Chapter 816 This is not making a winter melon cup, it is simply stealing the job of the Academy of Fine Arts! [Please subscribe]
"Brother, is it difficult to make the winter melon cup?"
Arriving next to the master, Lin Xu asked Xie Baomin in a low voice.
Lao Xie smiled and said:
"It's not difficult. Even people with no cooking skills can make this thing. Cut the winter melon into pieces, clean out the flesh, blanch it in boiling water for a few minutes, take it out and put it directly into cold water to cool, and then add the ingredients.
Just put it into the pot with the stock and steam it, it’s very simple.”
Upon hearing this process, Lin Xu felt that it was really simple.
But even if it is simple, you still have to study hard. After all, being able to attend the state banquet must be unique, and this is done by the master himself, which is definitely different from what ordinary people do.
Uncle Gao used mini winter melons today. They are not big and look like small watermelons, but they are just enough to make a single-serve winter melon cup.
In addition to winter melon, there are also duck meat, dried shrimps, scallops, spring bamboo shoots, fish balls, shiitake mushrooms, Jinhua ham and other ingredients, as well as condiments such as stock, water starch, rock sugar, rice wine, and pepper.
Both ham and dried shrimps contain salt, and the stock is made from Jinhua ham, which also has a salty taste, so there is no need to add additional salt during the production process of the winter melon cup. The salt in the ingredients and stock is enough.
Uncle Gao took the small winter melon and cut it into quarters from the upper half. The cut-off part was used as a cover and the remaining part was used as a cup.
"Master, please rest for a while, I will come."
Xie Baomin took a spoon and took out all the pulp and soft tissue inside, leaving only the harder flesh part. At the same time, he scraped off the pulp on the lid of the cup, and the prototype of the entire winter melon cup was completed.
Lin Xu asked:
"Can we start?"
Xie Baomin put down the spoon in his hand and picked up the carving knife:
"Junior brother, the winter melon cup is more than just a matter of making it. Especially for important banquets, just arranging this dish is equivalent to notifying the chef that it's time to show off his skills."
After saying that, he took the carving knife and started carving on the mouth of the winter melon cup.
Only then did Lin Xu realize that he had forgotten about this incident.
Use a knife to carve the mouth of the winter melon cup into a wavy pattern, which makes it look more beautiful. Then carve the lid in the same way to make the two form a perfect whole.
After the mouth is arranged, start carving on the winter melon skin with a carving knife.
First, use a carving knife to draw the outline of a phoenix, and then use the carving knife to carve out the phoenix bit by bit. After carving, carve decorative patterns on it. The whole winter melon is suddenly full of artistic feeling.
After carving a phoenix on the front, Xie Baomin used a carving knife to carve five large characters on the back:
【Peace of mind and natural coolness】
Whether in Shanghai or in Guangdong, winter melon cups are a summer dish to relieve the heat, so chefs like to carve the words "calm and naturally cool" on them, so that customers can relax and feel calm, so they will naturally not feel so hot.
Uncle Gao said to Xie Baomin:
"These words were not used at state banquets in the past. Don't let photographers take pictures later, lest the audience complain that the state banquet is not serious enough."
Xie Baomin carved a square frame on several large regular script characters, which looks like a celebrity's calligraphy brand.
He said while fiddling with it:
"Last time Qiu Qiu carved a part of the picture of Along the River During the Qingming Festival on the winter melon cup. I couldn't do it, so I had to use clever words... Master, when you were young, what did you usually carve on when you were making winter melon cups?"
"At that time, it was usually about the reform and opening up and people's happiness. Around the 1990s, it was usually about the Asian Games and Panda Panpan. Basically, they were closely related to major social events."
There are many things that can be carved on the winter melon cup, and chefs also like to use it to express their inner poetry and distant places.
Take the current chief chefs of Diaoyutai as an example. Some of them like to carve calligraphy and paintings, some like to carve small animals, and some like architecture, legends of legends, etc. Everyone has beautiful carving skills, which makes Lin Xu have
It feels like attending a gathering of scribes.
A group of good cooks, not only cook well, but also enjoy carving.
Do you have to put sculptors out of work?
Fortunately, Deng Lisong didn't come over, otherwise he would have gone to the shooting site to start exchanging carving experiences.
Xie Baomin carved the pattern on the winter melon cup and carved a circle of auspicious cloud patterns on the lid for decoration. The whole process of showing off his skills came to an end.
