Qingshui golden carp is a famous dish in Chang'an City, and it is very particular about handling fish, and has a routine of pumping two points and three combinations.

The first step is to remove the scales from the fish and scrape them off by a non-ordinary method, so as to ensure that the skin of the fish is intact. This step is a test of the chef's skill, how to pull the scales out of the fish without damaging the flesh, and the difficulty is not as simple as imagined.

The second step is to decompose the fish meat and remove the bones, this step is also not an ordinary method of decomposition and bone, but according to the body structure of the carp to decompose the abdominal meat, tail meat, shoulder meat, etc., this step is extremely testing the chef's understanding of the body structure of the fish, as well as knife skills, once there is a difference in the pool will affect the third step of the process.

The third step is to reassemble the boneless fish flesh to show the original appearance of the carp, but people can't see the traces of the bone and the fit, the key to this step is to complete the second step.

Such a tedious process is not for the sake of showing off skills, nor is it for the sake of good looks. Because the meat of this golden carp itself has a wonderful sweet and sour feeling, and the skin of the fish has a fishy smell like ordinary carp, so the skin needs to be pressed and the fish meat is not needed. Ensure that the skin of the fish is intact and that there are no gaps in the fit, mainly so that the soup does not enter the fish, but can remove the fishy smell of the fishy skin.

Put the processed fish on a plate, add rock sugar and ripe persimmons to the belly of the fish, sprinkle green onions and ginger on the outside, add a small piece of lard, and steam in a pot.

The pot is also very particular, the pot should be a large firewood pot, the water should be boiling, and the steam should be enough, so you can go to the pot at this time.

The timing of the pot should be when the lard in the plate is exhausted, the fish at this time is half-cooked, the belly of rock sugar and persimmon flavor mixed with the fish meat is just right, the external steam condenses into the plate, and the fish juice is mixed to form a layer of clear soup, and the golden carp is not damaged at all, like a fresh fish swimming in the water.

In this way, an authentic clear water golden carp is cooked.

Xia Shang witnessed the whole process, to be honest, he was a little surprised in his heart, he didn't expect that in ancient times, there were people who could complete such a complex dish, especially in the processing of fish, the process of pumping two points and three parts could not be completed by himself three years ago, although this is a female streamer, but this one-handed kung fu is also worth applauding for her. Moreover, the production process of this clear water golden carp is consistent with Xia Shang's cooking philosophy, Xia Shang has always believed that any dish should pay attention to relaxation and moderation, just like being a human being, it must advance and retreat in an orderly manner.

The handling of the fish is tedious, giving the chef the opportunity to fully demonstrate his skills. In the steaming process, everything returns to the basics, returning to the simplest and most primitive process, which not only guarantees deliciousness, but more importantly, shows the humility of the chef.

Looking at the Qingshui Golden Carp in front of him, Xia Shang nodded: "Not bad." ”

The simple two words are already the highest evaluation of Xia Shang, because the chef has an extremely arrogant heart under the humble appearance, especially for Xia Shang, at the age of eighteen, he thought he was a five-star chef, this talent and various honors made him have a heart that is more proud than ordinary chefs.

Like Xia Shang, Xu Niangzi also has her own pride, and today it is the biggest concession she has made to put down her pride and come to seek advice, but when she shows her most proud dish, she only gets the word "good", which makes her somewhat unconvinced.

"It's never too late to review after you've tasted it."

Looking at the confident appearance of the, Xia Shang picked up the chopsticks.

Since the fish has been broken down before, it is effortless to eat, and each chopstick is a piece of cut fish.

Xia Shang chose the most essence of the deltoid muscle on his back, and first smelled it, a faint scent of green onions with a little sweetness of persimmon, which felt like a cloud and mist, making people unpredictable. Put it in his mouth, and the sweetness that exploded instantly made Xia Shang's eyes widen! At this moment, Xia Shang finally understood the wonder of this golden carp, worthy of being a fish worth a thousand taels, the tenderness of the fish meat and the faint sweetness and sourness are seamlessly mixed, this kind of taste is not possessed by any carp, if you only feel in this mouth, it is difficult to tell that this is a carp.

"How? Satisfied now? ”

Xia Shang ignored it, squinted his eyes and savored the taste, and silently sandwiched another piece of tender meat on the chest and abdomen. So squinting his eyes and feeling it carefully......

Xu Niangzi looked at it with a smile, her eyebrows were full of color, Xia Shang's expression was very familiar to her, almost everyone who tasted this Qingshui golden carp would show such an expression, and they couldn't help but taste it one by one, no matter what the diners next to them said, they didn't have time to take care of it.

But just when the thought that her Qingshui Golden Carp had completely conquered Xia Shang, Xia Shang, who was squinting slightly, suddenly frowned.

The was startled, and said in her heart, what kind of expression is this?

Immediately afterwards, Xia Shang put down his chopsticks, opened his eyes, looked at the plate in front of him, wrinkled his eyebrows and shook his head: "Hey! It's a pity! It's a pity! ”

"It's a pity? What's a pity? The was so nervous that her face tightened, and she said that she didn't handle it well? I picked up the chopsticks and tasted them myself, and found that there was nothing unusual.

"It's a pity that this dish still has a fly in the ointment, and it's a pity that this fish doesn't show the most beautiful taste."

"A fly in the ointment? Scold! Let's talk about it, how did my Qingshui golden carp fall in the ointment? ”

Xia Shang re-selected a piece of fish, put it on the table and pointed to the inner wall and said: "The treatment of the fish skin is good, but the rock sugar and persimmons in the belly of the fish are not very good. I know you want to sweeten the fish with rock sugar and persimmons, but the sweetness of the two is not fully integrated into the fish because of the insufficient steaming time, so it makes the outside too sweet and the fish itself becomes lighter. ”

As soon as she heard this, the cold sweat of the came out at once. She knows her own dishes very well about the defects, and what Xia Shang said is exactly what she has always been a little taboo about. Xia Shang said this flaw, so that the could not find any reason to deny it.

"But...... This...... There's no way around it! If it is steamed for too long, the fish will lose its taste, and if you don't add rock sugar and persimmons, the flavor of the fish will be less layered. Although this is a little flawed, it ...... But it's also better than before. ”

"In any case, a defective dish is a defect, and a defective dish will never bring out the full flavor of the ingredients."

"Can you be perfect when you say it so lightly?"

"I suggest you try adding a plum knife to the fish, so that the sweet juice in the belly will quickly melt into the fish."

"How is this possible? It's not that I didn't think about it, you know that adding the fish to the plum blossom knife will change the overall shape of the fish, and then it will not be able to be put together. ”

Xia Shang looked at the and smiled mysteriously: "Really? Or is your knife not up to that level? ”