Chapter 796 A state banquet snack with special meaning - chrysanthemum cake! It’s simply art! [Please subscribe]
"Is it difficult to make chrysanthemum cake?"
Shen Jiayue is now working hand in hand with the red case and the white case. The red case has made delicious tea-flavored chicken, so the white case has to follow up and learn a high-end dim sum.
Lin Xu smiled and said:
"There are many ways to make chrysanthemum cakes, some are difficult and some are simple. The chrysanthemum cakes at the Hangzhou state banquet are high-end snacks that have been improved and processed on the basis of Hangzhou lotus cakes. They are beautiful and elegant in shape, and have a crispy and delicious taste. They are...
”
While he was introducing, Shen Jiayue interrupted him:
"Just say but."
"But the method is difficult and cannot be mastered by you."
Seeing the good baby's expression change, Lin Xu quickly said:
"I can teach you how to make a relatively simple chrysanthemum cake. The taste is still very good, and the shape is very unique and beautiful. It's just not the same as the one at the Hangzhou state banquet."
Shen Jiayue blinked:
"Really?"
"Really, there are many delicacies called chrysanthemum cakes all over the country. The simplest way is to cut an onion, dip it in some egg batter, and then throw it into the oil pan, and the fried cake will be chrysanthemum cakes."
When the cut onions are fried in hot oil, they will open up layer by layer, just like the petals of a chrysanthemum. With the crispy texture, it is considered an entry-level chrysanthemum cake.
In addition to onions, dumpling wrappers can also be made into chrysanthemum cakes. The method is also to change the knife first and then fry them.
What’s a little more troublesome are the various chrysanthemum cakes with fillings. This kind of pie-shaped snack is a little more complicated to make than the onion version and the dumpling skin version, but it’s not too complicated.
Shen Jiayue held her cheek and said:
"No matter how you teach me, I have to learn chrysanthemum cake today anyway, and I have to learn it, otherwise I won't let you kiss me."
Lin Xu raised his hand and pinched her cheek:
"Don't worry, I guarantee you can do it with your eyes closed."
He put away the dishes and chopsticks and went to the kitchen to check on today's work. He also took a look at the ordering status of each private room today.
Nowadays, almost all private rooms in the store must be reserved in advance, and when making the reservation, the customer will also order the dishes that need to be reserved, so that the store can prepare in advance and the customer will eat more comfortably.
"Today there are two roasted whole lambs, five roasted suckling pigs, and almost forty pounds of roasted pigs. They are all being prepared. There will be no mistakes."
No one would order a whole dish like roast pig. Basically, they buy it by the pound. Generally, a private room will charge a few pounds, and at least each person can get two or three pieces.
If there is a large private room that can accommodate more than 30 people, the amount of roasted pig must be at least seven or eight pounds, which is to start with four portions.
Now the store roasts almost one pig every day, and it usually sells out by night.
Ginkgo Garden has a furnace pit, which is more convenient for roasting pigs. The store does not have such conditions. It uses an open-hearth furnace specially designed for such dishes. It can only roast one pig at a time and cannot increase the amount.
After Lin Xu listened, he asked Wei Qian to allocate the work well to avoid any accidents.
After speaking, he went to the pastry department again, first looked at today's preparations, and then ordered Niu Chuang:
"Prepare some flour, red bean paste, date paste, pumpkin paste and other fillings for me, and some cooked flour."
"Okay, I'll start preparing now."
While Niu Chuang was preparing, Lin Xu took some ingredients suitable for chrysanthemum cake fillings, such as dried apricots and raisins, as well as cooked white sesame seeds, rock sugar, candied fruits, etc.
Everything was ready and I took it to the small kitchen.
Shen Jiayue was replying to netizens' comments. When she saw this situation, she immediately closed her computer and followed her:
"Haha, this baby is here!"
She pinched a piece of candied fruit and put it into her mouth, and asked curiously:
"Are these the ingredients used to make chrysanthemum cakes?"
"Yes, it's stuffing, but stuffing is not the point. Basically anything can be substituted. The reason why I prepared these is purely to restore the state banquet in Hangzhou."
The desserts used at the state banquet are all carefully selected. The reason why we chose chrysanthemum cake is not only that this delicacy has an elegant appearance and beautiful shape, but more importantly, chrysanthemum represents a gentleman in traditional culture.
Using snacks to tactfully praise Nixon's visit to China is a gentleman's move, just like the great man asked for a side of braised water at the welcoming state banquet held in the capital.
