From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 271 Pigeons that are neither old nor young, Confucius's deboning technique

The small details of Feng Zhengming's selection of pigeons were noticed by the judges. Even the master chefs at the scene did not quite understand why he selected the pigeons in that way?

This actually made the judges present more or less curious about the dishes Feng Zhengming cooked today.

Master Hou glanced at the menu submitted before the competition and saw the name of the dish given by Feng Zhengming.

Braised pigeon with chestnut yellow.

Seeing the name of the dish, Master Hou thought about it carefully and probably guessed Feng Zhengming's idea of ​​​​choosing pigeons.

After Feng Zhengming slaughtered and processed the pigeons, he chopped off the pigeons' paws, heads and buttocks.

Then he rinsed the pigeons again and wiped away the moisture on the surface.

Prepare some honey water and apply it on the surface of the pigeon skin.

After applying the honey water, you need to set it aside to let the honey water on the skin dry.

Afterwards, Feng Zhengming sat down in a pot to heat oil, put the pigeons in the pot and passed through the oil.

Just after the pigeons' skin was colored, Feng Zhengming took the pigeons out to drain the oil.

Slowly stir-fry the onions, ginger, and garlic over low heat until the edges are slightly browned, then add the pork belly and chicken pieces to the pan and stir-fry.

At this time, Master Hou said: "I probably guessed a little bit of Xiao Feng's thoughts."

Be sure to add more soup to completely cover all the ingredients in the pot.

When the pigeon was draining the oil, he first reheated the pan and fried a sugar color.

Master Hou continued to explain: “Usually, the meat of pigeons that are too tender has more fat, and the meat is loose and tasteless, while the meat of pigeons that are too old will be leaner and more woody, making it more suitable for soup.

Master Hou continued: "Xiao Feng's method of selecting pigeons should be to select pigeons that are neither old nor young."

Because Master Hou is a national cooking judge, he has some knowledge of local cuisines, cooking techniques, and the selection principles of different materials, so he could guess Feng Zhengming's logic in choosing pigeons.

When Master Xia said this, the other judges couldn't help but feel that what Feng Zhengming was doing now was indeed almost the same as yesterday when he went to court with his belt.

Master Hou said with a smile: "It's good to have fantastic ideas. Xiao Feng uses his own skills to innovate on the basis of tradition. This is a very good way of innovation."

Boiled and peeled chestnuts are also ready.

The master chefs, including Master Yan, were also a little surprised.

Feng Zhengming didn't know what the judges thought of him. He was still cooking seriously.

There are also slices of pork belly and chicken chopped into small pieces.

Hearing this, the judges were stunned again. This was the first time that everyone had heard this statement.

Master Xia was stunned when asked, and shook his head helplessly: "I really don't know much about this."

When Master Yan heard what Master Hou said, he suddenly recalled it after thinking about it.

During the stir-frying process, add sugar, rice wine, salt, and pepper to the pot.

These words made everyone look at Master Hou instantly.

Add the shiitake mushrooms and winter bamboo shoots to the pot and stir-fry, then add the soup to the pot.

"I know that the year before last, I took him to participate in a cooking exchange in other places. At that time, chefs from Huaiyang area also participated. They made the three sets of duck that Judge Hou mentioned on the spot. Zhengming specifically asked them to learn how to make it. Maybe that Sometimes, he got these details out of the chef’s mouth.”

Slice the winter bamboo shoots and chop the shiitake mushrooms into slices.

Master Su said: "Zhengming is really quite capable. This kind of skill is considered a secret, but he can actually figure it out."

Master Yan was a bit dumbfounded and said: "He can always give people some wonderful ideas."

Xiao Feng’s method today is stew. It should be fried first and then stewed. If the pigeon is too young, the meat may become too rotten and lack the taste of the pigeon. If it is made with pigeon that is too old, the meat will appear dry. Firewood, so he had to choose pigeons that were neither old nor tender. The meat could withstand stewing, had the flavor of pigeons, and had some tenderness. "

Leave only the center of the rapeseed and trim the leaves neatly.

Master Yan shook his head: "I didn't teach him this. I wonder where he learned this skill?"

Seeing his operation, Chef Xia on the scene laughed and said: "Yesterday Zhengming said that the dishes he cooked today were inspired by our tapes to go to court. It seems true."

Master Xia came back to his senses and looked at Master Yan: "Lao Yan, did you teach this?"

Pour the clear soup prepared in advance into the pot, add some water to boil, and add the winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, rapeseed hearts, pork belly, and chicken to the water separately.

