Food starts with noodles

In fact, there are many kinds of noodle cakes with water basin mutton, which vary from place to place in Shaanxi.

Some use Baiji buns, some use sesame seed cakes, and some use lotus leaf cakes or scallion pancakes, but the most popular, or the most popular, are crescent moon cakes.

The so-called crescent moon cake is after an oval-shaped dough cake is divided into two, because it is shaped like a crescent moon, so it is named crescent moon cake.

Because two crescent moon cakes are a complete noodle cake, the crescent moon cakes in the early years were sold in pairs, and the saying "one pot for two" of water basin mutton came from this.

In the process of making the crescent moon cake, grease will be put in the middle, and the cake can be easily opened into a pocket shape.

The mutton in the basin just served on the table is quite hot, impatient customers use chopsticks to fish out the mutton, put it in the crescent moon cake, and put some oily chili peppers or diced green peppers made by the store.

Take a big bite, the cake is crispy and the meat is rotten, not to mention how enjoyable it is.

After eating the crescent moon cake, the stomach has been filled, and you are no longer hungry and flustered. At this time, break the remaining crescent moon leisurely into small pieces and soak it in the mutton soup. Stir.

Then sit leisurely in the mutton shop in the water basin, drink a mouthful of soup, chew a mouthful of meat, and have a mouthful of pancakes.

Beautiful drops!

But now, more and more stores no longer sell crescent moon cakes, and instead sell sesame seed cakes or Baiji buns.

Xu Zhuo felt that it might have something to do with the cumbersome preparation of crescent moon cakes. Even though crescent moon cakes are similar to sesame seed cakes, they are all dough cakes, but the method is different. Crescent moon cakes are much more difficult than sesame seed cakes.

To make crescent moon cakes, you have to raise the dough first, and then divide the dough into two halves and knead them separately. One of the doughs needs to be kneaded with oil, and finally it has to be baked in a pan after being made into a dough cake.

Fortunately, Xu Zhuo has the skills of kneading and kneading dough, so he won't be troubled by crescent moon cakes.

After Boss Xu reconciled the dough, put it in a basin, cover it with plastic wrap, put it aside to proof, then knock off the foam and grease in the mutton pot, and turn off the heat.

Only by simmering over a low heat can the pot remain in a state of clear soup.

After finishing all this work, Xu Zhuo started to prepare the dishes for the evening. The essential work should not be forgotten just because of the experiment. Opening a shop is the most important thing.

While busy, Xu Zhuo has been secretly observing Jianguo.

He found that after Jianguo was rejected, instead of being depressed, he was full of fighting spirit and energy. After finishing his work in the kitchen, he went to help a few washing dishes to disinfect the tableware.

Is this what it's like to be rejected?

I remember that when Meng Liwei was rejected by a girl when he was in college, he slept in the dormitory with his head covered for two days before recovering, and even cried several times.

Even if Xu Zhuo invited him to eat hot pot, he didn't respond, he was completely out of his wits, Xu Zhuo sympathized with him, and found it very funny.

Is it because the game is not fun, or the movie is not good to watch?Why do you want to find a girlfriend? I really can't figure it out.

Not only Meng Liwei, but those few programmers also had almost the same experience. Every time they were rejected or dumped, they would criticize them for what kind of materialistic girls they can't have, what kind of flirtatious things and so on.

Then he swore that he would never fall in love again, and would play games with Xu Zhuo in the future, enjoying a wanton life in the game.

Xu Zhuo actually liked that they were broken up or rejected, because in this way, they would have money to eat, and there was no need for Boss Xu to help them out.

But when a few people regain their senses, they will change their target, and once again follow other people's buttocks to show courteousness, forgetting all the previous vows.

And Xu's Charity Relief Center will reopen for business again.

From graduating from university to now, everyone Xu Zhuo has met seems to be in this situation.

As long as you are rejected, you will be disheartened, and you will either drink away your sorrows, or indulge in games, or muddle along, anyway, you will always be decadent for a while.

It was the first time he had seen a person like Jianguo who seemed to have been beaten after being rejected.

What's the matter?The more frustrated the more courageous?

But those who get more frustrated and braver often continue to confess with a cheeky face after being rejected, instead of working hard like Jianguo.

Looking at Jianguo's figure who couldn't stop, Xu Zhuo looked at the leisurely kitchen helpers, wondering if he should persuade them to chase Zhou Wen, and then let Zhou Wen sternly reject him.

In this way, all the people in the store are busy like clockwork, the efficiency will definitely be greatly improved, and no matter how many customers come, they will not be afraid.

But just thinking about it, he didn't dare to mess around.

Besides, Jianguo's abnormal situation is very strange, so we have to observe and observe first. I don't know if his abnormality will be normal in the future, or it will be like this today.

Don't be really stimulated.

