Do Chaoshan people like dry goods?

Dry food is the main cooking material commonly used in Chaozhou cuisine. It can be said that dry goods commonly used in Chinese food can be seen in Chaozhou cuisine. Before the reform and opening up, shark's fin, bird's nest and other high-grade dry goods were relatively rare in Chaoshan restaurants, but after the reform and opening up, such high-grade dry goods dishes have become common dishes in Chaoshan restaurants. Some Chaoshan restaurants also specialize in the development of high-grade dry goods such as shark's fin and abalone, and are called "shark's fin workers".

The raw materials of Chaozhou cuisine for cooking dry goods are very particular, which not only meet the cooking requirements of Chaozhou cuisine, but also meet the flavor characteristics of Chaozhou cuisine. If the dried squid expands, foreign cuisines often use soda ash to make the dried squid soft and expand. However, Chaozhou cuisine emphasizes the characteristics of fresh and sweet raw materials, and thinks that adding soda ash will destroy the fresh and sweet taste of dried squid, so it uses "cold water method" instead. In the cooking process, efforts should be made in cutting tools and oil temperature to make dried squid brittle after cooking.

Chaozhou cuisine uses a lot of dry goods. The following are some important and distinctive parts.

Shark's fin: Shark's fin is a common dry-fried raw material for high-grade dishes in Chaozhou cuisine. Before the sixties and seventies, due to the low living standard, there was little shark fin cooking in Chaoshan restaurants, and only some overseas Chinese occasionally brought it back from overseas for writers' banquets. After the reform and opening up, with the improvement of people's living standards, shark's fin dishes have become a common dish in Chaozhou restaurants, and its cooking methods have been continuously improved on the basis of traditional cooking methods.

Shark's fin is a dried product of the fins of sand fish or rays, and it is a valuable seafood in dry goods. Shark fin can be divided into three types according to its position on sand fish. One is the hook wing, which is taken from the tail fin. The whole fin is boneless, the number is the largest after expansion, and the wing needle is thick and long; The second is the spine wing, which is taken from the dorsal fin, and the wing needle is younger and shorter; The third kind is wing wing, which is taken from pectoral fin. Wing needle is the youngest, the wing body is thinner, the price is the cheapest among shark fins, and it is mostly used to spread wings.

The favorite hook wing used in Chaoshan restaurant is called "golden hook wing". This kind of wing has a fishhook tail, the wing cake is thick and full, and the needles are dense, so it can't be seen in the sun. According to experts who have been selling dry goods in Chaoshan for many years, the golden hook wing is taken from the tail fin of sand fish. Because sand fish often use their tails to move, their wing needles are thick, long and dense, resistant to stewing and rich in flavor. After rising, stew until golden brown.

The rise of shark fin is a highly technical, complex and extremely important process. In addition to the traditional methods, the shark's fin of Chaozhou cuisine has absorbed the advantages of foreign cuisines such as Hong Kong and Macao in recent years, and sometimes it is developed by new methods, with excellent results. Here is the introduction:

First, soak the shark's fin in running water for three days and three nights (that is, tap water lets tap water flow out continuously), then cut off the carrion at the shark's fin incision with a knife, brush off the surface mucus with a plastic brush, and then circle the shark's fin incision with four bamboo sticks, two on each side, and sandwich it with bamboo chopsticks. It is best not to squeeze each other when placing shark fins, because shark fins are sticky and sometimes deform when squeezed together. ) Take a large pot, add water, Shaoxing wine, ginger and onion (ten catties of shark's fin need one catty of ginger and half a catty of onion, and it needs to be clamped with a bamboo stick, otherwise the ginger and onion will stick to the shark's fin for a long time, and Shaoxing wine will have five wings), put the shark's fin on the ginger and onion, and then press it with a plate to prevent the shark's fin from moving and the water will flood the plate. Boil it with high fire first, skim off the floating foam, and then cook it with low fire for about 60-80 minutes. During the cooking process, use an iron hook every once in a while to see if the shark fin is fully formed. If it is still complete, continue to cook. If the wing cake has been scattered and the wing needle has been exposed, it means it is ready. Soak the cooked shark's fin in cold water for half an hour, take out the bamboo stick, take out the shark's fin, and tear off the carrion bit by bit from the incision. The shark's fin has grown.

In Chaozhou cuisine, the most famous cooking method of shark fin is the traditional "braised shark fin". In recent years, it has absorbed some cooking methods from Guangdong and Hong Kong, and also produced a new Chaozhou cuisine similar to "ham and shark's fin".

