Chapter 259: Pot-roasted Pork Elbow

[Activation Tips: Change the batter to a thick egg batter. This is the key.]

???

It made no sense, and Zhao Xiaojing became even more confused.

Although the prompts were always just a short sentence, Zhao Xiaojing always understood them immediately because she had seen them used to be the stir-fries she often made.

But Zhao Xiaojing really doesn’t remember making the pot-braised pork elbow this time?

Zhao Xiaojing exited the virtual space in a daze, took out her mobile phone and sent a message to Sun Dehai.

After a while, Sun Dehai's voice came back, and Zhao Xiaojing realized that pot-braised pork elbow is a famous dish of Shandong cuisine.

Although it's called a pot roast, it's actually a mixture of deep-frying and pan-frying, but it's different from just deep-frying or pan-frying, hence the name. The pork elbow is first boiled, and various seasonings are added during the cooking process to infuse the flavors. It's then steamed to infuse the flavors into the meat. Once cooked, it's removed, coated in batter, deep-fried, and finally sliced.

However, Sun Dehai specializes in Sichuan and Hunan cuisine, and only has a vague impression of this dish, and is not clear about the specific method of making it.

But Zhao Xiaojing also understood the reason why the menu could be activated from Sun Dehai's general description.

This time it was purely an accident. She had indeed tried a similar method, but she originally wanted to replicate the German crispy pork knuckle that Guo Gaoang had taken them to.

When Guo Gaoang came to Jiangcheng last time, he mentioned that the fusion restaurant they had gone to together before had closed down. The three of them felt sorry for a long time at that time. They missed the dishes they ordered last time, especially the fusion-flavored German crispy pork elbow, which was crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. After that, the three of them never tasted that flavor again.

Zhao Xiaojing tried to replicate it in virtual space that day, and she specially used the pork elbow that was freshly braised that day and not yet particularly flavorful to make pork knuckle rice.

At that time, the pork elbow was only simmered in the residual heat for an hour, and was taken out and placed outside to wait for the temperature of the braising pot to drop. After that, Zhao Xiaojing prepared two kinds of batters, one for dipping and then dipping in breadcrumbs, and the other was a pure crispy batter, which was directly wrapped on the braised pork elbow. One was put into the oven and the other was fried in a pan.

After being taken out of the pot, the pork elbows prepared in both ways tasted average. Although the pork elbows had not been soaked in flavor, the proportion of spices was too high and the taste was too strong for fried or baked dishes.

Zhao Xiaojing tried to adjust it again. She simply gave up the marinade and re-adjusted the water for stewing, but either the skin lacked texture or the meat lacked flavor.

In the end, the crispy pork elbow was not successfully replicated. Zhao Xiaojing tried many times but failed.

But it was precisely these repeated experimental processes that were consistent with the method of cooking pork elbow in a pot, which was memorized by the system and activated on the collection page that appeared later.

Shandong cuisine restaurant... Zhao Xiaojing searched around with her phone and finally found a Shandong cuisine restaurant opposite a middle school in Jianghe District that had a menu of pot-roasted pork elbows.

After checking the distance again, it would take two hours to drive there, and the store would close at 21:00. Zhao Xiaojing fell silent.

Jiangcheng doesn't have its own unique cuisine, so it uses a little bit of the eight major cuisines. There are restaurants serving authentic cuisine, but most of them are Sichuan and Hunan restaurants that cater to the heavy tastes of Jiangcheng people.

Although there are Shandong cuisine restaurants, they are not very popular due to the limitation of ingredients. Moreover, the ones closer to Zhao Xiaojing are relatively small and do not serve this dish of pot-roasted pork elbow.

Zhao Xiaojing was itching to try it. After all, it was the first dish from the eight major cuisines activated by the system, and she felt bad not trying it. But she couldn't just cook it herself without first trying the pot-roasted pork elbow. Without any reference, she had no idea whether it was good or not.

