Food starts with Mapo Tofu

Chapter 490 Fifteen Centuries Are So Long

The reason why the meat is called the meat is because in ancient times, when buying meat, you didn’t buy it wherever you wanted, whether it was pork belly or hind legs, or front legs. Well, there are only so many of them every day, if they are not sold out, they will stink the next day.

That is, it is slightly better in winter.

But even so, sometimes if you go late, you can only pick out what others left, and even if you go later, you may not even be able to find a whole piece of meat, so you can only buy some scraps to go back.

For some poor people, the price of buying large pieces of meat is naturally high, and those leftover butchers will also dispose of them at a low price, but if you buy only pieces of minced meat, it doesn’t look good, so the store will sell these pieces of meat All tied up with cattail grass.

But the leftovers are different in fat and lean. Some have more fat and some have more lean. Where there is a lot of fat, a piece of lean meat needs to be pasted. If it is all lean meat, some fat must be pasted on it.

And the weight of each piece of meat has to be about the same. After all, not everyone can eat meat to their full, and they can only buy such a piece to go back to eat meat.

But later on, this approach became a sign, whether it is a whole piece of meat or loose meat, it will be tied together.

This is the origin of the meat.

And Chen Nian also remembered that the famous food documentary "A Bite of China" also introduced this dish, saying that it is a coolie dish from Yuncheng Wharf. It is delicious, but it is too salty.

As for some local merchants now interpreting the meat as the meat eaten when worshiping the master, it is also specific that after the three of Liu Guanzhang became sworn brothers in Taoyuan, it was to celebrate the worship of the master, so they made this kind of meat to eat, that is pure nonsense , and even some stores will write it as target meat, which is even more outrageous.

And Chen Nian also thinks that there is a certain reason why the meat is tied up. Not only does it have an ancient meaning, but also the fat and thin of this kind of meat are easy to separate after stewing. If it is tied up, it can be kept forever. A whole.

In addition, if the meat is stewed rotten, it is inconvenient to take it out. There is a knot, and the meat can be picked up by holding the knot.

It is much easier to cut thick slices than thin slices, so it is very easy to cut these meats and tie them with ropes, and put them neatly aside.

The thickness of each piece of meat is basically the same, and the size is also basically the same, and some of the leftovers are old and scrappy, and they are all tied together and placed side by side with the meat.

After cutting the meat, Chen Nian took out the eggs that he cooked in the afternoon.

These eggs are still soaked in water. When Chen Nian picked them up, he first knocked the eggs on the chopping board lightly, and then rubbed the eggs on the table with the palm of his hand starting from his fingertips.

Immediately there was the sound of the eggshell breaking, and when it was picked up again, Chen Nian just squeezed the eggshell lightly and separated the eggshell into upper and lower parts.

Finally put it back into the water.

In this way, after peeling about three or four eggs, it feels almost the same. After all, today is just an experiment. After eating, it is better not to leave any leftovers.

After peeling the eggs, Chen Nian took them out again to wipe off the moisture on the surface, and scored a few lines on them with a kitchen knife, which is also convenient for the flavor to be absorbed during stewing.

After the eggs are processed, the next step is tofu.

The tofu is marinated tofu bought from the vegetable market. The characteristic of this kind of tofu is that it is slightly cheaper, and it is not as soft and tender as the southern tofu. However, in this kind of dish, only this kind of northern tofu can still be kept intact. shape.

Otherwise, after a long time of stewing, the tender tofu would have already turned into a pot of bean curd soup.

First trim the surface of the tofu, cut off the outer layer of old skin to make it smooth.

Then cut the tofu into knife back pieces about ten centimeters long and one centimeter thick.

And gluten is almost the same step, in short, it needs to be cleaned.

Neatly put these processed ingredients aside, cut the ginger and green onions into large slices after aging, and put them aside for later use.

"Hey, where's my seasoning box." Chen Nian looked around subconsciously, looking for his own seasoning box.

This is a box made of stainless steel with sieve holes on the outside. Put the seasoning in it, and the edge can be buckled with a buckle. When the time comes, it can be thrown directly into the pot to stew the meat.

There is no need to worry about eating various seasonings by mistake when eating stew.

Until now, Chen Nian still remembers when he ate braised pork when he was a child, don’t treat a piece of star anise as braised pork, and just bite down.

That indescribable and incomparably uncomfortable feeling is something I can't forget even now.

The star anise needs to be patted with a knife, because there is a substance called fragrant oil in the seeds of the star anise, and a pat can also make the taste out of it better.

The grass fruit also needs to be patted, but the purpose of this step is different from the star anise, the star anise is for more fragrance, and the grass fruit is to take out the seeds of the grass fruit, because the seeds of the grass fruit are bitter. There is no need to put it in when cooking.

The rest is ginger, cloves, cinnamon, etc., which are put into the seasoning box according to the proportion. Not much of each is put in for aging, but this seasoning box is still full like this.

"You just stay there obediently, and give me a good smell for a while, do you hear me?" Chen Nian told the seasonings while closing the spice box.

