Cai Minde remained neutral, and Li Qi was very helpful and understanding. He knew that Cai Minde was actually very arrogant. If Jade House, Zuixianju, and Fanlou cooperated, it would definitely be centered on Zuixianju, and even if they won,
Fan Lou is the biggest winner, which Cai Minde cannot accept. Moreover, the two of them are opposite each other across the river and have always been in a competitive relationship. Therefore, they can go to Jiangnan to open a store together, but they will never cooperate in Tokyo.
Cai Minde was originally the key to the outcome of this business battle, but now that he has chosen to remain neutral, even he himself cannot estimate who will win the final victory, Zuixianju or Jinlou.
But no matter which side wins, he can get a lot of benefits. If Zuixianju wins, Fan Lou will be the biggest beneficiary, and it will not have much impact on Jade Xuan. After all, Fan Lou has always been very strong, and he
He can also add insult to injury and make a fortune. On the contrary, he can also use his geographical advantage in Nancheng to seize Zuixianju's interests in Nancheng. Therefore, sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight is undoubtedly his best choice.
Li Qi naturally did not take this opportunity from Cai Minde, so that night, he began to prepare for the food competition with Jinlou.
As soon as the fourth watch arrived, he climbed out of bed. When he came to the kitchen, Wu Xiaoliu, Lu Meimei and Zhang Runer had already lit the fire.
"Brother Li." When the three of them saw Li Qi coming, they quickly saluted.
Li Qi was very satisfied with their work attitude, so he hummed and said, "Lu Meimei, Run'er, the soup dumplings I'm going to make today are very complex and require very precise procedures, so it's a big test for you. So.
You must take it seriously and let me see the results of your practice these days."
The two women said in unison: "Yes."
Li Qi nodded. He walked to the table, opened the linen bag on the table, and saw that it contained high-gluten flour ground from wheat. He nodded with satisfaction, then walked to the basket in the corner and took a look, only to see that there was a
Only fresh, firm large river crabs.
After checking all the ingredients, Li Qi said: "Liuzi, you and I are responsible for making the fillings. Lu Meimei and Run'er, you two are responsible for the bun wrappers."
The four of them said in unison: "Yes." Then they divided up and got busy. The first thing to do was to boil the soup and fill the soup dumplings. The soup filling was the key, and it would take at least two or three days to make the soup.
hour.
Li Qi first blanched the old hens and pig bones and washed them, then put them into a pot and added water, ginger, green onions and wine to make soup. Then he asked Wu Xiaoliu: "Where is the pig skin?"
Wu Xiaoliu brought over a dozen pieces of pig skin and asked curiously: "Brother Li, this pig skin is not delicious, what do you do with it?"
Li Qi asked: "Have you ever tasted this pig skin?"
Wu Xiaoliu said hehely: "Yesterday you asked me to prepare pork rinds, so Brother Dazhu and I made some to taste. Apart from being chewy, it's really not that good."
Li Qi smiled and said, "That's because you don't know how to cook it. I'm telling you. This pig skin is a good thing. Eating it can improve your appearance and keep your skin healthy. It also tastes particularly delicious."
Wu Xiaoliu opened his eyes wide and said, "Brother Li, you won't deceive me, will you?"
"Fool you, I'm not so boring anymore. You'll know later. Okay, let's work first. Just follow me."
"oh."
Li Qi first scraped off the fat from the pig skin, blanch it, and then scraped and washed it. As he was doing it, Li Qi said: "You remember, a piece of processed pig skin must not feel greasy when you touch it. Only then is it done."
.”
"Yeah. I understand." Wu Xiaoliu read it once and then started to do it.
Soon, the two of them had finished processing more than a dozen pieces of pig skin. Li Qi soaked the pig skin in water, boiled a large pot of water, poured all the crabs into it, and saw that the soup was not ready yet.
Then she walked next to Lu Meimei and watched them for a while. She was very pleased to see that their skills were very skillful. Women's hands are more delicate after all. She warned: "Remember, the dough must be kneaded until it is smooth and firm."
optimal."
"oh."
Li Qi guided them for a while. After the chicken was cooked, take out the chicken and put the cleaned pig skin into the chicken soup pot. This was the first time Wu Xiaoliu saw Li Qi add pig skin to the soup stock.
Yes, I was filled with doubts.
As soon as this was done, Li Qi took out all the crabs from the hot water and put them in a basin. He also took out a pair of scissors, a rolling pin and a sharpened bamboo stick. Wu Xiaoliu knew that Li Qi
I have to handle crabs, but I have never seen anyone use a rolling pin or bamboo stick to handle crabs. I asked curiously: "Brother Li, what is this bamboo stick used for?"
Li Qidao: "This is not called a bamboo stick, it is called a crab stick. You will watch me do it later and I will teach you how to take out the crab meat and crab paste as quickly as possible."
Wu Xiaoliu nodded vigorously. Crabs were also his favorite.
Li Qi quickly cut off the crab's legs with scissors, then used a rolling pin to roll out the crab leg meat, and then used a crab stick to quickly empty out the paste and meat from the crab's body. The speed was jaw-dropping. It was amazing to see.
Wu Xiaoliu was even more dazzled and shouted: "Brother Li, Brother Li, can you slow down, I can't remember."
Day. I forgot about this kid. Li Qi smiled apologetically, took out another crab, demonstrated it to Wu Xiaoliu in slow motion, and told him some things to pay attention to.