Boss Xu originally wanted to talk to Jianguo, but seeing him like this, he worried that talking to him about being rejected would arouse Mr. Charles' sadness.

Since he is so cheerful and diligent, let him be, and treat it as exercise.

After the mutton was stewed for an hour, Xu Zhuo put down his work and began to add salt to the pot.

Do not add salt to the boiled mutton in advance, because the salt will make the mutton old and taste bad.

From a scientific point of view, salt is a strong electrolyte, and adding it to the soup greatly increases the osmotic pressure of the soup.

The cell membrane of animals is a semi-permeable membrane. When the osmotic pressure in the soup is high, the water in the cells will migrate out. When the water content is low, the meat will appear "old".

If no salt is added, the protein on the cell membrane will be denatured after the meat is cooked, and the cell membrane will lose its semi-permeable membrane properties, and the osmotic pressure in the soup will have little effect on it.

So if you want to add salt to boiled mutton, you must wait until the mutton is completely cooked before adding it.

Xu Zhuo added some salt to the pot, not too much, as long as the soup has a salty taste, this is mainly to add a little base flavor to the mutton soup and mutton.

After adding the salt, cover the pot and continue to simmer over low heat.

At this time, the noodles were almost ready, so Xu Zhuo dug out the proofed dough from the basin, put it on the chopping board and kneaded it into a dough, then used a knife to cut the dough in half from the middle.

Put half of it into the basin to continue proofing, Xu Zhuo put the other half into the basin, added a tablespoon of lard, and began to knead repeatedly.

At first, the dough and the solid lard couldn't get together at all.

But with kneading, the solidified lard gradually melted away, and the entire dough was greasy.

Xu Zhuo continued to knead the dough, and soon, the lard on the surface of the dough gradually disappeared, and all of it penetrated into the dough.

After kneading, Xu Zhuo put the lard-covered dough in a basin to proof, and started to knead another dough. This one doesn't need to add lard, just knead the dough smooth like making steamed buns.

Then, came the most important step in making crescent moon cakes - making the cake base.

Chapter 298 Want to make dessert?

The base of crescent moon cakes is not difficult to make, but it is not easy to make.

First of all, the two doughs have to be kneaded into long strips and divided into equal-sized noodles. The noodles don't need to be too big, just about the size of a fist.

Then Xu Zhuo used his hands to flatten the noodle that was not dipped in lard, and made it into a thick noodle cake.

Then put the noodle with lard on it, and wrap the noodle with bread.

If it is not easy to operate, you can also round the lard noodles first.

After the lard noodle agent is completely wrapped in the dough, flatten the small dough again, sprinkle with sesame seeds, roll it into an oval-shaped dough with a rolling pin, and the crescent moon cake base is ready.

There is no griddle for crescent moon cakes or sesame seed cakes in the store, so Xu Zhuo had to find out the pans he used before, wash them and put them on the stove.

First heat the pan with high heat, then turn it to low heat, then put in the prepared biscuits and fry them slowly in the pan.

You don’t need to brush with oil during the cooking process, just do it dry.

The noodle cake made in this way is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and has a strong noodle fragrance, which is a perfect match with the water basin mutton.

When Xu Zhuo was busy, Jianguo came over and said, "Xu Zhuo, teach me how to make stuffed pears with eight treasures later. I want to try making some desserts."

Xu Zhuo didn't have any opinion: "Okay, it's easy to learn how to make pears with eight treasures. Although it's expensive in the store, it's mainly about the ratio of knife skills and eight treasures. Basically, it's just to put less sour ingredients, glutinous rice can't More than half of the capacity of the pear jar, otherwise, if there is too much, it will be like stuffing a sweet rice dumpling in the pear jar, and lose the characteristics of pears stuffed with eight treasures."

While baking the bread, Xu Zhuo told Jianguo the things to pay attention to when making eight-treasure stuffed pears.

At first it was just chatting, anyway, there were not many customers at the moment, but Xu Zhuo realized that the help cooks had also come over, obviously they were also very curious about the method of stuffing pears with eight treasures.

Anyway, he was free at the moment, Xu Zhuo looked at Jianguo and asked, "How many eight-treasure stuffed pears are there in the steamer?"

Jianguo walked over and opened the steamer and took a look: "There are still thirteen or four, why? Do you think it's not enough?"

There is nothing enough about this thing, no matter how much it is, Li Hao and Meng Liwei will eat up the remaining eight-treasure stuffed pears in the store every night.

In their words, anyway, this thing can't stay overnight, and it's better to let the two have fun than throwing it away.

Besides the two of them, the girls also have a special liking for the eight-treasure stuffed pear, and they eat at least one every day.

Since everyone is not busy at the moment and wants to try making eight-treasure stuffed pears, Xu Zhuo thought for a while and said, "Well, anyway, the store has all kinds of ingredients now, so try to make it first, if you don't understand Feel free to ask me. I think the other steps are easy except for the sugar juice step, which is a bit difficult."

