"That's good!" Jiang Fangping picked up a piece of eggplant and put it into his mouth, couldn't help but give a thumbs up, and praised it repeatedly. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

After frying and blanching, the white flesh of the eggplant becomes extremely tender, and the skin of the eggplant is deliberately left with a hint of firmness. This chewy and then soft taste gives a strange touch to the mouth.

What's more special is that the special texture of the eggplant is spongy, so that after heating, it fully absorbs the flavor of seasoning and broth. After being wrapped in the sauce and then heated by the casserole, each bite can make people's tongue indulge in the pleasure of heat and freshness, toughness and softness.

"Eat slowly, I'll add you a bowl of rice." Lin Xiao took Jiang Fangping's rice bowl and helped him scoop a big bowl of rice.

"How can it be so delicious!" Jiang Fangping took a big bite of rice, picked up another piece of eggplant and put it in his mouth.

This eggplant and rice are chewed together, and it is a natural match, and you can't stop eating it.

"Master Liu Mang's basic skills, I really don't have to say!" Tan Shi also picked up a piece of eggplant, put it on the plate and looked at it: "The starch perfectly wraps the eggplant block, and there is no excess residual oil at all! ”

After making this 'Yipin Eggplant Pot', the ribs of 'Steamed Pork Ribs with Soy Sauce' are also marinated. Liu Mang arranges the ribs on a plate with a shallow bottom and puts them in a steamer basket for steaming.

The salt-baked chicken still needs a little time to marinate, so Liu Mang simply set up the pot and prepared to make other dishes first.

"Lao Liu, the fish head is chopped. Lin Xiao took a large pot of processed silver carp heads and put them on the board: "By the way, you may not be busy alone, so I'll also open the pot to stir-fry." ”

After Lin Xiao finished speaking, he also pulled an apron and tied it, walked to the stove, and shouted, "Hey, don't patronize and eat, two more miscellaneous people!"

The two cooks reluctantly put down the dishes and chopsticks and ran over, helping Lin Xiao and Liu Mang hand over the plates and cook the claypot.

Sprinkle a little dry starch into the minced fish head, then boil the oil in the pan until it is 80% hot, and immediately put the fish head in.

"Zila!" The high temperature drains the excess water in the fish head, making the texture of the fish head crispy.

When the appearance of the fish head becomes golden, quickly remove the oil, and then leave the oil in the pot and stir-fry the green onion, garlic and pillar sauce until fragrant. Then add cooking wine, broth, oyster sauce, sugar, pepper, add fish head, dark soy sauce to boil, pour in sesame oil, thicken with wet starch, and finally sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves.

"Is the claypot ready?" the iron pot was removed from the fire and placed on the board, Liu Mang shouted.

"Come on, come on!" a miscellaneous cook immediately walked over with a metal tray and a few cooked claypots.

Claypot is also a commonly used kitchen utensil in Cantonese cuisine, and it is a little different from the casserole, that is, it has a deeper rim, which is more suitable for dishes with slightly more soup.

After putting the finished fish head into the claypot and immediately closing the lid, Liu Mang then took a bottle of Cantonese specialty double-steamed wine and poured it along the lid of the claypot.

"Boom!" As soon as the double-steamed wine touched the red-hot claypot, it immediately burst into flames.

The purpose of this is to activate the umami flavor of the fish head in the claypot and completely remove its fishy smell.

"Come on, come on...... Ginger and scallion fish head casserole!" the chef brought the claypot to the table and lifted the lid.

"Wow!" The people of the Kaiping Fellow Association at several tables in the hall immediately burst into exclamations.

The fish head in the claypot is shiny and translucent under the illumination of the light, and under the effect of residual temperature, the fish head is still trembling slightly in the claypot, and a strong fragrance comes to the nose.

Golden fish head, verdant coriander, white onions, thick sauce...... All the beauty is integrated in this little claypot.

"You're welcome, everyone moves chopsticks! Chef Liu Mang is the god of Chinese cooking this year, and the dishes he makes are not something that can be tasted casually!" Kong Ruiming beckoned.

"No wonder it's so delicious!" A Chinese Lao Guang suddenly realized, and immediately picked up chopsticks and put a piece of fish head to his mouth.

"I'm sorry for his mother!" After taking a bite, the Chinese elders scolded: "I'm really hitting the streets! There are so many delicious dishes in my hometown, why do I have to go to the United States to eat bread?

