Food starts with noodles

Whether a chef's knife skills are superb, a dish of Wensi tofu can be fully displayed.

After Yu Peiyong finished his preparations, he took a kitchen knife and started cutting.

Before cutting, he poured some water on the tofu.

Lactone tofu itself has a very high water content. Now pour water on the tofu to make the whole tofu look watery.

But what Yu Peiyong wanted was this effect. The more water on top of the tofu, the smoother it would be to cut, and the less the cut tofu would stick to the knife.

When starting to cut, Yu Peiyong first grabbed the kitchen knife and quickly cut a few times on the cutting board, trying to get used to the rhythm of cutting tofu.

When cutting tofu, the rhythm is more important than the strength, because the tofu itself is not thick, and the lactone tofu on the shelf is as soft as nothing, so as long as you master the rhythm of cutting, you can basically succeed in half.

The other half of success is the control of distance.

After Yu Peiyong cut a few times on the cutting board, he put the four fingers of his left hand on the side of the tofu block to form a support, while the thumb of his left hand was raised horizontally, just touching the edge of the kitchen knife. knife face.

It is important to move the left hand back very slowly when cutting, as this sets the rhythm of the right hand cutting.

Yu Peiyong started to cut the tofu, and saw that the blade quickly fell into the tofu, then lifted up, and stopped at a centimeter above the tofu. Using the gravity of the kitchen knife, the blade cut into the tofu again.

This process sounds very slow, but in fact each knife is completed in an instant. During the whole cutting process, the kitchen knife cannot be seen clearly at all, only the bright blade rises and falls again and again, and the cut tofu slices are It continued to maintain a complete shape, as if it had not been cut.

While Yu Peiyong was cutting tofu, Xu Zhuo was not idle. He took his mobile phone and started to shoot a video, planning to send it to Moments later, so that everyone can see it.

Posting this news is not only to show off, but also to make a preview of the next year's program.

Xu Zhuo can’t tell if other dishes will be photographed in the next year, but this Wensi tofu must be photographed below. After all, this dish is too eye-catching and artistic, even for people who have no sense of food at all. , will also be attracted by such videos.

Yu Peiyong cut the tofu to the end in one go. Although his hands did not shake from the beginning to the end, and the strength and rhythm were maintained very well, when he put down the kitchen knife, his hands still trembled unconsciously, and on his forehead, there was Covered with beads of sweat.

After all, he is also in his 70s, and such high-intensity operations are somewhat tiring, which makes Yu Peiyong a little bit powerless.

But after he wiped his sweat and drank his saliva, he continued to operate.

The first is to wash the kitchen knife again with clean water, and then pour some clean water on the cut tofu with your hands, so that some debris on the surface of the tofu can be washed away and the texture of the tofu slices can be revealed.

At the same time, pouring water on the tofu at this moment can also make the tofu more moist, which is convenient for the next operation.

The next operation is very simple, which is to pour the sliced ​​tofu slices.

The sliced ​​tofu slices look a little leftward as a whole, because they were cut from the right when they were sliced ​​just now.

But you can’t shred it like this, so turn the tofu slices over first, and let the tofu slices tilt to the right, preferably at 45 degrees, so that the cut tofu slices will be more symmetrical and beautiful.

The specific operation of turning over is very simple, that is, use a knife dipped in water, and slowly wipe the tofu slices that are inclined to the left to the right.

"Xiaozhuo, you can see clearly, you must wipe it gently so that the tofu slices can be turned over. At this time, the tofu will break when you touch it, but you must not be impatient, let alone use force. Drizzle some water and use the water to wipe the tofu slices over."

After finishing speaking, Yu Peiyong taught Xu Zhuo a simple method, or a tricky method, that is, after slicing, turn the cutting board 180 degrees, so that the tofu slices will automatically turn over without wiping.

However, this method can only be used by beginners. If the chef does this, his peers will laugh at him.

After turning the tofu slices over, Yu Peiyong dipped the kitchen knife in water again, and then cut off all the uneven parts on the four sides, so that the cut tofu shreds would be more neat and beautiful.

After dealing with these, he adjusted his breathing and began to prepare for shredding.

