Food starts with noodles

"Is there any more donkey roll with hawthorn flavor?"

"No, it just sold out."

"What about the sweet potato flavor? Are they sold out too?"

"Yes, now there is only... well, only the mustard flavor left. Would you like to... try it?"

When it was dark, a medical student excitedly came to buy donkey rolls, but was told that there was only mustard flavor left.

The mustard-flavored donkey roll was made by Xu Zhuo when he was joking with Meng Liwei, and it tasted surprisingly good.

Xu Zhuo cooked several catties at a time, but Meng Liwei didn't eat enough.

So this spoof version of Donkey Rolling was also placed in the container.

Of course, this mustard flavor is added with honey and caramel. The mustard flavor is just for embellishment, and overall it is still a dessert.

After he was free, Xu Zhuo started to make crystal elbows.

Cao Kun is quite free recently, so I happened to "study" the method of crystal elbow with him.

Elbow is a favorite ingredient of Chinese chefs, and there are many ways to make elbows all over the country.

For example, roasted and braised elbows in Shandong cuisine, tiger skin elbows in Shanxi, sauerkraut elbows in Northeast China, Dongpo elbows and braised pork elbows in Sichuan, rock sugar elbows in Beijing, etc...

In addition to hot dishes, there are also many dishes about elbows among cold dishes.

Crystal elbow, sauce elbow, smoked elbow, crispy elbow, etc. are all outstanding cold dishes.

In particular, the crystal elbow, while ensuring delicious taste, is also very good-looking, and it is a very popular appetizer.

This dish is found all over the country, and the recipe is similar.

The general idea is to make the elbow crystal clear and transparent, the meat of the elbow is rotten, fat but not greasy, refreshing and palatable.

"Brother Kun, have you never made crystal elbows before?"

"No, there are hot dishes like Dongpo elbow in Sichuan cuisine. There are not many cold dishes made of elbow. Even if you make it, it is like saliva chicken. After cooking, slice it, and finally pour red oil sauce."

As soon as Cao Kun put the meat stew that he was going to make today, Xu Zhuo came over.

The two had a discussion about elbows.

"Brother Kun, I think we can try to make it, what if it works? Isn't there another hard dish in the store."

When Xu Zhuo said this, Cao Kun was also very interested. He wiped his hands and said, "That's fine, then let's try..."

Chapter 631 Crystal Elbow

Crystal elbow is a home-cooked delicacy, no matter where it is, the method is not much different.

Basically, the elbow is boneless and then stewed, or the bone is removed after stewing, and then the meat is rolled up with the skin outward, and it can be eaten after cooling and setting.

When eating, the crystal elbow is usually sliced ​​and placed on a plate, and eaten with garlic sauce.

"From what you said, the crystal elbow is very similar to the crystal elbow flower. Brother Xu Zhuo, is there any difference between the crystal elbow and the crystal elbow flower?"

When the two were discussing, Shi Lei, who was kneading the dough beside him, asked curiously.

The restaurant where he was an apprentice had crystal elbow flowers dish, although he had never cooked it, but Shi Lei had cut elbow flowers many times.

So after hearing what Xu Zhuo said, I feel that it is no different from the crystal elbow flower.

When he said this, Xu Zhuo also felt that crystal elbows and crystal elbow flowers were quite similar.

They are all translucent pork skin wrapped with pork, and they are all stewed first and then shaped. They are even eaten with garlic sauce.

Are these two names for the same delicacy?

"No, crystal elbow and crystal elbow flower are two kinds of delicacies, no matter how they are made or the ingredients used, they are different."

Seeing that Xu Zhuo and Cao Kun were lost in thought, Feng Weiguo walked over in a leisurely manner, and began to popularize the difference between crystal elbows and crystal elbow flowers.

Crystal elbow, as the name suggests, is a dish made from elbow.

The elbow flower is more like an upgraded version of the crystal elbow.

The authentic method of elbow flower is to clean the pig skin, wrap the pork tendon meat, tie it firmly with a rope, put it in a pot for marinating, and wait for cold forming to slice and eat.

There are only two pieces of pork tendon on a pig, which is very small.To make a normal-sized elbow flower, you need at least seven or eight pieces of pork tendon.

Pork tendon meat is called Zhu Xiaozhan in Guangdong, and it is the muscle on the calf of pigs.

This piece of meat is wrapped in a meat film, with hidden tendons, moderate hardness, and regular texture, which is very suitable for stewing or making lo-mei.

It can be said that elbow flower is made from the most essential part of elbow, and compared with greasy elbow, elbow flower has greatly improved both in taste and taste.

No wonder in some restaurants, knuckle flowers are more expensive than knuckles.

The ingredients used are different, and it does cost more.

In addition, when the crystal elbow flower is marinated, it needs to use the step of binding, which is why many places call the elbow flower a bundled elbow roll.

But Crystal Elbow does not have this step.Just roll it up after cooking.

After Feng Weiguo's explanation, several people realized that the difference between elbow and elbow flower is not small.

Xu Zhuo made up his mind that he must make elbow flowers later!

But now that I don't have the skills, it is reasonable to make crystal elbows first.

After he and Cao Kun "deduced" the whole process of making crystal elbows, they drove to the market to buy some elbows and planned to make them by hand.

If the elbow wants to have a crystal-clear appearance, the pigskin must be thoroughly cleaned.