Jianguo asked Xu Zhuo to re-explain the process of making eight-treasure stuffed pears, and then excitedly went to make desserts.

His abnormal behavior made Boss Xu a little confused.

Girls usually like desserts. Why is he, a big man, suddenly interested in desserts? Doesn't he want to learn cooking from the old man?

Could it be that after being rejected, the blow was too great and the mind was distorted?

But he didn't speak or act like he was stimulated, exactly as usual.

To talk about the difference, the only difference is that they are more diligent and enjoy working more than before, and even take the initiative to learn how to make desserts when everyone is resting.

This operation is a bit confusing.

After one side of the crescent moon cake in the pan was baked to a golden color, it had to be turned over. After both sides were baked, Xu Zhuo took the oval-shaped pancake out of the pan and placed it on the chopping board while it was still hot.

Then take a kitchen knife and cut in half from the middle, and two perfect crescent moon cakes appear in front of you.

But at this time, the crescent moon cake is not ready yet, so it has to be put back into the pot, the cut is downward and continue to bake, until the cut part also turns golden, the crescent moon cake is considered ready.

After it was out of the pan, Xu Zhuo took a piece and tasted it. The outer skin was very crispy, but it was not as crispy as scallion pancakes, but a crispy feeling.

With a little force with the hand, the original incision part was easily separated, forming a pocket shape.

The mutton was not ready yet, so Xu Zhuo added some pork head meat to it, and then poured a spoonful of chili oil on it.

The hot noodle cake reheats the already cold pork head meat, and the crescent moon cake has a noodle core with lard, which tastes extra delicious.

Moreover, the skin of the crescent moon cake is crispy and delicious, and it is served with spicy chili oil, which tastes really delicious.

Not to mention that Lao Shan likes it, he is so greedy even from the Central Plains.

Xu Zhuo finished the crescent moon cakes in threes and fives. When he was about to eat another one, he turned his face and saw the mutton gurgling in the pot. He gritted his teeth and resisted the urge.

It's better to eat the lamb in the basin later, it's so delicious with the pig's head meat in it, and the lamb in it later, the taste should be even better.

Xu Zhuo continued to make crescent moon cakes, and Jianguo came over to ask about the details of making eight-treasure stuffed pears. Finally, he simply moved the workbench to Xu Zhuo's side.

Let Xu Zhuo take a look at it while making the noodles, and tell me directly if any step is wrong.

"Jianguo, why are you suddenly interested in desserts? Didn't you dislike sweet things before?"

Jianguo coughed twice, smiled and said, "Last time your father told me that a qualified chef must know how to blend all kinds of flavors, sweetness is also one of the hundred flavors, and it is still the main flavor. I must study more. "

That's the reason, but I used to make eight-treasure stuffed pears without even looking at them, but now I suddenly changed my temper after being rejected.

Xu Zhuo always felt that there was something tricky about it.

"Jianguo, how do I feel, are you in love?"

Jianguo laughed at himself: "I really want to fall in love, but who am I going to fall in love with? Xu Zhuo, don't think too much, I'm fine, people reject me because I'm not good enough, I just need to work harder to improve myself, anyway I'm still young and I have plenty of time."

After finishing speaking, Jianguo put the eight-treasure stuffed pear he had made in front of Xu Zhuo: "What do you think?"

Xu Zhuo looked at it, and saw that the knife skills were still lacking, but the flaws were not concealed, and it was already remarkable to be able to achieve this level for the first time.

"Go and steam it in the steam cabinet. Only by conquering your own taste buds can you conquer others."

Jianguo left happily, while Xu Zhuo continued to make noodle cakes.

When all the crescent moon cakes were ready, the mutton in the pot was stewed for more than two hours.

Xu Zhuo fished out all the mutton and ingredients, leaving only a pot of clear soup, but the taste was very strong, the unique umami taste of mutton soup made Xu Zhuo greedy.

But now is not the time to eat, because the mutton soup has to be seasoned.

The seasoning is very important. Whether the mutton in the water basin is delicious or not authentic depends on the seasoning of the meat after it comes out of the pan.

Chapter 298 This taste is so beautiful!

The broth of the water basin mutton is very characteristic, the most obvious is to highlight the numbing taste of pepper.

Mutton is a warming and nourishing food, which is not suitable for summer consumption, but the people of Guanzhong creatively put a lot of pepper in the mutton in the water basin, which makes the mutton that is easy to get angry instantly become a weapon for eliminating dampness.

Zanthoxylum bungeanum is a unique spice in my country, ranking first among the "thirteen spices" of seasonings.It is pungent in taste and hot in nature, and has the effects of aroma and invigorating the stomach, warming the middle and dispelling cold, dehumidifying and relieving pain, killing insects and detoxifying, and relieving itching and fishy smell.