gourmet food

Chapter 1373 Upgrading the Palace Cuisine

Pigeon egg and bird's nest in clear soup!

This is a Sichuan version of a Manchu-Han banquet dish. According to Mr. Li’s recollection, when Master Lan made this dish, he didn’t even see it.

So I have no idea how to make this dish, but fortunately, Mr. Li saw the finished product at that time, and remembered what it looked like for a long time.

However, when I recall this appearance decades later, even if I have an impression, it is very vague. The original words Mr. Li told Chu Yunfeng were: "I vaguely remember that the soup was white in color, and the pigeon eggs were immersed in ruddy embellishments.

The bird's nest is shimmering and translucent, just like the snow elves condensed in the snow."

After hearing Mr. Li's reminiscences at that time, Chu Yunfeng almost complained directly. Although this was an artistic conception dish, the imagination of this artistic conception was too rich, which would make the actual operation much more difficult.

Take this soup with a snow-white color as an example. How do you get the snow-white soup color?
Normally, this kind of snow-white soup would be very simple, that is, fry the fish for a while, then add boiling water and simmer over high heat, and soon you will have a pot of milky-white soup.

But what kind of fish should be used for this milky soup?
Crucian carp?

carp?

Tilapia?
The soup made from different fish has different tastes. Generally, crucian carp is used to make soup, but is crucian carp necessarily the ingredient used in this dish?

do not know!
Everything is unknown, which requires various experiments. This is why it is so difficult to restore a dish.

The real difficulty is that this milk soup is not just fish soup. Milk can also be made into milk soup. After milk is added to the stock, what is this other than milk soup?

So after including the speculation about milk, the difficulty of this experiment has been multiplied again. This is only one of the difficulties in making this dish.

There is another sentence in Mr. Li's words - pigeon eggs are immersed in ruddy embellishment!

Chu Yunfeng asked Mr. Li the meaning of this sentence very carefully, but Mr. Li frowned and didn't answer him for a long time. He didn't know what difficulty he couldn't express.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, Chu Yunfeng couldn't hold it in anymore. After asking again, Mr. Li lost his temper: "You bastard, if I remember it so clearly, I will tell you how to do it." Yes.

I just took a look at it at that time. It would be nice to be able to recall and describe it like this. What else do you want?
That’s all the description, leave the rest to your own imagination.”

???

Is the old man still angry?
Chu Yunfeng saw that Mr. Li went directly to the recliner to sleep, lying there with his back to him. Chu Yunfeng was sure that the old man was pretending to sleep to avoid his own problems.

At the same time, I also understood that this dish was indeed too difficult and too difficult for Mr. Li. After all, it would be nice to have a vague impression of it from a glance decades ago.

It's really not easy for him to be able to describe it in such a "mysterious" way. Forget it, it's not easy for him either. You can figure out the rest by yourself.

I had no idea about this dish with bird's nests, but yesterday Master Qi Luozhou's first-grade official bird's nest gave Chu Yunfeng great inspiration.

The Sichuan version of the Manchu-Han banquet is derived from the palace version of the cuisine. It naturally draws on many techniques from the palace cuisine and combines it with the local characteristics of Chengdu.

So this is why Mr. Li asked Chu Yunfeng to learn the palace version of the Manchu-Han Banquet dishes from Wan Lao and others first, so that it would be of great help in restoring the Sichuan version of the Manchu-Han Banquet.

So at this moment, when he thought of Mr. Li's scheming, ahem, foresight, Chu Yunfeng had to admire him.

The electronic classroom was unusually quiet at this moment, but this quietness mainly meant that there were no human voices, only various sounds coming from the kitchen, which showed that everyone was immersed in learning.

Peng Yue was frowning at the shredded potatoes on the table, seeming to be thinking about something. Bebe's brows were furrowed, and she picked up a cut red pepper and kept looking at it.

There was a heavy doubt on his face. If he hadn't stared at the chili strips, people would have thought he was thinking about life. However, he looked confused and almost put the chili into his mouth and tried it. It’s time.

Everyone had a look of contemplation or confusion on their faces, but no one noticed that only Chu Yunfeng had the most thoughtful look on his face.

I thought back to Master Qi Luozhou's today's Yipin Guanyan. The ingredients used were not many, but they played a vital role in restoring this dish.

Bird's nest, ham, bean sprouts, corn flour and old chicken!

There are not many main ingredients, just these five kinds, but Master Qi Luozhou's production method really touched Chu Yunfeng greatly.

The ruddy embellishment mentioned in Li's old saying can already be deciphered, it is this shredded ham. Chu Yunfeng has been wondering what this red ingredient is before.

It wasn't until I saw Master Qi Luozhou cutting ham shreds in the afternoon that I finally understood.

