The second blanching of the pig's head is the same as the first time, after the water is boiled, skim off the floating powder, and then boil for about ten minutes to remove the impurities in the pores as much as possible.

After blanching, it's time to cook the eight classics.

Xu Zhuo is no stranger to grilled vegetables, and the scallion grilled mutton he made before is a typical grilled dish.

Put a bamboo net to prevent sticking to the bottom in the washed pot, and then put a pound of rock sugar in it and spread it on the bamboo net.

Then start adding the ingredients and condiments.

The green onion knot ginger slices are evenly placed on top of the rock sugar, and then put in the marinade bag with spices, which is actually the common stewed meat ingredients such as Sichuan pepper, star anise, bay leaf, cinnamon, and baikou.

The amount of spices is not too much, about half of the usual stew. Because the grilling time is very long, the spice flavor is too strong when the ingredients are put in, which affects the consumption.

Once the spices are placed, it's time to put the spices.

Xu Zhuo poured a large spoon of light soy sauce, two small spoons of dark soy sauce, and two large spoons of Huadiao wine into the pot, put the pig's head and pig's tongue on it, the meat skin was facing down, and then added water until the pig's head was submerged.

After the fire is opened, first boil on high heat until boiling, then turn to a slight heat and simmer slowly.

This is a typical kung fu dish, the whole cooking process is meticulous and exquisite, showing the elegance and fun of Jiangnan people everywhere.

For example, using light soy sauce to season without salt, such as using soy sauce to color instead of sugar, and putting a lot of rock sugar are all styles of Jiangnan cuisine.

In the past, the pig's head was originally a lowly thing that could not be put on the table, except for the sacrifice time and the sheep's head and the cow's head as the three animals, other times were not welcomed at all.

To what extent is it disgusted?

In the past, even Jiangnan people said that people were cheap, and they liked to replace it with the title of "pig head three".

However, there are many literati in Jiangnan, and many students from poor families like to encourage themselves with "no one asks about the cold window for ten years, and once they are famous all over the world".

The poor family represents the vulgar, and once the title of the gold list is upgraded to elegant, which is very similar to the cooking concept of grilled whole pig's head.

The lowly and vulgar pig's head, after processing, has become the whole pig's head that Jiangnan people never forget.

I don't know when it began, the dish of grilled whole pig's head gradually spread in the Jiangnan region, and it has also become the representative dish of the three-headed banquet in Yangzhou.

Since ancient times, Huaiyang cuisine has been known for its elegance and finesse, and this grilled whole pig's head can stand out from many literati dishes and become a representative, and even has a status above the braised silver carp head and stewed lion's head.

It can be seen how important this dish is in the minds of those literati.

At that time, a poet wrote a poem to praise this dish:

Yangzhou is good,

Fahai temple tour,

On the opposite shore of the lake,

The waterside tower reflects the middle stream,

Rotten pig's head to keep guests.

Fahai Temple is the earliest place to make grilled whole pig's head, and even the current practice is handed down by the monks of Fahai Temple, which makes this dish invisibly add a bit of legend.

Xu Zhuo stayed by the stove, smelling the fragrance wafting from the pot, and swallowed saliva unconsciously.

I ate some fried food at noon, although I felt full at the time, but at this time I was smoked by the smell of the pig's head in the pot, and I was a little hungry.

He walked out of the kitchen and prepared to go downstairs to find something to eat.

When the bear boy saw it, he quickly jumped down from the sofa and followed Xu Zhuo downstairs.

A few minutes later, Xu Zhuo was holding some dried fruits, and the bear cub was holding half a bag of dried fish, and one person and one cat ate it in the living room.

Originally, Xu Zhuo wanted to put the bear cub downstairs, but it was too noisy downstairs at this time.

Yu Keke was on video with her grandmother and relatives at home, the old man and the old lady were also chatting with some close relatives and apprentices, and Yu Changjiang, Xu Wenhai, and Wei Junming also said hello to their respective close friends.

In addition, Zheng Guangyao, Dai Zhenting and others also sent video invitations and greetings from time to time, and now the downstairs has become a mess.

