eight dishes.
02:06I'm making a fusion creative dish now.
02:11Fusion creative dish?
02:13Yes.
02:14Have you heard of it?
02:16No, I haven't.
02:19The white-bearded old man on the phone with Cui Di is the Taidou of the Sichuan cuisine world in China.
02:23Liu Dadong is also Cui Di's mother's master.
02:27It's just to improve some of these traditional dishes.
02:31And then it's in line with the preferences of young people now.
02:35That's right.
02:36This development is wrong now.
02:38In the past, we used fat, fat, high sugar, high protein.
02:41It doesn't work anymore.
02:43You said that fusion was the best.
02:45It's good for your health.
02:51Why fusion dishes?
02:52In fact, it has a lot of strange sounds.
02:53Because it's really too casual.
02:55All the dishes, all the ingredients, all the cooking techniques can be used in one product.
03:01What are you doing?
03:03Now I'm thinking about some of the inspirations for the special menu of the National Day.
03:08And then I'll see if there's anything I can borrow from some of the dishes I've made before.
03:11A little bit.
03:14What Cui Di is after is far more than the exquisite fusion of Chinese cuisine.
03:19He wants to go on a gastronomic adventure across the Middle East.
03:24What I'm presenting here is a modern seafood restaurant.
03:27Because I found that their restaurant doesn't seem to have a Chinese-style pot, right?
03:32Yes.
03:33The Chinese-style pot is also a method that I really want to explore when I come to China.
03:39In the world of food, the iron pot of Chinese cuisine is a unique existence.
03:44He is willing to stir-fry his own Chinese cooking skills.
03:50When foreign chefs come to Chinese food, the first thing they think when they go back is,
03:53Can we have a firecracker here?
03:56They really appreciate it.
03:57The biggest feature of Chinese food is stir-fry.
04:00It's very different from Western food.
04:02Yes, in fact, the core of Chinese food is the knowledge of stir-fry.
04:06The speed of stir-frying can reach a very high temperature.
04:08Within a few seconds, there is a wonderful chemical reaction.
04:11Next to the stove is a seasoning pot.
04:13No one will eat ice cream while cooking.
04:16He said, look, it's very simple.
04:18A spoonful of flour.
04:19He took a big spoon.
04:20A spoonful of milk powder.
04:21He changed to a small spoon.
04:23I said, I understand.
04:24No wonder I can't learn.
04:27A little bit of salt.
04:28Right amount of green onion and ginger.
04:29Half a spoonful of sugar.
04:30Only a Chinese chef who knows how to cook can understand the mystery of Chinese food.
04:36In fact, when I first started working, my chef told me that
04:40Europeans admire Japanese cooking skills.
04:43They said that Japan has been ahead of Europe for ten years.
04:46He also said that China may be ahead of Japan.
04:49It's just that no one in China has turned this technology into a language that can be used all over the world.
04:55Chinese food culture is very deep.
05:00I think this is what I want to present to everyone.
05:06I actually think I am a person who pursues romance.
05:10I think cooking is quite romantic.
05:13So much oil in the kitchen.
05:14Romantic.
05:15You think what others don't understand is romantic.
05:19He is also a kind of rebellion, I think.
05:22Come on, let's eat together.
05:23Let's eat.
05:24Let's eat together.
05:25Come on, sit down.
05:26Sit down.
05:28Oh, so obedient.
05:30What do you think has changed in Chinese food as a chef?
05:37I think Chinese people used to eat more carbs on the table.
05:42For example, rice and noodles.
05:45But now I think it's better to have a balanced diet.
05:50I think it's more nutritious.
05:54Cui Di's study of Chinese New Year dishes finally chose dumplings.
05:58This time, I thought about making dumplings with green pepper and potato stuffing.
06:02Now we are making the blue part of the dumpling skin.
06:07This is a blue dye made with butterfly pea flowers.
06:11The most impressive thing is that I ate a dumpling made with potato stuffing made by my grandmother.
06:17Because I have never eaten potato dumplings in other places.
06:19I think everyone in every era is on the bed.
06:21Hello, how are you?
06:22Hello.
06:23Are you full?
06:24We also made a green pepper dumpling for the National Day.
06:27Are you preparing for the National Day?
06:29Yes.
06:33In Cui Di's smile, we captured the profound change of Chinese taste buds.
06:38From eating well to eating well.
06:40From inheriting tradition to embracing innovation.
06:43The direction of food is also the yearning of tens of millions of Chinese people for a better life.
06:48Happy National Day!