Article 97: Analysis of Famous Cantonese Dishes (Dishes 36-40): Crispy Fried Beef Tenderloin, Beef with Oyster Sauce, Seven-Color Stuffed Pork Tripe, Tai Chi Hawthorn Milk Pudding, Four Treasures Fried Milk

36. Crispy Fried Beef Tenderloin

Ingredients: Main ingredient: 500g of cleaned beef tenderloin. Seasonings: 15g ginger, 15g scallions, 4g baking soda, 5g MSG, 10g light soy sauce, 7.5g Shaoxing wine, 2 eggs, 25g cornstarch, 1500g peanut oil (approximately 100g used).

Preparation: (1) Slice the beef tenderloin into pieces, each piece weighing about 50g. Flatten the slices with a knife and make cross-cuts. Add baking soda, MSG, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sugar, ginger and scallions (flattened), and marinate for about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

(2) Mix the eggs with dry starch (15g) until they form a thick paste. Add the beef tenderloin and mix well. Take it out and coat it with dry starch (10g).

(3) Heat a wok over high heat, add peanut oil and heat to 70-80% hot, add beef tenderloin and fry until golden brown. Cut one piece of beef tenderloin into 3 small pieces and serve on a plate with Huai salt and Yin sauce.

Quality standards: Golden in color, uniformly puffed and fluffy in shape, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Key points of operation: Beef tenderloin, which is the tenderloin of a cow, is cut into thick slices with a knife, then flattened with the blade of a knife to soften the fibers, and then marinated with baking soda, etc.; the batter used in this dish is a whole egg batter with added dry starch, it is best to mix it in advance to fully hydrolyze the starch granules and prevent the surface from being rough when frying; hot oil should be used when frying, and the dish should be constantly turned with a ladle to ensure even heating.

37. Beef with Oyster Sauce

Ingredients: Main ingredient: 300g marinated beef slices. Seasonings: 0.5g minced garlic, 2.5g ginger slices, 5g scallion segments, 1g MSG, 0.05g white pepper powder, 5g dark soy sauce, 12.5g oyster sauce, 2.5g Shaoxing wine, 5g cornstarch, 25g light stock, 0.5g sesame oil, 750g peanut oil (approximately 40g used).

Preparation: (1) Mix oyster sauce, MSG, soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, wet starch, and chicken broth to make a thickening sauce.

(2) Heat a wok over high heat, add peanut oil and heat to 40% heat, stir-fry the beef slices until 90% cooked, pour them into a slotted spoon along with the oil and drain.

Return the wok to the stove, add garlic, ginger, and scallions, sauté until fragrant, add beef slices, add Shaoxing wine, thicken with cornstarch slurry, add peanut oil (10g), stir-fry evenly, and quickly transfer to a plate to serve.

Quality standards: The color is brownish-red and glossy, the sauce is clear and transparent, and the beef is tender, smooth, and fragrant.

Key to the operation: This dish belongs to the "slippery stir-fry" method, which uses oil and sauce to cook the dish.

In the specific operation, the following key points should be noted: First, the selection of ingredients must be excellent. Use beef brisket or tenderloin, cut into thin and even slices, and marinate for 30 minutes with dark soy sauce, baking soda, wet starch, and peanut oil (this is marinating beef slices); Second, the cooking method of cooking sauce must be adopted, that is, prepare the sauce in a bowl before blanching the beef slices, cook them in the sauce, and then quickly toss them in the pan and plate them. The purpose is to prevent the beef slices from becoming tough and mushy if cooked for too long, and to prevent the sodium glutamate in the oyster sauce from decomposing into sodium pyroglutamate and losing its umami flavor; Third, when blanching the beef slices, use warm oil and do not cook for too long to maintain a tender state.

38. Colorful Stuffed Pig Stomach

Ingredients: Main ingredient: 1 pig stomach (about 500g). Side ingredients: 4 salted duck egg yolks, 3 shelled preserved eggs, 750g lean pork, 250g pork skin, 15g cooked lean ham, 75g cilantro. Seasonings: 7.5g salt, 5g MSG, 10g sesame oil, 25g Fenjiu liquor, 5000g white brine.

Preparation: (1) Turn the inside of the pig's stomach inside out, wash it clean, and then turn it back to its original state; cut the egg yolk and preserved egg into 1.5cm cubes, cut the pork into 0.6cm cubes, and cut the ham into small pieces; cut the coriander into sections, each section about 1cm long.

Scrape and wash the pig skin clean, put it in a pot of boiling water and cook until it is 60% cooked. Remove it and cut it into small pieces, about the size of soybeans.

(2) Put the diced pork, salt and MSG into a bowl and stir until sticky. Add egg yolk, preserved egg and pork skin and mix well. Then add coriander and sesame oil and stir to make filling. Stuff the filling into the pig's belly, sew the opening with string, and then put it into a soup pot and cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes.

Remove the meat from the water, prick it with an iron needle to create several small holes, then put it back into a soup pot and simmer over low heat for about 2 hours until tender. Remove the meat from the water and put it into a pot of white brine that has been brought to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Pour the meat and brine into a bowl, add Fenjiu (a type of Chinese liquor), and soak for about 10 minutes. Remove the meat from the water.

(3) After cooling, put it in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, take it out, cut it horizontally into two sections, each section into two slices, and then cut it into slices, each slice being 0.3cm thick.

When plating, arrange the pieces into a fan shape or a circle.

