Chapter 178 An extremely labor-intensive dish - rock sugar elbow!
Xie Baomin came to the kitchen carrying sugar cane and threw the car keys to Bai Pengbo:
"This shuttle bus accelerates so slowly, I almost caught up with Lao Song."
Bai Pengbo showed a true expression:
"Chef Xie, you are being unreasonable. If you let Chef Song know that it was me who provided you with the transportation tomorrow, how can I go to his place to get food in the future?"
"Don't rush tomorrow, Lao Song will be here soon."
After Xie Baomin finished speaking, he handed the sugar cane in his hand to the cook next to him:
"Pick off the leaves, wash the roots and scrape off the roots. I will make them for cooking later."
Song Dahai, the executive chef of Building 15, is famous for his bad temper in Diaoyutai. As soon as he heard that he was coming, Bai Pengbo wanted to leave immediately.
But when I heard Xie Baomin said that he wanted to cook with green sugarcane, he immediately stopped:
"Chef Xie, what do you want to cook?"
"Rock candy elbow!"
"Then I won't leave. As long as I get a kick out of it, it's worth it even if Chef Song beats me up."
Want to make rock sugar elbows?
Lin Xu was a little late-minded.
Unexpectedly, the senior brother went out of his way to steal two sugar canes for himself.
You told me earlier.
If you had told me to drive there earlier, wouldn’t it be better than driving a shuttle bus?
But do you put sugar cane in the rock sugar elbow?
I’ve never heard of this approach.
Not long after.
A man in his fifties came into the kitchen.
He is short and fat, and his hair is so sparse that it is completely shiny on the top of his head. Only a ring of sparse hair remains on his temples and the back of his head, and these hairs are still combed hard into the middle, which looks a bit funny.
"Hello, Chef Song!"
When Bai Pengbo saw Song Dahai, he quickly said hello.
By the way, he stuffed the key to the shuttle bus into his pocket, for fear that the head chef would discover that he provided transportation.
However, what he didn't expect was that Chef Song didn't pay much attention to him when he came in, and only stared at Xie Baomin:
"Since when do you need green sugar cane to make rock sugar elbows? Are you kidding me, Lao Xie?"
No matter what the temperament or personality of these head chefs at Diaoyutai, as long as they talk about cooking, their emotions will be aroused immediately.
Xie Baomin said with a smile:
"You will know later when you look at it. This is my top dish. If my junior brother didn't want to learn it, I wouldn't even show it."
Your junior brother?
Song Dahai turned his attention to Lin Xu.
Since becoming famous in the last cooking competition, Master Lin has become a celebrity in Diaoyutai.
He is even more famous than Director Liao of the catering department.
Seeing Song Dahai looking over, Lin Xu quickly said hello:
"Hello, Chef Song, I really didn't expect that my senior brother would go to borrow sugar cane from you in order to teach me how to cook. I'm really sorry."
You deliberately referred to stealing as borrowing, you are really brothers... Song Dahai muttered a few words in his heart, and then said with a smile:
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm just growing it for fun. If you want to use it, just use it."
Xie Baomin, who was next to him, immediately hit the snake and followed the stick and said:
"Did you hear that? Junior brother? Next time you want to use sugar cane, just go to Building No. 15 and pick it up. Remember to pick the one that has been watered, as it will be easier to pull it out."
Song Dahai: "..."
Damn you, you really don’t think of yourself as an outsider.
Soon, the sugar cane was cleaned.
Xie Baomin cut the sugarcane into sections, tasted the sweetness, and then left the sugarcane near the root, which looked like four or five sections.
Finished these.
Start preparing the ingredients for making rock sugar elbows.
There are many people today.
Xie Baomin took four well-sized pig elbows directly from the cold storage.
Then we prepared green onions, ginger, star anise, pepper, bay leaves, cinnamon, white pepper and other spices, as well as a whole bowl of rock sugar.
Wow!
So much rock candy?
Although the rock sugar elbow Lin Xu ate at Shen's house was quite sweet, he still couldn't believe it when he saw such a large bowl of rock sugar.
Is this dish sweet or meaty?
Xie Baomin said:
"The rock sugar elbow dish is a classic Shandong cuisine and one of the famous Jinan three elbows. It uses a lot of sugar. It can be said that it relies entirely on rock sugar to enhance the flavor."
