Food starts with noodles

Chapter 1479 Ni Changye

After Xu Zhuo and He Guoan changed their clothes, they took the subway directly to an unattractive alley in the third ring road.

Turning left and right inside, I finally came to Ni Dacheng's house.

Ni Dacheng didn't go to work today, and he was leaving anyway, so he naturally didn't get up early and go to work every night like in the past, but learned to fish.

For example, today, he excused that the relatives at home couldn't leave, so he didn't go to work in the store.

Of course, even though no one went there, he had already taught the other chefs in the store the skill of making sheep scorpions. Whether they could do it well would depend on the luck of those chefs.

Anyway, Ni Dacheng has done his best.

When Xu Zhuo and He Guoan came in with fruits, Ni Dacheng was holding a pair of garden shears and trimming a thick vine in the yard.

Beside him, an old man with all white hair was standing aside, patiently explaining the essentials of pruning.

This class of vines should have been growing for many years, with strong roots and vines spreading all over the yard, but because they were pruned every year, they were firmly controlled in a corner of the yard and did not spread outside.

"Uncle, here we are. You are only now tending to the vines. They are almost sprouting. If you cut them now, it will hurt the vines."

He Guoan has a lot of research on these things, so he chatted with Ni Changye.

Then he pointed to Xu Zhuo who was next to him: "Uncle, this kid is Xu Zhuo, who is also my current boss. Xiao Zhuo, this is Mr. Ni who was in charge of the back kitchen of the State Guesthouse back then."

Xu Zhuo hurriedly greeted, "Grandpa Ni is good."

Ni Changye looked Xu Zhuo up and down, with a smile on his face: "He looks really good-looking, come, come, let's go inside and drink tea."

He led the two into the house and said: "This vine was pruned once when it entered winter, but it has grown too vigorously in the past two years, so it needs to be pruned again when it germinates, so as not to go crazy."

The layout of the room is very simple and elegant. At first glance, it doesn't look like a chef's home, but it looks a bit like a retired old teacher.

There are various books on the bookshelf next to it, celebrity calligraphy and paintings on the wall, and some old newspapers that look old.

From this point, it can be seen that Ni Changye is somewhat different from Ni Dacheng, that big bastard.

After entering the house, Xu Zhuo and He Guoan put the fruit they bought at the entrance of the alley on the tea table. When Ni Changye went to pour water, He Guoan stopped him.

He skillfully brought a few teacups, first scalded them with hot water, then took out a tea box from a cabinet, and started making tea in a familiar way.

When the fragrance of tea began to waft in the room, the three of them sat in the living room and chatted.

Everyone exchanged pleasantries and flattered each other for a while, and then He Guoan brought the topic to the old man again.

Ni Changye still has a good impression of the old man. After all, he beat up his colleague just after work.

Looking back at this moment, Ni Changye felt that time passed so quickly.

After the business exchanging session was over, Xu Zhuo said straight to the point: "Grandpa Ni, I dare to invite you to be the menu consultant of my new restaurant. Firstly, I can give advice to the young chefs in the restaurant. In addition, I also want to share with you what you had at that time. More famous dishes are prepared."

This kind of invitation cannot directly talk about treatment, such as the monthly salary of the other party, although this kind of behavior is more effective when recruiting.

But when inviting industry veterans to come out, this kind of behavior is not advisable.

There is even a high probability that there will be a reaction.

Because although most of the people who agreed were for money, they couldn't explain it. They could only start with the development of the industry and the inheritance of craftsmanship.

In this way, the acceptance level of the old gentlemen is relatively high.

After they nodded and agreed, let's talk about the treatment, which can not only show the sincerity here, but also relieve the other party's worries.

Ni Changye didn't agree, but he didn't refuse either.

Instead, I asked Xu Zhuo a question: "Xiao Xu, I remember that when you opened a shop in the provincial capital, you hired a bunch of consultants. Who are you going to hire this time?"

This question is very simple, but it can also reflect some problems.

Most likely he wanted to know which rank Xu Zhuo put him in when he asked this question.

If he got together with a group of lesser-known chefs, Ni Changye would naturally refuse.

But he was too worried about this, Xu Zhuo said with a smile: "As for my grandfather and the others, they all came from the kitchen of the state banquet, not the state banquet chef, so they are not qualified to be the menu consultant of the new restaurant."