After the fish head is fried in hot oil, the bones have become extremely crispy, and after being stained with dry starch and then fried, the jelly-like collagen substance in the fish head is firmly locked, bite open the bone and suck it gently, the deliciousness makes the root of the tongue tremble.

The flavor of green onion and ginger is brought out by the sauce and penetrates into the fish head, while the final dripping of the double distilled wine removes the fishy smell of the fish head and brings a hint of tantalizing aroma.

The smell of wine looms, gently swirling around the tip of people's noses, arousing the gluttonous worm in people's hearts.

"What's the use of regretting?" Another person picked up a piece of fish head and twitched his eyes: "No one forced you, who is to blame for the path you chose?"

The same fish head is put into the mouth, first suck the fish brain marrow inside, and then 'click, click' and chew and swallow it with the bones, this person's voice is choked: "This is the real Cantonese cuisine! This is the taste of hometown, what kind of bullshit are those banana cooks in Chinatown!"

"Here we go again. "Two miscellaneous cooks each carry a dish and put it on the table.

These two dishes were made by Lin Xiao and Liu Mang respectively, one is 'stir-fried beef with oyster sauce with choy sum' and the other is 'crystal glass grunt pork', both of which are typical Cantonese dishes.

The beef is cut into half a finger thick and the size of a baby's palm, lightly beaten with the back of a knife beforehand, marinated with baking soda, salt, egg whites, and starch, and then put into a pan to superheat the oil.

For kale, take only the most tender part in the center, blanch it with boiling water poured with cold oil, then add garlic slices, straw mushrooms and oiled beef and stir-fry together, and finally add oyster sauce, salt and light soy sauce to taste.

The choy sum is crispy, the beef is tender, and when paired together, it really tastes like a top.

The taste of 'stir-fried beef with oyster sauce with choy sum' suddenly reminded everyone that Lin Xiao, who usually seems to be a little careless and cynical, was once the two consecutive champions of the Chef God Competition.

Not to mention 'crystal pineapple grunt meat', it has always been Liu Mang's specialty. When you bite into the crystal-clear sugar shell, and the bright red lava-like sauce seeps out of it, time freezes at this moment.

"Delicious!" At first, someone shouted praise, but then no one spoke, and only the sound of chopsticks pulling rice bowls and swallowing food could be heard all around.

"Master, are you still hiring?" asked a Chinese man.

"No. Kong Ruiming, who picked up a piece of grunt meat and was about to send it to his mouth, was stunned.

"Don't you really recruit people? Don't you need someone to run errands?

"This is needed. ”

"Do you think I can do it? I don't want a salary, just eat with you. ”

"Yes, yes, I can eat with you every day!" many people chimed in.

"Okay, then I'll bother you. Kong Ruiming nodded and agreed.

There weren't many volunteers coming in from New York and Los Angeles, because everyone had their own business to do, and it would be nice to have someone to help.

After half an hour of marinating, the chicken is finally ready to be cooked.

Salt baking is also a unique technique in Chinese cuisine, which is to place the ingredients in an iron pot or casserole full of salt grains, and then heat the salt grains with a fire, and through the heat retention of the salt grains, the ingredients are cooked thoroughly.

This method is different from steaming because there is no need to add water, but it is different from roasting because the flame does not touch the ingredients at all.

Take a deep casserole, then pour the coarser sea salt into half of the casserole, then put the marinated chicken in it, and pour in the sea salt until the whole chicken is submerged.

Generally, when chefs make this salt-baked chicken, they wrap the chicken in a kitchen paper towel. This has the advantage of making the chicken more yellow and bright, and it also prevents the chicken from being too salty.

But Liu Mang thinks this is completely unnecessary, because the sea salt he uses is large, unprocessed salt and fried before making it, so that the salt grains do not contain excess water, and naturally do not penetrate too many salt molecules into the chicken.

As for the color of salt-baked chicken, it has nothing to do with the chef's grasp of the heat and cooking experience, and it has nothing to do with whether or not to wrap paper towels.

Put the prepared salt-baked chicken on the stove, cover the lid and turn on the high heat first, and when your ears can hear the clear explosion sound of 'Bilibili' coming from the casserole, immediately turn to medium heat.

The salt grains block the air, and after heating, the excess water in the chicken is drained, allowing the delicious taste of the chicken to slowly brew in the casserole, waiting for the moment when the lid is lifted.

The salt-baked chicken is ready, and the steamed pork ribs in the steamer are ready for the steamer.

