Lin Xu did not immediately make fish head cakes, but played with the fish body.

The fish head puff pastry needs to be made and eaten right now. It’s still a bit early now, so you have to wait a little longer before you can get started.

Taking advantage of this time, he sliced ​​off the meat from the fish, removed the ribs, and prepared to make a pickled fish that can both eat meat and drink soup.

The other half is mixed with crispy lotus roots to make lotus root and fish ball soup.

Aunt Sun was waiting to learn about lotus root meatballs and fish head cakes. When she saw Lin Xu busy, she asked:

"Xiaoxu, what do you need me to do? You can talk to me. I am idle anyway."

Mi Lan next to me also said:

"Although my cooking skills are average, I can still help out. You can arrange it."

In this case, Lin Xu is not polite:

"Aunt Sun, please order some dough for making pancakes. The dough should be softer so that the baked pancakes will be softer... Sister Mi Lan washed the lotus leaves and soaked them in warm water. Press them with something while soaking.

You need to soak the dried lotus leaves until soft."

No matter what delicacies you make, such as beggar's chicken, lotus leaf chicken, lotus leaf pork ribs and other dishes that require the use of dried lotus leaves, you need to soak the lotus leaves until soft and thoroughly before use.

This can not only increase the toughness of the lotus leaves, but also stimulate the aroma of the lotus leaves in advance, making the dishes more flavorful and delicious.

Lin Xu first marinated the fish fillets for making pickled fish, then picked up the fish meat on the other side and began to scrape the fish paste.

If you want the fish balls to taste delicious, you cannot beat the meat with a blender or chop it with a knife. Instead, use a kitchen knife to scrape the fish meat into a fluffy paste.

The fish balls made in this way are more elastic and delicious.

Lin Xu scraped out the minced meat and marinated it in green onion and ginger water. As for the remaining fish skin, he soaked it in water, blanched it later and served it cold with coriander.

While the pickling was taking place, he took over the crispy lotus roots, scraped the skin clean, then separated the lotus roots vertically, placed them flat on the eucalyptus board, held the kitchen knife backwards, and smashed the lotus roots with the back of the knife.

When using lotus root as filling, the best way is not to cut it into small dices, but to smash it into pieces with a knife, so that it can be mixed into the filling and the taste will be better.

The diced lotus root is evenly sized. If it is too small, it will have no texture. If it is too big, it will take a lot of effort to chew.

After smashing it like this, even if it is a large piece, it will not be hard when chewed, but will have a crispy texture, which will naturally taste delicious.

Moreover, the minced lotus root comes in different sizes, so it can be combined with the meat filling more perfectly.

"Xiao Xu, will the meatballs you are going to make later be chopped like this?"

"Yes, lotus roots can be smashed like this when used as stuffing."

Aunt Sun found it very novel. In the past, when lotus root was used as stuffing, it was cut directly into evenly sized dices. She didn’t expect that the stuffing could be chopped with the back of a knife.

Lin Xu said:

"This kind of smashing is also very particular. You can't smash them close to each other, otherwise they will be smashed into mud. There must be some space, just like chopping vegetables, but with the back of a knife."

Aunt Sun took a closer look and found that it was indeed like this. Each blow was a few millimeters apart. Although the lotus root was smashed like this, it was not broken into powder, but small particles.

Next, Lin Xu made fish balls, washed the fish offal, and mixed some dry yellow sauce with rice wine.

All these are ready, let’s start making fish head puff pastry.

As soon as they heard about making this delicacy, not only Aunt Sun and Mi Lan gathered around, but also several aunties who were helping in the kitchen came over, wanting to learn a few tricks from Lin Xu.

This scene made Lin Xu dumbfounded.

How can I become a friend of women when I am a good chef?

He shook his head and began to prepare the ingredients for making fish head cakes.

Cut the green onions into sections, cut the ginger into peanut-sized dices, pat the garlic lightly with a knife and use it whole.

In addition to these three items, you also need to use boiled dry yellow sauce, a few star anise for flavor, a few dried chili peppers, four or five bay leaves, lard, rock sugar, and boiling water.

If you make it at home, you don’t have to pay so much attention.

But in restaurants, what is added is not boiling water, but soup stock.

Compared with boiling water, stock can make the fish head have a stronger aroma, make the soup thicker, and taste better.

When everything was ready, Lin Xu set up the frying pan and added a tablespoon of lard to the pan.

Fish ingredients are inseparable from lard, which can make the dishes more delicious and fragrant.

"Xiao Xu, what if there is no lard at home?"

