From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 240 It’s Master’s turn to take action

Master also has a fiery temper and does whatever he says.

Early the next morning, Master and Grandpa went to the meat factory with Feng Zhengming.

This time, I simply asked Feng Zhengming to buy half a fan of pork.

After buying half a pig, the master watched Feng Zhengming handle it.

Before handling pork, you first need to sharpen your knife.

As the saying goes, if a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools.

The master looked on and said, "All of you brothers and sisters should be familiar with the job of sharpening a knife. Now do it yourself. Let me see if your hand is raw?"

Because the conditions at his grandfather's home were limited, Feng Zhengming did not prepare multiple whetstones, but just started with a fine whetstone.

The first thing is to find a relatively flat place, place the whetstone, and put something non-slip underneath.

After fixing the whetstone, first sprinkle water on the whetstone, and then sprinkle some salt.

First, hold the blade sideways and start sharpening by pushing and pulling back and forth on the whetstone.

At first, keep the back of the knife and the whetstone about a finger's height, and start sharpening by pushing and pulling back and forth.

Sprinkle some water between the whetstone and the blade from time to time.

Push and pull back and forth like this for a while, grinding marks on both sides of the blade first, and ensuring that the blade is sharpened to a relatively neat shape.

Then raise the back of the knife a little higher, about the height of one and a half fingers, and continue to sharpen the knife by pushing and pulling.

Until the virtual edge is sharpened.

Then you can turn the knife sideways and start sharpening it, probably along the edge.

Through constant polishing, the blade can stand.

Although the weather was already cold, Feng Zhengming was still sweating profusely after grinding for a while.

Finally the blade was sharpened enough.

Of course, since this is a bone-cutting knife, the blade does not need to be sharpened very quickly.

After the blade was sharpened, Feng Zhengming showed it to his master.

The master looked at it and nodded: "Yes, it seems that the skill of sharpening the knife has not been lost. Okay, the knife is sharpened, and you can start."

Feng Zhengming immediately began to dismantle the half-fan pig he bought.

The knife in his hand is sharp enough, so he can cut it very accurately and quickly.

The two elbows were removed, the middle spine was chopped off, the pork ribs and pork belly were cut, and the pork tenderloin, spine, back meat, and front meat were all cut separately.

All kinds of meat are divided into sections, and several prepared pots are piled full.

When Xia Hui first went to the dry rice shop and saw that Feng Zhengming was not there, she then went to find Grandpa Feng's house.

I saw that Feng Zhengming had basically cut up the meat in the yard.

Xia Hui couldn't help but exclaimed: "Uncle Master, are you planning to change your career to selling pork?"

Feng Zhengming raised his head after hearing this and saw Xia Hui standing outside the courtyard.

He suddenly smiled and said: "Why switch to selling pork? These meats are all needed in our shop. Today I went to buy half a fan of pigs, so that I can have all kinds of meat, including pork belly for stir-frying. Shredded Yuanbao pork, tenderloin, back and front clips, aren’t they all complete?”

Xia Hui looked at it, nodded and said, "We really have everything."

Feng Zhengming cut up half of the pig, looked at the master sitting next to him and asked: "What are you going to do with these two elbows?"

The master smiled and said: "One makes a five-spice one with the pig's trotters, and the other one makes a white braised one. You all can try it later and see how it tastes."

Xia Hui was a little excited after hearing this and asked: "Wow, Grandpa Yan, do you want to do it yourself?"

Master Yan nodded: "Yes, I found so many faults with your uncle yesterday, so I have to show him a lesson and let him understand why master can fault him."

Xia Hui laughed loudly at these words, and looked at Feng Zhengming while laughing.

Feng Zhengming was also dumbfounded by what Master said.

He could only say to his master: "You are the master. Isn't it right for you to find fault with me?"

Master Yan stood up, walked over, took the two elbows over and said, "Don't flatter me here. Today I will let you see my craftsmanship."

After saying that, Master Yan walked directly to the kitchen in the small courtyard with two elbows in his hands.

Feng Zhengming quickly said: "Master, don't worry, the elbow hasn't been dealt with yet."

Master responded: "You don't need to, Master knows how to deal with it."

After hearing this, Xia Hui hurried into the yard, and then quietly followed her to the kitchen to take a look.

When handling elbows, Master Yan uses the same method as most elbows. He first burns the skin of the elbows on a fire to completely burn the skin black.

Seeing Xia Hui peeking at the door, Master Yan smiled and said, "Don't peek, come in and take a look."

