Food starts with noodles

The reason why salted ducks are popular in Nanjing is that apart from the well-developed water system in Nanjing, which is suitable for duck breeding, it should also be related to the water transportation in ancient times.

In the past, Nanjing was a very important transit point on the way of water transportation.

The most important item in water transportation is salt.

The arrival of salt made it possible for Nanjing to make salted duck.

The reason why salt water is used to make ducks is because this method is the most cost-effective, and the duck meat is also resistant to storage after being soaked in salt water.

Of course, the real reason has not been verified, but the practice of salted duck has been passed down from generation to generation.

Today, a standardized production process has already been formed.

After Xu Zhuo learned how to make salted duck, he studied it carefully. The more he studied, the more he found that this dish was prepared for the new restaurant.

Modern people pay attention to healthy diet, and salted duck boiled at low temperature is definitely the best among them. In terms of human health, salted duck is even better than some vegetarian dishes.

In addition, salted duck has a good taste and chewiness, and it is also good for teeth if you eat more.

So as long as it is publicized and guided, there is definitely a market for salted duck in the capital.

This thing is not like the roast duck in the capital, which has complicated eating methods and various gimmicks. Compared with roast duck, salted duck is more common. As long as it tastes good, sales will definitely not be a problem.

Moreover, salted duck is also more suitable for vacuum packaging and selling online.

Although the signature of Nanjing salted duck is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, Xu Zhuo believes that as long as the taste of his own cooking is good, there is absolutely no need to worry about sales.

After all, he is a celebrity anyway.

He doesn't know how to cut up fans' leeks, but it's okay to promote his products.

Yu Peiyong didn't expect Xu Zhuo to make salted duck, but after thinking about it, he thought it was quite suitable, because there is a dish of white-cut chicken in the store.

If there is another dish of salted duck, there are all the ultimate ways to eat chicken and duck.

The ducks used to make salted ducks are generally selected from the lake ducks produced in Gaoyou. This kind of ducks grows in the water since childhood, and the small fish and shrimps in the water grow up. The duck meat is more delicate and has no fishy smell. It is most suitable for salt water. Duck is a delicacy that reveals the true taste of food.

"In Nanjing, only the best quality ducks are used to make salted duck, the next one is salted duck, and the third is roast duck." Yu Peiyong seriously introduced the status of salted duck in Nanjing food circle to Xu Zhuo.

Xu Zhuo asked curiously, "Then what's worse?"

Yu Peiyong said: "The worst ones will be decomposed and made into duck meat snacks of various flavors. For example, a particularly famous dish in Nanjing - duck jaw, is made from disassembled duck meat."

It was only then that Xu Zhuo realized that the salted duck was actually a superior existence in Nanjing.

That being the case, let’s upgrade the skills of the salted duck to A-level, so as not to be rubbed on the ground by the old brand in Nanjing.

Now that logistics is developed, even if you are in the capital, as long as you have money, you can still buy the high-quality lake duck produced in Gaoyou.

However, this kind of lake duck is a white striped duck that has been slaughtered cleanly, which makes Xu Zhuo a little disappointed, because after the skill is upgraded to A level, it also comes with a skill of slaughtering ducks.

I can't buy live ducks now, so this skill is a bit of a waste, so I can only experience it later.

The duck is transported in the cold chain, so it is slightly frozen. You need to soak the duck in clean water first, so that the slightly frozen duck meat can stretch out a little, so that it is convenient to make.

Under Yu Peiyong's instruction, Xu Zhuo soaked the duck in clean water for half an hour.

Although this was the first time to make it, because of Yu Peiyong's presence and Xu Zhuo's skills, he was just pretending at the moment, so he directly soaked two boxes of ducks.

There are about thirty of them.

Xu Zhuo has already made up his mind that after the salted duck is ready, let the staff in the store taste it, so that the duck will not be wasted, and the staff can accurately know the taste of the dish.

From now on, until the opening of the business, the brine used to marinate duck meat will almost become an old brine. At that time, the taste and quality of the duck will be improved again.

Although the degree of improvement is not high, the taste is still a bit different compared to Xinlu.

The so-called brine is boiled high-concentration salt water, which is the key to making salted duck. The secret of duck meat is all in this brine.

Even now, the key to evaluating whether a salted duck is delicious or not is the age of the old brine.

The longer the stew is, the more ducks are soaked, the more soluble molecules in the duck meat, and the taste of the duck will be better.

