Article 88: Analysis of Famous Shandong Dishes (Dishes 41-45): Boshan Tofu Box, Stir-fried Three Mud Dishes, Agate Ginkgo, Braised Whole Chicken, Chicken and Scallop Salad

41. Boshan Tofu Box

Ingredients: Main ingredients: 500g Boshan tofu, 200g pork, 50g soaked dried shrimp. Side ingredients: 25g soaked bamboo shoots, 50g soaked black fungus, 25g bok choy hearts. Seasonings: 2g sliced ​​garlic, 2g minced ginger, 2g minced scallions, 1g cardamom powder, 5g cornstarch, 30g soy sauce, 25g vinegar, 2.5g salt, 25g sesame oil, 50g clear broth, 1000g peanut oil (approximately 50g used).

Preparation: (1) Peel the tofu and cut it into pieces 4cm long, 2cm wide and 2cm thick. Place a wok over medium heat, add peanut oil, and heat it to 70% hot. Fry the tofu pieces in the oil until golden brown and remove them. Then use a knife to cut a box lid (without cutting it through) along the top of the tofu pieces. Peel it open and scoop out the tofu stuffing, which will be a small box with a hard skin and a hollow interior.

(2) Finely chop pork, dried shrimp, and wood ear fungus (30g); place a wok over medium heat, add sesame oil, heat to 50% heat, add chopped green onion and ginger, minced pork, dried shrimp, and wood ear fungus and stir-fry until 80% cooked, add soy sauce (20g) and salt, stir-fry evenly and set aside, add cardamom powder and mix well to form filling.

Place the filling into the tofu boxes, cover them, stack them in a four-cornered trapezoidal tower shape on a plate, and steam for about 10 minutes.

(3) Heat 25g of peanut oil in a wok over medium heat until it reaches 60% heat. Add garlic slices and sauté. Add vinegar, wood ear fungus (20g), bok choy hearts, bamboo shoots, soy sauce (10g), and clear broth. Bring to a boil, thicken with cornstarch slurry, and pour over tofu boxes.

Quality standards: Golden in color, tofu boxes of uniform size, savory and tender filling, and glossy and bright sauce.

Key points for preparation: Use tofu with low starch content and a fine texture (preferably uncut) to make this dish, and cut it into uniformly sized pieces; when frying, use hot oil and fry in batches to ensure even color; scoop out equal amounts of tofu stuffing and fill the dish evenly; steam over medium heat to prevent deformation; the sauce for this dish is a glossy, slightly reddish sauce, and skim off any foam before thickening.

42. Stir-fried Three Muds

Ingredients: Main ingredients: 100g soaked lotus seeds, 150g chestnuts, 100g hawthorn cake. Additional ingredients: 2g candied winter melon and radish strips, 3g watermelon seeds. Seasonings: 250g white sugar, 2g osmanthus sauce, 100g rendered pork fat.

Preparation: (1) Wash the chestnuts, make cross-shaped cuts on the top of the chestnuts, put them in a pot of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Remove them and peel off the hard shell and soft skin.

Place the cleaned chestnuts and soaked lotus seeds into separate bowls, put them in a steamer and steam over high heat for about 40 minutes until tender. Remove them and mash them into a fine paste on a cutting board with the flat side of a knife.

(2) Put 40g of rendered pork fat and 75g of white sugar into a wok and heat over medium heat until melted. Add lotus seed paste and heat over low heat until it becomes sandy. Place it on one side of the plate. Add 40g of pork fat, 75g of white sugar and chestnut paste into the wok and heat over low heat until it becomes sandy. Place it on the other side of the plate. Put 20g of pork fat, 50g of white sugar and hawthorn cake into the wok and heat over low heat (crush the hawthorn cake with the bottom of a ladle) until it becomes a thick paste. Place it in the middle of the plate.

(3) Put water (50g), white sugar (50g), and osmanthus sauce into a clean wok. When the sugar melts over medium heat, pour it over the three mud dishes and sprinkle melon seeds and candied fruit on top.

Quality standards: The three types of clay are fine, with a proper consistency (not too dry or too wet), a sweet and sour, fragrant and glutinous taste, and a bright and glossy color.

Key to operation: This dish is also known as Bagua Mud. You can flexibly use lotus seed paste, yam paste, red bean paste, jujube paste, hawthorn cake, pea paste, and chestnut paste as raw materials, but you should pay attention to the combination of the three colors. When frying, the key is to control the dryness and consistency of the three pastes.

The consistency of these three types of clay depends on the plating method. If they are arranged in three arcs to form a circle, the consistency should be the same. If they are arranged in an octagonal shape, the two types of clay in the middle (in a mandarin duck shape) should be the same consistency, while the clay around the outer ring should be slightly thinner.

The heat should be medium for all of them.

43. Agate Ginkgo

Ingredients: Main ingredient: 350g soaked ginkgo nuts. Additional ingredients: 10g candied winter melon and shredded red and green onions, 15g sesame seeds. Seasonings: 200g white sugar, 50g cornstarch, 20g sesame oil, 750g peanut oil (approximately 50g used).

Preparation method: (1) Blanch the ginkgo in boiling water, then put it into dry starch and coat it evenly with dry starch.

(2) Put peanut oil in a pot and heat it over medium heat until it reaches 70% of its maximum temperature. Add the ginkgo nuts and fry them briefly. When the oil temperature reaches 80% of its maximum temperature, add the ginkgo nuts back into the pot and fry them until they turn yellow. Remove them and drain the oil.

