Chapter 37

Speaking of eating fish, although river fish is often criticized by some picky people as earthy and fishy and not worthy of being eaten in a refined restaurant, if it is cooked well, it is very delicate and tender, and has its own unique flavor whether steamed or braised.

Since Wen Weili used fish to lure Li Zhigu to stay, she didn't plan to just make a simple fish dish. Not to mention that Li Zhigu would find it normal, she also felt the concern hidden in Li Zhigu's words, but she had things she had to do, so she could only pretend not to understand.

When the black carp was cleaned, Wen Weili picked up a stone knife and stabbed it diagonally under the fish's gills, easily separating the fish's head from the body, and then quickly cut off the fish's tail. The originally fat fish was divided into several parts.

Wen Weili took out the big fish head and tail, rinsed them in clean water to remove the bloody smell, blanched them briefly in a pot to remove some of the earthy smell, and then simmered the whole fish in a clay pot. At the same time, she added burdock, ginger slices, green onions, salt and other ingredients. When the flame in the stove started burning, Wen Weili brought a small stool and chopped the fish body on the stone slab while watching the fire in the stove.

Wen Weili divided the fish body into two halves along the middle fish bone, cut one half into thin slices, added salt and egg white, coated with flour, and set aside. She planned to use this half of the fish fillet to make a dish of stewed fish fillet.

If you want to make the Cao-fried fish slices delicious, the Cao-brining is a crucial step. The fragrant Cao-brining is made with fragrant Caoqu, old wine from Shaoxing in the south of the Yangtze River and the sweet-scented osmanthus brine that has retained its fragrance over the years. It is a unique dish among the Cao-fried fish slices. Unfortunately, it was no longer in Prince Huai's mansion at that time, so Wen Weili had to make do with it and bought ordinary Cao-brining.

Seeing that the fire in the stove where the fish soup was cooking seemed to be getting a little smaller, Wen Weili picked up two small pieces of firewood and threw them in. Then she stood up and lit the fire on the other stove as well, poured in some cooking oil, and when tiny bubbles appeared on the surface of the oil, Wen Weili picked up the fish fillet with chopsticks and put it into the pot.

The frying pan was incredibly hot, and the fish slices began to tumble and tumble as soon as they were in the pan, splashing like water. When the fish slices floated to the surface of the oil, Wen Weili scooped them up with a slotted spoon and placed them in a bamboo basket to drain most of the oil.

Wen Weili took the oil pan away and replaced it with a new clay pot. She counted to fifteen in her mind, opened the clay pot beside her, scooped a spoonful of fish soup into the pot, gently placed the drained fish fillets into the pot, added salt, and added a few more firewood to the stove.

As the flames rise, the soup in the pottery pot rolls with a layer of foam. Skim off the foam, add brine, sugar and salt, and shake the pot slowly.

The unique fragrance of the fish fillets wafted out from the ceramic pot. Wen Weili added fine flour into it, exerted force with her wrist to turn the fish fillets over, then drizzled the hot oil on them and poured them into a bowl.

The stewed fish fillets were ready. Wen Weili was doing two things at once. On one hand, she was keeping an eye on the fire of the fish soup, and on the other hand, she continued to fillet the other half of the fish body. After filling, she added cooking wine and salt, marinated it slightly, and then added egg white and flour, and coated the fish fillets one by one with a layer of dough.

After coating the fish with batter, Wen Weili heats up the pan, adds a little oil, and before the oil reaches a high temperature, she places the fish fillets in and begins frying. Fry them until they are lightly golden, then remove them and let them cool. Once they are all fried, return them to the pan for a second frying. This way, the fish fillets are much less greasy, resulting in a crispy exterior and tender interior.

After frying the fish fillets, Wen Weilin took an iron pan, added small pieces of chopped sugar and boiled them. When the sugar was accumulated in the center of the pan, he added an appropriate amount of yellow vinegar and continued to boil until it became thick before adding the fish fillets. While stir-frying, the fish fillets gradually turned a golden color like sediment. The fragrant aroma wafted around the courtyard as the sweet and sour fish fillets came out of the pan.

In the dark, someone secretly slurped his saliva and stretched out his hand eagerly.

"Pah!"

"Ah! Traitor, how dare you hit your master?" Li Zhigu said aggrievedly, covering his hands.

"It's not healed yet." Wen Weili sighed helplessly. Seeing Li Zhigu's unwilling eyes, she had no choice but to scoop some fish soup from the earthenware pot. "Be good, drink some soup first, you'll be healed soon."

"．．．．．．." Li Zhigu looked at his apprentice, not knowing whether to scold him first or drink the soup first. Finally, he decided to take the fish soup first and then scold his apprentice.

Li Zhigu picked up the soup bowl and lectured Wen Weili with confidence, "Unfilial disciple, who told you to talk to your teacher in the tone of coaxing a child? Go back and copy the book thirty times..." Li Zhigu suddenly stopped talking, knowing that this is no longer the time when Wen Weili was a child.

When Wen Weili was young, Li Zhigu knew that she was not good at medicine, so he used the method of making her copy as punishment to make her read more and learn more. But now Wen Weili has grown up, and the apprentice has her own ideas, so her mastership is not so legitimate anymore.

"Oh, idiot Li Zhigu, you only know how to copy as punishment. I can finish it tomorrow. Don't try to find an excuse to punish me more." Wen Weili deliberately replied to him like she did when they were children. Sure enough, Li Zhigu's somewhat depressed expression immediately became proud again, and he showed the happiness of being able to teach his apprentice.

"Okay, then I'll wait tomorrow. If I finish copying it, I'll teach you the new recipe!" Li Zhigu held the bowl of fish soup, held his head high, and walked out of the kitchen shaking his head.

