"The [Fried Snails] are here."
"Please try the [Fried Blood Duck] I made at home."
"[Braised Loach]. Please enjoy."
One by one, the local night dishes were served, and the aroma was overflowing.
If you look at them from a professional perspective, these dishes are all substandard, but they are very enjoyable to eat, full of spicy flavor.
The unrefined stir-fry has its own charm. Du Shaojie was sweating while eating and had an extra bowl of rice than usual.
"Boss lady, these dishes are all delicious. I am very interested in this [Zha Rou], can you introduce the cooking method to me? I want to try to cook it myself when I go back."
Du Shaojie put down his bowl and chopsticks, and the boss lady came over to add tea for several people.
He thanked her and then asked the boss lady about the method of [Zha Rou]. In fact, [Zha Rou] is a local specialty dish, almost every household can make it, but the taste is very different.
Du Shaojie didn't know anyone else here, so he asked casually.
"This method is very simple. Choose the part of pork with fat and lean parts. Wash and drain the water after buying it, then cut it into large slices. Then use coarse salt to marinate it, force out the excess water in the pork, sprinkle it with strong white wine and mix it with chili powder, seal it in a jar for about 10 days and it can be eaten."
The proprietress spoke quickly and directly told the method of [Zha Rou].
This does not need to be kept secret. Many people in the local area know how to do it.
However, in the specific operation process, there are many details that need to be grasped. This depends entirely on personal experience and cannot be explained clearly.
"Thank you, proprietress, I understand."
Du Shaojie then asked Wang Yongli to pay the bill and leave. They had traveled a lot today and needed to rest early.
The next day.
Several people got up early and went out for breakfast.
The more common breakfast on the street is rice noodles, with pork bone soup as the base, and sour beans, sour radish, chopped peppers, lean meat or pork offal, which has a unique flavor.
"Delicious!"
Wang Yongli and others thought it was delicious. One portion was not enough for several people, so they added half a portion of rice noodles.
Du Shaojie also thought it tasted very good. Snacks like this can often be found in small places. Compared with the soup noodles in Guangdong Province, the rice noodles here are more flavorful and are very friendly to people who can eat spicy food.
"Boss, are we leaving today?"
After Zou Xiaohe had eaten and drunk his fill, he asked about today's schedule.
It stands to reason that after a night's rest, they should continue on their way, but he has no say and has to listen to the boss.
"We're not leaving today. Let's rest here for two days."
Du Shaojie thought the local food was very good. Every time he went out, he actually had the purpose of exploring delicious food. He was not in a hurry to inspect everywhere, and he would stay a few more days if he thought it was good.
The local dishes can be classified as [Hunan cuisine], but they have their own unique features.
After dinner, everyone went back to the guesthouse to rest for a while, and then went out shopping. The area of the small county town is not large, and there is only one old street that can be called a prosperous area.
The old street cannot be driven by cars. The road surface paved with bluestone slabs is bumpy, and some places are as smooth as a mirror, which has a sense of age.
Almost all the houses on both sides of the street are tiled houses, and the wooden houses look a bit old. There are many people setting up stalls on both sides of the road, many of whom are from the countryside to the city, selling vegetables, pork, fish, eels, loaches and wild mushrooms.
The bustling crowds on the street are noisy and full of life.
"Boss, do you want loaches? I just caught them this morning, they are very fresh."
The vendors kept shouting. The loach stall owner saw Du Shaojie and waved with a smile.
Du Shaojie took a glance and immediately concluded that this was definitely a wild loach. Among them, the eel he saw before was also wild. After a few years, most of the loaches and eels sold in the vegetable market are artificially cultivated, and wild ones are hard to find.
"Yongli, weigh two catties."
Du Shaojie asked Wang Yongli to buy two catties. The loaches sold by this stall owner are of good quality, and he plans to buy them back for lunch.
Then he saw the "swan mushroom", a natural wild mushroom that cannot be cultivated artificially even after decades. The taste of swan mushroom is extremely delicious, but the quantity is small, so the price is not cheap.
Of course, the price is relative. He only spent less than 20 yuan to buy a bag.
Walking and stopping, sometimes he went up to chat with fellow villagers, and time came to noon. Several people brought a lot of things to the restaurant where they had dinner yesterday. There were not many people at this time, and the store was deserted.
The consumption level in the small county town is not high, and restaurants like this usually have business at night.
"Boss, please take a seat. Boss, boil water and make tea, guests are coming."
The proprietress was very enthusiastic. After greeting, she stared at the bags in the hands of several people.
These bags are filled with ingredients, she can see it at a glance, so she was puzzled. It was the first time she saw people bringing their own ingredients to a restaurant, and she always felt something was wrong.
Later, the boss and chef came out with a pot of tea.
"Everyone, please have some tea. What would you like to eat today?"
"One serving each of yesterday's [Braised Pork] and [Stir-fried Blood Duck]. I saw these ingredients were good when I was shopping this morning, so I bought some. If you help me make them, I'll give you the processing fee."
