Food starts with noodles

After Xu Zhuo kneaded the dough a little, he divided the dough into dough the size of a garlic mortar.

Take a surface agent and put it on the chopping board, roll it into a round cake about one centimeter with a rolling pin, and then brush a layer of oil on the surface.

After the oil is brushed, use a kitchen knife to cut off the center of the dough, and then draw a straight line toward the edge of the dough.

This is equivalent to drawing out the radius of the circular doughnut.

After cutting, start rolling along the diameter of the cut, roll the dough into a cone shape, with the tip of the cone facing upwards, and then flatten it with your hands.

When the dough is rolled out to a thickness of six or seven millimeters with a rolling pin again, the dough is ready.

There will be gaps in the middle of the cake made in this way, but the gaps will not be too large. If you don’t cut it, you can’t see it at all. It is naturally prepared for making cake shreds.

It happened that the gas baking pan had already been preheated, so Xu Zhuo picked up the cake base with a rolling pin and put it into the gas baking pan.

The cake used to make the shredded cake must be soft enough, that is, add more water when kneading the dough, so that the baked cake will not be dry and hard, but soft and firm. Whether it is fried cake or stewed cake, are very suitable.

The step of baking is simple. When both sides are baked until the color is browned, you can take it out of the pan, and then put it aside to cool.

In fact, good shredded pancakes are shredded after cooling overnight to soften the skin. The food produced in this way has a good taste and aroma.

This point is exactly the same as Yangzhou fried rice made with overnight rice.

But now, overnight is too late, the only way Xu Zhuo can think of is to send the cakes to the cold storage to speed up the cooling and softening speed, so as to make the cakes in the best condition possible.

"Xu Zhuo, the pancakes you make are too unpalatable. Let's not talk about the lack of chopped green onions. You don't even add salt. Is it popular to eat plain pancakes now?"

Ever since Xu Zhuo started making pancakes, Guo Xingwang kept them aside, waiting for something delicious.

When the cake was ready, he couldn't wait to tear a piece into his mouth and taste it, and then almost spit it out...

It's not that this kind of plain noodles is unpalatable, the main thing is that no matter what Xu Zhuo made delicious in the past, the taste was super good, making people want to eat it even after eating it.

Under this sense of anticipation, the plain noodles seemed a lot unpalatable.

"It's not ready yet. Send it to the cold storage. I'll let you try the stewed pancakes that we northerners love. It's absolutely delicious."

Although Guo Xingwang was a little dubious, he still obediently sent the noodles to the cold storage.

In this way, after Xu Zhuo baked all the noodles, he began to prepare the side dishes for making the braised cakes.

Pork belly, shredded cabbage, and onion, ginger, and garlic.

In fact, there is no need to be very particular about making stewed cakes. You can choose meat or vegetables. Except for the shredded cakes, you can mix and match other ingredients as you like.

After all, this is a home-cooked delicacy, and every household makes it differently, so it is difficult to limit it to one method.

After the side dishes were ready, Xu Zhuo took out the cooled cake from the freezer and began to cut the cake into shreds.

Depending on the method, the cutting method of the shredded cake is also different.

Take stewed cakes as an example, the bread shreds used are about ten centimeters long and six to seven millimeters wide. They must be stewed with bone broth to taste the best, and the length of ten centimeters is just enough to eat in one mouthful.

As for the pancake shreds used to make fried pancakes, it needs to be narrower, so that it can be flavored during rapid frying, and it is also easy to match with side dishes.

As for the shreds of stewed cakes, they also need to be six to seven millimeters wide, but there is no limit to the length. It should be as long as possible, so that it will feel like eating stewed noodles.

The method of braised cakes is actually very similar to stewed noodles. First, stir-fry the diced meat, then pour water into the boil, then add shredded cakes or noodles and simmer over low heat.

However, there are also differences. For example, raw noodles are used for stewed noodles, while cooked cake shreds are used for stewed cakes, so there is a big difference in the production time.

Because the braised noodles are raw noodles, they absorb more soup, but the braised cakes are relatively ordinary.

However, broth can be added to stewed cakes, such as pork bone broth, which can increase the flavor, but stewed noodles can only be watered, because raw noodles are easy to stick to the bottom of the pot when added with broth.

Xu Zhuo cut the cake from the middle, then aligned the side of the cut, and began to cut into shreds.

Just like cutting hand-rolled noodles, cut the knife at an interval of six or seven millimeters, and then cut into strips.

However, the hand-rolled noodles are relatively thin, while the cake shreds are quite thick, with a thickness of six to seven millimeters, which is almost the same as the width.

In addition, it is already baked, so it is a little difficult to cut the shreds.

After Xu Zhuo finished cutting the pie, he looked at the system's countdown, and there were still more than 20 minutes left.

It can indeed save a lot of time to use Jianguohe's noodles and put them in the cold storage to speed up the cooling, but it's hard to say how the stewed cakes taste.

