Stop pretending, I am the God of Cooking and I am showing off my cards! Chapter 487 A delicious snack that looks simple but is actually exquisite in every aspect - Jade Shaomai!
Chapter 487 A delicious snack that looks simple but is actually exquisite in every aspect - Jade Shaomai!
If you want green vegetables to taste delicious, just add some lard. This is a consensus that many people know.
But the best example of combining lard and vegetables, Lin Xu thinks, is Huaiyang cuisine’s Jade Shaomai.
Blanch the vegetables until they are raw, and then mix them with cooked lard, which turns out to be an unforgettable delicacy. This is simply amazing the beauty of cooking.
Lin Xu chopped the green vegetables into puree.
This is to cut off the various tendons of the green vegetables, so that the stuffing will be delicious and melt in your mouth.
Put the vegetable puree on the plate, Lin Xu estimated it and found that the amount of vegetable puree was much worse.
According to a basket of ten Shaomai, if one Shaomai uses 35 grams of fillings, ten tables will need more than 3500 grams of fillings. In addition, if someone eats one and wants to eat it, we might as well prepare five kilograms.<
/p>
He cut some more vegetable leaves and blanched them. He cut nearly forty pounds of green vegetable leaves back and forth to get enough for the filling.
From this we can see that this seemingly ordinary snack is actually anything but ordinary.
The amount of green vegetables alone is beyond imagination.
It’s no wonder that Huaiyang cuisine is not tired of fine meat and fine meat. Just a small Shaomai is so particular, and other large dishes are cumbersome and complicated, which is normal.
"What to do with these vegetable stalks?"
Guo Xinghai came over and watched Lin Xu cut off the stems of the large basket of vegetables, with a somewhat surprised expression.
He didn’t know much about Huaiyang cuisine, so he didn’t expect to eat it this way.
In fact, dishes that only eat vegetable leaves without the stems are very common in other cuisines, such as hand-shredded cabbage and various cabbage rolls.
Lin Xu said:
"You can use it in cooking later. They are all vegetable stems and are very crisp. Minced garlic or boiled should be fine."
"Okay, I'll find a way to use it... Remember to leave two Shaomai for me. I'm going to study it and put it in my restaurant later."
The other dishes in the store are either not suitable for Yangcheng’s eating style, or the restaurant at home already has similar dishes.
Only this Jade Shaomai dish made Guo Xinghai very interested.
I really want to learn it and use it in my own restaurant later.
Among the Cantonese morning teas, siomai is one of the four kings. Now that there are different kinds of siomai, it is worth learning about it both emotionally and rationally.
Lin Xu smiled and said:
"Just keep an eye on it when you wrap it up later. This thing is indeed troublesome, but as long as you figure out the twists and turns inside, it's not too difficult."
After saying that, he started to mix the stuffing.
Add some lard to the vegetable puree and stir evenly.
Lard can make pureed vegetables oily, tender and fragrant.
The reason why Jade Shaomai tastes soft, tender and fragrant with a dense texture has a lot to do with lard.
In addition, when preparing the stuffing, adding lard first can also allow the vegetable puree to lock in moisture.
If you add salt first, due to the strong water-killing effect of table salt, it is estimated that a lot of water will seep out of the bottom of these vegetable purees quickly, causing the fillings to lose their tender texture.
Leave the lard alone and don't rush to season it. Let the lard and vegetable puree penetrate each other for a while.
Taking advantage of this time, Lin Xu brought over a piece of Jinhua ham that Wei Gan helped cook, and prepared to cut the ham into 1 mm square ham with a knife.
This step really tests your knife skills.
But for Lin Xu, there is no difficulty at all.
These minced hams play a role in adding freshness. After wrapping the siomai, you will usually pinch a pinch of ham crumbs into the sealing position of the siomai as needed.
Doing this will not only increase the appearance of the siomai, but also allow the minced ham to penetrate into the filling of the siu mai with the heat during the steaming process.
Cut the ham into thin slices horizontally, then cut it into thin strips, trim it, and finally cut it into dices.
After they were all cut, Lin Xu grabbed a handful and put them into the vegetable puree, and put the rest in a bowl to use when wrapping the siomai later.
Stir the minced ham, mix well, then sprinkle in a tablespoon of sugar and a little salt for freshness.
