Chapter 395 Killing Two Birds with One Fish
At noon, Zhao Xiaojing's chopped peppers were not yet cooked, but the whole kitchen was filled with a spicy and overbearing aroma of chopped peppers, which made the people in the kitchen become absent-minded and glance in Zhao Xiaojing's direction from time to time.
"Why does the same chopped pepper smell so good when you stir-fry it?" Yun Yongyuan couldn't help but walk over, opened the small bucket of chopped pepper suspiciously, sniffed it hard, and then went close to Zhao Xiaojing's pot to sniff it.
"Maybe I adjusted the flavor a bit. I drained the water out of the chopped pepper and added some wild peppercorns, ginger, garlic, chili peppers, and so on. Oh, and I also added some lard and Sichuan peppercorns. Otherwise, the saltiness would be too strong and it wouldn't taste good if I just stir-fried it."
"I put a lot of these things in my cooking, but the aroma isn't as strong as yours." Yun Yongyuan held his chin with his hand, still staring at the pot in confusion.
"That's the heat, nothing else matters." Zhao Xiaojing heard Yun Yongyuan say this and took a look into the pot.
The moisture in the chopped peppers simmered over low heat is slowly evaporating. The sauce on the surface is becoming thicker and thicker, and the moisture content is decreasing, slowly approaching the critical point.
Right now.
Zhao Xiaojing waved the spoon, put half a spoonful of sugar and half a spoonful of chicken essence in it, and then slowly stirred it clockwise.
"This seasoning doesn't need to be too complicated. Its main function is to enhance the flavor." Zhao Xiaojing explained habitually when she saw Wan Yuyue coming over.
As the stirring continued, the layer of moisture on the surface shrank again and the oil gradually became clear. Zhao Xiaojing turned off the heat before the last bit of moisture evaporated.
The residual heat will naturally fry out the moisture in the chopped pepper slowly, and if it is cooked for one minute longer, it will be overcooked.
Zhao Xiaojing left the chopped pepper in the pot, scraped off the onion, ginger and other seasonings on the surface of the marinated fish head, then scooped out the bright red chopped pepper, covered the fish head completely, and then put it in the pot and steamed it over high heat.
Nie Xiuqi's soup base is ready. Although it is mixed fish soup, it does not affect the sauerkraut fish soup base.
While waiting for the steaming time, Zhao Xiaojing started to stir-fry the sauerkraut.
Squeeze out the water from the sauerkraut and stir-fry it in a pan without adding oil until the moisture is dried up. Remove from heat, then add the pork belly, green onion, ginger, garlic, and pickled ginger and stir-fry over high heat until fragrant. Then add the stir-fried sauerkraut back in and mix. The complex and mellow sour aroma will immediately fill the kitchen.
When everyone was once again tempted by the sour and fragrant taste, Zhao Xiaojing poured in the mixed fish soup prepared by Nie Xiuqi, stirred it gently, and then simmered it on low heat for three minutes to allow the aroma to fully blend.
The fish fillets on one side are also coated with batter in advance, but because they are coated with batter, they cannot be put directly into the pot to be cooked together.
The mixed fish soup in the pot soon began to bubble. Zhao Xiaojing pushed it a few times with a large spoon. When she estimated that the aroma of various ingredients had almost blended together, she took out a colander, scooped up the dry ingredients in the soup, and poured it into a deep plate on the side.
Then turn the heat to minimum and add the fish fillets when the soup no longer boils.
This step is to fry the fish fillets. Use the lowest heat to shape the fish fillets so that the batter will not fall apart. After they are shaped, cook for half a minute and turn off the heat immediately. Pour the soup and fish fillets into a deep plate with dry ingredients next to it.
Finally, add chopped green onion, garlic, and dried chili peppers, and pour hot oil over them.
At the same time, the timer rang and the chopped pepper fish head was steamed.