Xia Hui smiled and hurriedly entered the kitchen and came to Master Yan's side.

"Grandpa Yan, it turns out you also want to burn it with fire first?"

Master Yan nodded: "Of course you need to burn it with fire first. This will burn the skin black. Not only can all the remaining hair on it be burned off, but the peculiar smell of the pig skin can also be burned away."

Xia Hui nodded: "I also know this. The teacher taught me this when I was in school."

Master Yan carefully cooked the pork knuckle until it was all black, then boiled a pot of water. After the water was hot, he put the blackened knuckle into the pot, soaked it in the hot water and then began to scrape the blackened part on it.

Naturally, Xia Hui immediately reached out to help Master Yan shave off the black spots on his elbows.

Master Yan didn't shirk and gave it to Xia Hui to shave.

At the same time, Master Yan searched in the small kitchen and quickly found the lotus leaves that Feng Zhengming soaked every day.

Feng Zhengming soaks the dried lotus leaves every day because they are needed for making meat.

The master selected a few leaves from them and poured out part of the water in which the lotus leaves were soaked.

Wait until Xia Hui cleans the pig's elbow.

Chef Yan put the pork knuckles into a pot under cold water and added the onion and ginger cooking wine that is usually added to blanching the knuckles.

Finally, Master Yan put the lotus leaf water and soaked dried lotus leaves into the pot.

This surprised Xia Hui, because she had really never encountered such an approach?

"Grandpa Yan, why do you put lotus leaf water and lotus leaves?"

Master Yan smiled and said: "This is a secret. I can't tell you for now. When the elbow is finally done, you can taste it and I will tell you the secret."

As the fire boiled the water in the pot, foam began to float on the water.

Xia Hui was still very proactive and helped to remove all the foam carefully.

Feng Zhengming cut up the remaining pork and packed it all up. He walked into the kitchen and said, "Master, you cook it at home. I'll take the remaining meat to the shop. I'll cook it in the shop today. Anyway, that's it." The side area is a little bigger, and the stew pot for braised pork is also over there." The master nodded: "Okay, you go ahead."

Feng Zhengming looked at Xia Hui, who was earnestly helping to remove the foam.

"Then you stay and help, I'll go to the shop first."

Xia Hui nodded immediately: "Yeah, I'll stay and help Grandpa Yan."

Feng Zhengming took the opportunity to look into the pot and wanted to see what the master added to the pot.

As a result, Xia Hui quickly blocked it with her body: "Uncle Master can't see it yet. Grandpa Yan said that this is his secret recipe, so Uncle Master can't see it yet."

Master Yan couldn't help laughing when he saw Xia Hui deliberately blocking Feng Zhengming from looking into the pot.

"Hahaha, Zhengming, hurry up and do your work. Don't look at Master's elbow for now. When it's done, Master will confirm that the formula is feasible, and then give it to you."

Hearing the master's hearty laughter, Feng Zhengming knew that the master must also be playful.

He stopped asking, turned around and walked out of the kitchen.

"Master, I'm going to the shop first."

After Feng Zhengming left, Xia Hui looked back to make sure that Feng Zhengming would not come back, and then continued to fight the foam seriously.

Master Yan couldn't help laughing again when he saw Xia Hui's appearance.

"Xiao Nizi, you are quite thoughtful."

Xia Hui turned to look at Master Yan and said with a smile: "Uncle Master usually teaches us a lesson. Finally, Grandpa Yan, you are here. Someone can teach Uncle Master a lesson. Of course, Uncle Master will also be defeated."

Master Yan smiled and asked: "I didn't hear what you said last night. Is Zhengming teaching you a lesson?"

Xia Hui said: "You can't say it in front of my uncle. He won't train me, but he will train Sun Hai and Chen Anbang. Sometimes he will train uncle Yang."

Master Yan thought it was quite interesting, and then asked: "Zhengming still dares to train his senior brother?"

Xia Hui shook his head and said, "It's not training. When Uncle Yang did something wrong before, he would correct him. But at first, Master Yang didn't think he was wrong. Then he explained it to Master Yang very sternly. Finally, Uncle Yang realized that something was wrong. According to my uncle's instructions, I made another dish for the customer."

Master Yan nodded without asking any more questions, and then asked Xia Hui to fish out one of the elbows.

Xia Hui was obedient and fished out one of the elbows.

Master Yan asked Xia Hui to transfer the remaining elbow to a smaller pot together with the soup, water and ingredients.