So Xu Zhuo was not complacent because there were more than 20 minutes left, but a little nervous, because these 20 minutes were only enough to make a pot of stewed cakes.

Once he misses, he doesn't even have time to make up for it.

Slide the frying pan, heat it up and put in lard, when the lard melts and smoke comes out of the pan, Xu Zhuo puts diced pork belly into it and stir-fries.

It is actually not very good to fry pork with lard, because the aroma of lard will be too strong.The correct way is to stir-fry vegetarian dishes in meat oil, which is the right way to cook meat dishes in vegetable oil.

But just now Ji Wenxuan specifically talked about lard, which means that he especially liked to eat lard when he was young, so in order to make him feel like when he was young, Xu Zhuo replaced vegetable oil with lard.

When the diced meat in the pot was fried until the surface was browned, Xu Zhuo put the onion, ginger, and garlic into the pot to saute until fragrant, then added light soy sauce to enhance the color and taste, and added salt and sugar to enhance the taste.

After finishing these, put the shredded cabbage into the pot, stir-fry a few times, and then pour into a large bowl of pork bone broth.

Some places make stewed cakes, and they like to add sweet noodle sauce and soybean paste, but this time Xu Zhuo didn’t put it, because when Ji Wenxuan and the others were young, sweet noodle sauce was not used so much.

In addition, once the sauce is put on, it will overwhelm the fragrance of the ingredients, leaving only the fragrance of the sauce in this delicious dish.

This is absolutely unbearable for picky state banquet chefs.

After the broth was boiled, Xu Zhuo added some dark soy sauce to enhance the color, then sprinkled in a spoonful of pepper and a spoonful of five-spice powder, stirred evenly, put in shredded cake, covered the pot, turned down the heat, and started to simmer.

Don't rush this step, you have to take it slowly, so that the soup can penetrate into the shredded cake as much as possible.

In fact, at this time, the fragrance has already wafted out. After all, it is made of lard, and there is pork belly in it, so the fragrance is enough.

After Guo Xingwang was busy with the work in hand, he followed the scent and came over.

"Wow, this tastes too good, right? Xu Zhuo, is it the kind of bread that was baked just now?"

Xu Zhuo nodded: "How is it? Do you want to learn?"

Guo Xingwang nodded: "Your northern pasta really has something to offer, such as this stewed cake, which completely exceeded my expectations."

"Then do you want to learn?"

"I think so, but lately Grandpa Feng always asks me to practice kneading, and doesn't let me do anything else. He also said that my brain is too stupid, not like yours."

Tsk, Xu Zhuo was just about to lure this guy to Feng Weiguo, but he didn't expect him to take the initiative to reveal his relationship with Feng Weiguo.

They all took the initiative to start teaching him how to make dough. This is a good start. After the Chinese New Year, fan the wind and light the fire, and this matter will probably be done.

Thinking of this, Xu Zhuo pointed at Jianguo and said to Guo Xingwang, "Jianguo is in charge of the pastry now. If you have nothing to do, communicate with him more, and practice in private if you have nothing to do. Don't wait for Grandpa Feng to urge you."

"But he keeps saying I'm stupid..."

"To say you're stupid is to treat you as one of your own. It means that he wants you to teach you. You see, Grandpa Feng usually finds ways to compliment even the new kitchen assistant. He never speaks harshly."

A word to wake up the dreamer, Xu Zhuo's words made Guo Xingwang come to his senses immediately, and he didn't wait to eat stewed cakes, so Le Diandian ran to Jianguo's side and began to ask for advice on making noodles.

In fact, Boss Xu is still the one with the highest level of kneading in the store, but he can only cook but not teach, so he chose to ask Guo Xingwang to ask Jianguo for advice.

Speaking of teaching, Xu Zhuo remembered that there was still a task to standardize the tutorials. When he had time, he thought about how to do it, so that he could exchange some rewards.

After the pan was stuffy for about ten minutes, Xu Zhuo lifted the lid, and a tempting fragrance rose up.

There is only a little soup left at the bottom of the pot, and the shredded pancakes have become very oily. With the color of soy sauce, people want to eat two bites just by looking at it.

Cut some shredded green and red peppers and put them in, turn up the heat, then pick up the wok and quickly stir-fry for 1 minute.

All the soup in the pot has been absorbed into the shredded cake, and the shredded green and red cabbage peppers are also thoroughly mixed in the pot, and it can be out of the pot.

Xu Zhuo put the stewed cakes in bowls, there were four bowls in total, but none of them were full.

This is his deliberate intention to complete the task. A lot of food will only feel delicious when there is less and it is not satisfying to eat.

For example, foie gras and caviar, if you put a large bowl there, you will probably feel tired and even nauseated in a short time.

The same is true for stewed cakes. You can finish the task in just three or five mouthfuls, even if it is difficult to eat.

When this kind of ups and downs, basically everyone will have the idea of ​​having another bowl.

