It’s the first day of May, and today’s menu for the western kitchen has been written down.
It was not yet time for breakfast, and there were a few palace servants left in front to serve food, while the palace servants who had rested in the back had already started to follow Su Wan to work.
This was the first time we prepared lunch and everyone was very serious and meticulous.
In the past, they just didn’t know how to cook delicious meals, not that they were unwilling to do so.
Besides, only by cooking well can we ensure that the West Kitchen does not change its Deputy Prime Minister, let alone the left and right managers.
Everyone naturally did their best.
The first dish to be made, and also the most labor-intensive dish today, is the Seven Star Fish Balls.
As Su Wan cooked, she said, "This is a Fujian dish, a soup with fish balls as a specialty."
"Legend has it that in the early days, fishermen provided meals when they ferry passengers, but they encountered a storm while ferrying and were trapped in a sheltered harbor. When they were trapped, they could only catch fish to fill their stomachs."
"After a while, everyone got tired of eating it, so the boatman's wife removed the bones from the fish and mixed it with potato starch on the boat to make the fish balls we know today."
“Once everyone returned home safely, the boatman’s wife opened a fish ball shop. Because they tasted so good, scholars passing by wrote poems about their fish balls.”
"That sentence is, although there are thousands of years of wine in the southern border, it is rare to find seven stars that can inspire poetry."
"So the fish balls were called Seven Star Fish Balls from then on."
In fact, if we say Seven Star Fish Balls, people may not understand it, but if we change it to the more common name "Fish Balls", I guess many people will understand it.
As she spoke, Su Wan had already washed the fish and chopped it into fish paste. She had to be extra careful when removing the fish meat so as not to bring in fish bones.
Su Wan was able to peel off the fish bones almost completely along the texture of the fish meat.
This skill amazed everyone.
"This fish bone is peeled so completely."
"Wow, there really is no thorn left."
"What a great swordsmanship."
Su Wan smiled and said, "Practice makes perfect."
Although she had never cooked much in this life, she often helped out in the family kitchen in her previous life and had learned quite a few skills.
She naturally knows how to remove fish bones.
Su Wan taught everyone the technique of peeling fish bones. Although others could not peel them so completely, their speed was significantly improved.
Continue peeling the fish meat here and wait to chop it into fish paste.
On the other side, you can make seven-star fish balls, which are the fillings in the fish balls.
The filling inside must be made of pork.
Moreover, the fat and lean meat must be diced separately. The lean meat ensures the taste of the filling, and the fat meat ensures oiliness, so more lean meat is needed.
Fortunately, we are only making the filling, so you can use less meat filling.
If conditions permit, you can also add some chopped shrimps to enhance the flavor, but the western-style kitchen obviously does not have this condition, so adding a little shrimp powder is enough.
Chop the lean meat and part of the fat into stuffing, then mix the shrimp powder with a small part of the fat. Wait until the shrimp powder is soaked with oil, then stir it into the meat stuffing. At the same time, add green onions, salt, minced ginger, sugar, soy sauce and other flavoring.
Su Wan prepared the meat filling and then rolled it into small balls, about one-third the size of a little finger.
Because there is not much filling, one pot of meat filling can make hundreds of meatballs.
Working in the western kitchen requires careful planning.
Once the meatballs are ready, place them directly in the small ice cellar next door for later use.
After finishing these tasks, the fish paste on the other side was also chopped.
But fish paste, like meat filling, also needs to be stirred in one direction. This is the secret to making the meat filling elastic and chewy.
In modern terms, it means using the stirring action to break up the fibers of the meat and beat out the gelatin in the meat, making it sticky and able to better absorb various seasonings.
It is best if the filling and fish paste are juicy but not sticky.
The people in the western kitchen may not understand the logic, but everyone should just follow it.
Of course, chopped green onion, ginger and shrimp powder should be added to the fish paste.
In ancient times, all the things that were used to enhance the flavor of food were basically shrimp powder, seafood powder, mushroom powder, chicken powder, etc., and they tasted very good.
Finally, egg white, pepper powder and a small amount of starch are added to the filling to better shape the fish paste.
After doing this, you can go near the boiling water pot, take the fish paste with one hand and squeeze it into balls, then stuff the frozen pork balls into the fish meat, and finally apply a little fish paste and press to make it round again.
Then use chopsticks to quickly put the soft and sticky raw fish balls into the boiling water pot.
In a short while, the seven-star fish balls floated in the pot, round and white, as cute as stars.
Next, Su Wan moved even faster and put seven fish balls directly into the pot, which made people subconsciously think, no wonder it is called Seven Star Fish Balls, this is what it means.
If you follow the traditional method, you can wait for the fish balls to be cooked and then season the soup, so that you can eat it with the soup.
But what Su Wan meant at this moment was to cook it first, let it cool, and then heat it up directly when cooking at noon.
It's similar to modern instant meatballs.
When Su Wan knew she was going to cook cafeteria food, she thought about how she could avoid cooking in one big pot as much as possible.
How to maintain the taste of food to the greatest extent.
Now is a good way.
For a moment, the kitchen was filled with the aroma of fish and pork.
You can taste the seven-star fish meat from the first pot directly.
The right-hand man on duty and several palace maids nearby all tasted it.
The fish balls are tender and elastic, with delicious meat filling and rich juice. When paired with the soup used to cook the balls, it is truly unforgettable.
This dish can be described in one word: fresh.
