Chapter 74: Two Kinds of Wontons (First Update)...
In fact, after Linzhi tasted the wontons from Bianjing, she had an idea in her mind: perhaps the reason why wontons gradually became more filling-heavy and light-soup-based is precisely because the flavors inside and outside are incompatible.
Especially the shops in the city of Bianjing, probably because the reputation of "Baiwei Wonton" was too famous, each shop racked its brains to pile things into the bowl. The wonton fillings used shrimp, pork, and the soup had to be made with mutton broth, and all kinds of seafood had to be added as toppings. They wanted to cram everything flying in the sky, running on the ground, and swimming in the water into one bowl.
Linzhi thought of this and couldn't help but recall the sensation of eating pickled mustard greens and pork liver, drinking mutton broth, and eating wontons stuffed with shrimp and pork. Each of these ingredients was delicious individually, but when mixed together in a bowl, it was speechless. For the first time, she had the subtle thought that this exceptionally keen sense of taste was simply not there.
To this, Linzhi just wants to say: why don’t you stop torturing wontons and make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall instead! ?
In addition, nowadays soup noodles are also varied and the toppings are becoming more and more abundant.
Linzhi even discovered that many shops in the market only sold soup noodles on weekdays, adding wontons only between the Beginning of Winter and the New Year. This suggests that wontons, with their myriad toppings, were already becoming a seasonal delicacy in Bianjing.
So after thinking about it, Linzhi decided to do the opposite and make two types of wontons: one with a light soup and heavy filling, and the other with a light meat filling and heavy soup.
Once she had made up her mind, she went to the kitchen and got busy. The first step, of course, was to make the wonton wrappers. Wonton wrappers were thinner and more translucent than those used for dumplings. The secret was to add some alkali to the flour.
Linzhi's movements were quick and a smooth dough could be kneaded in just a cup of tea.
While the dough was resting, she took out a long strip of pork fat and cut it into dice-sized pieces. She then chopped the green onion, ginger and garlic into fine pieces, and finally ground the sesame and star anise into powder.
After everything is ready, Linzhi pours rapeseed oil into the pot, and then pours in lard and slowly fryes it.
Wait until the lard shrinks and turns into golden oil residue, then you can fish it out. Linzhi picked up one and found that the freshly fried oil residue was very fragrant and delicious.
Linzhi set the oil residue aside to cool, then poured the chopped green onion, ginger, and garlic into the wok. While it was frying over low heat, she chopped the oil residue into fine pieces and mixed it with sesame powder and star anise powder.
When the chopped onion, ginger and garlic are fried until golden brown, add the three kinds of powders just prepared into the oil pan.
After frying for a while, you can take it out, cover it and let it cool. Just wait a little longer and lift the lid to see one of the most important condiments for wontons: black scallion oil.
As for the wonton filling, pork is the classic choice. Chop the filling until it's granular, then add salt, sugar, chicken powder, soy sauce, and eggs, and mix well.
Linzhi doesn’t like overly complicated wonton seasoning, but this needs to be adjusted according to current tastes - she plans to leave this question to the tasters who will try the dish later to comment on.
By the time the filling was ready and the dough had risen, Lin Zhi picked up her rolling pin and slowly rolled it out. When Song Jiaoniang came in through the curtain, she saw that the dough in front of her was so big that it couldn't even fit on the chopping board. It looked like a giant tablecloth.
"Wow... wow." Song Jiaoniang couldn't help but exclaimed, "How did it get so big?"
Hearing Song Jiaoniang's exclamation, several others came over and peeked inside, and then one by one they also exclaimed in surprise: "Wow!"
"real!"
"Such a big, transparent skin."
"Sister Zhi, what are you doing?"
"If we do it on a stall, it will definitely attract a lot of people's attention." Others marveled.
"Shh—don't disturb Sister Zhi!"
Linzhi heard a particularly familiar voice, but she was busy with the work in her hands and did not turn around to look, but focused on the things in front of her.
She folded the dough in half, then in half again, then cut it into wide strips with a kitchen knife, folded them together and cut them into pieces of uniform width.