This time, he did not fry the sugar color very dark, but fried it to a lighter color.

Master Hou's explanation stunned the judges at the scene.

Everyone was a little surprised when they heard this. They didn't expect that Feng Zhengming would use the opportunity of going out to communicate with his master to learn something about other cuisines.

Then pour all the soup from this pot into the casserole.

Then put peanut oil and lard in the pot, first put the onion, ginger and garlic into the pot and stir-fry over low heat until fragrant.

Fry the sugar and pour it into a bowl next to it.

No one really paid attention to this point before, and no one did any special research on it.

Then Master Su asked: "Lao Xia, this dish was inspired by you, so why did he just choose pigeons to make it that way? Do you know?"

Boil the contents of the pot briefly and knock off any foam floating on the surface.

Then cut out all kinds of side dishes in the same way.

After seasoning the soup, put the fried pigeon into the casserole.

Everyone at the scene felt a little incredible, and they all guessed where Feng Zhengming learned this skill?

Master Hou thought for a while and said: "This method of selecting pigeons was used in the Huaiyang area before. I heard the chef there say that they have a three-set duck dish, which is a domestic duck with a wild duck inside, and a wild duck with a wild duck inside. Pigeon stew, according to the chef there, the pigeon in the middle of the dish needs to be a pigeon that is neither old nor tender."

The next time is to slowly stew the pigeon in a casserole.

Seeing this step, several old masters couldn't help but talk to Mr. Xia.

"Lao Xia, Zhengming, this dish is a replica of yesterday's Scallop Shang Dynasty. Even the casserole is used."

"Hahaha, Lao Xia, your dish really inspired Zhengming a lot."

Hearing the jokes made by the old masters, Master Xia was also surprised when he saw Feng Zhengming's operation.

It's obvious that there's still a duck if you don't take into account the straps facing up.

What Feng Zhengming is doing now is simply an upgraded version of what he brought to court yesterday.

The pigeons are first browned in oil and then stewed.

The difference is that Feng Zhengming's stewed pigeon soup is obviously richer. It really uses a lot of ingredients to add a variety of flavors to the pigeons.

Now everyone can understand why Feng Zhengming didn't use young pigeons when making this dish.

Because tender pigeon itself does not have the taste of pigeon, and after such cooking, it will have almost no taste at all.

Use pigeons that are neither old nor tender, just enough to withstand such stewing and retain the flavor of the pigeons.

Feng Zhengming closed the lid of the casserole and slowly stewed the pigeons over medium-low heat.

This process takes a long time.

The judges also began to observe some other contestants.

Soon Xia Mingye attracted the attention of the judges. Everyone saw Xia Mingye handling the pig's trotters.

The pig's trotters had been burned by Xia Mingye and cleaned by him.

When the judges looked at him, he was deboning the pig's trotters with a knife.

This is not about stewing pig's trotters until they are soft and fall off the bones.

Instead, raw pig trotters need to be deboned.

It is necessary to retain the shape of the pig's trotters and only take off the bones in the pig's trotters.

When the judges saw it, they all stared more carefully.

After watching for a while, I saw that Xia Mingye had carefully and gradually taken out the pig's trotter bone.

Master Yan said to Master Xia: "Brother Xia, it seems that your family's craftsmanship has a successor. This deboning of pig's trotters is really amazing."

Other old masters also praised Xia Mingye's bone-breaking skills.

Master Hou and several judges from Beijing were also amazed.

Not to mention the few foreigners who were invited.

They were even more amazed and gave Xia Mingye thumbs up.

Chang Zongfu's expression was full of surprise when he saw Xia Mingye's bone-breaking skill.

At this time, Chang Zongfu realized that among the young chefs in Lu Province, there were really hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

This provincial cooking exchange competition really brought out young talents from across the province.

Before, everyone's attention was attracted by Feng Zhengming, and they didn't pay much attention to other young chefs.

Now seeing Xia Mingye remove the bones from the pig's trotters, it really makes everyone realize that other young chefs are also so good.

Similarly, among the young chefs at the scene, not only Feng Zhengming was inspired by yesterday and made an upgraded version of the sashimi dish.

There are also many young chefs who are inspired by the classic dishes of yesterday's master chefs and add some of their own ideas to improve and develop their own classic dishes.

Everyone stared at Xia Mingye for a long time, and finally saw that Xia Mingye had finished deboning the pig's trotters.

Seeing that the pig's trotters were deboned, Master Su asked Master Xia: "Old Xia, are you going to make your Kong's imitation bear paws?"

Master Xia smiled and nodded: "Yes, Kong Mansion imitates bear paws."