(3) Leave 20g of oil in the wok, add white sugar and stir-fry until golden brown and bubbly. Quickly add the fried ginkgo nuts, toss evenly, sprinkle with candied red and green strips and sesame seeds, pour into a porcelain plate greased with sesame oil, use a knife to pull the syrup into sheets, let it cool slightly and plate.

Quality standards: Golden and glossy in color, with crisp and sweet ginkgo nuts.

Key points of operation: Ginkgo, also known as white fruit, comes in dried and fresh forms. Dried ginkgo should be soaked twice in alkaline water, the skin membrane should be brushed off and washed clean, then steamed in water until cooked. Fresh ginkgo should be boiled in boiling water for 10 minutes, then cooled, the skin membrane should be rubbed off, then steamed in water until cooked before use.

The key to making this dish lies in controlling the heat when frying the ginkgo nuts and making the syrup.

The ginkgo nuts are already cooked. Rolling them in dry starch and deep-frying them makes the outer skin crispy and the inside soft and tender. They are deep-fried twice. The first frying should be done over medium heat in hot oil for a longer time to allow the moisture on the surface of the ginkgo nuts to evaporate and the starch to gelatinize.

The second time, use high heat and hot oil for a very short time to make the ginkgo skin crispy.

The syrup used in this dish is neither caramelized nor frosted. It should be cooked over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved, gradually turns golden yellow and starts to bubble. Then remove it from the heat and add the fried ginkgo nuts, stirring constantly.

44. Braised Whole Chicken

Ingredients: Main ingredient: 1 young chicken (about 750g). Seasonings: 2 slices of ginger, 2 sections of scallion, 5g star anise, 30g cornstarch, 40g yellow soybean paste, 50g soy sauce, 150g clear broth, 3g salt, 10g Shaoxing wine, 5g Sichuan peppercorn oil, 1000g peanut oil (about 70g used).

Preparation: (1) Slaughter the chicken, chop off the beak and claw tips, then debone the whole chicken, wash it, and place it on a plate.

Mix 20g of soy sauce and 10g of yellow soybean paste and rub the mixture onto the chicken to marinate.

(2) Place a wok over medium heat, add peanut oil, and heat to 70% hot. Place the chicken skin-side down in the wok and fry until the chicken skin turns golden brown. Remove and drain the oil.

(3) Leave 50g of oil in the wok, add scallion segments, ginger slices and star anise. When the scallions and ginger turn yellow, add yellow soybean paste, soy sauce, clear broth and salt, and then pour in the chicken.

After boiling, transfer the pot to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook until done. Remove from the pot and drain the broth. Place the chicken skin-side down in a large bowl, pour in the original broth, and steam over high heat for 20 minutes. Remove from the steamer when fully cooked, drain the broth, and then invert the chicken into the large bowl.

(4) Pour the original juice into a wok, bring it to a boil over medium heat, thicken it with cornstarch, add Shaoxing wine and Sichuan pepper oil, and pour it over the chicken.

Quality standards: The color is bright reddish-brown, the chicken is tender and flavorful, the sauce is clear and glossy, and the taste is savory and delicious.

Key to preparation: This dish is prepared in the same way as braised chicken, but the whole chicken is deboned, making it superior to braised chicken.

The key to its operation should be to highlight the three characteristics of being tender and flaky, having a bright red color, and a fresh, mellow, and delicious flavor.

First, it is important to select young chickens from the current year, debone the whole chicken, coat the skin with soy sauce and yellow bean paste, and then air dry it. When deep-frying, use a quick-frying method to color the chicken skin as soon as possible. If the oil temperature drops, remove the chicken and refry it once the oil temperature rises to prevent it from losing moisture and flavor due to excessive frying time. The key to highlighting the tender and mellow flavor lies in the stewing and steaming process. Stewing is done over medium-low heat to ensure the chicken is thoroughly cooked and flavorful, while steaming is done over high heat to ensure the chicken is tender and flavorful while maintaining its original shape.

Steaming is a crucial stage in the cooking process, and it's essential to master the heat and time involved.

45. Chicken and Scallop Salad

Ingredients: Main ingredient: 150g rehydrated dried scallops. Side ingredients: 50g chicken tenderloin, 3g each of ham and cilantro, 80g egg white. Seasonings: 150g chicken stock, 50g lard, appropriate amounts of salt, cooking wine, MSG, and sesame oil.

Preparation method: (1) Remove the tendons and membranes from the chicken tenderloin, rub it into a fine paste with the back of a knife, add salt, cooking wine, MSG, broth and egg white and stir into chicken paste.

Finely chop the ham and cilantro.

(2) Heat a wok over high heat, add lard and heat it up. Add the chicken paste and stir-fry until it becomes fluffy. Then add the soaked dried scallops and stir-fry. Drizzle with sesame oil and toss a few times. Plate it and sprinkle with ham and cilantro.

Quality standards: The chicken is white in color, the chicken paste is tender, the dried scallops are soft, and the flavor is moderately salty and savory.

Key to operation: This dish is a soft stir-fry, and although the operation process is relatively simple, the quality standards required are very high.

To make this dish, the oil must be clear, the broth clear, and the spoon clean. The finished dish should not have any black or gray residue. The key to the success of the dish is that the chicken paste should be mixed to the right consistency. It should be mixed with chicken broth first, and then egg whites should be added. Otherwise, lumps may form.

Add the egg whites in two or three batches, stirring in one direction until it becomes a thin porridge-like consistency. Use high heat when frying, add a little more oil to the bottom, and stir constantly with a ladle until the chicken paste becomes fluffy. Then add the dried scallops and stir-fry briefly. Do not overcook.