Shokuki: Start with an izakaya and make everyone cry

Paris, this city, is like a bright pearl embedded in northern France.

Strolling through the streets, everyone will be shocked by the architecture here. The Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral stands on the banks of the Seine, with its spiers and flying beams shining in the sun, as if telling ancient stories.

Not far away, the Eiffel Tower has become an iconic building with its majestic appearance and unique shape.

Night falls.

The lights on the tower will light up.

Reflected on the Seine, creating a dreamlike feeling!

Romance is almost everywhere in Paris. On Montmartre, you can even overlook the beautiful scenery of the entire city and feel the tranquility and beauty.

In a certain food street, in an exquisite three-star restaurant, the clear crystal glass reflected the soft and warm light, blooming with transparent colors.

The delicate and smooth red wine slowly swirls in your mouth.

The confusing fragrance is elegant and swaying. After sliding into the throat, I feel a gentle warmth.

Finally, Dojima Gin put down his wine glass and came back from his intoxication.

…

"Things are really unpredictable."

"You two unexpectedly met in the same city."

"Yes, fate is quite a wonderful thing."

Yukihira Joichiro sighed.

His eyes, which have witnessed years of ups and downs and experienced the vicissitudes of life, seem to contain endless wisdom and stories.

In his eyes, there is not only a profound insight into life, but also an indifference and detachment towards life.

Since bidding farewell to his son Chuangzhen in the Jiexingliao dormitory, he has continued to wander around the world. Not long ago, I was caught in the middle of the night as a cook and was defeated by Chaoyang Caibo. I was not allowed to work as a chef in this three-star restaurant!

Coincidentally, in order to discuss some matters with several partners in Paris, Dojima Gin also temporarily settled in this romantic city.

What's even more coincidental is that the two actually met.

"Chuangzhen, should it be your son?"

Later, Dojima Gin remembered something and asked Seiichiro.

"Well, he is my son."

"Now, my surname has been changed to Yukihira, and I am no longer the Saiba Joichiro you know."

Seiichiro continued to take a sip of wine and replied.

"Sure enough, you went through a lot of things after you dropped out of Yuanyue."

Dojima Gin's eyes flashed and he said.

…

"What happened in the past has long become an unbearable memory."

When Joichiro heard this, a flash of pain and reminiscence inevitably flashed in his eyes. It seemed that he didn't want to mention or talk about the incident of dropping out of school!

The taste of red wine is deep and layered.

As long as it flows gently on the tip of the tongue, it will have a light fruity aroma, making people feel like they are in a harvest orchard.

The sweetness and slightly sourness of the grapes are intertwined and begin to awaken the taste buds.

After drinking, Joichiro suddenly thought of a figure in his mind, thinking of the boy who always followed him as an example in cooking!

He couldn't help but feel a little emotional and asked: "How did he become after I left?"

"Like you, I chose to drop out of school midway."

Dojima Gin understood the implication and replied without hesitation.

"oh!"

Yukihira Seiichiro fell into silence.

The atmosphere became extremely quiet at this moment, and only the faint ticking of the clock on the wall could be heard.

At this time, whether it was Dojima Gin or Yukihira Joichiro, they were drinking alone and silently.

Although many years have passed, this pair of good friends finally reunited again. Naturally, they have a lot of things on their minds to talk to each other, but they are reluctant to mention it!

…

At the same time, in distant America, in a luxurious kitchen.

Nagi Kiriji was looking very weakly at the bowl of three shrimp noodles in front of him. It took him more than 7 hours to finish this dish.

Three shrimps refer to shrimp roe, shrimp brain and shrimp meat.

They are undoubtedly the most precious things in shrimps.

In Suzhou, China, "three shrimps" and tofu were used to make a three-shrimp tofu dish.

In the early 1920s, some famous restaurants in Shanghai would use three shrimps and noodles to make "three shrimp noodles" as a snack for high-end banquets.

Later, many noodle restaurants sold it and it became a delicacy in midsummer noodles!

Um!

There are many ways to separate three shrimps.

However, nagi-giri thistle is the most tedious one.

Dry the shrimp roe, drain the shrimp roe with gauze to remove debris, heat the pan over low heat, add the shrimp roe, add a little white wine, sugar, light soy sauce, remove from the fire and bake for 45 minutes until the fine sand is dispersed.

