Chapter 314: Chapter 313: Crispy and Fragrant Broccoli
Beef tallow refers to the fatty portion of the fat from inside a cow’s stomach, which is a type of body fat. Similar to lard, its fat particles are relatively coarse and need to be rendered to extract the oil. The beef tallow used in hotpot restaurants is this type of oil, refined from layers of cow fat. However, in Western dishes, “butter” mostly refers to the product extracted from cow milk, which is cream.
Most of the butter sold in supermarkets nowadays is extracted from cow milk, and only a very small portion have added beef tallow extracted from cow fat. The only way to differentiate them is by checking the ingredients list.
Jiang Feng spent quite some time looking for the right kind of beef tallow.
Beef tallow extracted from cow fat has a unique aroma and a slight gamey scent that’s particularly suitable for cooking, stir-frying, baking, hotpot, and brewing oil tea; all excellent choices.
Good quality beef tallow, though with larger fat particles, has a fine texture and a pale yellow color. Jiang Feng had to thoroughly search through the supermarket’s selection before he reluctantly picked one that satisfied him.
After finding satisfactory beef tallow, Jiang Feng also purchased a small bottle of olive oil, a bit of low-gluten flour, and two eggs.
Extra virgin olive oil is the highest quality and finest class of olive oil with an acidity of no more than 1%, exuding a unique and subtle fragrance that’s distinct to vegetable oils. Olive oil is especially good for frying; when frying with it, the food emits an enticing aroma that can be smelled from afar, making an otherwise ordinary dish appear very appetizing.
Although the Benevolent Doctor’s Food Canteen provides oil, it’s only soybean oil and peanut oil, and the quality is not very good. It might not make a difference when stir-frying, but once used for frying, the results fall short, which Jiang Feng had already noticed when he made Sweet and Sour Yam last time.
By the time Jiang Feng returned to the Benevolent Doctor’s Food Canteen with his purchases, it was almost 10 o’clock. Perhaps because of the recent cooler weather due to the rain, there were more people cooking than usual—about five or six—making the canteen livelier with the sound of frying and chatting.
Fang Zhuoyue’s plain porridge was already on the stove, and he was stirring it continuously, looking quite professional, not at all like someone who would burn the porridge.
“Your flame is too high; it will surely scorch at the bottom if it cooks for too long,” said Jiang Feng as he stepped forward to lower the flame slightly, “When cooking porridge, you should start with a high heat to bring it to a boil, and if you can’t judge the fire control, it’s better to turn it down a notch. If you constantly stir the porridge like this and cook it long enough, you can even bring out the aroma of the rice.”
Fang Zhuoyue nodded thoughtfully.
“Jiang, come and taste this for me; do you think the soup tastes a bit off?” Qian Lijuan started seeking help from outside the kitchen.
Jiang Feng went over and took a sip with a small spoon; the expression on his face was somewhat hard to describe.
Zhuang Lin has to drink the soup Qian Lijuan makes every day; he really has it tough.
“Mrs. Qian, did you blanch the ribs before putting them into the water?” Jiang Feng asked.
“You need to blanch the ribs? Don’t you just put them directly into the soup to cook?” Mrs. Qian asked in shock.
“When stewing ribs, you must always blanch them first to remove the blood water, which will get rid of the gamey taste. If you don’t blanch them, it will turn out like this. Look, the color of this soup is very muddy, and there’s foam at the edges, all because of the blood surging up,” Jiang explained. He felt that while his task progress at the Benevolent Doctor’s canteen hadn’t advanced much, his teaching skills had significantly improved.
“What about now? What do I do now?” Mrs. Qian asked.
“To remove the gamey taste, you could add more ginger and cooking wine, but it’s impossible to completely remove it now since the ribs have been simmered this way. You can skim the foam off later, but the final color of the soup will not look good, and the flavor might not be ideal,” said Jiang Feng. “Next time before you stew rib soup, make sure to first put the ribs in cold water and heat it up, stirring occasionally. This way, even the blood inside the ribs can be removed.”
Mrs. Qian nodded her head and began taking notes in a notebook.
Jiang Feng cut several large slices of ginger and threw them into Mrs. Qian’s rib soup, adding some more cooking wine.
Another lady cooking soup next to Mrs. Qian noticed Jiang Feng’s professionalism and enthusiasm and asked, “Young man, can you help me check my soup too? I think it tastes odd as well.”
Jiang Feng happily moved on to the next “guinea pig.”
In a single morning, Jiang Feng managed to complete four more tasks, bringing his progress up to (36/100), still far from completion.
After helping others, it was time to get busy with his own tasks.
Jiang Feng carefully washed the broccoli, cutting it into small pieces and dividing it into two portions.
Broccoli with beef tallow is actually very easy to make, with virtually no technical difficulty.
After blanching the broccoli until it’s half-cooked, take it out and stir-fry it over low heat with the beef tallow. The beef tallow melts upon heating. Stir-frying requires some skill to ensure the beef tallow coats the broccoli evenly. Finally, sprinkle a little salt and black pepper for seasoning, and the dish is done.
The Crispy Broccoli is slightly more complicated. Jiang Feng followed the same process as for crispy apples, without making any changes.