Shredding is the same as slicing, you have to cut a few times to adjust the rhythm first, and you also need to cut to the end in one breath without stopping in the middle.

After Yu Peiyong started cutting, the old man walked over with his arms in his arms. He watched Yu Peiyong cut the tofu seriously, and said after a while: "Your grandfather Yu's basic skills are very solid, and a person of his age can still maintain this kind of tofu. People who work with knives are really rare."

The old man and Zheng Guangyao's knife skills are also very good, but when it comes to Chevinsi tofu, they are a bit reluctant.

The reluctance here does not mean that they cannot cut it, but that they are not calm when cutting it, and they are not as relaxed and freehand as other dishes.

After Pei Yong cut it, the old man handed over the towel and said, "The next step is to moisten the shredded tofu. This step seems simple, but there are actually many ways to do it. Xiao Zhuo, you have to pay attention..."

Chapter 1389 Vance Tofu

The shredded tofu can't be put directly into the pot for cooking, it needs to be moistened with warm water first.

The specific method is to pour half a basin of warm water that is not hot, add two small spoons of salt and stir it, then use a kitchen knife to carefully scrape up the shredded tofu and gently put it into the basin.

After putting it in, turn it gently on the water surface with the back of the spoon to make the water in the basin rotate, and use the water flow to let the shredded tofu slowly rippling in the water.

Warm water and salt can remove the beany smell in the tofu, and at the same time add some toughness to the shredded tofu, so that the taste will be better.

With Yu Peiyong's stirring, the tofu shreds in the basin gradually spread out, and each strand was like strands of hair.

Not to mention whether this dish is delicious or not, the scene of smoothing the tofu silk alone already makes people feel that it is worth the money.

This kind of picture has almost broken away from the category of cooking, thus reaching the realm of art.

After all the shredded tofu is moistened, the whole pot of water is full of silver hairs, one by one sinking up and down in the pot, coupled with the still circling water, people will unconsciously think of the Tai Chi diagram.

After moistening the shredded tofu, you have to soak it for a while.

Taking advantage of this time, Yu Peiyong began to cut the side dishes.

First of all, let the shiitake mushrooms be sent out, remove the stalks first, then place them flat on the chopping board, start to slice the shiitake mushrooms with the flat knife method, and slice the shiitake mushrooms into pieces.

The slices should be as thin as possible, so that the shredded shiitake mushrooms will be as thin as tofu shreds.

Compared with tofu, shiitake mushrooms are much easier to cut, and the amount of shiitake mushrooms is very small, just for embellishment, so one shiitake mushroom is enough.

After the shiitake mushrooms were cut, they were placed on a plate, and then Yu Peiyong chopped fresh bamboo shoots, Jinhua ham, cooked chicken breast and rape leaves into very thin shreds.

After all these ingredients are cut, put a frying pan on the Peiyong rack, add water to the pan, and then turn on the fire to boil the water, ready to blanch these ingredients.

Blanching water can wake up the umami substances in the ingredients, remove the peculiar smell in the ingredients, and at the same time allow the ingredients to adapt to the high temperature in advance.

After the water in the pot boiled, Xu Zhuo poured a little cooking wine into it, stirred it with a spoon, and when the water in the pot boiled again, he poured the shredded ham into the pot.

The shredded ham should be blanched first, because the shredded ham contains salt and contains a lot of umami substances. If you blanch the shredded ham first, the umami substances and salt can stay in the water, so that the ingredients that are blanched later will taste better. a little better.

Under normal circumstances, shredded ham does not need to be blanched, because this kind of dish basically uses high-quality parts such as the top, let alone blanched, it is fine to eat raw.

But this kind of shredded ham has one disadvantage, that is, it cannot emit all the umami substances in a short time.

Because the meat at the top and the like is relatively dense, the taste is relatively slow to release, and Wensi tofu is a dish that will not be cooked for a long time, so the taste of shredded ham will not reach the perfect level.

At this time, you have to burn the ham in advance to let the taste of the shredded ham out in advance. When cooking like this, the taste of the shredded ham will reach its best state.

The shredded ham doesn't need to be blanched for too long, it can be taken out after about 1 minute in a boiling pot.

