Chapter 1415 - 553: Brothers Compete in Culinary Skills Across Distance! This Dish Seems Ordinary—Is It Really Top-grade Tofu? [Subscribe Request]

Chapter 1415: Chapter 553: Brothers Compete in Culinary Skills Across Distance! This Dish Seems Ordinary—Is It Really Top-grade Tofu? [Subscribe Request]

"On New Year’s Eve, the chicken porridge that the grandmaster made was also..."

Su Peipei suddenly realized that since both Chicken Bean Curd and Chicken Porridge were vegetarian imitations, this Top-grade Tofu should not be just ordinary tofu.

She urged Xie Baomin:

"Hurry up and make more for us to taste."

Faced with such a request, Old Xie had no choice but to comply.

After all, in this world, the wife is the biggest priority.

These past few days, we’ve been too engrossed with celebrating the New Year, so it’s time to move our arms and legs and compete in cooking skills with my disciples from afar.

He went out to the kitchen doorway and said to Zhu Yong:

"Prepare me a set of chef’s attire, I’m going to teach you all to make a high-end dish that doesn’t sell for much."

A high-end dish that doesn’t sell for much?

All the chefs in the kitchen were stunned, not understanding what kind of dish this might be.

Top-grade Tofu is undoubtedly a high-end dish,

but this dish genuinely doesn’t sell for much because, judging by its appearance, it’s just an ordinary braised tofu, and it doesn’t contain any meat.

This kind of dish, at most, can sell for thirty.

But the product and effort put into the entire dish, selling it for three hundred per serving wouldn’t even make a profit.

What Lin Xu and Xie Baomin meant by "spending money but can’t taste" originates here.

The investment and return are disproportionate, so no one wishes to make such dishes.

Yinzhou scenic area.

In the kitchen, Lin Xu placed a pot of clear water on the stove and turned the heat on.

Taking this time, he cut the tofu into fingertip-sized pieces, when the water boiled, carefully put the tofu in and began blanching it.

Whether you are stir-frying, making cold dishes, or soup with tofu, blanching it is always best.

This not only removes the bean smell of the tofu but also activates the fresh aroma within the tofu.

If using Plaster Tofu, blanching can eliminate the peculiar smell of the plaster itself.

Soon, the water in the pot came to boil again; after three or four minutes, the tofu seemed cooked thoroughly. Lin Xu held the pot, poured everything into the large strainer next to him.

He shook the strainer twice to remove excess water and set it aside for later use.

Then, according to the amount of tofu, he set up a frying pan on the stove, added two bowls of Chicken Soup to the pan, then put the tofu in, continuing to blanch it.

Blanching with Chicken Soup maximizes the fresh aroma of the tofu, while the floating proteins in the stock attach to the tofu, making it more fragrant and the texture more tender.

This is why many tofu dishes need stock, it indeed elevates the texture to another level.

The use of Chicken Soup here is to enhance the freshness of tofu since in the course of the recipe, minced Pork Fat will be added, it will be fried in pork oil, and finally, stewed in stock.

This results in the tofu being intensely fragrant, so using the Chicken Soup to blanch can add freshness to tofu.

After cooking in the Chicken Soup, he scooped out the tofu to let it cool down; when its temperature drops, it is again placed in thick Chicken Soup made by boiling an old hen, continuing to blanch.

Though both blanchings aim to increase freshness, their focus is not the same.

Clear Chicken Soup can add freshness, while thick Chicken Soup enhances texture, making tofu more smooth.

Also, repetitively blanching in this way completely cooks out the bean smell from the tofu, resulting in a taste that is distinctly tofu yet without any bean smell.

After blanching for about five more minutes, he scooped it out and drained the water.

Then, he poured the tofu into a basin and mashed it with a spoon.

Once mashed, he pressed it through a fine mesh sieve twice, ensuring that the texture becomes as delicate as possible.

Shen Jiayue watched this unfold, thinking that this dish is indeed labor-intensive.

And this is just the beginning; the steps that follow are numerous.

Lin Xu laid a sheet of Pork Skin on the chopping board, cut a piece of cooked Pork Fat weighing about one-third of the tofu, then used the backside of a knife to finely smash the fat into a paste.

Beijing, Lin Ji’s Food kitchen.

Xie Baomin was doing the same action, telling Zhu Yong and the others:

"For all similar dishes, don’t forget the Pork Oil, especially cooked Pork Fat, it not only increases the fragrance but also enriches the texture, and makes it fluffy when eaten."

Pork Fat sees widespread use in Chinese cuisine; whether for texture or flavor, adding Pork Fat brings immediate effect.

Zhu Yong curiously asked:

"Chef Xie, can Top-grade Tofu only include tofu and Pork Fat, can we add shrimp?"

"You can, adding shrimp can balance the flavors and improve the taste, just remember to use fresh Shrimp, and likewise mash into a paste and sieve it, so the tofu turns out smooth and delicate."

Pork Fat mashed into paste, sieved, then mixed together with the tofu, followed by adding several egg whites, a bit of salt, a bit of caster sugar, and a bit of pepper.

Next, is the mixing stage.

For convenience, Xie Baomin directly took a whisk, completely blending the tofu, Pork Fat, and egg whites in the basin together.

Then he brought over the soaked potato starch.

Drained the excess water on top and scooped a lump with force, placed it into the basin, continued mixing with the whisk.

Soon, the ingredients in the basin transformed into a white viscous paste.

Taking a deeper rectangular tray, he brushed a layer of oil inside, poured the well-mixed tofu paste in, and began to steam it.

"Simply put, this dish incorporates tofu with Pork Fat and other flavor-enhancing ingredients, then recreates it as tofu; one must pay attention that the more starch there is, the worse the tofu texture, but if it’s too little, shaping becomes hard, so one must find the critical point where the tofu just starts to set—this is the key to the entire dish."