SFS Chapter 153 Butterfly Fish Dumplings
Chapter 153 Butterfly Fish Dumplings
After looking at each other and getting tacit consent, Jiang Yu slowly approached Cheng Yuntao.
There was a hint of clumsiness and hesitation in their movements. Every time they got closer, they would pause for a moment, trying to find the right distance that was neither too intimate nor too distant but still allowed them to feel each other's breath.
Then, the young man, who was new to love, kissed his beloved girl between her eyebrows with great care.
His lips touched her smooth skin, time froze, and the whole world lost its sound in this kiss. Only the sound of their heartbeats echoed in the silent night sky.
……
After confirming their mutual feelings, Cheng Yuntao continued to live her life as usual.
Because in the trivial daily life of firewood, rice, oil and salt, love is not everything in life. It’s just that every time he looks at Jiang Yu, there is a bit of intimacy that others can hardly notice, and there is a tacit understanding that belongs only to them.
Cheng Yuntao made a lot of money from setting up stalls in the past two days. The first thing he did after becoming rich was to buy the peach blossom courtyard where he currently lives.
Because Old Lady Su was on good terms with them, she offered a very favorable price. Cheng Yuntao planned to start renovating the courtyard after a while and make it more refined.
However, all these aspects require sufficient money to operate, so Cheng Yuntao had no choice but to roll up his sleeves and devote himself to his stall.
The play being performed in the theater tonight is "Butterfly Lovers". Cheng Yuntao plans to follow in the footsteps of her predecessors and draw on their ingenuity to make a dish of butterfly fish dumplings.
The butterfly fish dumplings are said to have been created by a famous chef who was deeply moved after watching the play "Liang Zhu". After returning to his restaurant, he used fish as the skin and pork as the filling to make butterfly-shaped dumplings, named them "Butterfly Fish Dumplings", and invited his friends to taste them. Later, due to their delicious taste, the dish gradually became popular.
Making butterfly fish dumplings is a delicate job. You have to clean the lively fresh fish first.
When discussing fish, freshness is paramount, followed by fatness. Cured and dried fish are another matter. If both fatness and freshness are achieved, the resulting dish will be delicious, whether cooked or stewed.
For those fish whose only outstanding feature is their freshness, it is appropriate to boil them in clear water to make soup, while for those fish whose characteristic is their fatness, it is more suitable to use rich cooking methods to make fish sashimi.
The key to cooking lies in controlling the heat to the right degree. If the heat is not enough, the fish will not be cooked, making it difficult to chew and the fish bones will be difficult to spit out. If the heat is too high, the fish will lose its fresh and tender texture and become rough, dry and hard, with a bland taste.
When hosting a banquet, other dishes can be prepared in advance, waiting only for the guests to arrive, but the fish must be kept fresh. It should be kept in water until the guests arrive and then cooked. The wonderful flavor of vegetables and fish lies in their freshness, and the best time to enjoy them fresh is right after they are cooked.
If you steam the fish in advance and wait, the delicious taste of the fish will dissipate when no one is paying attention; if you heat it back in the pot after the guests arrive, it will be like re-cooking cold rice or reheating leftover wine, and the original flavor will be completely lost. This is a big taboo when cooking fish.
It's best to use river water to cook fish, but don't use too much water; just enough to submerge the fish. The more water you add, the less flavorful the fish will be; if you keep adding more water, the fish's flavor will inevitably diminish.
For those unfamiliar with cooking fish, steaming is the best method. This way, you don't have to worry about getting the heat right or serving the dish too early or too late. Place the fish on a plate, add a few glasses of aged wine and soy sauce, and top with ginger, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and other ingredients. Steam over high heat until cooked.
In this way, the freshness and fatness of the fish will be fully released and remain on the plate, so you can use it at any time without wasting time, which can be said to achieve twice the result with half the effort.
There are also many tips when handling fish.
Add a drop or two of sesame oil to the fish when washing it to remove any slime. External fishy odors are mostly concentrated around the gills, fin base, and tail, while internal fishy odors are mainly found in the spinal cord and gill pulp. Dry mint, peppercorns, perilla, scallions, citron peel, orange peel, chrysanthemum flowers, and their leaves, crush them, and store them. After gutting the fish, place it in water and scrub it with these ingredients to remove the fishy odor and enhance its flavor.
When cooking river fish, you should boil the water first and then put the fish in. This way, the fish bones will be soft and crispy. When cooking fish from rivers and seas, you should put the fish in the pot first and then add water and bring to a boil. This way, the fish bones will also be soft and crispy.
……
Cheng Yuntao reached out and picked up a fish from the water tank, pressed it steadily on the chopping board, picked up the scale scraper, and scraped off the scales neatly from the tail of the fish against the direction of the scales. The scales fell off, and soon the fish body became smooth.
Then he cut along the belly of the fish, took out the internal organs, and cleaned the gills. With a flick of the knife, he removed the head and tail of the fish, and skillfully split the fish body in two, taking out two pieces of clean fish meat with skin.
When processing fish fillets, Cheng Yuntao used a straight knife to cut and connect them one by one. Each fillet was about one centimeter thick. After a little picking, he removed the incomplete fillets and sprinkled salt and wine on the remaining fillets and mixed them evenly to make them marinated.
While the fish marinated, she began preparing the minced meat. Lean pork and fatty pork were mixed and minced into a fine paste on the chopping board. Shrimp and mushrooms were chopped into rice-sized pieces and added to the minced meat. Salt and wet starch were added, and she stirred vigorously with chopsticks until the minced meat became a sticky paste.
Chop some scallion whites and ginger into shreds and set aside.
To make the fish dumpling dough, crush the potato starch and spread it evenly on the chopping board. Take a marinated fish fillet, evenly coat it with the potato starch, and gently tap it with a rolling pin to form a thin, round slice. Next, scoop a spoonful of meat filling onto the center of the fish fillet. Fold the fillet inward, wrapping it into a dumpling shape, and trim along the edges to create a simple butterfly wing shape.
After the water boiled, Cheng Yuntao placed the wrapped butterfly fish dumplings into the pot one by one, slowly pushing them around with a spoon to prevent them from sticking to each other and affecting the final appearance. When the dumplings floated to the surface, she quickly scooped them out with a slotted spoon and rinsed them in cold water for a better taste.
There is another crucial part of this dish, which is the soup that soaks the fish dumplings.
Pour oil into the pot, add shredded green onion and ginger when the oil is hot and stir-fry quickly until fragrant. Then pour in the broth and bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Add some seasonings and a few leaves of fresh seasonal vegetables. When the vegetables are cooked, drizzle with a few drops of sesame oil. The butterfly fish dumplings are ready.
Cheng Yuntao has prepared all the necessary ingredients. When setting up the stall in the evening, she only needs to blanch the fish dumplings briefly and then add the prepared broth. It is convenient and quick, and will not affect the taste.