Chapter 590 Hundreds of Vegetables and Hundreds of Flavors
"Tou Tang" refers to the first batch of soup extracted from the soup pot where raw ingredients are cooked. It is often used in Sichuan cuisine and is mainly used for roasting, stewing and some mid-range soup dishes. .
The raw materials used in Sichuan cuisine include: chicken, duck, pork, pork knuckle, pig's trotters, pork belly, stick bones, etc. Different chefs have certain differences in the amount of raw materials. The preparation method is to wash the raw materials and put them into a soup pot, add water and bring to a boil over low heat, take them out and rinse them, then put the raw materials back into the soup pot and add water to cover two-fifths of the raw materials. Add ginger cubes and green onions. After burning, simmer for six or seven hours to extract the first soup, which is milky white in color, thick in taste, fresh and plump in flavor, and is called the first soup.
After taking out part of the head soup, add water to the remaining part and continue to cook. The soup obtained in this way is light but not thick, and the umami flavor is obviously not as good as the "head soup". It is only used for preparing general dishes. Or used for boiling soup, it is called "second soup".
The method of "clear soup" is the highest-grade soup in Sichuan cuisine. It is mainly used in the preparation of some mid-to-high-end dishes in Sichuan cuisine. The materials and methods are similar to "soup" and the technique is similar to "high soup".
The soup base is as clear as white water, but the taste is fresh and delicious. Many high-end traditional Sichuan dishes, such as "boiled cabbage", "bamboo fungus clam eggs", and "clear soup bird's nest clam eggs", are all made with "clear soup".
In order to get the set of "Collection of Chinese Famous Dishes" that was worth 1,800 yuan in 1979, Lao Zhang is also preparing to fight today.
"Master Zhang is going to have to work hard today." Zhou Zhi repeatedly raised his hands to Zhang Yuanfu: "My godfather won't arrive until tomorrow. I have asked him to bring the set of books."
"Really?!" Zhang Yuanfu was surprised and happy, and wiped his hands on his apron. Showing respect before shaking hands with Zhou Zhi: "This is great!"
Zhou Zhi had no choice but to reach out and shake Lao Zhang's hand, completing this etiquette: "But let's agree in advance that we can only make copies, or take pictures and make slides. , my old friend, I have to take it back.”
"Elbow, this is difficult." Zhang Yuanfu sounded a little confused: "How much does it cost to make a slide show? We specialize in cooking, but even the students' training dishes have to be sold and bought back. Ben.”
“You don’t have to worry about the money. I’ll find someone to do the work for you. Okay." Zhou Zhi said with a smile: "For this job, we can find it privately with the TV station, the Shu University, the military region, the branch of science, or with the public, or with the Department of Culture. As long as the funding problem is solved, it can be easily done. It can even be used as a sedan chair to carry others, which can be counted as the other party’s work achievement.”
"I'm just a cook, a pure cook." Zhang Yuanfu called on his apprentices to carry things to the kitchen: "The teaching director of the cooking school is just driving ducks to the shelves."
"You said I don’t understand these things, so I don’t want to ask for two things. Please do it for me today! I'll work hard to get this table for you!"
"Today's dishes are set a bit higher. Is one thousand yuan enough?" Zhou Zhi said with a smile: "I am Uncle Zhang. For an eye-opener, the price of a seat is whatever it is. If it’s not enough, you really have to tell me.”
Many of the dishes served this time are traditional Nantang government dishes, and the Yanbang dishes and Xiahebang dishes that Zhou Zhi is familiar with are not the same system of dishes, and many of them have not even heard of them.
For example, if you just look at the name of a dish of marinated rice dumplings, you don’t even know the ingredients used in it.
This dish is a cold dish. Peel the tender eggplant and cut it into slices of beef tongue. Put it in a steamer and steam it over medium heat for seven minutes. Take it out to cool, then rotate and wrap the slices one by one into a cylindrical shape, and arrange them one by one. Put into plate.
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Take a bowl and add millet, pepper, garlic, salt, sugar, chicken essence, seasoning powder, fish soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, fresh dew, and sesame oil, mix well, and pour into the plate In the middle, place red crab roe and XO sauce on the eggplant pile, and garnish with fresh celery leaves. Serve.
To put it bluntly, it’s a cold eggplant dish!
However, before listening to Zhang Yuanfu’s introduction, Zhou Zhi had no idea that there was such exquisitely prepared cold eggplant in Sichuan cuisine!
Others such as almond tofu, fish maw, tendons in white sauce, dry-roasted shark fin, peony chicken, fish-flavored bergamot rolls, etc., are all authentic Sichuan cuisine in terms of taste and cooking methods, but the ingredients and techniques used , no less than Huaiyang cuisine and Cantonese cuisine, which are famous for their ingredients.
No wonder Zhou Zhi is worried that Zhang Yuanfu will suffer a hidden loss in order to take care of his feelings. "That's enough, that's enough." Zhang Yuanfu said with a smile: "Don't think that a thousand-yuan banquet is rare. I, in the 1980s, had a thousand-and-sixty-one banquet table."
"In the 1980s, a thousand and sixty?" Zhou Zhi was quite stupid. His fourth uncle bought his small courtyard in the 1980s. Before the 3,000 yuan arrived, half of the courtyard could be occupied by Lao Zhang's table!
What kind of guests do you need to use half of the yard to entertain? !
“They were foreign guests who came to take pictures of the highest level of our Sichuan cuisine. At that time, people from the Foreign Affairs Office took instructions from the province, organized the best chefs, and used the best ingredients to cook a table for them. ."
"What about after the shooting?"
"That's it."
"That's it? Then isn't this thankless and the cost too high?"
"No, that's not the case. Later, many big leaders went to serve in the central government, and the chefs were also selected from those of us who have cooked. , and later many of them were transported to the American Rong Paradise, and to our country’s overseas agencies in various countries.”
“And after those people came back, they basically stayed in big stores in Shudu. Working as a chef in a hotel, There are now five or six hundred people."
"Thinking about it, the food on the table is not expensive." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "It will make us famous in the diplomatic circle and the circle of senior officials. The cuisine has come from behind, and is similar to that of Huaiyang The cuisines, Cantonese cuisine and Shandong cuisine are both equal, and you are indispensable!"
"It is also our Sichuan cuisine that has its own unique style and various flavors, so that we can please everyone." Zhang Yuanfu is extremely confident when he talks about his specialty.
"That's true." Zhou Zhi was happy: "No matter what flavor the host likes, among my six basic flavors of Sichuan cuisine and twenty-four types of expanded flavors in three major categories, there is always one that can meet your needs, right?" br>
“That’s necessary!”
Bian Guan’s mother is busy in the kitchen When he saw Zhang Yuanfu coming over, he smiled and said: "This is Master Zhang, right? I was scared when I saw the hot order delivered by Jiuzi yesterday! I have never heard of many of the dishes. Today I am here to help cook. Open your eyes by the way."
"I heard that you are also a master," Zhang Yuanfu said with a smile.
Zhang Yuanfu's praise of Guan Ma as a master is the same as Ku Youwen's praise of Zhou Zhi's literary and historical skills being on par with him. That is, he is mainly encouraging and cannot be taken seriously.
"Master Zhang has to teach me one or two dishes today, simple ones, and when I go back to learn them, I can show them off." Guan Ma said with a smile: "I roughly arranged the kitchen yesterday, and I have everything Master Zhang needs." I know where to put it."
Fu Xia is also here. She is also half of Zhang Yuanfu's apprentice. It is natural for her to help cook today: "Master, he is very good!"
(End of this chapter)