food color system

The ingredients for the dinner party are all prepared, and everything is the best.

The clean chopping board is spotless and cold to the touch.This chopping board is made of high-quality frosted nephrite jade, which is tough and does not hurt the knife. It has absolutely no miscellaneous smell, and has the miraculous effect of keeping fresh for a short time.

Zhenjiang balsamic vinegar, aged soy sauce, Shaoxing cooking wine, Haining refined salt, refined cane sugar...all the seasonings and ingredients are from the best production areas, fresh and mellow, without any impurities.

At this moment, Zhuo Yichen held a duck in his hand.

This is a net duck.Clean duck means that the duck has been slaughtered, the blood has been drained, and the hair has fallen off, revealing a white and delicate duck body.The whole body of the duck's bones have been removed. Surprisingly, the duck's body is still basically intact. There is only a finger-wide incision under the duck's neck, which is the only exit for the duck's bones.

He gently stretched the knife edge with his thumb and index finger, held the knife in his right hand, and gently trimmed the two ends of the knife edge with the heel of the blade, and cut off a small piece of duck meat, then he put down the duck in his hand, and picked up the side Another clean duck comes.

Compared with the previous one, this clean duck was also plucked and boneless, but it was much smaller, and the incision under the duck's neck was only one finger wide.But judging from the fineness of the beak and paws, this is not like the big duck just now.

"Is this just a wild duck?" Zhuo Yun asked casually while helping.

"Well, the domestic duck is bigger than the wild duck." He did the same thing, also cut off two small pieces of duck meat at the knife edge of the wild duck, and raised the knife with his hand to chop off a pair of duck feet of the wild duck.

After this operation, Zhuo Yichen put the kitchen knife back to its original position, and picked up the clean duck from before. He made a round hole with the edge of the knife under the duck's neck, and stuffed some meat into the duck's belly first. Mushrooms, sliced ​​meat, bamboo shoots and other accessories, and then stuff the small wild duck into the round hole.I saw that wild duck was slowly swallowed by the "big mouth" under the neck of the domestic duck bit by bit like a magic trick, first the duck legs, followed by the buttocks, abdomen, breast, and finally the whole body of the wild duck. In the belly of the domestic duck, only the duck head and duck neck are exposed outside the abdominal cavity of the domestic duck.The knife under the neck of the domestic duck is still as big as before, and it is tightly hooped around the base of the wild duck's neck.

Zhuo Yichen cut off two small pieces of duck meat at the edge of the knife to blunt both ends of the knife edge, so that when the duck is opened and filled, the toughness of the duck meat tissue can be fully exerted, and the two ends will not be torn. Enlarge the edge of the knife.

The same treatment was done for the knife edge under the wild duck's neck, which means that there is still something to be filled into the wild duck's belly.Sure enough, Zhuo Yichen took out another clean bird. This bird had a smaller body and a pointed beak. It was a squab.

Zhuo Yun had already figured it out, the dish that the elder brother was going to cook was a famous traditional banquet dish: three sets of ducks!

Using one pigeon and two ducks with completely different physical properties as raw materials, the squab, wild duck, and domestic duck are layered together, and the deliciousness emerges one after another, becoming a famous dish handed down from generation to generation.

The key to cooking "three sets of ducks" is the process of deboning the whole poultry. The mediocre ones cut open the belly of the duck to get the bones, which is inferior.The clean duck used by Peng Hui only had a small incision under the neck, but all the bones and internal organs were removed, so some kind of unique secret technique must have been used.This is the secret method that Zhuo Yichen saw in that cookbook.

His movements were skillful and neat, and after a while, the three birds had been covered layer by layer, leaving only the head and neck exposed outside the duck's cavity.The three bird heads are neatly arranged from big to bottom, as if they were born on the same body.

Zhuo Yichen soaked the duck and poultry in a boiling water pot for a while to remove the smell of soil on the poultry, then put the duck belly down, put the gizzard liver that was just taken out into a casserole lined with a bamboo mat, add ginger Put cubes, green onion knots, wine ingredients, fill with water, bring to a boil on high heat, skim off the foam on the soup, then cover, turn to low heat and start simmering.

"Brother, how long will this take?"

"One hour, clear stew will do."

"Poultry meat is more tender than livestock meat, and the taste is also clear and sweet. It's wonderful to drink with wine. Hey, brother, don't you want to cook this tribute shad tonight?"

"Of course, the shad must be eaten fresh, it tastes so delicious."

"Then let me scrape this fish for you now? You can just steam it in the wok later."

"No, no, no," Zhuo Yichen shook his head resolutely, "You can't remove the scales from shad. To eat shad, you have to eat the scales. Its scales are also very delicious."

Among freshwater fish, shad, saury and whirling fish are known as the "three delicacies of rivers", and shad is the most valuable and delicious.

After Zhuo Yichen cooked the duck soup, he and Zhuo Yun handled the big shad together.The body of the fish is very flat, with a medium-sized head, a wide mouth, large and very thin scales, and ridged scales on the abdomen.The head and back are silver-gray, the sides and abdomen of the body are white and tender, and the upper side of the body is slightly blue-green.

The body of the fish was pressed on the chopping board with Zhuo Yun's left hand, unable to move, but it still flapped its tail from time to time, and the mouth of the fish opened and closed, looking very lively.

