Chapter 87 Squirrel Mandarin Fish
Shen Hanxing helped her control the heat, and from time to time he looked at the fish head frying in the pan: “Is this fried?”
"Well, there are many cooking methods, such as mixing, pickling, braising, stir-frying, sautéing, roasting, braising, steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, stewing, boiling, boiling, and braising. Each method can give people a different taste experience."
"Now that you mention it, it seems like there's a lot I haven't eaten."
Wen Zhenyi smiled at him, the firelight reflecting on his features making them even warmer: "You will be able to eat it later."
After she finished speaking, she scooped up the fish head with a colander to drain the oil. She held the fish tail with one hand and held the fish body with chopsticks in the other, then put the plump side of the fish facing up and fried it in the pan until golden brown.
She placed the fried fish head and body on the fish plate and began to make the sauce.
Scoop out the excess oil, pour in appropriate amount of tomato sauce, white vinegar, sugar, and green beans, mix well, finally pour in a little water, green beans and water starch, and add seasoning to taste.
Pour the thick sauce over the mandarin fish, sprinkle with some pine nuts, and the dish is ready.
She also made a braised eggplant, a stir-fried asparagus with garlic, stir-fried tofu and tomatoes, a steamed egg with clams and a vegetable soup.
Wen Chengwen walked in carrying a slaughtered chicken. "Yi Yi, the rice and flour have been delivered. Can I help you chop the chicken?"
Wen Zhenyi turned his head and looked at him: "Dad, help me chop it." Then he looked at Zhu Tao: "Little Taozi, take the food out and eat first. I'll come over after I finish here."
"Let me help you."
"No, you can't help."
Wen Zhenyi plans to make authentic old hen soup and doesn't plan to add too many seasonings. The ingredients here all taste good.
First put the cardamom and ginger into the pot and stir-fry until fragrant, then add the chicken pieces and stir-fry until the moisture is dry, then pour in clean water, add appropriate amount of salt, and tie a few green onions into a knot and put them into the pot.
Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat, cover the pot and simmer.
When she came out after finishing her work, she found that everyone in the yard was waiting for her, and no one had picked up their chopsticks yet: "Mom, didn't I tell you to eat first?"
Shen Xiucai stroked his beard with a smile: "What does it matter? I'm not in a hurry."
Wen Zhenyi sat next to Ma Yinghe: "Let's eat."
Shen Xiucai picked up some squirrel mandarin fish and put it in his mouth: "Hmm! This tastes delicious, the sauce is sweet and sour, the fish is crispy on the surface and tender on the inside."
Ma Yinghe also likes this sweet and sour taste: "It's very appetizing."
Wen Zhenyi glanced at Shen Hanxing and found that he had eaten more today, and had eaten a little of all the dishes, which was actually more than before.
After dinner, Shen Xiucai, Wen Yongnan and others had to go back to the private school as they had classes in the afternoon.
Ma Yinghe and the others didn't ask Wen Zhenyi to wash the dishes, but asked him to learn calligraphy.
Wen Chengwen even went out to buy the four treasures of the study today, thinking that he would teach Wen Zhenyi how to read when he had time. Now that he saw that Chen Hanxing was there to teach him, he was happy to take a break.
Chen Hanxing looked at Wen Zhenyi: "Do you remember the ten words from last time?"
"I'll write it for you to see." Wen Zhenyi didn't waste any words. He dipped the brush in ink and wrote the ten words from last time on the paper.
Chen Hanxing tilted her head and looked at the ten words she wrote on the paper. There was not a single mistake: "You have a good memory."
"With such a good teacher like you, it would be embarrassing for you if I couldn't remember it."
A smile appeared on Shen Hanxing’s face: “I will teach you ten more words today.”
"good."
Shen Hanxing wrote ten words on the paper and explained them to her one by one.
Wen Zhenyi looked at the words and memorized them carefully. If they were spoken out loud, she would understand their meaning, but if she had to read them like this, it would be like reading a book without words.
Shen Hanxing frowned at her and said, “Don’t worry, let’s take our time.”
"Okay." Wen Zhenyi actually found that the characters here were more like hieroglyphics, and he could roughly guess some of their meanings from their appearance.
She tried to memorize in this way and found it easier to remember.
Shen Hanxing knew that she had found the pattern and method: “You know the method.”
“It’s pretty close to what it represents.”
"Yes, this is a simple way to remember it. It will be more difficult later on."
"I don't expect to become fat in one go, so I'll take it slow."
"Have you thought of a name for your shop?"
Wen Zhenyi put down the brush in his hand and thought for a moment: "I plan to only sell breakfast in this shop, so it will be called Wen's Breakfast."
“Do you plan to open another store in the future?”
"With this plan, the weather is getting warmer, and some things can be made." Wen Zhenyi said this, and then he thought of something: "Brother Shen, do you know where to buy saltpeter?"
"Salt?"
“Yes, can I buy it?”
"Saltpeter shouldn't be hard to find, but I don't see anyone selling it in town. I'll ask around for you later. Do you need much?"
"It's not a lot, but I need to make something with it."
"Okay, I'll ask for you." Chen Hanxing was going to ask a few friends to ask the elders at home.
Saltpeter is a by-product of gunpowder mining and is not considered a prohibited item, so it should not be difficult to obtain.
Chen Hanxing took a piece of paper, spread it on the table, and wrote the four big characters "Wenji Breakfast" on it with a brush: "Can you take a look at it? If not, I will write it again for you."
Wen Zhenyi glanced at the four words written on the paper. The handwriting was free and unrestrained, with the strokes starting and ending neatly. It was a rare and good handwriting. "No need to rewrite it, this is it."
After Shen Hanxing waited for the ink to dry, he carefully folded the paper and handed it to her: “If you want to make a plaque, the master of Xie Baozhai has good craftsmanship, you can go there.”
"Do you know the master who made the plaque?"
"I know them. Their chefs are good, but the prices are a little higher than other places. But since you said I introduced them, they shouldn't charge too much."
"good."
After she memorized ten words, Shen Hanxing left the shop.
Wen Zhenyi saw him off, stretched, got up, went to the kitchen to check on the chicken soup she was stewing, and added some firewood to the stove.
She also changed the water for the clams so that they could spit out the mud and sand. As for the dried fish, she removed the head and fins and cleaned the scales.
Use scissors to cut the dried fish into small strips of 0.5 cm wide and set aside.
When Ma Yinghe and the others woke up from their lunch break, they saw her preparing the ingredients: "Yiyi, didn't you go take a rest?"
"I'm not very sleepy, so I'm going to prepare the ingredients."
"Let me do it, you go and have some rest. You haven't had much rest since you got up so early in the morning." Ma Yinghe said, taking the scissors from her hand and asked her to wash her hands and go to rest.
Wen Zhenyi had no choice but to explain the amount of chicken stewed in the pot and how much dried fish to cut.
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Trivia: The name of squirrel fish only appeared in the Qing Dynasty. There is a record of "squirrel fish" in the Qing Dynasty's "Tiao Ding Ji".
It is said that "squirrel fish" was already available in Suzhou when Emperor Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River. However, carp was used at that time. Emperor Qianlong tasted it at Songhe Tower, and later it gradually developed into "squirrel mandarin fish" made from mandarin fish.
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