There is minced ham, and the filling already has a salty taste.
But you should add some salt, because salt not only has a salty taste, but also has a very good freshness-enhancing effect, which other seasonings do not have at all.
Continue stirring until the sugar and salt are completely stirred, then cover the mouth of the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to let the filling relax for a while.
All fillings, whether meat fillings or vegetarian fillings, should be allowed to relax for a while after mixing well to allow the flavors of the various ingredients in the fillings to penetrate each other, so that the dishes will taste better and more delicious.
"This filling looks quite simple."
Ma Zhiqiang originally thought it would be very difficult, but after reading it, he discovered that all he had to do was chop the vegetable leaves into puree, add lard, minced ham, sugar and a little salt for freshness.
It looks easier than filling ordinary dumplings and steamed buns.
Lin Xu smiled and said:
"This is really not difficult, but some details need to be paid attention to. For example, the vegetable leaves should be squeezed out before chopping. If necessary, you can even dry them with kitchen paper. You cannot chop them and then squeeze out the water, which will destroy the nutrients inside the leaves and Loss of umami substances is a wrong approach."
Ma Zhiqiang asked curiously:
"Can soft white sugar be replaced with white granulated sugar?"
Guo Xinghai, who had been observing, said:
"It's best not to do so, because the soft white sugar not only plays a sweet role, but also melts easily and turns into sugar juice that completely blends into the filling, increasing the silky texture of the filling."
Lin Xu nodded:
"You are observing very carefully. In fact, the most important point is that the steaming time of Jade Shaomai is only five minutes. Within five minutes, so much white sugar may not be melted, but the soft white sugar is different. It will be slightly hot.
It will melt away."
They discussed for a while, and Lin Xu kneaded the relaxed dough again, using the tiger's mouth position to push and knead the dough little by little.
This allows the dough to combine with moisture better and also makes the dough more extensible.
After doing this, put the dough into the basin and let it rest for the second time.
Another ten minutes passed.
The engagement party in the banquet hall upstairs has begun, and various cold dishes have begun to be served. Lin Xu took out the dough, rolled it into long strips, and divided it into small dough pieces of about 7 grams.
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This kind of dough is smaller than dumpling wrappers, and when rolled out it basically becomes a piece of paper.
The snack Jade Shaomai requires this effect. The green cabbage inside must be completely visible through the dough. Only such a Shaomai can be called Jade Shaomai.
Many people try to make this dish, thinking that just using spinach juice to mix the noodles will do.
That's wrong. Dying the dough green is a poor method. The best way is to roll the dough thin enough to reveal the filling. This is the essence of Jade Shaomai.
After dividing the dough, Lin Xu sprinkled some dry starch, kneaded it, and pressed the dough into a round shape. Then he picked up the jujube core rolling pin with two pointed ends and started rolling the dough.
A date stone rolling pin is a kitchen item that is easy to use for those who know it, but can easily drive people crazy if they don’t know how to use it.
When rolling out the dough, you need to use your left and right hands alternately so that the dough can automatically rotate during the rolling process and the rolled out dough will become more and more round.
In the past, Lin Xu tried to make dumplings at home several times, but all ended in failure.
Mrs. Lin also specially comforted him and said:
"My grandson is someone who does big things, and he can't play with a rolling pin."
Lin Xu thought so too at the time. He always felt that if he studied finance, he would be able to find a job in the financial industry after graduation and walk in and out of high-end office buildings in suits and leather shoes every day.
However, the reality is completely opposite.
Instead of finding a job in finance, he became a chef who relied on a rolling pin to earn a living.
The first pot of gold for opening a store was given by the rolling pin.
Now using the rolling pin again, Lin Xu felt a lot of emotion.
Unlike a few years ago when he was clumsily rolling the dumpling wrappers into a rectangular shape when the family was making dumplings together, now he is not only able to use various rolling pins skillfully, but can even do some flower work.
For example, now, after he rolls out the dough, he presses the rolling pin with his left hand, and presses hard on the dough with the rolling pin with his right hand.
Soon, a slightly wrinkled ruffle appeared on the dough.
These ruffles are the symbol of shaomai dough. Regardless of the south or the north, whether pure meat or vegetarian, all siomai skins need to be wrapped with this kind of dough with lotus leaf folds.
