Chapter 416: The Aroma of Braised Dishes

Chapter 416: Chapter 416: The Aroma of Braised Dishes

"An assorted braised meats platter?"

Ji Huan nodded and briefly explained her plan.

"It sounds like a good idea, but you should have at least tried it out first. Why buy so much all at once? And all this... what is all this?"

Widow Xie pointed at the bags of things next to them.

Ji Huan said, "I bought those yesterday. Eggs, dried tofu, and also pig tongue and pig ears. There’s no need to test it. I’ll make it for you to try in a bit. I guarantee it’ll be delicious."

Ji Xuelan was a bit hesitant. She pointed at the things she was washing in the basin. "This stuff... no one would complain if we ate it ourselves here in the countryside, but will people in the city actually buy it?"

"What’s wrong with them? Duck feet, duck heads, duck necks, duck gizzards, duck intestines, duck liver—these are all good things! They’re not easy to get, either. I had to ask Manager Hong for help just to buy them."

People these days didn’t yet know that these ingredients could be used in all sorts of ways; they were usually treated as cheap goods or freebies. Manager Hong was a Yeyang native, and being in the restaurant industry himself, he knew nearly every butcher shop and meat stall in the city like the back of his hand. With him making the inquiries, she barely had to spend any money. On top of that, he was also buying ingredients for his own place, so many of the items were given to her for next to nothing.

Hearing her talk about what a great deal she got, Ji Xuelan grew even more curious. She decided not to leave just yet and stayed to help alongside Widow Xie.

Scraping and plucking stray feathers and hairs, soaking in cold water, rinsing repeatedly... Once all the necessary ingredients were cleaned, the three of them sat down for a bit of idle chatter.

Ji Huan asked about the progress on the dehydrated vegetables, since the end of the month was just a few days away.

"There’s not much left. It’ll just take another day or two. Otherwise, Auntie Xie and I wouldn’t have been able to come over without worrying today."

"That’s good. You two have worked hard lately."

"It was no trouble at all... Huh? We’ve been here for a while. How come we haven’t seen Guan Shan and Dabao?"

"They ran off to the back mountain after lunch."

Widow Xie grumbled, "It’s so cold out. Why do they always like running off to the back mountain?"

Ji Xuelan said, "Aren’t they exercising the horse?"

Ji Huan just smiled without saying a word.

After their break, they officially began the braising.

Widow Xie tended to the stove while Ji Xuelan helped as her assistant.

For braised dishes, the first thing you need is a pot of braising liquid.

Braising liquid is divided into red braise and white braise.

The ingredients and flavor profiles of both are fundamentally the same. They both have a complex flavor that is savory and umami, with a rich five-spice aroma, and are suitable for ingredients like seafood, meat, poultry, game, vegetables, and soy products.

The biggest difference is that red braise includes caramelized sugar, which gives the braised food a golden-yellow or coffee-brown color, as seen in dishes like braised pork intestines or braised beef.

White braise, on the other hand, doesn’t use caramelized sugar, so the food retains its original color, as in dishes like white-braised chicken, white-braised beef tripe, or white-braised pork stomach.

Learning from her previous experience, she knew that to create a buzz and attract people, the eye-catching red braise was naturally the better choice.

"The main ingredients are chicken bones, pork bones, and water. The supporting ingredients are green onions, ginger, salt, cooking wine, rock sugar, and sesame oil. The seasonings are a blend of fourteen spices, including Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, black cardamom, white cardamom, cloves, fennel seeds, licorice root, white peony root, sand ginger, patchouli, bay leaves, and lemongrass—five maces of each."

The reason she chose this braising recipe, aside from it being suitable for all foods that can be eaten immediately after braising and producing a pure, mellow flavor, was that it was also simple and easy to follow.

This recipe could actually be adapted to create a light red braising liquid, but that version is best for foods that are smoked after being braised, such as smoked chicken, smoked duck, or smoked beef.

There’s also a white braising stock that uses almost the same ingredients. You can reduce the rock sugar by half, and the resulting liquid has a lighter flavor. It’s suitable for foods that are mixed with other seasonings after being braised, like the cold-dressed ox head, beef, or offal found in Sichuan cuisine, or for boiled whole chicken.

Ji Xuelan passed the required items one by one to Ji Huan, who stood by the stove.

The iron pot was already filled more than halfway with fresh water. She dropped the blanched chicken and pork bones in, brought it to a boil over high heat, and continuously skimmed off the foam as it formed.

She added smashed ginger and whole green onions, then turned the heat down to a simmer to make a stock. Afterward, she strained out the solids, passing the liquid through a sieve to create a clear broth.