Aunt Sun feels that very few people are refining lard at home now, and basically all they eat is refined oil.

Lin Xu said:

"You can also cut a few slices of pork belly and stir-fry it in a pot. If you want the fish to taste delicious, lard is essential."

After saying that, he took a few prepared star anise and put them into the oil pan.

If you need to add spices when cooking, you must add them before the oil temperature rises, so that the aroma can be brought out.

If the oil is hot and then put in, the aroma will not be released and it will be fried easily.

Stir-fry the star anise over low heat. When the surface turns slightly black, add the dried chili pepper and bay leaves, stir-fry. Immediately add the onion, ginger, and garlic and continue to stir-fry.

Dried chili peppers and bay leaves are not resistant to frying, but hot oil is needed to bring out the aroma, so after frying, add onions, ginger, and garlic. These three have enough water, which will lower the oil temperature and prevent them from being fried.

When the onions, ginger and garlic are fragrant, pour in the diluted dried yellow sauce.

Dried yellow sauce is the soul of fish head puff pastry. The sauce can not only remove the fishy smell, but also reduce seasoning.

After adding dry yellow sauce, you basically don’t need to add other condiments. From a cooking perspective, it’s quite simple and trouble-free.

This is actually the eating habit in Beijing.

Various sauces such as sesame sauce, dry soybean sauce, sweet noodle sauce, soybean sauce, chive sauce, soybean paste, etc. constitute the daily diet of Beijing people.

"Oh, it turns out you have to use dry yellow sauce and fry it."

Aunt Sun thought she had found the answer. When she made it at home, she only added soy sauce. She once tried adding soybean paste, but because she didn't fry it, she felt the taste was terrible.

Now when I watched Lin Xu make it, I realized that the sauce needs to be fried in lard.

No wonder the fish head puff pastry in the restaurant is so fragrant. It turns out that this is how it is made.

Stir-fry the sauce until the smell of the wine has basically evaporated. Add the prepared boiling water, bring to a boil over high heat, add half a spoon of dark soy sauce, then put the fish head into the pot with the skin facing up.

Return to the boil, then turn down the heat to medium, cover the lid and start simmering.

"So simple?"

"Don't you need to fry it?"

The two aunties who were helping were surprised. They thought the fish heads in the fish head cakes needed to be fried before they tasted delicious, but they didn't expect it to be so simple.

Lin Xu said:

"No need to fry the fish head. The texture will become worse if the fish head is fried."

The fish head needed to be simmered for twenty minutes. Taking advantage of this time, he took a piece of front leg meat and prepared to chop it into stuffing and make lotus root meatballs.

In the open space outside the kitchen, the sun was already rising. Shen Jiayue took out the small paper sofa from the car that Dundun usually used to sharpen his claws and play.

The little guy lay on it, basking in the sun comfortably, occasionally turning over to expose his belly.

When Han Shuzhen stroked it with her hands, it made a purring sound.

"Son, you are so happy. I have never enjoyed this kind of treatment."

Shen Jiayue took two pieces of dried fish from the car, tore them apart with her hands and fed them to Dundun, her eyes filled with envy.

Han Shuzhen rolled her eyes:

"If you were half as well-behaved as Dundun when you were a child, I would be thankful to God. You don't act like a girl all day long, and the clothes you just changed are stained when you turn around..."

"Then I was admitted to 985, and the academic qualifications are more valuable than those of 211 medical schools."

Han Shuzhen:??????

Girl, you are so good at chatting, who did you learn from?

After Dundun finished eating the dried fish, he took a few symbolic sips of the water handed over by Shen Jiayue, then turned over and continued to bask in the sun.

The blue-gray cat fur is shiny and shiny, and now it looks even more beautiful when it is illuminated by the sun.

Shen Jiayue took a comb to comb its fur and said while working:

"Son, have you ever thought that if your father hadn't picked him up at that time, you might have lived a very miserable life..."

Dundun flicked his tail and glanced at his mother contemptuously.

Do you think this cat just bumped into me by mistake?

Han Shuzhen said happily:

"I can't imagine how miserable Dundun looked wandering outside. Fortunately, he met Xiaoxu. The little guy is now living like an Arab prince."

"Yes, our Dundun is just like a prince... Oh, by the way, there are many little animals on the Internet now in COS Arabian Prince. Let's give Dundun a try too. Baby, do you want to be a prince? If you do, just take a breath.

”

Dundun: "..."

For the sake of your grooming, I will play with you for a while.

I feel so helpless with such a mommy!
To be continued...