It takes some time to stew the pork elbow in Su Zao soup so that the flavors of the spices can be fully released and cooked into the pork elbow.
Because they use a clay stove at home, Feng Yifan needs to keep an eye on the fire at all times.
The fire cannot be too big, but there cannot be no fire at all.
The earthen stove needs to maintain an even fire, which is also a test of the fire-burner's skills.
Although Feng Yifan had just returned home not long ago, when he was helping his mother to light the fire yesterday, he was also intentionally studying and mastering how to control the fire in the earthen stove.
In addition to his familiarity with cooking this morning and at noon, Feng Yifan is now able to control the firepower well.
You can also know when to add firewood and when to pull the bellows based on the situation in the furnace.
During this process, you should always listen to the noise inside the pot and roughly judge the degree of stewing of the pork elbow based on the "gurgling" sound in the pot.
After stewing for about twenty minutes, Feng Yifan opened the lid of the pot and prepared to prick the skin with a bamboo stick.
Before I even start to simmer the food, the moment I lift the lid of the pot, a rich aroma rises along with the hot steam, filling the entire kitchen.
Smelling the fragrance, Feng Yifan and his father-in-law looked at each other, and both of them smiled immediately.
By smelling this fragrance, both the father-in-law and the son-in-law knew that there was no problem with the recipe this time.
In fact, during the mixing process, various spices and seasonings, when combined with meat, can easily and completely release their flavor. If it is the right flavor, it will enhance the flavor of the meat.
If it is not right, the taste will be very different.
Feng Yifan slightly skimmed off the foam and pricked the surface of the elbow with a bamboo stick.
After finishing, Feng Yifan covered the pot again.
Then the fire in the furnace was adjusted. Instead of using concentrated fire to top up the fire, it had to be simmered slowly over a gentle low fire to make the food tasty.
Su Jinrong watched his son-in-law's series of operations and nodded: "It seems that you have made great progress in recent years. You can master the fire of the earthen stove so quickly, which shows that you have put in a lot of effort in the past two days. This time, the Suzhou soup was successful, and then we can gradually restore various Suzhou dishes."
Feng Yifan smiled and responded: "Dad, do you think that this Su Zao soup is actually a bit similar to the old stew we use to make braised pork?"
Su Jinrong nodded: "It is indeed very similar, but the old stew does not have so many spices, and the taste of the old stew is heavier."
Feng Yifan went on to say: "Actually, spices are used to remove the miscellaneous flavors of the meat, and to stimulate and enhance the aroma of the meat itself. To be honest, I think this pot of Suzhou-style soup can be used to make braised pork. Of course, the taste may not be as good as the old stew."
Su Jinrong said: "Just cook it a few more times."
Feng Yifan smiled and nodded. In fact, it was true.
The key to the old sauce is that it contains the flavors accumulated after continuously braising the meat.
Therefore, Feng Yifan’s current pot of Suzhou soup has not actually become a complete Suzhou soup yet. It needs to be used again and again, and the amount of meat in it needs to be gradually increased, before it can finally achieve a better taste.
After stewing for about half an hour, Feng Ruoruo ran in from outside again.
"Dad, look at the time. Why haven't you finished your work yet?"
Feng Yifan saw his daughter running in and yelling, and asked with a smile: "What's wrong? Is Ruoruo hungry? Didn't you eat the snacks that Brother Haohao brought back when you woke up from your nap?"
Feng Ruoruo pouted and said, "But it's already late. Grandma said it's almost five o'clock. Dad, you have to cook earlier."
Feng Yifan smiled and responded to his daughter: "Okay, Ruoruo, don't worry, Dad has already prepared dinner for dinner."
Hearing her father say that he was ready, Feng Ruoruo suddenly became curious: "Hey, Dad, are you ready? What are we going to eat tonight?"
Feng Yifan smiled slightly, walked to the washbasin next to the earthen stove, and opened the lid.
"Look, dad will make you some steamed buns tonight. I'll make a hollow bun and then prepare the pork elbow. You can eat the pork elbow with the hollow buns. Dad will also make some millet porridge to make you feel less greasy. Ruoruo, do you think this arrangement is good?"
Before Feng Ruoruo could speak, another voice outside spoke up: "Great, this arrangement is great."
Hearing the sound, everyone turned their heads and saw Yue Qingsong peeking in from outside the kitchen.
Seeing Yue Qingsong sticking his head in, Feng Yifan couldn't help but ask with a smile: "Aren't you going home tonight? Are you going to have dinner at our house too?"
