Gourmet: Midnight Vending

Chapter 214: Irresistibly Delicious!


Chen Mo looked up at Jia Zhijun, all his doubts just now would be answered at this moment.

However, before getting the answer, he had to answer a question from Chen Mo.

"Teacher, why do you think it's called twice-cooked pork?"

Jia Zhijun didn't expect Chen Mo to speak to him at this moment. Without hesitation, he said, "Because it needs to be boiled first and then stir-fried, going through the process of being cooked again, that's why it's called twice-cooked pork!"

"Exactly, then isn't my dish boiled first and then stir-fried, also going through the process of being cooked again?"

Jia Zhijun didn't expect Chen Mo to challenge him here, making him a bit dumbfounded, and it took him a while to respond, "Are you saying that we've been doing Sichuan Cuisine wrong all these years?"

"Not at all. I didn't say that." Chen Mo stirred with the black ladle, and the bean paste in the pan gradually emitted an enticing aroma at low temperature.

You see, a little lard is needed when stir-frying, that subtle flavor suddenly appears, and now it's exactly like that as the bean paste fried in lard starts to release its own aroma.

The unique spicy, savory taste of red oil bean paste, the rich, mellow taste of dark bean paste, mixed with the aroma of pork, had already attracted a few tourists queuing nearby.

"Then what do you mean!" Jia Zhijun even felt a bit ashamed, "Besides, only second-cut pork can be stir-fried into a lamp shape, using pork belly definitely won't work, it loses the basic characteristic of twice-cooked pork."

"Oh?" The black ladle stirred, mixing the slightly golden pork belly directly with the bean paste in the center, still maintaining medium heat, constantly stir-frying.

The spectators didn't feel much, but the chef could clearly feel it, especially since the black ladle was in sync with Chen Mo's intentions.

With each stir-fry, Chen Mo could vaguely feel the bean paste deeply fusing with the pork pieces.

The originally plain pork belly was gradually stained with red oil, absorbing the rich flavor, at this point Chen Mo calmly lifted the black wok off the flame, adding a little of the adjusted sweet bean paste.

Then, straight to high heat!

The black ladle continued to stir-fry, and Chen Mo spoke, "Who says pork belly can't be stir-fried into a lamp shape?"

Jia Zhijun's gaze shifted from Chen Mo's face to the pan, and saw that with Chen Mo's stir-fry, the edges of each pork belly slice curled slightly inward, resembling a lamp shape!

Moreover, under high heat, the newly added sweet bean paste showed no signs of scorching.

For Jia Zhijun, he knew too well that adding sauce while stir-frying is a technical task, too low heat can't release the sauce's internal aroma, too high heat and the sauce might easily burn!

But after all, he wasn't a professional chef, he was just particular about food, and ultimately didn't have the face to ask Chen Mo why.

Chen Mo didn't care whether he asked or not.

"Water was added to the sweet bean paste, so it won't scorch under high heat, leaving enough time to stir-fry and blend with the pork slices."

Then, the black wok was lifted off the flame again.

Diced chili peppers were added to the pan, continuing to stir-fry.

"Diced chili peppers don't ripen easily, so there's ample time to force out the internal aroma and blend with the meat. And chili peppers need a bit of rawness for flavor."

Though he said so, the time these chili peppers stayed in the pan wasn't long, the visible fat released was plenty.

Chen Mo directly dropped in the green garlic stalks.

"The stalks and leaves of garlic have different temperature needs for maturity, they need to be separated, this way..." stir-fry for about seven to eight seconds.

The wok was lifted off the flame, starting to season.

Chicken essence, MSG, white sugar. Lastly, drizzle soy sauce from the edge of the pan, then add in the garlic leaves, "By the time it's ready to be served, they will all achieve nearly the same level of doneness."

Another seven to eight seconds.

At the same time, the seasonings and ingredients added earlier underwent deep fusion.

They could not afford to waste any more time, Chen Mo quickly lifted the pan, using the black ladle to swiftly shift its contents onto a white plate.

"It's just a lamp." Chen Mo picked up a piece of meat, "Meat, if cut across the grain, curls up easily, if cut along the grain, it doesn't. Teacher, you wouldn't be unaware of this, would you?"

Chen Mo looked cool, feeling like he was the Xie Tingfeng of cooking.

Inside, he was bursting with joy, three seconds ago he had no idea that the lamp trick lay in slicing the meat across the grain, really learned a new trick!

Chen Mo used his chopsticks, accurately picking a chili pepper to place in the lamp-shaped meat pocket, then some garlic stalks, finally adding a slightly burnt black bean, wrapping it with the meat slice.

In one bite!

"Boom!"

At the moment it entered the mouth, even as the creator of the dish, Chen Mo almost couldn't withstand the taste explosion brought by this piece of pork belly!

Unbelievable, this piece of meat was delicious to a completely unreasonable degree!

Pork belly with skin, three parts lean, three parts fat, during chewing, provides a fusion of multiple textures!

The fat part, having released most of its oil, tasted rich but not greasy, the slightly crisp lean part had a wonderful texture, the pork skin, under high heat and pork fat, was somewhat springy and chewy.

Multiple textures intertwined, the barely-cooked diced chili peppers, the garlic stalks at just the right doneness, and finally, the slightly crispy black bean.

All of this, with a single bite, brought immense joy to the body.

When Chen Mo later had the leisure to savor the flavors, he slowly understood the dominance of this recipe.

"So the twice-cooked pork belly actually goes through three cooking processes, boiling, pan-frying, and stir-frying. The pan-frying part is to remove as much fat as possible from the pork belly, making it rich rather than greasy, also causing a slight caramelization in the pork skin and lean meat to absorb the multi-seasoned oil!"

"With this frying step, this piece of meat tastes so rich, tsk... the dining car menu, no step is superfluous!"

Chen Mo's chopsticks reached the plate's edge for another bite.

The key was that the meat was indeed satisfying to eat, looking like it was both fatty and lean, but the taste was entirely different.

Sichuan Cuisine's magical seasoning granted a second life to the pork belly, making it no longer ordinary.

Seeing Chen Mo enjoying himself so much, Jia Zhijun shamelessly took the plate, "Boss Chen, just tell me, how much is this portion? I'll buy it! Today I just have to evaluate this dish!"

Chen Mo, seeing his food being taken, yelled angrily: "99 Yuan!"

Jia Zhijun thought, don't think a high price will scare me, today I'll let you see what it means to have taste buds kissed by God!

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