In this way, the wonton wrapper is ready.
She finished making the wonton wrappers and then looked up at Song Jiaoniang who was still standing at the door: "Was that Brother Lu San and the others just now?"
"Yes." Song Jiaoniang lifted the curtain and called Lin Zhi over: "Everyone is here."
Lin Zhi leaned over and looked over. Everyone who was chatting together turned around and looked at her: "Hey, Sister Zhi, long time no see!"
This group of people were part of the convoy that went to Bianjing City together at that time. Some of them, like Lu San and Lu Datou, would be seen every few days, while others, like Xie Niangzi, were busy with official duties and had not seen the Linzhi family for several months.
Lin Zhi met Madam Xie's eyes and asked in surprise, "Madam Xie? You're finally back from outside?"
The family had originally planned to visit Madam Xie's home after settling down, but when they arrived, they found out that Madam Xie had gone elsewhere on official business.
Lin Zhi looked at her carefully and saw that Madam Xie was in high spirits and looked very healthy. She seemed to be in better spirits than she had been a few months ago.
"Yes," Madam Xie replied with a smile. At the same time, she carefully looked at the family of three in front of her, and her heart was filled with infinite emotion: "It's all my fault for not telling you in advance. You made a wasted trip."
"It's okay, it just happened suddenly."
"Yeah, who would have thought!" Lu San sighed, then continued to say to Lin Zhi, "Madam Xie asked about your family's situation when she came back. When she learned that your business was doing well, she was worried that I was deceiving her. She was so angry that I stuffed the roast goose into her mouth to settle the matter."
"You're talking about roast goose again."
"That's right, this guy gave me a roast goose and kept talking about it for three days!"
"Tsk, I'm just saying it."
"And you don't know yet, right? This is why Sister Xie rarely goes out these days."
Even Lin Zhi couldn't help but stop and look curiously. Someone said, "Is Sister Xie getting married? She hasn't been going out much just now—Ah!"
"What nonsense!" Lu San waved his hand and suppressed the booing people: "Our sister Xie has officially become a female official, and now she is a sixth-rank official!"
The room was quiet for a moment, then suddenly became noisy. Everyone, including Lin Zhi, looked at Madam Xie with shock on their faces: "Really?"
"Is she really a lady-in-waiting?"
"Thank you, Sister! You've become rich!"
"Aren't female officials selected from a young age? Could it be that Sister Xie was chosen by the Saint—"
"No, no." Lady Xie saw that everyone was getting increasingly amiss and quickly interrupted their quarrel, explaining, "I was summoned by the Saint this time to accompany the Empress Dowager to Mount Tai to pay homage to the Buddha."
Therefore, she was not able to return to the capital until the beginning of winter. Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Madam Xie continued, "The Empress Dowager was attacked while she was away, so she needs to strengthen her personal protection."
There were certainly many guards who excelled in martial arts, but women were much rarer. Lady Xie was the daughter of a military officer, and her name had been included in the previously compiled dossier, which surprisingly led to her being chosen directly.
There were exclamations from the crowd one after another, and Linzhi, who was in the middle, also congratulated them repeatedly.
For Lady Xie, this was truly a blessing. She possessed exceptional martial arts skills, but due to her status as a woman, she was barred from officialdom. She was confined to her home, at best assisting the Dali Temple with cases, barely serving as a non-staff member. Not even the title of a constable could be considered an official, let alone an official position. Furthermore, her constant involvement in Dali Temple affairs made marriage difficult, and her relationship with her family strained.
Now, even if she has to stay in the palace most of the time, at least she has the opportunity to display her strengths.
Everyone congratulated her and followed Lin Zhi into the kitchen to help. However, Lin Zhi soon kicked out those who were there to help but were actually causing trouble. They sat outside and started gossiping again.
"Do you know? Tao Lang has decided on a marriage and said it will be held in the spring."
"Can I say... it's finally settled?" another person said, feeling both amused and annoyed. "When Tao Lang first entered the Dali Temple, I thought he was already married."