The task is naturally completed.

Put the four bowls of stewed cakes on the tray, and Xu Zhuo carried them upstairs himself.

As soon as he arrived at the door, Xu Zhuo heard Feng Weiguo, Zhao Jinma and Ji Wenxuan arguing loudly.

They are all northern chefs, and the skills they learn overlap a lot, so it is not uncommon for them to have disputes.

"Honey juice with a smile is a representative dish of our Jin cuisine, when did it become your Shandong cuisine?"

"This dish looks beautiful. It is a typical court dish. It must be Shandong cuisine. But...Master Zhao, why are you coaxing?"

"Honey Juice Opening Smile is Zhao Ji's signature dish, so I naturally have to quarrel with you, Jimin, to be fair, is this dish from the Central Plains?"

"Second brother, I'm a master of Lu cuisine, do you think I'll be with you?"

……

Xu Zhuo who was standing outside the door was taken aback for a moment, these old men were actually laughing while discussing honey, could it be that...

Is it time to devote yourself to learning how to use this skill?

Chapter 927

Honey Juice Smile is a famous dessert in Shanxi. Because of its beautiful color and shape, it is a must-have dish at wedding banquets in many places.

Not only in Shanxi, but in fact, in the whole of the north, this dish was almost always used in wedding banquets in the early years, but in recent years, the chefs have become lazy, and the honey sauce is usually replaced with finished candied dates.

Even in Shanxi, which is known as the birthplace, this slightly labor-intensive dish is showing signs of gradual decline.

Although there are objective factors that chefs are reluctant to do it, there are also reasons why people's concept of healthy eating has improved.

But in the final analysis, everyone is living a better life, and the demand for this kind of sweets is not as urgent and longing as in the past.

So this honey sauce, with a smile, has changed from a finale dish to a dessert for making up the numbers.

After the status of the dish is lowered, the chef will naturally not focus on this dish.

This is the law of the development of the times, and it is also a natural choice under the market economy, which cannot be changed by manpower.

but……

It's just a down-and-out dessert dish. As for making a few respectable old people quarrel like this?

Xu Zhuo opened the door with a puzzled face. He thought that his appearance would stop the quarrel between the face-saving old men, but he found that the old men quarreled more fiercely, and even asked him to comment.

"Xiaozhuo, I also taught you Shanxi cuisine. You said honey juice is Jin cuisine?"

"Son, tell Grandpa Zhao, is this honey juice from our Central Plains?"

"Little Zhuo, your grandfather and I are both masters of Lu cuisine. The origin of this palace dish... don't I need to say more?"

Tsk, the three old men were emotional and reasonable, as if they wanted Xu Zhuo to comment.

But Xu Zhuo took a look at the old man who was sitting firmly on Mount Tai, wisely he didn't get involved, but brought four bowls of stewed cakes to the table.

"Grandpa Ji, don't you want to eat stewed pancakes? Come here, how about my cooking?"

These words made the old men stop their quarrel, and their eyes were set on the bowl of stewed cake made by Xu Zhuo.

In terms of appearance alone, stewed cakes have inherited the consistent characteristics of northern cuisine - dark and oily, coupled with a more prominent salty taste, it makes up all the characteristics of northern cuisine.

Some places in the north, such as Jinan, not only have the characteristics of black, oily and salty, but also have to add a rotten one to make up Jinan four.

The stewed cakes made by Xu Zhuo are not bad, and because of the strong aroma, and Xu Zhuo's skills in arranging the dishes, the stewed cakes are quite attractive.

Ji Wenxuan picked up the bowl and sniffed it, looking intoxicated: "Well, this is the smell, Lao Xu, you should try it too, it's very similar to what we ate in the kitchen at the state banquet."

In fact, when Xu Zhuo first came in, the old man noticed the stewed pancakes he was carrying, but because he wanted to put on airs in front of outsiders, he didn't try it right away, but sat on a chair and waited quietly.

After listening to Ji Wenxuan's words now, he put down the phone pretendingly, frowned slightly, looked at the stewed cake in front of him with scrutiny, and muttered something rare and strange in his mouth.

Ji Wenxuan was stunned for a moment, and looked at the old man in disbelief: "Do you often eat braised cakes made by Xiao Zhuo?"

Feng Weiguo snorted disdainfully: "We're all tired of eating, so it's just you. I haven't seen Xiaozhuo's craftsmanship yet, what do you think, Brother Xu?"

Tsk, this is flattering, no wonder the old man didn't end the quarrel just now, with such a talkative younger brother around, it's really impossible to quarrel.

After the pretense, several old people began to taste Xu Zhuo's handicraft.

The shredded pancake is salty and delicious, soft on the outside when chewed, and has the unique tenacity of pasta inside. Coupled with the attractive aroma of lard, it is very craving.

Ji Wenxuan took a sip and couldn't help complaining to the old man: "Xiaozhuo has such a good craftsmanship, why didn't you reveal it before?"