Bird's nest: Bird's nest is also the cooking material of high-grade dishes in Chaozhou cuisine. Bird's Nest is a kind of Jin Siyan that lives by the sea. When it builds its nest on a rocky cliff by the sea, its saliva condenses. Jin Siyan has a mucous gland in his throat. When building a nest, it eats fish, shrimp, algae and other foods in the sea, which can be quickly converted into saliva. When it built its nest, it vomited on the cliff by the sea. Because of its strong colloidal saliva, it sticks firmly to the rock as soon as it is spit out, forming a white and slightly transparent bird's nest.

The bird's nest currently used in Chaoshan is mostly produced in Indonesia and Thailand, and there are also a few in Hainan and Guangxi, but the output is less.

The expansion of bird's nest can be roughly divided into several processes. First, soak the bird's nest in cold water to soften it, and carefully take out the swallow with tweezers. Then the bird's nest was soaked in hot alkaline water to make it swell, and its volume increased by three times, making it soft, smooth and tender (the ratio of alkaline water is about 80 degrees Celsius, the ratio of hot boiled water to kloc-0/000g, and the edible soda ash is 4g). Then rinse the swollen bird's nest with clear water for 2-3 times to remove the alkaline smell.

Among Chaozhou cuisine, the most common dishes of bird's nest are "sweet bird's nest" and "sweet hibiscus official swallow".

Jiangyuyu (scallop): Jiangyuyu is also called Jiangyao pig in Cantonese cuisine, also called scallop. River fish is a dried product of the obturator muscle of Amphibia, Scallopidae and Dioscorea in the ocean, and it tastes very delicious.

Japanese scallop is the top grade of river fish, which is generally large in size and divided into Zonggubei and Aomori Bay. The former is fragrant and strong, while the latter is light in color and taste. Japanese scallops are expensive, and some high-end restaurants in Chaoshan occasionally use them, but most of them use the river fish soup made in Qingdao, which is fine in particles, but still delicious.

In Chaozhou cuisine, Jiang Yuyu's function is mainly to make stews with some melons and vegetables, such as "Scallop and Radish Soup", "Scallop and Winter Melon Pill Soup", "Original Chinese Cabbage" and "Original Cup Guagua". This is because Jiang Yuyu's vegetable stew is pure and delicious, not greasy. This soup is especially good.

The quality requirement of Jiang Yuyu is that the particles are neat, solid and full, the silk body is clear, the surface is frosted, and the color is light yellow and shiny. Generally, Jiang Yuyu's hair is washed and put in a basin, then soup, ginger, onion and wine are added, and steamed in a steamer for 20-30 minutes until it can be released by rubbing the silk by hand.

Sea cucumber: Sea cucumber is a general term for echinoderms. As dry food, it is also a common cooking material in Chaozhou cuisine.

There are more than 60 species of sea cucumbers along the coast of China, and more than 20 species are edible. Different varieties have different puffing methods and different edible characteristics. At present, the most commonly used sea cucumbers in Chaozhou cuisine are Laopo Yinfa Ginseng, Meihua Ginseng and Liaoshen Ginseng.

White-haired old lady ginseng, also known as white stone ginseng, is called pig woman ginseng in Hong Kong, with smooth surface and yellow in white. The white-haired old woman ginseng meat is black outside and white inside. It tastes elastic, soft and full of flavor. Because the skin of the gray-haired old lady ginseng is hard, it should be scalded first and then swollen until the skin is brown and crisp, and then scraped off the skin with a knife until it is dark brown. Then, the sea cucumber was soaked in cold water for 2 days. After the sea cucumber becomes soft, put down the pot and cook on low heat, continue to soak the hair, appetize and remove the intestines, and then rinse with cold water repeatedly. Buying white-haired old lady ginseng in the market requires large strips, firmness and hardness, and cannot be pressed by hand, preferably more than 500 grams per strip.

Plum-blossom ginseng, also known as "pineapple ginseng", is long in volume and thick in body wall, and is produced in Hainan Island, Xisha Islands and other sea areas in China. Plum blossom ginseng is called plum blossom ginseng because its back is covered with petal-shaped thorns. Plum ginseng is required to be thick and complete, with spikes as the top grade. 500 grams of ginseng can get 2500-3000 grams after puffing, which is beautiful in appearance, but you should be very careful during puffing, because ginseng has poor elasticity and is easy to break.