Only this kind of dough can make delicious shaomai like flowers.
"Holy crap, this Shaomai dough is rolled out like a work of art, and it's so thin. I'm worthy of being a hand-rolled noodle maker. This skill is amazing!"
Lin Xu was busy when Dai Jianli's praise rang in his ears.
He raised his head and realized that his senior brothers Dai Jianli and Qiu Zhenhua had walked into the kitchen.
Seeing the paper-thin Shaomai skin on the eucalyptus board, Qiu Zhenhua asked curiously:
"Are you preparing to make shaomai?"
Lin Xu nodded:
"The elders are here today, and I plan to make some Jade Shaomai."
Upon hearing this name, Qiu Zhentao's eyes suddenly lit up:
"Has the filling been mixed? Where is it? Let me see."
Lin Xucheng winked at Ma Zhiqiang, and Ma Zhiqiang immediately opened the door of the refrigerator next to him and took out the wheat-roasted stuffing that was being refrigerated inside.
Qiu Zhenhua took it, took off the plastic wrap, picked up a pair of clean kuaizi from the side, dipped it in the filling, then took a sip in his mouth, tasted it briefly, and gave a thumbs up:
"The flavor is well adjusted. Many people think that if you add diced ham, you don't need to add salt. This is wrong. The umami flavor produced by salt and diced ham is different, especially in vegetables. If it is made locally in Yangzhou,
The amount of sugar should be increased by one-third, but northerners can't tolerate that sweetness, so you adjusted it well."
For a chef, tasting stuffing is a normal thing.
Not to mention this kind of vegetable stuffing, even minced meat stuffing and other ingredients, when you are not sure about the amount of salt, you have to taste it like this.
Not only will novices try when they are unsure, but master chefs will check their apprentices' work and taste the fillings without hesitation. Only in this way can they intuitively find out the shortcomings and straighten out their ideas.
Xie Baomin said with a smile:
"Since Qiu Qiu said so, I won't taste it. What are you going to cook later? If it's not difficult, we'll go up to the banquet."
I’m here to give you a gift today, after all, we are now nominally co-anchors of Happy Media.
Lin Xu said:
"I'm going to make Huaiyang-style vinegar-braised mandarin fish later."
As soon as he said these words, Dai Jianli's originally boring face showed a smile of surprise, while Xie Baomin had an expression on his face that said, "You can always come up with new tricks for me."
Only Qiu Zhenhua, who had never been to Linji Food recently, was shocked by these words:
"I really didn't expect that Master Lin can cook this dish. You two go up and eat. I'll stay here to see how good Master Lin is at making vinegar-braised mandarin fish."
Darling, you actually learned how to cook mandarin fish with vinegar secretly. Master Lin has been making up a lot of lessons in private.
Vinegar-braised mandarin fish is so unpopular that not only can you not see this dish in daily life, but you can’t even find many related tutorials on the Internet.
You probably have to go to Yangzhou or Huai'an to get it.
Lin Xu said:
"I was just asking Chef Qiu to give me some advice... By the way, when will the apprenticeship banquet be held? I thought it would start in the next few days, but I never believed it."
Being the introducer for the first time, Lin Xu was somewhat excited.
But when Tongtong's birthday came, when her sister-in-law got engaged, and when Qi Siming's apprenticeship party came, there was still no news.
Xie Baomin and Dai Jianli were not polite and went directly upstairs to eat.
With Qiu Zhenhua here, even if Lin Xu can't cook mandarin fish with vinegar, at least he won't fall over.
After the two left, Qiu Zhenhua said:
"Qi Zhentao's master Bohe Jiashun wants to take this opportunity to reorganize his sect and officially kick out Lao Meng and the others, so the preparation time is a little longer, probably until the 12th of the twelfth lunar month, which is January 3rd
It will be held on that day, and He Jiashun may invite you to be a witness."
Witnesses?
Lin Xu asked while rolling out the dough:
"Why me?"
So many highly respected people were not invited, but a young man like myself was invited. I always felt that Lao He's purpose was not that simple.
Qiu Zhenhua cleaned the kuaizi he had just used under the faucet, then washed his hands, dried them with kitchen paper, wrapped them in Shaomai skins and said:
"This is not to curry favor with your master. Being a witness is a good thing. You don't have to think too much about it. If it is really harmful or damages your reputation, we will not agree to it."
