socalfunplaces Chapter 377
Chapter 377
Monday, sunny, no wind!
This morning, Su Chen bought all the items that Wang Xi had asked him to buy yesterday, except for star anise and bay leaves.
Mandarin fish is naturally out of the question. Even if there is no mandarin fish in the market, Wang Xi will send people to the river to catch it to get a few for Su Chen.
White sesame is not authentic white sesame, but is harvested in advance when black sesame is not mature.
It is generally used to make pastries that are not suitable for black sesame.
White sesame looks smaller and not as plump as black sesame.
At around nine o'clock, Su Chen walked around the farmland. All kinds of crops are growing well. If nothing unexpected happens, there will be another wave of harvest in the middle and late twelfth lunar month.
Su Chen returned to the manor and felt that it was still a little early before school was over, so he went to the new pig house construction site for a walk.
The main structure has been completed. This time, the site is in a U-shaped layout with four independent pig houses, a total of 560 sow delivery rooms. Now the workers are installing glass windows and exterior wall insulation.
Well, the insulation of the exterior wall is to use thatch woven into mats to block the gap between the top of the brick wall and the beams to prevent the cold wind from blowing into the pig house.
The hardening inside the pig house is probably completed, and there are not many workers working on the site now.
Yesterday evening, Li Dejian mentioned that all the craftsmen went to the new construction site to build a military factory today.
"Brother-in-law! Why are you here?"
Not far away, Li You ran towards Su Chen, with a lot of dust on his body.
"By the way, come and see, how did you get so dirty?"
Li You didn't care, casually patted the dust on his body, and said: "The inside of the pig house is being cleaned, and the pregnant sows will be transferred here soon."
"Haha, you are diligent! Go back early at noon and I will make a few new dishes."
Li You nodded and agreed readily, "Okay!"
"I'm going back to prepare lunch, do you want to go with me?" Su Chen looked at the time and it was almost ten o'clock.
"No, brother-in-law, you go back first. I'll be back on time before lunch."
"Well, I'm leaving!" Su Chen waved and turned away.
...
"Marquis!"
"Owner!"
After returning to the manor, Su Chen went directly to the kitchen. He didn't know if Master Liu and the others had experience in deboning and slicing fish, so Su Chen wanted to show them how to do it first.
"Master Liu, arrange two people to kill two mandarin fish. I'll be useful for removing the internal organs and cleaning them."
Su Chen was thinking about whether to arrange a chef position for the kitchen. Anyway, Master Liu's subsidy is higher than other chefs now.
In addition to the monthly salary of 800 coins given by the palace, Su Chen also gave them an additional subsidy of 600 coins.
"Okay, Marquis, please wait a moment!"
While they were killing the fish, Su Chen took a wooden tray and began to pick out the side dishes and other spices needed.
Su Chen always remembered that Princess Changle had said in the carriage that fish would smell fishy, so he specially prepared some ginger and scallion water.
"You use a stone mortar to grind this pepper into powder. If you have time, you can prepare more pepper powder and seal it in a glass bottle." Su Chen grabbed a handful of peppercorns and handed it to a kitchen waiter.
"Okay, Lord, I'll take note of it!"
The side dishes and spices were ready, just waiting for Master Liu and his team to kill the fish.
Not long after, Master Liu processed two mandarin fish.
"Master Liu, today I'm going to make boiled fish. You can take a closer look and try it yourself when you have time."
"Yes, Lord!" Several chefs bowed respectfully.
Su Chen was about to take a knife to start, and a waiter found a clean apron.
"Lord, I'll tie the apron for you to avoid water stains."
"Okay, thank you." Su Chen smiled and thanked, raising his hands to facilitate the waiter to tie the stove apron.
After tying the apron, Su Chen began to take the fish fillets.
"Look, first remove the two sides of the fish along the large bone spurs on the back. This mandarin fish has few small thorns, so just slice the large piece of fish into butterfly-shaped slices, like this."
Su Chen carefully sliced the fish with an oblique knife. The first cut did not cut the fish skin, and the next cut made two butterfly-shaped slices connected together.
After the fish slices were sliced, the fish head and bones were cut into sections.
"These large barbs on the back of the mandarin fish must be cut off, and the fish head is divided into two and the fish bones are cut into sections."
"Do you understand?"
The six chefs nodded and answered in unison that they understood.
"Okay, now we have to deal with this fish slice. Add a little salt and wash it with clean water. Remember not to break the fish slices."
After cleaning and draining the water, Su Chen asked someone to find the gauze used for the steamer to absorb the remaining water from the fish slices.
"Now add a base flavor to the fish slices and adjust the taste."
Then Su Chen explained and operated, and the whole process took more than ten minutes.
"Did you see everything clearly?"
Su Chen looked at his watch and it was 11:05. School was over at 11:15. Princess Changle and Li Tai were about the same time.Back to the manor at 11:30.
So he asked the chef to prepare the other dishes first, leaving the boiled fish for Su Chen to cook last.
"Master Liu, follow my steps just now to prepare another mandarin fish, and put the two fish together to make a boiled fish dish."
There were also seven or eight people eating at noon with Su Chen, so they had to eat a larger portion.
"Okay, my lord!"
Master Liu was very agile, and quickly took out a mandarin fish fillet. His knife skills were even better than Su Chen's.
They just hadn't seen those cuisines, so their knife skills and cooking skills were naturally impeccable.
After all, working in the palace was guaranteed by the nine clans.
After more than ten minutes, Su Chen felt that the time was about right, and he could make boiled fish.
At this moment, Su Chen suddenly saw a familiar figure coming to the kitchen.
Su Chen's mouth twitched slightly.
"What are you doing here? The kitchen is full of fumes, so you'd better go out. You can't miss the mandarin fish after buying it."
Who else could this person be if not Princess Changle?
Princess Changle giggled, took out the mask she had prepared long ago, and hung it on her ears.
She looked up at Su Chen, her eyes seemed to say: This is all right!
Su Chen suddenly found that Princess Changle seemed to have changed into a different person after putting on the mask.
"I'll watch you make this dish, Lord, please start!"
Su Chen shook his head helplessly, pointed to the position on his left hand, and said, "Please stand here, so that I can teach Master Liu and others to make this dish."
Princess Changle stood side by side with Su Chen obediently.
Su Chen held the handle of the pot with his left hand, and the spoon with his right hand would not hinder Su Chen
The current iron pot is improved, with a handle added, and it used to be a double-eared iron pot.
The double-eared iron pot is very large, suitable for employee meals.
...
After 20 minutes, the fish fillets were boiled and taken out.
Heat oil in another pot, and when the oil is hot and slightly smoked, Su Chen puts dried chilies and peppercorns into the oil pot.
The oil in the wok was bubbling instantly, and bursts of fragrant aroma came out at the same time.
Su Chen quickly lifted the iron wok, poured the fried chili and peppercorns on the fish slices, and finally sprinkled white sesame seeds on the boiled fish.
"Done!"
"You all saw it clearly!" Then Su Chen asked Master Liu and the other six cooks.
"Thank you, my lord! We understand it!"
The six imperial chefs standing on the left and right sides of the stove bowed and answered. When Su Chen made boiled fish just now, he explained every step.
And he explained it in detail, so it was easy for them as cooks to remember.
Princess Changle pulled down the mask slightly, exposed her nose and took two deep breaths.
"Wow, it smells so good! It smells almost the same as boiled pork slices."
Su Chen smiled slightly and took off the cloth around his waist.
"Let's go, let's eat!"
"Yes!"
Princess Changle followed Su Chen closely and left the kitchen.
...