This skill seems simple, but it is not that easy to do. Wu Xiaoliu has just finished processing a crab according to the method taught by Li Qi, but Li Qi has already hollowed out four crabs, which not only made him a little discouraged
, said: "Brother Li, when will we be like you?"
Li Qi smiled and said: "It will probably take a few more years." What he said was not an exaggeration at all, because his skill in handling crabs was among the best in later generations. His record of handling crabs the fastest only took one point.
Forty seconds.
How many years? Wu Xiaoliu was depressed.
After a while, I saw a small pot of freshly peeled crab roe, crab paste and crab meat on the table, which was shiny and golden and exuded a rich fragrance. After Li Qi finished processing the crabs, he cooked the eight-mature pork skin.
Pick it up and mince it, then put it into the chicken soup and bring it to a boil, then add cooking wine, ginger slices, and other ingredients, and finally throw in a handful of washed green onions.
Wu Xiaoliu asked curiously: "Brother Li, don't you chop these green onions?"
Li Qi said with a smile: "I put these in to eliminate the smell of chicken soup and pork skin, and the green onions are used to absorb the impurities that float up. So when making this soup, you have to keep scooping the soup with a spoon.
juice, so that the miscellaneous smell of pork rinds and chicken soup can be fully released, understand?" As he spoke, he was already scooping up the soup with a large spoon.
Wu Xiaoliu nodded and said: "I understand."
"As long as you understand, you can scoop it up."
"ah?"
"Ah, what, this opportunity is rare, hurry up." Li Qi said with a straight face. But in his heart, he said, there is no reason for me, the master, to do such a cool and unskilled job.
Wu Xiaoliu finally succumbed to Li Qi's lust, honestly picked up the big spoon and scooped it up, thinking to himself that even Brother Ma could do this job.
Li Qi breathed a sigh of relief and saw that Lu Meimei and Zhang Run'er were already rolling out bun wrappers. He quickly walked over, picked up a piece of bun wrapper, looked at it, shook his head and said, "No, we have to redo everything."
The two girls were shocked and looked at Li Qi blankly. What they were best at was making pastry, but they didn't expect that Li Qi would completely deny it with just one sentence.
Li Qi sighed: "I can't blame you. The soup dumplings are not the same as other steamed buns. The skin of the buns is very particular. It requires a very uniform thickness, just the right amount of moisture, dryness, softness and hardness. It also needs to be slightly thicker in the middle and thinner on the edges, so
Usually you need to use two rolling pins. Let me show you first."
After that, Li Qi took two rolling pins, skillfully rolled out a piece of bun skin, handed it to them and said, "It must be rolled out like this."
The two girls took the bun wrapper and looked at it. Sure enough, it was thicker in the middle and thinner on the edges. They practiced according to Li Qi's rolling method, but they had never used double rolls before, so they were very unfamiliar with it.
Li Qi patiently guided him and sighed inwardly. How could I have ignored this? These soup dumplings require such high requirements for rolling out the dough and filling them. Most people don't have a few years of experience to make them well.
, although Run'er and the others have the foundation and can learn quickly, how can the two of them win in such a busy manner, but where can they find so many experienced people at this time?
Just when he was frowning, someone suddenly appeared in his mind. This person was Cai Jing. Before Li Qi took care of Cai Jing's diet, Cai Jing had to eat crab roe buns every day, which can be said to be his favorite.
, and the making of crab roe buns in Taishi Mansion is also very painstaking. It can be called a professional assembly line project. There are people who specialize in cutting green onions, making stuffings, rolling out the skins of buns, etc. Each bun has to go through more than ten processes.
It can only be completed by human hands. These people usually do nothing else but make buns for Cai Jing. They are all good hands.
But later, when Li Qi left and Cai Jing strictly controlled his cholesterol intake, the steamed bun group in Taishi Mansion was basically abolished, and now it is just borrowed for use.
Li Qi immediately called Aunt Chen over and said, "Auntie, please send someone to the Grand Master's Mansion immediately and tell him that I invited the Grand Master to come to Qin Mansion to drink steamed buns. Remember, it's steamed buns."
Want to drink steamed buns? Although Mrs. Chen was confused, she didn’t talk much and nodded: “Hey, I’ll go right away.”
Li Qi nodded, and suddenly thought that since it was a taste test, he would have to call more people, and said: "Wait, aunt, you can send more people to invite the fourth young master and Mrs. Feng."
Of course Aunt Chen had heard of the Fourth Young Master's reputation, so she agreed and went out.
After Li Qi finished giving instructions, he returned to the chopping board and instructed Lu Meimei and Zhang Runer on how to roll out the bun wrappers. Unknowingly, it was already dawn. The pot of pork skin and chicken soup was half full, and it looked very delicious.
The soup was thick and all the impurities had been fished out, but Wu Xiaoliu was so tired that he was out of breath.
This was the first time in his life that he had seen steamed buns that were so difficult to make.
Instead of praising him, Li Qi teased him: "Liu Zi, Brother Li, I see you really practice a lot. Look at you. You've only been working for a while and you're out of breath. About this, you have to tell me."
Lu Meimei and Runer learned."
After hearing this, the two girls lowered their heads and snickered.
Is this still called a while? Tears filled Wu Xiaoliu’s eyes immediately, feeling extremely aggrieved.
Seeing that he was about to cry, Li Qi stopped teasing him and scooped the thick chicken soup into a clean basin with his own hands, then walked outside with it.
Wu Xiaoliu asked curiously: "Brother Li, where are you going?"