In this case, Lin Xu felt relieved.
While rolling out the dough, he secretly watched Qiu Zhenhua making Shaomai, planning to learn from it.
He didn't have the skills to bake wheat, so he originally wanted to wrap it randomly, but now that Qiu Zhenhua is here, he naturally has to learn it.
When previously completing the task of making clear soup noodles for Shen Jiayue, the system rewarded those with cooking learning cards.
You have to use it, you can’t cash it out even if you keep saving it.
Qiu Zhenhua holds the shaomai skin with his left hand, and scoops out a ball of filling from the filling with a small spoon in his right hand. He gently spreads it in the middle of the dough. When it is enough, he turns the dough upwards to form a bucket shape and wraps up the filling.
.
Then, continue to hold the bottom of the siomai with the palm of your left hand, and hold the dough with your right hand to roll it up.
When you reach the folds of the dough, tighten the dough to form a treasure vase, and the filling inside will be squeezed to the mouth.
Pinch some minced ham into the mouth, and a beautiful jade siomai is completed.
The moment he wrapped it up, Lin Xu silently muttered in his heart:
"Use the cooking study cards!"
Soon, the system prompt sounded in my mind:
"The learning object is Qiu Zhenhua. The current skill is: General techniques for making Shaomai. Do you want to learn it?"
Let me go, is there such a good thing?
"Learn!"
Lin Xu immediately gave the instruction to study.
"Consume a perfect level cooking learning card and obtain perfect level shaomai making general techniques. Congratulations to the host."
Ha!
In the future, all types of siomai can be made.
However, compared to other shaomai, Lin Xu is actually most interested in Jade Shaomai.
Because this is a typical shaomai made with vegetarian and meat dishes.
It seems to be vegetarian, and the ingredients used are relatively vegetarian, but the taste is as plump as meat.
This texture and taste are really fascinating.
Even great figures in the Republic of China like Zhu Ziqing were obsessed with Jade Shaomai, and even wrote about it in articles.
With the technique in hand, Lin Xu sped up the frequency of rolling the dough.
All the shaomai dough was rolled out, and he picked up the dough and wrapped it too.
Qiu Zhenhua looked at Lin Xu's technique of wrapping Shaomai, and couldn't help but admire in his heart. He was worthy of being held in God's arms and fed. This technique looked as skillful as that of Master Bai Gu.
Wrap all the shaomai, put them one by one into small steamers lined with silicone cage cloth, and then send the steamers one by one to the steaming cabinet.
The reason why I use a steamer basket instead of a steaming plate is because it will be steamed later and can be served directly.
Jade Shaomai must be eaten as soon as it comes out of the pot. You can't wait. Once the temperature drops, the lard inside will become greasy.
Put all the shaomai into the steaming cabinet, and Lin Xu started making vinegar-braised mandarin fish.
This dish has high requirements for mandarin fish. It needs to be killed and cooked freshly to ensure the freshness and tenderness of the fish to the greatest extent.
Once stale mandarin fish is used, the dish will be a disaster.
Remove the scales, gills and internal organs of ten mandarin fish weighing about two pounds each, and cut off the fins at the same time. This can effectively prevent the fins from frying when repeatedly oiled, causing the fish to taste bitter.
While we are packing up, the five-minute countdown of the steam cabinet has ended.
Lin Xuchong said to Ma Zhiqiang:
"Master Ma, please bring out the shaomai from the steaming cabinet and send ten cages to upstairs. We'll see if any relatives want the rest later. If no one wants us, we'll eat it ourselves."
"Okay!"
Ma Zhiqiang opened the steam cabinet and immediately smelled the aroma of lard mixed with green vegetables.
There is also a faint ham aroma.
The aroma of Jinhua ham cut into small pieces is not so strong, and it smells indifferent.
"The boss's craftsmanship is really incredible. The smell makes people salivate."
Wei Gan smiled and said:
"That's a craft that even Chef Qiu praises. It's definitely not simple..."
The two of them took out the Jade Shaomai steamer together and covered it with the matching lid, which can preserve the heat of the steamer and is more hygienic during the serving process.
