Chapter 860: Living Up to Its Reputation as One of America’s Most Popular Chinese Dishes

Chapter 860 -600: Living Up to Its Reputation as One of America’s Most Popular Chinese Dishes

Dorami Kindergarten back kitchen.

Inside the operation room.

Qian Guoxiang led a few assistant chefs to place the Jiangtuan fish, cleaned by Aunt Li and others, on the chopping board.

Jiangtuan, scientifically named Leptobotia elongata, commonly known as catfish, belongs to the Bagridae family.

However, in various grilled fish restaurants, it is more affectionately referred to as Qingjiang Fish.

Throughout the land of Huaxia, Jiangtuan is widely distributed in the eastern river systems such as the Liao River, Huai River, Yangtze River, Min River, all the way to the Zhujiang River, as well as the western regions of North Korea, with the Yangtze River system being its main habitat.

Jiangtuan is highly praised for its tender and delicious meat, rich nutritional value, and thick fish maw, which can be processed into precious fish stomach.

For a long time, it has always been regarded as a nourishing delicacy, and even in ancient times, it was a tribute for the court.

Of course.

When handling this kind of fish, the steps are actually not complicated.

Simply remove the fish gills, cut open the belly, clean out the internal organs and the black membrane inside the belly, then also remove the fish teeth, and it’s done.

“Chop chop chop…”

Qian Guoxiang and the assistant chefs used kitchen knives to chop the fish’s spine behind the gills, but kept the belly meat intact.

This is done because the meat on the fish’s back is relatively thick and firm, making it difficult to absorb flavors.

Chopping open the back ensures that when the fish is cooked, the taste of the soup can fully penetrate it.

In addition, chopping the fish’s back makes it easier to eat with chopsticks.

Once all the fish backs were skillfully opened, Huang Jun placed them into large stainless steel basins and poured cooking wine into each to let them slowly marinate.

Meanwhile, he did not rest, instead turning to prepare the sour soup.

Yes, his goal was to make a Guizhou sour soup fish.

It’s worth mentioning that sour soup can be divided into three major types: white, red, and red oil, based on different preparation methods.

White sour comes from the natural fermentation of rice or noodle soup, with its color as pure as snow, hence the name.

The white sour has a slight sweet aftertaste, often used for cooking light dishes, usually accompanied by specially made dipping sauces when eaten.

Red sour is fermented with wild small tomatoes, with a pure and lasting sour taste, and a bright red color, making it the first choice for making sour soup hotpots.

As for red oil sour, its production process is slightly complex: first, chop fresh red chilies, seal and ferment them to make sour peppers, then fry them in a pot to create enticing red oil, finally simmering together with tomatoes until it becomes a rich red oil sour soup.

Indeed, apart from the common types of sour soup mentioned above, Guizhou also has many uniquely flavored sour soups like chili paste sour, shrimp sour, and stinky sour, as if stepping into Guizhou opens a gateway to the world of sour soup cuisine.

Today, to enhance cooking efficiency, Huang Jun decided to use the red sour carefully selected by Liu Suyu to make the sour soup fish.

After handling the tender fish meat, Huang Jun carefully checked the various ingredients and seasonings prepared by Qian Guoxiang for him. After ensuring nothing was missed, he added an appropriate amount of cooking oil to the hot pot.

As the oil temperature gradually rose, he tossed green onions and ginger into the pot.

In an instant.

The “sizzle” sound accompanied by the fragrant aroma of green onions and ginger wafted away.

When they were fried until golden and the aroma was rich…

He added the red sour soup into the pot.

The amount of red sour soup must be just right to balance the overall flavor of the dish while considering the diners’ tolerance for sourness.

Therefore!

Based on today’s diners—which included the kindergarten children, teachers, staff, and the education bureau leaders—he deliberately reduced the amount of red sour to ensure every diner could enjoy this delicacy without being overwhelmed by the sour taste.

This store-bought red sour soup needs to be simmered before cooking to remove any impurities, making its flavor more mellow and delicious.

However, if it were homemade sour soup, such tedious steps would be unnecessary, and it could be directly put into the pot for cooking.

As the red sour soup in the pot gradually came to a boil, a rich sour fragrance permeated the air.

Huang Jun held a ladle, gently stirring the soup in the pot, and then added the chopped tomatoes.

Although this red sour soup was already quite tangy, it was somewhat monotonous in other flavors.

The addition of tomatoes not only enhanced the savory taste of the sour soup but also brought a sweet lingering aftertaste.

When the sour soup in the pot boiled again, Huang Jun added the prepared cubeb to enhance the complex aroma of the sour soup.

After simmering on low heat for several minutes…

He poured in some pork bone stock into the pot.

While the sour soup is the key to this dish, fragrance is also indispensable.

The integration of pork bone stock made the sour soup’s aroma more intense, enriching the overall taste of the dish.

As the pot of soup boiled again, the originally clear pork bone stock had transformed into a pot of red, fragrant, and tantalizingly sour rich soup.

This aroma…

Click click click!

It’s truly intoxicating!

“This sour taste is so authentic!” Qian Guoxiang was deeply attracted by the aroma, his nostrils twitching involuntarily.

“Yeah, I think even if we just put some noodles in now, they would definitely taste great.” Aunt Li sniffed the aroma, unable to suppress a gulp.

Everyone else present felt the same way.

Huang Jun smiled silently and began adding salt to season, carefully measuring the amount, as the soup would eventually need to be tasted. Being too salty and astringent would rob the joy of drinking the soup.