As soon as he finished speaking, Song Dahai next to him added:
"The amount of sugar used in this dish is different between the north and the south. In the north, it is 200 grams of rock sugar per elbow, but in the south, it is more, almost 250 grams."
He saw that Xie Baomin really wanted to teach Master Lin how to make rock sugar elbows.
Then he put his mind aside and started explaining.
In a few days, Master Lin will represent Diaoyutai in a cooking competition. If this dish is available, wouldn't it be useful?
However, the chances of cooking elbow dishes in the competition are not very high.
After all, this dish takes too much work.
Lin Xu on the side was still secretly speechless:
Be good.
One elbow and half a pound of rock sugar.
If you take this sip, your blood sugar will not rise to double digits?
Xie Baomin boiled a pot of water.
After the water boils, put the elbow in.
When the water in the pot boiled again, he took it out of the pot with a slotted spoon.
Lin Xu looked a little confused and didn't understand what this operation was.
Is this blanching?
Isn’t this too casual?
Song Dahai said from the side:
"This is a tight pigskin. Boil the pigskin in hot water and the stubble inside will protrude, making it easier to clean up."
Just before putting it in.
Lin Xu saw that the surface of the elbow was shiny.
After scalding them in boiling water, he found that there were indeed fine stubbles on the surface of these elbows, as if they had not shaved for two or three days.
I learned another little trick for dealing with elbows.
Xie Baomin wiped the moisture on the surface of the elbow with kitchen paper, then used a spray gun to burn the pig skin.
This is actually skin burning. It uses high-temperature flames to burn all the stubble pores and sweat glands on the surface of the elbow. This not only reduces the odor, but also makes the skin of the elbow firmer and more delicious.
But after adding the step of tightening the skin, the effect of burning the skin becomes better.
Soon, all four elbows were burned to a pitch black color.
It also smells like burning hair.
Xie Baomin put his elbow into the slightly hot water, picked up a newly unpacked steel wool ball and started washing it.
Soon.
The elbow that was originally covered in black dust was washed clean.
Then heat up the oil in a pan and start oiling the elbows.
It took a while for the oil to heat up, so Xie Baomin had nothing to do, so he took a sharp knife and picked out the thin end of the elbow, which is the fascia connecting the joints of the pig's trotters.
Song Dahai couldn't help but admired when he saw it:
"Lao Xie is very particular about this step."
Pay attention to?
Is there anything to say here?
Lin Xu asked curiously.
Song Dahai said:
"After removing the fascia of the lower joint, the meat of the elbow will shrink when stewing, and the bones will be exposed. This not only looks good, but also can pull out the leg bones with a gentle pull when eating." p>
Lin Xu understood now.
It turns out that this is how those elbows with grips are handled.
"How about cutting off the fascia?"
Song Dahai replied:
"If you don't cut it off, the bones won't be exposed. When stewing, the fascia at both ends will be pulled at the same time, which will easily tear the elbow apart. Many people stew their elbows at home and stew them shapelessly. It's these fascias that are causing trouble."
So that’s it!
I found the culprit why my mother’s elbow breaks into several pieces every time she braises it.
While busy with this step, Xie Baomin said to Lin Xu:
"The odor of ingredients such as elbows is all in the skin. After scraping and washing the skin, there will basically be no odor anymore. Just fry it directly."
Song Dahai on the side couldn't help but explain:
"After the pork skin is cooked in oil, it will be more complete and the appearance will not be ruined. If you are worried about the oil collapsing when cooking at home, you can also use a spray gun to burn the pork skin once and burn out fine bubbles. It has the same effect as deep-frying.
”
These are the experiences they have gained from working in the kitchen for half their lives.
To others, it may just be a conversation piece.
But for practitioners in the cooking industry, they are priceless treasures.
Lin Xu silently remembered it in his heart.
There will definitely be a lot of elbow dishes that he will be exposed to in the future.
Remember one more way to deal with it, maybe it will come in handy when you do it later.
Xie Baomin uses a deeper pot to fry the elbows.
A big pot has a lot of oil.
The chance of oil collapse will be greatly reduced.