Then, he boiled water in a pot. When the water boiled, he put the winter melon cup and winter melon lid into the pot and blanch them with hot water.
When doing this step, don’t forget to remind Lin Xu:
"Winter melon has a raw taste. If you blanch it before making soup, the raw taste will transform into a fresh and sweet taste. So if you want the winter melon to taste delicious, blanching is an essential step."
Uncle Gao added:
"Be careful when carving patterns on winter melon. Don't make them too deep. If you can't get it right, wait until the blanching is finished before carving. That will make it clearer and more conspicuous."
Lin Xu nodded, indicating that he remembered.
After blanching the winter melon for two or three minutes, take it out of the pot and put it directly into ice water to cool down. The reason for using ice water is to prevent the winter melon from overheating and rotting.
Taking advantage of the time to cool down the winter melon, Xie Baomin began to change the ingredients.
Remove the bones from the duck meat, cut it into small cubes and set aside. Marinate it with water starch and blanch it in boiling water until it is cooked through.
Then cut the ham, spring bamboo shoots and other ingredients into small dices, and put them into the pot together with the dried shrimps to blanch them.
Take the winter melon out of the cold water, drain the water, and place it in a clay pot. Then pour the prepared ingredients into it, add the stock, add rock sugar, add pepper and rice wine, and put it in the steaming cabinet to start.
Steam.
Uncle Gao said:
“Winter Melon Cup is actually quite a homely delicacy, and there are no strict regulations on the ingredients used. Chicken, duck, ribs, bullfrog, shrimp, crab, etc. can be used. You can mix them however you want. You can also stir-fry them first.
Stew it again, and finally pour it into a winter melon pot and steam it. You can also do it like now without stir-frying the ingredients to minimize the oil in the soup."
There are no strict rules for how to make this kind of delicacy. It belongs to the category of placing it how you want. Anyway, in the end, you pour various ingredients and soup into the winter melon and steam it. As long as this process is correct, the resulting winter melon cup will be delicious.
It will be too unpalatable.
Lin Xu listened carefully to Master's explanation and gained a new understanding of this delicacy.
After Xie Baomin put the winter melon cup and winter melon lid into the steamer, he asked curiously:
"Are there no nutritious ingredients allowed in this dish?"
Xie Baomin was immediately happy when he heard this:
"Junior brother, you have observed carefully enough. This soup is to clear away heat, remove fire and relieve greasiness. If nourishing ingredients are added, such as wolfberry, astragalus, or mutton, it would be a big mistake. Not only will it not work, but it will
It will also be counterproductive."
Sure enough, you can learn something by observing more.
Don't steam the winter melon cup for too long, just fifteen to twenty minutes, no more than half an hour, otherwise the winter melon soup will leak easily.
Especially for winter melons with various patterns carved on their surfaces, you need to be careful.
When the winter melon cup came out of the pot, Uncle Gao handed a piece of white radish to Lin Xu:
"Carve a peacock head and use it to place the roast duck on the plate later."
After speaking, Uncle Gao went to the roast duck stove in the back kitchen and started cooking the roast duck. The photographer next to him kept following and taking pictures.
Peacock head?
Lin Xu casually picked up the photo beside him and saw that at the state banquet that year, the roast duck dish was indeed decorated with a peacock body, and those slices of roast duck became embellishments and decorations on the peacock's body.
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This is easy to carve. Just carve out the base first, then carve out the slender peacock neck, and finally the head and mouth.
When carving the head, dig a small hole directly above it, then carve the carrot into the shape of a fan and insert it upside down to form the peacock's crown.
Not long after, the winter melon cup was ready, and Xie Baomin took it out of the steaming cabinet with a clay pot in his hands.
Do not cover the lid when steaming to prevent the odor inside from dissipating.
After taking it out, he stirred it a few times in the winter melon cup with a spoon, and a delicious smell suddenly came out. Xie Baomin looked at Lin Xu and asked:
"How are you, Junior Brother? It tastes good, right?"
"It's very good. I want to take a bite when I smell it."
Xie Baomin picked up a small winter melon next to him and handed it over:
"Let's try it. It will take a while for master to make roast duck anyway, so why not practice while you're at it?"
Lin Xu originally planned to make a butterfly platter, but since his senior brother suggested making a winter melon cup, he did not refuse. He took the small winter melon and cut off the upper half, and then began to dig out the flesh, shape it, and make carvings.
He didn't know what to carve, so he simply carved two koi carps on the surface of the winter melon, and carved a few lotus leaves and lotus flowers next to them, which just took up a circle on the surface of the winter melon.
