Ye Fei can be said to be a veteran in making fish delicacies. He has previously made crispy grass carp, silver carp and two-color chopped pepper fish head, and volcanic seabass. No matter what kind of fish it is, it can be said that every delicacy is delicious. It's amazing, even Bazhenyushi and Chibanfuxia didn't even spare the fish bones, which shows how perfect Ye Fei is in making fish-based delicacies.
Today, he is going to use this mandarin fish to make a classic delicacy in Anhui cuisine - golden wax fish!
I saw him putting the slaughtered mandarin fish on the chopping board, and the first thing was to take out the meat.
Cover the fish with gauze and use a narrow but sharp knife to slice the meat from the tail to the head.
Ye Fei has also done this step when making volcanic bass, so it can be said that he is familiar with it at this time.
Smoothly remove the fish meat from both sides of the mandarin fish body, then clean off the fish skin, then cut it into pieces of about half a centimeter with a few knives, and put them in a bowl.
At this time, only the head and bones of a mandarin fish were left, but Ye Fei did not throw it away because it was still useful.
Ye Fei changed his back knife, took the fish head connected to the fish bones, patted the fish head twice with the knife, and placed it on another plate.
After doing this, Ye Fei started to deal with the anchovy shrimp.
Ye Fei has used shrimp as an ingredient many times, so he can process it very quickly.
Remove the shrimp line, then remove the shrimp head, use a sharp knife to gently slide in the middle of the shrimp, take off the front shrimp skin, and then cut off the exposed white and tender shrimp meat. , save some of the shrimp meat and tail parts together.
The shrimp meat is crystal white and tender, like warm jade.
Take a small plate, put two pieces of shrimp meat on the plate, use the head of a small rolling pin made of red rosewood to carefully crush the shrimp meat into shrimp paste and set aside.
After these are processed, the next step is to process the pork belly.
The pork belly that Ye Fei uses is pork belly from woolly pigs. Ye Fei knows how delicious the meat of this kind of pig is. It can be said to be the best among pork.
He took the pork belly and rinsed it under the faucet. Then he took a piece of clean white cotton cloth and soaked up the water stains on the meat. Then he placed the pork belly on the cutting board and started cutting it with a back kitchen knife.
First cut the pork belly into small pieces, and then start to mince the meat.
Just like dumpling fillings, chop the pork belly into a soft and sticky paste and put it in a bowl.
Next remove the ginger juice.
Chop the fresh ginger and green onions as finely as possible with a knife, wrap them in a piece of gauze, and put them in a thick plate. Take the red rosewood rolling pin and use the other end to crush it on the gauze bag. There will be light yellow. Ginger juice flows out.
After all the ginger and green onions inside were broken, Ye Fei picked up the gauze bag and shook it hard with his hand. More ginger juice and green onion juice flowed into the plate.
Take the big bowl with the pork belly paste again, put the fish head, fish bones and crushed shrimp meat into the bowl, pour in an appropriate amount of ginger juice and onion juice, an appropriate amount of refined salt, two spoons of rice wine, an appropriate amount of MSG, and use your hands gently. After stirring lightly, when the fish bones and fish heads were all coated with sauce, he added the shrimp paste and mixed it into the stuffing. Then in front of everyone, Ye Fei once again showed off a method he had never used before. Skill - shaping!
Shaping is a very important and difficult skill among chefs.
As a chef, you not only have to carve various ingredients into various shapes you need, but you also have to be able to knead or shape many kinds of soft ingredients into various exquisite patterns.
Ye Fei has never used the skill of shaping before, that's because there is no need to use those delicacies.
But today's delicacy is a bit special. He needs to use meat fillings to shape into several small objects.
Ye Fei picked up a ball of meat filling, turned it around in his hands, then squeezed and kneaded it, and finally placed the stuff in his hands on a clean porcelain plate.
But when everyone saw what Ye Fei put on the porcelain plate, they all went crazy.
"I'll wipe it, is that okay?"
"Haha, Ye Shen didn't study sculpture before, right? These little crabs are so cute."