Zhao Xiaojing thought about it, walked out of the bedroom, and knocked on Su Yuchen's door opposite.

"Did you find it?" Su Yuchen had already changed into her fluffy StellaLou pajamas and opened the door holding her guitar.

Zhao Xiaojing was stunned for a moment before she realized that Su Yuchen was asking about the person who took the photo.

"No, I was thinking of checking the local blogs in Mingcheng to see if any passers-by happened to take pictures..." Zhao Xiaojing blinked and brought out the excuse she had prepared before.

"Is this the idea you came up with? Why don't you go looking for a needle in a haystack?" Su Yuchen's eyes widened.

Zhao Xiaojing suddenly felt embarrassed, "I'm not looking for you for this...Aren't you going to Jiangliu District for rehearsal tonight?

Look at this place, it's quite close to Jiangliu District. Can you leave earlier and go around to bring me some pot-roasted pork elbow? You don't have to bring it back, just put it in the car. The weather won't be bad, we can eat together tomorrow."

Su Yuchen lowered his head with a puzzled look on his face, opened Zhao Xiaojing's map and took a look, then looked up speechlessly and looked at Zhao Xiaojing several times.

"I know you have to drive for an extra half an hour, which means an hour there and back... But I don't have the time to buy it myself, right?" Zhao Xiaojing smiled very flatteringly.

"Do you really want to eat?" Su Yuchen raised his eyelids and asked Zhao Xiaojing with a sidelong glance. Zhao Xiaojing immediately nodded like a rattle.

"Then tomorrow I want to eat pork ribs and lotus root."

"Eat! I'll stew it for you tomorrow morning!" Zhao Xiaojing agreed immediately with a smile.

"Okay, sister will buy it for you." Su Yuchen glanced at her and agreed to it without asking why she wanted to eat it.

…

The next day at noon.

Zhao Xiaojing carefully lifted the lid of the casserole with a rag, added a little salt and white pepper, then waved her hand and asked Lu Hongwen to bring the pork ribs and lotus root soup to the front hall.

The soup has been simmering for an hour and a half, and then simmered for another five minutes after the fire was turned off. Now the air in the kitchen is filled with the sweet and fragrant aroma of lotus root and bone soup.

The lotus root is the pink lotus root produced in Honghu. Because of several consecutive heavy snowfalls, the taste has become surprisingly pink, glutinous and sweet. It is directly identified as grade one in Zhao Xiaojing's quality appraisal module.

"Xiao Wu!" Seeing that the staff meals were ready, Wan Yuyue immediately sped up the food preparation and shouted towards the front hall.

Wu Kaile had just carried a drawer of rice to the front hall when he heard the noise and ran back. "So soon?"

"Sister Jing, have you checked it out? Is it safe to serve?" Wu Kaile looked at the dish in front of him doubtfully, then looked at Zhao Xiaojing.

Wan Yuyue glared at him and immediately raised her hand as if to hit him, "Xiao Wu, are you getting bolder again?!"

Zhao Xiaojing was taking out the pot-roasted pork elbows that she had packed yesterday from the refrigerator. When she heard this, she smiled and glanced at him.

The dishes looked good. While waiting for the lotus root soup, she had also paid attention to Wan Yuyue's seasoning and cooking process. Overall, there was nothing wrong. "Okay, serve."

"Hey!" Wu Kaile felt as if he had been pardoned. He glanced at Wan Yuyue and walked away with the tray.

"Hey, Xiao Wu, what are you looking at? What are you looking at?!" Wan Yuyue cursed.

Zhao Xiaojing looked at the energetic Wan Yuyue, put the braised pork elbow on a plate, shook her head and smiled secretly.

Wan Yuyue is indeed talented, but she is a little impatient.

Yun Yongyuan was able to cook on his own after about a month here, and Wan Yuyue showed great talent in cooking from the very beginning. Even Master Gu wanted to keep her. However, she had to work here for two full months before she was able to cook on her own.