After cleaning the internal organs and rinsing the blood, Su Qingluan did not rush to scrape the fish scales. Instead, he patted the ginger slices and cut the green onions into pieces. He soaked them in water and kneaded them into green onion and ginger water. He also patted the scattered green onions. Put the ginger directly in it to soak in more flavor.
Turning around, she carefully scraped off the scales of the mandarin fish with a copper knife.
The reason why it is described as "cautious" is because the dorsal fin of mandarin fish is very sharp, and it is easy to prick your fingers if you are not careful.
Su Qingluan suffered a lot in her last life because she was stabbed while collecting fish, which caused the wound to become infected and suppurative. She had to undergo infusion.
However, she was lucky at that time, but there were no antibiotics in this era. If it caused any bacterial infection, suppuration and fever, it would be a trivial matter. If there was sepsis, she would definitely burp and catch a cold!
Therefore, in order not to be stung by the sharp dorsal fin, Su Qingluan was very cautious in every move, lest he be scratched, so that Yang next to him asked with some worry: "Da Ya, what if you forgot how to do that?" Lao Shizi's 'Squirrel Mandarin Fish', grandma can just steam it."
Su Qingluan's mouth twitched: "Mom, don't worry, I know how to do it, I'm just afraid that my dorsal fin will prick my hand."
While talking, Su Qingluan finally scraped off the fish scales and rinsed it with clean water.
Since the fish head needs to be shaped separately, Su Qingluan chopped off the whole part of the fish head along the gills.
Yang happened to see Su Qingluan chopping off the fish head and said quickly: "Hey, just chop off the fish head. There is still a large piece of fish body attached underneath. Isn't it a waste to chop it off?"
Su Qingluan smiled mysteriously: "Don't worry, Mom, don't waste it. I'll chop it off like this and it will naturally be useful."
While talking, she carefully cut off the complete fish head according to the position of the gills, and used the part where the fish meat and body were connected as the "base", so that the head part could be inserted into the "base" with the mouth upward. "It has a very three-dimensional feel.
Yang's eyes lit up: "Hey, don't tell me, looking at the fish head like this, it looks like it's about to jump out of the water!"
Su Qingluan smiled and nodded: "That's it. The fish head at this angle is beautifully shaped and does not collapse."
Seeing Su Qingluan's show of skill, Yang was completely relieved. She turned around and went back to carting noodles and working on other dishes.
After Su Qingluan arranged the fish head in the shape of "looking up at the stars", she turned around and started cooking the fish body again.
Squirrel mandarin fish needs "fish steaks" on both sides, and the fish bones in the middle need to be shaved off. So she grabbed the tail of the fish with one hand and a knife with the other, and sliced off the two fish steaks bit by bit from the tail to the head. But when it was about to reach the top, she stopped, otherwise the fish steaks on both sides would be cut off. Separated from the main spine.
Naturally, the main backbone is not needed. After Su Qingluan cut off the fish fillets on both sides, he completely cut off the middle bone part at the connection between the two fish fillets and the main backbone.
"Mom, I don't need these mandarin fish bones. Do you want to make soup?" Su Qingluan turned to Yang on the other stove while carrying the mandarin fish bones.
"Put it there," Mrs. Yang turned around, "I'll use the fish bones and the salted pork broth later to make the noodle soup base!" Mrs. Yang responded with a smile.
Su Qingluan Wenyan put all the pieces of the film into a small bowl so that his mother could take it later.
Next is one of the difficulties of this "squirrel mandarin fish" - the flower knife.
Su Qingluan first unfolded one of the fish steaks, and used the blade to cut the fish fillets at an angle about finger thickness. However, each time the fish fillet could not be separated from the whole fish steak, and every time he cut to the end, he had to remove the piece of fish. Turn the row over like a book so that you can clearly see whether the fish skin has been cut or whether there are any places that were accidentally cut off.
While cutting, Su Qingluan said to Ms. Yang: "Auntie, you have to be very careful when you come to me to pick up any objects. Don't touch me, otherwise it will be cut off!"
Yang smiled and said: "You should keep your heart in your stomach. If you don't say anything else, I'm just afraid that you might cut your hand. I can't touch you while you're cutting things, right?"
Su Qingluan knew that his mother-in-law was a serious person, and she would definitely do it if she promised. I couldn't help but think of my past life, which was about being narrow-minded and hurting my friends.
At that time, she originally wanted to learn this squirrel mandarin fish dish, and she wanted to make three or five fish every day just to practice this knife technique. But those bad friends always jumped out to scare her when she was about to finish, euphemistically saying they were "training Su Qingluan's mental quality and stability."
Even though Su Qingluan had a good temper, he also broke up with these bad friends.
Later, these people willingly served as "experimental subjects" for Su Qingluan's cooking skills countless times. After eating the squirrel mandarin fish until she vomited, they jointly gave her a set of high-end cooking utensils and kitchen utensils that she had dreamed of, which made her calm down.
Coming out of the memories, Su Qingluan found that the mandarin fish in his hand had become "pieces" unknowingly. Next, the fish meat must be cross-cut to turn the "fish fillets" into "fish sticks", and it still needs to be able to not be disconnected from the fish skin at the top.
After all the knife changes were completed, Su Qingluan carefully put the fish meat into the onion and ginger water that had been rubbed for a long time to remove the fishy smell.
Turning around, she went to mix a mung bean water starch and prepared some dry starch.
Su Qingluan was very focused when cutting the fish meat, so she didn't realize that the fish bones had been taken away by Yang. When Su Qingluan prepared the water starch and dry starch respectively, he could smell the delicious smell of fish soup all over the room.
"This fish soup smells really good!" Su Qingluan raised her nose and took a whiff, "It should have white pepper in it, right?" Otherwise, no matter how delicious the fish soup is, it won't be able to cover up the fishy smell.
Yang smiled and said: "I know it can't be hidden from your nose, but it's not just white pepper. Why don't you smell it again?"
When Su Qingluan heard Yang's words, she raised her nose and smelled it again, then turned around and asked, "Bacon?"
Mr. Yang nodded: "You need to prepare more for this salted pork. Stir-fried vegetables and stews taste great!" As he said that, he sprinkled some salt into the already slightly white fish soup to adjust the taste.
She looked at the color of the soup and muttered: "It's strange, Da Ya, why is the fish soup so white every time you stew it? I've been stewing it for so long, but it's just a little white."
Su Qingluan smiled and said: "Auntie, next time you use fish bones to stew soup, fry it first to make the stew whiter. I discovered a long time ago that food that is fried first is easy to stew into. Milky white soup.”
Su Qingluan only told the result, which made Yang give up the idea of asking her the reason. Otherwise, unless she explained the concept of "emulsification" clearly, it would be impossible to explain why fried ingredients make soup whiter.