After taking it out, Yu Peiyong put the shredded chicken breast in and scalded it again.

Shredded chicken breasts are cut from cooked chicken breasts, which are cooked meat. The reason to blanch the shredded meat is to let the shredded meat adapt to the heat. This does not need to be cooked for too long, half a minute will do.

After the shredded chicken breast was fished out, Yu Peiyong also poured shredded shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots into the pot.

Unlike the first two items that are purely scalded and heated, these two items really need to be blanched, because regardless of the strong taste of the shiitake mushrooms, if they are not washed off with water, it will affect the overall appearance of the dish.

The winter bamboo shoots have an astringent taste, and the taste and texture will be greatly reduced if they are not blanched.

After all these ingredients are blanched, they can be made.

"Grandpa Yu, don't you blanch the rapeseed leaves?"

Xu Zhuo asked curiously, under normal circumstances, when cooking rapeseed leaves, they would be blanched in water. This would remove the astringency of the leaves and make the leaves brighter.

But in this dish, the rapeseed leaves are chopped up, but they are not blanched. What's the situation?

The old man said: "The rapeseed leaves cannot be blanched, because after the Wensi tofu is cooked, put some rapeseed leaves with a slightly astringent taste, which can neutralize the greasyness of the dish, and besides, it has been cut into thin strands as thin as a hair. , put it in boiling water and it will shatter, how can it be blanched?"

Yu Peiyong poured out the water in the pot, washed it again and put it on the stove.

Turn on the fire, dry the pot, then pour the clear chicken soup made yesterday into the pot, and turn on the medium and low heat to cook slowly.

The clear chicken soup in the pot cannot be boiled on high heat, because a sharp increase in temperature will make the original clear chicken soup cloudy, so it must be heated slowly over low heat.

The low fire and slow cooking can also turn the impurities in the chicken soup into froth, which can be completely cleaned out from the chicken soup, making the clear chicken soup more pure.

After 10 minutes, the chicken broth in the pot was heated up, and some froth appeared on the surface. Yu Peiyong patiently beat the froth out, and waited until the water in the pot boiled.

Taking advantage of this time, he took a large fine-mesh sieve and put it on an empty basin, and then took a basin soaked with shredded tofu, and poured the water in the basin into the sieve.

In this way, the shredded tofu is filtered out.

After filtering, put the shredded tofu aside to control the water. At this time, the chicken soup in the pot has almost boiled, and the kitchen is filled with the unique umami of chicken soup.

After Yu Peiyong beat off the foam, he didn't add tofu immediately, but seasoned it first.

The seasoning of this dish is very simple, a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of sugar, half a teaspoon of pepper, three seasonings are put in, and then stirred with a spoon, that's it.

After seasoning, Yu Peiyong turned the heat to low, and when the chicken soup in the pot was no longer boiling, put shredded mushrooms, shredded ham, shredded winter bamboo shoots, and shredded chicken breast into the pot.

After putting it in, use the back of the spoon to gently turn the hot soup, so that the water will be driven to stir these ingredients evenly.

After stirring, Yu Pei still didn't put tofu, but poured the starch water that had been made before into the pot.

After pouring it in, turn it gently with the back of the spoon again to fully stir the soup and starch water in the pot evenly.

"It's made of glass gorgon. You don't need too much. If you drink too much, it will burn your mouth. You just need to make the soup thicker, so that the shredded tofu can be suspended in the soup and won't sink to the bottom of the pot."

After the starch water is stirred, it's time to put shredded tofu in it.

He poured the shredded tofu from the fine-mesh sieve into the pot, and continued to turn the soup surface with the back of a spoon. The slightly viscous chicken broth slowly stirred the shredded tofu, and then blended with the side dishes in the pot.

Continue to stir for 1 minute. After the shredded tofu is fully flavored, Yu Peiyong pours the shredded rapeseed leaves into the pot. After continuing to stir, this Wensi tofu is completely finished and can be tasted out of the pot.

Chapter 1390 Happy New Year to everyone!

Yu Peiyong brought the soup pot, and then used a spoon to scoop out the Wensi tofu in the pot and put it in the pot.