Liu Mang unveiled the steamer, grabbed a handful of chopped shallots, and sprinkled a few grains in each rib.

"Liu Mang, haven't you finished cooking yet? Li Ruonan shouted.

"Don't worry, you eat first, I still have two dishes that are not ready. Liu Mang replied and brought the 'steamed pork ribs with soy sauce' in the steamer to the table.

During the steaming heat, the special smell of soy sauce came to the nostrils, making this group of old Guangzi flow all over the place.

Jiang Fangping gently picked up a piece and sent it to his eyes to look at it first, the crimson pork ribs were stained with red pepper grains, green onions and black black bean sauce, but the simple color combination attracted people's eyes and made people unable to extricate themselves.

"Hiss!" first sucked the sauce off the ribs, then then bit off the flesh off the bone, chewed it twice, and finally spit out the bone with a 'pop'.

After the whole set of procedures was done, the mouth was already filled with the salty sweetness of the soy sauce and the plump flesh of the pork ribs, Jiang Fangping couldn't help but praise: "It's really delicious! The bones are all delicious!"

"If it's delicious, eat more. Liu Mang smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "I'll go ahead and cook other dishes." ”

By this time, the cracking of the salt grains in the casserole had subsided, replaced by white heat coming out of the vents in the lid of the casserole.

Liu Mang knew that this was the salt grains heated by the flame, which was drying the moisture of the chicken.

Fan the white gas coming out of his nose with his hand, sniffed deeply, Liu Mang nodded, and twisted the flame on the stove to the smallest fire.

The invention of salt-baked chicken should all be attributed to the Hakka people. It is said that in the process of moving south, the Hakka people moved to one place, and they were often harassed by foreign races, making it difficult to live in peace, and were forced to move to another place. In the process of living, each household raises poultry and livestock. In the process of "fleeing" and migrating, it is inconvenient to carry live birds, so they are slaughtered and put into salt packets for storage and carrying.

After arriving at the relocation site, these stored and carried raw materials can alleviate the lack of raw materials and nourish the body. Salt-baked chicken is a dish made by the Hakka people with wisdom during their migration and is famous all over the world.

At the beginning, salt-baked chicken was just slaughtered chicken in salt grains for preservation, and when it was to be eaten, it was only in modern times that a Hakka chef invented this practice, and it was popular throughout Guangdong.

"Lao Liu, I've finished a few dishes, how many are you missing?" Lin Xiao shouted by the stove.

"You go eat it first, my salt-baked chicken will be ready in no time. Liu Mang replied, and then took a few clean plates from the board.

After waiting for five minutes again, when the white gas in the blowholes no longer came out, Liu Mang turned off the flame on the stove, and then lifted the lid.

Except for the slightest hint of steam, the salt grains in the clay pot seemed to be the same as when they were first put down, and no aroma emanated.

But Liu Mang knows very well in his heart that the delicacy is buried under the salt grains, waiting to be dug by himself.

Put on a pair of asbestos gloves, gently remove the salt grains from the surface, and then pull out the chicks inside.

It's like a gold digger who has worked hard to find gold buried in the sand. At this moment, the skin of this salt-baked chicken also shows a color like gold.

This color is not as dazzling as gold, but it shimmers with a dazzling layer of oil that makes it impossible to take your eyes off it.

There are two ways to eat salt-baked chicken, one is to chop with a knife, and the other is to tear it directly into pieces by hand.

Liu Mang personally prefers the second method, and the second method comes from the Hakka tradition. If you tear it by hand, it will not damage the fiber of the chicken as much as possible, and the texture of the chicken in your mouth will be smoother.

"Come on, come on, come on, and the last dish of 'casserole and salt-baked chicken' is also ready. When Liu Mang brought the torn chicken to the table, everyone stood up in unison.

"Wow!

The torn chicken does not have a specific shape, and it all depends on the tender yellow skin and tender meat quality to attract attention.

Jiang Fangping couldn't wait to stretch out his chopsticks, took a piece of chicken and put it in his mouth, and looked intoxicated: "Hmm...... Hmmm......"

The chicken is firm and elastic in the mouth, and because there is not too much condiment, the chicken retains its original flavor, and the salt grains are heated to bring out the rich flavor hidden in the depths of the chicken.

In addition, the saltiness of the chicken is just right, and even if it is not wrapped in a paper towel, the salt does not penetrate too much, but makes the chicken taste more delicious.

"Really...... It's so delicious!"