"Oh, summer lotus picture, this is good, it goes well with summer."
Xie Baomin took a photo with his mobile phone and immediately sent it to the group of head chefs in Diaoyutai, giving everyone a special comment:
"My junior brother made a winter melon cup for the first time, and it showed a picture of summer lotus. How does it look like? Is it better than the picture of a chicken pecking at rice that some people used when they were apprentices?"
As soon as it was posted, Wu Shouye started to bubble up:
"Lao Xie, you might as well speak more clearly. Who do these words reflect?"
He looked like he was about to quarrel, which made He Baoqing a little confused:
"Isn't it Lao Song who carved the picture of a chicken pecking rice on a winter melon cup? Why is Lao Wu so excited? Did you also carve it back then?"
Song Dahai sent a thick emoticon:
"He carved an egg just to taunt me. You too, boss. It's been so many years. Why do you rush forward when Lao Wu mentions something? Is he your Pavlov?"
He Baoqing made a big blush. He thought he had forgotten it, but it was Lao Wu who deliberately caused the misfortune, causing him to accidentally fall into the trap.
But He Baoqing has a unique trick to deal with Lao Wu.
He directly downloaded the last recording saved on the network disk to his mobile phone, and then sent it to the group.
Soon, the melon-eating Lao Dai bubbled up:
"Damn it, Lao Wu, do you have a lot of tea leaves? Get me a sack."
Ning Yiheng also sent an emoticon of rich brother V and I am fifty:
"Old Wu, get me ten boxes of Longjing tea. I won't do it for nothing, I'll give you the money."
When other people saw it, they were also excited.
"Lao Wu, get me some tea and I'll pay you the market price."
"And me, my father-in-law took away everything I brought back last time. How about giving me three or five cans later?"
"My dad's old comrade-in-arms really liked the tea from last time. Get me some more. I'll give you sticky bean buns in exchange."
"Damn, Lao Yuan, you have the nerve to open your mouth, can you exchange the sticky bean buns for tea? Lao Wu, give it to me, I will roll out the dough for you, even if ten pounds are exchanged for one pound, I will accept it."
"..."
Wu Shouye originally wanted to tease the boss He Baoqing. Because this good old man is warm-hearted and does not have a particularly good memory, he often makes jokes.
Who would have thought that when I saw the theater and saw myself on the stage, I became the target of public criticism.
In order to prevent everyone from getting more and more noisy, Lao Wu immediately chose to leave the group and wait until the situation calmed down before joining again.
At the shooting scene, after Lin Xu carved the summer lotus picture, he began to blanch it, then prepared two chicken legs and other ingredients, and started steaming after preliminary processing.
When Uncle Gao came over with the roasted duck, Lin Xu had already placed the winter melon cup he had made on the dining table.
"Xiao Xu, did you do this?"
Uncle Gao came over, smelled the smell, and said with a smile:
"Yes, the fresh flavor of winter melon comes out, but if you use chicken, you can reduce the steaming time appropriately. Duck meat can be steamed for the full time, but for chicken, steaming for fifteen minutes will be done. If the time is too long, it will make the taste worse.
Deterioration."
This is the strength of top masters. They can point out shortcomings and deficiencies just by smelling them. This cooking skill is truly unparalleled.
"Thank you, Master, for your guidance. I will practice more later."
Lin Xu agreed and immediately took the roast duck from Uncle Gao:
"Just rest and let me do it."
Place the freshly baked roast duck on the tray, use a duck knife to slice off the duck skin from the breast, and then slice the duck meat into clove slices.
Slice the duck meat and place it on a plate lined with cabbage leaves, forming a peacock tail shape.
Arrange the peacock body carved from radish at the front of the plate, stick two black sesame seeds on the peacock's head as eyes, and the whole dish is completed.
At this time, Xie Baomin had also made the bean paste glutinous rice balls, and added the fruit plate and other garnishing dishes, and the entire state banquet was completed.
After placing all the dishes on the dining table, and placing the old actor Maotai wine, chopsticks, plates and other tableware, the photographers gathered around and started taking pictures of the dishes from multiple angles.
Lin Xu came to the side and was about to take a break when he saw Shen Jiayue hugging Dundun and Chen Yan hurried over.
"Xubao, Xubao, are we not late?"
Shen Jiayue was afraid that she would be late and run out of food, so as soon as the car parked, she rushed over with Dundun in her arms, frightening the little guy who had been taking photos for most of the day.
