Article 86: Analysis of Famous Shandong Dishes (Dishes 31-35): Scallop and Winter Melon Balls, Chicken and Fish Bone Salad, Pan-fried Yellow Croaker, Braised Pork Knuckle with Black Bean Sauce, Braised Crucian Carp with Black Bean Sauce

31. Scallop and Winter Melon Balls

Ingredients: Main ingredient: 500g fresh scallops. Side ingredient: 500g winter melon. Seasonings: 6g salt, 5g MSG, 5g Shaoxing wine, 3g chopped green onion, 1 egg white, 70g cornstarch, 50g clear broth, 500g chicken stock, 10g sesame oil, 500g peanut oil (approximately 100g used).

Preparation: (1) Wash the scallops and put them in a bowl. Add egg white, 50g of wet starch and appropriate amount of water and mix well to coat them with the starch. Cut the winter melon into 1cm diameter balls and blanch them in boiling broth until cooked and flavorful.

(2) Put peanut oil in a wok and heat it over medium heat until it reaches 50% of its maximum temperature. Add the scallops and cook until done. Remove them from the wok. In a bowl, add clear broth, salt, MSG, and cornstarch and mix well to make a sauce.

(3) Leave 40g of oil in the wok and heat it over high heat until it reaches 70% of its maximum temperature. Add chopped green onion and ginger and stir-fry. Add Shaoxing wine, then add winter melon balls, scallops and the prepared sauce. Quickly toss the wok, drizzle with sesame oil and plate.

Quality standards: The scallops are white and smooth, the winter melon is soft, tender and refreshing, and the sauce is bright and clear.

Key points of operation: The most difficult part of making this dish is ensuring that the scallops are tender and white, and that the sauce is neither too thin nor too thick. As for the winter melon balls, they can be made with molds to achieve a neat and smooth appearance.

Fresh scallops have a high water content, which can easily cause the paste to fall off and the starch to become watery. In specific operations, you should be flexible according to the condition of the raw materials. For example, if they have been frozen, especially frozen with water, you should use egg white and dry starch when coating them.

For those with a very high water content (which freeze into large ice balls when mixed with water), blanch them in lightly salted water first, then cool them before coating them with starch.

When blanching scallops in oil, the oil temperature should be slightly higher (higher than when blanching sliced ​​meat or chicken), and the time should be shorter.

The amount of starch in the gravy should be slightly higher, so that it forms a thick coating when it is served.

This dish is generally prepared using the sauce-cooking method, and the process from blanching in oil to plating should be quick.

32. Chicken and fish bones

Ingredients: Main ingredients: 400g soaked fish bones, 125g chicken tenderloin. Side ingredients: 25g pork fat, 50g egg white, 25g shiitake mushrooms, 25g ham, 25g leafy greens. Seasonings: 25g minced scallions, ginger, and garlic, 500g clear broth, 8g salt, 6g Shaoxing wine, 3g MSG, 20g cornstarch, 2g chicken oil, 1g sesame oil, 25g scallion and ginger juice, 25g rendered pork fat.

Preparation method: (1) Cut the fish bones into dice-sized pieces that are 4cm long and 1.5cm wide. Blanch them in boiling water, rinse them with clean water, blanch them again in boiling water, and drain them.

Put 300g of clear broth into a pot, add 3g of salt, 1g of MSG, 2g of Shaoxing wine, and 10g of scallion and ginger juice. Add the fish bones, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove the fish bones and let them cool.

The mushrooms, ham, and greens are all sliced ​​thinly.

(2) Remove the tendons and membranes from the chicken tenderloin, mince it into a fine paste, put it in a bowl, add clear broth (50g), salt (2g), MSG (1g), Shaoxing wine (2g), scallion and ginger juice (15g), and egg white (50g), stir well to form chicken paste, pour in the fish bones and mix well.

Bring water to a boil in a soup pot. Coat each fish bone with chicken paste and blanch in the boiling water until cooked. Remove and drain.

(3) Heat lard in a wok over high heat. Sauté minced scallions, ginger, and garlic. Add Shaoxing wine (2g) and cook briefly. Add mushrooms, ham, and greens and stir-fry briefly. Add clear broth (150g), salt (3g), MSG (1g), chicken paste, and fish bones. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, and simmer over low heat until thoroughly cooked. Thicken with cornstarch slurry, add chicken oil and sesame oil, and serve.

Quality standards: The fish is white in color, the sauce is clear and bright, the fish bones are tender on the outside and soft and crisp on the inside, and the taste is fresh, fragrant and refreshing.

Key points for preparation: For this dish, select fish bones that have been soaked until they are white and bright, without any hard parts, and have a texture similar to jelly. The chicken paste should be pounded very finely, and then mixed with egg white, salt, MSG, etc., until it becomes a slightly thick porridge-like consistency. The ideal consistency is when the mixture can be squeezed into balls and scooped into a bowl of water and float to the surface. The water temperature should be around 90℃ when blanching the chicken paste and fish bones. The gravy for this dish is a thin, runny gravy, so the amount of gravy should be just right when thickening it, and high heat should be used.

33. Pan-fried yellow croaker

Ingredients: Main ingredient: 1 fresh yellow croaker (approximately 500g). Other ingredients: 2 eggs, 50g flour. Seasonings: 10g salt, 10g scallions, 5g ginger, 10g cooking wine, 3g MSG, 75g lard, 5g sesame oil.