Anyway, there is no need for a person to worry about anything in the store, even if they imitate some of the lines of the second class, no one will see it.

Looking at this seasoning box, I thought that this is just stew. If I usually cook soup or something, just throwing this seasoning box in it, the taste is probably enough, just like some old people's tea mugs Same, the inside is no longer the color of the tea mug itself.

Even if you don't add tea leaves before drinking, just pour boiled water into it, and drink it after a while, it will still have a full tea flavor.

More generally speaking, it is like a girl who puts on cosmetics every day, her skin is fragrant and soft, and has already been marinated in the smell.

So far all the pre-work has been prepared.

"Bazirou requests to attack, whether it is approved or not!" Chen Nian stood in front of the stove, his body was straight, and he said to the iron pot in a thick voice with a spoon in his hand!

After speaking, he tapped the iron pot twice with a spoon, making a crisp sound.

"Roger that!"

After finishing talking, turn on the fire quickly and pour oil, then put the onion and ginger into it, and stir-fry over low heat.

Just keep pushing and pulling, until the aroma gradually comes out, the old man will pour soybean soy sauce into it.

Pure soybean soy sauce is quite fragrant when used in cooking, but it must be cooked with oil before cooking to fully stimulate the fragrance.

After the soy sauce was poured in, the pot immediately boiled, and the sound of clattering could be heard endlessly, and the soy sauce was constantly rolling in it.

After a while, the color of the soy sauce becomes redder than before, and the water is poured into it after aging some of the onion whites.

Since this is a red stewed dish, it will take a long time to simmer, so add a little more water, otherwise the water will dry up during the stew, and not only the pot of ingredients will be ruined, but the kitchen may also be ruined .

After adding the water, Chen Niancai brought the meat that had just been cut, and took some hot water in a basin to wash the meat. If the meat is cooked with water, the umami taste of the meat will be lost.

After careful washing, it can be seen that there is still a layer of slightly yellowish grease floating on the surface of the water, which are some dirty things on the surface of the meat.

After washing, the aged meat is put into the pot one by one.

Arranged neatly in a circle, Chen Nian looked at the shape in the pot with satisfaction, and nodded.

The next step is to add rice wine.

In the end, the aging was still influenced by Master Sun. Adding rice wine when cooking can greatly improve the taste of the meat, and it can also soften the meat and make the meat more tender and fragrant.

Immediately afterwards, a few pieces of yellow rock sugar were put into it.

Yellow rock sugar is sweeter than white rock sugar, so there is no need to add more sugar for aging. The main purpose of adding sugar is to enhance freshness and taste. If you add too much sugar, it will change the taste of the meat itself.

This is a salty and savory dish. If the proportion of sweetness is too obvious, it will be considered a failure.

Immediately after Chen Nian saw that the color in the pot was not deep enough, he added some old soy sauce into it.

After the soy sauce entered it, it soon gradually spread to other places amidst the gurgling sound in the pot, dyeing the whole pot of soup into its own shape very domineeringly.

Generally speaking, most stews have one thing in common, that is, they should not be stewed with high heat from the beginning to the end, but should be stewed with high heat at the beginning, until the water boils and the ingredients inside are stewed thoroughly , then turn to a low heat and simmer.

Stewing meat here, Chen Nian turned on the fire on another stove, which is also a frying pan, and Chen Nian put some oil in it, intending to fry tofu in it.

The purpose is to harden the outer skin of the tofu, so it should be hotter than the [-]% oil used for frying and the [-]% oil used for frying.

After the oil temperature reaches [-]% and a half, put the tofu into the pot.

The height of the oil is basically just over the tofu. The experienced old man knows that this can make the ingredients inside have a certain space and it is not easy to stick to the pan.

After one side is fried, Chen Nian turns the tofu over and continues to fry. After both sides are fried until golden, the tofu is considered cooked. It took two dials to do it.

At this moment, Chen Nian smelled a faint fragrance, and couldn't help turning his head to look at the stew pot on the side. Although the pot was covered, there were still wisps of gas leaking from the edge.

Wrapped with fragrance, it penetrates into the tip of the aged nose.

But Chen Nian seemed a little frivolous when he heard the gurgling sound inside, so he opened the lid of the pot and found that there was indeed little water in it.

It’s okay to have less sauce for making the meat. After a while, the soup will be used to marinate eggs, tofu and gluten, so Chen Nian added some hot water to it.

But after adding water, the old age found that the color was not heavy enough, so I added some old soy sauce again, and continued to improve the color. I am not afraid of the color of this dish, but I am afraid that the color is not enough. If the meat is made out of white Yes, that looks like no appetite.

After adding the dark soy sauce, Chen Nian picked it up with chopsticks and tasted it, and found that the soup was a little weak again, so he added another spoonful of compound soy sauce in the store.

At this time, Chen Nian poked the meat again with chopsticks, and found that the meat was now half-ripe.

So I put the eggs in too.

Eggs and meat can be boiled together, because I learned in school before Chen Nian that there are amino acids and proteins in eggs, which can also enhance the umami taste.

