Siheyuan: Fatty’s Counterattack

The old man waited for a while and then said: "You can't tell, right? Similar ones include blanched chicken spinal cord, crispy bamboo fungus, shredded radish midsection, stewed deer chong, crystal ball, etc.! Just these dishes, let alone eating them, there are so many No one has ever heard of it, so how can it spread?”

Just take the middle section of shredded radish as an example. If you ask ten people on the street, you are guaranteed to think that it is a vegetarian dish; but in fact, in the "Sichuan Cookbook", this dish is not only a meat dish, but also a fish and shrimp dish.

Mr. Lu sighed and continued: "The second one is that the master who teaches the skills has serious stubbornness and adheres to the backward concept of "teaching the disciples to starve the master to death". Even if we take the initiative to come to communicate, he is unwilling to do so. He feels that we It was to steal his secret recipe. So what did it gradually become? These dishes today are very different from the Sichuan cuisine of the past, and most of them are no longer on today’s recipes.”

The old man told this story, let alone Liu Lan and Fat Aunt, they had never heard of it before; even the fat man who traveled back from 2023 had never heard of such dish names.

At that time, when talking about high-end Sichuan cuisine, he knew that it was just boiled cabbage and melon, swallow, and tripe. If he was asked to name one more, he couldn't even name it.

Many young people may not even have heard of Gua Yan Sui Du.

The belly is easy to understand, it is pork belly. As for the melon swallow, is it a bird's nest?

Wrong, Guayan is a winter melon. Use a knife to cut the winter melon into thin slices, and then cut it into thin strips. But be sure not to cut it. Make sure it is like a dried flower, continuous.

When making it, use the boiled stock to scald it; just like boiling cabbage, pour the stock on top one by one, and scald it in this way. Never put it in the pot to cook it. It falls apart when cooked...

The winter melon made in this way is similar to bird's nest in appearance, color and texture, hence the name - Guayan.

So what is the word "sui" in Suidu? That is to say, every piece of pork belly that comes out of the knife looks like the abundant ears of wheat in autumn.

Finally, the old man made a concluding speech: "So this is not down to earth. I hope you remember that food is the most important thing for the people! The food is ultimately for the common people to eat, not just for the dignitaries; of course. , there are such dishes, Tan’s cuisine, right, but it’s almost lost. Today’s Tan’s cuisine is also very different from the past, such as some precious ingredients, which you all know, I won’t say more.”

The old man’s words today very well explain why Shandong cuisine has been able to endure for ever, stand the test of time, and remain at the top of the eight major cuisines.

Mr. Lu took a sip of tea and asked the fat man abruptly: "I heard from Brother Wang that you once made braised prawns?"

Braised prawns? The fat man couldn't remember it for a while. By the way, it was cooked at the Great Spirit Guide's house. It had four dishes and one soup. He didn't expect the old man to even know this.

Mr. Lu said: "This dish is also called dry-roasted prawns. I used to make it, but I don't make it now. Do you know why?"

Why, because the Bohai giant prawns are now on the verge of extinction!

Severe pollution and overfishing have once brought Bohai prawns to the point of almost extinction.

It can be said that by 92 or 93, Bohai prawns were almost no longer available on the market. Later, this dish could only be replaced with ordinary prawns.

Seeing that the fat man realized it so quickly, the old man was even more happy. This disciple is skilled in his craftsmanship and has a high level of understanding. Who wouldn’t want to accept such a disciple?

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The first dish Mr. Lu taught Fatty was his unique skill - hoof picking.

This is also one of the famous dishes of Luweizhai, and later it was listed as an intangible cultural heritage.

The old man teaches cooking in a very systematic way. Instead of just explaining how to make this dish, what are the tips and tricks, he starts by talking about how this dish was born.

When talking about Shandong, everyone knows Dezhou Braised Chicken. Luweizhai was also the first to make braised chicken. Legend has it that in 1940, the boss's wife gave birth to a baby, so he bought 4 raw pig's trotters, cleaned them and put them in the back kitchen to prepare soup for his wife.

As a result, the uninformed family members mixed it into the pot of white strip chicken and deep-fried it. When the four shiny and tender pig's trotters came out of the pot, the boss tasted them unwillingly and found that they were very delicious!

So I processed it according to the method of braised chicken, and it was very successful.

He thought for a while, then took the remaining three pig's trotters to the stall and placed them with the braised chicken.

This sale is about to happen. The old buyer didn't see it at first sight, so he bought it and ate it because the picture was new. This is an incredible meal, absolutely amazing! Even better than braised chicken...

The next day, at dawn, I came to the door to urge you, and I couldn’t sell it!

In this way, Braised Hoof was born, and people came to buy it in an endless stream. Luweizhai also changed from selling only braised chicken to the current chicken and hoof.

"..."

After teaching allusions, it’s time to teach how to do it. Lu Xingbang asked the fat man to dress him up, and when he stood next to the stove, he showed off his celebrity chef style.

"What is braised pork? In a word, it means adding soup, cooking the ingredients over warm fire until crispy, and finally thickening the pot. This is true for braised cabbage heart, and the same is true for braised three whites. It is characterized by softness, thick juice, and It's easy to melt. But for the steak in our Shandong cuisine, we also need to change the knife, cut down the good side, arrange it neatly in a pattern, add an appropriate amount of soup and seasonings, and heat it slowly over a slow fire to mature; at this time, do it again Turn the spoon over, let the noodles wash up, pour in the oil, and finally pour it into the plate with a dragging technique."

You can buy pig's trotters everywhere, and you don't have to worry about quality.

Why do I say this? Because pork is processed in different ways with different ingredients.

For example, the skin of fresh mountain pig does not need to be processed. Even if it is simply cleaned and put into the pot, there will be no fishy smell.

But for pork that has been fed as feed, as well as frozen pork, including hooves, the skin must be burned before processing.

Burn off the smelly things like the skin, and then scrape them clean with a knife before proceeding to the next step.

The same is true for the dish of braised pig trotters. The pig trotters need to be oiled first, then fried and then simmered for a long time. Not only does it remove the fishy smell and greasy texture, but it also makes the skin glutinous and the meat is rotten. After tearing it open, a refreshing fragrance comes out. .

Even people with bad teeth can still eat this dish.

Speaking of this, the old man also made a joke: "When I went to the countryside to cook banquets for people, this dish was served on every table. There was an old man who was almost eighty and didn't have many teeth, so he was just waiting for this dish. Just to satisfy my craving. As soon as the food was served, a boy next to me took it away with a swipe. The angry old man picked up the spoon on the table and ran over to him. I'll give you a mallet!"