"Uh-huh, mashing crabs with meat paste? Holy shit, that's awesome."
"I'm convinced. Ye Shen's technique is so powerful. Do you want the crab to be so real?"
"I'm so fucking confused, how did Ye Shen make the crab legs?"
"Damn, Ye Shen always has surprises in every live broadcast, no exception!"
"Yes, your sword skills can be shaped and carved at will. This is also about shaping. Do you want it to be so strong?"
"I can eat this crab in one bite."
That's right, Ye Fei used the mixed meat paste to shape four small crabs. This is not the point. The point is that these four crabs look like real ones. Whether it is the body or the legs, it can be said that there is no difference between them. .
Those who are chefs are not artists. As long as they can do a lot of things, it is enough.
But Ye Fei is different. The four little crabs he pinches are like hindquarters, making people unable to take their eyes away after just one look.
At this time, everyone not only admired Ye Fei's cooking skills, but also admired his skills in art. If he hadn't been a person who had studied art for quite some time, it would have been impossible to achieve this step.
No matter what everyone thought, Ye Fei squeezed the four crabs, placed them on the plate, and then turned back to deal with the fish.
Today's fish meat has no bones, especially mandarin fish. This kind of fish itself has fewer bones, which saves a lot of trouble of picking out the bones.
Take the bowl with the fish pieces over, then add an appropriate amount of refined salt, an appropriate amount of MSG, and a spoonful of rice wine. Then beat the red-tail chicken eggs, separate the egg whites and egg yolks, and take an appropriate amount of egg whites. Finally, Add about six grams of starch and start to mix gently with your hands.
He wants the fish pieces to be fully coated with paste, which is commonly known as sizing the ingredients.
After all the fish pieces were evenly attached and starched, Ye Fei put the large bowl aside, then took a medium bowl again, put the remaining egg white into the bowl, and then added the appropriate amount of starch. Then he prepared a small half bowl of paste-like stuff.
This thing has a nice name, called egg paste, also called Korean paste, or snow-coat paste. It is used in many kinds of delicacies. Its main function is to make the appearance of the ingredients look plump, loose and tender. The color is white and flawless. When preparing it, the ratio of egg white to dry starch is two to one, that is to say, two grams of egg white to one gram of dry starch.
After Ye Fei prepared the egg batter, he also set it aside for later use.
Take the shelled anchovy shrimps, wrap them in dry starch, and put them together with the battered fish pieces, but not in the same bowl.
After doing this, Ye Fei took out a steamer and put it on the stove, then turned on the fire.
While the steamer was cooking, Ye Fei took out a large plate and placed the fish head and fish bones in the middle of the plate, with the fish head facing east and the fish tail facing west.
Then he took the four small crabs that he had just kneaded with meat paste and arranged them in the four corners of the southeast, northwest, and southeast, with the crabs' heads facing out and their tails facing in.
After doing this, it didn't take long for the steamer to be ready. Ye Fei took off the lid of the steamer, placed the fish heads, fish bones and meat crabs on the plate and started steaming them in the steamer.
The reason why it is steamed first is mainly to allow the crabs and fish heads and bones to take shape.
After it was steamed, Ye Fei did not open the pot and take it out, but turned off the heat and let it simmer in the steamer.
He took out another wok, put the wok on the stove, turned on the fire, poured an appropriate amount of rose cooking oil into it, and heated it until it was 30% hot. Ye Fei took the shelled anchovy shrimp over and put it on the stove. Rotate the prepared egg batter, wait until the shrimps are properly coated with egg batter, and fry them in rose cooking oil.
The egg batter on the outside will bubble when it comes into contact with the oil. After all the shrimp skins have risen, take them out, then heat the oil again until it is 40% hot, put the anchovies shrimps inside and fry again.
It can be said that the steps to make this golden cured fish are very complicated, and some of them are even more troublesome.
But Ye Fei did every step very seriously and carefully.
After frying the shrimps in 40% hot oil, the shrimps are considered finished.
This kind of processed shrimp has a good name, it’s called Korean anchovy shrimp!
(End of chapter)