Food starts with Mapo Tofu

Frying cow dung is a technical job. You have to insert the cannon into the cow dung first, then ignite it, and then escape from here as quickly as possible after igniting it.

But Xiao Fugui ran a bit slower as expected, and was covered in cow dung, so that Chen Nian didn't want to pull him when he went back, but stood far away.

After returning home, Xiao Fugui was scolded severely as expected.

Gao Genzhu watched his child crying loudly covered in cow dung, and after Xiao Fugui changed his clothes, he couldn't resist going up and kicking him twice.

"You said you're going to blow up some cow dung, and it's fine if you go to play by yourself, but you also have to pull your brother Chen Nian, and you can blow it up, and you've got such a suit, and I'll find it for your mother during the New Year's Eve." Work, don't you?"

And Xiao Fugui was still crying.

It's just that this is his own child after all. After beating and scolding, Zhang Chuanfang boiled some water and let Xiao Fugui go in and wash himself.

But in the afternoon, Xiao Fugui seemed to have forgotten about it, and ran out to play with the children again.

Chen Nian and Gao Genzhu started to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner at home.

Although it is usually busy every day, and the Chinese New Year is also busy, but in such an atmosphere, people always feel different.

Making pork skin jelly, croquettes, and roast pork...Gao Genzhu is doing the main work, and Chen Nian is on the sidelines to help, although these kinds of food are very simple for Chen Nian.

There is no difference between the pork skin jelly and the crystal meat sold in the old shop, and it is even simpler, that is, put the bought pig skin into a hot pot first, scald the pig hair off the top, and then start to blanch.

Add cooking wine, green onion and ginger to remove the fishy smell, boil the water for about five to six minutes, then remove it, and then use a kitchen knife to scrape off the fat inside the pigskin.

After scraping off the fat and oil inside, cut it into a finger-long filament, continue to put it in hot water and add some alkaline noodles.

After repeated cleaning three or four times, the grease on it is basically cleaned.

After cleaning, continue to put it in the pot and cook slowly on low heat.

After about an hour or so, the pigskin has been boiled so soft that it can be broken with a light pinch with chopsticks. At this time, the soup inside is fully mixed with the collagen precipitated from the pigskin and begins to change. It's sticky and thickened.

At this time, pour the pigskin jelly into a basin and put it directly in the yard for natural refrigeration. After it is completely condensed into a solid state, the pigskin jelly is ready.

When to eat, take it out and cut into slices, and then add some dipping sauce.

The croquettes are even simpler. First chop the meat stuffing, then add the steamed buns, starch and seasonings that have been soaked in water without the skin. After mixing evenly, grab them with your hands and squeeze them into the basin. Take out one after another meatballs and put them into the pan for frying.

First fry it once, wait until the outside turns yellow, take it out, then continue to increase the oil temperature and fry again, wait until the outer skin turns maroon red and the croquettes are ready.

But when the croquettes were made, Gao Genzhu fried them over there and ate them here. Xiao Fugui, who was playing at the door of his house, bid farewell to his friends after smelling the aroma and returned home to eat freshly fried meatballs. out of the meatballs.

If it weren't for the consideration that these meatballs were to be eaten at night, Chen Nian and Xiao Fugui alone would be able to show off the whole plate of meatballs.

In addition to croquettes, roasted pork is a must-eat during Chinese New Year here.

Roasting pork is somewhat similar to the method of braised pork with preserved vegetables that Chen Nian has learned, but the steps are slightly different.

The method of roasting pork here is to clean the meat first, and then put the onion, ginger, cooking wine, star anise and other seasonings directly into the pot to cook after blanching off the pig hair.

While cooking, remove the blood foam on the top.

After it is almost cooked, you have to take it out, wipe off the water on it, and then put it in the pan for frying. After frying until the skin is golden and crisp, take it out of the oil pan again, and put it into the previous cooking broth Continue to cook.

After it is cooked, the roasted pork is ready. Take it outside to let it cool. When you want to eat it, cut a few slices out, put it in a bowl, and steam it in a pan.

"In our place, pork skin jelly, roasted meat, and meatballs are all things that every household eats during the Chinese New Year. Unless it is the kind of disaster year that cannot be uncovered, otherwise no matter how it is, we will make these things out, even if they are less a little."

"And these things are resistant to storage in winter, and you can eat them directly if you want to eat them. This time we made a lot of them. After two days, the roast meat and meatballs can be put into the stew, and they can be cooked with cabbage, tofu, vermicelli, and potatoes. It's really delicious.