"Brother Nie, turn off the heat on the chopped pepper fish head and sprinkle some chopped green onions with some oil. Sister Wan, Brother Yun, you can put the shredded potatoes and other things in the microwave. Let's eat."
The lunch was simple. Apart from the silver carp, there were the dishes that the three chefs had practiced in the morning.
Zhao Xiaojing had just brought out the pickled fish when she saw Su Yuchen opening the door of the restaurant and coming in.
"You're lucky to have arrived. The meal has just been prepared." Zhao Xiaojing said.
"Oh, what a rare guest!" Guo Gaoang turned his head when he heard the noise and saw that it was Su Yuchen. He immediately stood up with a smile. "You are a good boss, but you are not as diligent as us freeloaders."
"Jingzi said that I am just an occasional handyman now, and you are distinguished VVIPs, so of course you have to come often! What do you want to eat? Today I finally have time to have a good meal." Su Yuchen ran over in three or two steps and looked at the plate that had just been placed on the table.
"VVIP brought wild silver carp, freshly killed and cooked, one fish, two ways to enjoy it. There's even some sugar water left for you in the refrigerator."
"Oh, you're making sweet soup today? I was wondering why I wanted to come to our restaurant for dinner so badly today." Su Yuchen said with a smile.
"Here, chopped pepper fish head, please sit down, bosses." As he spoke, Da Zhuang had already run to the back kitchen and brought the chopped pepper fish head to the table. After that, he turned around and went back into the kitchen. Seeing this, Guo Gaoang hurried over to help.
"They all want to eat the sweet soup I made for the last competition, and I happened to have some free time today, so I made it. I saw that you didn't have time to come over recently, and I was planning to take some back and put it in the refrigerator to tell you, but you came. When you go back later, take it with you, and don't eat it directly after dinner." Zhao Xiaojing muttered.
"Okay, I'll go wash my hands." Knowing that there was his favorite sweet soup, Su Yuchen walked with a breeze.
Dazhuang and Guo Gaoang set the table with ease, and the three chefs also brought the dishes over. In a blink of an eye, the table was filled with eight dishes. In addition to Zhao Xiaojing's pickled fish and chopped pepper fish head, there were also Nie Xiuqi's Kung Pao chicken and stir-fried liver tips, as well as Wan Yuyue's shredded potatoes and braised spring bamboo shoots, and Yun Yongyuan's shredded lettuce and stir-fried wild rice stems.
The four vegetarian dishes were brought by Wan Yuyue and Yun Yongyuan and placed in front of the two of them. Several meat dishes were also placed far away opposite them.
Su Yuchen looked at the plating and was about to change the order of the dishes to make the meat and vegetables more evenly matched when Wan Yuyue, who looked horrified, held him down.
"What are you doing? Are you two going to become monks?" Su Yuchen looked at Wan Yuyue in confusion. The perpetrators Dazhuang and Guo Gaoang also looked confused.
Zhao Xiaojing couldn't help laughing, and Nie Xiuqi turned his face away to hide the corners of his mouth that were secretly raised.
"What are you laughing at? Are they really becoming monks in the kitchen?" Su Yuchen touched Zhao Xiaojing's arm.
"What happened between you two? You don't want to eat meat anymore?" Guo Gaoang also asked.
"You two are the culprits." Zhao Xiaojing said with a smile.
"The two of us? Me and Comb?" Guo Gaoang pointed at himself and Su Yuchen.
"You and Dazhuang!" Wan Yuyue glared at them.
"Oh! Are you still thinking about those unscaled dumplings?" Da Zhuang put down his chopsticks, feeling both amused and embarrassed. "Let me tell you, let's be honest. I saw someone catching this fish this morning near the Dan River. This is the first time I've ever seen a wild silver carp this big. You'll never find it again. Why don't you try it with your eyes closed?"
"Hey, look at you." Guo Gaoang shook his head and laughed, "You insisted on listening, and then you couldn't eat after listening. We told you the abridged version. The original words that Dazhuang told me were even more bloody. Shouldn't I eat too?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