Yue Qingsong was not polite at all: "Of course, since you are such a big cook, we must have more meals, otherwise it will be a loss, right?"
Feng Yifan said: "Actually, I'm still going to try the ingredients of this elbow today, maybe the taste..."
Before Feng Yifan could finish his words, Yue Qingsong interrupted him: "What's the matter? The chef doesn't want us to eat?"
Listen to the seemingly serious jokes of childhood friend and see the playful smile on his face.
Feng Yifan could only say: "Okay, okay, stay and try it together."
Feng Ruoruo immediately said, "Dad, Ruoruo believes in you and will definitely make it delicious."
Feng Yifan smiled and responded to his daughter: "Okay, my little baby is cheering for Daddy, so Daddy will definitely work hard to make this pork elbow delicious."
As he spoke, Su Jinrong glanced at the time and reminded himself: "Is it almost time?"
After hearing what his father-in-law said, Feng Yifan stood up and moved closer to the lid of the pot to listen to the sound inside.
Listening to the sound, Feng Yifan felt that it should be about the same, so he lifted the wooden lid of the big pot.
The moment you lift the lid of the pot, the rich aroma of meat, accompanied by the fragrance of spices, rises, and the whole kitchen is filled with fragrance again, making people feel hungry just by smelling it.
Yue Qingsong and Yue Qihao, father and son, first exclaimed together: "What a nice smell."
Feng Ruoruo couldn't wait to get closer to the pot and take a look.
Fortunately, the little girl was pulled by her grandfather, otherwise she might have been scalded by the hot steam if she had gotten closer.
Feng Yifan used a fan to clear the mist, looked carefully at the elbow in the pot, and when he was sure it was well cooked, he took it out with an iron spoon and shovel.
At the same time, quickly pull out the fire in the furnace so that the temperature of the furnace no longer rises, and then use a small pot to serve the remaining Su Zao soup in the large pot.
After the soup was ready, Feng Yifan came back and directly deboned the elbow.
Under the watchful eyes of Yue Qingsong and Yue Qihao, father and son, Feng Yifan sliced the elbow, which was still very hot, with a knife.
Seeing this scene, Yue Qingsong couldn't help but say, "Yifan, don't you feel hot?"
Feng Yifan raised his hand and said, "It is a little hot, but you just need to master the timing of contact and the strength of the knife, and be quick, accurate and ruthless. It only touches for a moment, so it won't burn your hand."
As he spoke, Feng Yifan gave a demonstration.
Under Yue Qingsong's gaze, he saw his childhood friend cut the meat with his knife and then lightly tapped the hot elbow with his other hand. Just with that light tap, the knife quickly cut off a piece of meat.
The whole process was just as Feng Yifan himself said, fast, accurate and ruthless.
Yue Qingsong even found it a little unbelievable.
I saw Feng Yifan slicing the boneless elbow quickly like cutting the Gordian knot.
After watching the whole thing, Yue Qingsong felt like he was watching an art performance.
After finishing all the slices, Feng Yifan put a clay pot on the small stove next to the earthen stove.
First heat the casserole, then apply oil to the bottom of the pot, then put a layer of white radish slices that have been blanched in water to remove the fishy smell, and then arrange the pork elbow slices one by one.
Then add soy sauce, rice wine, rock sugar, onion, ginger and two shiitake mushrooms, cover the casserole with a lid and simmer over low heat.
Seeing this, Feng Ruoruo couldn't help but ask: "Dad, can't we eat yet?"
Feng Yifan smiled and answered his daughter: "Not yet, it's not fully flavored yet. We need to wait patiently for a while, and then Daddy still needs to steam the buns."
When Feng Ruoruo heard her father say that they were going to steam buns, she immediately thought of playing with the dough and immediately forgot about eating.
The little girl said with anticipation: "Okay, Dad, please steam the buns quickly."
Seeing Feng Ruoruo looking forward to the steamed buns, Yue Qingsong asked curiously: "Oh? Does Ruoruo like to eat pasta?"
Feng Yifan shook his head and said, "No, Ruoruo urged me to steam the buns because she wanted to ask me for some dough to play with."
After saying that, Feng Yifan opened the bowl of dough and took out the fermented dough.
First, knead the dough on the chopping board to squeeze out the air in the dough and make the surface of the dough smooth again.
During this process, Feng Ruoruo's little face was full of anticipation, waiting for her father to give her dough to play with.
But seeing that her father had kneaded the dough but didn't give it to her, Feng Ruoruo couldn't help but get anxious: "Dad, where's Ruoruo's dough?"