Lin Xu took a tissue and wiped the girl's sweat:
"I just finished it, and I'm taking a close-up... Even if I finish eating, I'll just make a new table for you. It's such a big deal, why don't you run away?"
Chen Yan took a bottle of mineral water and drank half of it:
"You don't understand this, brother-in-law, the food you are rushing to eat is more delicious. No matter how delicious the food is, it would be boring if no one is rushing to eat it."
However, as soon as she finished speaking, Shen Jiayue retorted:
"Put it down, I hate it when people compete with me to eat, especially those who are older than me."
Chen Yan: "..."
If you continue to be so arrogant, don’t blame me for deducting Dundun’s appearance fee.
Dundun received a six-figure reward for taking photos today. As an agent, Chen Yan originally didn't plan to take the reward, but since her cousin said so, let's take 300%.
Let Dundun owe me two hundred thousand first.
Soon, the video shooting was completed, and Shen Jiayue and Chen Yan could finally observe the dishes on the table up close.
The most attractive thing is naturally the butterfly platter. It seems that the arrangement is very simple, but visually it gives people a lifelike feeling, as if the butterfly will fly away in the next second.
In addition to this dish, there are peacock-shaped roast duck and crab-shaped mandarin fish that look exactly like real crabs.
Shen Jiayue looked at the crabs on the plate and couldn't help but swallow her saliva. She must experience the feeling of eating crabs later to avoid being laughed at by Yan Bao for not being able to eat crabs.
She held up her mobile phone to take pictures, and then she noticed the different patterns carved on the surface of the ordinary winter melon cup.
"Wow, are these all carved by hand?"
Shen Jiayue took a closer look. One was carved with a phoenix, and on the back were the words "Peace of Mind, Natural Coolness" in regular script, while the other was two koi carps and lotus leaves, which had a very summer feel.
Zeng Xiaoqi said:
"The phoenix was carved by Chef Xie, and the summer lotus picture was carved by Boss Lin. They are both at a level that can be admitted to the Central Academy of Fine Arts."
Who would have thought that an ordinary chef could have such superb carving skills? For these two pictures, even if students from the Academy of Fine Arts were to carve them, they might not be able to reach this level.
The highest realm of cooking can actually extend to the art circle. No wonder there is always a saying that "the end of craftsmanship is art."
After everyone finished taking pictures, they started to taste the dishes on the table.
When Shen Jiayue came up, she picked up a crab leg and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing it:
"Wow, I feel so good eating these crab legs. I finally don't have to fumble around with eight pieces of crab... I can eat a whole basket of these crab legs."
Chen Yan couldn't help but remind:
"Fried food is high in calories, so it's better to eat less."
After saying that, she took two crab claws covered with bread crumbs and put them into her mouth, chewing them.
While persuading others to eat less fried food, they continue to eat it—it’s okay to take risks.
After eating the crab legs and claws, I hold the crab shell with my hands and slurp down the crab meat brewed inside. This kind of satisfaction cannot be exchanged for any amount of steamed hairy crabs.
"This way of eating is so enjoyable. I just like the feeling of eating crabs in big mouths."
Shen Jiayue ate two crabs in a row, and then started to taste the butterfly platter.
This delicacy seems to be just a flower arrangement, but the ingredients inside are also very particular. Each one has a different taste. Every time you taste one, you can't help but feel a sense of surprise in your heart.
After tasting these, and then trying the winter melon cup and other delicacies, everyone was already half full.
Lin Xu tasted the soup in the winter melon cup, then scooped out the winter melon with a spoon and tasted it. It was delicious and very refreshing, making it very suitable for summer consumption.
No wonder this is a summer delicacy, it really tastes like summer.
By the time everyone had finished eating and drinking, it was almost four o'clock in the afternoon.
Lin Xu fed Dundun some roast duck meat, hugged him and prepared to go back. The filming of the state banquet came to an end, and it was time to go back to the store to do other things.
Putting Dundun on the back seat, the young couple got into the car, fastened their seat belts and prepared to drive back.
Shen Jiayue suddenly asked:
"Xubao, have you ever eaten Shui Lao rice from Northeast China?"
"No, do you want to eat?"
"I kind of want to..."
"Then I'll cook something for you later, so you can taste the taste of fished rice that Northeastern people always miss. It just so happens that it's been hot recently, so it's time to eat some food to cool down..."
After saying that, Lin Xu started the car and drove towards Yingchun Street with his wife and children...
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