At this time, the bear cub naturally won't stay downstairs for long.

Xu Zhuo likes this, the meat is simmering in the kitchen, there are snacks in front of him, and there is a fat cat lying next to him.

Playing games in this atmosphere, even if it lands in a box or teammates give away their heads, it is not annoying.

Until half past five in the afternoon, the hustle and bustle downstairs gradually came to an end, and it seemed that the food was served to the table.

Xu Zhuo patted off the nut shell crumbs that fell on his body, and gently touched the bear cub who was snoring after eating and drinking: "Let's go, we should go down too." ”

The bear cub stretched lazily, grinded his paws twice on the floor, and followed Xu Zhuo downstairs.

As soon as he went down, Yu Keke, who was setting up dishes and chopsticks in the restaurant, hugged the fat cat in his arms: "Where did you just go, bear cub?"

The bear deftly broke free from her arms and jumped into the old lady's arms, apparently remembering the revenge that Yu Coco didn't let him eat at noon.

However, the old lady is not its umbrella, and she is busy with a video with a relative who has settled overseas, and casually stuffs the cat to Yu Keke with a wicked smile.

The vengeful bear cub wanted to go to Xu Zhuo again, but saw him go out with some vegetables.

The cat was plunged into darkness again.

"Are you angry, Bear, I won't let you eat it for your own good......

Pang Lihua on the side snorted coldly: "When I confiscated your mobile phone and didn't let you go out to play, I also said it was for your own good, but have you heard it?"

After speaking, Pang Lihua stretched out her hands to the bear: "Come on, come on, let's not play with her." ”

Yu Keke: "............"

If someone on Zhihu asks what kind of experience it is to be disgusted by his own mother, Yu Keke estimates that he can say that he will not be the same for three days and three nights.

Of course, Xu Zhuo is also qualified to answer this question.

"I'm sorry Bear Cub, I won't be like this in the future, okay?"

Yu Keke sincerely apologized to the bear, and the bearboy also rubbed her face with face, and the one meow got back together.

Yu Keke glanced at Pang Lihua proudly, and then hugged the bear cub to find Chen Guifang and Yao Meixiang.

Xu Zhuo came upstairs, cleaned the small green vegetables in his hand, and then boiled another pot of water, poured a little peanut oil and a small spoon of salt into the water, and poured the green vegetables into it to scald after boiling.

This is used to decorate the pig's head, and it does not need to be overcooked, and it can be cooked in more than a minute.

Take it out with a colander and soak it in cold water, then set it aside for later use.

This kind of dish needs to be cooled in water, otherwise the residual heat in the dish can scald the dish until it is fully cooked, affecting the final product.

The soup in the pot has become very small, and the pig's head has changed from white to red, and under the action of heat, the pig's head meat trembles and exudes a rich fragrance.

The dish had been simmering in the pot for almost three hours, and by this time it had already reached the point where the meat was rotten and fragrant.

Xu Zhuo turned off the heat, first picked out all the ginger, green onions, knots and spice packets in the pot, and then took out the pig's tongue and put it on a plate to cool.

Wait until the temperature of the meat skin has cooled down a little, and then carefully scoop out the pig's head with a large fence.

At this step, be sure to turn off the heat and wait for a while before doing it, because the skin of the pork will become more resilient as the temperature drops.

If you scoop it out as soon as the fire stops, there is a good chance that the meat in the pot will rot into a mess.

After all, it was cooked for three hours, and even if the fire was small, the meat had been thoroughly cooked, and the pork skin had become very soft and glutinous, to the point of melting in the mouth.

However, it can't be dried too hard, the temperature is too low, and the pig's head will be close to the taste of braised pig's head meat, although it is also delicious, but it loses the style of grilling the whole pig's head, which is already a failed product.

Xu Zhuo hung for more than ten minutes, and he was not idle during this period.

First, cut the almost dried pork tongue into thick slices and place it in the middle of the plate, and then put the green vegetables on the plate with chopsticks to make a side, and when everything is ready, start to arrange the pig's head.