Du Shaojie ordered two dishes, and then asked Wang Yongli to open the bag and show it to the boss, asking him to help process it.
Of course, the processing fee was very generous, and he was not short of money, so why bother others?
"Okay, boss, wait a moment."
The owner of the restaurant smiled and carried the ingredients into the back. These outsiders were really nice, easy to talk to and generous.
It didn't take long before the dishes were served.
No one drank at noon. The boss's wife was right. The local rice wine tasted sweet, but it had a strong aftertaste, so it was better to drink it at night.
Today's dishes were all well cooked. They were not amazing, but they went well with rice. Especially the swan mushroom tasted very delicious. In Zhong Qing's words, it almost made his tongue fall off.
"Boss, I heard that you are very interested in stabbed meat? In fact, this dish is quite troublesome to make. For example, I have to go to the countryside to select local pigs in person. Ordinary pork doesn't taste so fragrant."
After everyone was full, Du Shaojie chatted with the restaurant owner for a while.
The restaurant owner did not hide anything and simply talked about the tricks of making [Zha Rou]. From the selection of ingredients to the matters that need to be paid attention to during the production process, he told the other
party everything. If Du Shaojie and the others were locals, the boss would never tell them. It is precisely because they are outsiders that they are here to do business or pass by, so it doesn't matter if they tell him, anyway, they will not compete with themselves.
"Thank you! Thank you! To be honest, I am also a chef. Let's exchange ideas when there is a chance."
Du Shaojie stood up and bowed, then left with Wang Yongli and others.
He didn't want to owe others a favor, so he planned to teach the other party a [Hunan dish], and everyone would be even.
In the afternoon.
Du Shaojie and others went to the nearby Cuiting Mountain. There is a Taoist temple on the mountain, which is said to have a history of hundreds of years.
He certainly believed this. Even the bluestone slabs on the old street of the county town have a history of hundreds of years, not to mention the Taoist temple on the mountain.
However, after finally climbing to the top of the mountain, he was a little disappointed. As long as the Taoist temple is in disrepair and looks shabby, the overall scale is very grand, and the cultural relics preserved in it are basically intact.
"It's worth a look!"
After walking around for a while, Du Shaojie changed his previous opinion.
The overall architecture of the Taoist temple is well preserved, and the dilapidated places have been repaired. The main hall, statues, shrines, etc. look very old, and there are handwritings of ancient celebrities on several stone tablets.
I just don't know whether it's true or not.
Seeing that it was getting late, Du Shaojie suggested going down the mountain and donated some money to the Taoist temple.
The old Taoist wanted to keep them on the mountain for dinner, saying that if they were worried that it would be too late after dinner, they could stay
overnight in the Taoist temple. Du Shaojie thought about it and gave up. The group went down the mountain and it was dark when they arrived at the restaurant.
Perhaps because of the climb, several people felt very hungry. Du Shaojie wanted to eat [Chopped Pepper Fish Head], but when he asked the boss, the boss showed an embarrassed expression.
"I can't cook this dish well. I can fool others, but I'm embarrassed to embarrass myself in front of my peers."
"Well, I said I'd teach you a Hunan dish, so let's cook this [Chopped Pepper Fish Head]."
Du Shaojie didn't feel very tired. After discussing with the boss, he put on an apron and a hat and went to the kitchen.
While making this [Chopped Pepper Fish Head], he taught the restaurant owner the relevant tricks. Including the processing and pickling of fish heads, the processing and frying of chopped peppers, etc.
Steaming in a pot requires mastering the heat, and pouring hot oil at the end plays a finishing touch.
Du Shaojie's entire production process was as smooth as flowing water. His knife skills, methods of handling ingredients, cooking skills, etc., completely conquered the restaurant owner, and the other party was almost worshipping him.
This is a crushing of the great realm of cooking skills, and the level difference between the two is too far.
"Have you learned it? Try it."
Du Shaojie made this dish and asked the restaurant owner to taste it.
The other party carefully took out a pair of bowls and chopsticks, picked up a piece of fish head meat and put it in the bowl, and tasted it carefully.
"The taste is extremely delicious, and the salty, fragrant and spicy flavors are fully integrated into the fish head. Boss Du is really a good craftsman. It's useless for me to learn it, and I will never be able to make such a taste."
The restaurant owner sighed, and then bowed to Du Shaojie.
Du Shaojie didn't say anything more, turned around and walked out of the kitchen, and sat down at the table.
"Boss lady, give me two pounds of rice wine."
After drinking some rice wine in the evening, everyone went back to the guesthouse to wash and sleep after eating and drinking.
After waking up, Du Shaojie didn't rush to get up, but got into the simulation scene and tried to make [Zha Rou] several times.
[Zha Rou] is not a difficult dish. First, use salt to kill the moisture in the pork. Adding high-proof liquor can kill bacteria on the one hand, so that the pork can be preserved for a long time. On the other hand, the liquor will ferment when sealed in the jar, and the pork will also produce a wonderful reaction.
So he followed the experience taught by the restaurant owner, tried a few times, and basically he could do a perfect replica. (End of this chapter)
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