Compared with old soup, old brine is also easier to store. After all, it is high-concentration salt water and is not easy to deteriorate.

After half an hour, the frozen duck meat is thoroughly soaked in clean water until soft.

Xu Zhuo fished these ducks out of the water and officially started making salted ducks.

Chapter 1516 Salted Duck ([-])

The duck used for salted duck should be about half a year old. This kind of duck has the best taste, fat and thin, and the meat is delicate. It tastes special.

If the age is too young, the taste of the duck will not be chewy enough.

And the age is too old, the meat quality will become bad, and the fishy smell will become stronger at the same time.

Duck seedlings start to grow in spring, and in autumn when the sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant, they are caught and slaughtered to make salted duck. That's how the name of the duck comes from.

But now, with the improvement of scientific breeding technology, half-year-old ducks can be bought all year round.

For example, what Xu Zhuo is cleaning up now is ducks that are about half a year old. The skin is white and tender, and the meat is plump. It is the best choice for making salted duck.

To make salted duck, you need to soak the duck first, let the duck meat stretch out completely, and then start packing.

The so-called cleaning is to clean up some unremoved duck feathers and blood clots and internal organs left in the abdominal cavity of the duck. In addition, the duck head, duck buttocks and other parts are also the focus of cleaning.

After cleaning these, there is a key link in this step, which is to cut the two ribs of the duck with a sharp knife.

Holding a sharp knife, Xu Zhuo put the duck on the workbench, opened the duck's wings, pierced in from the part below the root of the wing, and then stabbed it horizontally, making a [-]-[-] cm long cut under the rib.

And the depth is to pierce the chest cavity.

After the knife stabbed in, a stream of blood gushed out from inside.

The reason for doing this step is to completely clean up the blood remaining in the chest cavity and chest, and also to make the duck meat more delicious when marinating.

For poultry animals, the breast is the thickest and full of muscle fibers. When marinating, it is difficult for the salt to penetrate into it.

Pierce it under the ribs on both sides, so as to speed up the marinating speed of the duck while keeping the integrity of the duck.

In addition, this pricking can also prevent the abdominal cavity of the duck from bursting during the cooking process.

Xu Zhuo stood in front of the workbench, and under Yu Peiyong's guidance, he packed them up one by one.

He was so fast that thirty ducks didn't take long at all.

He Guoan on the side was a little curious: "Is this the speed at the beginning? I think some old masters are not as quick as you to clean up the ducks."

It was only then that Xu Zhuo realized that his performance just now seemed to have gone too far.

Yu Peiyong smiled and said to He Guoan: "Xiao Zhuo has been cooking sweet-skinned ducks in the provincial capital for a long time, and he has also made a lot of Hunan salted salted ducks. There are also dishes such as bandit ducks, blood ducks, and fire-heeled fairy ducks." , especially experienced in making ducks.

It's normal to tidy up a little faster now. "

Look, this is the benefit of maintaining a persona. Xu Zhuo usually cooks with a very talented look.

You can understand it at a little bit, and you can learn it as soon as you learn it.

Now, although he is a little more proficient in doing it, the people around him are not surprised, but help to explain.

After the duck is cleaned, it needs to continue soaking in clean water. Only in this way can the blood in the meat be completely soaked out.

When soaking, it is also very important. You can’t just throw it into the water and it’s over. It needs to be placed in running water, so that the blood and impurities in the duck meat can be better discharged.

The entire soaking process takes more than two hours. Only in this way can the blood in the duck meat be completely cleaned out, and the duck will have white skin and ruddy meat.

This step can be said to determine the appearance and appearance of the salted duck, so it must not be sloppy.

Xu Zhuo put the ducks into the water basin, then brought them into the pool, and turned down the faucet to make the water in the basin turn into running water, so that the impurities would soak out and flow away with the water immediately.

While soaking the duck, Xu Zhuo was not idle, and started to make the pepper and salt for marinating the duck.

Pepper and salt are used in many dishes, for example, some fried meat needs to be sprinkled with pepper and salt, or used as a dipping sauce.

But now, the salt and pepper used in this salted duck dish is slightly different.

The salt and pepper used in the salted duck is not mainly used for pickling, but for massage of the duck. Use salt to smear the duck inside and out, which will help make the duck alive and make the duck eatable. It looks more chewy and delicious.