Of course, this is just Xu Zhuo's statement.

If Feng Weiguo wanted to come, Xu Zhuo would naturally not refuse, just find a way to give him another title. Boss Xu is very good at word games.

Ni Changye nodded with a relaxed expression.

Obviously, he was quite satisfied with Xu Zhuo's words.

But he was satisfied, he still didn't agree to Xu Zhuo, but made a request of his own.

"In order to entertain you, I went to the vegetable market this morning to buy some ingredients.

Son, since you want to invite me to be a dish consultant, show your true skills and cook me a dish with the ingredients in the kitchen.

As long as it satisfies me, I agree to be the food consultant in your store. "

Sure enough, the main event came.

It was already four o'clock in the afternoon, Xu Zhuo was not polite, he got up and rolled up his sleeves and said, "Today, I will try to use a big knife in front of Guan Gong."

Ni Changye took him to the kitchen in Westinghouse.

The advantage of a courtyard house is that there are houses on all sides, but the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, the yard is a bit small.

After coming to the Ni family's kitchen, the attributes of the Ni family's culinary family were revealed.

Xu Zhuo looked at the kitchen, which was about the same size as the living room, and was secretly a little stunned. The family kitchen is so big, so you should be thinking about the dishes at home, right?

It was obviously not the first time for He Guoan to come to Ni's kitchen, but after entering, an expression of emotion appeared on his face involuntarily.

"Uncle, your kitchen is the largest among all the common people in the capital. At that time, you had to tidy up your house and have a private kitchen or Ni's banquet. Now you must have a good reputation."

Ni Changye smiled slightly: "I have thought about it, but I don't like strangers coming to my house, so I dismissed the idea."

Xu Zhuo began to check the ingredients in the kitchen.

There is a chicken, a duck, half a rib, two or three catties of pork belly, and pork trotters.

Vegetables are also very complete.There are everything from celery, eggplant, beans, and garlic sprouts. Obviously, Ni Changye is going to cook a big table tonight.

Xu Zhuo looked at it, and suddenly found some off-white ingredients soaked in a basin in the corner.

These ingredients are slightly larger than a thumb, and the surface looks a little smooth.

He pointed to the ingredients in the pot, turned his face to look at Ni Changye and asked, "Grandpa Ni, are these mullet eggs?"

Ni Changye nodded: "Why, want to do this?"

Xu Zhuo smiled: "My grandfather once taught me how to make mullet egg soup. Since you have mullet eggs here, I'll try it again. I just want you to check it out."

Chapter 1480 Mullet Egg Soup

Mullet egg soup is a delicacy that has both Shandong cuisine and Central Plains cuisine.

The so-called mullet eggs are actually not eggs, but the ovaries of female squids. They are highly respected because they are full of gelatin, delicious and moist.

When Xu Zhuo heard the name mullet egg for the first time, he thought it was a turtle egg.

But when he saw the white slices in the bowl, he realized that he had guessed wrong, because tortoise eggs are not like this, and it is impossible to cut them as thin as paper.

As for why the ovaries of the female mullet are called mullet eggs, Xu Zhuo thinks it probably has something to do with their appearance.

The ovary of the female squid is round and long, with a smooth surface. After tearing off the surface membrane, the mullet eggs can be peeled off layer by layer.

The peeled mullet eggs are very thin, almost like a piece of paper.

Xu Zhuo had heard from the old man a long time ago that the mullet eggs were not like this at the beginning. When they were first cut, the gelatin was not obvious.

After being cut off, it needs to be dehydrated and marinated with salt and alum.

After dehydration, layers of jelly will form in the ovaries. At this time, rehydration and hair can be carried out, and then cooking can be carried out.

Because it has been processed with salt, mullet eggs need to be soaked in water repeatedly before cooking. Only in this way can the excess salt be soaked out.

Otherwise, the mullet egg soup will be very salty.

This is also the reason why Ni Changye soaked the mullet eggs in the water basin at this moment.

Xu Zhuo washed his hands and started to make preparations.

For ingredients such as mullet eggs, you first need to fish them out of the water and tear off the outermost layer of mucous membrane.

This layer of mucous membrane is actually formed when the jelly inside the ovary accumulates on the outside as the water seeps out during pickling.