After being held down like this, Zhuo Yichen picked up the kitchen knife, stuck the thin blade to the thin white belly of the fish, and pulled it lightly.He didn't dare to use too much force, for fear of breaking the scales on the fish.

"Let me do it, I don't think you dare to do it."

Zhuo Yichen replied: "I was afraid of damaging it, so I moved slowly, so that the scales on the fish's body would be more complete."

Then Zhuo Yun continued to cooperate with him.

The viscera of the big shad was removed and washed in clean water.Zhuo Yichen gently wipes the fish dry with a clean cloth, then serves with sliced ​​meat, bamboo shoots and other accessories, add green onion, ginger, wine, sugar, salt, put it in a bowl, put it in a basket, and steam it quickly over high heat.

At this time, the "three sets of ducks" have just been stewed.Zhuo Yichen put the duck soup in a large fine porcelain earthen pot.The clear soup is mellow and slightly green in color, just like a pool of spring water. The three birds sitting in the water, with three heads stacked on top of each other, and six eyes tightly closed, look intimate and peaceful, as if they are sleeping soundly.

Domestic duck meat is fat, wild duck meat is lean, and squab is tender. It goes without saying that it tastes wonderful.

As a stew, the essence of this taste is in a pot of soup.

Zhuo Yun scooped up a spoonful of clear soup with a small spoon, sucked it into his mouth, and sipped the flavor for a while.

"Well, I tasted the plumpness of the domestic duck, the crispiness of the wild duck and the tenderness of the squab."

"When the shad is steamed in a while, the dish will be even fresher."

"Brother, why didn't you remove those scales just now? Brother, you are saving ingredients too much."

"The shad's scales are not as thick as normal ones. Its scales are very thin. Steam them over high heat and water, and the scales will soften naturally."

"If you don't scrape the scales, it will save trouble. If I scrape the scales, I'm afraid of hurting your hands."

Zhuo Yichen smiled slightly, "You haven't seen it. It's true that you can't discard the scales when making shad, but it doesn't mean you can't scrape the scales. I'm drinking... I tried to scrape off all the scales of the fish before, and then It is threaded one by one with silk thread and hung above the fish body during steaming, after the scales melt, the juice drips down and penetrates into the fish body, not only does not affect the taste, but also makes the fish taste more delicious.”

Zhuo Yun couldn't help raising his eyebrows, "Threading all the scales with silk thread? How much effort will it take?" And it requires great care and patience.

"Isn't there a "Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix" in the palace cuisine? Chickens are decorated with various vegetables to form a phoenix. The tail wings of the phoenix are assembled from a hundred bean sprouts, and each bean sprouts is made of extremely It is hollowed out with thin silver needles, and then filled with various kinds of birds, poultry and moose. Think about it, how long does it take to make such a dish?"

While talking, the shad has been steamed.Zhuo Yichen quickly took it out of the steamer and served it on a large white porcelain plate.The enamel of the porcelain plate is delicate, and the wavy blue and white circle around the edge of the plate is smooth and bright.

The shad, which is as white as silver, lies in a sea of ​​blue and white fine waves, with complete scales and wings, its head and tail are slightly raised, hanging slightly outside the plate, as if it is about to break through the blue waves of the river.

"Try this."

"This is a dream job." Zhuo Yun said while picking up his chopsticks.When the chopsticks touched the body of the fish, the fish skin was like a layer of elastic film, slightly sunken, but still tight and smooth.Zhuo Yun put more force on his fingers, and gently poked down with the chopsticks, the layer of fish skin broke in response to the momentum, and steaming meat juices gushed out from the opening immediately.

He picked up a piece of fish with scales attached to it, dipped it in juice and put it into his mouth. Immediately, a strange freshness penetrated into every pore of his body along his mouth and nose, and the fish was so tender that it almost melted when he touched his tongue. .

Zhuo Yichen asked: "How is it? How does this steamed shad taste?"

Zhuo Yun licked his lips endlessly: "Fresh, tender, fat, and beautiful, it is worthy of being the most delicious in the world. Especially the tenderness of the meat is unexpected. And the best thing is..." He picked up an empty plate from the desk , the tip of the tongue protruded from the lips, flipped deftly, and spit out a strand of fishbone on the plate.

Those fish bones were slender and soft, and they were smoothed into a lock, with distinct roots, without any remaining fish meat.

"Just use the tip of your tongue, and the fish meat and fishbone will be separated by itself, so you don't have to worry about too many thorns and hard to eat."

The first hates the prickly shad, the second hates the crabapple without fragrance, and the third hates the unfinished red building.This first hatred is that although the shad is delicious, it has many spines and is small, which makes it very inconvenient to eat and difficult to enjoy.

"When I was cleaning this fish, I didn't touch the skin and scales, but my fingers secretly crushed the fibers and veins in the fish. Therefore, the meat is tender and the meat and spines are easy to separate."

Zhuo Yun put down his chopsticks, "No, we can't serve these two dishes to them. They don't know how to taste them. We have to keep this for ourselves. Let the other imperial chefs take care of the dishes and wine at the dinner party. Brother, don't work so hard..."

As soon as the voice fell, a kiss followed.