Chapter 500: Braised Yellow Croaker with Snow Sauce
I have to say that some of these stories are indeed true.
After all, Emperor Qianlong was a famous foodie, and it was even rumored that he died of stomach pain and bloating...
But there is such a dish that is labor-intensive, time-consuming and requires effort.
This so-called trouble refers to the Emperor Qianlong's trouble.
It is said that when Emperor Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, he found a huge stone that was completely snow-white and extremely rare when passing through a bamboo forest.
Qianlong believed that this was a treasure of good fortune, so he ordered the huge stone to be transported into the palace.
It took a lot of manpower and resources, and several months to arrive.
For this reason, Qianlong specially wrote the three big characters "Qingzhixiu" on the boulder himself, and he liked it very much.
When the Empress Dowager heard about this, she was very angry. She rebuked Qianlong for wasting people's money and indulging in extravagance, and she also ordered people to smash the boulder.
Qianlong was very distressed. Thinking that the empress dowager liked to eat yellow croaker, he specially asked the imperial chef to prepare a dish with yellow croaker as the raw material and with a shape similar to a boulder, in order to please the empress dowager.
In the meantime, Qianlong also put forward many ideas according to his own thoughts, and also took the allusion of lying on the ice to catch carp from the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars.
Finally, after the skillful hands of the royal chef, a dish was finally made -
Braised snow yellow croaker.
You can imagine how big a yellow croaker would be needed to make a rockery-shaped braised yellow croaker! The yellow croaker delivered today was of good quality, so Nanzhi came up with this idea.
Of course, the yellow croaker today cannot be compared with the yellow croaker that was used as tribute.
In the past, all yellow croakers were wild and of the best quality, and were sent to the palace after being caught.
But now, due to changes in fishing methods in the 1980s, wild yellow croaker is being consumed rapidly, almost like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Therefore, wild yellow croaker is no longer seen on everyone’s dining table.
What we can eat now are basically farmed yellow croakers.
However, they are raised in an almost semi-wild way, which is labor-intensive and expensive.
Nanfenglou had never made dishes with yellow croaker before, so the supplier thought of selling its own products specially, and the yellow croakers delivered were all of top quality.
Nanzhi originally wanted to wait until she was done with her work in the evening to stay and think about making a dish related to yellow croaker, but she didn't expect that it would come in handy so soon...
The ingredients used for braised yellow croaker are not particularly complicated, only large yellow croaker, eggs, carrots, mushrooms, red peppers and celery.
First, kill the yellow croaker, cut off the head and tail and set aside, take only the breast meat of the yellow croaker, and remove the skin and fish tendons on the back.
Next, add salt, pepper, MSG and shredded ginger to the slicing fish and marinate for later use.
Take the egg whites of 3 eggs, add a small amount of starch flour, and beat the egg whites until they cannot be turned upside down.
Then, take a rectangular iron mold, apply a layer of egg white paste as the base, put in a piece of marinated yellow croaker fillet, then add another layer of egg white paste and smooth it out.
When removing the iron mold, cut the shaped ingredients into three pieces and fry them slowly in 30% hot oil until the egg white is solidified and the fish is cooked through.
Finally, thicken the chicken broth with water starch, pour a thin layer on it, and then serve with the fried fish head and tail.
At first glance, these steps don't seem too difficult? Compared to making chicken tofu pudding, they seem to be less labor-intensive?
Although this is true, the difficulty of this braised yellow croaker dish lies in its name.
"哺雪" means the chest is as white as snow.
But this dish is cooked by frying.
If the oil temperature is slightly higher, the egg white will change color and turn yellow.
To do this, you also need to remove the oil pan from the heat and lower the temperature. It cannot be too high, otherwise the food will be easily burnt, nor too low, otherwise the food cannot be fried through.
Therefore, how to grasp the degree is the most important test for a chef.
However, for a chef like Nanzhi who has mastered the cooking temperature of chicken tofu pudding, this dish is not difficult to make; it just requires a little effort.
What she cares more about is the meaning of filial piety represented by this dish. Sending it to her family can be considered a good start.
When Nanzhi was cooking this dish of braised yellow croaker, countless people stopped behind him and watched him unknowingly.
They all have work to do, and it's peak business time at noon, so they can't completely put down their work.
However, when they were free, they would pretend to casually walk behind Nanzhi to look...
Nanzhi stared at the oil pan and stirred it gently with chopsticks.
Although she didn't look back, it was as if she had eyes on the back of her head:
"If you want to watch, watch it carefully, don't go back and forth."
The other chefs all chuckled and started to watch with confidence.
Although people were watching, no one dared to disturb Nanzhi.
They began to make eye contact, guessing what the dish was.
Song Lin knew the answer, but he just watched and didn't get involved.
In the end, Song Wan pursed her lips and gave an answer:
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
"It's braised yellow croaker."
Everyone was surprised.
Usually Song Wan is so low-key in the kitchen, like an unknown person.
Others didn't pay much attention to her because she was one of the few female chefs in the industry.
Unexpectedly...
Song Wan could actually name this dish! Nanzhi was also surprised.
The main thing was that she was just thinking about getting Song Wan to be by her side, but in the blink of an eye she mentioned something about the braised yellow croaker that no one else knew.
How is this not considered fate?
It happened that the yellow croaker pieces in the pot were fished out, and the overall color showed a pure snow-white, which did not look like it had been in a frying pan at all.
Nanzhi started to thicken the sauce nonchalantly and asked Song Wan casually, "How do you know? Have you eaten this dish?"
Song Wan shook her head. How could she afford such an expensive dish? "I've read a book before and I know that this dish was served at a state banquet once."
Nanzhi's smile deepened, and she was very satisfied with Song Wan's behavior.
After all, for many people, being a chef is just a profession they do, not a dream or passion.
They go to work and come home every day, facing the pots and pans and the stove, which is tiring enough, so why would they read relevant books? But Song Wan is different. She will expand her own insights in her free time, and she has more ideas than she thought.
At least from this point of view, Song Wan is a person who has a genuine passion for cooking.
This is also the person Nanzhi hopes to find.
...But Nanzhi didn't rush to say anything to Song Wan.
She had carefully placed the dish of braised yellow croaker on a plate and was personally carrying it, preparing to deliver it to the private room.
Before leaving, she glanced at Song Wan: "Come and help me."
"Ah? Oh...oh! Here it comes!"
Song Wan quickly followed.
The others looked at each other, feeling that something subtle had happened.
But they scratched their heads and no one could figure it out.
Only Song Lin shook his head and sighed, looking at these guys as if they were looking at wood.
Oh, and Zhou Bing is also grinning from ear to ear...