After the oil temperature came up, Xie Baomin casually threw the four elbows in. Not only did the oil not collapse in the pot, it even only turned over for a while, making it very safe.
Not long after.
When the skin of the elbow is fried until small bubbles form on the surface.
Xie Baomin fished out the elbow.
"The purpose of deep-frying is to stretch the pig skin, not to peel off the tiger skin, so it cannot be fried for too long, otherwise it will become a tiger skin elbow."
Take the elbows out of the pot and put them aside to control the oil.
Then put a pot of water on the stove.
Put the oil-controlled elbows in, then add slices of ginger and green onion, pour in a spoonful of cooking wine, and start to blanch.
"Blanching elbows is different from other dishes because it is difficult to cook them thoroughly, so you have to blanch them for about half an hour to thoroughly cook them until they are raw, and then stew them, so that the stew tastes better."
After Xie Baomin finished speaking, he wiped the sweat from his head with a towel.
After the water in the pot boils, use a spoon to skim off the scum and continue cooking.
When Song Dahai saw this, he understood something:
"The sugar cane will be added later when it is stewed?"
"Yes, when stewing, put some green sugar cane in it to increase the freshness of the elbow. You can also use old sugar cane, but it won't taste as good as green sugar cane."
After Xie Baomin finished speaking, he took a sip of tea and looked at the time.
It's early three in the afternoon.
It will probably be after five o'clock when I get to eat the elbow.
This is all under the premise of using a pressure cooker. If you use an ordinary pot, it will take three hours to stew, and after the stew, you have to collect the juice, which will take at least half an hour.
This kind of dish is really delicious when it’s ready.
But it does take a lot of time.
After taking a breath, Xie Baomin began to make the stew needed to stew the elbow.
He poured two spoons of oil into the pot, and when the oil was hot, he put two large handfuls of rock sugar into the pot. It looked like deep-fried rock sugar.
"Watch it, junior brother, today I will teach you a different way to stir-fry sugar."
While talking, Xie Baomin kept stirring the pot with a spoon to speed up the melting of the rock sugar.
There is a lot of oil and it will saccharify quickly.
It didn’t take long for the rock sugar cubes to turn into syrup.
Under the influence of hot oil, the syrup began to mix with the oil. Soon, the oil in the pot turned light brown and began to bubble.
Xie Baomin immediately poured in the prepared onions, ginger, washed peppercorns and other ingredients and began to stir-fry.
"Put in the ingredients when they start to bubble. It is easier to control the time. It is suitable for novices. When the onions and ginger are almost fried, the color of the sugar will also be fried. Moreover, the onion, ginger and washed spices can also lower the oil temperature, so that the color of the sugar will not be overcooked.
."
Listen to what my senior brother explains.
Lin Xu thinks this method of frying sugar is quite suitable for novices.
Those tutorials on stir-frying the color of sugar on the Internet are relatively difficult. What changes from big bubbles to small bubbles, what maroon color, etc., are completely confusing to novices.
But this way it’s simple.
When it bubbles, just pour the ingredients in and stir-fry.
After the aroma of onions and pepper and aniseed came out, Xie Baomin poured the boiling water next to it into the pot. The boiling water immediately turned an attractive red color.
"The color of this soup is so beautiful!"
Song Dahai couldn't help but admire.
Although Xie Baomin is a bitch in terms of words and deeds, his cooking skills are really good, otherwise Diaoyutai would not indulge him so much.
In fact, if you think about it, his master, Chef Gao, is also such a person.
It belongs to the same line.
Xie Baomin poured the boiling water, stirred it in the pot with a spoon, and said to Lin Xu:
"You can't put soy sauce in rock sugar elbow, whether it's light soy sauce or dark soy sauce. It must be stewed with sugar color, so that the color of the elbow will be good."
No soy sauce?
Lin Xu asked curiously:
"What about seasoning?"
"Only salt and rock sugar are used for seasoning, nothing else."
Lin Xu thinks this is completely opposite to the sweet and sour pork ribs in Wuxi. The pork ribs there only contain soy sauce and sugar, but no salt.
While talking, Xie Baomin added some salt to the pot and a few pieces of rock sugar for freshness.
The requirement for the rock sugar elbow dish is that it is sweet and delicious, with a hint of salt in the aftertaste, so you don’t need to add too much salt, just make the stew soup taste salty.
