Chapter 239: Chapter 170: Crab Bun Upgrade! Master’s Another Original Dish—Furong Chicken Slices! [Soliciting Monthly Tickets]_2
"Master Lin is so young and already proficient in both pastry and cooking. His talent truly aroused envy."
After he finished speaking, he turned to Xie Baomin. "The Crab Bun instruction is complete. Is it time for you to fulfill your promise now?"
Xie Baomin laughed. "Compliment me a bit more, will you? Hearing you praise my Junior Brother, I don’t know why, but it just feels so exhilarating."
Qiu Zhenhua was speechless. How did I end up knowing such a bastard!
Lin Xu said from the side, "Senior Brother, I also want to witness Master’s Qingshui Furong."
Upon hearing his Junior Brother’s interest, Xie Baomin finally grew interested. "Alright then. Since we have time today and the stock has just been prepared in the simmering room, I’ll show you how this dish is made."
He first went to the simmering room and brought back half a pot of stock.
This stock was made from two whole chickens, two whole ducks, two pig’s hocks, and an entire Jinhua Ham. The broth was a rich white color, and even before it was brought over, its thick fragrance filled the entire room.
Qiu Zhenhua exclaimed from the side, "As the saying goes, ’No chicken for flavor, no duck for fragrance, no hock for richness, no ham for the perfect soup.’ The aroma really is exceptional; you’ve put in a lot of effort."
To bring the stock to this level would take at least five or six hours.
And before simmering, many preparations were necessary.
For example, the ham had to be cut into large pieces and soaked in hot water for over half an hour. This leaches out the excess salt and removes the cured taste from the meat.
Moreover, the pig’s hocks had to be cut open close to the bone, exposing it to allow the aroma to disperse more thoroughly.
The chickens and ducks also needed to be halved, making them half-chickens and half-ducks.
In addition, the duck heads, chicken heads, and the tips of the claws needed to be chopped off.
The simmering process itself also had many intricacies.
During simmering, scallions were added to the pot but had to be removed after an hour. If scallions boil for too long, they can produce an unpleasant odor, affecting the stock’s quality.
Xie Baomin strained the stock through a fine cheesecloth, removing the remnants of bones and meat.
Then he poured the stock into a soup pot.
Instead of continuing to work on the stock, he took out some duck breast, pork loin, and chicken breast, and also prepared some scallion and ginger water.
"Junior Brother, the Qingshui Furong dish, much like boiled bok choy, requires turning the rich stock into a crystal-clear soup. This enhances its visual appeal and makes it look more attractive," Xie Baomin explained, while deftly trimming the sinews and membranes from the chicken and duck breasts with a kitchen knife.
"To make this dish, one must not only apply the core principles of Kung Fu dishes like boiled bok choy and Furong Chicken Slices but also use sophisticated plating techniques to create a truly astounding Qingshui Furong."
"The ’Qingshui’ naturally refers to Clear Soup."
"And the ’Furong’ refers to lotus flowers made in the style of Furong Chicken Slices."
After listening to Xie Baomin’s description, Lin Xu was utterly shocked.
Boiled bok choy and Furong Chicken Slices were challenging enough on their own, yet Master had combined the two. Indeed, not just anyone could be the Sea King.
Lin Xu glanced at the pot of rich stock, then back at the busy Xie Baomin, and asked curiously, "What are you doing with all this? Is this meat going to be used in the dish?"
Qiu Zhenhua shook his head from the side. "No, he’s clearing the broth. By turning this meat into a meat mousse and adding it to the stock, the proteins will adsorb the impurities, transforming the rich stock into Clear Soup."
Clearing the broth?
That was beyond Lin Xu’s area of expertise.
Until this point, he had only encountered home-style dishes and hadn’t experienced high-end cuisine.
So upon hearing this term, he felt as if he were lost in a desert of knowledge.
Seeing his curiosity, Qiu Zhenhua continued, "Indeed, many dishes include this step. Besides boiled bok choy, dishes like Chicken Bean Curd, Clear Soup with Bird’s Nest, and Braised Meatballs also use Clear Soup to enhance their visual appeal."
Jot it down, jot it down! If I casually mention this while shooting a video later, won’t it make me seem quite sophisticated? Lin Xu wished he could pull out a notebook.
At that moment, Xie Baomin cut the trimmed duck breast into small pieces. He then put them into a food processor with some scallion and ginger water, grinding them into a Duck Meat Mousse.
As he operated the food processor, he said, "In the past, we had to chop it with knives, meticulously picking out the sinews as we went. Just this amount of meat would take at least an hour to prepare properly. I’m grateful for the convenience technology has brought us!"
Qiu Zhenhua also chimed in, "Yes, thinking back to our younger days, preparing the meat mousse for clearing the broth used to make our arms ache. Now it’s so much easier; a few minutes with a food processor, and it’s done."
You two aren’t very traditional, are you... Lin Xu thought, then curiously asked, "Is the meat mousse from the food processor the same as one chopped by knife? Is it not as good as the hand-chopped version?"
Xie Baomin smiled. "The finer the meat mousse, the better. There’s no comparison between one chopped by knife and one made by a food processor. You can take a shortcut with the food processor for this step, but later, when making Furong Chicken Slices, you won’t be able to do the same."
As they spoke, the rosy-hued Duck Meat Mousse was ready.
Xie Baomin poured it into a small bowl and then prepared the Pork Meatball and Chicken Meatball.
After the Duck Meat Mousse, Pork Meatball, and Chicken Meatball were ready, he placed the soup pot on the stove to begin clearing the broth.
While the stock was heating, Xie Baomin covered a strainer with a fine white cloth, securing it around the handle to create a makeshift filter.
When the stock in the pot reached a near-boiling state, he poured in the Duck Meat Mousse.