Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 304: Making Clear Soup

Shen Yu followed Master Qian out of the study and into the small kitchen in the back hall.

Master Qian asked, "Miss Shen, what ingredients do you need? Just tell me and I'll have someone go buy them."

Shen Yu thought for a moment and said with a smile: "Don't bother me, Master. The ingredients used in these two dishes are all common. My family's restaurant has them all. I can't buy them all in a short time if I go there specifically."

"I think I will go back to the restaurant to get the marinated raw pork belly skewers. Then I can get the necessary ingredients and cook it in this small kitchen."

Upon hearing this, Master Qian's wrinkles on his face turned into a smile: "That's great. I was worried that there were some unusual ingredients and I didn't know if I could buy them all in a short time."

"In this case, young lady, you have saved me a lot of trouble. Thank you very much, young lady."

Shen Yu hurriedly said, "Master, you are too polite. This is what I should do."

When Master Qian saw that he had nothing to do, he smiled and said, "I have other things to do. Qixi, please follow the young lady and do what she tells you to do. I will go and get busy first."

Qi Xi agreed straightforwardly, and Master Qian bowed, turned around and left.

Shen Yu followed Qi Xi out of the small kitchen. Just as he was about to go out, he saw Lu Lang coming over.

After Lu Lang asked about their plans, he said, "I have something to do right now, so you guys go ahead. If we don't have enough people, ask Qi Xi to call Liu Shun to help."

Qi Xi patted his chest and said, "Master, rest assured, I will definitely do it well."

Lu Lang smiled slightly, and quickly sent people to arrange accommodation for the governor.

Qi Xi and Shen Yu took a carriage back to Fengnian Restaurant and briefly told Li and the others about the situation at the county government office.

Li said hurriedly, "Just take any ingredients you can find in the restaurant."

"It doesn't matter if we sell it here. Even if we don't have meat skewers to sell one day, we can sell something else."

"It is better to prepare the dishes that the county magistrate asked us to prepare. The most important thing is that the two lords are satisfied with the food."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "That's my plan too. I'll take the marinated pork belly skewers from the restaurant first. The restaurant won't sell pork belly skewers today. Freshly marinated and fried pork belly skewers won't be as flavorful."

Shen Yu hesitated for a moment, and then said with some worry: "The county magistrate only asked me to prepare two soups. Although the two soups are delicious, the portions are too small and can't fill my stomach at all."

"I don't know if this will work. If I only want to eat pork belly skewers, I can't serve a whole plate of pork belly skewers. No matter how delicious it is, I'll get sick of it. What do you think I should do?"

Jiang thought about it and offered advice: "The county magistrate must have his reasons for making such an arrangement. Miss, just follow the county magistrate's instructions."

"If you think that the pork belly skewers are too monotonous, the pork belly skewers in our restaurant are not available elsewhere. The taste of the other meat skewers is also different from that of other places, and the taste is unique."

"Girl, you can just take some of the pickled meat skewers from the restaurant, and add some pancakes to your dinner, which should be enough."

Shen Yu's eyes lit up, and he thought this was a good idea, so he said, "Then the restaurant can only make more other dishes for lunch today."

Li waved her hand and urged, "Don't worry about what the restaurant will sell at noon. Hurry up and get the ingredients and utensils and go back to make it."

"If we delay the time, it will be troublesome."

Shen Yu went to the kitchen and found a suitable basin, put various marinated raw meat skewers in it, and covered it with a lid.

I put the fried and ground meat skewers in a small ceramic pot, selected the ingredients needed for two soups, and put them all in a large bamboo basket.

After a careful check, he found that all the necessary ingredients were ready, so he moved them into the carriage and hurried to the county government office.

Qi Xi called a yamen runner to help move the ingredients Shen Yu brought back to the small kitchen in the back yamen. Shen Yu placed the basin of raw meat skewers in a cool place and began to prepare the broth.

The small kitchen at the back of the county government office was not small. It was divided into two independent rooms. There were several stoves, but the kitchen utensils looked very new.

I guess it’s because County Magistrate Lu usually eats vegetarian food, so he doesn’t need too many kitchen utensils.

Shen Yu took a look and thought that County Magistrate Lu was a vegetarian, so he quickly asked Qi Xi, "My dishes are meat dishes, can they be cooked here?"

Qixi said hurriedly, "Don't worry, young lady. The young master has told the master that if the master eats vegetarian food this time, the food he eats will be cooked in a separate set of kitchen utensils next door."

"The pots and stoves here are for daily use. They may not be as good as those in restaurants, but they can cook both meat and vegetables. You can use them, young lady."

Shen Yu was relieved and said with a smile: "It's just to make soup, I don't care about the pot or stove."

Shen Yu briefly explained the method of making the broth, and Qixi was busy cleaning the pots and lighting the stove.

Both dishes, boiled cabbage and clear soup chrysanthemum tofu, require boiled clear soup. Shen Yu plans to boil the soup first and then proceed to the next step.

Authentic broth requires many ingredients, including hens or ducks that are more than three years old, spare ribs, Jinhua ham, and scallops.

The only ingredients Shen Yu brought for making soup were hen, spare ribs and shanks.

Old mother ducks are available in the market, but it is already late autumn, not the season for eating duck meat, and the ducks sold are not fat enough.

There was no Jinhua ham at the time, and it was difficult to find some scallops for a small county in the north, which would only waste time.

When the chef taught this dish, he said that the broth should be fresh, and the ingredients can be adapted to local conditions, people and seasons, and there is no need to stick to a rigid reproduction of the recipe.

So Shen Yu planned to use these three things to cook the broth.

Qixi had already cleaned the stove and, as Shen Yu had said, a large pot of hot water had been boiled in the pot.

Shen Yu poured hot water into two large basins, one of which was used to wash the blanched ingredients.

Adding cold water back into the pot, Shen Yu put the cleaned and chopped hen, spareribs and whole leg bones into the pot and blanched them.

Pour a spoonful of rice wine into the pot to remove the fishy smell, bring to a boil over high heat and simmer for a while.

Wait until the blood in the meat slowly turns into foam as the temperature rises, and the meat in the pot has changed color, then you can take it out and place it in a basin of hot water next to it.

Although this step will cause the loss of some of the umami flavor of the broth, it also removes the meaty smell and blood foam of the ingredients themselves, making the boiled broth clearer and more mellow.

Shen Yu used a colander to wash the blanched ingredients in hot water, scooped them out and drained them, then used the back of a knife to crack and cut the shanks.

Qi Xi followed Shen Yu's instructions, poured out the blanching water, cleaned the pot again, poured another basin of hot water back in, and boiled it again.

Shen Yu looked at the amount of water and felt it was not enough, so he added another large bucket of water.