Scoop the pig's head out of the pot with a basket and place it in the middle of the plate, holding the cut pig's tongue completely down.

In order to make the dish more beautiful, it is necessary to adjust the part of the pig's face to make the pig's face form a smiley effect.

After this step is done, Xu Zhuo takes out the bamboo strip net in the pot and puts it in the pool to soak, then turns on the fire again, boils the remaining soup in the pot, and then stirs while boiling to make the soup in the pot viscous.

Finally, pour some peanut oil, stir well, and then take up the pot, and pour the soup evenly over the pig's head and the surrounding greens, and this dish is the end of the whole pig's head.

The reason why I use the word "cai" is because there is still one last step missing: the finishing touch.

This step is also simple, when he first came, Xu Zhuo pinched two bright red cherry tomatoes from the fruit bowl that Yu Cocoa ate.

Cut off two-thirds with a knife, and press the rest into the pig's eye, and you're done, ready to receive everyone's shocked and surprised gazes.

When I came downstairs, the dishes were already ready.

It's actually only six o'clock at this time, and there is still more than an hour before the start of the Spring Festival Gala, but it's already dark outside, and everyone is almost hungry.

So the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner officially began.

When Xu Zhuo walked into the restaurant with this grilled whole pig's head, everyone's eyes were immediately attracted.

Everyone knows that Xu Zhuo is making a pig's head upstairs, but no one expected that what he made was actually the whole pig's head of the three heads in Yangzhou.

Yu Peiyong's face was full of surprise, looking at the pig's head held by Xu Zhuo, he couldn't help but stand up, and deliberately walked over to look at it for a while, then turned around and gave a thumbs up to the old man.

"The color and flavor are complete, and the heat is just right, today Xiao Zhuo really surprised me, I didn't expect to make such a dish quietly, Jimin, drink two more glasses tonight!"

Xu Wenhai and Wei Junming were also surprised, others may not know the difficulty of this dish, but they know this dish well.

Take bone removal as an example, without a certain amount of effort, you will never be able to do this step.

Xu Zhuo can make this dish quietly, this talent, this level, compared to the two of them, it is already blue.

However, the old man was not happy.

The heirs of the dignified Lu cuisine, and it is the New Year, actually made a Huaiyang dish, is this like a word?

However, Xu Zhuo had already prepared his words: "After learning scallion grilled mutton with my dad last time, I pondered the method of grilling, and accidentally saw this grilled whole pig's head, so I secretly followed the tutorial to learn ......"

The old man's brows immediately relaxed, if you want to say that, then I won't be angry.

Yu Peiyong smiled helplessly: "Why are you like a child? Come on, come on, let's eat." Xiao Zhuo, fill your wine glass, your grandfather has treasured the old wine for thirty years, and today it is finally opened. ”

The old man treasured a lot of wine, and Xu Zhuo was not very greedy, because he was not addicted to alcohol, on the contrary, he didn't like the feeling of being dizzy when he drows.

It was the dishes on the table that made him very excited.

Today's dishes include Lu, Sichuan and Huaiyang, all of which are well-known hard dishes.

For example, the old man's poetry ginkgo, jade belt shrimp, Yipin sea cucumber, phoenix shark fin;

Xu Wenhai's scallion grilled mutton, braised prawns in oil, nine-turn large intestine, green onion roasted hoof tendons;

Wei Junming's kung pao chicken, husband and wife lung slices, steamed river balls, dry fried eel slices, steamed beef;

Yu Peiyong's squirrel mandarin fish, stewed soft-shelled turtle, honey sauce fire recipe, crab roe lion head, and three sets of duck.

In addition to these dishes, there are several desserts, sweet soups and cold meat fried products, which are dizzying to see.

Fortunately, the restaurant uses the hotel's large round table that can seat more than a dozen people, otherwise it would not be possible to put so many dishes.

Xu Zhuo was already hungry when he just made the pig's head, and when he saw the dishes on the table, he couldn't hold it back, and he didn't wait for the old man to speak, so he raised his chopsticks and ate it.

He and Yu Keke were children here, so no one said that he didn't understand the rules.