Paddling is another name for fish tail. To eat braised paddling by name is to praise Nixon for taking the initiative to break the confrontation and deadlock like a swimming fish and opening a new chapter in Sino-US diplomacy.
At the US thank-you banquet, the cold dish of salted duck and the main course of duck nuggets also conveyed the meaning of breaking the ice and stirring up the stagnant water.
People who are a little more particular about entertaining guests know that you can't serve the same ingredient twice, as this will appear not to be particular enough.
However, two duck dishes were rarely served at the US thank-you banquet. Even if they didn’t understand it, the accompanying Chinese staff would kindly remind them.
But there are still two duck dishes, which also express the American side's thoughts: Stirring up the stagnant water cannot be done by just one duck. It requires joint efforts from both sides.
The reason why state banquets are high-end is because each dish has a different meaning. It is a silent mediation on the table and has a symbolic meaning beyond food.
And this kind of mediation will eventually return to food, because only delicious food can accurately convey the meaning to the other party.
This is an implicit beauty unique to Chinese people, which most Westerners cannot understand.
Lin Xu looked at the time, rolled up his sleeves and said:
"I'll make the chrysanthemum cake for the state banquet first, and then I'll teach you how to make something simpler. Is that okay?"
Shen Jiayue waved her hands generously, then grabbed the raisins and stuffed them into her mouth:
"No problem, no problem, even if you teach me how to make it with onions, as long as it can scare netizens...Xubao, do onions taste sweet after being fried?"
"No, they are usually tasteless, but after frying, a layer of powdered sugar is sprinkled on top. It tastes sweet and crispy, and it is also full of onion flavor, which feels pretty good."
After saying that, Lin Xu brought a large bowl of white cooked lard and prepared to knead the noodles.
The making of chrysanthemum cake is exactly the same as that of lotus cake. You need to open the pastry to make the pastry and water-oil skin. After combining the two, roll them into the shape of beef tongue, then roll them up and fold them three times.
The only difference is that lotus cakes only need six petals, while chrysanthemum cakes have at least eighteen petals, and usually have twenty-four or thirty-two petals.
This will make the fried chrysanthemum cake more beautiful and look more like a blooming chrysanthemum.
Lin Xu kneads cooked lard and flour into dough, which is puff pastry.
Then use cooked lard, water and flour to knead it into a watery crust, put it together with the pastry, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest a little.
Taking advantage of this time, Lin Xu completely chopped the candied fruits, roasted the cooked sesame seeds and crushed them, and then ground the rock sugar into fine powder.
Put these ingredients on the chopping board, sprinkle some cooked flour, add some cooked lard, knead with one hand, and use the scraper in the other to pile up the scattered fillings.
Soon, these scattered ingredients were kneaded into a slightly softer dough with the help of lard and cooked flour.
This is the filling of chrysanthemum cake, which not only tastes rich, but also sweet and delicious.
Shen Jiayue asked curiously:
"Would it be sweet and greasy?"
The highest level of Chinese dim sum is that it is not sweet, and dim sum that does not feel sweet is a good dim sum.
And the filling of this chrysanthemum cake actually contains countless preserved fruits, crushed rock sugar, and lard. Isn’t it sweet and tangy?
Lin Xu said while busy:
"You have to understand that this state banquet is to entertain Nixon, and the taste must be taken care of as much as possible. Americans like to eat sweet food the most. The sweeter and greasier they are, the more they like it. This chrysanthemum cake is not the same.
Exception."
Shen Jiayue knows American tastes very well.
Because a few days ago, Lucy, who had received her salary, went to the embassy area and bought a box of apple pie and brought it to the store to treat everyone. She also said that this was her favorite when she was studying in the United States.
Everyone was originally very interested, but until they picked it up and took a bite, they discovered that the taste of Laomei is so unique, sweet and greasy, with no other taste. After a few mouthfuls, they felt overwhelmed.
Shen Jiayue said:
"Aunt Lucy should like it very much. I will send her a message later to see if she has time to come over to eat. This is a snack for Nixon. She should be very interested."
Lin Xu prepared the filling, kneaded the watery dough into long strips, and divided it into even dough pieces.
Then divide the pastry into small pieces, wrap the pastry in water-oil skin, roll it into a long strip like beef tongue, roll it up and place it under the plastic wrap to continue to relax.
Do it all once, divide the filling into small portions, and roll into balls suitable for filling.
