After pouring it in, he stirred it twice with a spoon, allowing the at mousse to fully mix with the stock.
"There’s a technique to skimming the stock as well. First, add the darker at mousse, then the lighter at mousse; this way, the effect will be better," Qiu Zhenhua explained from the side, afraid Lin Xu wouldn’t understand. When skimming the stock, the stock in the pot must not boil. Otherwise, the at mousse will fly around in the pot, failing to absorb the impurities.
Very quickly, clumps of red at mince floated to the surface of the stock. Xie Baomin carefully scooped the Duck at Mousse from the surface with a spoon. After almost completely skimming it, he placed a strainer covered with a white cloth into the pot to filter out the scattered at mousse. The stock in the pot had noticeably lightened, but it was not clear enough yet.
Xie Baomin picked up the prepared Pork atball, pouring half of it into the pot. He stirred it a few tis, allowing the Pork atball to reach the bottom of the pot, then patiently waited for the clumps of at to rise to the surface of the stock.
Lin Xu watched and couldn’t help but marvel. Using so many ingredients to make a stock, and now using at repeatedly to filter out its impurities—this type of dish really isn’t sothing just anyone can afford.
Xie Baomin continued skimming the stock. By the fourth pass, the stock in the pot was essentially clear as water, only slightly tinged with a tea color. The stock was now ready to be used for making "Boiled Cabbage in Clear Soup." But Xie Baomin still stubbornly added the remaining Chicken atball and skimd it once more. After this round, the tea color in the stock had almost completely disappeared, but the savory flavor had inevitably diminished a bit as well.
After cleaning out the residue in the pot, Xie Baomin wrapped the filtered at solids in a white cloth. He tied it securely at the diagonals to ensure there were no gaps and then, using a cotton rope, hung it back into the Clear Soup.
"This step is called ’reviving the stock,’ which allows the savory flavor from the at solids to return to the stock," Qiu Zhenhua explained. He might not know how to make Qingshui Furong, but he was very familiar with these steps. He had done them all: from preparing the initial stock, to skimming the stock to clarify it, and now reviving the stock. Back when he followed his elder uncle, he had also endured countless hardships. He had thought he could stand out at Fishing Platform, but it turned out that everyone there was exceptionally talented. He considered his culinary skills excellent, yet at Fishing Platform, he barely ranked third.
"Alright, the Clear Soup is ready. Now it’s ti to make the Furong... Qiuqiu, are you busy? If not, you can head back first. There aren’t many steps left."
Just as Qiu Zhenhua was lost in thought, he heard Xie Baomin’s words and his nose nearly twitched with anger. "Cut the crap! We’re about to reach the most crucial part of this dish, and you’re asking to leave? Hurry up, hurry up! I’m eager to taste it."
What a joke! I’ve been diligently guiding your junior brother, and here you are, trying to pull a fast one on . What did I do in a past life to deserve knowing a jerk like you—blow up a few nursing hos?
"I was just worried you’d be tired from standing," Xie Baomin mumbled shalessly, then moved the stockpot aside to start working on the other half of the dish.
Hmph, the Clear Soup was already demanding enough, and the Furong part was proving to be just as challenging. Because this step could not use a food processor, it required pure manual operation. The whole process was not only complicated but also extrely exhausting, both physically and ntally.
Xie Baomin picked up two pieces of Chicken Breast and sighed, "Looks like I’m really going at it with Chicken Breast today." With that, he took a knife and continued to remove the sinew from the Chicken Breast. What he was about to make, Furong Chicken Slices, was a very classic dish that also took a lot of ti, epitomized by the saying "eating chicken without seeing the chicken."
He removed the sinew from the Chicken Breast. Then, holding the knife at a 45-degree angle, he scraped the Chicken Breast, extracting the chicken paste. The reason for scraping is that Chicken Breast has too much fascia; only this thod can completely remove it from the at.
"Can’t a food processor be used?" Lin Xu asked curiously.
Xie Baomin shook his head. "No. It still needs to be filtered through a fine-sh sieve. If a food processor is used, the shredded fascia in the at will completely clog the sh, making filtration impossible." Every few scrapes, he would pick out a small strand of fascia from the chicken paste.
Once all the Chicken Breast was scraped into a paste, Xie Baomin brought a piece of clean Pork Skin and laid it on the cutting board. He then placed the scraped chicken paste on top and gently pounded it with the back of his knife. Pounding not only breaks down the chicken fibers but also enhances the at’s texture. The reason for pounding on Pork Skin was to prevent wood splinters from the cutting board from mixing into the chicken paste, which would mar its appearance. Indeed, this Furong Chicken Slices dish required the at to be tender, white, and free of impurities. Any tiny flaw would ultimately affect its final presentation.
After finely pounding the chicken paste twice with the back of the knife, Xie Baomin transferred it to a basin. He then added ginger-infused water to dilute the paste into a smooth Chicken atball consistency. "The flavor of scallions is too strong and would easily overpower other tastes, so just adding so ginger-infused water is enough." After speaking, he took a fine-sh sieve and began filtering the Chicken atball mixture. This not only filtered out any remaining fascia but also made the texture of the Chicken atball mixture finer.
After filtering, he added so salt, then cracked eight Egg Whites into it, slowly stirring the mixture with a whisk in the basin. "Don’t stir too quickly. Stirring too fast can cause the Egg Whites to froth up. Then you wouldn’t be able to make Furong Chicken Slices, only Chicken Bean Curd."
The preparation for Chicken Bean Curd and Furong Chicken Slices is quite similar. The only difference is that Chicken Bean Curd requires the Egg Whites to be beaten into a fine, frothy foam so that it can solidify on the surface of the stock like bean curd. Furong Chicken Slices, however, require the opposite. The Egg Whites must not be frothed up; otherwise, they can’t be deep-fried. Hmm, the current batter needs to be fried into chicken slices in oil. If the Egg Whites were frothed, this Chicken atball mixture would float on the oil’s surface and couldn’t be ford into slices.
Before long, the Egg Whites in the basin seed to disappear, incorporated into a white batter. However, the Egg Whites weren’t fully broken down yet; one could still feel their distinct presence with a gentle lift of a chopstick. It needed to be beaten further.
"Let take over for a while." Seeing Xie Baomin sweating, Qiu Zhenhua imdiately stepped in to replace him. This job seed simple but was actually very tiring because it required continuous beating but not too fast. It had to be done slowly and steadily.
Finally, when the Egg Whites were completely broken down, it was ti to move on to the next step. Xie Baomin heated a wok on the stove, added cold oil, then slowly swirled the wok to allow the oil to coat its surface. When it started smoking, he poured the oil out. Then he added fresh cold oil and coated the wok again in the sa manner. This thoroughly seasoned the bottom of the wok, making it non-stick.
After completing these preparations, Xie Baomin added so lard to the wok and began frying the chicken slices.
"Frying with lard? Won’t it be too greasy, Senior Brother?" Lin Xu watched with so surprise.
Xie Baomin smiled. "Lard doesn’t cause browning easily, so the fried chicken slices will remain snow-white. As for greasiness, there will be a specific step later to remove excess oil."
Soon, the oil temperature rose to about 30% heat (low heat). Xie Baomin scooped up a spoonful of the Chicken atball mixture and began frying the chicken slices!
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