Chapter 124 Chapter 124 Salted Fish and Eggplant Casserole.
The turmoil caused by the sturgeon later passed quietly, as if it had never happened.
Lin Zhi sighed inwardly at the complexity of officialdom and no longer took it to heart. She turned around and presented the dishes she had prepared, waiting for verification.
The news had not been verified yet, and the next day, Chef You came to visit.
As soon as she entered, she thrust the food box into Linzhi's hands. "Here, Mr. Qiu learned that you were curious about sturgeon, so he asked me to bring it to you so you can take it home and try it."
Linzhi opened the food box, and the top layer contained sturgeon roe. The bottom of this layer was covered with fine cotton cloth, which was covered with smoked pine needles. On top of that were dark green fish roe, each one larger than a soybean and glossy in color.
Song Jiaoniang came closer, her eyes instantly widening. She reached out to touch it but then retracted her hand, rubbing her fingertips on her apron. "What kind of fish roe is this? It's so big! And the color is so strange!"
"This is sturgeon roe, a tribute to the royal family." Lin Zhi handed it to Song Jiaoniang and described the sturgeon's appearance to her.
I heard that the fish was actually over ten meters long and weighed hundreds or even thousands of kilograms. Song Jiaoniang couldn't help but open her mouth wide: "I've never seen anything like this before."
"Would you like to try it, mother?" Lin Zhi took out a porcelain spoon, scooped up some and passed it to Song Jiaoniang. "It's pickled, so you can eat it straight away."
"Well, then I'll give it a try!" Song Jiaoniang was already eager to try it after hearing the words "royal tribute".
She carefully took the spoon and put a few sturgeon eggs into her mouth. The tip of her tongue first touched the thin and tough outer membrane. With just a slight force of her lips and teeth, a crisp sound of popping exploded in her mouth.
Linzhi also picked up the soup spoon, scooped up a few and put them into her mouth. The salty and fragrant juice overflowed, letting the unique and rich fish aroma enter her nose and the freshness of the sea into every part of her mouth.
Lin Zhi's eyes lit up. With just one bite, he was sure that the quality of this item was no less than a collectible treasure!
It’s a pity that there is no way to preserve the fish nowadays, so we can only process the fish roe by pickling, which makes the taste a bit salty.
As Lin Zhi came to an end of her thoughts, she heard a series of exclamations: "Shui shui shui shui——"
She turned around and saw Song Jiaoniang's brows knitted into a knot, her mouth drawn back. Her hands scrabbled haphazardly until she finally found the teacup on the table. She tilted her head back and took two gulps before putting it down, panting. "This is too salty! How could a saint and the royal family actually love this?"
Lin Zhi looked at her like this and laughed out loud: "After all, this thing is supposed to be produced in autumn. It's out of season now. It's pickled with salt. It's normal that mother can't get used to it."
"I can't figure it out, I can't figure it out." Even with her daughter's words, Song Jiaoniang still couldn't understand. She said that the salty fish roe would only be able to be eaten with white porridge.
Even this is a royal tribute.
Song Jiaoniang was in awe: "After all, they are members of the royal family, and their tastes are so special!"
Lin Zhi: “……?”
She laughed in silence, put the sturgeon roe aside, and looked down. There were two jars there, one containing a whole piece of marinated sturgeon meat, and the other containing sturgeon meat soaked in oil.
You have to know that with the development of transportation technology in later generations, especially with the maturity of sturgeon breeding technology, it is no longer difficult to eat smaller fresh sturgeons. In addition, sturgeons are extremely delicious, so most restaurants and hotels in later generations use fresh ones directly. This kind of pickled or oil-soaked treatment is the first time seen in Linzhi.
Linzhi picked up a piece of dried salted fish and looked at it carefully. The meat on the side was an extremely beautiful light pink, occasionally interspersed with golden lines formed by the seeping of oil. At the same time, the meat was elastic and not the kind that was thoroughly marinated and hard.
Let’s take a look at the jar of sturgeon soaked in oil. The dried sturgeon cut into small pieces is soaked in sturgeon oil. When the seal is opened, the rich fish aroma emanates from it.