When pouring into the basin, he tried to put the spoon in the middle, so that after filling, the ingredients in the basin, no matter the shredded tofu or the other ingredients, would radiate from the center to the surroundings, which looked very beautiful .

Wensi Tofu is ready, but if you want to taste it, you have to wait a while.

Because Yu Peiyong and the old man actually talked about the things to pay attention to in this dish, which was obviously for Xu Zhuo to listen to.

Not to mention the knife skills in the first half of this dish, there is no other way but to practice hard, and there are still some small skills in other aspects.

For example, clear chicken soup only needs to be boiled when it is seasoned. At other times, the heat should be lowered, and the soup in the pot should not be boiled as much as possible.

This not only has the requirement to ensure the integrity of the ingredients, but more importantly, after the chicken soup boils, not only will a large amount of umami substances in it volatilize, but also if the chicken soup boils for too long, it is likely to change from a clear soup to a muddy soup, which will affect the dishes. The overall presentation and taste, so try to avoid.

In addition, after seasoning, add the side dishes first and then the tofu, so that the flavor of the side dishes can be integrated into the soup, and then add the shredded tofu, so that the flavors of all the ingredients will be integrated into the shredded tofu, making the taste even more outstanding.

It should be noted here that regardless of the side dishes or shredded tofu, do not stir vigorously, but use the back of the spoon to gently rotate on the surface of the soup, let the chicken soup in the pot turn, and use the water flow to stir the ingredients evenly .

This will not only keep the ingredients intact, but also make the ingredients blend more evenly, making it look more appetizing.

The last point is, when filling the bowl with Wensi tofu, let the Wensi tofu fall from the middle of the bowl, so that the filled tofu will face the middle part one by one, and the price will be perfect.

These are the experiences of the two, and Xu Zhuo memorized them one by one.

Well, although it is not necessary, but in case there is a need to explain in the future, you can take it out and show it off.

Pretend to be aggressive, so you have to plan ahead. You can’t look around for information and ask others for advice when you need it. You should pay more attention to these knowledge points in normal times.

After the two old people finished explaining, they went to work on other dishes, and Xu Zhuo started to deliver the finished Wensi tofu to the restaurant.

Today is New Year's Eve, and the food is very rich. Apart from Wensi tofu, some other dishes that are not very common are also cooked today by several old people and Xu Wenhai.

Yu’s family took a large round table that could seat more than a dozen people, and it was full of delicious dishes. These delicious dishes were paired with the famous wines Yu Peiyong collected, and there were also dumplings of various flavors. The whole New Year’s Eve dinner It was complete in an instant.

The door gods of the couplets at home have been pasted up, and two large lanterns with a diameter of more than one meter are hung at the door. In addition to the various decorations for the New Year inside and outside the house, the whole New Year flavor comes out at once.

It's a pity that firecrackers are banned now. If there are another firecrackers, the taste of the New Year will be more intense.

No matter which channel on TV is talking about Chinese New Year, and various game platforms and shopping websites have also launched gift packages related to New Year's Eve.

When the sun sets and the lanterns first come on, the New Year's Eve dinner at Yu's family officially begins.

Reunion is the eternal theme of the New Year's Eve dinner. Relatively speaking, food is not the first priority, but modern people's life is getting more and more affluent, so the New Year's Eve dinner is naturally prepared very richly.

For example, the old man specially used ingredients such as scallops, sea cucumbers, abalone, and fish maw to make the famous Kongfu Yipin Hot Pot at home and abroad.

Yu Peiyong also made more classic Huaiyang dishes such as Wensi tofu.

As for Zheng Guangyao, he originally planned to make roast suckling pig, but the equipment at home was not complete, and the time was too tight, and there was no preparation, so the roast suckling pig was not made, but he also made crispy squab, roast goose, Classic Cantonese dishes like steamed grouper.

The table is full of dishes, and there is no way to finish them today. Xu Zhuo expects to eat leftovers in the next two or three days.

The current New Year’s Eve dinner is basically like this. On the eve of the New Year’s Eve, you can prepare it vigorously, and then eat leftovers at home from the first day to the fourth day of the new year. On the fifth day, prepare a large table to eat until the tenth day of the new year. or so before the end.