After the braised soup is prepared, pour it into an extra-large pressure cooker specially designed for the kitchen.
Then cut the sugar cane reserved previously into small sections, then chop it into four pieces with a kitchen knife, and put it into the pressure cooker after everything is done.
Song Dahai looked at the remaining sugar cane and asked:
"Don't use the rest?"
"Yes, it's no longer needed."
"Then what are you doing with your stupidity?"
"I'm afraid you will catch up and fight me. I can't fight you with my bare hands, right?"
Song Dahai suddenly became happy.
Gouri’s consideration is quite comprehensive.
After Xie Baomin finished joking with Song Dahai, he said:
"I have been researching Cantonese-style sugar water recently. I will try making some sugar water with the remaining sugar cane later. I remember that there is a sugar water with this kind of green sugar cane. It tastes quite sweet."
At this moment, the elbow cooked next to me in the morning is almost ready.
He took it out with a slotted spoon, carefully put it into the pressure cooker, then closed the lid, and the rock sugar elbow officially entered the stew stage.
"It takes at least an hour to stew the elbow before it becomes rotten. Everyone should be busy doing whatever they want. The last exciting part will not be seen until an hour later."
After Xie Baomin finished speaking, he took Song Dahai to drink tea.
After all, after harvesting someone else's sugar cane, it is appropriate to treat them to a cup of tea in return. Anyway, these tea leaves are taken from Building No. 10, free of charge.
Lin Xu looked at the remaining half of the bowl of rock candy, turned his face and asked Xie Baomin:
"Brother, this rock candy..."
"It is used when collecting the juice. The rock sugar elbow requires the skin to be rotten and the meat to be crispy, and the stewed soup is like glue. The glue refers to the juice that is collected by adding rock sugar at the end."
This is completely different from the rock sugar elbows you usually see.
Of course, there are many folk ways of making rock sugar elbow. Almost as long as rock sugar is used and the elbow is stewed, the name rock sugar elbow can be used.
But the correct way to make this dish should be like this.
The seasoning is extremely restrained. After the elbow is stewed and the flavor is infused, a thick layer of sugar sauce is poured over it. The taste is delicious just thinking about it.
One hour later.
Xie Baomin and Song Dahai returned to the kitchen again.
Take the pressure cooker off the stove and let the air out of the pot.
Then open the lid.
A rich aroma suddenly wafted out of the pot, mixed with traces of freshness.
Obviously, this is the flavor produced by stewing green sugar cane.
Use a slotted spoon to carefully remove the elbows from the pot and set them aside to dry.
At this moment, the skin of the elbow is red and the head is intact. It is trembling in the colander and has obviously been stewed.
Xie Baomin poured the stewed soup into the wok.
First use a slotted spoon to remove all the onions, ginger, spices and green sugar cane from the pot.
Then use a spoon to skim the fat on the surface of the stewed soup.
"There should be no oil in the sauce, otherwise it will affect the final color. Be sure to skim off the oil, so that the elbow will be better and brighter."
After the slag is punched out.
First heat the stewed soup, then pour all the remaining rock sugar into the pot, and stir continuously with a spoon to accelerate the melting of the rock sugar.
After the rock sugar melted completely, Xie Baomin put the elbow in the colander with his left hand and put it back into the pot. With his right hand, he used a spoon to ladle the stewed soup in the pot and pour it on the elbow.
Song Dahai said to Lin Xu:
"This step is to wash away the grease and residue on the surface of the elbow while keeping the elbow warm."
After flushing, the color of the elbow looks more rosy.
Xie Baomin put the elbow aside and continued to dry, then picked up the drain, poured the stew in the pot again, and then continued to stir it in the pot with a spoon.
As it stirs, the ruddy stewed soup in the pot gradually becomes thicker.
"See, this is the advantage of using sugar color. If you use dark soy sauce to color it, the stew in the pot will turn into a pot of black sludge."
No matter how the sugar is boiled, the color will always remain bright red.
After about four or five minutes, Xie Baomin brought the elbow over and rinsed it again.
"Rinse it every few minutes, the elbow will be more beautiful, the appearance will be better, and the temperature of the hot mouth will be maintained."