Moreover, the roast pork can also be cut into cubes, whether it is made into fried sauce with vegetables or stewed into stewed noodles, it is very good. "

It's just that Chen Nian looked at the roast meat and meatballs over there after listening to Gao Genzhu's words: "Brother Genzhu, how do we eat this meatball at night? Do you want to make it again?"

"Don't do it, just get a bowl and steam it in the pot at night, but if you want to cook it, you can do it. It just so happens that we haven't eaten much of your dishes, so we can eat them all at ordinary times. face."

"Then how about we make sweet and sour meatballs?"

"Sweet and sour meatballs? Okay, but you know how to make this?"

"A little bit." Chen Nian nodded.

"That's fine, you can make us a sweet and sour ball that night."

Chen Nian nodded, and at night, although there is no Spring Festival Gala to watch, no mobile phone to go to the group to grab red envelopes, call relatives and friends to pay New Year's greetings, but the family is so happy and busy here, and Chen Nian feels warm Incomparable.

"Chen Nian, I'm still a bit busy here, I have to cook other dishes, can you cook fish?"

"Fish? Brother Genzhu, what are you going to do?"

"Anything is fine, you see what you will do."

"What about the braised fish?"

"Braised fish in braised sauce is good. There is more than enough every year, and it is booming."

"Then I'll make braised fish, Brother Genzhu."

"Okay, you can do it. I have to do other things. The main reason is that I don't want to keep the fish for too long after it is cooked. It won't be good if it cools down."

"It's okay, Brother Genzhu, leave this to me."

Chen Nian got another task here.

The bought fish have also been killed, but they have to be further processed for aging. After removing the larynx and hyoid bones of the fish, they use scissors to cut off the bones inside from the broken belly of the fish.

Prevent the fish from bouncing after being put into the pan.

After finishing the aging process, the fish was changed into a peony flower knife, and then simply marinated with green onions, ginger, and cooking wine.

During the marinating process, Chen Nian made sweet and sour meatballs again, and put the fried meatballs aside for later use. Chen Nian took a bowl and went to the seasoning sauce first.

After adding vinegar and sugar at a ratio of one to one, a little soy sauce and water, he handed the bowl to Xiao Fugui, and let Xiao Fugui stir it.

"Xiao Fugui, be careful when stirring, and wait for the sugar inside to completely melt, you know?"

"Understood, Brother Chen."

"Also, don't pull out the candy bar secretly, otherwise this dish won't taste good."

"Yeah!" Xiao Fugui nodded solemnly, looking reliable.

After handing over the task of stirring the sweet and sour sauce to Xiao Fugui, Chen Nian took out the meatballs at noon and fried them briefly in the oil pan to make the surface crispy.

"Little Fugui, are you ready?"

"Okay, Brother Chen, take a look."

Chen Nian picked up the bowl, stirred it with chopsticks, and found that all the sugar inside had melted: "Good job, Xiao Fugui."

While talking, he poured the adjusted sweet and sour sauce into the hot pot. After the soup started to bubble and thicken, Chen Nian poured the fried meatballs into it again.

Stir-fry until the sweet and sour sauce is completely hung on the meatballs, and then add a spoonful of water starch.

Not long after, the soup was completely cleaned up, and the meatballs became crystal clear.

After putting it out of the pot, Chen Nian took a ball with chopsticks and brought it to Xiao Fugui's mouth: "Taste how it tastes, remember to blow on it, otherwise it will burn your mouth."

Xiao Fugui smelled the sour and sweet smell and couldn't help his appetite. After puffing up his face and blowing a few times, he opened his mouth, put the sweet and sour balls into Xiao Fugui's mouth, and Xiao Fugui took two bites His eyes lit up: "Brother Chen Nian, why are these meatballs so delicious!"

"Exclusive formula." Chen Nian said with a smile.

If Gao Genzhu asked, Chen Nian might still explain, but standing in front of him was Xiao Fugui, even if he said Xiao Fugui, he still couldn't understand, so Chen Nian didn't bother to waste any more words.

"Okay, you take this into the house first, I'm cooking fish now."

As he spoke, he handed the plate of sweet and sour meatballs to Xiao Fugui, and asked Xiao Fugui to bring it in.

Afterwards, Chen Nian started to make braised fish again. After the previous short-term marinating, the braised fish has already entered a bottom flavor.