After that, Chef Yan first seasoned the elbow directly in the pot.

This pot of elbow is just filled with various spices, salt and sugar are added for seasoning, without any coloring seasoning.

When adding seasonings, Master Yan also taught Xia Hui something.

"Nizi, remember, the meat of the elbow is thicker, so the ingredients should be a little heavier, but you still can't add too much of some spices, such as cloves, because they take away the flavor, and you need to add more of Angelica dahurica. Put at least three pieces of Angelica dahurica in this elbow, so as to remove the peculiar smell of the elbow, just like I put lotus leaves."

After the white braised soup is prepared, let the elbow over there stew first.

Master Yan wiped the water on the surface of the fished out elbow.

"Normally, the elbow should be air-dried so that the surface of the skin is completely dry, and then the surface is coated with sugar water and then deep-fried."

Xia Hui immediately said: "I know, this is a tiger skin elbow."

Master Yan smiled and said, "That's right. Fry the elbow skin to color it. It also makes the skin of the elbow skin look like tiger skin when it is stewed later."

Since there was not much time to dry it, Master Yan could only use a dry rag to dry the surface of the elbow skin as much as possible.

Then pick up some water with maltose and honey, and apply the water on the surface of the elbow skin.

When applying, you also need to rub it carefully with your hands.

And use a wooden skewer to poke some holes in the elbow skin.

When everything is ready, pour oil into a large pot, wait until the oil temperature rises to 60%, then put the elbows into the oil pot for frying.

"When frying, you must pay attention to the color of the skin of the elbow. Don't make the color too dark. If the color is too dark, the color will turn black when the elbow is braised with spices. When it is cooked, It doesn’t look good.”

Xia Hui originally wanted to help, but she found that she was somewhat unable to help.

Because Master Yan can operate it very neatly by himself.

When the surface of the elbow's skin turns golden and reddish in color, Master Yan takes the elbow out.

After frying the fried elbow, Chef Yan put it aside to cool down and did not operate it separately.

"You can take this to the shop later and let them marinate it with the pig's trotters to see what the result is."

Xia Hui naturally agreed immediately: "Okay."

Master Yan took another look at the braised elbow and tasted the stewed soup to make sure there was nothing wrong with it.

Add a soaked lotus leaf to it, then cover the pot and transfer the pot to the briquette stove.

"Okay, let him stew this slowly. It will take some time."

Xia Hui thought for a while and asked: "Grandpa Yan, should I take this elbow to the shop first?"

Master Yan nodded: "Okay, then you go over first and tell them that I will wait for the white braised elbows to be ready. I will go to the shop at noon and give you a taste."

Xia Hui immediately said: "Grandpa Yan takes action, it must taste very good."

Master Yan suddenly laughed: "Hahaha, okay, Nizi, go ahead."

Xia Hui installed the other elbow, then went out and rushed to the dry rice shop.

After Xia Hui left, Grandpa Feng came to the kitchen.

"Lao Yan, you really spared no effort to help your little apprentice."

Master Yan responded with a smile: "Didn't you spare no effort to help your grandson? Otherwise, why would you have bought the shop next to the dry rice shop without telling him?"

Grandpa Feng immediately said: "I am helping my grandson. The Feng family's restaurant has become bigger, and my face will be brighter."

Master Yan followed: "That's right, I'm helping my apprentice. Once the Feng family's restaurant is finished, my master's face will be brighter."

The two old men stared at each other, and then they laughed at the same time.

When Xia Hui rushed to the shop, Feng Zhengming was preparing braised pig trotters in the shop.

Seeing Xia Hui come in with an elbow, Feng Zhengming stretched out his hand to take the elbow and threw it directly into the pot of braised pig trotters.

Xia Hui was a little surprised: "Wow, uncle, how do you know that the elbows are going to be put into the pig's trotters stew pot?"

Feng Zhengming laughed and said, "Of course I know. Didn't your grandpa Yan tell you? One elbow is braised in white, and the other elbow is braised with five spices and pig's trotters."

Xia Hui was stunned for a moment, then said mysteriously: "You definitely don't know what secret recipe Grandpa Yan used."

Feng Zhengming stared at Xia Hui for a while, making Xia Hui feel a little scared.

Xia Hui was almost ready to confess and be lenient immediately if Feng Zhengming asked.

But in the end, Feng Zhengming didn't ask anything, picked up the big pot and walked towards the stove.

(End of this chapter)