"That's right."
"I heard he hasn't decided on a marriage yet, I thought he had something to hide!"
Everyone in the room burst into laughter at this point. While men had no trouble finding a wife these days, generally speaking, success in the imperial examinations would usher in a peak in marriages. After all, becoming an official meant a lot of work for the wives of officials.
But Tao Yingce is unique and has no intention of getting married.
“Actually—” Someone touched his nose and whispered, “At that time, many people thought they were brothers, cough cough cough.”
"Puff!" Song Jiaoniang was eating the melon with great enthusiasm, but when she heard this, her eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
At this moment, the room was silent.
The man who spoke felt something was wrong and froze in place. When he turned around, he saw Chen Yan and Tao Yingce standing behind him with expressionless faces. When he turned around, they raised an eyebrow and asked, "How are we brothers?"
The man stuttered: "Impotence?"
As he finished speaking, his expression gradually became terrified, and then two hands fell on his shoulders.
Chen Yan pulled him out directly, while Tao Yingce smiled at the others: "We still have some private conversations, you guys go ahead and chat first."
Everyone's Adam's apples rolled and they responded hesitantly.
Seeing the three people disappear at the door again, someone whispered, "Is he really trying to say impotence?"
"Well, who knows."
"Anyway, none of them are possible." Lu San quickly pulled everyone back, fearing that he would be the next one to be beaten. He changed the subject and said, "Don't we really need to go in and help? It's not good to let Sister Zhi do all the work alone, right?"
"No, no, Sister Zhi is afraid we'll cause more trouble." Song Jiaoniang said with a smile. She checked to make sure Tao Lang and Chen Lang hadn't returned yet, and quickly brought out the joke from last time: "Last time Tao Lang was kneading dough in the shop, he actually kneaded out three times the dough!"
"Wow--"
"How did Sister Zhi solve it later?"
"She just made a bunch of fried dough sticks!" Song Jiaoniang described it vividly, attracting a group of people to listen with great interest, and they forgot the previous topic.
Linzhi listened in the kitchen, shook her head and concentrated on making the wontons in her hands, which were another kind of wontons that focused more on the soup than the filling. In addition to preparing the soup and toppings early, she also started to make her unique wontons.
The skin used for this kind of wontons had to be thinner and lighter, so Linzhi took a pile of wonton skins and rolled them out to twice their size with a rolling pin. He was not satisfied until the skin was so big that the color of his fingers could be seen when he spread it on his palm.
As for the filling, well, just use the leftover wonton filling.
Linzhi took out a chopstick, hooked a little meat filling on it, slid it across the surface of the wonton wrapper, closed her fingers, applied a little force, and a wonton was freshly baked.
It looks round, but in fact it is mostly filled with air. The meat on the chopsticks seems to have disappeared a little, and it also seems as if it had just been touched by this little bit.
Rather than saying that the meat filling is a filling, it is more accurate to say that it is an adhesive used to bind the wonton wrappers together.
Once everything is wrapped, it’s time to assemble.
Soon, dozens of soup bowls were placed on the table. The soup bowls were divided into three batches. One batch had a little pepper, salt, dried shrimps, chopped green onions and black onion oil in it, and finally a spoonful of clear soup prepared in advance was scooped in. The other two batches had no other ingredients, but only clear soup.
When cooking wontons in Nyingchi, put the wontons with more meat filling in first. When they are cooked through, pick them out and put them into the bowl of powder and the bowl of soup respectively.
Next, she added wontons with less meat filling, and when they became round and floated on the water, she picked them up and put them into a bowl of clear soup.
Finally, add the prepared toppings to both bowls of clear soup and sprinkle a spoonful of chopped green onions.
Now, it’s done!
Lin Zhi lifted the curtain and called Lin Sen and others to help carry it out.
As the soup bowls were placed on the table one after another, Chen Yan and the other two who had just left came back. Chen Yan and Tao Yingce looked refreshed and radiant. As for the man who was dragged out by the two to "turn over a new leaf", well, he also looked like a human being.
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