The Garden Life of a Little Gardener

The Zou family's kitchen is on the first floor. Compared with the whole old small second floor, the kitchen is much neater and more elegant, and it can be called unique.

A kitchen occupies at least half of the first floor, with bright lights and complete facilities. When Zhou Quan came here with the grandparent and grandson, he almost thought that he had left the small second floor and came to the kitchen. The central kitchen of a top hotel.

Although he hasn't been back for many years, it can be seen that Chef Bao is still very familiar with the situation here. He found the cabinet hidden in the decoration on the kitchen side, and quickly changed into a chef uniform.

The old man Zou on the side also put on his sleeves, put on his chef hat, tidied up his clothes and said, "There is nothing else in the kitchen today, the main dish is just fish, let's see what we are going to do with the spoon?"

There is a large refrigerator standing on the west side of the kitchen, and the volume is not small when you open the four doors.

Chef Bao is very aware of the order in which his master placed the ingredients, so he opened the fresh-keeping room and turned to the bottom floor. Sure enough, rows of chilled river fish were placed here.

These river fish are all spoils brought back by Mr. Zou after going out for a day. Because they are wild fish caught, there are all kinds of big and small.

Chef Bao counted roughly, there must be at least a dozen of them, and he couldn't help saying: "Master is lucky today, not only the number of fish he caught, but also several big ones."

Mr. Zou said proudly after hearing the words: "Not all of them were caught by me. I only lifted ten rods today and caught seven or eight fish. My old fishing friends know the few big fish lying here. Our family came back today, and specially gave it to me."

The old man has been fond of fishing for more than ten years, and he is well-known in the fishing circle in the city.

He is kind and kind, and Shi Chang would share the fish he caught with his friends, so when they knew that his family was here, everyone generously donated money, saying that they wanted to support Lao Zou by giving him the biggest fish he caught and letting him Bring it back to eat.

Chef Bao took a brief look at the ingredients inside, and quickly arranged the menu in his mind according to the quantity and variety of fish.

He reached out his hand to take out five or six small miscellaneous fish from the chilled tank first, and was about to get up to clean it up, when suddenly someone beside him reached out to take it and said, "Do you want to clean it up? Give it to me."

Chef Bao thought it was his master, but when he looked up, he found out that it was not. Seeing that he was also wearing a chef uniform, he couldn't help but said in surprise, "Master, why is it you?"

"Why can't it be me, your ancestors have come to help you, I naturally can't be idle, what are you going to do with these fish in charge?"

"Thank you, Master. I took a look at the fish in the refrigerator. Since it is for Master and Master, you should make it more carefully. These small miscellaneous fish are stewed in sauce, the big carp is braised in soy sauce, Hualien put the fish Cut off the head, boil the body into meatballs, make the fish head into stewed fish head, and make the big grass carp into fish cake."

"Braised fish head, Jingzhou fish cake, you really dare to say it. Dad, did you hear that, this kid has challenged you."

"Let's just listen to his challenge. Whoever told us that he is in charge today. It's fine if you come over to help, the water case belongs to you, I'm too lazy to fish."

Standing at the door of the kitchen and listening to their conversation, Zhou Quan is a little dazed now. Obviously they all speak Mandarin, although it is not standard, but they can be understood. Why are they together except for the word "water case"? He just doesn't understand?

The three people in the kitchen were all assigned their own work now, and Zhouquan found that they had formed an aura of their own when they were busy, so that he didn't know how to speak when he wanted to say something.

Just when he was standing at the door of the kitchen and didn't know whether to enter or retreat, Mr. Zou, who was in the kitchen assistant's position, turned to him and said, "My little friend, I'm sorry for neglecting you, the kitchen will be opened for a while, and there will be smoke." Fire. If you are impatient, go to the living room to play, watch TV and play games and wait for us for a while."

"Old man, I can help if there is nothing wrong. Although I have no skills, I can still peel garlic and onions."

As soon as Zhou Quan finished speaking, Chef Bao who was chopping the fish head said, "Zhou Zhou, peel two shallots for me. The white and green shall be separated."

"okay, got it."

Chef Bao’s master is working part-time at the water table today. He is indeed the current head chef of Mingyue Tower and the head chef for more than ten years. Fish, one fish in twos, the dozens of large and small river fish of various varieties, all were cleaned up within 10 minutes of each other's hands.

Chef Bao took the fish sent by his master, and old Zou, who had finished his water case career, squatted next to Zhou Quan to help him chop the onions. Two pieces, egg yolk and fish egg white separated. Prepare ginger water, and make pork fat into puree."

When the sous chef heard the words, he started immediately, and the chef Bao first put the small miscellaneous fish and the sauce into the pot and simmered on high heat.

Then he took the big grass carp that had been cleaned up and began to divide the fish.

I saw that he first operated on the back to remove the spine and chest spines of the grass carp, then cut off the tail and took out two large pieces of grass carp meat.

After the grass carp was taken out, Chef Bao only chose the pure white part of the fish, cut it off and rinsed it for later use.

Zhou Quan has seen Chef Bao do this before, in order to make fish balls. The parts that are picked out are the parts with many thorns on the grass carp. If you don’t clean them out, you can’t make fish balls.

Just when he thought that Brother Bao's next step was to chop the picked fish into fish paste, Chef Bao made an unexpected move.

I saw him holding down the fish he took out with one hand, and holding the kitchen knife with the other hand, pressing the fish with the back of the knife, and scraping the mince from the fish one by one.