The eggs were beaten and added to the low-gluten flour, then mixed with enough water to create an even batter. He evenly coated the small broccoli pieces with this egg mixture before frying. Concerned that the broccoli might not cook through in one go, Jiang Feng decided to dip them in the egg mixture twice and fry them twice, each time controlling the heat differently. With two layers of fried egg coating on the broccoli, the outside would be crispy and the inside tender. Even if the taste might not be perfect, the texture was guaranteed to be very good.
Jiang Feng worked on two pots at once, one pot for boiling water and the other for frying, managing both without any delay, which looked quite impressive to the onlookers.
Those who were in the small kitchen cooking porridge or soup couldn’t help but glance over at Jiang Feng.
Not for any other reason, but because the olive oil used for frying was simply too aromatic.
Even though he was frying a vegetarian ingredient like broccoli, it was enough to make everyone salivate and eager to dig in.
“Jiang, why does your frying smell so delicious? What did you add?” asked Mrs. Qian, voicing everyone’s thoughts.
“This is what happens when you fry with olive oil; it smells good and tastes good,” Jiang Feng explained.
Mrs. Qian swallowed involuntarily.
“Olive oil, huh? In a few days I’ll also buy a bottle of olive oil and fry meatballs for my daughter. She’s almost recovered and should be able to eat those things,” Mrs. Qian muttered to herself.
Jiang Feng:…
Given Mrs. Qian’s current cooking skill and her natural talent for cooking, Jiang Feng doubted that even if she fried meatballs in olive oil, the end result would likely be not so much the unique fragrance of olive oil, but Mrs. Qian’s signature burnt flavor.
“Olive oil? That oil is too expensive; using it to fry things is too extravagant. It’s okay to use it for frying during holidays, but it’s just too costly for everyday cooking,” another lady said.
“Expensive?” Mrs. Qian, who previously never cooked, wasn’t quite clear on the prices of groceries.
“My daughter buys this kind of olive oil to put on her face, claiming it’s for skincare. I really don’t understand her thinking, plastering oil directly onto her face. It seems it’s the same kind this young man uses, a tiny bottle for over 200 yuan. If you fry meatballs with it, that bottle will be gone,” another lady explained to Mrs. Qian.
Jiang Feng was dumbfounded—olive oil could be used for skincare? Wasn’t it supposed to be used for cooking?
“Applying olive oil to the face can clear dark spots and cleanse dirt from pores; it can also eliminate wrinkles and moisturize the skin; its effects are even better than many hydrating and spot-fading products,” Fang Zhuoyue said.
Jiang Feng:???
Aren’t you a single dog? How do you know so much?
Seeing Jiang Feng looking at him, Fang Zhuoyue explained, “I saw a junior high school classmate mention it on their social feed.”
“If you want to fry meatballs, Mrs. Qian, you don’t need to buy my extra-virgin olive oil; just buying virgin or refined olive oil is fine, much cheaper,” Jiang Feng explained.
Mrs. Qian nodded, indicating she had taken note.
Although he was talking, Jiang Feng’s hands were never idle, and he quickly finished making the crispy broccoli.
Two large bowls of broccoli—one gleaming with butter and the other wrapped with egg and fried until fragrant—truly the aristocrats of broccoli, with a kind of golden buff enhancement.
Jiang Feng carried the two large bowls of broccoli towards the emergency department.
Today was not particularly busy in the emergency department, and they did not encounter the strange phenomenon of getting insanely busy at meal times as had happened a few days ago; everyone was starting to discuss in pairs and groups which takeout to order. Even Zhou was seriously pondering whether to have the spicy sour Chinese cabbage or the sweet and sour shredded potatoes.
The spicy sour Chinese cabbage is one yuan cheaper.
Zhou decided to order the spicy sour Chinese cabbage.
Sun found it odd that Jiang Shoucheng wasn’t actively engaging in today’s serious discussion about which takeout to order and asked, “Jiang, it’s time for lunch, what takeout are you planning to order?”
“I heard from Qu at internal medicine that the chef at the new place that opened the day before yesterday isn’t bad, and they’re offering discounts these days, why don’t we order from there?” Sun suggested.
“You guys order; my little brother made lunch for me,” Jiang Shoucheng said, feeling his face grow greener as lunchtime approached.
“Ah, your little bro is so kind. Even my own brother wouldn’t be willing to cook for me,” Sun sighed, “except I don’t have a brother.”
“Ha, haha,” Jiang Shoucheng gave a bitter laugh.
(´╥ω╥`)
Jiang Shoucheng began to miss the Jiang Feng of the past.
The little brother of the past was so simple, so naive, so easy to deceive. He would only cook meat dishes and would never bother with heretical things like broccoli.
He didn’t know who the vile person was who recently sowed discord between them, leading his little brother to act this way towards him. He stopped bringing Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, stopped cooking meat dishes, and Jiang couldn’t even see mince anymore. His brother would just show up with boiled broccoli, not even adding salt.
As he thought more and more about it, Jiang Shoucheng couldn’t help but feel a wave of sadness wash over him.
Jiang Shoucheng sniffled, feeling tears about to fall.
Eh, what’s this smell?
Jiang Shoucheng sniffed more vigorously.
It smells divine!
Jiang Shoucheng saw Jiang Feng, the delicious fragrance was emanating from the bow of vegetables he was holding.
He just knew, his little brother loved him!
ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~