However, this layer of mucous membrane is not easy to tear off, so sometimes it needs to be scalded with boiling water, or soaked in hot water for a while.

If the mullet eggs are marinated for too long, or the rehydration is not complete, this step even needs to be scalded in a boiling water pot.

The mullet eggs used today are soaked for a long time, so the outermost layer of mucous membrane can be easily torn off.

After tearing it off, Xu Zhuo started to peel it off.

He picked the head of the mullet egg with his hands, gently tore open a gap, and then slowly opened the gap. When the gap was uncovered halfway, this layer of gelatinous sheet also took the layer below it. stand up.

Xu Zhuo carefully tore the two sheets apart, so that the upper layer was completely torn off, and Xu Zhuo threw it into cold water to continue soaking.

And the one below has been torn in half.

This thing is like this. When you peel it off, one by one is stacked on top of each other. Each sheet is only as thick as a paper. If you want to separate it completely, you need a lot of patience.

This is the reason why this mullet egg soup is famous and expensive.

In fact, there are now sold finished mullet egg slices, which are the kind that are divided directly, and you can use them by simply blanching them in water.

However, it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity of the ingredients of this kind of finished product, and the quality varies, so if you want to make delicious mullet egg soup, it is best to make it with traditional methods.

Only in this way, the mullet egg soup will be delicious.

When Xu Zhuo was teaching cooking at the provincial capital university, he got the B-level recipe of the hot and sour mullet egg soup, so it is not a problem to deal with mullet eggs.

He peeled off the mullet eggs very quickly, and the quality was very high. He didn't tear them once, and there were no overlaps. It was just like an old chef.

Ni Changye at the side originally thought that Xu Zhuo would choose some stir-fried dishes, but he didn't expect that he chose tonight's finale dish, mullet fish egg soup.

He stood with his arms folded, as if he was watching a play.

He planned to remind Xu Zhuo when he made a mistake, so as to give the young man a bad blow.

But looking at it, I found that this young man's craftsmanship is very good, although it is not up to his level, but it is not far behind.

Tsk, is it true that dragons beget dragons and phoenixes beget phoenixes?

Xu Jimin's son began to attend various cooking-related forums a few years ago, and his skills are good, and his grandson now has the attitude of being better than blue.

The family's talent is so high, it's really...

He glanced at Ni Dacheng who was still climbing up and down pruning the vines in the yard, and suddenly felt heartbroken.

Mullet eggs are a very magical ingredient. When preparing them, I always feel that there are too few. Because mullet eggs are not big, even if you make soup, you will subconsciously think that you need more than a dozen.

But when you uncover the mullet eggs layer by layer, you will find that at most two mullet eggs can make a pot of soup. The reason is that many slices can be peeled off from one mullet egg. The water looks dense, and it is enough for making soup or other dishes.

After Xu Zhuo peeled the three mullet eggs, he washed the flakes in the water basin with his hands, and changed to a new basin of clean water.

The fishy smell of mullet eggs is very strong, and a lot of salt is put in when marinating, so it is necessary to change the water as much as possible, so as to remove the salty and fishy smell.

And the peeled mullet eggs should be soaked for as long as possible, don't worry about soaking them, this stuff is gelatinous, so it's okay to soak for a long time.

Taking advantage of the soaking time, Xu Zhuo planned to prepare the broth to be used.

In Shandong cuisine and even the entire Chinese cuisine, broth plays a pivotal role.

In the past, there was no thick soup, no chicken essence and monosodium glutamate, and no various chemical seasonings. The taste of dishes mainly came from soup.

The quality of the soup is directly related to the color and taste of the whole dish.

According to different dishes, the classification of high soup is also different. Common high soups include chicken soup, fish soup, pork bone soup, mutton soup, beef soup and so on.

According to the thickness and clearness of the soup, the broth is also divided into clear soup and thick soup.

The broth is usually made by stewing the ingredients for more than five hours on a low heat. If today's meal is boiled first, it will naturally not work.

Ni Changye took out a deeper porcelain basin from the refrigerator and put it in front of Xu Zhuo: "This is the broth I made two days ago, you can use it directly."

Xu Zhuo glanced at it. The broth in the basin was thick white, with a thin layer of fat condensed on the surface.