According to normal procedures, it is best to soak maple leaves and iron products for a day, but Chen Chong did not want to wait so long. Today he just wants to be familiar with the production process and lay the foundation for the use of better ingredients in the future.

The most troublesome maple leaves are ready, so the next step is to deal with glutinous rice, red and blue grass and yellow flowers.

The preparation of these ingredients is relatively simple. Divide the glutinous rice into five parts, soak one of them in clean water and set aside.

Then, chop the yellow flowers and plants into a clean pot and add water to a boil. Turn to medium heat and cook for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and filter out the juice separately.

It is worth mentioning that you should not add too much water to the pot, just flood the plant surface, so as not to have too much water, resulting in excessive dilution of the color and taste of the yellow flowers and plants.

When the temperature in the pot drops to the point where it is not hot, rub the leaves inside thoroughly, pour in the juice that was filtered out and mix and cook again. The obtained yellow juice can be used as dye.

The treatment method of red and blue grass is the same as that of yellow flowers and plants. The only thing to note is that you must not confuse the two red and blue grasses, so as not to turn into variegated colors afterwards.

When the three dye liquids of yellow, purple and red are ready and the water temperature is also warm, you can take out three of the remaining four portions of glutinous rice and put them in the dye liquid to soak.

"The most troublesome thing about 'Five-color glutinous rice' is that it takes too much time. All colors of glutinous rice require more than ten hours to soak it is the best."

Chen Chong shook his head helplessly. If this traditional delicacy tastes good or is recognized by the guests, then it will take a lot of energy and time to prepare for the preliminary work in the future, which is really a headache.

When I came to the iron basin where the maple leaves were soaked, the water inside had changed color, but it was not the black as I imagined, but a bit turbid brown-gray, which looked like a vegetable soup that had been cooked without washing.

I reached out and grabbed the maple leaf residue inside and squeezed it. The juice flowing out of the residue was obviously darker in color, because the soaking time was too short and the color had not been fully infected.

I didn't have time to care so much, and after taking out the rusty kitchen knife inside, Chen Chong quickly lit the fire and heated the pot.

Unlike before, the pot he used at this time was a pig iron pot. This kind of pot will have a small amount of iron ions integrated into the food when stir-frying, and it can be used for a long time to effectively treat iron deficiency anemia.

In addition, this pot has many disadvantages. Not only is it heavy and heavy, it is also very easy to rust, stick to the pot, and is difficult to clean. So now, it is difficult to see it in ordinary people's kitchens. Most of it is stainless steel pots or other high-quality and light pots.

The fire on the stove is very strong, and the pig iron pot will be burned red soon.

Chen Chong was quick-witted and turned off the heat while pouring the maple leaves, slag and water into the pot. After making a series of evaporated "squeaking" sounds, the water temperature gradually grew.

Chen Chong is still very accurate in grasping the temperature. When the juice fully absorbs the heat of the iron pot, the water temperature just reaches the memory standard. That is, the hand can be reached but cannot move vigorously, otherwise it will be hot.

Gently rub the maple leaf residue in the pot several times, then pour the water and residue back into the previous container, then burn the iron pot red and repeat the previous steps.

Treating maple leaves dyeing is the most critical step in the entire cooking process. If it is processed well, the dyed glutinous rice is black; if it is not processed well, the dyed glutinous rice is gray, which completely affects the color matching and taste of the five-color glutinous rice when forming.

It is no exaggeration to say that if the standard for five-color glutinous rice is set at 100 points, then the importance of maple leaf juice dyeing will occupy 50 points, or even 60 points!

Its importance is self-evident.

After repeating this three times, the tannic acid in the maple leaves will undergo a "chemical reaction" with the iron at high temperature, forming blue-black ferrous sulfate, causing the entire dye to gradually turn from a clear brown-gray to a thick dark brown.

This is also the reason why an iron kitchen knife is placed in the maple leaf water or a pig iron pot is used. Because if you want to get authentic black dye juice, you need their own "iron".

Chen Chong thought it was almost done, so he took out the maple leaf residue, poured the dye juice into an iron basin, and when the water temperature was lower, he added the last portion of glutinous rice to soak it.

At this point, all the preliminary preparations for the five-color glutinous rice have been completely completed.

"It's really complicated." Chen Chong wiped his hands, turned around and returned to the restaurant door to sit down.

Although I am just practicing today, I have to wait for the maple leaf juice to soak for a while. I looked at the time on my phone. It was just after eight o'clock, and I guess I could take out all the glutinous rice at nine o'clock to finish the final steaming.

The number of people in the food street is gradually increasing, and students from various universities dominate. They are looking for their favorite restaurants from time to time, and from time to time they turn their attention to Chen Chong.

To be precise, it should be the unique sign on the door.

This new sign has indeed attracted the attention of some pedestrians, but that's all, because the restaurant is deserted and contrasts with other restaurants around it.

Reputation of reputation cannot be accumulated overnight, even if the taste is good, it will not work. It takes time to slowly "ferment".

However, not everyone only looked at the surface. When it was approaching the peak of the evening, five or six pedestrians were attracted. Unfortunately, when they saw the 'Today' written on the blackboard at the door, they left in disappointment.

Chen Chong could understand this. If he had been to himself, he wouldn't have chosen a deserted restaurant with only two dishes...

At about nine o'clock, Chen Chong returned to the kitchen and filtered out all the glutinous rice from all the dyes.

Yellow glutinous rice is dyed with yellow flowers and plants, while purple and red are dyed with red and blue grass. The colors of these three glutinous rice are very obvious and the coloring is very successful.

The white glutinous rice has not been processed at all and is the color of the glutinous rice itself.

As for the last one...

Chen Chong looked at it several times but still couldn't believe his eyes, because the glutinous rice dyed with maple leaves was still dark brown, and even showed a very dirty feeling.

If it weren't for the extra memory reminder that this was a normal phenomenon, he would have thought that the dyeing had failed.

"It's a mule or a horse, just pull it out and slip it away."

Chen Chong took a deep breath, took out a steamer from the cabinet, wet the gauze and wrung it out and spread it on the steamer. Finally, he carefully mixed the five colors of glutinous rice with a little olive oil into the steamer, and put it into the steamer, forming a five-color shape. The arrangement of colors is also given particular attention, including white, red, yellow, purple and...gray.

The alternate distribution of light and dark colors makes people clearly distinguish at a glance, creating an impact on vision and indirectly enhancing appetite.

Although the glutinous rice dyed from maple leaves is now in this dirty and impeccable color, it will be rejuvenated after being steamed at high temperature!

After doing all this, he poured water into the steamer, put it on the steamer, and then placed the steamer on it.

Finally, cover the pot and light the pot.

"It's almost done after 9:50, and it's almost done when it's steamed until around 9:50."

When the "gurgling" sound of boiling water rumbling out of the pot, Chen Chong turned to medium heat and kept the time in mind.
Chapter completed!