Author: round head and round belly

After Qin Lan brought the salted tofu to the table, he suddenly realized that he had brought a plate of tofu all the way here without paying any attention to it.

This made her a little curious, so she returned to the kitchen and asked Li Yi: "Chef, do you make the tofu you use yourself? Does it feel different from ordinary tofu?"

"We made it together, purely handmade!"

Wu Lei proudly pointed to the stone mill beside him: "Just use this, I grinded it all day yesterday!"

"Really? No wonder."

Qin Lan nodded and said, "I found that this tofu doesn't seem to have a beany smell."

"Of course not! We use the best soybeans, which are ground from 500 kilograms of Heihe Golden beans. The bean flavor is very rich, and it is very delicious without any seasoning."

Wu Lei was very proud that he could make this tofu because of his great efforts.

Seeing a few unused pieces of salted tofu on the plate next to Li Yi, he stepped forward and picked up a piece, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it, and exclaimed: "Wow! This salted water tastes really good, the saltiness is just right

good."

Qin Lan looked at him with a look of enjoyment on his face, his expression was a bit complicated, showing fear and disgust, but also a hint of curiosity.

Seeing this, Li Yi deliberately asked her: "Do you want to try it?"

"Ah? No, no, thank you."

Qin Lan quickly waved his hand.

She still couldn't forget the shadow in her heart.

Li Yi didn't pay attention, just nodded and told Wu Lei: "Bring a basin of pure water over."

As he said that, he reached out to open the knife box and took out a small palm-length dagger from inside.

"coming."

Wu Lei squeezed a piece of tofu, grabbed two peanuts and put them into his mouth. Then he clapped his hands, turned around and found a basin, went to the water purifier, picked up a basin of water, and brought it over.

"Put it here."

Li Yi motioned for him to put the basin on the table next to him, then picked up a piece of southern tofu sent by Zhao Jinmai and put it into the water.

Then, he put his left hand into the water, gently held the tofu, then held a small knife with his right hand and cut into the tofu along the edge.

"Eh?"

Wu Lei looked at Li Yi's movements curiously and asked curiously: "Brother Yi, are you going to engrave words?"

"No, I want to carve out some fish."

Li Yi explained casually.

"Fish? What fish?"

"Red scale fish."

Li Yi looked at the tofu in the basin, his hands were steady, and the knife was smooth and impartial.

Zhao Jinmai on the side asked curiously: "Brother Yi, do you want to carve fish with tofu?"

"Um."

Li Yi explained: "Qilin Xianfu, this dish is originally dry-fried Taishan red-scale fish, but when it is placed in a tofu banquet, it has to be made with tofu, so it can only be carved."

"Taishan red phosphorus fish? I've never heard of it. Is it very famous?"

Zhao Jinmai had no impression at all.

“It’s famous and delicious.”

Li Yi kept talking in his hands: "Red-scaled fish, together with oil fish and bow fish from Erhai Lake in Dali, yellow fish from Qinghai Lake, and shad from Fuchun River, are among the top five famous fish in China. The meat is tender and boneless, and is most suitable for deep-frying.

Since the Song Dynasty, it has been a royal tribute fish, and the fried red-scaled fish has been included in the Man-Han banquet.

But this kind of fish can only be found in mountain streams at an altitude of 270-800 meters in Mount Tai, and it is difficult to raise. It must be placed in a large tank in deep water under the shade of a tree, and the tank must be covered with a bamboo cover, so that it can survive at least one out of ten.

And he won't live long.

Therefore, it has been said since ancient times that the Chilin fish cannot reach Mount Tai, and it is even more difficult to transport it from Mount Tai to the capital."

Listening to Li Yi's explanation, Zhao Jinmai asked puzzledly: "Then since it is fish, why is this dish called Qilin Xianfu?"

Li Yi stared at the tofu, and while cutting the knife, he explained slowly: "It also has another name, called Chilin fish. There is a record in "Taishan Medicine Chronicle", saying that Chilin fish has a square head and a huge mouth, and has a long beard and a long eye. The whole head is like a dragon without horns, so it got the Chinese character 'Chi', and because of its nature of liking rain, it got the Chinese character 'Lin'.

There is a local folklore saying that if this kind of fish is placed on a rock and exposed to the hot sun, its oil will turn into oil and flow away, leaving only its scales and bones, so it is also called the fish with strange scales, which is homophonic for Qilin.

Of course, this is just a legend. This kind of fish will not turn into oil even if it is exposed to the sun, but it is indeed delicious.

Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty ate this fish when he passed Mount Tai and left a poem about it."

"What poem?"

Zheng Jun asked.

He was a senior Shaanxi official from An, the capital of the Tang Dynasty was in Chang'an, and the poet Li Bai was also his idol, so his interest was naturally aroused.

"Let me think about it..."

Li Yi recalled for a while and said: "Lu wine is like amber, and Wen fish has purple brocade scales. The powerful officials in Shandong are handsome, so they carry this thing as a gift to people from far away. By the way, the red-scaled fish also has a nickname called purple brocade scales." , it’s because of this poem.”

Listening to Li Yi's explanation, Zheng Jun nodded slowly: "It's interesting. I must try it whenever I have a chance."

“Worth a try.”

Li Yi glanced at him and said with a smile: "If you want to eat, I will teach you how to choose. Just look at the color of the scales.

The top-grade ones that are golden and buttery all over are called golden red scales, which are the most delicious, but they are basically gone now. They are rare and hard to come by.

The color of the scales is silver-white, and the scales are silver-red compared to the snow. This kind is also rare, so you are lucky if you can eat it.

The most common ones are the ones with green bean-colored backs, and the black-gray ones, which are bean-red scales and grass-red scales. These two are just famous, and the taste is okay, but they are incomparable with gold and silver red scales. "

Zheng Jun swallowed subconsciously when he heard this, and then smiled and said: "No, I have to remember it. This is really useful. If I go to eat it then, I can avoid a lot of pitfalls!"

"I have to remember it too."

Wu Lei smiled and gestured to the program team: "Please help me come up with this section later and send it to me!"

In the live broadcast room, the audience listened to their conversation and also talked about it.

"Good guy, watching this show is really informative. This is the first time I've heard of red-scaled fish."

"Taian locals have proven that we do have the dish of dry-fried red scale fish, and it tastes really good, but the fish used seems to be the bean red scale, grass red scale, golden red scale and silver scale that Yi Ge mentioned. I’ve never seen red scales before.”

"Alas! It's great to have money. I can hardly afford to eat carp, let alone red-scaled fish, one of the five famous fish."

"There are indeed red-scale fish in Mount Tai. I ate them when I climbed Mount Tai, but I heard that they are all farmed now and there are no wild ones."

"Damn! How come I haven't eaten anything delicious?"

"Look, I'm so hungry! Why haven't the takeaways arrived yet? I want red warm! Blanch!"

Barrages were pouring in, but Li Yi had no time to take care of them.

The blade of the knife in his hand wandered over the tofu, and the blade penetrated into the tofu, but no gap could be seen, as if it had penetrated a piece of liquid.

Following that, I didn't see him making any big movements. With just a flick of the blade, a tender yellow tofu fish slipped out of the tofu and fell into the water.

The smooth and tender tofu fish swayed in the water with the current, shaking its head and tail. At first glance, it really looked like a living thing.

"Hey!"

Wu Lei on the side happened to see this scene and immediately exclaimed: "It's really a fish! Oh my god! It looks like it!"

9
Chapter completed!