Wen Weili looked at his cheerful steps and couldn't help laughing, but her hands did not stop moving. After cutting the black fish, she put the remaining fish roe into water and washed it, being careful not to break the thin layer of skin on the outside.

Put the whole piece of fish roe into the pot, pour water, add green onions and ginger slices, light a fire, skim off the foam rolling on the surface of the water, and when the fish roe changes color slightly, remove it and drain it.

Add firewood to raise the flame, pour in bean paste and stir-fry, then add cooking wine, scallion segments, garlic cloves, star anise, cinnamon, and wait until the water boils, then pour in balsamic vinegar and salt. At this time, put the fish roe into the soup, bring to a boil over high heat, cover the pot, and collect the juice. Finally, leave a little juice at the bottom and remove from the pot.

Wen Weili then brought out the almost cooked fish soup, and today's fish dish was officially ready.

When Li Zhigu heard Wen Weili say that the food was ready, he couldn't wait to come over to help carry the plates and bowls, for fear that Wen Weili had secretly hidden some dish.

Wen Weili was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. It was just a few days since she had cooked for Li Zhigu. Why was there any need to be so cautious?

"I'm cautious?" Li Zhiguke was furious. "Tell me, aren't you wrong? You just followed your father's orders, forgot the agreement between us, and married into Prince Huai's mansion. Now you have to run around for him, working yourself to death. I don't know what you're thinking!"

Wen Weili had nothing to say. She didn't want to argue too much. She knew that Li Zhigu was just taking advantage of the situation. He didn't care whether she cooked for him or not. What he was really dissatisfied with was what she did for Duanmu Huaixin, which was too much "selflessness" in Li Zhigu's opinion.

The reason was not convenient for more people to know, so Wen Weili just smiled obediently and said, "Yes, yes, it's my fault. I shouldn't not think about myself. Master is teaching me a lesson."

"Okay, stop pretending." Li Zhigu knew that Wen Weili was just talking and continued to do as she pleased, which really pissed him off.

Huh? Li Zhigu's temper has improved? Wen Weili was a little confused, but when she thought about how Li Zhigu's improved temper benefited her, her disciple, she stopped questioning and said with a smile, "Master, look, isn't this the fish you love?"

"Fish head and tail soup, fish fillets in a casserole, sweet and sour fish fillets, and braised fish roe," Li Zhigu glanced at Wen Weili with a half-smile. "It's really hard for you to go to such lengths to make me think it was just a fish dish."

"Just tell me whether you want to eat or not?"

"Eat, of course I eat," Li Zhigu picked up his chopsticks, "My good disciple specially prepared one fish in four ways, how can I not eat it?"

Li Zhigu's chopsticks passed over the fish soup. He had drunk the fish soup before the meal. He had to admit that Wen Weili's cooking skills had not deteriorated, and had even improved a little. It seemed that she had prepared a lot of food and drinks in Prince Huai's Mansion.

After some selection, he picked up a piece of sweet and sour fish fillet. Before he ate it, a sweet fragrance floated to his nose. When he put it in his mouth, it was sweet at first, and then sour. This sourness was not the sourness that makes people saliva secrete. Mixed with the full sweet fragrance, it seemed extremely distinct, but it brought a refreshing feeling that whetted one's appetite.

The batter covering the fish fillets was soft. As soon as you bit into it, the aroma of fried food spread in your mouth, but it was not too greasy. Li Zhigu was very satisfied and he couldn't help but give Wen Weili an appreciative look.

After chewing the sweet and sour fish fillet in his mouth, Li Zhigu was looking forward to the Caoliu fish fillet even more. He picked up a piece and put it into his mouth. As soon as he put it in his mouth, he first felt the smoothness and fragrance of the fish fillet, with the mellow taste of wine. As the fish meat was chewed in Li Zhigu's mouth, a refreshing feeling went from his mouth to his stomach through the swallow, making Li Zhigu feel comfortable all over.

"Excellent!" Li Zhigu praised. "Your skills are indeed as good as ever. You are truly worthy of being my disciple."

"As long as Master likes it," Wen Weili smiled faintly. She wanted to ask Master what delicious cooking had to do with being the disciple of a genius doctor. "You're a genius doctor, not a genius chef," she thought, but for the sake of their relationship, she decided it was best not to ask.

Wen Weili didn't ask, so Li Zhigu was completely clueless. He was engrossed, thinking that the fish slices in the stew must be the most delicious. As for the braised fish roe, he thought it was definitely inferior to the fish slices. However, to ensure that his apprentice didn't feel his efforts were in vain, Li Zhigu decided to give it a try, just to comfort him.

In order to prevent the fish roe from falling apart, Li Zhigu used some skill to pick up the fish roe steadily with the chopsticks. He first sniffed it slightly and found no strange smell, so he felt relieved and could praise it at will. But when Li Zhigu put the fish roe into his mouth, he opened his eyes wide in surprise.

This braised fish roe is not as sweet and sour as the sweet and sour fish fillet, nor as fragrant and mellow as the Caoliu fish fillet, but it has an indescribable taste. The dense fish roe is bitten by the teeth, slightly sticky, but not greasy, and each grain splashes with fresh and fragrant juice in the mouth. It tastes fluffy, but so fragrant that it makes people salivate.

After swallowing one piece, Li Zhigu picked up another piece of fish roe and put it into his mouth to chew.

"How strange," Li Zhigu said with a surprised look on his face. "It's so small and not as tasty as fish fillets, but why do I want to eat it so much? Never mind, my disciple, you eat it. Just don't fight with me for this braised fish roe."

"As long as Master likes it." Wen Weili kept smiling and finished her breakfast with rice and fish slices.