A dish with such a high sugar content will stick together if it cools down a little, so keep the elbow as warm as possible.
While he was busy, Xie Baomin said to Song Dahai:
"This is not a football match. Lao Song, please stop commenting here. Go and help me heat some rapeseed for the plate, with the roots facing out."
Song Dahai said:
"Damn it, you still arouse me after drinking two cups of tea..."
The rapeseed is all ready-washed.
Song Dahai boiled a pot of water, poured some peanut oil into the water, and sprinkled a small spoonful of salt.
After the water boils, pour the rapeseed into it, blanch it until it turns green, then take it out.
Rinse it with cold water first, then control the moisture, and place the vegetables on a plate with the roots facing out.
After four plates of small rapeseed are prepared.
Xie Baomin’s harvest is coming to an end.
The ruddy stewed soup in the pot was now as thick as a slurry, and it was even a little difficult to stir it up.
The elbow has been washed three times, and the skin is getting redder and brighter.
Song Dahai carefully put the elbow in the colander onto the plate. When putting it on, he also deliberately exposed the leg bone to increase the appearance.
As soon as it was placed, the stew in the pot began to bubble.
Xie Baomin immediately picked up the pot, scooped out the thick stewed soup in the pot, and poured it evenly on his elbows.
"Hey, this is so beautiful!"
Bai Pengbo held up his mobile phone and started shooting.
Lin Xu, on the other hand, recited silently in his heart:
"Use the cooking study cards!"
Soon, the system prompt sounded in my mind:
"Learning object: Xie Baomin. Current skill is: Rock Sugar Elbow. Do you want to learn it?"
"Learn!"
Finally, no bugs appeared in the system.
Soon.
The system prompt sounded again in my mind:
"Consume a perfect-level cooking learning card and obtain the perfect-level rock sugar elbow making technique. Congratulations to the host."
Finally got it.
Lin Xu felt relaxed for no reason.
This time Xie Baomin also poured soup on all four elbows.
The rosy-skinned elbows are covered with a thick layer of red marinade, and they even sparkle under the light. This presentation is really beautiful.
The rich aroma and subtle sweetness emanating from the elbows also continue to whet everyone's appetite.
"No wonder it became the main dish at the banquet. This elbow is so beautiful."
Song Dahai praised.
I am very interested in Xie Baomin’s method of using sugar cane.
This idiot's brain is so good that he actually thought of using green sugar cane to increase the freshness of the elbow.
This taste immediately makes the originally fatty elbow feel less greasy, making people want to take a few bites.
What a nice improvement.
I'll give it a try when I go back.
Song Dahai knew very well that even if he didn't do it, other chefs would try it after hearing about it, and the result of everyone's attempts was to form a group to steal sugar cane in Building 15.
Rather than letting other chefs steal it, why not use it yourself first?
"Can I eat it?"
Lin Xu came over with Kuaizi and gave it to everyone.
I have been teased for so long.
I can finally try this dish.
However, just as he was about to try the taste, his father-in-law Shen Guofu suddenly called:
"Xiao Xu, your uncle Tan and I came to Building 2 with a few friends for dinner. The front desk manager said you were cooking in the back kitchen. What are you cooking? Can we try it?"
You are really lucky.
Lin Xu picked up a plate of elbows and said to Xie Baomin:
"My father-in-law is here, I will give him a piece of pork elbow, senior brother."
"Go ahead, go ahead, you can do a lot."
Xie Baomin waved his hand and took the lead in picking up a piece of elbow skin with a kuaizi and put it into his mouth. It tasted sweet and the skin melted in your mouth. It tasted really good.
After tasting it, he shouted to Lin Xu:
"Go back quickly, junior brother, I'm going to use the remaining sugar cane to make some Cantonese-style sugar water, and you should follow suit... There are three Lingnan people on the judges list this time. You can get extra points for making Cantonese dishes and Cantonese snacks."
Lin Xu agreed and walked quickly towards the restaurant with his elbow in hand.
Digu while walking.
If the sugar water made from green sugar cane is delicious, then when I get off work today, I have to go around to the 15th floor to pick up two green sugar canes and take them back to make some sugar water for Baby Shen...
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I’m really efficient when I’m full of sleep. This chapter has 6,000 words. Please vote for me, brothers!