"Dundun, Uncle is heading back now. When I have ti, I’ll introduce you to so police dog buddies. You’ll definitely like them."
Who wants to play with dogs... Dundun flicked an ear impatiently and continued playing with the ball.
"You’re being so serious. Can it even understand what you say?"
"It can even understand ’Moonlight Sonata’. It’s got a pretty good grasp of human language by now."
These two were the ones that picked Ren Jie up with a pickup truck when he was selling pancakes. As they walked out of the store, they were still chatting about that ti.
"I never thought selling pancakes would also get you a wife."
"Had I known earlier, I wouldn’t have disguised myself as the security guard during our undercover operations last ti."
Ren Jie laughed and said:
"Being a security guard is great; it could save you a lot of detours in life, and maybe you could even end up as a five-star general at Country Garden."
They continued to banter as they got in the car. Just as they drove off, Car Boy ca back with the ribbonfish. They were all iced fresh, with the silver scales intact and of high quality.
When he got upstairs and heard Officer Ren had left, he curiously asked:
"So, are we still cooking this ribbonfish?"
Chen Yan said:
"Of course, not just him, I’m craving it too... Yueyue, do you rember the braised ribbonfish grandma used to make when we were kids?"
"I do. At the ti, you lied to , saying the fish wasn’t tasty and you had to eat the bones. Luckily, I didn’t choke on any bones... Why are you bringing this up? Want to get revenge?"
Chen Yan smiled awkwardly:
"I was just teasing you back then. Let’s see how brother-in-law’s version compares to grandma’s."
Choking on fish bones while eating ribbonfish?
Lin Xu said:
"Today, let’s make so ribbonfish where you can even eat the bones, so you can enjoy the pleasure of eating without spitting out bones."
Shen Baobao’s eyes lit up:
"Really? For soone like who can’t eat fish properly, that’s really kind!"
The worst part about eating fish is spitting out the bones, and even with ribbonfish, having bones can be annoying.
If you could make fish that’s so tender the bones can be eaten too, that would be perfect!
After preparing all the Chestnut Cakes, Lin Xu headed to the kitchen to start on the Fried Crispy Ribbonfish.
First, he prepared the ribbonfish.
There aren’t many bones in ribbonfish, except for the central spine and the dorsal fin bones.
The fins of these iced fresh ribbonfish are easier to handle. Just slice behind the head, pull, and the entire dorsal fin along with all the backbones cos off, much faster than using a knife.
Remove the bones, chop off the head and tail, and clean out the innards.
The ribbonfish’s belly is towards the front, so you have to clean out the innards thoroughly. Also, with a finger against the upper part of the belly cavity, you have to carefully rub it clean.
There’s a mbrane there that holds a lot of blood, which is a major source of the fishy sll, so it must be cleaned thoroughly.
"Boss, should I scrape the Fish Scales?"
Ma Zhiqiang, who was helping process the ribbonfish, asked.
"No need, we’ll fry it directly later. No need to scrape the scales."
Generally, if you fry the ribbonfish directly, there’s no need to remove the scales because the hot oil will make them crispy and remove the fishy sll.
However, if you’re coating it, it’s better to remove them because with the batter, the hot oil might not penetrate thoroughly.
After cleaning and preparing all the ribbonfish, removing the head, tail, and dorsal fins, he started to cut them.
Cutting the ribbonfish is simple; just make a cross-cut on both sides. The cuts shouldn’t be less than half a centiter deep, or the Fish might detach from the bones.
Additionally, when making the cuts, try to cut down to the ribbonfish’s spine.
This way, the hot oil can seep in, crisping up the fish bone, resulting in ribbonfish that’s both crispy and tender, allowing you to eat it, bones and all.
After making the cuts, chop the ribbonfish into ten-centiter-long segnts.
As he was busy, Lin Xu said to Ma Zhiqiang:
"Get the oil pan ready, pour in so used oil, and first fry so scallion segnts, ginger slices, star anise, and cinnamon to add so spice to the oil."
Once Lin Xu finished cutting and segnting all the ribbonfish, Ma Zhiqiang had already finished frying the spices.
"Do we discard these spices?"
"Throw away the scallions, keep the rest to use while braising."
With that, Lin Xu carried the prepared ribbonfish to the stove and started frying.
For this kind of direct-fry ribbonfish, there’s no need to marinate it first. Any odor will dissipate during frying, and any remaining will be dealt with during braising, leaving no trace behind.
When the oil temperature reaches 60%, add the ribbonfish pieces into the oil pan for frying.
When frying this kind of fish, use used oil as much as possible, otherwise, the oil will retain the fishy sll, and everything you cook afterwards will taste like fish.
The hot oil in the pot boils violently; once you add enough fish, stir the pot a bit to prevent the ribbonfish from sticking to the bottom.
"Whoa, frying so ribbonfish?"
Xie Baomin’s voice startled Lin Xu:
"Senior brother, what brings you here?"
"I ca to let you know that at the end of this month or the beginning of next, I’m planning to recreate one of our ntor’s classic dishes. You should improve your hand-pulled noodle skills before then, otherwise, you won’t be able to learn it."
What they call "hand-pulled noodles" is actually just noodles, with only a different na.
Lin Xu wasn’t very interested in noodle pulling because the shop specializes in handmade noodles, which is also the foundation of Lin Ji.
Making hand-pulled noodles would feel a bit like undermining himself.
But upon hearing about the classic dish created by their ntor, he beca imdiately interested.
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