Once the seven-star fish balls are prepared, just put them in the pot and cook them briefly at noon, then add some side dishes to make a great dish.
And the right hand commander also discovered that he could make more fish balls and store them in the ice cellar, which would save time and make them taste delicious.
While everyone was still savoring the stuffed fish balls, Su Wan had already started making the second dish, minced peas and meat.
Now it is the end of spring and the beginning of summer, which is the time to pick peas, and peas are also cheap now.
This dish is easy to make. Su Wan wanted to ask someone to boil the peas in water and dry them, and they would be ready when it was almost noon.
If you simmer the peas in a pot while cooking, that's certainly possible, but the taste will be bland.
If you want to cook them now and set aside for later use, the skin of the peas will be locked again when the water is drained, preserving the integrity and taste of the peas. When the time comes, put them in a pan and stir-fry them over high heat, and they can be served immediately, avoiding being in the pan for a long time or stewing.
In fact, when the quantity is small, you can fry them all in the pan, because the pan is small, the food is small, and the heat is evenly distributed.
But now it is cooked in a big pot. In order to make the food cook evenly and quickly, the best way is to prepare the ingredients in advance.
When Su Wan was about to take over the catering of the west kitchen, she had already thought about these things in her mind.
Minced peas and meat is an excellent dish to go with rice, and it will definitely be a delicious dish that will leave you with an aftertaste.
In fact, by now, many people have discovered Su Wan’s cooking pattern.
That is to prepare the food in advance and process the ingredients that are difficult to cook in advance. This way you will definitely not be in a hurry and the taste of the food will be guaranteed to the greatest extent.
If Su Wan were to tell it, it would be better for her to fry them one pot at a time than to do it this way.
But with her skills alone, how could she possibly prepare four dishes and a soup for hundreds of people in one meal?
It is better to do things according to the experience summarized by later generations.
The next dishes, fish-flavored eggplant and garlic-stirred seasonal vegetables, don’t take too long to prepare.
The eggplant can be cut and marinated with salt to absorb moisture, so that it will taste better later.
Of course, just clean the vegetables and set aside.
Finally, prepare the winter melon and tofu, soak the rice first, and you can make the staple food and soup when the time comes.
Su Wan gave instructions one by one, and the western kitchen proceeded in an orderly manner.
Even before lunch, everyone still has time to rest.
This is incredible.
It's surprising that after doing so many complicated preparations, it took less time than usual.
Su Wan just wants to say, this is work efficiency!
Only by arranging things well can we work faster. When everyone works faster, things will become much simpler.
As soon as Su Wan sat down to rest, someone immediately brought her sweet water to drink, obviously feeling that she was working hard.
In addition to this, everyone is also grateful for Su Wan's selflessness.
She didn't hide her skills at all and spoke freely about everything she had to say.
Let alone other things, just talking about how to make the meat filling more delicious, she could have said nothing at all.
But now it is clear.
How can one not feel that she is really kind?
Su Wan understood what they meant, but she felt that this was common sense in cooking for the younger generations, and it wasn't her family's inherited skill, so there was nothing to hide.
Besides, today’s cooking skills are so low.
The small stove is where all the mysteries are hidden, and it is a test of one's skills. There are many details to pay attention to, such as how to handle different ingredients, what heat to use, and even which spatula to use.
Nowadays, it’s not a big deal to cook a meal roughly.
Fortunately, Su Wan didn’t say what was in her heart, otherwise she would have to cook a rough meal.
Is this rough?
The western kitchen was bustling with activity, while the palace servants from the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Treasure Department were thinking about lunch in their respective offices.
Now in these two places, other things are not important, the news of eating spreads the fastest.
They were all wondering, can lunch be as good as breakfast?
Breakfast is simple after all, not as formal as lunch.
As for dinner?
It is not within consideration for the time being. After all, I have never even heard of fried noodles with soybean paste.
Let’s think about lunch first.
Especially the Seven Star Fish Balls, what the heck is this.
The two sides were discussing heatedly, but there were some differences. The Imperial Household Department had the discussion together with the chief steward and the eunuchs and guards below.
Only low-ranking eunuchs in the Shangbaojian dared to say a few words.
Because the chief steward and guards of Shangbaojian are both famous figures in the family, they certainly don't need meals from the western kitchen.
But their discussion was so heated that it was eventually heard by the chief steward of the Shangbao Palace.
The steward had a thin look and a lazy expression in his eyes. His uncle was the eunuch steward of the inner palace. He had made great contributions in front of the palace, so he was granted the privilege of being unemployed in the Shangbao Palace.
In the past, the Shangbaojian had some real power, but now he is idle.
As for the chief guard of the Shangbaojian, he is from a well-known family in the capital. They specially sent their useless son here, which can be considered as a job for him.
Although one of these two stewards was a eunuch and the other a guard, they both loved drinking and having fun, and were particularly picky about food. They would usually search the capital for delicious food.
But no matter how delicious something is, you will get tired of it eventually.
Now when I occasionally hear what the eunuchs say, I just look up. Seeing them praising them so highly, why not give it a try?
Thinking of this, the chief eunuch of the Shangbao Palace thought of the food that he had someone bring this morning.
He originally wanted to try it, but his eunuch bought him rock sugar dumplings that were extremely hard to find in the capital, so he put his breakfast aside.
How about trying it again at noon? Just to kill time.
The author has something to say:
The update will be a little late tomorrow (30th), but I will give you three updates in the evening as compensation.
The update time will be fixed after the 30th. Thank you for your support.
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