By the time the baskets of Shaomai were delivered upstairs, Lin Xu had already packed up all the mandarin fish and started changing the knives.
Qiu Zhenhua saw that Lin Xu was no stranger to this dish and wanted to test it, so he asked:
"Master Lin, what kind of knife is suitable for cutting the mandarin fish in this dish?"
"Peony Flower Knife!"
After Lin Xu finished speaking, he used the knife to tilt slightly and cut into the fish meat. When it reached the depth of the ridge bone, he sliced it forward and sideways, so that the fish meat could be opened to the maximum extent and the depth of the fish meat could be deep fried.
The delicious mandarin fish braised in vinegar, even the bones are crispy. The reason is that when changing the knife, the cuts should be deeper, so that the bones can be exposed to the maximum extent, and the hot oil can also fry the bones.
Upstairs, when the engagement banquet was being held in full swing, a waiter came in carrying baskets of Shaomai.
Shen Jiayue was eating lamb chops. When she saw the steamer, she said:
"Grandma, this is the jade shaomai made by Xubao for you. It is said to be very delicious. Please try it!"
When Mrs. Shen heard that her grandson-in-law did it, she smiled and said:
"Try it. If it tastes good, ask Xiaoxu to make more for me..."
While talking, the steamer basket was placed on the dining table.
The waiter opened the lid, and the unique aroma of Jade Shaomai wafted out.
"Wow, it smells so good!"
Shen Jiayue basically rushed to eat the previous dishes, but when this dish came to the table, she didn't grab it. After all, it was specially arranged for grandma and she couldn't grab it randomly.
Mrs. Shen looked at the Shaomai in the steamer and said with some surprise:
"It's the same as the transparent one. Is it made of dough?"
She put one on the plate, and the more she looked at it, the more amazing it became:
"This is simply a work of art. You can clearly see the filling inside. No wonder it's called Jade Shaomai... Yueyue, Shuzhen, you should hurry up and eat it while it's hot."
After saying that, the old lady picked up the Shaomai in front of her again and took a bite.
As soon as I bit into it, the unique aroma of green vegetables rushed into my mouth. The filling was warm and full of lard aroma, but it didn't feel greasy at all.
The taste is sweet and salty, a mixture of salty and sweet, coupled with the dense texture of the vegetable stuffing, the old lady couldn't help but praise:
"To be able to make green vegetables so delicious, my grandson-in-law's craftsmanship is really amazing!"
At the table next to him, Geng Lishan tasted this delicacy and looked at each other with Cui Qingyuan, a self-proclaimed foodie, both showing expressions of surprise, even surprise.
Lin Ji actually still has this delicacy, it will be a blessing in the future!
"Mr. Tateyama, Boss Lin is hiding something from you again."
"Yes, you have such good skills but don't show them off. Listening to Lele, it was only yesterday that Yan Yatou asked Lin Xiaoyou to do it and he agreed... This kid is getting better and better at covering up."
Geng Lishan ate the delicious Jade Shaomai, and his face was filled with the satisfaction of eating delicious food.
So comfortable, elegant and dense, warm and fragrant.
Other shaomai are either fragrant or sweet, but only Jade Shaomai is fragrant and fresh, fresh and sweet, and the sweetness is mixed with salty taste and the deliciousness of ham.
You can eat this kind of Shaomai one basket at a time without any problem.
It's so delicious. The only pity is that there is only one for each person, which is not enough to eat.
When little friend Lin comes up later, he must be put into another cage, preferably one cage per person. It is so delicious, and if everyone tastes one, how can it be enough?
Geng Lele, who was sitting next to him, ate his Shaomai. Seeing that his grandfather looked unsatisfied, he smiled and asked:
"Old man, don't wait for Jade Shaomai, there will be something more delicious later."
"Better? Is it better than Jade Shaomai?"
Geng Lele said with a smile:
"I don't know if it's better than Jade Shaomai. I just know that the dish is called vinegar-braised mandarin fish. Old man, have you heard of this dish?"
Geng Lishan: "!
”
What? Mandarin fish braised in vinegar?
I won’t say anything anymore, I’ll take two more bites later even if I grab it!
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I accidentally wrote 6,000 words. The more I wrote, the more greedy I became. It felt like self-abuse... This chapter has 6,000 words. Please vote for me, brothers!