Pour two tablespoons of smooth noodles, one tablespoon of stock, remove the shrimp roe and soy sauce, then pour in the three shrimp toppings, mix well...

These rigorous steps are enough to drive people crazy.

But no matter what, the quality of the three-prawn noodles made by Nagi Kiriji is instantly better than any noodle restaurant outside.

"No, this level is far from enough."

Unexpectedly, Nakiri Kiku just ate a mouthful of three-prawn noodles and spat it out. He said with a calm face: "Senami Saiha, after all these years, I still can't reach your level!"

…

Qualified twice-cooked pork.

The taste is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, fat but not greasy.

Anyone can say these two words, but it is very difficult to achieve them!

Looking at the knife skills, the meat is neither thin nor thick, between 2 and 3 mm. Secondly, look at the heat. The meat slices are deep-fried until they are slightly curled. As the old saying goes, it is called a lamp nest, forcing out the excess fat. It is crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. You can’t bite out a mouthful of oil, and it shouldn’t be dry or hard!

As the owner of the izakaya that is open at night, Zhang Fan has prepared the ingredients at this moment.

Black pork belly, green garlic sprouts, bean paste, black bean paste, white sugar, ginger, green onion, Sichuan pepper...

At first glance, there are ordinary ingredients.

This makes Hojo Miyoko, a diner who has just arrived here, a little disappointed.

But she also knows that the true essence of Chinese cuisine often lies in the heat, knife skills, and various exquisite cooking skills, and the quality of the ingredients has little to do with it.

Therefore, she sat "obediently" and quietly observed the twice-cooked pork that Zhang Fan made next.

…

A whole piece of pork belly.

In terms of method, you must first heat the pot and then place the pig skin in the pot for roasting.

Therefore, when Miyoko Hojo was wondering whether the pork belly was processed according to traditional methods, Zhang Fan began to put the pork belly on the hot pot and sear it!

Sizzle! Sizzle!

As the sound sounded, wisps of green smoke gradually emerged from the pot.

Seeing that the time had come, Zhang Fan quickly picked up the pork and saw that the outside of the meat was almost browned and even carbonized in some places.

After taking it out, he used a sharp kitchen knife to scrape off the carbonized areas on it, and then washed it clean.

Immediately afterwards, add rice wine, green onions, ginger, and a few peppercorns to the pot, then flatten the garlic sprouts, and while waiting for the meat to blanch, skim off the foam on the water.

…

Miyoko Hojo was unknowingly fascinated by what she saw.

Then, add a little oil and add the meat. The most important skill in making twice-cooked pork is the heat.

And now Zhang Fan is unrivaled in controlling the heat, so his next performance will only shock Miyoko even more.

As the oil warmed up, the meat gradually became slightly curled.

The edges of the pig skin were browned, probably because Zhang Fan used high heat to stir-fry, so he needed to stir-fry more frequently to make it evenly heated.

Slowly, during the stir-frying process, a rich meaty aroma burst out.

This fragrance comes to your nose continuously.

Constantly hitting the soul at the bottom of Hojo Miyoko's heart!

Finally, add the ginger and garlic slices and continue to stir-fry. After combining the onion and ginger, the meat is even more fragrant.

Under this lingering style, the aroma of the food made people feel "blushing", and even made Miyoko Hojo almost drool from the smell.

Briefly stir-fry twice, remove from the pan and serve on a plate.

Finally, a whole plate of shiny twice-cooked pork was brought to Miyoko.

And she just glanced at it briefly, and her eyes widened instantly.

"This... what kind of food is this?"

…

Come to your senses.

Miyoko actually saw the grease-covered twice-cooked pork, shining under the light.

Whether it is fat or lean meat, every inch seems to be shining with the light of "deliciousness". And a hot aroma emerged from it. Although it was white in color, it hit the nostrils.

Just the smell of it can make people fall over, and it makes people feel appetizing!

Green garlic sprouts, embellished with lush greenery.

The emerald green leaves of the garlic sprouts and the tender green stems are mixed with a naughty piece of black bean from time to time.

However, the appearance of tempeh is not out of place, but blends perfectly with the whole plate of twice-cooked pork.

"Gulu!" Miyoko couldn't help but swallow.

…

When a piece of fat and thin pork belly was slowly brought into her mouth, Miyoko, who is good at Chinese cuisine, was stunned for an instant!