Everything is ready. Follow the instructions for lotus cakes and wrap the stuffing ball with puff pastry, with the seam facing downwards.
Lin Xu took a kitchen knife and cut it diagonally into six petals according to the recipe of lotus cake, and then cut each petal diagonally into four petals.
Cut it and put it on a plate and prepare it with oil.
Seeing that this step was relatively simple, Shen Jiayue wanted to try it, but she felt that cutting diagonally like this was a bit dangerous.
Girls, it’s better not to play with knives. If you hurt your hand, you won’t be able to learn the simple version of chrysanthemum cake.
Lin Xu took a knife and cut the dough pieces one by one. Next came the most critical step of the chrysanthemum cake dish, and the most likely part of the dish - frying!
Different from lotus cakes, chrysanthemum cakes cannot be fried one by one, otherwise the petals will bloom unevenly and the frying temperature will be different.
So they have to be fried at the same time.
When placed on the plate in this way, the heat will be consistent, the shape will be the same, and it will look more beautiful.
Lin Xu didn't know how the chefs at the Hangzhou state banquet worked. Anyway, he found a clever way to prepare an aluminum pot grate and tie three wires in an isosceles triangle around the grate.
The wires are about half a meter high and come together at the top so they can be lifted with one hand.
After completing this step, he set up the oil pan, put lard in the pan, and turned on the fire.
While the oil was burning, he placed the chrysanthemum pastry dough on the aluminum grate at intervals. When the oil temperature reached about 40%, he turned to medium-low heat and carefully put the grate into the oil pan while holding the wire.
The reason why iron wire is used is to facilitate the adjustment of temperature and heat. When the oil temperature is too high, you can take the grate out of the oil pan at any time to cool down and prevent it from frying.
The reason for using aluminum grates is that aluminum products conduct heat faster and make it easier to fry chrysanthemums.
Soon, the petals cut out with a kitchen knife on the dough began to rise under the influence of hot oil, making it look like a chrysanthemum blooming little by little.
Shen Jiayue held up the camera and took pictures from the side.
Although she knows that this video cannot be uploaded to the Internet, she can send it to the group to seduce everyone.
Hum hum, I don’t believe you won’t be tempted by the chrysanthemum cake that looks so elegant!
As more and more petals bloomed, Lin Xu grabbed the wire and slowly lifted the grate so that the petals were flush with the oil surface.
Shen Jiayue asked curiously:
"What does this mean?"
"Use the tension of the oil surface to make the petals bloom more thoroughly, so that the shape of the chrysanthemum will be more beautiful."
Sure enough, after lifting it up, the petals not only bloomed faster, but also bloomed to a greater extent, especially the outermost layer, which bloomed straight outward like a chrysanthemum in full bloom.
When the petals were almost blooming, Lin Xu put the aluminum grate back into the oil pan, then picked up a spoon, scooped up the hot oil in the pan and poured it on the chrysanthemums.
Although the chrysanthemum cake was completely immersed in hot oil at this time, Lin Xu's pouring made the hot oil flow quickly, and the core part of the chrysanthemum suddenly bloomed, and all the petals seemed to come alive. Shen Jiayue was amazed by the sight.
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After watering one by one, all the petals have turned light yellow, which means that the heat is almost done. If they are fried again, these petals will turn into burnt yellow, which does not look like chrysanthemums.
Lin Xu took out the grate, put it on the oil pan and shook it a few times to control the oil on it, and then placed the grate on a round tray.
Take a new white porcelain plate, use chopsticks to hold the fried chrysanthemum cakes and place them on the plate, forming a cluster of flowers, then sprinkle some powdered sugar, and this dessert for the state banquet is officially completed.
"Wow, super beautiful!"
At first glance, the whole dish looks like a bouquet made of chrysanthemums. Each chrysanthemum blooms perfectly, and the light yellow petals make the chrysanthemums look very noble.
Shen Jiayue no longer bothered to use the camera, so she took a few photos with her cell phone and sent them to the good sisters group.
The originally silent group suddenly exploded into chaos!
Xiao Qing: What's going on? Is this food? Ahhhhh, why are you so greedy for me?
Dou Wenjing: It looks delicious.
Chen Yan: After eating yak meat for several days, do you know how much I miss the snacks in the capital? Yueyue, you’re done. If you don’t have this snack in the capital, I will bully Dundun!
Chen Yuanyuan: What is the name of this snack?
