Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 308 Tips for Making Dongpo Pork

Qi Xi said indignantly, "Let's not talk about the distant past. Girl, the dishes you cook are more than a hundred times better than his. Why can't you let others say that your cooking is not good?"

Shen Yu couldn't help but burst out laughing and pushed Qixi: "Go wash the vegetables quickly, I'm waiting to use them."

Qi Xi then responded reluctantly and went to get the vegetables from next door to wash them.

Shen Yu shook his head in amusement, turned around, and concentrated on cutting the piece of pork belly that was trimmed neatly.

Cut the meat into two-inch cubes, take out the softened straw from the hot water pot, rinse it with water, cut it into appropriate lengths, and tie a cross knot on each piece of meat using a piece of straw.

Just as the last piece of meat was tied up, Qixi came in with a basket of washed vegetables.

Shen Yu took a dozen or so small shallots, tied three or five of them into knots, and cut a few thin slices of ginger on top.

Clean the pot, place a small bamboo grate on the bottom of the pot, cover it with a handful of green onions, and place the twelve large pieces of cut meat side by side in the bamboo grate with the skin facing down.

Place a few slices of ginger on top and put two knots of scallions in.

Pour in enough light yellow wine and sweet soy sauce to cover the meat.

Take a piece of old rock sugar, smash it with the back of a knife, sprinkle it evenly on the meat, add a spoonful of salty yellow sauce, and you can start steaming.

Qi Xi watched Shen Yu's work without blinking, memorizing what seasoning to add and how much to add.

The high fire made the rice wine and sweet soy sauce in the pot begin to boil. Shen Yu fanned the rising steam with his hands and smelled it.

When I felt that the already weak smell of alcohol had almost evaporated, I covered the pot, let 7-Up use wheat bran to suppress the flame, and simmered it on the lowest heat for half an hour.

Seeing that the pot had been covered, Qixi finally couldn't hold it in any longer and asked all the questions that he didn't understand just now: "Girl, why is the stew tied with straw?"

"The straw is used to weave mats and make wicks. How can it taste good when stewed with meat?"

"Why add so much rice wine? The meat is barely cooked enough. Will it have a strong alcohol taste after stewing?"

"I didn't see the girl add water. If she doesn't steam it in the wine for half an hour, will the wine be burned dry?"

Shen Yu finished the work at hand and sat on the bench beside him, listening to Qixi's non-stop questions with a smile on his face.

After waiting for a while, Qi Xi finally stopped talking, looked at him with a curious expression, and then said, "Do you have any more questions? I can answer them all."

Qi Xi chuckled and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand embarrassedly. Accidentally, a piece of black ash got on the tip of his nose.

Shen Yu pointed at the tip of his nose and said with a smile: "There's dust on your nose, go wipe it off."

Qi Xi said nonchalantly, "It's nothing. Just wash your face after the fire is done. Girl, don't keep me in suspense. Come on, tell me."

Shen Yu moved the stool closer to the table and began to explain in a soft voice while peeling garlic cloves in his hands.

"The pork belly used in this dish is a mixture of three parts fat and two parts lean meat."

"If the meat is steamed in water for too long, it will become tender and juicy, but the fat and lean parts will separate easily, and it will no longer be a whole square piece, and it will no longer look good."

"After stewing for half an hour, you need to use high heat to reduce the sauce, and then put it in a casserole to steam."

"Use straw to tie it up so it won't deform easily when you take it out of the pot."

"Another advantage is that the meat steamed in this way has a fresh aroma of mat grass, which can also relieve greasiness and has a richer flavor."

Shen Yu paused and said, "The rice wine I added has a lighter taste and a sweet aftertaste. After boiling it over high heat, let it spread out before covering the pot. There will be no smell of wine."

"The meat is cut into a larger piece, and only rice wine is added without water, which is also to better remove the fishy smell and enhance the flavor."

Qi Xi nodded and stopped talking. She seemed to be thinking seriously about the cooking techniques that Shen Yu had mentioned, with an expression that said, "I see."

Although Shen Yu was teaching Qixi how to cook, his hands did not stop moving.

I quickly cut the scallion and garlic sprouts into segments, washed the soaked black fungus and drained it, and after steaming the Dongpo pork, I used a large iron pan to stir-fry the twice-cooked pork.

In fact, it is called twice-cooked pork, but it lacks the most important ingredients: chili peppers and spicy bean paste.

If it was in a restaurant, you could add some boiled dogwood oil, but Shen Yu prepared to make twice-cooked pork after he got the ingredients back, so he could only make an inauthentic version without any spicy flavor.

After the ingredients were prepared, Liu Shun, who was beside Lu Lang, stood in front of the small kitchen door with his head poked out, and asked Qi Xi to go over and help find something, and he would be back soon.

Qi Xi originally didn't want to go, but Shen Yu waved his hand and said, "If you have something to do, just go and do it. I'll stay here and watch over the stove and add firewood."

Qi Xi then and Liu Shun left quickly.

Shen Yu sat in front of the stove, paying attention to the firewood in the stoves on both sides, and adding some if there was not enough in one of them.

For a while, the only sound in the small kitchen could be the occasional crackling sound of the firewood in the stove.

Shen Yu got up early in the morning and had nothing to do. He began to feel sleepy as he stared at the stove. His eyelids were about to close involuntarily.

I was dozing off a little bit when I suddenly heard a scream: "Girl, be careful."

Shen Yu was startled. Before he could figure out what was going on, he felt someone pulling him from behind and he fell to the ground from the stool.

Then someone grabbed his shoulders and dragged him back.

Shen Yu sat on the ground in shock, looking embarrassed, but he suddenly came to his senses.

After calming down, I saw clearly that the firewood in the stove had burned out. A thick branch fell out of the stove. Although there was no flame on the top part, it was still flashing red and had not been extinguished.

I heard someone behind me ask with concern: "Girl, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Shen Yu quickly got up. Although it hurt a lot and his clothes were a little messy because he was pulled by the collar and shoulders, fortunately the small stool in the kitchen was very low, so he did not get hurt.

Shen Yu awkwardly straightened his clothes and turned around, only to see that it was Chef Xu, who was cooking vegetarian dishes next door, looking at him with concern.

Shen Yu squatted down and saluted gratefully, saying, "Thank you, old man. If you hadn't helped me in time, I would have been burned by now."

Seeing that Chef Xu was still looking at him, he hurriedly said, "The stool is low, I am not hurt."

Seeing that Shen Yu looked normal and didn't seem to be in any pain, Chef Xu nodded with relief: "Young people tend to be sleepy."

"Luckily I was passing by on my way to get a bucket and saw the firewood about to fall out. If you had gotten burned, you would have been in trouble."

Shen Yu blushed and said embarrassedly, "I got up early this morning. There's no one in the kitchen right now, and there's nothing to do. I sat by the stove and felt sleepy as soon as it got warm."