The story of a cook

Chapter 196 Boiled Fish

What is the greatest pain in life?
The biggest pain is losing your job.

For a migrant worker, losing his job means losing his source of income, which means that he will not be able to earn money.

What do you live without money?How to support a family?How to call tuition fees for children?How to support parents?

The filial piety that we keep talking about can only be empty talk.

When I go to work, I think it would be nice to rest at home one day if I don’t go to work. I must have a good sleep and wake up naturally.But if you really don't go to work, you can sleep until you wake up naturally, but you can't fall asleep.

I woke up when Lin Yan got up, and Lin Yan asked: "Why are you awake? Aren't you not going to work today?"

I said, "I can't sleep, I feel uncomfortable lying down."

Lin Yan smiled and said, "Why don't you go to work with me."

I said, "I can't do your job."

After getting up, Lin Yan made breakfast.I haven't made breakfast for Lin Yan several times in such a long time, so I just want to show a good performance while I'm not working now.

After breakfast, we sat down to eat with Lin Yan. It felt very good and warm.

Lin Yan asked me while drinking porridge: "Old Tan, you are not going home now, what are you going to do these few days?"

I said, "I didn't think about it. I went to see some friends first. I haven't seen each other for a long time. Go and have a look."

Lin Yan said: "You have to drink when you meet, drink less, and you still have to ride a bicycle, don't drink too much and you won't be able to ride back."

I said, "You don't know how much I drink. Even if I vomit, I'll come back."

Lin Yan said angrily: "You can only drink, what else can you do besides drinking?"

I asked maliciously: "What else can I do? Don't you know what to do?"

Lin Yan said: "Go, it's not serious to talk about it. Let me tell you, I'm honest at home these days and don't try to drink too much. Listen?"

I said: "Don't drink, people are working so they don't have time to drink with me, just go and have a look, don't drink."

Lin Yan said: "You are still sure, what are you doing if you don't drink alcohol—"

There is nothing to do after breakfast, let's go for a walk outside.

The weather is cold, and the morning market outside is also early, and there are almost no people.Walking to the intersection, looking at the flow of people on the street, most of them are wearing the uniforms of the aircraft factory and riding bicycles to work in the factory.Seeing them, I was very envious, and thought it would be good to have a regular state-run job, at least I wouldn't be laid off every now and then.They also have labor insurance, statutory holidays, and pensions after retirement, which is really fucking good, much better than part-time jobs.

Sighing, I said to myself that we should never think about it in this life. When we have a child, we will not let him work at all. We must study hard, get admitted to school, and then find a good unit.

Came back from outside and saw that Lin Yan was studying, but didn't bother.Clean up yourself, tell Lin Yan to go out, and then come out of the house, planning to visit Master Chen first.

Looking at the time, I feel that I can't go at this time. It's working time now, and he is busy when he goes there. It's just right to arrive at his place around [-]:[-] noon.

I didn't want to go by myself in the cold weather, so I called him to go with me on National Day.After a while, National Day called back and asked him what he was doing at home. He said it was fine and he was lying on his stomach at home.I told him that I went to Master Chen and asked him if he would go, and he said it was too cold to move.

I said, "If you don't go, I'll go by myself."

He said, "Then wait for me for a while."

I said, "Okay, find me at Laosi's place, and I'll go to Shengmei."

Put down the phone to see that it was exactly ten o'clock, and went to Shengmei.

The fourth child and the others were not busy. When they arrived, the fourth child and the second child were reading novels in the lounge.This is the usual style of the two of them. They read novels whenever they have nothing to do. They are all about martial arts, and there were no fantasy ones at that time.See me coming, let's put down the novel together.

The fourth child asked: "So idle today? Come here when you have time."

I said, "It's okay, come and have a look."

The second child asked, "Did you pick it up?"

I said, "Not yet, just these two days."

The second child asked, "Is there a lot of money to be given?"

I said, "I didn't ask, I have to give as much as I want."

The fourth child asked, "I've been laid off, where should I go?"

I said, "I'm going to go home first. My elder sister's son is getting married. We'll talk about it after I come back from home."