I just feel that the whole twice-cooked pork dish has a rich and mellow flavor, but there is no extra spice.

The color is oily.

But no fat was added.

It all depends on the fine knife skills and the selection of raw materials to achieve the best color, fragrance and taste.

"I see, the so-called twice-cooked pork, in the final analysis, still lies in the word twice-cooked and the steam generated by the heat."

"Only when the frying oil in the wok is heated until it emits white smoke, and then the ingredients are put in, will it turn into white gas. The best effect will be achieved until the frying oil is cooked and the mist in the wok continues to steam."

"As for this continuous state of white gas, people in China have a lingo called pot gas."

After chewing, Miyoko soon discovered some secrets of this dish.

However, what followed was that she frowned deeply, and said in confusion: "It's strange, relying solely on excellent fire control, it is still impossible to make the meat of pork belly fat but not greasy, and it will taste so good in the mouth." Doesn’t it have the magical effect of filling your mouth with a rich aroma?”

"You are very smart!"

“When it comes to Chinese cuisine, I can really think of a lot of questions.”

"Twice-cooked pork cannot be made by relying on pot gas alone. It requires another special pot."

"Did you see that this kind of pot is a steel pot that is only available in China? The characteristics of this pot are non-stick and heat storage, which helps the ingredients to be heated evenly."

On the side, Zhang Fan pointed at the steel pot and explained.

"Steel pot?"

Hearing this, Miyoko had some enlightenment.

…

As we all know, twice-cooked pork has three elements: meat, cooking skills and heat!

Logically speaking, "heat" should belong to the category of cooking, but in Miyoko's eyes, when making this dish, the heat must be listed separately.

The reason why they should be listed separately is mainly to position the problem more accurately and facilitate the inspection of the chef's skills.

You know, if you dare to cook this dish in a restaurant, there will usually be no problems with the meat.

After all, no matter what, ordinary pork belly that can be found everywhere outside the market can be used to make this dish.

As for... cooking skills.

Although every chef has different abilities.

But if you are just making a twice-cooked pork dish, even if there is a difference, it should not be much different.

Therefore, many problems generally lie in the control of heat.

If the stir-frying is too vigorous, it will exceed the smoke point of the oil and burn the pan. Burning the dishes will seriously affect the overall taste of the food.

But if the heat is not enough, it will be difficult for the meat to have that fat but not greasy feeling.

To put it simply, how to control the heat in an extremely precise state really tests the chef's skills.

Obviously, Zhang Fan did an excellent job on the issue of heat.

…

At first, Miyoko just tasted it slowly and elegantly.

The smooth and tender meat always reverberated in her mouth, and the unusually delicious taste always filled her tongue. This strange feeling actually made her feel hungrier the more she ate, and she wished she could take a bite of this plate of twice-cooked pork now. Swallow it!

Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore, so she started to ignore the stares of others, picked up the plate, and started to eat hungrily.

After a while, only an open, empty plate was left.

She touched her belly, her eyes were blank, and her expression was still full of meaning: "It's great!"

"Sure enough, different from Kuga Terunori's cooking, the meals you cook, Shopkeeper Zhang, always make me feel warm and moved."

"The rich aroma of soybean paste hits your nose, with a hint of spiciness, which can immediately whet your appetite. And in that aroma, there is both the mellowness of bean paste and the freshness of garlic sprouts, it is like a carnival of taste buds ”

"Taste carefully, the fat and thin meat slices will melt on the tip of your tongue immediately."

“The tenderness of the fatty meat and the chewiness of the lean meat are intertwined, bringing a layered taste. The fat on the meat slices perfectly blends with the sauce, making the whole dish more delicious.”

"At the same time, the slight spiciness is like a fire, igniting the passion of the taste buds."

“It’s not overpowering, but it adds just enough flavor to the dish to keep people coming back for more as you taste it.”

"Finally, there is the fragrance of garlic sprouts, which is like a fresh note."

"It adds a touch of greenery to the entire twice-cooked pork dish. The crispness of the garlic sprouts and the mellow texture of the meat also form a sharp contrast, making the taste better, richer and more diverse."

“To be honest, I can’t even imagine seeing such delicious twice-cooked pork in my life!”

At the end of the story, Miyoko was so excited that she almost cried. (End of chapter)