Chapter 950: Chapter 399: This Is Clearly Just a Pot of Hot Pot Broth, Yet You Dare Call It Abalone Sauce?

Qi Zhentao glanced twice and casually looked at the fat junior:

"Soup is the soul of many high-end dishes, how can you just muddle through like this?"

Lin Xu ignored the pair of senior brothers and spoke to the assistants and apprentices:

"Abalone sauce is a very important component of Cantonese cuisine, the method is very meticulous, and the ingredients are very complete. It’s not as simple as putting a bunch of ingredients together to boil."

The making of abalone sauce is particularly meticulous, mainly using ingredients such as butter old hen, pork ribs, pork tenderloin, pork trotters, pork skin, chicken feet, Jinhua ham, dried shrimp, sea scallop, dried earth fish or dried cuttlefish.

The finished abalone sauce is golden in color, richly fragrant, and contains gelatinous substances, with even a sticky feeling when eaten.

He looked at the prepared ingredients on the workbench:

"This chicken won’t do, you need a black-footed butter old hen, what you’ve got is a tender rooster. Are you making soup or making meat dishes here?"

"Pork tenderloin enhances the natural aroma of the meat, there’s too little, not enough aroma."

"Only super-large dried shrimp can be called dried gold shrimp, this is just regular dried shrimp, and even the quantity is insufficient."

"The sea scallop is the same, this is just a regular dried scallop, it needs to be about one centimeter in diameter for it to be sea scallop."

"The amount of Jinhua ham is not enough, and you shouldn’t choose the oily parts, which are too greasy and salty. You should use the upper central part and part of the ham heel."

"Dried earth fish is rich in gelatinous substances with ample umami, so some must be added when making abalone sauce. Even if not available, it should be replaced with dried cuttlefish. Without these, can you make good abalone sauce?"

"..."

He eloquently stated a bunch, and everyone on site was dumbfounded.

Only someone who has simmered dozens to hundreds of pots of abalone sauce would have such detailed expertise.

Lin Xu spoke to the assistants:

"Go, make up for the ingredients I mentioned, and if they’re unavailable, have the purchaser come see me."

The ingredients were available, and soon the workbench was filled with various ingredients.

All the ingredients were chopped into large pieces with a vegetable knife for easier flavor extraction.

As he busied himself, the doorway was packed with chefs eager to see Lin Xu’s abalone sauce-making skills.

After preparing the ingredients, Lin Xu also picked out some New Hui Chenpi aged over ten years, and served some marinated soft rotten longan meat as a supplementary ingredient for abalone sauce.

Then he cut the ginger into sieve-sized pieces and peeled the dried onion whole to use.

He started a pot and boiled water, adding the old hen, chicken feet, pork trotters, ribs, tenderloin, pork skin, ham, and other meat ingredients, drizzling in some high-grade liquor.

During the boiling, he soaked the dried shrimp and sea scallops separately to wash away the surface dust and impurities, rinsing well and placing them in a small basket to drain.

Soon, the water in the pot boiled.

Using a spoon to skim the foam, Lin Xu did not scoop out the ingredients but boiled them for a few more minutes.

Beside him, an assistant quietly asked:

"Why boil for a few more minutes? Isn’t it normal to skim the foam and scoop out the ingredients?"

Qi Zhentao said:

"Almost all stewed meat dishes require the meat to be boiled until it changes color during blanching, so during later cooking there won’t be any raw meat smell mixed in... didn’t your head chef teach that before?"

"No..."

Qi Zhentao gave the junior a glance, demotion was a bit forgiving.

Should just be kicked out.

After boiling the meat in the pot for a few more minutes, Lin Xu finally scooped them out, rinsing off the foam with lukewarm water and meanwhile using scissors to snip off the chicken feet’s claws.

Finishing these tasks, he swapped for an oil pot, adding peanut oil to the pot.

Once heated, he threw in the whole dried onion, followed by the chopped ginger.

"First fry the dried onion and ginger, to infuse the oil with scallion and ginger flavor, then fry other ingredients to better remove the fishy smell... All meat ingredients for abalone sauce must be fried before stewing."

Frying not only effectively removes the meat’s odors; it also makes the aroma more intense.

Once the dried onion and ginger emitted their fragrance, he scooped them out and set them aside, put the dried shrimp next, fried fragrant, then scooped them out, followed by sea scallops, similarly fried and removed.

Those around watched with great interest, even the originally skeptical fat head chef stared blankly at Lin Xu’s operations.

These steps aren’t hard.

But the frying precision, ingredient sequence, all matched with what the masters taught during apprenticeship exactly.

Especially the dried shrimp, easily burned if not careful.

But Lin Xu could fry them to fragrant without burning, this showcases his skill.

Next, Lin Xu threw in the dried earth fish.

The so-called earth fish is flounder, full of gelatinous substance, rich in umami, turns into dried fish to stew soup, enhances broth with strong savory flavor, texture sticky and gelatinous.

Fried well and scooped out, then he increased the oil temperature to sixty percent hot, throwing all blanched meat ingredients into the oil pot, deep-frying on high heat. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Taking the frying time, Lin Xu fetched a large clay pot, placing a bamboo mat at the bottom to prevent sticking.

Once the meat’s surface in the pot turned crispy golden, it was retrieved, with ribs and tenderloin placed at the very bottom, chicken pieces, pork trotters, and Jinhua ham next, followed by chicken feet, pork skin, dried onion, and ginger pieces.

After placing everything, the fried dried shrimp, sea scallops, and dried earth fish were added too.

Adding spring water to cover the ingredients, boiled fiercely, skimmed foam, and added a small handful of peppercorns, aged tangerine peel, and aroma-enhancing longan meat.

Adjusted to low heat, kept the clay pot maintaining a slight boil in the center.

Lin Xu covered the clay pot and said to several assistants:

"From now, simmer for ten hours straight... after ten hours you can season and strain, only then will the abalone sauce be good."

This method astonished the soup department’s apprentices and assistants, never expecting abalone sauce-making is so complex, now looking at those completed abalone sauces in the basin, it certainly seemed somewhat like pot rinse water.

The fat head chef now lacked the courage to pick a bone, squeezed through the crowd and left quickly.

Whether accepting demotion or resigning entirely depends on his own choice.

Without this incident, Qi Zhentao wouldn’t notice the chaotic kitchen management, now seeing the muddle version of abalone sauce his junior made, realizing daily management was quite inadequate.

These detail issues weren’t attended to.

Such a small soup department has these huge problems, then other departments probably face more.

As he pondered, Lin Xu looked at the simmering stock, chicken soup, and beef bone soup on the stove, and shook his head saying:

"These broths aren’t qualified, they must be re-simmered... stock isn’t hard, as long as willing to invest time, but if even this isn’t invested, how can the broth taste good?"

He sighed.

Initially thought it was just rectifying the kitchen, no big deal.

Now starting hands-on, realizing main task difficulty isn’t ordinary!

While Lin Xu pondered, chefs at the door murmured:

"They planned a setback for Boss Lin in the morning, huh, feels relieved watching now."

"Indeed, still better here at the pastry department, not much sleazy stuff."

"Boss Lin is our pastry chef idol, who’d be against him? Only those red-chef masters are half-bottle-clang."

"Once Boss Lin finishes, quickly hang our pastry department’s banner."

"Right right, made overnight last night, let Boss Lin see our sincerity."

Hearing this, Qi Zhentao couldn’t help but frown.

Good grief, is there a deep sea clique under him?

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