Food starts with noodles

For example, the duck neck should be stroked, so that not only the salt can completely penetrate into the duck skin, but also the meat and bones on the duck neck can be slightly separated.

This way it tastes better and is more convenient.

As for the duck breast, when kneading, it needs to be pressed with the help of a workbench.

In this way, the meat of the duck breast can be stretched and relaxed to the maximum extent, and the salt can be immersed more conveniently.

At the same time, this can also squeeze out the blood in the duck meat, making the taste of the duck meat firmer.

As for the duck wing roots and duck legs, it is necessary to rub as hard as possible to increase the elasticity of the duck meat without deforming the appearance.

Continue to rub the duck meat in this way until sweat-like drops of water ooze from the duck skin, which is good.

When kneading, the duck skin will become smoother and smoother, and the large grains of salt will completely clean out the dirt in the hair follicles of the duck skin, making the duck skin smoother and firmer.

In this way, not only will the appearance be better, but the taste of the duck skin will also become more resilient, and it will taste stronger.

After rubbing the duck inside and out, Xu Zhuo brought a large basin and put the ducks with salt and pepper on them layer by layer to marinate.

When it was released, Yu Peiyong came over and inspected it carefully, the more he looked at it, the more he felt that Xu Zhuo did it properly.

Xu Zhuo smiled and laughed: "It's mainly because I'm young and energetic, and I don't know how to knead it, so I just knead it vigorously. Anyway, it's raw meat, and it won't spoil it.

Grandpa Yu, what should we do next? "

Yu Peiyong smiled and said, "Then it's time to boil salt and brine."

When Xu Zhuo was planning to learn this yesterday, Yu Peiyong planned to ask Yu Changjiang to take a third of the brine from the back kitchen on the first floor and send it to the capital, so that Sifang Restaurant would have old brine.

But Xu Zhuo did not agree, because the brine on the first floor has been raised for so many years, and finally became a famous old brine in the Jiangnan area.

It may take a long time to return to the previous level, which is not worth the candle.

And now that I have an A-level skill, even if I don't have the old brine, the brine I make will not be too bad. At most, the duck meat I make doesn't have the mellow aroma of the old brine.

In other respects, there is no difference at all.

The practice of bittern is very simple, as long as there is enough salt.

The salt used to make the brine this time is large-grained sea salt. This kind of salt is rich in various trace elements and minerals, and has no anti-caking agent. Even if it is left for a long time, it will not deteriorate or lose its taste.

The amount of salt used is very high, about six catties of salt are needed for thirty catties of water, which is basically enough to reach the level of crystallization.

Only in this way can the concentration of brine be high, and the duck meat can be further marinated to taste.

In addition to salt, spices such as pepper, star anise, cinnamon, cloves and cumin are also used in the brine. In addition, when cooking, a little more green onion and ginger are added to increase the freshness of duck meat. The aroma, and at the same time, can further remove the peculiar smell in the duck meat, making the duck meat taste more delicious.

According to Yu Peiyong's prompt, Xu Zhuo put all the spices to be used into the brine bag, which can make the brine more pure. As long as it is replaced regularly, the brine will not deteriorate due to the corruption of the spices.

After installing it, Xu Zhuo put the big pot for stewed meat on the stove, filled half of the pot of water, brought it to a boil, and then put the prepared large grains of sea salt and spice packets into the pot.

Continue to cook.

During the cooking process, stir the pot with a spoon while cooking, which can increase the speed of the salt melting.

After about ten minutes, the salt in the pot has completely melted. At this time, turn off the fire and pour in the chopped green onion and ginger.

Put the onion and ginger after turning off the fire, which can reduce the onion smell in the brine, and also prevent the onion and ginger from being boiled for too long and dissipate along the water vapor.

After putting it in, the residual temperature in the pot is enough to force out the fragrance of the onion and ginger.

After the temperature in the pot drops slightly, you need to pour out the water in the pot, because it is concentrated salt water. If it is soaked in the pot for a long time, whether it is an iron pot, aluminum pot or stainless steel pot, it will cause damage to the pot. Reversed damage.

In addition, the metal in the metal pot will also change the color and taste of the brine.

If you want to keep the brine for a long time, you need to pour these brine into the water tank.

Only in this way can bittern be preserved for a long time.

After pouring these brines into the tank, all that's left is to wait.

Wait for the duck to be further marinated, and also wait for the brine to cool down completely. When the temperature has not dropped, even if the duck is marinated, it cannot be put in, because the temperature will make the taste of the duck worse. Put in a pot to cook.