Zeng Xiaoqi: Is this chrysanthemum cake? This dish was served at the Nixon state banquet in Hangzhou.
Shu Yun: Can I go up and try it for everyone?
Geng Lele: Leave one for me!!!!!!!!
Chen Yan joined the group before she got married, but Shi Wenqing, who had not spoken much, was also extremely excited at this time:
"Wait for me, wait for me, I am packing my daughter's diapers. Today I took my child to Linji to eat at a big restaurant. If I don't give him food, I will make my daughter cry for you to see!"
Shen Jiayue opened her mouth, feeling like she had stabbed a hornet's nest.
Seeing that Lucy didn't speak, she thought the aunt hadn't seen her, so she sent a private message:
"Aunt Lucy, are you busy?"
After a while, the other party sent a voice message, which was a blunt Mandarin sentence:
"I'm riding to the store, leave me a chrysanthemum!"
Tsk, you have to be a foreigner to be straightforward. He doesn’t beep so much. He rides his bicycle directly from Peking University to the restaurant to eat.
"Okay, please be safe on the road."
Shen Jiayue replied to a message, then put down her phone and began to look at the blooming chrysanthemums on the plate.
Shu Yun also came up at this moment, and when he saw it, he started taking pictures again and again.
Lin Xu reminded:
"This is a puff pastry made with lard and fried in lard. It's best to eat it while it's hot, because it will feel greasy when it's cold."
Upon hearing this, Shu Yun and Shen Jiayue quickly picked up the small plates, each picked up a flower with chopsticks, brought it to their mouths and lightly bit it, a crunching sound immediately sounded in their mouths.
This sound is very seductive, as if it rings directly in the bottom of my heart, and my brain becomes happy.
The petals are very crisp, and when paired with sprinkles of powdered sugar, they are sweet. Shen Jiayue feels that she will not get tired of eating them for a year.
But eating the petals alone is just a pleasure. The most delicious part is the stuffing. She opened her mouth and took a bite. The fat and syrup in the stuffing were mixed with various preserved fruits and candied fruits, plus the crispiness of the petals.
, various flavors and textures are mixed together, it is simply invincible and delicious!
"Wow, this stuffing is so delicious. Although it's a bit sweet, the taste is incredible!"
Shu Yun also agreed:
"Yes, yes, it's really delicious."
After saying that, she took her mobile phone and sent a voice message to Song Tiantian:
"Come to the small kitchen secretly and try the chrysanthemum cake made by the boss. Don't make any noise, there aren't many."
Lin Xu had already begun to explode at this moment, he said with a smile:
"Today I just made some to try. If you want to eat it, just ask the pastry department to make more."
Although this kind of pastry looks very complicated, it is not too difficult for a professional Bai An master. Basically, an experienced person can make it, but not as skilled as Lin Xu.
Soon, the tall and powerful Song Tiantian and Xiao Dong sneaked in.
"Boss, can we try it?"
"Okay, eat it. If it's not enough, I'll fry some more."
Lin Xu didn't expect that just practicing the snacks for the state banquet in advance would attract so many people's attention.
He fried the remaining two pots and started kneading the dough again, preparing to fry a simple version of the chrysanthemum cake.
Compared with the state banquet version of chrysanthemum cake that is full of petals, the simple version is much easier.
Wrap the pastry noodles with water-based dough, then roll them into layers like beef tongue, stack them and roll them into a pancake shape, then wrap the prepared red bean paste filling inside.
Wrap it well with the seam facing down and press it into a cake again.
Then pick up the kitchen knife and cut from the center third of the dough to the edge.
Then space one centimeter apart and continue cutting.
Cut the entire cake into a chrysanthemum shape, then twist it with your hands so that the red bean paste at the break is facing upwards. After twisting it all, the chrysanthemum feeling will appear.
But this chrysanthemum is a cartoon version and actually looks like a sunflower.
Lin Xu made the cakes one by one and put them in the oven to bake. When they are crispy, this simple version of chrysanthemum cake is considered complete.
After watching the whole process, Shen Jiayue couldn't help but said:
"Don't tell me, it's really simple. You don't have to fry it. I will learn this later. When Yanbao comes back, let her taste Chef Shen's cooking!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Lucy ran in happily, wearing a cycling hat on her head, and her eyes lit up when she saw the chrysanthemum cake on the table:
"Buy it! It's so beautiful, it's amazing oriental food, I love China! I Love Chinese Food!"
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