Next, she wrapped the pre-washed and soaked spices in a clean cheesecloth bag, dropped it into the broth, and continued to simmer it over low heat.

Because this was the first batch of braising liquid and hadn’t yet been used for meat, it had no rendered fat. Ji Huan briefly blanched a small piece of pork leaf lard she had bought and dropped it directly into the pot to cook, letting it serve as the base fat.

At the same time, in another pot, she added sesame oil, crushed the rock sugar, and stir-fried it until it melted into a dark, purplish-black color before pouring it into the broth.

Finally, she added salt and cooking wine, brought it to a boil, and the braising stock was complete.

This pot of braising liquid had simmered for nearly three hours.

Ji Xuelan craned her neck to look at the crimson surface of the liquid and brought over another ladle. "Shouldn’t we skim off this layer of oil on top?"

"Absolutely not!" Ji Huan quickly stopped her.

Braising liquid has four layers. The first is the floating oil, the second is the scum, the third is the liquid itself, and the fourth is the dregs from the spices.

The floating oil acts as a protective layer for the braising liquid. Too much is bad, but so is too little. A thin layer is ideal.

One of the keys to maintaining a good braising liquid is properly managing this floating oil.

If there’s too much oil, the hot liquid won’t cool down easily. The trapped heat will cause the braising liquid to turn rancid and bubble, and over time, it could even grow moldy.

But if you skim all the oil off, the aroma will easily evaporate, the liquid will spoil more quickly, and it will be difficult to maintain a constant temperature in the pot during braising.

Hearing how serious it was, Ji Xuelan quickly pulled the ladle back.

Widow Xie, sitting by the stove, took a deep sniff. "You know, it really is fragrant! The aroma just hits you."

Ji Huan laughed. "We’re just getting started. Cousin, please pass me that small basin of pig tongues and ears first, and the duck heads over there."

"Alright."

She scrubbed the pot used for caramelizing the sugar clean and brought another pot of water to a boil.

First, she blanched the pig tongues and ears in the boiling water over low heat until they were cooked through. She then removed them, rinsed them in cool water, and handed them to Ji Xuelan, telling her to use a knife to scrape off the white layer on the surface, wash them clean, and set them aside.

Ji Huan, her hands now free, threw all the duck heads in and simmered them for about five minutes. Once all the impurities were blanched out and the skin had tightened and turned white, she scooped them out.

She brought the pot of braising liquid to a boil again, added the blanched duck heads, and braised them over low heat for a full forty minutes. Then, she turned off the heat, covered the pot, and let them continue to steep for another twenty minutes before taking them out and placing them in a basin to cool.

During this time, the cleaned pig tongues and ears were also added to the braising liquid. They were braised for about the same amount of time as the duck heads, taken out shortly after one another, drained, and then sliced.

After that, she added the chicken and duck parts that required a relatively shorter braising time.

Widow Xie and Ji Xuelan’s mouths were already watering uncontrollably.

It was a little embarrassing, but they just couldn’t help it.

Ji Huan had them both wash their hands and try some of the things that were done braising.

"How is it? Things made with this recipe have a rich, savory flavor, but they’re also refreshingly light and not greasy. You can eat them hot or cold."

Ji Xuelan nodded repeatedly. "This pig ear is so crisp! It’s fragrant and full of flavor. And this pig tongue is so chewy."

Widow Xie chimed in with her agreement.

After eating a few slices of pig ear, her curiosity got the better of her, and she tried a duck head.

And what do you know, the more she ate, the more addictive it became!

"This is so flavorful! Could you braise pig trotters with this too?"

Widow Xie didn’t have many hobbies, but she loved to gnaw on pig trotters, so she naturally made the connection and thought of them right away.

"Of course."

"Would the flavor penetrate properly?" Ji Xuelan asked.

Ji Liansong and Ji Mingfang were also fond of them, so she was paying close attention.

"For ingredients like pig trotters that don’t easily absorb flavor, the braising liquid can indeed just stay on the surface without seeping deep inside. We can marinate them first."

Marinating serves two main purposes: it helps the flavor penetrate, and it enhances the aroma while removing any gamey-ness.

The process is also very simple. You just grind some spices into a powder—powdered white peony root, vanilla grass powder, and sand ginger powder should be enough—and then add cooking wine, old ginger, green onions, and salt.

In hot weather, you marinate for about five hours, while in winter, it needs to marinate for eight to twelve hours.

While they were chatting, the duck necks, duck feet, and duck gizzards were also finished braising.

Widow Xie and Ji Xuelan ate even more, unable to stop themselves.

However, after trying a duck neck, Ji Huan frowned.