The chef industry is quite special. You can directly create value with your craftsmanship and technology.
When a piece of meat is bought in the market and processed by a good chef, the price will skyrocket. The resulting price difference is the most intuitive evaluation of a chef's ability.
Of course, this is a bit too simplistic and crude. The chef industry also relies heavily on platforms and teams. For the same chef working in a snack bar and working in a star-rated hotel, the value generated by his labor is definitely different.
Nowadays, a braised pork stall, or a braised food stall that is about to open, cannot be said to be a platform. They all need the products to speak for themselves and create their own markets based on product quality and taste.
Therefore, in the end, it is the dishes that have the final say. In the face of the final consumer, the recognition of the common people is the final assessment of a chef's craftsmanship.
Yao Yuan now decided to prepare a pot of braised food every day and sell it on the streets in the morning.
Yao Yuan must have enough confidence in his own craftsmanship. The so-called braised food is divided into several schools in the south and the north, from the famous brine of the southern school to the smoked sauce platter of the northern school. As a veteran who has been working for decades, Chefs must have come into contact with it before, and since these are all familiar things, it is not difficult to make them.
The only thing that needs to be seriously considered is the taste and acceptance of diners, and which style of braised food will be more popular with the public.
A country's soil and water support its people. People in each region have their own favorite flavor. Being able to find this flavor is a great test for a chef. If you pass this test, you can master another type of flavor in the kitchen. Wealth code.
Pingcheng is a northern city, and food is mainly salty, so the preparation of brine must also follow this principle. The taste buds of northerners may not be so delicate, and they are not able to distinguish the complex medicinal aroma of Chaoshan brine, and like The fresh, sweet, and drunken flavors in some places in the south are a bit bland for the rough appetites of northerners. These flavors need to be avoided as much as possible.
On the contrary, the northern style of smoked sauce may be more in line with the local people's appetite.
People in Pingcheng love wine. If there is a meat platter with rich flavor and smoky style on the dining table every day, which is cheap and satisfying, and perfectly complements the Erguotou shochu, a specialty of Pingcheng, such a product will probably not worry about selling.
Before getting ready to start, Yao Yuan had already made some concerns about controlling the taste of his products, and he was somewhat sure about it.
But regarding the current division of labor and cooperation between several people, Yao Yuan will not dare to mess around from now on.
If you want to do things well in the kitchen, you cannot do without a good team; if you want to develop your business in the long run, partners and even cooperation methods are crucial.
At the beginning, it was just three classmates playing at a braised pork stall. There were no rules at all and they could do whatever they wanted. It didn't matter how much money they made, the most important thing was to be happy.
But it's different now. First of all, there is an assessment target. In the remaining twenty-seven days, he must earn enough 30,000 yuan to save the bungalow of Xie Zhenhua's family. This is something he has personally arranged with Aunt An. ticket.
Furthermore, once the braised pork stalls and braised goods stalls that have been invested in are successful, they must consider the subsequent existence and development issues. No one will be willing to give up halfway when starting a task. If you still use that joking mentality at this time, Treated, these two stalls are bound to not have a happy ending.
Yao Yuan began to warn himself that from now on, he could no longer act on his own initiative and had to think about the long term.
"Mancheng'er, how are you? Do you think you can do this job? If you think it's easy for you, you can work with us. We'll give you a salary of twenty yuan a day. Isn't it much better than raising pigs?" Yao Yuanban Joking and half serious.
Mancheng was squatting there, scrubbing pig's trotters in warm water.
Pig's trotters are delicious, but the production process is complicated. First, the pig's trotters need to be burned over an open fire to remove the grease and pig hair. This process can also remove some of the bad taste of the pig's trotters themselves, and then they are grilled. The pig's trotters need to be soaked in warm water, and then the black marks formed by the roasting on them are scrubbed clean with a steel brush. The whole process requires a lot of patience.
Of course, there are ways to save trouble. Some unscrupulous businesses will directly put the pig's trotters into hot asphalt to remove the hair. Although this saves trouble, it is unethical! Yao Yuan would definitely not do this.
The nimble man Mancheng was working hard when he suddenly heard that Yao Yuan was going to offer him a salary of 20 per day. He was startled and raised his head to look at Yao Yuan: "What are you talking about? It's just a matter of help from a friend. Why don’t you pay for it?”
Yao Yuan smiled slightly without being pretentious: "Okay, you're fine these days anyway, so just help us more."
The whole city already knew that these two classmates had set up stalls and sold goods at a young age just to collect money for Xie Laozhao's grandma's medical treatment. They had already sighed several times in their hearts: "These days, people in big cities also not easy!"
In this case, of course Mancheng will do its best to help. No matter how hard it is, it will be impossible to take any money from it.
Yao Yuan is not in a hurry. What he likes is Mancheng's honest and honest temperament. There is no need to rush everything, just take your time.
Today's Braised and Fired Sauce is hosted by Xiao Pang'er and supervised by Yao Yuan.
After seeing that Xiao Pang'er had put all the ingredients into the pot and there were no big mistakes, Yao Yuan started to prepare another pot of stewed soup for today.
