Gourmet Beast Tamer

Speaking of mandarin fish dishes, there is one dish that must be mentioned.

A classic dish among Subang cuisine, squirrel mandarin fish.

Qin Lang thought of this mandarin fish the first time he got it.

Dan Bao approached Qin Lang as soon as he picked up the kitchen knife, his face full of curiosity.

The ingredients Qin Lang got were things it had never seen before.

This means that what Qin Lang is making now is a new dish!

"Gududu?"

"This dish is called squirrel mandarin fish." Qin Lang smiled and began to skillfully remove the scales and internal organs of the mandarin fish. "After it is made, it looks like a squirrel."

There are two types of squirrel mandarin fish, one is ingot-shaped and the other is elephant-shaped.

The former is shaped like a gold ingot, with the fish's head facing upwards and its body curled up with its tail, implying good luck. The latter will place the squirrel mandarin fish in the shape of a squirrel, which is vivid and appears more in restaurants.

The fish looks like a squirrel?

Are there such interesting dishes?

Dan Bao blinked, with a look of curiosity on his face.

Running the kitchen knife across the fish's spine, Qin Lang skillfully removed the main bone from the fish body and divided it into two, then removed the spines on both sides.

"Dan Bao, help me deal with the onions and ginger." Qin Lang started to cut the two halves of the fish body while he spoke.

Slanting first and then straightening can make the strips of fish longer.

If it is made into an ingot shape, the blade needs to be tilted more to make each piece of fish open as much as possible. In the elephant shape, the blade is only slightly tilted, and the shorter fish meat can make the shaping effect better controlled.

This kind of knife method is also called the lychee knife method. After heating, the fish skin curls up, and the stretched fish meat is clearly shaped like a lychee, which is particularly beautiful.

On the other side, Dan Bao has skillfully picked out the green onions and ginger among the ingredients and started blowing hard.

Complete both sides at the same time.

Put the two halves of the fish body into a bowl, add water to cover it, add the chopped green onions, ginger and cooking wine, and marinate for a while.

With a slight shake, the body of the fish with the flower knife looked like a flower blooming, and the slender fish flesh trembled in the water, which was quite amazing.

Dan Bao came forward and looked at the fish in the water with his eyes wide open, feeling a little lost in thought.

"Dan Bao, help me deal with this." Qin Lang handed Dan Bao some oranges.

"Gududu!"

Just leave it to me!

Danbao took the orange and started blowing it seriously again.

While Dan Bao was working on the oranges, Qin Lang had already started another preparation.

The two halves of the fish form the squirrel's body and large tail respectively, while the squirrel's head consists of the short fins behind the fish's gill covers.

A squirrel's whiskers are made of ribs from the fish's belly.

After putting together a squirrel head for later use, the marinating of the fish body is almost complete.

Drain the water from the two halves of the fish, add it to the cornstarch and pat it until the root of each fish is fully coated with starch. Shake off the excess starch, spread the fish skin side down and let it rest for a few minutes.

This step is called feeding.

During the resting process, the dry starch on the surface of the fish absorbs the moisture in the fish, forming a tight starch layer.

During the frying process, the starch layer quickly hardens and becomes dense, like miniature steamers, perfectly locking in the tenderness of the fish.

Only in this way can the squirrel mandarin fish be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

While making ends meet, Qin Lang was not idle either.

The steps of making the sauce require preparation in advance.

If you wait until the squirrel mandarin fish is fried before adding the sauce, the fried mandarin fish will already be a little cold and it will not be able to achieve the sizzling effect when served.

The sizzling sound of a squirrel is also the soul of this dish.

Taking over the oranges that Dan Bao had processed, Qin Lang quickly peeled them and squeezed out the orange juice with a juicer.

What he wants to make is sweet and sour sauce, but adding orange juice to it can make the final flavor better.

Add orange juice to the pot, add a little salt, and then add white sugar and white vinegar in one ratio.

When the pot is bubbling, add water starch to thicken it, then turn to minimum heat to maintain its temperature.

The whole process only takes a few minutes, and the fish body on the other side has already been cooked.

Heat oil in a pan, use toothpicks to fix the shape of the fish and slowly lower it into the pan.

In just a moment, countless tiny bubbles emerged from the fish with a crisp sizzling sound.

The rich deep-fried aroma also burst out quickly during the process, making Dan Bao couldn't help but take a deep breath, with a satisfied look on his face.

"What's going on here?" Qin Lang smiled, scooped up the hot oil and poured it on the surface of the fish to evenly heat it, then fried it until it was set and then took it out.

The surface of the fish meat that is fished out has a light yellow color. When the fish skin is heated and curled, it expands and looks as delicate and beautiful as the fluffy fur of a squirrel. It also has a strong fragrance.

The squirrel head prepared earlier is lightly coated in starch, fried in the same pan until golden, and then taken out.

At this point the oil temperature rises even higher.

Add the fish body again and fry again. A rich aroma bursts out of the pot in just a moment.

This aroma contains both the unique aroma of fried starch and the fresh aroma of fish.

The light yellow color on the fish gradually deepens as it is fried, eventually turning into a beautiful golden color.

Dan Bao couldn't help but swallowed.

I want to eat!

It looks delicious at first glance!

After taking out the fish body and arranging the head, body and tail of the squirrel, Qin Lang took the sweet and sour sauce that had been mixed before and carefully poured it on every inch of the squirrel mandarin fish.

The freshly fried fish meat is still at a high temperature, and it makes a crisp "sizzling" sound the moment the sweet and sour sauce is poured on it.

Squirrel mandarin fish, done!

…

"Father, I thought that since you knew Qin Lang, the test for him would be easier." At the dinner table, Zhou Yun couldn't help but say, "I didn't expect that you would give him such a test."

The process of cooking fish you catch is full of randomness.

The type of fish cannot be determined, nor can the quality of the fish caught be determined.

Therefore it is more difficult than cooking a specific type of fish.

The latter was how Zhou Qing used to test the Yuling Chef.

"Try it." Zhou Qing calmly took a sip of tea, "I think he has this potential."

"Okay." Zhou Yun nodded and said in a different tone, "Father, what was the special invitation you received two days ago?"

"The Fish-Leaping Banquet in the Ming Whale State." Zhou Qing looked at Zhou Yun, "I went to the Ming Whale State once many years ago and met a few old friends there. This time they invited me to have a look."

"There are still two months to go, and the municipal competition will be over by then, so it won't hurt to go and have a look."

"I see." Zhou Yun sighed, "It's a pity that as the association's food fighting judge, I can't ask for leave at will, otherwise I can go and experience it."

A "sizzling" sound interrupted their conversation.

Smelling the rich fragrance that came quickly, surprise flashed in the eyes of the Zhou family and his son.

They all turned their heads and looked at Qin Lang who was walking out with a fish plate.

Placing the fish plate on the dining table, Qin Lang smiled slightly.

"Squirrel mandarin fish, please taste it."

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Contents of the easter egg chapter at the end of this chapter:

【Ingot shaped squirrel mandarin fish】

【Elephant Squirrel Mandarin Fish】