Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

"A new dish? Never seen before?" The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow, his hand unconsciously moving towards his lips again. "If that's the case, I'd like to let you try it."

Jiang Shangxian nodded reservedly: "Thank you."

Men in the Tang Dynasty really loved to grow beards as soon as they got a little older, commonly known as beautiful beards.

The kitchen of Lexianlou is no less impressive than the entire building. In the yard, several old ladies are sitting by the well washing dishes.

Inside was a large open space with eight stoves neatly arranged in four rows. On the stone platform were neatly placed various fruits, vegetables, and wooden basins filled with fresh fish and shrimp.

A whole cleaned sheep was hung in the corner, with a wooden basin underneath to collect the blood.

Jiang Shangxian looked at the naked sheep and couldn't help but feel envious again. Look at the size and texture of the sheep. You can tell at a glance that it is a lamb that is just over half a year old.

This kind of mutton is the most tender and has a light smell, unlike the one she usually makes, wow.

The apprentices who were preparing the side dishes moved very quickly. Several chefs were watching from the side. When they saw them come in, they all bowed and greeted the shopkeeper.

Jiang Shangxian, a cooking lover, looked at it with his eyes lighting up. There were many kinds of kitchen knives here, big and small, each with different functions for cutting bones and meat.

The shopkeeper led her to a stove and stopped: "You can help yourself to the things here."

"Yes, thank you, shopkeeper." Jiang Shangxian's hands were itching to cook. He touched the iron pot on the stove, picked up the knife and looked at it before putting down his bag. He took an empty basin and went to the place where the fish was kept to search for it. "Shopkeeper, I'll use this fish for the first dish."

Several apprentices and the master chef all looked in her direction. The shopkeeper glanced at them and said, "Just take whatever you need."

No one wanted to help her catch the fish. According to the rules, the chef would have all the side dishes prepared by the apprentice. However, since it was her first time, people wanted to see her skills. Jiang Shangxian responded, caught a fish with nimble hands and feet, put it in the basin, picked up the knife and took it to the yard outside.

"This fish is very fresh." Jiang Shangxian said, and with a raised knife, he drained the blood of the mandarin fish that was jumping around and struggling to death.

Many people nowadays do not like to eat fish, especially river fish, because the fish meat has a grassy smell, which is not as good as sea fish, so they must bleed the fish first. After bleeding, the fish meat will be clean and the fishy smell will be half gone.

"Grandma, can you give me some water?" Jiang Shangxian lifted the fish and waited until the blood was drained before gutting it. He removed the internal organs and gills and grinned at the grandma who was watching the fun.

"You are very good at killing fish, young lady. But you still need to clean it first?" the old lady said as she handed her a basin of water.

Jiang Shangxian thanked him, scraped the fish scales clean with a knife, rinsed the fish with water and then returned to the kitchen.

She had thought about it last night. If she was going to cook today, she would make three dishes, and the first one would be this squirrel mandarin fish.

This dish looks red, but it actually has quite a few small ingredients, including diced mushrooms, diced spring bamboo shoots, green peas, corn kernels, and shrimps. Zuixianlou naturally has these five ingredients. Jiang Shangxian took a small plate and took a little bit of each and set them aside.

She chopped some scallion whites and minced garlic. She turned her head. The shopkeeper had already gone back to the front, leaving a young man watching her from the side. "Young Master, do you have any lard, sesame oil, or chicken broth?"

The young man was slightly taken aback by her sudden call, but he quickly responded: "Yes, yes, I'll go get it now."

"Thank you."

Chinese cuisine emphasizes color, aroma and taste. When making squirrel mandarin fish, the first thing to do is to shape the mandarin fish. First, chop off the fish head and chin, and then slice it along both sides of the spine to the tail.

Be careful not to break the tail, as it will look ugly if you do! Cut off the spine, slice off the breast bones, and finally cut diamond-shaped patterns on the fish.

After cutting the fish, Jiang Shangxian gave it a massage with salt, white pepper and cooking wine before wiping his hands. He took out a small clay pot from the bag beside him, took out a large bowl and poured out half of it.

This contains the cassava starch that she made herself in her free time. Before putting the mandarin fish into the pot, it needs to be coated with the starch paste.

Jiang Shangxian picked up the large oil can on the ground with some difficulty and poured enough oil into the pot. The waiter who came back with lard, sesame oil and chicken soup was frightened by the sight: "Oh my God, so much oil! It will taste bad soon, and you will have to pay for it yourself!"

"Hehe." Jiang Shangxian smiled embarrassedly. Of course, if she dared to pour oil like this at home, Jiang's mother would be so angry that she would faint.

As she thought so, she squatted down and fiddled with the fire at the stove. A young apprentice ran over and said, "Young lady, let me do it."

Each industry has its own rules. It's okay to ask a chef to cut vegetables and kill fish, but it's not okay to ask a chef to light the fire.

"Thanks."

Someone was making a fire, Jiang Shangxian was relaxed, and took out a small clay pot from his bag - tomato sauce.

(Tomatoes were introduced from South America during the Ming Dynasty and started to be eaten in the late Qing Dynasty. I’ve used them here first. Thank you! If the ingredients in the subsequent books don’t match the year, I, the humble little crow, won’t give you the standards one by one. I wish you fairies great fortune! Love you all!)

This thing is not easy to find. It was when she was setting up a stall in the West Market that she saw some Hu merchants selling it as an ornamental potted plant.

Each one was a little bigger than the small tomatoes we have today. She bought two pots and saved for a long time before she had enough to buy two cans of tomato sauce.

I scooped three spoonfuls of tomato sauce into a clean bowl, added the skimmed chicken broth, sugar, balsamic vinegar, cooking wine, salt, and the remaining wet starch, stirred it into a paste and set it aside.

The wood stove was very powerful. Jiang Shangxian reached out to test the temperature and found it was about 70% hot. He lifted the fish tail with one hand and held the front end with chopsticks with the other hand and put it into the oil pan. In just twenty seconds, the shape of the fish appeared.

At this time, let go and immerse the whole fish in the oil pan, then put in the fish head and fish chin and keep pouring oil on it. Fry until light yellow, then remove it and fry it again until golden yellow, then remove it and place it on a plate.

At this moment, the shape and fragrance of the fish have come out, and the whole kitchen is filled with the wonderful aroma of fried fish. Several chefs have changed from occasionally peeking at her at the beginning to constantly turning their heads to look at her while cooking - it is really almost noon, and people are starting to come in.

Otherwise they would definitely gather around to take a closer look!

The young man sniffed and said, "My dear lady, it smells so good. This fish looks so good cooked this way."

Jiang Shangxian scooped the oil from the pot into an empty vat, added lard and sesame oil, and began to stir-fry the shrimp: "This is just the beginning."

Shrimps are easy to cook, so stir-fry for a while and then remove from the oil. Add the scallions and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add the diced mushrooms, diced spring bamboo shoots, green peas, and corn kernels and stir-fry until cooked. Finally, pour in the bowl of sauce she prepared and stir-fry quickly.

"What's that smell?"

“It smells so good…”

Jiang Shangxian poured the sauce from the pot onto the fried squirrel fish and sprinkled it with shrimps, all the movements were done in one go.

"Little brother, this is called squirrel mandarin fish. Bring it up to the front for the shopkeeper to try!"