gourmet food

Chapter 318 Hot and Sour Potato Shreds

Hot and sour potato shreds?
Chu Yunfeng was a little surprised that he could actually test this dish, but he was just surprised. This dish may be difficult for others, but for him it is just a piece of cake.

Among the more than 200 dishes I learned from Wu Ma, there were many more difficult dishes than this one.

It's just that this dish is relatively typical, and it has a unique flavor type in Sichuan cuisine.

In itself, there are many cooking techniques for shredded potatoes, and the tastes are varied, which is suitable for many people's tastes, especially girls who are losing weight.

Like stir-fried potato shreds, after frying the potato shreds, sprinkle a layer of chili powder and salt on top. If you like numbness, you can also add a little pepper powder. It tastes so good, so there is no need to mention it. .

If you want to make shredded potatoes delicious, it is very important to select ingredients.

There are several types of potatoes in Sichuan. Generally speaking, potatoes grown in high mountains are the most delicious, especially potatoes with yellow hearts.

Yellow-heart potatoes are divided into red-skinned yellow-heart potatoes and yellow-skinned yellow-heart potatoes. These two types of potatoes are the most delicious, while white-heart potatoes have the worst taste.

In terms of origin, the alpine potatoes from the Daliang Mountains have the best taste, and from the central region, the potatoes from Enshi are the most delicious, especially when eating rice dumplings with two potatoes, the taste is amazing!

The potatoes used in the exams here are yellow-skinned and yellow-centred potatoes. Although he doesn’t know where they come from, Chu Yunfeng picked them up and bumped them in his hands, and he felt they were okay.

This potato is quite big. If you fry one portion, one potato will be enough.

So Chu Yunfeng picked up the knife and started peeling!
what?
No need for a paring knife?

The judges present were a little surprised. Generally speaking, peeling with a paring knife is easy and simple, and the potatoes are very smooth.

If you have poor knife skills, you can look at the peeled potatoes. There will be a lot of waste, and some of them will be as bumpy as the surface of the moon.

It seemed that Chu Yunfeng wanted to show off his knife skills. The judges saw that Chu Yunfeng's knife speed was very fast, and they only saw the potato peels falling off piece by piece. The rhythm was very even, and he was simply the favorite of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Soon, Chu Yunfeng finished peeling a potato. He then looked over it in his hand and found that it was very smooth and had no uneven spots.

This is also implicitly in line with the chef's saying, that is, one knife can conquer the world, and there is nothing that a knife cannot solve.

The next step is slicing. This step is also the basis for teaching knife skills. Here you can see how good a chef's knife skills are.

If the potato slices cut out are either thin or thick, then there is no need to take the next test. Don’t embarrass yourself with such poor knife skills. It’s better to go back and practice for a few more years before trying again.

Chu Yunfeng was not in this case. The systematic training was definitely stricter than any other master. The slightest error would require Chu Yunfeng to start over. Tudou's training had already been tempered over time.

After washing the potatoes in water, he placed them on the cutting board and began to cut into thin slices. Chu Yunfeng cut the potatoes very quickly, and his technique seemed very steady.

Looking at Chu Yunfeng's facial expression, it gives people a very relaxed but familiar feeling.

Every piece of potato is so thin. Although it is very thin, the thickness is definitely just right. This thickness tastes the best.

When he cut to the last bit, Chu Yunfeng did not lay it flat and then cut it crosswise. Instead, he cleverly stabilized it with his hands and cut out thin slices of the same thickness.

"Great!"

"good"

“Excellent knife skills!”

The judges secretly nodded. The last bit is the most difficult to cut, because it is just such a tiny bit, and it is difficult to keep your hands steady. The most convenient way is to lay it flat and then cut it crosswise. This is the safest way. Yes, it won't hurt your hands easily.

Chu Yunfeng's dazzling skills immediately earned praise from the judges.

The next step is to cut into shreds. Cutting into shreds is much easier. Arrange the potato slices neatly, then press them slightly behind with your hands, and let the knife move as you like.
Chop chop chop, chop chop chop!

Chu Yunfeng raised his knife and lowered his hand, and the potato shreds were arranged layer by layer, like soldiers waiting for a general review.

Soon, a row of potato shreds was cut, and then thrown into clean water for soaking to remove the starch on the surface of the potato shreds.

If you are dry-stirring potato shreds, you don't need this step. Instead, you need starch to coagulate the potato shreds together.

Heat the pot and heat the oil!
Add in the chopped dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns and let them explode with fragrance.

When the color of the pepper changes slightly, add the shredded potatoes and stir-fry quickly.

One of the biggest advantages of large-scale stir-frying is that the fire is large enough to stir-fry vegetables quickly.

In this way, the vegetables can be fried quickly while maintaining the beneficial ingredients such as vitamin C that they are rich in to the greatest extent.

This step tests the chef's spoon-shaking skills, which require the shredded potatoes to be heated evenly over a strong fire, so that you don't end up with half-cooked dishes when you taste them.

Therefore, the control of heat is also very important for a chef.

The shredded potatoes should not be fried for too long. If it is too long, the crispy texture will be lost. If it tastes soft and weak, the dish will be considered a failure.

When it is about to be fried, add a little salt, and many restaurants will add monosodium glutamate or chicken essence to enhance the taste, but Chu Yunfeng never puts it in when cooking, because in Yipin, the taste of the ingredients is already top-notch.

Then add the chopped green onions. Do not add the chopped green onions in advance. If they are fried for a long time, they will lose the rich aroma of the green onions and will not achieve the aroma-enhancing effect.

The last step is to add vinegar. Since vinegar is volatile, it must be added last.

As for vinegar, the most famous one in Sichuan is Baoning vinegar. This vinegar is a combination of food and medicine. It is the only medicinal vinegar among the four famous vinegars in China. It started in the Tang Dynasty and has a very long history.

There is a saying that "without Baoning vinegar, there will be no customers for Sichuan cuisine." From this we can understand the status of Baoning vinegar in Sichuan.

After adding the vinegar, stir-fry twice and then take it out of the pot. After putting it on the plate, you can smell a strong spicy smell.

Especially after entering the mouth, you can still taste the mellow vinegar aroma, coupled with the crisp texture, it will make people want to eat it.

Fragrant!
A slightly pungent sour smell spread, and the judges all aroused their appetites, with some salivating.

When making shredded potatoes in some places, they like to boil the shredded potatoes in water before making them. However, most shredded potatoes in Sichuan are not boiled in water. This will make them smoother.

After Chu Yunfeng finished cooking, he brought the plate of spicy and sour potato shreds to the judges' table for the judges to evaluate.

Originally, President Wu wanted to let President Hou be the chief critic, but President Hou refused. Although he has the highest position, he cannot cross the line and cannot let others gossip.

Chu Yunfeng's strength is there, even if he is a high-level chef, it is not an exaggeration. There is no need for him to get involved, he can just watch from the sidelines.

"Well, the food looks good, and the knife skills and spoon-bending techniques are impressive. Let's try the taste."

President Wu first commented on Chu Yunfeng’s cooking process, and then picked up his chopsticks to try the dishes!
(End of this chapter)