National Tide 1980

But the greater harvest is yet to come.

Because I can maintain a relatively cordial relationship with "Zhang Dashao", I can continue to permeate this taste into every aspect of my daily life.

Apart from anything else, I have mastered the art of patting cucumbers and frying peanuts.

The quality improvement of Ning Weimin, Zhang Shihui and Bian Jiangong's snacks was immediate.

No matter family, friends, or colleagues, they all praised it after tasting it, which made all three of them feel proud.

For another example, because Ning Weimin kept his promise and was a good man, he left the three rooms on the east side to "Zhang Dashao".

Every weekend, "Zhang Dashao" would come back to stay for a day and use his kitchen to cook something good.

If I could catch up "by chance", I would be happy to flatter the old man.

Ning Weimin and Zhang Shihui, who were staring at the construction, wanted to add a pair of chopsticks to try something new and experience the feeling of gluttony.

Even sometimes "Zhang Dashao" happened to be in a good mood, and he would teach them some tricks on the stove.

That is also a great blessing that can directly improve their quality of life.

For example, let’s take the dish “roasted elbow” as an example.

This thing is absolutely indispensable on the dining tables of people in the capital during the New Year and holidays.

But the most annoying part is dealing with the raw elbow.

Because raw elbows have odor and hairy roots, if you really want to remove the odor and hairy roots, you must use burning method.

Generally speaking, people in the capital use fire chopsticks, put them in the stove to make them red hot, and then handle them carefully and slowly.

I was afraid of burning my elbows and making the whole room stink. Very troublesome.

But "Zhang Dashao" told Ning Weimin and Zhang Shihui that there was actually no need to bother.

Let them wait until they are cooking again at home, grab the raw elbow, turn up the gas stove, and use the fire to burn it directly.

It's so burnt that it makes the skin completely black. Don't be afraid at all, because only the cuticles and hair follicles are burnt. You just need to scrub them in alkaline water and they'll be clean.

Ning Weimin remembered and relayed it to Kang Shude, and Zhang Shihui remembered and told Liu Weijing.

Soon, they separately encouraged Kang Shude and Liu Weijing to do the same thing, and the result was a surprise beyond imagination.

The exposed inner skin of the elbow treated in this way not only does not have any hair cones, but also has no "gas" at all.

Especially when used to make pork elbow dishes, it has a special and faint burnt aroma, and the taste is even better.

Later, this method benefited the entire No. 2 Courtyard and the relatives of Zhang Shihui and Liu Weijing.

Zhang Shihui even wrote a special letter to teach his parents who were far away.

Of course, hard dishes like "Braised Pork Pork" are only an occasional need to spice up life.

If the usefulness of this skill is not too great, then the few cooking tips passed down by "Zhang Dashao" that are used in almost every household and for daily meals are really of great benefit.

What are they?

The first is how to use MSG.

MSG is actually sodium glutamate.

It was first successfully developed in 1866 by the German chemist Reedhausen.

Later, the Japanese realized its commercial value and took the lead in creating the industrially produced "Ajinomoto".

It was not until Wu Yunchu invented the hydrolysis method for producing sodium glutamate in 1921 that it was introduced to my country, which completely broke the Japanese monopoly.

Since then, MSG has entered the kitchens of ordinary people at a low price, and has been closely linked to Chinese food culture.

Needless to say, the benefits of MSG are obvious.

This thing can make it fresh and increase people's appetite.

It can also improve the body's ability to absorb various other foods, and also has a certain nourishing effect on the human body.

To a certain extent, it even lowers the technical threshold of Shandong cuisine and breaks the technical constraints of the Titian method.

Think about the original advertising slogan of "Ajinomoto", wasn't it "With Ajinomoto at home, plain water turns into chicken juice"?

To be honest, compared with the health care products in today's society, this is really not false advertising.

But as the saying goes, too much is never enough. Once something goes too far, it will become a disaster.

You know, in the past, overseas Chinese, except for a very small number of social elites, were almost all coastal poor who were "sold as piglets".

And among these Chinese workers and their descendants, there are few serious chefs who know how to cook, and some of them have never even used a stove at home.

So they all regarded this thing as a seasoning treasure.

In 1968, Chinese restaurants in the United States and Canada commonly displayed dozens of large cans of No. 1 MSG in their street windows to attract diners, which shows the extent of the abuse of MSG at that time.

This eventually triggered the "Chinese restaurant syndrome" controversy in the United States.

Since then, not only MSG has been blamed for being "harmful to the human body", but Chinese cuisine has also suffered huge reputational damage.

So it can be seen that no matter how good something is, it must be paid attention to the way it is used, otherwise the result will be counterproductive.

Speaking of mainland my country, due to a rather long period of material scarcity.

Many families of ordinary people in our country could not even afford soy sauce.

As a result, a seasoning habit based on MSG was naturally formed.

No matter what dishes every household cooks, they almost always have to add some MSG.

But it is a pity that we have been using such a common seasoning all year round, but not many people know how to use it.

"Zhang Dashao" pointed out that it is not enough to sprinkle a large amount of MSG. Using too much will definitely make people sick.

And there are many dishes that cannot use MSG, or even use it has no effect.

For example, food that has an inherent umami flavor does not need to add MSG. Such as fish, shrimp, seafood, eggs, etc.

In addition, MSG should not be added to dishes containing vinegar.

MSG is not easily soluble in vinegar, and the more acidic the vinegar, the lower the solubility and the worse the umami effect.

There is also no need to add MSG to sweet dishes.

The umami flavor of MSG can be best expressed in salty dishes.

If MSG is added to sweet vegetables, not only will it not increase the freshness, but it will inhibit the original taste of sweetness and produce an off-flavor.

Finally, MSG cannot be added to foods that need to be stewed or fried for a long time.

Because the effect of MSG will be completely destroyed by long-term cooking and high temperature of strong oil.

So speaking of it, the application scope of MSG is actually quite limited, and it is only suitable for quick-fried dishes and vegetarian-based soups.

Many people believe that Chinese food is inseparable from MSG, and even relies entirely on MSG to taste delicious.

This is actually too nonsense.

People say a good cook is a handful of salt, but I have never heard of a good cook being a handful of MSG, right?

The correct answer given by "Zhang Dashao" is that if you want MSG to play its due role, you must first sprinkle a small amount of MSG on the vegetables to be fried, and then stir-fry over high heat.

Never sprinkle MSG before serving, it will be useless.

Because in such a short time, MSG cannot be fully decomposed and the flavor cannot penetrate into the raw materials.