Chapter 358
Next, Su Yuanzheng listed the ingredients needed to make these stews, muttering to himself as he wrote, "Pick the soft and chewy lotus root, the shank with full bone marrow, and the corn that's fresh and juicy.
The ribs need to be tender, the pig lungs need to be clean and intact, the pears need to be big and plump, and the chicken... I think there are two places that sell free-range chicken, but they're a bit more expensive."
After writing it, he checked it carefully again to make sure nothing was missed. As for the rest of the soup ingredients, he already had them at home and did not need to purchase them separately.
Tomorrow is Saturday, and Su Yuanzheng is going to buy a stew pot first.
The day after tomorrow, Sunday, Su Miao will have half a day off, and we can make stew together then.
Su Yuanzheng bought not only a stewing pot, but also a steamer that can be stacked up into five layers. Each layer has a lot of space and can hold eight stewing pots.
In this way, one stove can stew forty pots at a time, which can save a lot of time.
On Sunday noon, after Su Miao came back from school and had lunch, he didn’t even take a nap, but enthusiastically started making stewed soup with his father.
Su Yuanzheng took out the ingredients he had bought in the morning and put in the refrigerator to keep them fresh and placed them on the table specially built in the front yard.
He happily said to Su Miao, "Nowadays, the things you can buy in the vegetable market are becoming more and more abundant. When we first came here, we thought it was amazing to see such a prosperous vegetable market. Now it is even more than before.
Just this year, three new butcher shops opened, not to mention the others. The chicken and duck shops were so crowded that they had to set aside a separate area."
"Dad, food is more abundant and easier to obtain, which is good for our catering industry."
"Yeah, things have developed really fast in the past few years. Thinking back to the days when we had to save up our meat coupons and could only afford a small piece of meat, and now we stew hundreds of kilograms of meat every day, it's like a dream."
Su Yuanzheng recalled the difficult years in the past and felt a lot of emotion in his heart.
Su Miao said playfully, "Hey! Comrade Lao Su, wake up quickly, we are going to start stewing the meat again."
Su Yuanzheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, your dad makes soup differently from others. He makes the base soup first."
"Soup base? Isn't it made with water?"
“In fact, it is also possible to stew it directly with water, but some ingredients are not suitable for stewing for such a long time, such as scallions.
However, it is not a good idea to always open the lid to scoop out ingredients when stewing soup. Moreover, if you make too much and stack them layer by layer, it will be difficult to operate.
"First, make the base soup. When the fire is off, boil it once, add the wolfberries and salt, then cover and simmer for a while. Otherwise, if you add the wolfberries too early, the soup will become sour." Su Yuanzheng explained.
Because the ingredients used are all fresh, there is no need to add too many seasonings, and the base soup is also very simple.
Su Yuanzheng first filled a pot of water and put it on the stove. He brought the water to a boil and added chopped green onions and white peppercorns.
He stirred it gently with a spoon and said to Su Miao, "Pepper is different from the pepper we use when cooking porridge. You must choose whole peppercorns instead of pepper powder, because the aroma of pepper evaporates easily after heating. It is best to use peppercorns to cook the flavor directly into the base soup."
In the eyes of Su Miao, who has a "capital brain", this method is absolutely perfect. Hehe, isn't the base soup equivalent to keeping a trick up your sleeve?
Other stewing ingredients can be seen in the stewing pot, but the ingredients for the base soup cannot be seen. In the catering industry, if even a little bit of something is missing, the taste will be different.
Su Yuanzheng patted his absent-minded daughter and said, "Let the soup base simmer for a while. We'll go prepare the ingredients first."
Because the pork ribs and the leg bones need to be blanched and the hot meat and broth need to be put directly into the pot, so let's deal with the more troublesome pig lungs first.
Su Yuanzheng pointed at the pig lungs on the chopping board and said, "Miaomiao, look, when Dad buys pig lungs, he always chooses those that are intact and have the tube attached. They're easier to clean. If the pig lungs are damaged, it's more difficult to clean them, and it's not easy to get them clean."
First place the pig lung under the faucet and pour water into the throat to make the whole pig lung swell.
Use your hands to squeeze out the water that has been poured into the pig's lungs, then refill with water. Repeat the above steps 6 times until the pig's lungs turn white.
At this time, after filling it up again, take a thick needle and slowly pour water in while pricking it hard, just like stabbing a villain.
The last bit of blood will flow out from the small hole, and the pig's lungs will be washed white in a short while.
Cut the pig lungs into small pieces, put cold water in the pot, put the pig lungs into the pot, and boil over high heat.
The pig lungs will shrink when heated, and a large amount of foam will be squeezed out. After the water boils, cook for a while, then pick up the pig lungs and pour them into a basin to rinse off the foam. The processed pig lungs will be very clean.
Su Miao poked the pig's lung with his hand, feeling it was a little bouncy. "Dad, the pig's lung is so white after washing it. Is it because it's washed so white that the soup will also be white?"
"Not only that, there is another important step to make the soup white later, and we have to start now."
Su Yuanzheng sliced the washed pig lungs into thin slices, poured them into the hot wok and stir-fried them for a while. He said, "You don't need to add oil at this time. The main purpose is to squeeze out the moisture that just went in, so that the fishy smell can be removed."
Stir-fry for a while and serve. Put a little oil in the pan, add shredded ginger and pour in the pig lungs and stir-fry. Add appropriate amount of wine and salt, serve the pig lungs and set aside. Now it’s the turn of one of the protagonists, the pear.
It is precisely because of the addition of pears that this soup has the effect of moisturizing the lungs, clearing away heat and reducing phlegm. If people usually have dry throat and mouth, cough and little phlegm, many families will stew it and drink it.
People in areas that don't have the habit of drinking stewed soup may have doubts about this, but the people of Yongcheng have always firmly believed in the nutritional value of stewed soup.
When you can't buy pig lungs, you can also stew pears with rock sugar to relieve cough and moisten the throat. If you don't even have rock sugar, the working people still have a way.
Pears and ginger are stewed until they are soft and you can eat up all the soup and pears. Some people are a little more unruly and simply skip stewing it and eat a mouthful of ginger and a mouthful of pear directly.
Su Miao had never tried this method. After all, there was a "dad chef" at home, who always tried his best to make the food for his daughter exquisite.
Su Yuanzheng simply washed the pear, peeled it, removed the core, and cut it into pieces. Because it needs to be stewed for a long time, the pear pieces can be cut larger.
As he worked, he taught his daughter, "Some people like to stew the pear with the skin on. If you want to keep the skin, you have to scrub it clean with salt or flour. Otherwise, dirt will get into the soup and it will be unpalatable."
After cutting the snow pear, set it and the pig lung aside. After processing the shanks and ribs, put them all in a pot.
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