The fourth child said: "It will be two months before you come back to celebrate the New Year. It would be nice to stay at home. Why come back?"

I said, "I have to come back, Lin Yan is still at work."

The fourth child said: "That's right, she has to come back, otherwise she won't feel at ease at home by herself."

After chatting with them for a while, Guoqing came over, Guoqing and the second child had a fight for a while, and it was almost twelve o'clock, and Guoqing and Guoqing came out from Shengmei to Master Chen.

Master Chen is in Dadong, and Guoqing and I rode bicycles from Santaizi to his place for nearly an hour. Anyway, there is nothing to do, just take it as exercise.At that time, the means of transportation was bicycles, and there were no electric cars, let alone private cars.It is common to ride a bicycle for an hour to work, and I don't feel tired after getting used to it.

Although it was a bit cold, after riding for 10 minutes, my body started to heat up, my forehead was sweating, and I didn't feel cold anymore.It is also very pleasant to chat with National Day while riding a bicycle and watch the scenery on both sides of the road.Since I arrived in the provincial capital, I haven't done much shopping, so it's just a day trip to the provincial capital.

There is no special scenery on both sides of the street, and the winter in the north is just gray.Most of the things I look at are the restaurants on both sides, especially the bigger ones.What do you care about? Those who work in restaurants care about restaurants, and don't pay much attention to other things.

It was almost time to arrive at Master Chen's place. He just finished his work and just got off the stove, sweating all over his head.

Master Chen led him to find a seat in the lobby of the hotel, and the waiter came over and poured tea.

Master Chen asked, "Why did you arrive? I thought you would arrive at eleven o'clock."

I said: "You are not busy at that time, how can you have time to greet us, isn't it the right time, you are not busy anymore."

Master Chen said: "I'm a bit busy today, if it's 12:30 every day, I'll be done."

Guoqing asked: "Brother Chen, your house is quite big, how flat is it?"

Master Chen said: "Together it is [-] square meters, not including the kitchen."

Guoqing said: "It's a busy day, and it looks like the benefits are pretty good."

Master Chen said: "It's not bad, the benefits have always been good."

I asked Master Chen: "Brother Chen, what kind of food do you sell well?"

Master Chen said: "Sichuan cuisine sells well. Now people love to eat Sichuan cuisine, especially when it's cold, and they like to eat something spicy. Our boiled fish sells well. The chef I just hired from BJ cooks very well. "Then said: "I told them, you can try one or two later."

At that time, I only heard about the dish of boiled fish, but I hadn’t seen it before. I was very happy to hear from Master Chen that I could eat it after a while. It seems that this time it was not in vain.

I asked Master Chen: "Brother Chen, how do you cook boiled fish?"

Master Chen said: "It is very troublesome to cook boiled fish. This chef has only been here for 20 days. You are from Sichuan. You don't know that you are from Sichuan. You do everything behind your back. I am afraid that we will learn it."

When Master Chen said this, I couldn't help but think of the three Sichuan chefs I met in Xinchuang Restaurant. They were similar to what Master Chen said, and they were all a little conservative.

Master Chen went on to say: "I don't really understand it now. It looks like boiled pork slices. Doesn't the boiled pork slices come with soup, and the boiled fish doesn't come with soup, it's all boiled old oil. .Put green peppercorns and Erjintiao chili segments on top, heat up the old oil and pour it on top, it looks okay, it’s very fragrant, and it’s very refreshing to eat. You’ll see after a while, I don’t like spicy food very much Yes, I haven't eaten it a few times, but it's okay, customers accept it, and it sells well. My family is the third boiled fish in our provincial capital, and no one else does."

Guoqing said to Master Chen: "When I come, you arrange me as a younger brother and let me work for this chef. I have learned it secretly, and then I will go out to cook boiled fish and earn more."

Master Chen looked at National Day and said, "You want to learn everything, and I haven't seen you learn everything well until now."

National Day patted his head in embarrassment and said, "I used to be careless, but now that I'm older and know how to live, I have to learn with dim sum."

Master Chen just laughed and said: "It would be great if you had a heart earlier." Then he said: "National Day, at least you entered the industry early. You entered the industry at least four years earlier than Tan Zi. People have started cooking now, and you are still like that." .”