To put it bluntly, this step is to give the duck a salt bath.

Since it is a salt bath, the amount must be a little more, otherwise it is impossible to rub the whole body of the duck.

Xu Zhuo prepared ten packs of large grains of non-iodized salt. The taste of this kind of salt is not bitter after frying. In addition, the large grains can have a better effect when kneading.

In addition to salt, pepper star anise leaves and five-spice powder are also used.

These are to increase the fragrance of the salt. When kneaded in this way, the duck meat will have the fragrance of some spices and spices, and the duck meat will be more delicious.

However, the amount of these spices is not very large, so the fragrance of the spices is not strong, and it will not overwhelm the delicious flavor of the duck itself.

Xu Zhuo set up the wok, poured salt into the wok one by one, and then started to stir fry slowly in the wok with low heat.

This step must be fried slowly on low heat, and the pot should not be heated first before adding salt, otherwise the heat of the fried salt will be uneven, which will eventually affect the taste of the duck.

He stir-fried slowly with a spatula. At the beginning, there would be white smoke floating out of the pot, which was due to the water in the salt being fried.

After the white smoke slowly disappeared, it didn't take long for green smoke to float out of the pot, and at the same time, it was mixed with the unique salty taste of table salt.

This is a symbol of the salt being fried, but it still needs to be fried.

When the salt in the pot is fried slightly yellow, it is almost time to put spices in it.

Xu Zhuo first poured the prickly ash and star anise into it and stir-fried. These two are more resistant to frying, so they can be fried for a while, while the fragrant leaves and five-spice powder have a burnt smell after a little frying, so they need to be put in later.

The dish of salted duck requires white and attractive duck skin, so the fish maw used in the whole production process can only use red peppercorns.

Because the green pepper contains a certain amount of pigment, it is not necessary to cook at ordinary times, but if it is used to make salted duck, the color of the duck skin will turn blue-gray, which will affect the appearance of the duck.

After the smell of peppercorns has just been smelled in the pot, pour the fragrant leaves and five-spice powder into it, turn off the heat at the same time, and continue to stir fry.

It takes about 5 more minutes to stir fry before it stops.

Because when the fire was just turned off, the temperature of the salt was still very high. If you don't continue to stir fry, the residual temperature in the pot will completely smear the spices.

When the pepper and salt become slightly warmer, take a jar to hold it.

In this way, when the duck is bathed later, the salt is still warm, and the effect of massaging the duck will be better.

After two hours, the duck is soaked.

Salt bath begins!

Chapter 1515 Salted Duck

Xu Zhuo took out the soaked duck, and using kitchen scissors, cut off the duck feet and wings from the joints, and put it aside for later use.

These duck wings and duck feet are the leftovers of salted duck. The easiest way is to marinate them in red oil stewed soup, which becomes a spicy and spicy snack with wine.

The reason why it is removed at this time is mainly that it can stretch the duck meat to a greater extent.

If it is cut off in advance, no matter the joints on the duck legs or the joints on the duck wings, the skin and flesh on them will shrink to varying degrees, which will affect the overall appearance of the duck.

After cutting these off, put the duck back into clean water and wash it again.

Then hook the duck's neck with a hook, hang it on the duck drying rack used for roast duck in the back kitchen, and start to control the water.

Before the duck is massaged, the moisture must be completely controlled, so that the step of applying salt will be effective.

There is a special drying room for roast duck in the back kitchen, so this step is very simple. Just put the iron rack full of ducks in it. There is hot air inside, which can quickly dry the moisture on the surface of the duck.

After the water is drained, take the duck out, put it on the work table, put the jar of pepper and salt aside, and start preparing for kneading.

This step is also called dry pickling.

Xu Zhuo took a duck and placed it on the workbench, and then grabbed a handful of pepper and salt and spread it on the duck. First, spread the inside and outside of the duck, especially the abdominal cavity, and spread it evenly with pepper and salt.

Once you've applied it, it's time to rub it in.

This step is very critical, don't be lazy and save trouble, you must rub every part of the duck inside and out.

This not only makes the duck more flavorful, but more importantly, through rubbing, the excess water in the meat can be rubbed out, so that the duck meat will become more chewy.

Stir-fried table salt has good water absorption, which is why it is necessary to use heated table salt as much as possible.

When kneading, try to use skillful strength instead of brute force. If you use brute force, the bones of the duck may be broken. Different parts require different kneading methods.