Xue Huan replaced the steamed hairy crabs with boiled cabbage, and the candied yam with sweet potato.
Although hairy crabs are in season now, they are not convenient to eat and are cold in nature, so I'm afraid not many people will actually eat them.
After all, the guests who came to the banquet were either rich or noble, and no one could miss out on eating crabs.
Although boiled cabbage looks like an extremely simple dish, it is actually not easy to make.
Wash the slaughtered old hen, and blanch the soaked scallops, cleaned ham, trotters, ribs, etc. in different boiling water pots to remove blood and impurities. Take them out and wash them again. Then put them all into a large soup pot, add water, ginger, and green onion and boil over high heat. After boiling, add rice wine and simmer over low heat.
It takes at least one and a half hours, or 3 hours.
At the same time, chop the chicken breast and lean pork into a paste, add appropriate amount of water to make it into a porridge-like consistency and set aside.
After the soup is cooked, use a colander to skim off all the soup residue and floating oil.
Pour the clear soup into another pot, bring it to a boil, add the minced pork and stir well, wait for it to slowly disperse and float up, use a small colander to scoop out the minced meat, then boil the soup again, add the minced chicken twice, and process it in the same way as the minced pork, finally separate the residue and remove the oil from the clear soup thoroughly, wait until the soup is fresh and clear like water, add salt to taste and set aside.
Divide the soup into two pots.
Select the tenderest cabbage hearts, put them into one of the pots of broth, blanch them until they are 70% cooked, rinse them with cold water, pierce the cabbage hearts repeatedly with a thin silver needle, put them in a soup bowl, and pour another pot of broth over them. The cabbage hearts in the bowl will bloom like flowers.
The soup in the bowl was as clear as water and looked like a fresh flower blooming in the water.
Rock sugar yam is a sweet soup, but in fact there is also a sweet soup in the dessert after the meal, which is a bit heavy, so Xue Huan changed it to candied yam.
The practice of "pulling silk" did not exist in this era.
Pu Songling, the author of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio in the early Qing Dynasty, once wrote: "In the north, wrapped fruits are now popular, and everything can be glued together with sugar." He was referring to candied fruit.
However, this time and space took a big turn at the end of the Song Dynasty and developed in a completely different direction. Without the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, many things appeared in advance, and many things had not yet been invented. Candied silk is one of them.
Xue Huan took this opportunity to bring the art of bamboo shoots back to life.
Candied yam, candied apple, candied sweet potato, candied egg, etc., this series of dishes can be born.
She personally likes candied dishes.
After changing the menu, Xue Huan naturally had to make it again for Qin to experience.
After tasting them, Qin praised them highly and took the recipe home immediately, asking the chef in the mansion to learn how to make these two dishes as soon as possible.
Everyone at Xue Huan's table was enjoying their meal. After all, the dishes were really delicious. Especially Lin Yuzhu, who indulged herself even more because she was wearing a belly-covering jacket today.
Fang Wenwen used the serving chopsticks to pick up food for her while spewing venomous words: "I think you don't plan to get married. If you keep eating, you will really become fat as a pig."
Lin Yuzhu was eating delicious food, and her words went in one ear and out the other, not taking them seriously.
However, there was one person at the table whose style stood out more than others, and that was Zhang Ying. When others were eating with relish, she put down her chopsticks before even picking them up, with a frown on her face, as if to say, "How dare they put this kind of dish on the table?"
It made everyone else feel a little disgusted.
When the boiled cabbage was served, she laughed out loud.
Ye Fu couldn't help it, "What are you laughing at?"
Zhang Ying glanced at the boiled cabbage and said, "Your Ye family is a wealthy family after all, and you actually put boiled cabbage on the table? Tsk."
That last contemptuous tone really makes people angry.
Ye Fu put her chopsticks on the table and replied with a "Hehe". "Some people just like to think ignorance is funny, and they want to make it known to everyone. I really don't know what to say."
Xue Huan flattered her: "Afu, you are the host, you should be more generous. If you meet someone like this, don't bother with her."
Lin Yuzhu was drinking soup. When she heard this, she burst out laughing and almost spit out the soup.
Ye Fu took the opportunity to ask her, "Yuzhu, do you know how to make this boiled cabbage?"
Lin Yuzhu shook her head honestly, "I don't know, but I know it's definitely not boiled cabbage. This is the old lady's birthday banquet, and every dish on the table is very particular. There's no way they'd serve boiled cabbage."
Ye Fu nodded in appreciation. "Not bad, you've really thought it through. Some people claim to be knowledgeable, but they're just frogs in a well."
Several people were talking at the same time, making Zhang Ying so angry that her pretty face turned blue and she wanted to overturn the table and leave.
However, before she could react, Lin Yuzhu picked up a piece of boiled cabbage and ate it. "It's so delicious. The soup is rich and fragrant, but not greasy at all. It's very refreshing. You guys should try it too."
Others also tried it and praised it highly.
Zhang Ying sat there, not knowing whether to taste it or not, feeling extremely annoyed.
Just then, Lin Yuzhu asked, "Afu, how do you make this boiled cabbage? How can you make ordinary cabbage taste so good? I used to hate cabbage, but I feel like I can eat this boiled cabbage for a year, no, a lifetime!"
Ye Fu looked at Xue Huan and said, "I'll have to ask Sister Xiaoxian for advice on this. She was the one who taught our chef how to make the boiled cabbage. And the candied sweet potato dish is also very delicious."
Xue Huan briefly explained how to make two dishes. This certainly didn't count as revealing the recipes. In fact, even if the recipes were told to everyone present, few would be able to truly make the dishes taste that way.
A table of young girls were chatting lively about food, but Zhang Ying was the only one sitting there with a gloomy face, as if someone owed her money.
After the meal, it is time to cut the cake, which is the climax of the whole banquet.
The three-layer cake made by Xue Huan was brought to the old lady's table.
Nowadays, eating birthday cakes has become a trend in Fengchi, but this is the first time that everyone has seen such a big cake.
In particular, the cake is carved with fruits to create a scene of "Eight Immortals Celebrating Birthday", and each immortal is lifelike and amazing.
The old lady looked at the cake and seemed to be at a loss as to where to start. Was she supposed to forcibly cut the carving of the Eight Immortals' birthday fruit?
The old lady couldn't make up her mind for a moment, so she asked Haitang to invite Xue Huan over and throw the problem to her.
"Xiaoxian, you made such a beautiful cake, I can't bear to finish it. What do you think we should do?"
The tone was quite rogue.
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