After Xu Lan was reminded by Qing Yu, her heart suddenly became brighter.
That's right, the existing methods were also developed through various attempts by predecessors. It does not mean that they are the only truth. She can also try to make some changes herself.
With this understanding, Xu Lan was so excited that she couldn't wait to know what flavor she could taste. So she immediately packed her backpack and went to Daquwan Market.
The so-called five-flavor blend refers to salty, sour, bitter, spicy, and sweet. In addition to salty, the king of flavors, the three most important flavors are sauce, vinegar, and black bean. So Xu Lan planned to make these three flavors first, and among these three flavors, of course, sauce is the most important flavor.
First.
There are many types of sauces, such as bean sauce, wheat sauce, meat sauce, fish sauce, shrimp paste, elm sauce, etc. There are many kinds. Considering the cost issue, Xu Lan planned to make the most common meat sauce and bean paste.
, then came to the market butcher stall.
It was already afternoon at that time, and the meat in the meat market was actually not that fresh anymore, and most of the meat left was just some scraps.
But it was better than nothing. It was just a try. Xu Lan didn't hesitate. She visited all the meat stalls and finally bought a small half basket. Then she went to the vegetable market and bought black beans, soybeans and everything else she needed.
Back to Taoyaju with a basket full of baskets.
She was anxious to try something new, so she simply stopped looking at the seasonings on the shop floor.
...
After returning to Taoyaju, Ye Qiu had already gone out and Qingyu's recruitment notice had been written. At that time, he was making paste in the kitchen, preparing to find someone to post it everywhere in the city tomorrow.
Xu Lan came to the kitchen with a basket on her back and greeted Qingyu: "Miss Third, I'm back.
I bought twenty kilograms of black beans and soybeans, as well as ten kilograms each of beef, mutton, rabbit, venison, crab, and carp, for eighteen taels and sixty coppers." Then he handed the remaining silver to Qingyu.
"You keep it for cooking." Qingyu shoveled the paste in the pot and washed the pot. She had seen Xu Lan making bean paste before and knew that it should be steamed.
Xu Lan thought that there would be more money to spend later, so she accepted it, then took out a large bag of black soybeans from the backpack, and then went to the warehouse to get star anise, fennel, cinnamon, bay leaves, angelica, cloves, and lemongrass.
Waiting for twenty kinds of fragrant medicinal materials, as well as the koji made before, yellow clothes, etc.
Xu Lan first cleaned the soybeans, then put them directly into a large steamer, placed the steamer on the pot, added medicinal materials to the water, and dry-steamed the soybeans.
This dry steaming took a long time, and it had to be turned up and down in the middle to steam thoroughly, so Qingyu turned to the stove while Xu Lan continued to prepare other meat sauces.
"I thought that it might not be enough just by trying it, so I bought several kinds of meat and prepared to try each with different herbs to see which one tastes best in the end." The method of making meat sauce and the type of meat used.
There are also many, including cattle, sheep, deer, deer and rabbits.
Qingyu set up the firewood and waited for the fire to ignite steadily, then came to Xu Lan to help, "What are you going to do?"
Xu Landao: "I plan to grind the medicinal materials into powder and add them directly. If they are boiled, the fragrance will not come out."
"Then I'll pound it." Qingyu took out a small stone mortar from under the chopping board, then sat down and pounded the medicinal materials.
Xu Lan took out the beef, washed it, and cut it into pieces the size of dates. Then he broke off ten kilograms of koji, mashed it through a silk sieve, and finally mixed the beef with ten kilograms of koji, four and a half kilograms of white salt, and two kilograms of yellow clothes.
Mix together and mix well.
After she finished her work here, Qingyu had already pounded some medicinal materials.
Xu Lan divided the beef into twenty portions, then added an appropriate amount of medicinal powder to the first portion, stirred it evenly again, put the meat into a small jar, and finally sealed the jar tightly with mud and placed it in the sun to dry.
With.
The other meats were also cooked in the same way. She worked quickly and quickly finished making five different kinds of meat sauces based on the first medicinal ingredient. Qingyu's actions were not slow either. The two of them cooperated and in less than an hour, all the meat sauces were made.
It’s done.
After making the meat sauce, Xu Lan saw that the soybeans had not yet been steamed, so she started making fish sauce again.
First remove the scales and internal organs from the fish, wash and dry them, then cut the fish into slices and then into strips;
Then add ten pounds of fish with six pounds of yellow clothes, of which two pounds are whole and four pounds are crushed into pieces. Then add four pounds of white salt, two pounds of dried ginger pounded into pieces, and four ounces of shredded orange peels.
Stir evenly;
Finally, it is also divided into twenty parts, mixed with different medicinal materials, put into jars, sealed with mud, and left to dry in the sun.
After the fish sauce was made, the soybeans were almost ready. Xu Lan pinched open the beans and saw that the inside of the beans had turned black and ripe, so she poured the soybeans into a clean dustpan and took them out to dry in the sun.
Because there were many medicinal materials to test, there were also many jars. Xu Lan also went out and bought 120 small earthen jars during the process. When others came back one after another, all they saw was a yard of jars, which was very strange.
.
Hongtao first handed the twenty house deeds to Qingyu, then held the jar and smelled it, "What is this?
"There are different medicinal materials added to the sauce. I want to try to see if it can produce a new taste." Xu Lan explained.
Hongtao had a sharp nose and covered her nose slightly and said, "It smells like meat. Is this the sauce we eat on weekdays?"
Xu Lan smiled, "It's naturally like this when it's first made. After it's dried for half a month and matures, the meat and koji inside will ferment, and the sauce will be produced, and the taste will also change.
The meat sauce is then diluted and seasoned with thick soup made from freshly killed pheasants. The fish sauce must also be diluted and seasoned with good wine after it is mature."
Hong Tao unconsciously let out a loud oh and put down the jar, losing interest.
...
After dinner, Ye Qiu, who had gone out, finally came back. He held a sandalwood abacus in his hand. After meeting everyone in Tao Yaju one after another, he came to Qing Yu and said, "Miss Third, buy everything."
Already."
Qingyu said hello, there was nothing to do today, so he advised everyone to rest early, and then went back to the house to meditate.
Early the next morning, Ye Qiu followed Shi An to Juxianzhai to do some work, Wen Ya Hongtao also went out one after another, and Xu Lan continued to make bean paste.
The soybeans that were steamed yesterday must be steamed and dried again after being dried, and then the skins can be pounded. After the skins are pounded, they must be soaked in hot soup. After soaking, they must be steamed, and then they can be mixed with koji, yellow clothes, white salt, etc.
Mixed fermentation.
The entire production process takes at least two days. As for the meat sauce, it cannot be exposed to the sun. It has to change with the position of the sun. One hundred and twenty jars are obviously not an easy job.
.
Qingyu asked Xu Lan to work slowly at home, while she carried a recruitment notice and ten boxes of paste on her back. She found the little beggars she had met before and gave each of them fifty copper coins to ask them to help.
Go and post the notice. As for the location of the post, naturally it is mainly in the outer circle.
...
Time passed, and two days passed quickly, and news spread from various places in Yinzhou City one after another.
A restaurant called "Juxianzhai" was born, and it hired hundreds of long-term workers such as the waiter Dunzi, and the wages were generous. And the most surprising thing was that it was not limited to men and women.