After two hours, the temperature of the brine drops and it is ready for wet pickling.

Chapter 1516 Salted Duck (final)

Compared with dry pickling, the purpose of wet pickling is to let the salt water further dissolve the fat of the duck meat, so that the fat content in the duck meat is reduced, so that the duck meat tastes better.

After the temperature of the brine completely dropped, Xu Zhuogang took out the scallions and ginger slices from the brine soup.

At this moment, the soup already has the smell of scallion and ginger, and if it continues to soak, not only will the taste not become stronger, but even the two will rot in the soup.

As for the spice packs, they continue to soak in the soup. This kind of pack is usually changed once a week, so that the aroma can be fully released into the soup.

After cleaning up the scallions and ginger, Xu Zhuo brought over the dry-marinated ducks and put them into the water tank one by one to soak them.

After all the ducks are put in, press them in with a grate to prevent the ducks from floating on top and causing incomplete marinating.

"In the past, making salted duck requires soaking three times and drying it three times. It's much more troublesome than this." Looking at Xu Zhuo's operation, Yu Peiyong was filled with emotion.

Modern society pays attention to efficiency, no matter what you do, it is based on efficiency, so in the cooking process, some steps that are too troublesome and cumbersome will be eliminated.

For example, the three soaking and three drying times used when making salted duck is one of them.

Three times of soaking refers to soaking the dry-marinated duck in the brine three times, and three times of drying means that after each soaking, the duck must be taken out of the brine and wait until it is completely dry before putting it in the brine. Soak in brine.

After repeating this for three times, the duck meat will be completely marinated, and the moisture and fat in the duck meat will be greatly reduced, which makes the duck meat taste more attractive.

At the same time, repeated marinating can also make the duck meat have a strong salty flavor and taste more perfect.

However, this approach is really a waste of time. It may have been okay in the past to make such a big fuss for a little bit or even a difference that cannot be tasted at all.

But in modern society, this is simply a loss-making business.

In fact, Xu Zhuo also wants to try this way, but he still has to consider the cost, benefit, and rate of return.

Now is not the era of Sifangguan. At that time, it was open for business when it was happy, and it was closed for rest when it was not happy.

But now, there is a group of employees waiting for him to pay his salary.

There are about 200 employees in the store, plus those from the company and the stewed meat factory in the provincial capital, as well as several Xu Xiaochu retail stores in the provincial capital.

These employees are all counting on Xu Zhuo to live, so he can't be willful.

Besides, even the A-level skill tutorials are not like this, so Xu Zhuo naturally wouldn't consider these extravagances.

After the duck is soaked in brine, the rest is a long wait, because it needs to be soaked in brine for six hours before it can be fished out for the next step.

While waiting, Xu Zhuo was not idle, because he had to make the soup for the salted duck in advance.

In fact, after the salted duck is marinated, it can be stewed directly in clear water on a low heat. There is no need to prepare other things, because the duck meat has been thoroughly cooked to taste, and there may even be a little too much salt in the duck meat.

When cooking, it is best to cook directly with clean water, so that the excess salt in the duck meat can be cooked out.

However, most of the ducks nowadays are quick-cooked feed, and the aroma of the duck meat itself is inherently insufficient. In addition, modern people's tastes are getting heavier, and the general aroma can no longer attract them.

So if you want salted duck to taste delicious, you have to add some other ingredients when cooking.

For example, the duck soup that Xu Zhuo is preparing to cook now is one of them.

The so-called duck soup is a broth made from duck racks and duck meat. This soup has a strong aroma of duck meat. If it is used to cook salted duck, it can make the duck meat taste more fragrant.

Moreover, there are substances such as duck oil in the soup, which will adhere to the duck meat, which will make the duck meat more fragrant and smell more delicious.

The cooking of duck soup is very simple, even if Xu Zhuo has no skills, he can make it completely.

Put the prepared duck rack and duck meat into a basin to soak the bleeding water, then fill the pot with water, put the duck rack and duck meat into the pot under cold water, add green onion, ginger, cooking wine and spice packets, and start to boil the water.

After the water boils, skim off the froth and continue cooking.

In order to increase the umami taste, you can also put some chicken racks in it, but you can't put too much, because this dish must reveal the taste of duck meat.

If it tastes like other ingredients, it's off topic.

The broth should be boiled for more than three hours. If there is enough time, you can continue to boil.

However, the broth does not mean that the longer the cooking time, the better, because during the cooking process, the fragrant substances in the broth will float away with the water vapor, so it is generally boiled for this kind of single-ingredient broth, and it takes only four or five hours. enough.

