The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 7 Qin Lang's Choice
Ok?
Qin Lang, who was preparing in the kitchen, vaguely heard some noise outside the kitchen and raised his eyebrows.

But soon, he turned his attention back to the mandarin fish that had been gutted on the chopping board.

Qin Lang agreed with the words Zhou Qing left when he left.

The meat of mandarin fish is naturally sweet, tender and has almost no bones. Such fish is delicious even if it is steamed directly.

As a foodie who has been immersed in fish dishes for decades, Zhou Qing must have tasted countless mandarin fish dishes.

So it is difficult to impress others with your cooked dishes.

However, on the way back with Zhou Qing after fishing, Qin Lang noticed a small detail.

The other party carried some homemade dried plums as snacks. Out of curiosity, he shamelessly asked for one to try.

This kind of dried plum tastes sweet and sour and is particularly appetizing.

This shows that Zhou Qing probably likes sweet and sour food.

In this way, a dish that best suits the current situation instantly appeared in Qin Lang's mind.

A classic dish of Suzhou cuisine, squirrel mandarin fish.

After deciding on the dish to be made, Qin Lang wielded his knife with flying speed and began to prepare for cooking.

China is a vast country with abundant resources. When the same dish is introduced to different places, it will be adapted to local conditions and may not be the same as it was in the south.

There are two common types of squirrel mandarin fish, one is in the shape of a gold ingot and the other is in the shape of a pictograph.

The former is shaped like a gold ingot, with the fish head facing the sky, the body curled up and the tail raised, which symbolizes good luck and is also a more common method.

The latter will arrange the squirrel mandarin fish into the shape of a squirrel, which is vivid and more beautiful, and is more common in high-end restaurants.

Qin Lang's choice this time was the latter.

He ran the kitchen knife along the fish's spine, skillfully removing the main bone and splitting the fish into two. After removing the bones on both sides, he began to cut the two halves of the fish.

Cutting the fish strips slantly first and then straightening them can make them longer.

If you are making a Yuanbao shape, the blade needs to be tilted more to make each piece of fish meat spread out as much as possible. If you are making a pictographic shape, the blade only needs to be slightly tilted, and the shorter strips of fish meat can make the shaping effect better controlled.

This type of knife technique is also called the litchi knife technique. After heating, the fish skin curls up and the stretched fish meat is distinct and shaped like a litchi, which is particularly beautiful.

Put the processed two halves of the fish into a bowl, add water to cover them, then add chopped green onion, ginger and cooking wine, and marinate for a while.

With a gentle shake, the fish body with cuts on it looks like a flower blooming, and the slender fish meat trembles in the water, which is quite amazing.

While the food was being pickled, Qin Lang started another preparation.

Making of a squirrel head.

The squirrel's body and large tail are each made up of two halves of a fish body, while the squirrel's head is made up of the short fin part behind the gill cover of a fish.

A squirrel's whiskers are made up of the ribs from the belly of a fish.

After assembling a squirrel head and setting it aside, the marinating and removing of the fishy smell from the fish body is almost done.

Drain the water from the two halves of the fish body, and coat them in corn starch until the roots of each piece of fish are fully coated with starch. Then shake off the excess starch, spread the fish skin down and set aside for a few minutes.

This step is called raising the paste.

During the standing process, the dry starch on the surface of the fish will absorb the moisture in the fish, thus forming a tight starch layer.

During the frying process, the starch layer quickly hardens and becomes dense, like a miniature steamer, perfectly locking in the freshness of the fish.

Only in this way can the squirrel mandarin fish be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

While making ends meet, Qin Lang was not idle either.

The sauce also needs to be prepared in advance. If you wait until the squirrel mandarin fish is fried before pouring the sauce on it, the fried mandarin fish will be cold and the sizzling effect will not be achieved when it is served.

The sizzling sound, like a squirrel's call, is also the soul of this dish.

Heat oil over high heat, add minced garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant. Then add tomato sauce and stir-fry quickly with a spatula until the rich tomato flavor comes out. Then add white vinegar, water and sugar, and finally add a little salt to enhance the sweetness.

Collect the juice until it is slightly thick, sieve and store.

The most traditional sweet and sour sauce uses only sugar, vinegar and salt. Qin Lang's method uses a modern and improved sweet and sour sauce recipe.

The natural sweetness and sourness of tomatoes can effectively reduce the greasy taste of sweet and sour sauce.

The whole process takes only a few minutes. By the time the sweet and sour sauce is ready, the other side of the fish is also cooked.

Heat oil in a pan, fix the fish body into shape with toothpicks and slowly lower it into the pan.

In just a moment, accompanied by a crisp sizzling sound, countless tiny bubbles emerged from the fish.

The rich aroma of fried food also burst out rapidly during this process. Qin Lang couldn't help but take a deep breath, and then scooped up the hot oil and poured it on the surface of the fish to make the fish meat heated evenly. After frying it until it was set, he took it out.

The surface of the fish meat is light yellow in color. As the fish skin curls up due to the heat, it relaxes at the same time, looking as delicate and beautiful as the fluffy hair of a squirrel, and a rich fragrance continues to emerge.

Lightly coat the squirrel head prepared earlier with starch and fry it in the pan until golden brown.

At this point the oil temperature rises to a higher level.

Put the fish body back in and fry it again. In just a moment, the pot will burst with rich aroma.

This aroma contains the unique aroma of fried starch and the fresh aroma of fish.

The light yellow color of the fish gradually deepens during the frying process, and finally turns into a beautiful golden yellow.

Take out the fish body, shape the squirrel head, body and tail, and carefully pour the sweet and sour sauce prepared earlier on every inch of the squirrel mandarin fish.

The fish meat, which has just been fried, is still hot, and the moment the sweet and sour sauce is poured on it, a crisp "sizzling" sound bursts out.

Squirrel mandarin fish, done!
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Sniff sniff~
In the dining room outside the kitchen, Zhou Yun sniffed in the direction of the kitchen with an excited look on his face, "I think I smell something."

"Quiet!" Zhou Qing glared at his son unhappily. "This is the Food Recommender Review. You won't have the chance to talk later."

"The food is here, so you better behave yourself."

"Dad, don't worry, I know the rules!" Zhou Yun nodded hurriedly, not taking it seriously.

He knew very well about his grandfather's situation.

Zhou Qing has been a food recommender all his life. Because his taste is too picky, he has developed mild anorexia and his appetite has become smaller and smaller. He often eats sweet and sour dried plums on weekdays, which also helps to stimulate his appetite.

The mandarin fish that the young chef will cook later is about one kilogram in size. It would be good enough if Zhou Qing could finish a quarter of it.

Aren’t the remaining ones all his?

Thinking of this, Zhou Yun's smile became even more pronounced.

The chefs who can come to Zhou Qing for evaluation are basically confident in their cooking skills and their cooking skills are not bad.

Today's meal was a real treat.

Looking at his son's silly smile, Zhou Qing guessed what he was thinking. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly smelled a strange fragrance.

His eyes moved slightly.

this smell...

(End of this chapter)