National Day was exposed by Master Chen, his old face was flushed, but his mouth was very firm, and he said: "I just don't want to do it. If I am willing to do it, I will be a chef now, no worse than you."

Master Chen smiled, and said to me: "Look, it's still the same. Seven people are not convinced and eight are not satisfied."

After chatting for a while, the waiter brought the food.A cold dish is served first, followed by a stir-fry, followed by the legendary "boiled fish".

The boiled fish is served in a stainless steel hot pot pot, which is half full and sizzling when it comes up, with a tempting chili aroma.

The first thing you see is a layer of chili slices mixed with green peppers and sprinkled with a dozen shallots.I am attracted by the tempting aroma before I eat it, and I have the desire to eat it immediately.

At this time, a waiter came over, holding a plate in one hand and a small steel colander in the other, and scooped out the chili segments and peppercorns from the oil and put them into the plate.After the chili section is taken out, the fish head and tail inside are exposed. The fish head and fish tail are placed separately on both sides of the basin, and the white and tender fish slices are in the middle. Take a piece of chopsticks and put it in your mouth to taste.

Master Chen said: "Look, this is boiled fish. Try it. The fish is very tender and tastes good."

Take a piece of fish with chopsticks and blow it to your mouth, otherwise it will burn your mouth.Put it in your mouth after blowing it, and gently press it with your teeth, the fish will be broken, very tender, full of bottom flavor, and spicy taste that stimulates the taste buds, very delicious.

It seems that there is a certain reason for boiling fish in water, and there is technical content in it, which is worth studying and learning from.

I just ate a piece of fish here, and I have already eaten two pieces on the National Day side. While eating, I said: "Hey, don't tell me, this fish is really delicious. It's the first time I ate fish like this. of it."

Had a sip of wine with Master Chen.

I said, "Brother Chen, this fish is marinated really well, it's tender and elastic, it's quite skillful."

Master Chen said: "Yes, the fish is well marinated. They use live fish. Dead fish are not used, and dead fish can't achieve this effect. When marinating the fish, first rinse it with water, and then use a towel to dip the water on the fish. Dry it and make a bottom, and then use three-in-one powder for sizing, so it is well marinated."

I asked, "Brother Chen, is the three-in-one powder you just mentioned corn flour, potato starch and mung bean flour?"

Brother Chen said: "Yes, it's these three things." Then he said: "Their marinated fish is good, the main reason is that they are careful, they have standards for everything, and they are all in proportion. It's not good at all. If we Northeast cooks, we don't care. All standard dishes can be prepared well, but we have no standards, we estimate everything, and the rough ones are a bit unappealing now, and we will have to improve sooner or later." Then he said: "Now I will start to improve a little bit, start Each dish is made according to the standard, if you don’t do it, you will have to eliminate it.”

I said: "Yes, we also have to learn to set standards, it really won't work if we don't."

Boiled fish is really delicious, not only the fish meat is delicious, but even the fish head and fish bones are delicious. I can't help but admire the chef who studied the boiled fish dish. He really put his effort into place. This is the chef.Compared with others, we are apprentices.

After eating the fish meat and fish bones, eating the soybean sprouts inside is also very delicious. It has no beany smell. It is full of flavor after soaking in oil for a long time. The more you eat, the more fragrant it becomes. The moderate spicy taste can penetrate into the bones .

After eating the boiled fish, I concluded that this is the dish. From the selection of main ingredients to the matching of auxiliary ingredients, as well as the formation of knife skills, the processing of raw materials, pickling, and basic seasoning, all have achieved excellence.Then the cooking of old oil, the selection and proportion of chili and pepper, and the selection of cooking techniques are all thoroughly studied, which is very good.At the same time, the choice of taste buds and memory stimulation of the guests are also considered, which is the most important thing, otherwise so many guests would not like it.These are my biggest gains today, which have greatly inspired my future research and development of dishes.

In front of this boiled fish, I feel that I need to strengthen too many things. He is a master and I am a primary school student.People can set fire to a restaurant with one dish, but for me, the difference is not 01:30.

(End of this chapter)