Only some large or comprehensive broths, such as pork bone broth, beef bone broth, etc., need to be boiled for a longer time, otherwise the taste will not come out.

The cooked duck soup is relatively thick and milky white, with a thick layer of fat floating on the top.

It stands to reason that all the fat in the broth needs to be removed, so that the aroma of the soup will be more intense.

But it is not necessary to make duck soup for salted duck, because the aroma of duck oil is strong, and adding it to the soup can effectively increase the aroma of duck meat.

Although the delicacy of salted duck has low fat content, after this series of operations, the fat on the surface of the salted duck has increased, which can make the duck meat fatter and taste better.

After the duck was soaked in salt water for six hours, Xu Zhuo took out the duck inside, washed it with clean water, and hung it on a duck drying rack to dry it under controlled water.

This step cannot be missed, and it is very necessary.

Because the duck has been soaked in high-concentration salt water for several hours, the fat in the duck meat has begun to dissolve. If it is hung up now, the fat in the duck meat will drip down with the water.

This can reduce the fat content in duck meat, make the fat layer between duck skin and duck meat thinner, and make duck meat taste more delicious.

When the duck is dry inside and out, it's time to cook it.

Xu Zhuo added half a pot of water to the pot and boiled it, then put in the onion, ginger and marinated ingredients, then poured in half a pot of duck soup that had been boiled before, and finally turned down the heat to keep the soup in the pot at [-] degrees about.

Then, start putting ducks in it.

When placing the duck, lift the neck of the duck up and down in the pot for a few times, so that the duck's abdominal cavity can be heated evenly, so that the duck meat will not shrink and the taste will not deteriorate.

After repeating this in the pot a few times, put the duck head down into the pot and let the duck legs face up, which can prevent air from remaining in the abdominal cavity.

After all the ducks are put into the pot, the pot can be covered and boiled.

Chapter 1517 As expected of an A-level dish, amazing!

Compared with other stewed meat dishes, the boiling process of salted duck is much simpler. The only thing that needs attention is that the soup in the pot cannot be boiled during the cooking process.

This is very important, it is related to the taste of the salted duck after it is done.

If it is boiled, the duck skin of the salted duck may be boiled, so that the duck skin will not taste chewy and chewy, and it will also affect the overall appearance of the dishes.

In addition, this low-temperature cooking method can store more water in the muscle fibers of duck meat, so that when you eat it, you can taste the juicy and rich taste.

But if the soup in the pot boils, the moisture in the meat will be boiled out due to the boiling of the soup. The duck meat produced in this way will taste old and hard, and the taste will not be good. It's very important, I'd rather keep the fire a little longer and cook for a while, than let the soup in the pot boil.

Otherwise, the salted duck will be greatly reduced.

This is very similar to the white-cut chicken in Cantonese cuisine. It is cooked at low temperature in order to pursue the taste.

The cooking time is very short, and the fire can be turned off in half an hour.

After turning off the heat, simmer for another 10 minutes, then take it out of the pot, put it on a tray or put it in a bamboo basket to dry out the water, then let it cool and enjoy it.

The whole process is much simpler than the previous tedious steps.

When Xu Zhuo carefully took out the cooked salted ducks one by one from the pot with a colander, he was still in a daze, because these ducks didn't look cooked at all.

He was very worried that when he chopped it later, blood would still ooze from the meat inside.

If that's the case, it means that the complete rollover failed.

Although this kind of situation is basically impossible for A-level skills, Xu Zhuo is still a little bit worried.

There was no way, the duck that was fished out of the pot was raw, and even the duck skin looked almost like a raw duck, which made Xu Zhuo a little worried.

Yu Peiyong, on the other hand, took a look at these salted ducks just out of the pan, and kept praising Xu Zhuo's craftsmanship.

In addition to being happy, I even plan to have two drinks tonight.

Although Xu Zhuo has experience in cooking other duck meats, he was able to cook salted duck so well, which was beyond Pei Yong's expectations.

In a happy mood, I naturally want to drink two glasses.

Regarding this, the old man had no objection, and kept urging Ji Wenxuan to take out his treasured Erguotou to taste.

"Those wines are just for people to drink. If you don't drink them up, you'd rather keep them in your collection. Besides, take them out and taste them first to see if they taste salty. If you let them go bad, you'll be at a loss."

These words made Ji Wenxuan a little dumbfounded, but he still called Ji Mingyu on the phone and asked Ji Mingyu to send over two bottles of Erguotou that he kept at home.

Other people's grandsons are capable, why should they get the wine by themselves?