After Xu Zhuo took the lead in eating, everyone also raised their chopsticks one after another and aimed at the ...... in the middle

Roast the whole pig's head.

Well, compared to the other dishes on the table, everyone is most interested in Xu Zhuo's craftsmanship.

The female elders want to eat, mainly because this is a piece of filial piety of the child, and Xu Zhuo is so sensible, even if it is not delicious, he has to praise it.

The starting point of the male elders is to see how well Xu Zhuo cooks this dish, and if there is anything that needs to be improved, he can take advantage of this time to point it out.

The dish of grilled whole pork head is best eaten when it is hot, and it works best when it is slightly hot.

Because when it is hot, you can eat the taste of pork that melts in your mouth and is salty and sweet, but once it is cold, not only the taste will deteriorate, but the taste will also become very monotonous.

Xu Wenhai held a sharp knife in his hand, looked at Chen Guifang and the others and asked, "Is it finished?" ”

Several women hurriedly took a few more photos, and waved at Xu Wenhai while skillfully retouching the pictures, signaling for him to do it.

The dish of grilled whole pig's head is not easy to clip, especially the part of the pig's face, which has lean meat and fascia, and it may be ugly to use chopsticks rashly, so when you eat it, you will use a knife to cut it into small pieces.

This makes it easy to clip and allows the soup to penetrate into the meat.

Yu Keke gave the old lady a piece of meat with a very good eye, and Xu Zhuo put the part of the pig's nose on the plate in front of the old lady of the Yu family.

Let the two old ladies taste first, this is a rule that both families abide by.

The old lady put the piece of meat into her mouth, chewed it gently, tasted the taste, and immediately praised Xu Zhuo's craftsmanship.

"It melts with a sip, my good grandson's craftsmanship is really good!"

The old lady of the Yu family nodded, agreeing very much with this.

"I used to eat this dish a lot, and it was no different from those famous apprentices on the first floor, and it was just a little bit worse than Pei Yong, kid, come on, don't waste your talent. ”

As soon as the two old ladies boasted, they basically set the tone on the dinner table.

The others also tasted their own tastes, and praised Xu Xu's craftsmanship from all angles.

The dish of grilled whole pig's head has different tastes different from different parts.

For example, the pork ears are crispy because they are full of crispy bones, so even if they are cooked for three hours, the taste is crispy and raw, which is more suitable for wine.

And people who like to eat fatty meat, you can eat the two meats on the very edge of the pig's face, this part is fat in addition to the skin of the meat, which not only melts in the mouth, but can even be sucked into the stomach with a light suck.

And because this part is next to the lean meat in the pig's face, although it is very fat, it is not greasy at all, and it is very satisfying to eat.

If you don't want to eat too fat, you can eat lean meat on the pig's cheeks, with a layer of pork skin on the outside, a little fat in the middle, and a whole lean meat on the inside.

Because of the large amount of activity on the pork cheeks, the elasticity and meat quality of the lean meat are very good, and it does not taste firewood at all, and the more you chew, the more fragrant it is, which makes people have an endless aftertaste.

As for the most classic part, it is still the part of the pig's nose.

There is fat and lean meat, and some cartilage, plus soft and glutinous pork skin, which tastes fragrant, crispy, soft and glutinous, and is the most essential and delicious part of the whole pig's head.

In addition, the pork tongue is also very delicious, especially when dipped in the sweet and salty soup, and after eating it, the pleasant feeling of the food rushes straight to the brain.

It's refreshing.

After Xu Zhuo ate a piece of meat, he was also shocked by this dish, he knew that it was delicious, but he didn't expect that the taste of this dish would be so wonderful.

No wonder it is the head of the three heads of Yangzhou;

No wonder the monk broke the meat vow;

No wonder it has made countless literati write poems and praise it.

This dish is really delicious!

However, in a short period of time, I am afraid that the whole pig's head will not be able to be rebuilt in the restaurant.

Because the raw material of this dish is just a pig's head, the customer will definitely not do it if the price is high, but it takes so much effort and the price is low, Xu Zhuo naturally does not agree.

"I have to find a way to raise the value of this dish......"