After heating the pot, Chen Nian scooped a spoonful of oil into it, moistened the pot, then poured out the oil that had moistened the pot, then poured a spoonful of cold oil in again, and sprinkled a small pinch of salt.

At this time, Chen Nian held the tail of the fish and put the big carp into the oil pan, and then there was a crackling sound. Flip over and continue frying.

After frying both sides, Chen Nian fished out the fish to control the oil, and poured the oil in the pot into another bowl for future use.

Although the oil of fried fish is very fishy, ​​it cannot be used for cooking or croquettes in the future.

But it is still possible to save this oil for frying fish later.

After all, it's just the [-]th day of the new year, and there will be the first to fifteenth day of the new year after that. It is inevitable that guests will come to eat at home, and it will be useful at that time.

When draining off the excess oil from the fish, Chen Nian brushed the pot clean, boiled the water on the fire, then poured a little oil into it for the third time, and then put some pork belly left over from the previous cooking into it Stir-fry.

After all the lard in the pork belly is fried out, the old man pours the prepared green onion, ginger, garlic and star anise into it and fry until fragrant.

After the aroma came out, Chen Nian put the fish into the pot again, with half a spoonful of soy sauce, half spoonful of cooking wine and a little aged vinegar.

Since the vinegar here is home-brewed and relatively sour, it is not aged too much.

After the aroma is released, add boiled water flush with the body of the fish for aging.

After adding the water, Chen Nian put the shiitake mushrooms he had soaked just now, and the shiitake mushroom water was not wasted, and poured the same after the sedimentation rate was below.

But in this step, Chen Nian felt that what he did was a little insufficient. Of course, Gao Genzhu told himself a little late, otherwise, it would be better to soak the shiitake mushrooms for a while.

But now it can only be like this, anyway, shiitake mushrooms can be boiled in boiling water.

After aging, an appropriate amount of salt and sugar was added, and a little soy sauce was added for coloring.

At the end of the aging process, the lid was put on the pot and the bellows were not used again, so it was slowly burned to a low and medium fire.

"As the saying goes, if you want to cook thousands of tofu and ten thousand rolls of fish, don't be too impatient. Tofu itself is not easy to taste, but it will become soft and dense after stewing for a long time. However, due to the characteristics of tofu itself, stewing It is not easy to dissipate after a long time, and the most important thing about tofu is that the hotter the temperature, the fuller the taste, and the longer it is stewed, the more flavorful it will be.

The same is true for fish. Since the protein structure of the fish itself is relatively loose and the water content is relatively high, the more the fish is stewed, the more tender it will be. , the taste can reach the best.

While the aged fish was being stewed, Gao Genzhu was also serving dishes one after another.

When the dishes were almost ready, they sat down to eat.

During the Chinese New Year, the staple food becomes dumplings, but Gao Genzhu is not in a hurry to cook them. Generally speaking, he has to wait until the vegetables are almost eaten before serving the dumplings.

Xiao Fugui kept staring at the sweet and sour balls, and ate one after another.

"Chen Nian, the sweet and sour meatballs you made are delicious, and you figured this out yourself when you were young?"

Chen Nian shook his head: "That's not true. I learned this from my neighbor. At that time, the neighbor's house would occasionally make fried meatballs, and sometimes they would make sweet and sour from the freshly fried meatballs. I often went to their house Playing, so I learned to go back and make it for my parents to eat."

"True filial piety." Gao Genzhu couldn't help admiring, "I hope my son can be so filial in the future."

Hearing this, Chen Nian couldn't help but look to his side: "Xiao Fugui, let me ask you, if you can make a lot of money in the future, who will you spend it on first?"

"I want to give flowers to my parents!" Xiao Fugui said loudly.

"Why do you want to give flowers to your parents?" Chen Nian asked again.

"Because when I was young, whether it was those delicious food or new clothes and new shoes, my parents bought and made them for me, so when I make a lot of money in the future, I will also buy delicious food and clothes for my parents to eat and wear. !"

Xiao Fugui's tone was firm, and his eyes were bright as if hiding a galaxy.

"Brother Genzhu, listen, although Xiao Fugui always runs around like crazy and comes back dirty, he is still very sensible."

Gao Genzhu also had a cheerful face after hearing this, and then he reached out his hand to dig out in his bosom, and took out two small purses, one for Chen Nian and one for Xiao Fugui.

"It's Chinese New Year, I'll give you lucky money."