Chapter 1361 - 535: Traditional Village Feast Banquet—Simple Yet Refined! Second Main Quest!

Chapter 1361: Chapter 535: Traditional Village Feast Banquet—Simple Yet Refined! Second Main Quest!

Chen Meiliang then remembered that the whole fish served during meals were usually under two pounds, so he changed a set of nets and caught over twenty smaller carp.

Besides these, he also caught a few softshell turtles, several snakeheads, as well as grass carp, chub, and white bream, all common freshwater fish in the north.

He retrieved these fish from the small pool and sent them to the restaurant using a tricycle.

Lin Xu, who was in the middle of preparing roast chicken, saw the fish and thought his second uncle had cleared out the fish stalls at the market.

"So many fish, let’s add smoked fish to the menu and give everyone a taste of the Beijing restaurant dishes."

Chen Meiliang saw the two sheep and curiously asked Lin Xu:

"How will the sheep be prepared?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

"These sheep look good, tomorrow I’ll make salt-fried lamb, giving everyone a chance to try something different."

The standard Datong salt-fried lamb requires just a pinch of salt, no complicated Sichuan peppercorns or spices, enjoying the original fresh aroma of lamb.

But this local Yinzhou goat may not match the lamb quality from Datong.

So Lin Xu plans to use chili and other ingredients tomorrow to mask the goat’s gamy taste, increasing its appeal to diners.

After Lin Xu finished speaking, Chen Meiliang smiled and said:

"Not bad, I’ve eaten it in Datong a few times before. The preparation is quite simple; first stew it until there’s no broth, then fry it using the lamb’s own fat, giving it a unique taste... Can’t slaughter the sheep today, right?"

"No, we can slaughter them tomorrow morning; doing it fresh ensures the lamb’s freshness."

Nearby, Chen Meide, who was rolling up his sleeves to clean ducks, reminded:

"Be sure to save the lamb offal tomorrow to make lamb offal soup. Haven’t had that for days, and you’re starting to crave it."

Lin Xu replied:

"Alright, big uncle, we’ll save the lamb offal and make the soup."

Everyone continued their work. For the whole fish dish, Lin Xu plans to make sweet and sour carp, a common dish at Northern banquets. It’s perfect for children who are on winter vacation, as they will likely enjoy its sweet and sour flavor.

At 4 p.m., the employees from the scenic area came to collect their Lunar New Year benefits.

The village banquet chefs had already picked out the necessary meat for each dish, and Lin Hongqi divided the remaining meat and started distributing the benefits.

Each employee receives twenty pounds of meat, along with two buckets of peanut oil, a fifty-pound bag of flour, a fifty-pound bag of rice, a six-hundred-yuan supermarket gift card, and a one thousand yuan New Year cash gift.

The goal is to make the employees happy during the New Year.

Originally, he considered converting the rice, flour, and peanut oil into cash, but later thought it lacked impact, preferring each person driving to collect them. This way, when returning to the village, it could attract more villagers to work.

While he was busy distributing benefits to employees, Lin Xu and Shi Wenming took the six braised pig heads, deboned them, and made steamed starch pig head.

Originally, Lin Xu wanted to save a pig head to make braised whole pig’s head for family, but realized there wasn’t enough time.

Tomorrow is the banquet, followed by New Year’s Eve, then another table full of dishes. Even if they made the braised whole pig’s head, it wouldn’t be eaten much.

Might as well buy a pig head later and make it separately.

Not far away, several master chefs heated the pot, brushed a thin layer of oil, then ladled a spoonful of egg mixture, pouring it in circles along the pot’s edge.

After pouring the egg mixture, they lifted the pot and rotated it to evenly cover the pot’s bottom.

One spoonful of egg mixture perfectly covers the entire pot bottom, and once it solidifies, they carefully peel the egg sheet, placing it on a bamboo rack.

These egg sheets are for making rolled fritters.

Once the egg sheet cools enough to handle, it’s spread on a workbench with a layer of adhesive starch water.

A large spoonful of freshly prepared meat filling is placed on top, shaped into a uniform long strip by hand, then rolled with the egg sheet to encase the meat filling completely.

Finally, brush a little starch water on the seam, and carefully place it into the steamer.

A rolled fritter is now ready; it will be steamed for about forty minutes then served hot.

Chen Meijuan came over, curiously asking:

"Looks good, how’s this meat filling prepared? Can you share?"

The chef in charge smiled and said:

"No problem! Ground the front leg meat into filling, use a ratio of four parts fat to six parts lean meat, add minced scallion and ginger, season with light soy sauce, salt, and sesame oil, but remember, no cooking wine, no dark soy sauce."

Steamed rolled fritters have pink meat inside, with golden egg sheets outside, visually appealing and appetizing.

Chen Meijuan quietly noted down the recipe, planning to try it later.

If it turns out delicious, it could be an added dish to the family’s New Year’s Eve dinner.

All rolled fritters are prepared and placed in the steaming cabinet for cooking.

At this point, the large meat square in the pot is thoroughly cooked, and the chefs scoop it out, puncture the skin with a brush full of steel bristles, and apply maltose syrup.

Then, they place these meat squares into an oil pot for frying.

This step is called braising meat; when done, the meat is taken out and soaked in cold water to form a layer of tiger skin on the surface, ready to be made into pork belly tomorrow.

While the oil pot is hot, they also fry the crispy pork ribs, crispy meat, and the chicken for the roast chicken.

The fried roast chicken is placed into braising broth, brought to a boil over high heat, then simmered over the charcoal stove to achieve an ideal tenderness.