Chapter 126 Thick but not greasy, fragrant but not salty
The illusion of space on the palate sounds great, but in fact it is just a small attempt by Zhao You.
The key to the first step is the choice of eggplant.
Don't look at it. Zhao Youqian just picked out half of the eggplants from a pile to make an eggplant box.
In fact, during the cleaning and classification process, Zhao Youqian had already made a choice.
The skin should not be too thick. When you pinch it with your hands, you can press it into a small pit, but it can slowly rebound. This kind of eggplant ensures that there is still enough moisture inside, and it is also the most suitable eggplant for making eggplant boxes.
But this is just an ordinary eggplant box. How can you create the illusion of an eggplant that is as soft as air?
Batter and frying time are the second key.
Use sweet potato flour, and the thickness of the flour coating is even enough. When the eggplant box is fried in the oil pan, the water vapor from the eggplant itself will expand the outer layer of batter.
The steam creates a gap between the batter and the eggplant box, and the appearance of the gap also gives the eggplant part of the eggplant box an effect similar to being steamed.
When the frying time is slightly longer, the eggplant wrapped in the outer layer will release enough water and the high temperature will become like eggplant puree.
In the end, it forms a taste that is similar to air cotton, giving people the illusion of a gap in the mouth.
There are not many key points, but to create such a feeling, the control and judgment of the heat and ingredients are extremely demanding beyond imagination.
Even Zhao Youqian's level is just trying to achieve it. In fact, according to the real situation, this dish is not yet complete.
But he did try his best to achieve the level of perfection that he can now produce.
Only then did the golden vision light appear, showing the Lin Yin that is only found in Lin level dishes.
It can be said that such a dish alone has satisfied today's diners, but the subsequent dishes will not be simply perfunctory.
Especially the guests who knew Zhao Youqian's cooking habits were even more looking forward to the next two dishes.
After all, the first dish was already so amazing.
...
After all, fried eggplant boxes are a side dish, and for children, the sweet and sour tomato sauce is just a snack and not enough to satisfy their strong appetite.
Just looking at the plate of eggplant boxes, the little girls and the others ate it all in the blink of an eye, and you knew that they were still waiting for food.
Especially the little girl who came to Zhutian Xiaoguan for the first time, her hands were already shiny.
In fact, she was quite embarrassed, but...
The dishes made by Zhao Yougan are so delicious that I can’t help it!
Two big, flickering eyes looked towards Zhao Youqian, full of eagerness for the next dish.
It can be said that the little girl was completely conquered by Zhao Youqian.
On the other hand, Tanjiro also began to introduce the diners present to the little girl, as well as some of the rules of Zhuten Restaurant, especially telling her that she can eat here every day.
We must ensure that the little girl no longer wanders or goes hungry.
After the exchange, Tanjiro's gentle temperament and kindheartedness made the little girl quickly accept that she had such a big brother to take care of her.
After realizing that everyone was enjoying their meal, Zhao Youqian did not stop. Instead, he asked Zhang Xiaofan to send out all the fried eggplant boxes and then started to deal with other dishes.
Cut the Chinese cabbage into small pieces with the outer old leaves removed, and then cut into some dried chili segments, garlic and scallions.
To make braised cabbage vermicelli with braised meatballs, these things are indispensable, and this is the only dish that requires the use of two spices.
For Yaozhou's northern cuisine, as long as it is a stew, there are two indispensable spices.
Star anise, cinnamon!
It doesn’t need to be much, but if it’s missing, it won’t have the flavor of Yaozhou’s northern cuisine, so naturally Zhao Youqian will not skip these two soul ingredients.
The slow-cooked meatballs and meatball soup were put aside for later use, and Zhao Youqian lit the cannon directly.
As the sound of "bang bang bang" sounded, the diners who were still talking looked over and knew that the finishing process of the second dish was about to begin.
Especially for a gourmet like Hong Qigong, who can drink two more glasses with the fried eggplant box and smell the aroma of cooking, he can really be regarded as a veritable old drinker.
Turn on the pot over high heat. Since the dish is a vegetable-heavy dish, Zhao Youqian naturally has to pay attention to the use of oil.
Instruct Zhang Xiaofan to cut a few pieces of old tofu and drain out the cleaned beans.
Zhao Yougan added a spoonful of soybean oil to the pot. Not only the soybean oil, but also a little lard before that. You must know that even with meatball soup, because there are many kinds of vegetables put in, vegetable oil alone cannot stimulate the flavor of all vegetables. , meat and oil are inevitable.
Among them, stir-frying vegetables with lard is the most fragrant. It can also soften the fiber of vegetables, which is a perfect combination.
I saw the white lard melting into the soybean oil in the blink of an eye, and a fragrance wafted up. Then I added the chopped ingredients, garlic granules, and green onions to the pot, and the aroma of these two spices exploded, and then added Dried chili segments, star anise, cinnamon.
When the flavors of these auxiliary ingredients are completely brought out by the hot oil, the beans and cabbage cut into small pieces are directly added to the pot and stir-fried!
‘Wow!’
For a moment, the entire Zhutian Restaurant was filled with the exciting sound of these vegetables being put into the pot and coming into contact with hot oil.
The special aroma of spices and meat oil combined with vegetables directly permeates Zhutian Restaurant.
The huge iron pot was turned, and Zhao Youqian showed off his extremely strong waist strength, stirring the large pot of cabbage and beans evenly, and even started to stir with the spoon constantly.
You must know that the two ingredients, beans and cabbage, must be stir-fried over high heat so that the original green flavor of vegetables will disappear.
Otherwise, the stewed soup will have a lingering astringency.
A spoonful of dark soy sauce and a spoonful of cooking wine, stir-fry evenly over high heat, then take out the cooked meatballs and put them into the iron pot, and add the old tofu cut by Zhang Xiaofan.
Be sure to let them be dyed with various rich aromas and flavors that belong to the iron pot. When all the cabbage has collapsed and released the moisture that belongs to the vegetables, this is the time for the meatball soup to appear.
Pour the meatball soup with a few stars of oil directly into the large iron pot, then add two spoons of salt and one spoon of pepper, without seasoning with anything else, and let it simmer.
Control the heat to medium and simmer for ten minutes, then add the soaked and cleaned sweet potato vermicelli and simmer for another three to four minutes.
This dish can be eaten as a meal, can be eaten as soup, and can be paired with wine. The meatballs and cabbage vermicelli are cooked, so it is considered complete.
Even though it looks like it's fried over high heat, and there are a lot of spices.
This dish uses a lot of oil, but when you taste it, you will feel that it is rich in flavor but not greasy at all. The meatballs are fragrant and not salty at all.
thirsty.
The rich taste created by using a variety of vegetables is the characteristic of northern cuisine, and this dish shows it vividly!