Okay, now that the red embellishment is clear, the pigeon eggs become a problem again, but the pigeon eggs themselves are not a big problem, they just need to be cooked and shelled.

Chu Yunfeng has rich experience in boiling pigeon eggs. In order to prevent the shell of pigeon eggs from cracking during cooking, Chu Yunfeng adopts the method of steaming in water.

Not only will the eggshells not break when steamed in this way, but it can also keep the pigeon eggs soft and tender. Even if the time is controlled well, the pigeon eggs can be just "passed".

That is to say, the yolk in the middle of the pigeon egg is just cooked, and it tastes soft and tender without the hard feeling. Moreover, this softness can also provide a rustling texture, which is definitely quite good.

During the recovery process, the word "immersed" made Chu Yunfeng seem very distressed, because according to Mr. Li's description, the pigeon eggs were immersed in ruddy embellishments.

And when a bird's nest is made, it cannot support the weight of the pigeon eggs. Once the pigeon eggs are placed on it, they will sink.

Even if there are a large number of bird's nests, only about 1/5, or even 1/7, of the pigeon eggs will be exposed. Most of the pigeon eggs have sunk, and naturally there is no ruddy taste.

You can't even see the dove eggs, or even clearly, so what's the decoration?

So Chu Yunfeng was also very distressed. He temporarily put the problem behind him, and then started to check out the chicken soup.

This chicken soup was made this afternoon, and there is still a lot of it. However, although Master Qi Luozhou used chicken soup, he had to experiment with fish soup.

So Chu Yunfeng started to deal with the fish. The selection of fish also cost Chu Yunfeng a lot of effort.

At first, my idea was to follow the habits of the capital during the Qing Dynasty. The fish that were commonly eaten in the capital at that time included mandarin fish, whitebait, croaker, yellow croaker, etc.

Under normal circumstances, this yellow croaker can only be eaten by wealthy families, royal family members, nobles, etc., so these types of fish cannot be excluded.

After Master Guan arrived in Rongcheng from the capital, he didn't know whether he would have used the same ingredients to make this dish. He can only know through experiments.

Although the probability of chicken soup is higher, Chu Yunfeng will not be sure directly. Only by trying it after making it can he know which ingredient is the most correct.

The taste says it all!
Not only do you want to try it yourself, but there are also many people here to help you try it, so after the experiment is completed, you don’t have to worry about finding someone to try it.

Does this fish soup with milk taste good? To be honest, I haven't tasted it yet. If it tastes weird later, Peng Yue and the others won't beat themselves up, right?

Well, that's it, I won't try it myself, let Peng Yue try it first
Crucian carp, mandarin fish, whitebait and yellow croaker were quickly processed, but why is there no belly fish?
This kind of low-level mistake should not be made. Did Chu Yunfeng not buy the flower fish, or did he not want to use the flower fish for experiments?

These are not the correct answers. Chu Yunfeng later learned that the belly fish is also called mandarin fish, but it is actually mandarin fish, so it was naturally prepared.

Fry!

Each type of fish is fried separately. After frying, add boiling water to a separate pot and simmer over high heat. Wait for about ten minutes before turning on medium heat. The fish soup cooked in this way will definitely be milky white. of.

If you add more milk, the milky white color of the fish soup will become more intense. With this soup color as the base, the dish will already be very colorful and fragrant.

As soon as the fish soup was cooked, Peng Yue started calling: "Brother Chu, come over and see how I am doing?"

Hearing Peng Yue's call, Chu Yunfeng immediately put down what he was doing, came to Peng Yue's side, picked up the shredded potatoes on the cutting board, and began to check.

"It's not bad, but the cuts need to be more even. Your sense of rhythm is still a bit lacking. You just need to practice for a few more days and it will be fine."

After receiving Chu Yunfeng's praise, Peng Yue became obviously happy, with a bright smile on his face. Just when he was about to praise himself, Chu Yunfeng started to hit the target.

"There is another flaw in your knife skills, that is, the knife is a bit floaty when cutting. Especially when cutting large pieces, the word "stable" is still lacking a lot.

Come on, let me show you how to cut winter melon and radish. The key to your shortcoming is probably related to your knife habit when you first learned to cook.

Over time, you have formed a habit, which has a great impact on your speed. Once the speed increases, the defects will be magnified, and the quality of the ingredients cannot be guaranteed.

And the more you cut it, it will also have an impact on your speed. Come and see how I deal with it! "

He patiently explained it to Peng Yue, which not only did not make Peng Yue frown, but made him listen attentively, because Chu Yunfeng's demonstration made Peng Yue realize his shortcomings.

I'm a mother, he can find out the details of such a smile, even Peng Yue won't accept it!
After demonstrating Peng Yue's technique, Beibei and the others were next. Chu Yunfeng began to check the learning results one by one, and then continued to make up for their shortcomings in knife skills.

