Chapter 1502 - 581: Delicious Without Being Greasy—Zenggao Truly Is a Shaanxi Favorite! Cooking Crunchy Pork! [Bonus 6]

Chapter 1502: Chapter 581: Delicious Without Being Greasy—Zenggao Truly Is a Shaanxi Favorite! Cooking Crunchy Pork! [Bonus 6]

No, many top chefs can make it.

But can the common people taste it?

No, for many dishes, even if you pay more, there’s no guarantee a chef is willing to make them.

The reason is simple: hassle!

Modern society emphasizes efficiency; restaurants don’t want to offer complicated dishes, chefs don’t want to make them, and customers don’t want to wait for them.

In this situation, those intricate and complex dishes naturally fade from the stage slowly.

Lin Xu said to Geng Lishan:

"I’m just making a record, so that years from now, when someone talks about Northeast cuisine, at least in my videos, they can see different dishes, and that’s enough."

As for whether someone wants to learn, Lin Xu doesn’t insist.

After the meal, everyone went to work or got busy with their tasks.

Lin Xu took some stainless steel bowls, divided the large bowl of Zeng cake into smaller portions, wrapped them in cling film, and placed them in the car trunk, preparing for Shen Jiayue to deliver them one by one.

Originally, he wanted to deliver it to Shi Wenqing first, but this cousin had just seen Shen Jiayue’s post on social media and couldn’t wait for the delivery. She called Shi Wenshan, and her sleepy cousin hurriedly drove to the shop and took away a big bowl of Zeng cake.

To prevent his sister from waiting too long, he even skipped breakfast, so Lin Xu had to pack some vegetable corners and sugar cakes for him, and also served two bowls of traditional egg soup in a thermos lunch box.

"Wenqing and Wenshan’s sibling affection is truly enviable. Unfortunately, I don’t have a brother to experience the feeling of being pampered by an elder brother."

Shen Jiayue watched Shi Wenshan’s hurried figure driving away and felt a bit envious.

Lin Xu said:

"Then in the future, let our daughter have a brother. That way, we’ll have both a son and a daughter, and life will be complete."

"Alright!"

After Shen Jiayue drove away, Lin Xu went to the small kitchen, set up the lighting, camera, and other equipment, then brought a big piece of hard pork fat and prepared some other ingredients, ready to make Crunchy Pork.

Geng Lishan stood with his hands behind his back in a place outside of the camera view, watching intently.

As a gourmet, he’s strong in theory but doesn’t have much practical experience. Since participating in the culinary show recording, Old Geng occasionally shows off his skills at home, surprising his wife and Geng Lele.

Lin Xu got the ingredients ready and started recording.

He said to the camera:

"Hello everyone, I’m Lin Xu. The snowy bean paste we made last time received a strong response. Many people didn’t know that Northeast still has such exquisite and elegant dishes. To change people’s biases towards Northeast cuisine, today I’m making another Northeast dish, equally refined and delicious, both in looks and taste. I hope you’ll like it."

After speaking, he began to explain the ingredients for the dish.

The main ingredient is hard pork fat.

Pork fat is the subcutaneous fat of the pig, with variations in hardness, primarily located around the pig’s spine and the belly meat area, all consisting of hard fat.

Compared to soft pork fat, hard pork fat has a better texture, finer and denser fat quality, making the resulting dish very delicious.

Many high-end dishes using pork will specifically require hard pork belly and hard pork fat for better texture.

Lin Xu briefly explained the ingredient, then began to cut.

He removed the skin from the pork fat, trimmed off the lean meat on top, leaving only pure fat, then cut it into finger-thick, roughly five to six centimeters long segments.

Such meat segments are suitable for deep-frying and also easy for batter coating, being the best choice for making Crunchy Pork.

Once the segments were cut, he placed them in a bowl, sprinkled some salt and scallion and ginger, and mixed them.

During this step, he said to the camera:

"Although Crunchy Pork is a sweet dish, it’s necessary to add salt at this stage. Only then will it taste incredibly delicious. If we compare Crunchy Pork to a dragon, the salt we’re adding now is the dragon’s eye."

Chinese cuisine emphasizes harmony and unity, and Crunchy Pork is no exception.

Since the outside is covered in syrup, naturally, you should add some salt inside to balance it, just like the bit of salt added in crystal sugar stewed pork, both play a role of finishing touch.

After marinating the fat segments, Lin Xu started preparing the batter for frying.

He added a big bowl of potato starch, a quarter of low gluten flour, then added half the amount of glutinous rice flour compared to the flour and a small spoonful of baking powder into the bowl.

"Adding flour makes the crust crispy yet crunchy, while glutinous rice flour gives the fried product a rounder and prettier appearance, while also enriching the texture."

After the explanation, Lin Xu added two egg whites, a tablespoon of cooking oil, then poured in some clear water, mixing them by hand into a thick batter.

The desired consistency is that you can grab it and pull it into a string.

Once the batter was prepared, Lin Xu didn’t rush to cook, but set up the oil pot, taking out a pack of Longkou Vermicelli when the oil temperature reached 40% heat, removed the packaging, untied the bundled vermicelli, and threw them into the oil pot in one go.

As soon as they were added, the vermicelli quickly expanded, rapidly spreading in the oil.

Originally grasped as a handful, the vermicelli now quickly turned into a large pot.

Lin Xu quickly scooped them out with a spoon and placed them in the bowl, adding a large amount of fried black sesame, shaking the bowl to disperse the sesame seeds and letting the thoroughly crispy vermicelli break apart.

After finishing this, the fat segments were marinated enough.

Lin Xu removed the scallion and ginger, poured the prepared batter in, and mixed, ensuring each segment was coated with batter, then turned the stove to maximum heat.

With the oil temperature at 60% heat, he placed the battered fat segments one by one into the oil pot.

Once placed, they don’t need to be touched, just deep-fry slowly.

Once all the segments are floating, he stirs them with a spoon to separate any sticking segments, then scoops them out to fry the next batch.

Once all segments are fried, he raises the oil temperature to 70% heat and refries them.

The purpose of refrying is to let the grease in the crust seep out, ensuring the fat segments are thoroughly cooked.

Lin Xu scooped out the refried segments, set them aside to drain the oil.

The next crucial step is caramelizing sugar!

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Today is the fifth day of the lunar month, out of respect for the Gods of Wealth, an extra Chapter is added! This Chapter contains 5000 words, requesting monthly tickets!