If anyone wants to be dissatisfied and say that "fried peanuts" and "braised pork elbows" are only occasional needs for life adjustment, their use is not too great.
Then "Zhang Dashao" has passed down a few cooking tips that almost every household uses for every meal, which is really a blessing and has benefited people a lot.
What are they?
The first is how to use MSG.
MSG is actually sodium glutamate, which was first successfully developed in 1866 by the German chemist Ridhausen.
Later, the Japanese realized its commercial value and took the lead in creating the industrially produced "Ajinomoto".
It was not until Wu Yunchu invented the hydrolysis method for producing sodium glutamate in 1921 after it was introduced to my country that the Japanese monopoly was completely broken.
Since then, MSG has entered the kitchens of ordinary people at a low price, and has been closely linked to Chinese food culture.
Needless to say, the benefits of MSG are obvious. It can enhance the taste and increase people’s appetite.
It can also improve the body's ability to absorb various other foods, and also has a certain nourishing effect on the human body.
Think back to the original advertising slogan of "Ajinomoto", wasn't it just "If you have Ajinomoto at home, white water will turn into chicken juice"?
To be honest, compared to the health care products in today’s society, this is really not false advertising.
But as the saying goes, too much is never enough.
You know, in the past, overseas Chinese, except for a very small number of social elites, were almost all coastal poor who were "sold as piglets".
And among these Chinese workers and their descendants, there are very few serious chefs who know how to cook, and some of them have never even used a stove at home.
So they all regarded this thing as a seasoning treasure.
In 1968, Chinese restaurants in the United States and Canada commonly displayed dozens of large cans of No. 1 MSG in their street windows to attract diners, which shows the extent of the abuse of MSG at that time.
This eventually triggered the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" controversy in the United States.
Since then, not only MSG has been blamed for being "harmful to the human body", but Chinese cuisine has also suffered huge reputational damage.
So it can be seen that no matter how good something is, it must be paid attention to the way it is used, otherwise the result will be counterproductive.
Speaking of mainland my country, due to a long period of material scarcity, many families of ordinary people in our country could not even afford soy sauce.
As a result, the seasoning habit of mainly MSG was naturally formed.
No matter what dishes every household cooks, they almost always add some MSG.
But it is a pity that we have been using such a common seasoning all year round, but not many people know how to use it.
"Zhang Dashao" said that you can't just sprinkle a large amount of MSG in. Using too much will definitely make people sick.
Moreover, there are many dishes that cannot use MSG, or even use it has no effect.
For example, foods that have an inherent umami flavor do not need to add MSG, such as fish, shrimp, seafood, eggs, etc.
In addition, MSG should not be added to dishes containing vinegar. MSG is not easily soluble in vinegar, and the more acidic the vinegar, the lower the solubility and the worse the umami effect.
There is no need to add MSG to sweet dishes. The umami flavor of MSG can only be expressed in salty dishes. If MSG is added to sweet dishes, not only will it not increase the freshness, but it will inhibit the original taste of sweetness and produce
A strange smell.
Finally, MSG cannot be added to foods that need to be stewed or fried for a long time, because the effect of MSG will be completely destroyed by long-term cooking and high temperature of strong oil.
So speaking of it, the application scope of MSG is actually quite limited, and it is only suitable for quick-fried dishes and vegetarian-based soups.
Many people think that Chinese food is inseparable from MSG, and even relies entirely on MSG to taste delicious. This is actually too much nonsense.
People say a good cook is a handful of salt, but I have never heard of a good cook being a handful of MSG, right?
The correct answer given by "Zhang Dashao" is that if you want MSG to play its due role, you should first sprinkle a small amount of MSG on top of the vegetables to be stir-fried, and then stir-fry over high heat.
Never sprinkle MSG before serving, it is useless, because in such a short time, MSG cannot be fully decomposed and the flavor cannot penetrate into the raw materials.
So now that we have talked about this, "Zhang Dashao" mentioned another thing by the way.
He said that the really unique and good thing in our seasoning is not MSG, but Sichuan peppercorns.
Sichuan peppercorns have a unique aroma. If you rub meat with peppercorns and salt, you will easily get a unique aroma.
The simplest way to use it is to heat the oil when cooking, fry dozens of peppercorns first, then take out the peppercorns and throw them away, and then use the peppercorn oil to stir-fry.
Eaters will feel the appetizing aroma and wonder where it comes from.
If you add a small spoonful of Sichuan peppercorn oil at the end when mixing eggplant, and soak the belly in Sichuan peppercorn sugar water before frying, you will have an unexpected feeling.
In fact, almost all cold dishes can use pepper water to enhance the aroma, and since halal dishes never use alcohol, pepper oil is indispensable to kill the smell.
Needless to say, after receiving this true message, the Hong family naturally prepared the medicine according to the prescription and tried it again.
I found that it really has a magical effect, especially the application of Sichuan peppercorns. It can really evoke the delicious taste of the raw materials, just like a catalyst.
The children at home all praised Wang Yunlin's cooking for getting better and better.