Zhou Quan, who had never seen Chef Bao use a knife like this, was very surprised, and the half-peeled green onion almost rolled out of his hand to the ground.

But Lao Zou, who was squatting with him to peel the onions, said very calmly: "This is called a row knife. It is a method of scraping food with the back of the knife. It is most often used on fish."

"Brother Baoyan wants fish paste, right? He didn't do this when he made fish balls at home before."

"The fish he used to make fish balls before is not grass carp, right? Grass carp is a kind of river fish with more fish bones. The minced fish discharged in this way can remove the small burrs hidden deep in the fish meat. , which not only enhances the taste, but also reduces the risk of letting customers eat fish bones. And this time, what Xiao Yan is going to make is not fish balls, but fish cakes."

"Fish cake?"

"Yes, it is made of fish meat. It tastes springy, tender, fresh and smooth. It was our favorite food when we were young. Unfortunately, handmade fish cakes are hard to eat now because of the labor and materials involved."

While talking, Chef Bao has already arranged two pieces of fish into minced fish, and now he is continuing to chop the minced fish into minced fish with the back of a knife.

When Chef Bao was doing this, the old man of the Zou family was not idle as the helper. He first divided the egg whites and egg yolks, and then handed the ginger water to his disciples for use.

Put the chopped minced fish into the basin, add the egg white and stir in the same direction, while adding the ginger water in batches.

Then add the chopped pork fat to the live fish paste in proportion, add scallion powder, mung bean starch, refined salt and monosodium glutamate and continue to stir.

After the new minced fish is ready, pour it into the cloth of the wet cage and spread it evenly, cover it with the golden egg yolk that has been stirred, cover it and wait until it is cooked.

Fish cake looks very simple, and it is not difficult to make. The difficulty is to master the proportion of various ingredients and the fineness of the fish paste.

As long as one of these two points is not done well, the kamaboko that comes out of the pan will not have a smooth texture and fresh taste. The difference between the two is the same as that of egg custard that is just cooked and overcooked.

After the fish cake is steamed, Chef Bao doesn't bother with it anymore, he just needs to pay attention to the time.

After that, he used the leftover meat of grass carp and the body of another silver carp to make fish paste. He only waited for the fish bone soup on the other side to come out of the pot to cook the meatballs.

As the assistant cook, Shi Zu was taking care of another pot of stewed miscellaneous fish in sauce. Zhou Quan and Master Zou were peeling garlic while the other was steaming the fish head. The big fish head was the main course of braised fish head.

After the fish head is steamed, take it out and let it cool, and spread the big fish head divided into two from the middle on the plate.

Chef Bao washed his hands and began to remove the fish head with a focused expression.

Starting from the lower gills of the silver carp head, Chef Bao removed the bones inside one by one by touching the fish head. He was very careful when removing the fish skin, so as to keep the fish head intact. shape.

He spread the removed fish bones on the table beside them according to their parts, and carefully assembled them into shapes one by one.

As time passed, Zhou Quan found that the old Zou family and the old man who were busy with their own affairs actually put down their work and came to Chef Bao's side to watch him tear apart the fish heads.

Zhou Quan, who was squatting on the ground, was very curious, so he also moved over with the garlic clove in his hand.

When he passed by, the fish head had been removed to the end, so he saw the most exciting and extreme scene of removing the stewed fish head.

Chef Bao was busy with two pairs of 'fish heads' on the counter. One was sitting safely on the plate, and looked soft because the bones were removed, and the other was placed next to the plate. On the table is the shape of a fish head made of fish bones.

The two pictures of fish heads, one on the left and the other on the right, both present a squatting state, but the content displayed is so confident.

It is a proof of a chef's understanding of the ingredients and his own skills. In the fish head plate after dismantling, only the hard bones next to the fish mouth are left to keep the shape of the fish head, and all the fish bones in the rest of the parts must be intact Take it out and put it aside to become another perfect fish head.

Deboning the bones to keep the shape without breaking the skin, combining the bones with style and energy, this is the highest state of deboning and braised fish heads. To be able to complete this step, to put it bluntly, he has already divided the number of bones in the silver carp's head, each Whether the root bone is big or small, keep in mind where it is stretched.

The two elders who stayed in the kitchen to help the cook were obviously very satisfied with the skill of the apprentice and grandson. To put it bluntly, in today's culinary world, there are definitely no more than single digits of people who can do this skill, and Most of them are still Huaiyang cuisine.

Chef Bao's ancestors can guarantee that among these people, their own children are definitely the youngest.

It seems that this kid has not let go of his pursuit of skills over the years, nor has he forgotten the essence of a chef. He did not forget his duty after earning some money like some guys in the chef world, which made the old man very satisfy.

The chopping of the fish cake and the stewing of the fish head are the two most difficult steps in all the dishes of Chef Bao. As long as these two points are successfully completed, the fish dish is [-] to [-]% complete.

The rest is just waiting and post-production seasoning. He is not worried about these things, Mr. Zou, his disciple is the former head chef of Mingyue Tower, so these things will not trouble him.

So the old man took off his apron, called Zhou Quan and said, "Son, I heard that you can play Go? It happens that I can too. Come out and play a game with me, and I will leave it to the two of them."

So Zhou Quan, who had just peeled half of the garlic, left the kitchen and went to play chess with Mr. Zou.