Quality standards: The skin is crisp, salty and fragrant, the inner flesh is solid, dense and colorful, with a rich aroma, and it does not fall off the shell or fall apart after being cut.

Key to the process: This seven-colored stuffed pig stomach has spread throughout the country and has undergone significant improvements, with the ingredients varying from place to place.

When preparing it, pay attention to mastering the three key aspects of ingredient selection, seasoning, and cooking time; both sides of the raw pig stomach should be rubbed with salt and vinegar twice, and then washed with warm water to remove any unpleasant odor.

The added pork skin is an essential ingredient, mainly because its collagen acts as a binder. First, the fat must be removed, and after blanching and cutting, it should be repeatedly rubbed and washed with light alkaline water, and then rinsed clean with warm water to increase the transparency of the inner flesh.

The seasoning of stuffed pig stomach is very important. The principle is to make the umami and saltiness stand out. The umami flavor should be greater than the saltiness, and the saltiness should be accompanied by a fragrance.

Therefore, sesame oil is essential in its seasonings, and the amount of MSG should be slightly more; because the stuffed pig stomach is large and has a large capacity, it must be cooked over low heat for a long time to ensure that it is fully cooked and that all the organic components are fully dissolved and combined.

The white brine used in cooking refers to brine without added soy sauce. Its ingredients include star anise, cloves, licorice root, cardamom, dried galangal, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, and refined salt, which are boiled with water.

39. Tai Chi Hawthorn Milk Dew

Ingredients: Main ingredients: 100g hawthorn, 500g fresh milk. Seasonings: 450g white sugar, 75g wet starch, 1000g boiling water.

Preparation: (1) Put a small amount of boiling water into an earthenware pot, place it in a steamer, and steam until dissolved.

(2) Put boiling water into a pot, add white sugar, and cook until the sugar dissolves. Add fresh milk and cook until it boils slightly. Add wet starch and stir until it is evenly mixed to make white milk. Take out 2/3 and put it in a soup bowl. Add the steamed hawthorn to the milk and stir until it is evenly mixed to make red hawthorn milk.

Pour the hawthorn milk into the other side of the white milk, and squeeze the white milk onto the edge of the bowl, each occupying half of the bowl's area, to form a yin-yang shape.

Quality standards: The shape is simple, elegant, and clean; the consistency is appropriate and the color is bright.

Key to the operation: When making this dish, first make hawthorn into hawthorn puree (cook until soft, mash into a puree, and filter out the skin and pits), then mix it with milk to make hawthorn milk.

The two types of milk should have the same consistency (like thin porridge).

When plating, you can use a tai chi-shaped mold, or you can first divide it into two soup plates, then pour it into the same soup plate at the same time, and then garnish it with tai chi fish eyes.

40. Four Treasures Fried Milk

Ingredients: Main ingredients: 250g fresh milk, 50g chicken, 50g marinated shrimp, 50g crab meat, 25g crab roe (or eggs). Side ingredient: 225g crispy batter. Seasonings: 150g egg white, 20g cornstarch, 2g salt, 3.5g MSG, 1500g peanut oil (approximately 150g used).

Preparation: (1) Cut the chicken into small pieces, each about 0.6cm square, and mix them with a small amount of egg white and dry starch.

Mix 50g of milk with the dry starch.

Add salt and MSG to the egg whites and mix well.

(2) Place the crab roe in a strainer and pour boiling water over it.

Heat a wok, add 500g of peanut oil and heat to 40% of its maximum temperature. Add the marinated shrimp and chicken pieces and soak briefly. Add the crab roe and soak in the oil until cooked. Drain the oil using a slotted spoon.

(3) Heat a wok over medium heat, add milk (200g) and bring to a boil, then remove from heat.

Pour the milk (already mixed with dry starch) and seasoned egg whites into a hot pan and mix well. Then pour the mixture back into the hot pan and heat over low heat until it becomes a paste. Add shrimp, chicken pieces, crab meat, and crab roe and mix well. Remove from heat and use a spoon to shape the mixture into 20 portions. Place them on a plate and let them cool completely until they solidify into "pebbles".

(4) Heat a wok over medium heat, add peanut oil and heat to 60% heat. Remove from heat, take the solidified milk from a spoon, coat each piece with the batter and put it into the oil.

Then put the pot back on the stove and fry until the skin is crispy and light yellow. Drain the oil with a slotted spoon and plate it.

Quality standards: Light yellow in color, crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and savory in taste.

Key to operation: The method of making this dish is similar to "Fried Banana Fruit" and "Fried Osmanthus Fragrance". The key to operation lies in the preparation of the batter and the heat of the stir-fry. Because the dough contains not only milk, but also "four treasures" (chicken, shrimp, crab meat and crab roe), the main binding agent is starch and egg white.

Therefore, when preparing the batter, it is essential to control the amount of starch and egg white used, and to avoid making it too sticky.

When stir-frying, use medium heat. First, grease the pan with oil to make it smooth, then add a little oil (not too much) and heat it. Pour in the prepared milk batter, stir and then add more cooked oil as needed, being careful not to let it stick to the bottom. Once it is completely gelatinized and cooked, add the "four treasures" and stir well. The batter for this dish should be a slightly thin batter (made from flour, starch, dry yeast, and peanut oil). It should not be too thick, and the technique is to stick it together rather than grab it. When frying, maintain a medium oil temperature (40-50% hot). Once they have completely floated to the surface, remove them and discard any crumbs.