A new round of tasks was assigned, and Chu Yunfeng began to turn around to the integrated stove. The four pots placed on it made a gurgling sound and steamed, conveying a rich aroma.

The heat is almost done, it’s time to adjust the heat!

After adjusting the heat of the four pots, Chu Yunfeng started busy with other things. The scallops here were already steamed. Chu Yunfeng immediately turned off the heat and took them out.

Well, the work of restoring pigeon eggs and bird's nest in clear soup is temporarily suspended, and the matter of upgrading the dish of hydrangea and scallops has been solved first.

It just so happens that the fish soup is still simmering over there, so we need to use our time wisely.

The scallops began to be torn with hands. After tearing them into thin shreds, Chu Yunfeng began to deal with other ingredients and began to chop the pork belly into meat fillings.
All kinds of ingredients are processed very quickly. After all the processing is completed, the difficulty comes. How to get the hydrangeas?
When Wan Laoyi first made the hydrangeas, it was very simple. The meatballs themselves are sticky, so when the chopped pork belly meatballs came into contact with ingredients such as dried beets, they were naturally adsorbed on the meatballs.

Then it’s time to put it in the pot and start steaming it, but Chu Yunfeng doesn’t want to go the old way of steaming. After steaming, it lacks the golden color of frying. This is why Chu Yunfeng thinks that this dish lacks a touch of golden surprise. feeling.

This is also the most important reason why he wants to upgrade this dish, but it is not that easy to upgrade, because once the meatballs wrapped in dried bess are put out of the frying pan, it is simply a false proposition.

The oil temperature is very high. Although the dried beets have been steamed, they will quickly lose moisture once they are put into the oil pan. Over time, they will dry up and become mushy.

As for the meatball in the middle, it is estimated that it has not been cooked yet, so this step will not work.

However, once the meatballs are fried first, their appearance will become dry, and they will lose their previous stickiness. Naturally, it will not work if you want to stick the meatballs to them.

So what can be done?

Chu Yunfeng still has an idea. There are two methods. Now he will try the first one. First, put the meatballs into the pot and fry them!

Yes, fry the meatballs separately, but what should I do if they get sticky and dry after a while?
No one has the answer, only Chu Yunfeng himself!

A meatball was fried quickly. After Chu Yunfeng picked it up, he did not put it directly into the dried beef, but put it into the minced meat and lightly coated it!
Good guy, the thin layer is naturally sticky, and then thrown into the dried bess, it naturally sticks into a hydrangea.

Then Chu Yunfeng smiled and threw the hydrangea into the pot for frying. The thin layer of minced meat was naturally cooked quickly, and the color of the dried beets outside was naturally changed. Golden golden.

Not only is the color beautiful, but the heat is also quite right. While maintaining the crispness, the flavor is also brought out.

Like the radish silk hydrangea, this golden shape gives people a sense of beauty. It is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The two different tastes will definitely give people an extraordinary feeling.

How does it taste?

Chu Yunfeng picked it up and blew it, then took a bite. A clear and crisp sound came out. After feeling the crispiness, a soft taste soon followed.

The taste is very good, but what makes Chu Yunfeng depressed is that the temperature inside is still too high, and he is a little impatient, hot, hot, hot.

烫啊
Whoops, whoops.
The slightly embarrassed Chu Yunfeng's appearance of being burned immediately attracted the attention of Peng Yue and the others, which made them laugh immediately.

However, when they saw Chu Yunfeng's dark face, everyone immediately stopped smiling and continued studying.
Okay, let’s try the second option again.

This method was Chu Yunfeng's original idea, which was to stick the scallops directly with meatballs and then throw them over for frying.

???

Doesn’t it mean that this method will not work?

But Chu Yunfeng still did it. What is the mystery behind this?

He made more than a dozen of them and threw them into the pot for frying. When the outer layer of dry beets was golden and crispy, Chu Yunfeng immediately picked them up.

Although the outer layer was cooked, the inside of the meatballs was definitely undercooked. Unexpectedly, Chu Yunfeng directly put the hydrangeas on the plate, then put them in the pot and started steaming them.

???

What a creative guy!

After this steaming, the inside of the meatballs must be cooked, but the outer layer lacks a crispy texture, but it adds a touch of golden color.

This is equivalent to a higher level of color than the dish made by Wan Lao. Although the taste is the same, the upgraded color should not be underestimated.

Later, when the two kinds of hydrangeas in different states were prepared, Chu Yunfeng placed green vegetables on the bottom of the plate, poured the broth on it, and immediately shouted: "There is something good to eat, do you want to try it?"

try it?

Peng Yue immediately put down the knife in his hand and rushed over. He shouted as soon as he saw these two dishes.
(End of this chapter)