Liaoshen, also known as Stichopus japonicus, is produced in Shandong, Liaodong Peninsula, South Korea and Japan coastal areas, among which Liaoshen produced in Kanto, Japan has the best quality. There are 4-6 rows of conical spines on the back of Liaoshen, and both ends are blunt, flat and gray-black. In Chaoshan, some people used to call it "sea leech".

Liaoshen is small and delicate, and all restaurants in Chaoshan like to use it, and each one is just stewed, which is delicious and crisp, but the price is higher.

Swim bladder: The swim bladder in Chaozhou cuisine, that is, the belly in Cantonese cuisine, is the dried swim bladder of some fish. According to different kinds of fish, swim bladder can be divided into swim bladder, golden dragon swim bladder, spring swim bladder and eel swim bladder, among which golden dragon swim bladder is large yellow croaker swim bladder.

Among these swim bladder, swim bladder Chaoshan restaurant is rarely used, occasionally used as a raw material for stewing desserts, mainly as a tonic for women to nourish their bodies. The golden dragon swim bladder has the best quality, but it is rarely seen in the market at present. The swim bladder used for cooking in Chaoshan restaurant is mainly spring swim bladder, eel swim bladder and some miscellaneous swim bladders.

Chaozhou cuisine mainly adopts the method of frying, which has high technical requirements. First of all, we must control the oil temperature, which must not be too high, generally around 20%-30%, and constantly stir with a colander. When the oil temperature is high, be sure to keep the end away from the fire. There are two ways to judge whether swim bladder oil is ready. One is to put the swim bladder gently on the ground. If it makes a crisp sound, it means it is ready. If it makes a low sound, it will continue to send. Another method is to cut the swim bladder in half. If there are even small holes inside and outside the incision, it will develop well. If there are small holes on the outside and the inside is still solid, oil will continue to flow. The quality of swim bladder oil has a great influence on cooking. If the oil of the swim bladder is not enough, the swim bladder will be soft and rotten. If there is too much oil, the fish will disperse when it is soaked. After the oil of the swim bladder is made, it should be soaked in clear water for 2-3 hours to soften it, and it should be washed by hand continuously to remove the oil contained in the swim bladder.

Among Chaozhou cuisine, the dishes with swim bladder as the main raw material include "cleaning swim bladder" and "brewing swim bladder".

Preserved flounder (iron): Preserved flounder is called native fish in Cantonese cuisine and is a dried flounder. After fishermen catch flounder, they cut the fish in the back, cut it into two sides along the spine, and dried it to become salted flounder.

As an ingredient to increase flavor in Chaozhou cuisine, plaice is often used in fillings, that is, plaice is fried until golden brown, then cut into pieces and stirred in fillings, which is mainly due to the rich flavor of plaice after frying. Pickled flounder is often used in Chaozhou snacks "Xiaomi", famous dishes "Fu Pi Cun Jin Ji" and some oil-soaked materials.

There are two kinds of salted plaice: white plaice and red plaice, and the quality of white plaice is better.

House squid: dried squid produced along the coast of Chaoshan area, mainly produced in Nan 'ao County. House squid is named after Houzhai Town, the county seat of South Australia. Fishermen in Nan 'ao County have always had superb skills in drying, processing and collecting dried squid. Cut the fresh squid out of the stomach, gut it, wash it, spread it on stones or bamboo chips to dry, turn it over and spread it out from time to time, pay special attention to the degree and time of sun exposure, and flexibly sun, cover and cover it according to the strength of the sun. Generally, it is harvested when it is 80% to 90% dry. If it needs to be preserved for a long time, it should be dried for an hour or two after one month. Then it is hidden in a basket covered with bamboo leaves, compacted and covered, and can be stored for more than half a year, keeping the fragrance unchanged.

Kung Pao squid has excellent quality, thick meat, unique processing, crispy and delicious. In Chaozhou cuisine, it is often used for cooking, soaking in oil or making soup.

Ham: Ham is a pickled product of fresh pig hind legs. Generally, it has to go through many processes, such as trimming, pickling (using salt for six times, about one month), washing and drying (about 5-6 days), hanging, smoking and fermentation (about half a month). The whole production process takes more than two months.

Ham is red in color, fresh but not greasy in aroma, salty and palatable, and delicate in meat quality. Ham is used in many places in Chaozhou cuisine. For example, when Chaozhou cuisine is used to make soup, ham bones should be added. As for the famous dishes in Chaozhou cuisine, such as "Yuntui National Cuisine", "Ham Wing" and "Raw Kirin Perch", ham should be used as the main ingredient or ingredient.