Chapter 58: Proportion and Dosage, Innovation and Experience
Before dawn, Zhao Xiaojing turned off the alarm clock which had only rung twice and looked at her cell phone.
After one night, the number of people in the group increased rapidly again.
Last night before going to bed, I saw the new parents excitedly posting pictures of fried skewers on their Moments, and I guessed the result.
Zhao Xiaojing's chain ends at four in the morning every day, which is the time she gets up.
Today we are bombing the Palm Treasure. By the deadline, the number of people who joined the queue reached 62, and a total of 150 kilograms were ordered.
Although she had seen the fighting spirit of parents, Zhao Xiaojing was still surprised by the numbers collected this morning.
However, after a night, Zhao Xiaojing's heated mind gradually calmed down. The order volume will definitely increase, but if it continues like this, there will be a purchase limit.
Although she could find a part-time job for more troublesome tasks like processing squid, the quantity was so large that she couldn't handle the main frying step by herself.
Although she works alone and earns all the profits, the money she can earn is limited.
After getting up, she went straight to the poultry wholesale market. This time, the boss saw that she wanted a lot and gave her a preferential price, which made Zhao Xiaojing feel that the world was full of sunshine again.
I was full of energy cooking and preparing food the whole morning. I had prepared all the dishes before nine o'clock and made two cups of strong tea for Master Sun and myself.
Zhao Xiaojing initially drank tea simply to stay awake and prevent drowsiness. Later, as she followed Sun Dehai, the tea became stronger and stronger, and she gradually began to like the bitter taste.
"Good morning, Master Sun! You're here just as I made the tea."
Seeing Sun Dehai come in, Zhao Xiaojing greeted him happily. Her knowledge base had arrived.
"Good morning, Xiao Zhao. You work so hard every day. I'm just taking advantage of you."
"Hey, no way. Master Sun's lessons are great. I just did a small thing and got a big advantage."
Sun Dehai laughed when he heard it.
"Haha, you're so good at coaxing people at such a young age. Fine! If you want to listen, I'll tell you more. Tell me, what do you want to ask today?"
"Then I won't be polite," Zhao Xiaojing said with a triumphant smile, raising the question from yesterday. "Master Sun, I saw you changed the ingredients for your roasted chicken yesterday. I remember you didn't have tangerine peel last time, and you used nutmeg instead of white cardamom."
"Well, Xiao Zhao, this time the material change is thanks to you!" Master Sun smiled.
"Me? Why?"
"I've been a chef for so many years, and the seasonings used for different dishes and the flavors used have always been fixed. Until you came, the first time I saw your ingredients, I found something wrong."
"My ingredients? Is there something wrong?" Zhao Xiaojing was stunned.
"It's not that it's wrong, it's just that I haven't seen it in all these years. The seasoning you use for frying is different every time, and there are always some subtle adjustments, whether it's the ingredients or the proportions.
The adjustments you make are always just right, perfectly enhancing the flavor of the ingredients you fried that day, and the degree of compatibility with the ingredients is simply amazing to me."
Sun Dehai recalled the scene of that day, and he has not yet recovered from the impact on his chef career that day.
"From that day on, I kept thinking, 'Have I become a bit of a dead end after all these years? I still use the same things I was taught to use when I was learning to cook. I don't have any understanding of my own.'"
I've been having a vague idea these past few days. I want to try adding or subtracting two spices. What if I don't want the delicate fragrance of chicken, but want a thicker aftertaste? So, can I replace white cardamom with nutmeg and dried tangerine peel?
Zhao Xiaojing seemed to understand, but nodded in admiration. "Master Sun, you speak like a real chef!"
"These past few times, while learning to make steamed buns and noodle nests with Sister Geng and Sister Hou, I've noticed that even though we use the same seasoning, the final flavors are completely different," Zhao Xiaojing asked thoughtfully, "What's the reason for this?"
"It's all about the mixing ratio of the various seasonings, the dosage, and the cooking habits, all of which will affect the final taste."
Sun Dehai took a sip of tea and thought about it.
"Let me give you an example. We always add salt when cooking. As the saying goes, salt can adjust the flavors of many dishes. But there's a certain amount of salt we should add. Too much salt makes the food salty, too little makes it bland, and both affect the taste. This is the dosage."
If you want a bit of sourness with your salty taste, you need vinegar.
If you have already put enough salt and then add a little bit of vinegar, the saltiness will become stronger, but if you add a lot of vinegar, the saltiness will become weaker.
Conversely, if you add a little salt to vinegar, the vinegar becomes more sour, but if you add a lot of salt, the sourness becomes weaker. This is the ratio.
Do you understand? "
Sun Dehai didn't remember the specific theoretical explanation. After thinking about it, he directly gave Zhao Xiaojing the most common example.
But when the problem fell on actual examples, Zhao Xiaojing suddenly had an epiphany.
"I understand, I understand. This is a really powerful example!"
"It's okay as long as you understand it, hehe, I've actually forgotten all those written rap things!
As for what I said just now, using white cardamom instead of nutmeg, and using this instead of that, this requires experience, which is related to the familiarity with major and minor ingredients.
You have to know what flavor the seasoning will produce, how much to add to achieve the desired flavor, and how the seasonings interact with each other. You have to figure this out on your own.”
"Oh, that's what experience does."
Zhao Xiaojing nodded. After hearing what Sun Dehai said, she suddenly felt that she still had a long way to go in the road of cooking.
Seeing that Zhao Xiaojing was thinking seriously, Sun Dehai thought for a while and then continued.
"Let me give you an example. Take cassia bark and cinnamon. They're both spices made from the same tree, but they're very different.
Although they smell a bit similar, cinnamon is a little sweeter than cassia, and its taste is mellow and soft, while cassia tastes bitter and astringent, and a little harsh.
Therefore, cinnamon is usually used in stewing soup, porridge, and stewing meat to remove fishy smell, relieve greasiness and enhance flavor.
Cinnamon is used in foods that require a mellow taste, typically in desserts and tea. It's also used in some stews, but cinnamon alone isn't enough; you need to add cassia twigs. The addition of cassia twigs allows the cinnamon to fully develop its aroma, giving the meat a fragrant flavor.
For example, the white cardamom and nutmeg you just mentioned, they both...
These are all about being familiar with the seasonings.”
Sun Dehai searched his mind for the usage of the seasonings and tried his best to explain them to Zhao Xiaojing.
Zhao Xiaojing wrote it down in confusion, pondering the two examples given by Master Sun.
I remember that he used cinnamon when stewing braised pork last time, and he did add cassia twigs at the same time.
When I was seasoning fried skewers before, some varieties also needed to add some cinnamon powder, and the seasoning also contained cassia twigs...
The ingredients of Sister Geng’s tea eggs are also added with cinnamon, but the cassia twigs are not added...?
Zhao Xiaojing had a flash of inspiration.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com