But tofu is not good, because tofu will be a little sour when cooked with a beany smell, which will spoil the soup.

And the source of this beany smell is also known through aging, it comes from the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids in soybean oil.

When soybeans are crushed, due to the presence of oxygen and sufficient contact with the substrate, lipoxygenase will catalyze and oxidize the oil, and the produced n-hexaldehyde and n-ethanol are the main components that cause the beany smell.

So tofu has to be put in separately.

And don't worry about the gluten, this thing is very easy to cook, and the gluten is also made of noodles, if it is soaked in water for too long, it can't be eaten.

After the eggs are evenly placed in it, the lotus leaf that has been prepared before is taken out and covered on it when it is aged.

In this way, when the time comes, the steam in the pot will come out and enter the lotus leaves, and then condense into water droplets and drip back, and the soup will also carry the fragrance of lotus leaves.

Then after a long time of stewing, the fragrance of lotus leaves in the soup will enter the meat.

It will take a long time to cook, so Chen Nian took his mobile phone and ran aside to play games.

It turns out that I haven't played for a long time, and the game has been updated.

"No, where is my lucky star? Where did my big lucky star go?"

Chen Nian played more complicated games, whether it was template games, shooting games, or chess, he played them all before Chen Nian.

But this time when Chen Nian came back next time, he suddenly found that the lucky star was gone!
What a failure!

But soon Chen Nian discovered an interesting thing after some simple research.

"Astral Dragon Emblem!"

Just a simple look at the old age, I found that this thing is very interesting!
This thing can be installed on the five-fee card!

And if the equipment is ready, you can put this coat of arms down after synthesizing three stars, and install it on the next five-fee card.

After the research, Chen Nian found that this version didn't seem to be difficult.

So he rushed in excitedly, at first he snatched an Astral Dragon with quick eyesight, but after two rounds, Chen Nian was surprised to find that out of the eight people including himself, six of them were playing the Astral Dragon!
"What a mess!"

As a result, it was too late for Chen Nian to make a temporary change. Due to his bad luck, he couldn't get what he wanted, so he became the old eight and was carried away.

In the end, the one who defeated him was a kryptonite who had spent money to become a little hero. Chen Nian had no choice but to watch an animation in an extremely humiliating manner.

"Broken game! Stop playing!"

Chen Nian was so angry that he quit the game directly.

He didn't succeed in killing the time in the game, and he didn't bother to study any more. After closing the game, he opened the i station.

"Let's go find some gourmet fans. I've been too busy recently, so I don't have much time to go to gourmet fans. I don't know if there is any new wife."

As a result, I looked around and couldn't find any new gourmet articles, but was attracted by a cover that was quite healing at first sight.

"Today's meal at Emiya's family?"

"It looks pretty good, why haven't I seen it before?"

Soon Chen Nian clicked in.

Then get addicted.

In this way, the time passed unknowingly until the alarm clock on the old mobile phone rang, and I checked the time, and it was already past eleven twenty.

After pausing the show, I got up and went to the kitchen, and took a look at the pot. At this moment, the aroma inside was quite strong, and both the eggs and the meat had been fully colored.

Uncover the lotus leaf, spoon the broth inside into another pot, then rearrange the meat and eggs in this pot, continue to cover the lotus leaf, and cover the pot.

As for the soup that was separated out, put the fried tofu into it.

Also cover the pot.

Right now, I can just watch another episode when I go back.

Next, the tofu and the handle meat only need to be stewed for another quarter of an hour.

At this time, the aging has begun to look forward to the taste of the meat for a while.

The rice has already been prepared in the pot. I think that when I was old, I ate half of the pot of rice on this plate of meat, and my stomach was full.

But this time, both the seasoning, the meat, and the ingredients are better than those at that time, so the stewed meat should also taste better.

The more I think about aging, the more I feel that my stomach can't stand this thing, and I can't help but drool just thinking about it.

Can't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, forcing myself to focus on the phone, but at this moment the glutton has been hooked, and what's more, the picture of eating happens to be on the phone.

For a while, Chen Nian yelled that it was very itchy.

This is not an exaggeration. After all, the meat is stewed inside. If you listen carefully, you can even hear the sound of gurgling inside. The strong smell of meat comes out of the kitchen, and you can't stop it from getting into your nose.

In addition, it was already very much looking forward to.

It's just the delicious food in front of you but you can't eat it.

So now Chen Nian's mouth is itchy, his teeth are itchy, his throat is itchy, and his stomach is itchy. Now he can't wait to run to the pot and eat the meat right away.

But right now it's really not possible.

These 15 minutes of aging feel as if a century has passed. While watching the drama absent-mindedly, my eyes can't help drifting to the time in the upper left corner.

Every minute of aging makes me feel weaker. After fifteen centuries, the alarm clock sounds like life-saving again!

Chen Nian bounced off the stool like a fresh prawn on the spot, and rushed towards the kitchen immediately.

Hearing the dull gurgling sound coming from the pot, Chen Nian carefully lifted the lid of the pot!

Immediately.

The fragrance fills the house!

(End of this chapter)