Linzhi picked up a small piece and tasted it. The sturgeon must have been deep-fried before being put in. As the marinade time increased, the fat seeped into the fish. With just a slight sip, the meat fell away from the bones and melted on the tip of the tongue. The fresh aroma was truly eye-catching.
"mother."
"Hmm?" Song Jiaoniang, having tasted sturgeon roe, had lost interest in it and was currently sitting in a chair, picking at sweet dates. Only when she heard her daughter calling did she stand up and walk over to see, "What's wrong?"
"Try this with porridge tomorrow morning. It will definitely taste good!" Lin Zhi pushed the oil-soaked sturgeon meat in front of her and said with a smile.
Seeing Song Jiaoniang's alert look, she quickly added: "Not salty, very fragrant!"
Song Jiaoniang was relieved, while Linzhi took the dried sturgeon and thought about what dish to make to taste it.
Soon, she had an idea: "Mom, I'll go to the kitchen."
After arriving at the kitchen, Linzhi took a knife and scraped off the exposed parts of the dried sturgeon, then rinsed it with hot water. He also carefully checked the top and belly and found that the person who handled it had handled it quite cleanly.
This whole piece of dried sturgeon cannot be used to make a single dish, so Linzhi plans to make three dishes.
First, she used a knife to cut the dried sturgeon into two portions, one large and one small. She cut the large portion into dices and then divided it into two portions, preparing to make three dishes in total.
First, cut a small portion of dried sturgeon into thin slices of appropriate size, then cut the pork belly into slices of similar size but slightly thicker. After a little seasoning, interleave the two together, place shredded ginger on top, and then steam them in a hot pot for half a cup of tea.
Then, she prepared the other ingredients. First, Linzhi cut the eggplant into sections, then cut the pork belly into cubes and minced it into a paste.
The pork belly here is to enhance the flavor of the eggplant, so it can be cut finely, leaving only a little granularity. Finally, add some onions, ginger and garlic, and start frying the eggplant.
If eggplant is to taste good, it needs oil, but the less oil the better when frying, so it has to be fried in wide oil. Some people later used steamers to reduce the amount of oil, but the taste is naturally not as good as the former.
Once the eggplant is fried until crispy, remove it, blanch it in water to remove excess fat, and set aside. Then, in Linzhi, fry the dried sturgeon in oil until fragrant. Drain the oil, then add fresh oil, stir-fry the pork belly, minced ginger, and minced garlic until fragrant. Then, add the dried sturgeon, add the fermented broad bean paste and soy sauce, and continue stir-frying.
After all the ingredients have released their fragrance, add broth, a little salt, sugar, oyster sauce, etc., then pour all the eggplant segments into the pot and let them absorb the broth.
Then just thicken the sauce and let the soup coat the tomato slices. Finally, cook over high heat until the soup is dry. Then add some chopped green onions on top.
In just half a cup of tea, a delicious salted fish and eggplant stew is ready.
Linzhi took out the sturgeon and steamed pork belly from the steamer, and then turned his attention to the third dish.
For the final portion, she planned to make fried rice with dried sturgeon. Linzhi first beat a few eggs, using only the yolks and not the whites. She then scrambled the egg whites and cut them into small pieces—a step not normally necessary in a stir-fry, but Linzhi, mindful of not wanting to waste ingredients and planning to feed the whole family, decided to fry them separately to add a touch of color to the fried rice.
Then take four fresh chicken legs, remove the bones and cut the chicken meat into cubes for later use. Add the remaining ingredients and you can start cooking.
Heat oil in a pan, sauté chopped green onion, ginger and garlic, then add diced chicken thighs. There is no need to fry the chicken until both sides are golden brown, just cook through and set aside, leaving only the oil used to stir-fry the green onion, ginger, garlic and chicken.
At this time, Linzhi adds dried sturgeon and fries it until both sides are golden brown, then puts in a large amount of green onions, egg yolk liquid and rice.
When the rice is coated with egg yolk and becomes golden, add the egg whites and previously fried chicken thighs into it.
Stir-fry evenly and serve.
Linzhi served the fried rice and looked up to see a group of people gathered in front of the table.