Of course the old lady was happy to receive such praise, she felt at least ten years younger.
Even Hong Lucheng said that Wang Yunlin's cold dishes and pickled vegetables are better than those of the Suzhou chef who used to spend 120 yuan a month in Yanmei Building to make cold dishes. It seems that the trick lies in this
Spoon the pepper water over it.
But these two items alone are not enough to bring the standard of Hong's cuisine to a higher level. But there is another one that has made the greatest contribution.
What?
Hey, water the meat!
Is this sentence interesting?
To be honest, when Hong Yanwu heard these four words, his first impression was that they were water-filled meat. He wanted to find a piece of tofu and slap "Zhang Dashao" on the face.
I thought to myself, where is the fucking chef?
Isn't this "Zhang Dashao" possessed by a black-hearted butcher? Or he has swine fever.
What's wrong with being sick? Let's not eat good meat and eat water-injected meat instead?
Obviously, this is a way of saying something.
But don’t worry, what “Zhang Dashao” is going to say is of course different from the water-injected meat mentioned by the health supervision department. What he is talking about is actually the secret of fried shredded pork and fried pork slices.
You know, whether you are a cook or a qualified housewife, whether the sliced meat or shredded pork is delicious is a basic indicator.
This thing seems easy to say, but it actually required a lot of technology back then.
First of all, the knife work must be somewhat level, the thickness should be consistent, and there should be no drag or connection.
And the heat is also very particular. If the cooking time is a little too long, it will become stale. If the time is not enough, there will be bloodshot eyes.
Also what kind of seasonings to use. Depending on the type and part of the meat, the proportions of soy sauce, pepper, starch, monosodium glutamate, sugar, and cooking wine are different.
It is even more impossible to imitate the meat tenderizer used by today's chefs who are good at chemistry.
Therefore, if you want to test whether a cook is qualified or not, and whether a housewife is good at cooking, all you need to do is stir-fry some meat and you will know everything.
This is more accurate than making a classy dish.
This is because people don’t often eat good things like lobster and king crab. Moreover, they are always delicious no matter how they are cooked, and it doesn’t really show how good they are.
Only home-cooked dishes, whose taste is familiar to everyone and almost everyone can cook them, naturally show off their abilities.
Take Wang Yunlin as an example, even though she is already considered a leader among housewives.
But to put it bluntly, her ability lies in the word "fine".
Regardless of the knife skills, heat, and seasonings, patience and care that is difficult to match are paid to everyone. The details are evident in the details, making the dishes clean and winning.
But after all, she is not a professional chef, and she doesn't know some key tricks.
She has done all this, that is, frying the slices of meat and shredded pork until they are delicious. If she wants to call it "fragrant", it is an extravagant hope that can be seen but cannot be touched.
But after a few words of "Zhang Dashao", the guidance was like a broken window paper, and everything changed.
When she came back to try it, it turned out that the quantity had changed and the quality had changed. From then on, the sliced pork and shredded pork she fried became a well-known specialty dish.
Not to mention others, even Hong Yanru, who was never very fond of meat, would take the initiative to bring back a piece of pork belly for her mother to fry when she came home from school every week after trying it.
As for the secret, it is actually very simple. The real meaning lies in "adding water".
To put it bluntly, before mixing the meat slices with seasonings, you need to add some water and grab it with your hands so that the water can penetrate into the fibers of the meat slices.
After that, marinate and season according to the general method, and then stir-fry over high heat. The meat slices will be fresh, tender and smooth, which is different from others.
This is obviously a kind of "water injection", but at a different time than when the black-hearted butcher started, the result is completely different.
It can be seen that water injection itself is not a problem. If the timing of water injection is right, it is the secret of cooking skills. If it is wrong, it will ruin things.
As for why the meat slices and shredded meat taste delicious when mixed with water? Why is the effect particularly significant for chicken? This may be a bit troublesome to explain, so "Zhang Dishao" didn't go into details at all.
Anyway, when Hong Yanwu asked later, he just said, "It's easy, but it's over?"
That's right, as long as it's delicious.
But no matter what, there are two things that can be confirmed.
First, we must not underestimate our country’s culinary culture. Five thousand years of inheritance is no joke.
From the perspective of creating beauty, I am afraid that the people who have made the greatest contribution to our lives are good cooks. They can blend the five flavors and turn decay into magic, so they cannot but be respected.
Secondly, through this repeated verification, Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin have been sincerely convinced and fascinated by "Zhang Dashao"'s cooking skills.
Even though he didn't even go to the stove to make gestures, the professors he gave basically just gave a few casual instructions, but you might not be able to figure out and understand what he said in ten years.
Therefore, the old couple not only asked Hong Yanwu to treat the famous chef well, but also wanted to get acquainted with him. They asked Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan to invite "Zhang Dashao" to their home for a banquet.
It's a pity that "Zhang Dashao" has a very weird temper, so the invitations from Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan came to nothing.
In this case, it would be difficult for the Hong family to force themselves.