Feng Yifan immediately turned around, gathered the remaining dough in the bowl, rolled it into two large dough balls and handed them to his daughter.
"Here, these two, one for you and one for Brother Haohao, okay?"
Feng Ruoruo took the dough and nodded with a smile: "Okay, Brother Haohao and I will each have one."
Then, the little girl turned around and ran to the kitchen door, and casually handed one of them to Yue Qihao who was peeking at the kitchen door.
"Brother Haohao gives it to you. This is very fun. You can make a lot of things out of it."
Yue Qihao naturally knew that dough could be used to make things. Every time his grandmother kneaded the dough, he always wanted to ask his grandmother for some to play with.
But in most cases, they would be stopped by their mothers.
Today, when Yue Qihao saw the dough his sister handed over, which was quite large, he hesitated a little and looked up at his father beside him.
Yue Qingsong smiled and said, "Okay, just take what your sister gives you. You can go and play with your sister."
In the end, it wasn't Yue Qihao who dragged his sister out to play, but it was the other way around.
After Yue Qihao took the dough, Feng Ruoruo took the initiative to pull her brother to play on the small table outside: "Brother Haohao, let's make little ducks together."
Feng Ruoruo has raised the ducklings for two days and has really developed a special liking for them. She even makes ducklings when playing with dough.
While the children went out to play, Feng Yifan naturally continued to knead the dough in the kitchen.
After kneading the dough, he kneaded another dough separately.
Then roll the unfermented dough into small doughs, apply a layer of oil on the surface, wrap it with fermented dough, and finally form it into a steamed bun.
Yue Qingsong saw this and asked curiously, "Yifan, why do you wrap the buns like this?"
Without waiting for Feng Yifan to answer, Su Jinrong smiled and said, "He does this to make a hollow steamed bun. After steaming it, you can take out the core, and then it becomes a hollow steamed bun, which can be used to sandwich the Su Zao pork elbow to eat."
After hearing the explanation, Yue Qingsong was also a little surprised: "So it can be done this way?"
Feng Yifan rolled a batch of steamed buns, put them in a large steamer, and then placed them on a large pot to start steaming.
"Today we are trying to make Suzhou pork elbow, so we need to prepare these hollow steamed buns. Otherwise, it will be too greasy to just eat the pork elbow."
The steamed buns have been put on and the pork elbow is already being simmered over low heat. All that remains is waiting.
While waiting, Feng Yifan and his father-in-law continued to discuss some recipe issues of Su Zao Tang.
Yue Qingsong listened from the side, occasionally interjecting a few words and sharing his own insights.
What’s interesting is that although Yue Qingsong himself can’t cook, some of his opinions are quite interesting.
For example, he feels that the spice ratios don’t need to be taken too seriously, because ordinary people probably won’t be able to taste the difference.
"Yifan, you and Uncle Rong are cooks, so you have your own pursuit of this thing, but ordinary people just like delicious and unpalatable food. Who would appreciate the different spices in different seasons and whether there will be any different tastes?"
Hearing Yue Qingsong's words, Feng Yifan and his father-in-law looked at each other and smiled.
Then, Feng Yifan said: "Qingsong, you are right, but as a chef, you can't just muddle through. Any chef should make every dish the best. Striving for excellence is what a chef should do."
After hearing what Feng Yifan said, Yue Qingsong really felt that it made sense.
At the same time, Yue Qingsong seemed to understand why his childhood friend had become such a top chef after going out. It might be because of his attitude of striving for perfection.
Su Jinrong also said at this time: "When the older generation of chefs teach their apprentices, they always give them a life lesson first. If you want to be a good chef, you must first be a good person. A person must be serious enough about himself and be cautious enough in doing things. You must be very serious about doing it well."
Yue Qingsong nodded and said, "Uncle Rong, I've learned something from you. It seems that I was indeed a little too simple-minded."
Feng Yifan patted his childhood friend on the shoulder and said, "It's not that you think it's simple, it's because you're not a chef. Just like you said, ordinary diners may not be able to taste the subtle differences in the spice ratios, but we chefs, since we are telling others the origin of this dish, we must ensure that the dish is right."
Yue Qingsong heard this and asked, "Oh? Yifan, what's the origin of this elbow of yours?"
Feng Yifan smiled and pointed at the pot, and started to stew the pork elbow soup: "This pot of soup has a history. This pot of soup is called "Su Zao Tang", which is considered a secret recipe passed down by Su Ji's ancestors."
After hearing this, Yue Qingsong exclaimed: "What? A secret recipe passed down from ancestors? Wow, I'm in for a treat today."