Preparation: (1) Scale and remove the gills from the fish, stir out the internal organs from the mouth, wash it clean, make diagonal cuts with a spacing of 0.5cm on both sides of the fish, sprinkle with salt, cooking wine, MSG, green onion and ginger and marinate for 15 minutes.

(2) Heat lard in a pot, remove the chopped scallions and ginger from the fish, coat it with dry flour, then dip it in egg liquid, fry it in oil until golden brown on both sides, drizzle with sesame oil and plate it.

Quality standards: Golden in color, intact in shape, fragrant on the outside and tender on the inside.

Key points for operation: There are two key points to master when making this dish. First, make even cuts to marinate the ingredients. Second, use medium-low heat when frying, and shake the pan while frying to ensure that the ingredients are cooked through.

34. Braised Pork Knuckle with Ingots

Ingredients: Main ingredients: 800g pork hock with skin, 6 hard-boiled eggs. Side ingredients: 20g winter bamboo shoots, 10g bok choy, 15g ham, 10g shiitake mushrooms. Seasonings: 5g each of scallions and ginger, 75g soy sauce, 300g chicken broth, 5g each of cooking wine and MSG, 4 star anise, 15 peppercorns.

Preparation: (1) Scrape and wash the skin of the pork hock clean and remove the bone; cut the scallions into sections, slice the ginger, cut the ham and bamboo shoots into diamond-shaped slices, and cut the shiitake mushrooms and bok choy into slices.

(2) Place a pot over high heat and add water. Put the pork hock in the pot and blanch it thoroughly. Remove it from the pot. Change the water in the pot and bring it to a boil. Put the pork hock in the pot and cook until it is 60% cooked. Remove it from the pot. Spread soy sauce on the skin and fry it in hot oil until it turns bright red. Remove it from the oil and cut the meat into 2cm squares with the skin still attached.

(3) Peel the hard-boiled eggs, marinate them briefly with soy sauce, and fry them in hot oil until golden brown. Place the pork knuckle skin-side down in a large bowl, add broth, soy sauce, scallions, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, and star anise. Steam until tender and remove. Put the soup spoon into a pot, remove the scallions, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, and star anise, turn the pork knuckle upside down in the center of a plate, and then cut the eggs in half and arrange them around the pork knuckle.

(4) Bring the original broth from the steamed pork knuckle to a boil, add ham, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bok choy, and MSG, bring to a boil again, skim off any foam, thicken with cornstarch, and pour over the pork knuckle and eggs.

Quality standards: The color is bright red, the sauce is crystal clear, the pork knuckle is tender and soft, and the "ingot" is golden and sweet.

Key to the operation: The key to making this dish is how to make the pork knuckle so tender and flavorful that it melts in your mouth.

No matter how good the dish looks and the presentation is, if the pork knuckle is too tough to chew, then all the effort is wasted.

Therefore, it is important to master the heat and time for steaming the pork knuckle, as well as the application of seasonings.

35. Braised Crucian Carp with Fermented Black Beans

Ingredients: Main ingredient: 3 crucian carp (approximately 1000g). Side ingredient: 100g fermented black beans. Seasonings: 25g garlic, 15g scallions, 10g ginger, 20 peppercorns, 2 star anise, 5g cornstarch, 10g sugar, 5g salt, 50g sweet bean sauce, 10g Shaoxing wine, 500g chicken stock, 15g Sichuan peppercorn oil, 15g pork fat, 1000g peanut oil (approximately 100g used).

Preparation: (1) Kill the crucian carp, remove the scales, clean the gills and internal organs, wash and drain.

Cut the scallions into 3cm long sections, and slice the ginger and garlic.

(2) Add peanut oil to a wok and heat it over medium heat until it reaches 60% of its maximum temperature. Add the fish to the wok and fry until it is firm. Remove the fish and drain the oil.

(3) Leave 25g of oil in the wok, place it over high heat, add sweet bean sauce and fermented black beans and fry until cooked through, then add soy sauce, scallions, ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, white sugar, Shaoxing wine and broth, bring to a boil and add the fried fish.

Cut the pork fat into wheat ear shapes and place them in a pot. After boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer.

When the soup has reduced by half, flip the fish over. When the soup has reduced by 80%, remove the fish from the pot and plate it, letting the oil drizzle over the fish.

(4) Heat the original broth in the wok, thicken it with cornstarch, and once it boils, add Shaoxing wine and Sichuan peppercorn oil, then pour it over the fish.

Quality standards: The color is reddish and glossy, the crucian carp meat is tender, the aroma of soy sauce is rich, and the aftertaste is long-lasting.

Key to success: The key to making this dish is to focus on the texture and flavor of the crucian carp.

The pure and delicate flavor of crucian carp, and the ability to truly bring out its inherent taste, depends entirely on the cooking method.

The cooking process for this dish involves two steps: frying and braising. When frying, it is important to use hot oil and keep the time short. The purpose is to enhance the aroma and prevent the fish from falling apart during braising, and it is not necessary to make it brown. When braising, first stir-fry the sweet bean sauce and fermented black beans until they are browned and fragrant, and then add broth and the fish.

When cooking, first bring it to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat and cook for a short time, just until it is thoroughly cooked.