Then Xia Mingye prepared beef mince, chicken mince, and some tendon.

First, put the boneless pig's trotters into a pot in cold water, add onion, ginger and rice wine, and slowly simmer the pig's trotters.

After boiling, clean the pig's trotters with hot water, and then clean the pot.

Wipe off the water on the skin of the pig's trotters, Xia Mingye also applied honey water, and deep-fried the pig's trotters in oil for color.

After that, put the pig's trotters into the prepared stock and start stewing the pig's trotters.

Beef mince and chicken mince are mixed with onion and ginger water and stirred separately. You also need to add some egg white and starch.

While simmering the pig's trotters, Xia Mingye also fried a bowl of sugary color for later use.

Seeing the change in the color of Xia Mingye's fried sugar, Master Xia understood that his grandson was inspired by what Feng Zhengming said yesterday. He did not use the traditional method of mixing soy sauce, but chose to use sugar color to mix the color.

The color of the sugar color will be brighter and will not eventually turn black.

Master Xia felt that this exchange was supposed to have the desired effect, and it seemed that it did.

No matter Feng Zhengming absorbed the practice of using belts to go to court.

It was Xia Mingye who listened to Feng Zhengming's suggestion and used the method of frying sugar to mix colors.

All of this is the integration, mutual promotion and progress of cooking skills.

Xia Mingye stewed the boneless pig's trotters until they were so tender that they could be pierced with a gentle thrust of chopsticks.

Take the pig's trotters out of the pot, then spread the prepared beef mince into a layer, then place the tendons inside one by one, and then coat it with chicken mince.

Then put the pig's trotters into the prepared mold and steam them together with the mold.

During the steaming process, Xia Mingye seasoned it with sugar and stock, and stir-fried it into a portion of grilled sauce.

After the pig's trotters were steamed, Xia Mingye took the pig's trotters out of the mold, placed them in the middle of the decorated plate, and then poured the fried steak sauce on the surface of the pig's trotters.

Kongfu's imitation bear paw is now complete.

Before Xia Mingye made this dish, many young chefs had already completed their dishes.

But when Xia Mingye's Kongfu imitation bear paw dish was served, it could be said that it instantly overshadowed some other dishes.

When Master Xia saw his grandson making this dish, it could be said that he was very satisfied and even a little proud.

Everyone present, including Master Hou, applauded this dish.

Master Hou sighed: "After so many years, I once again saw the true essence of Confucius cuisine. Master Xia, your family's bone-breaking skills are really amazing. This imitation bear paw is really made like real bear paws." identical."

Master Xia was very proud at this time, but he still spoke modestly.

"Judge Hou is too exaggerated. Bone-breaking Kung Fu is the Kung Fu of our Confucius cuisine. It must be practiced well. Xiao Ye's dish today can be considered to be inspired by some Zhengming. For example, he gave up the traditional soy sauce coloring. Instead, we use the method of frying sugar to adjust the color, and we also make some changes in frying the sauce."

Master Hou smiled and said: "This is very good, this has the effect of communication."

Li Zhifeng echoed: "Yes, our province's young chef cooking exchange competition is to let young people communicate more. Yesterday, several senior chefs demonstrated in person and communicated with young people on the spot. Today, young people are inspired , some improvements have been made to some dishes, which is really good.”

At this moment, Xia Mingye's Kongfu imitation bear paw was indeed the most eye-catching dish on the scene.

After the judges reviewed it, they all gave it high praise.

Everyone felt that this dish was comparable to the one-fish-two-dish dish Feng Zhengming had on the first day.

The atmosphere at the scene reached a high point.

Feng Zhengming also took the pigeons out of the pot at this time. He took the pigeons out of the casserole and put them on a plate aside to cool, and then filtered the soup out of the casserole.

Then pick out all the bamboo shoots and mushrooms from the remaining ingredients in the soup.

After doing this, the pigeons that were taken out were almost cool.

Feng Zhengming began to remove all the bones from the pigeon meat.

While deboning the pigeons, Feng Zhengming put the chestnuts into the filtered soup and slowly simmered the chestnuts over low heat to infuse the chestnuts with flavor.

Soon, some judges saw Feng Zhengming tearing apart pigeon meat, and they moved over to take a closer look.

I saw that Feng Zhengming was very careful to slowly remove the bones from the stewed pigeon meat, and to keep the pigeon meat as intact as possible.

Although it is not as impressive as Xia Mingye's pig trotter deboning skills, it also reflects the meticulousness of Feng Zhengming in making this dish.

(End of this chapter)