More than 20 kinds of spices such as cloves, angelica, cardamom, licorice, alpinia, galangal, bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, cumin, Amomum villosum, Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, etc. are carefully selected and blended in proportion. After it's ready, start to add it to the pot and stir-fry. At the same time, add seasonings such as ginger, onion, garlic, cooking wine, soy sauce, yellow sauce, and bean paste to remove the fishy smell and increase the fragrance.
Mancheng watched intently from the side, Hu Xiaopang'er watched carefully from a distance, and Xie Laozhao'er began to fry the tofu piece by piece.
After pouring boiling water into the pot, cook the spices for a few minutes and then take them out. Wrap the taken-out spices in a whole piece of bean bag cloth and put them back into the soup pot.
"This step is mainly to make the stewed soup cleaner, without so many impurities, so that it will not stick to the finished product and affect the appearance." Yao Yuan still explained while working. He is now eager to learn to master the entire production process. .
The parts of each pig have been pre-processed separately. After two or three hours of soaking in water, the blood and water in the meat have been fully analyzed. Then, the fishy smell has been initially removed through a process of cold water splashing.
The cleaned pig parts are no longer pickled like before. They are white and tender in color and have a slight meaty aroma.
There were two pots of stewed soup. Yao Yuan put two bamboo grates on the bottom of the two large soup pots to prevent them from being scorched. He then directed Mancheng to put the ingredients into the pots according to their maturity time.
"This pot takes one hour and forty-five minutes, the other pot takes three and a half hours, and then the original soup is soaked overnight to absorb the flavors. How about it? It saves trouble, right?" Yao Yuan rubbed his hands and looked at everyone with pride.
Mancheng nodded: "Whether this braised soup tastes good or not, the key is your spices, right?"
"Wrong, spices are just one aspect, they are the icing on the cake. The most important thing is to master the taste of salt. Salt is the king of flavors and the flavor of a dish. The sweet, sour, bitter and spicy flavors of a dish all revolve around the taste of salt. Based on this." Yao Yuan is willing to introduce a lot of experience in the kitchen to this potato novice.
But Mancheng's eyes darkened imperceptibly, because in his opinion, that packet of spices was the secret recipe of this stewed soup. Since it was a secret recipe, people would definitely have reservations, and it was impossible to teach him this. outsider.
"As for this ingredient package, every chef has his or her own opinion. Even if it is just some spices and seasonings, like us Chinese medicine, we all pay attention to the issue of the compatibility of monarch and minister. Depending on the ingredients, which flavor is dominant and which flavor is supplementary. , all have certain requirements and cannot be generalized, let alone set in stone. However, if you need it, I will copy this recipe to you later so that you can use it as a reference." Yao Yuan seemed to have noticed Mancheng's little thoughts. .
"Master Yao, you drink water." Little Fatty Hu walked up to Yao Yuan at some point, holding a large teapot in his hand and handed it to Yao Yuan.
Yao Yuan stretched out his hand and gave the little fat boy a gourd on his head: "As clever as you are, just keep an eye on the two pots of braised pork and stewing it! If there is a guest who eats something that tastes wrong tonight, then this week's bowl will It’s all up to you!”
Yao Yuan's attitude made Xiao Hua'er on the side feel quite satisfied, and she laughed out loud. Hu Xiao Fat'er looked at Yao Yuan, then looked at Yao Xiaohua on the side, rolled his eyes, twisted his fat butt, and got back to his stove. Beside the stage.
Mancheng's name for Yao Yuan also changed unconsciously: "Master Yao, didn't you say we want to make smoked flavor? Will these pig's trotters and pork belly also need to be smoked?"
"Don't worry about this. Just smoke it for a few minutes before going out to the stall tomorrow morning. That way, the smoky flavor will be stronger and more attractive when you go out to the stall. Besides, these don't have to be smoked. I want to experiment, like Elbows, pig's trotters, etc. are no longer smoked and are sold in their original flavor. Pork belly, pig tails, etc. are slightly smoked. When selling, compare and see which one will be more popular. When we make products, we can't Of course, we must listen to the opinions of the guests and make adjustments at any time based on everyone's reaction." Seeing what Yao Yuan meant, he wished he could lift the lid of the city and pour all the knowledge he knew into him.
"Then what should we use for fumigation?" Mancheng is becoming more and more studious.
"It's simple. Just sugar and tea leaves are enough. Add a little more orange peel to increase the compound aroma. By the way, buy some oranges in the evening. You are responsible for eating them and leaving the peels for me." Yao Yuan suddenly remembered.
Fried tofu is a hard job, especially on this dog-day afternoon.
Xie Laozhao finally fried all the tofu. He was covered in sweat as if he had just taken a shower. He turned off the gas, took three steps and two steps at a time and ran to the courtyard. He picked up a vat that had already cooled down. Good tea, poured into the stomach.
After Niu drank a few sips, Xie Laozhaoer suddenly stopped, raised his nose and sniffed into the air: "Holy crap! Holy crap! What, this is, it smells so good!"