She stepped forward and asked, "What are you all doing here... Mr. Qiu? And Chef Wang? Chef You? Why are you all here?"
"Master Qiu sent me to check on the kitchen's preparations," Chef Wang said with a smile. "Just now, Chef You and I went to look for you, and your mother said you were already in the kitchen."
"Your speed is amazing!" Chef You gave Lin Zhi a thumbs-up. "I just sent it to you, and you're already tinkering with it."
After a pause, Chef You turned and looked at Mr. Qiu again: "I didn't lie to you last time, did I? Look, Chef Lin really can't wait to try it out."
Mr. Qiu hummed and moaned, completely unaware of what he had heard, his eyes fixed on the three dishes.
Chef Wang folded his arms across his chest and stared at him quietly. It wasn't until the place gradually quieted down that Mr. Qiu finally came to his senses. He looked up, his eyes filled with longing, and caught everyone's gaze.
Chef Wang rolled his eyes. "Stop, stop, stop. Do you still think you're the handsome and dashing number one scholar from twenty years ago? Now you're acting cute, but no one sees you."
"Bah! You're just jealous."
"Who's jealous of you? Look at you, your head is almost stuck in the food."
"Haha." Mr. Qiu said nothing, just stroked his black hair and looked at Chef Wang's head.
Chef You was too lazy to pay attention to the two of them and quietly explained to Linzhi that although Mr. Qiu and Chef Wang were quarreling, they were still friends who had known each other for a long time.
Linzhi blinked, and recalled what Chef Wang had said that day, telling her not to worry about the responsibility falling on her. Then she recalled how anxious he was when he came to find her and Chef You, and suddenly she realized that Chef Wang's words that day were probably directed at her.
Lin Zhi figured this out and felt awkward. Seeing that Mr. Qiu and Chef Wang were still bickering, she smiled and said, "Since Mr. Qiu wants to try it, then try it. This dried sturgeon was originally sent by Mr. Qiu."
Mr. Qiu was immediately delighted and smiled happily. He immediately picked up the chopsticks happily.
Just as Mr. Qiu was about to put down his chopsticks, Chef Wang suddenly asked, "How many pieces did he give you? Did he just give you one to try?"
Lin Zhi smiled awkwardly. Chef Wang knew the answer immediately and squinted at Mr. Qiu: "Look at how stingy you are..."
Mr. Qiu froze and his face flushed red. He was too embarrassed to say anything. After all, the quantity of dried sturgeon was limited, and he didn't know that Chef Lin could make it. He was afraid of wasting this rare delicacy.
He raised his hands in the air, lowered his head and looked at the three dishes in front of him, and said dryly, "Thank you for troubling Chef Lin. I'll send some more to Chef Lin later."
Mr. Qiu was quite embarrassed. His hand holding the wooden chopsticks moved up and down several times, but he never put it down.
Chef Wang ignored him and had no intention of resolving the situation. Instead, he picked up an eggplant strip.
From the beginning, he has been quite interested in this stewed eggplant. Look at the eggplant strips lying in the soup, each one is full of juice, wrapped in minced meat and dried sturgeon. The aroma of eggplant, pork and fish blends together, exuding an extremely tempting fragrance.
Chef Wang was very curious about how Chef Lin would combine dried sturgeon and eggplant, so he used this dish first.
He blew on it to cool it down and then took a bite.
The next moment, the juice in the eggplant strips gushed out. The cooling air just now only blew on the surface, but failed to cover the inside at all. Almost instantly, the aroma of eggplant, meat and fish filled the entire mouth, causing Chef Wang's body to tremble.
The first feeling is hot.
Chef Wang opened his mouth and tried to blow out air to lower the temperature of the eggplant strips, but he was reluctant to spit them out.
At the same time, he couldn't help but look at Linzhi. During the last review, he only knew that Linzhi's fruit cooking skills were outstanding, but he never thought that she was also quite accomplished in cooking.
Chef Lin...is not even twenty years old!
Chef Wang closed his eyes and savored the smooth texture of the eggplant strips, then the delicious soup, the salty and fragrant pork belly, and the distinctive dried sturgeon.
After a while, he felt a little regretful. He should have let his youngest son communicate and learn from Chef Lin.
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