This step is the most important step in making crystal elbows, even more important than marinating elbows.

Because the crystal elbow is a food with secondary seasoning, even if the taste is not enough when it is marinated, it doesn't matter.

Just control the taste of the sauce in the end.

However, if the meat skin is not cleaned, the resulting elbow will become muddy, without the crystal clear visual effect at all.

The store makes crystal skin jelly almost every day, so it is very good at handling pig skin.

First soak in clean water to soften the pork skin of the elbow, and then scrape off the remaining hair on the pork skin with a knife.

Next, add water to the pot, put the elbows into the pot under cold water, add scallions and ginger slices, pour in a tablespoon of cooking wine, turn on high heat and boil to blanch the elbows.

After the water is boiled, skim off the foam first, then take out the elbow and wash it with warm water.

At this time, some remaining pig hairs in the pigskin will be exposed, just use tweezers to grab the opportunity.

Then scrape it with a kitchen knife to remove as much of the impurities in the pores as possible.

After scraping, place it in slightly warmer water for a final rinse.

Next, it's time for the deboning step.

There is only one big bone in the pork knuckle, so it is not difficult to remove it.

Just use a knife to cut along the pork knuckle until it reaches the bone, and then lift off the cut meat to remove the big pork bone in the middle.

However, there is usually fascia on the bone, so when the bone is finally removed, the fascia on the bone must be carefully cut off with a boning knife.

After the bone is removed, the elbow becomes a large piece of thick meat, because the inside cannot be blanched during blanching, so at this time, blood seeps out of the meat continuously.

A second blanching is required.

Put the boneless pork into the cold water pot one by one, add the scallion and ginger slices cooking wine again, and start the second blanching.

This step cannot be skipped, because the blood in the meat will also affect the final color of the crystal elbow.

And because the pigskin is difficult to clean after cutting, it is necessary to clean the pigskin first, and then cut the elbow to remove the bone.

After blanching for the second time, the entire elbow has become white and tender.

Xu Zhuo used warm water to clean off the scum adhering to the pork knuckle, and then began to marinate it.

Put the cleaned elbow skin side up into the pot.

After adding water to boil, skim off the remaining foam, and then add ginger, rock sugar, cooking wine, pepper, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, and green onion in sequence.

Reduce the heat to medium and let the elbows simmer in the pot.

If you want crystal elbows to have a good color, you cannot use stewed soup that is too dark. In addition, this is a second-seasoned food, so it is not suitable for stewed soup.

In this way, it is stewed with white water and a little spice. It is very good in both color and taste.

"Huh... If this crystal elbow is made, there will be another hard dish in our store."

Cao Kun seemed very happy, and this was done step by step through discussions between him and Xu Zhuo, so he felt a strong sense of accomplishment psychologically.

Xu Zhuo was also very happy.

Finally, I made this dish justifiably.

This kind of marinated dish is different from stir-fried dishes. Everyone is not surprised to make a new-style stir-fried dish from time to time.

Because there are so many cooking tutorials on the Internet, as long as you really want to do it, anyone can make it.

But stewed products are different. Although there are tutorials on the Internet, most of them are unclear.

If a new dish of lo-mei is made every now and then, it is estimated that everyone should suspect the source of the dish.

After the elbow meat was stewed for more than 40 minutes, the elbow meat was cooked through, so Xu Zhuo added three spoons of salt to the pot.

It is necessary to add a base flavor to the elbow, so that it tastes more delicious.

After adding the salt, you have to turn on the fire.

This allows the salt to slowly seep into the meat.

In addition, the soup in the pot will become turbid when stewed in such a low heat, which can keep the pigskin crystal clear.

Chapter 632

After another 10 minutes, the pork knuckle in the pot was already stewed, so Xu Zhuo turned off the fire.

Let the pork soak in the soup for about ten minutes, then remove the meat and put it on a plate to cool.

Although the crystal elbow needs to be rolled up, it cannot be done right away, because at this time, the skin of the meat is very soft and the meat inside is also very loose, and the meat will crack if you apply a little force.

So you have to wait for the temperature of the meat to drop slightly before rolling it up for shaping.

"What is this? An elbow?"

When Xu Zhuo and Cao Kun were staring at the elbow meat in the tray, the old man walked in suddenly.

Xu Zhuo was supposed to go to accompany Sun Lisong this week, but he had to be busy with business in the store and wanted the old man to rest by the way, so he asked the old man to go for him.

The old man looked at the elbow meat hanging on the tray, and said with a smile: "It's well done, the crystal elbow should be like this, don't put any colored condiments, otherwise it will affect the color of the finished product."

"Xu Zhuo asked the old man curiously: "Grandpa, you can also make crystal elbows?" "

"meeting?"

The old man was not happy when he heard this: "Didn't you see the photo of me and a foreign woman hanging in your grandma's house?"

Xu Zhuo recalled, nodded and said, "I've seen it."

There was indeed a yellowed black and white photo in the old lady's room, which was a group photo of the old man with a middle-aged foreign woman when he was young.

At that time, the old man was probably in his 30s.

A group of handsome.

The foreign woman was in her fifties, tall and quite dignified.

but……

Does this have anything to do with crystal elbows?

The old man said indifferently: "That woman is Mrs. Thatcher. She came to the capital for the first time in 82. She ate my crystal elbows. She even wrote about it in her memoirs."

Ok?