If you want green vegetables to taste delicious, just add some lard. This is a consensus that many people know.

But the best example of combining lard and vegetables, Lin Xu thinks, is Huaiyang cuisine’s Jade Shaomai.

Blanch the vegetables until they are raw, and then mix them with cooked lard, which turns out to be an unforgettable delicacy. This is simply amazing the beauty of cooking.

Lin Xu chopped the green vegetables into puree.

This is to cut off the various tendons of the green vegetables, so that the stuffing will be delicious and melt in your mouth.

Put the vegetable puree on the plate, Lin Xu estimated it and found that the amount of vegetable puree was much worse.

According to a basket of ten Shaomai, if one Shaomai uses 35 grams of fillings, ten tables will need more than 3500 grams of fillings. In addition, if someone eats one and wants to eat it, we might as well prepare five kilograms.<

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He cut some more vegetable leaves and blanched them. He cut nearly forty pounds of green vegetable leaves back and forth to get enough for the filling.

From this we can see that this seemingly ordinary snack is actually anything but ordinary.

The amount of green vegetables alone is beyond imagination.

It’s no wonder that Huaiyang cuisine is not tired of fine meat and fine meat. Just a small Shaomai is so particular, and other large dishes are cumbersome and complicated, which is normal.

"What to do with these vegetable stalks?"

Guo Xinghai came over and watched Lin Xu cut off the stems of the large basket of vegetables, with a somewhat surprised expression.

He didn’t know much about Huaiyang cuisine, so he didn’t expect to eat it this way.

In fact, dishes that only eat vegetable leaves without the stems are very common in other cuisines, such as hand-shredded cabbage and various cabbage rolls.

Lin Xu said:

"You can use it in cooking later. They are all vegetable stems and are very crisp. Minced garlic or boiled should be fine."

"Okay, I'll find a way to use it... Remember to leave two Shaomai for me. I'm going to study it and put it in my restaurant later."

The other dishes in the store are either not suitable for Yangcheng’s eating style, or the restaurant at home already has similar dishes.

Only this Jade Shaomai dish made Guo Xinghai very interested.

I really want to learn it and use it in my own restaurant later.

Among the Cantonese morning teas, siomai is one of the four kings. Now that there are different kinds of siomai, it is worth learning about it both emotionally and rationally.

Lin Xu smiled and said:

"Just keep an eye on it when you wrap it up later. This thing is indeed troublesome, but as long as you figure out the twists and turns inside, it's not too difficult."

After saying that, he started to mix the stuffing.

Add some lard to the vegetable puree and stir evenly.

Lard can make pureed vegetables oily, tender and fragrant.

The reason why Jade Shaomai tastes soft, tender and fragrant with a dense texture has a lot to do with lard.

In addition, when preparing the stuffing, adding lard first can also allow the vegetable puree to lock in moisture.

If you add salt first, due to the strong water-killing effect of table salt, it is estimated that a lot of water will seep out of the bottom of these vegetable purees quickly, causing the fillings to lose their tender texture.

Leave the lard alone and don't rush to season it. Let the lard and vegetable puree penetrate each other for a while.

Taking advantage of this time, Lin Xu brought over a piece of Jinhua ham that Wei Gan helped cook, and prepared to cut the ham into 1 mm square ham with a knife.

This step really tests your knife skills.

But for Lin Xu, there is no difficulty at all.

These minced hams play a role in adding freshness. After wrapping the siomai, you will usually pinch a pinch of ham crumbs into the sealing position of the siomai as needed.

Doing this will not only increase the appearance of the siomai, but also allow the minced ham to penetrate into the filling of the siu mai with the heat during the steaming process.

Cut the ham into thin slices horizontally, then cut it into thin strips, trim it, and finally cut it into dices.

After they were all cut, Lin Xu grabbed a handful and put them into the vegetable puree, and put the rest in a bowl to use when wrapping the siomai later.

Stir the minced ham, mix well, then sprinkle in a tablespoon of sugar and a little salt for freshness.

There is minced ham, and the filling already has a salty taste.

But you should add some salt, because salt not only has a salty taste, but also has a very good freshness-enhancing effect, which other seasonings do not have at all.

Continue stirring until the sugar and salt are completely stirred, then cover the mouth of the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to let the filling relax for a while.

All fillings, whether meat fillings or vegetarian fillings, should be allowed to relax for a while after mixing well to allow the flavors of the various ingredients in the fillings to penetrate each other, so that the dishes will taste better and more delicious.

"This filling looks quite simple."

Ma Zhiqiang originally thought it would be very difficult, but after reading it, he discovered that all he had to do was chop the vegetable leaves into puree, add lard, minced ham, sugar and a little salt for freshness.

It looks easier than filling ordinary dumplings and steamed buns.

Lin Xu smiled and said:

"This is really not difficult, but some details need to be paid attention to. For example, the vegetable leaves should be squeezed out before chopping. If necessary, you can even dry them with kitchen paper. You cannot chop them and then squeeze out the water, which will destroy the nutrients inside the leaves and Loss of umami substances is a wrong approach."

Ma Zhiqiang asked curiously:

"Can soft white sugar be replaced with white granulated sugar?"

Guo Xinghai, who had been observing, said:

"It's best not to do so, because the soft white sugar not only plays a sweet role, but also melts easily and turns into sugar juice that completely blends into the filling, increasing the silky texture of the filling."

Lin Xu nodded:

"You are observing very carefully. In fact, the most important point is that the steaming time of Jade Shaomai is only five minutes. Within five minutes, so much white sugar may not be melted, but the soft white sugar is different. It will be slightly hot.

It will melt away."

They discussed for a while, and Lin Xu kneaded the relaxed dough again, using the tiger's mouth position to push and knead the dough little by little.

This allows the dough to combine with moisture better and also makes the dough more extensible.

After doing this, put the dough into the basin and let it rest for the second time.

Another ten minutes passed.

The engagement party in the banquet hall upstairs has begun, and various cold dishes have begun to be served. Lin Xu took out the dough, rolled it into long strips, and divided it into small dough pieces of about 7 grams.

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This kind of dough is smaller than dumpling wrappers, and when rolled out it basically becomes a piece of paper.

The snack Jade Shaomai requires this effect. The green cabbage inside must be completely visible through the dough. Only such a Shaomai can be called Jade Shaomai.

Many people try to make this dish, thinking that just using spinach juice to mix the noodles will do.

That's wrong. Dying the dough green is a poor method. The best way is to roll the dough thin enough to reveal the filling. This is the essence of Jade Shaomai.

After dividing the dough, Lin Xu sprinkled some dry starch, kneaded it, and pressed the dough into a round shape. Then he picked up the jujube core rolling pin with two pointed ends and started rolling the dough.

A date stone rolling pin is a kitchen item that is easy to use for those who know it, but can easily drive people crazy if they don’t know how to use it.

When rolling out the dough, you need to use your left and right hands alternately so that the dough can automatically rotate during the rolling process and the rolled out dough will become more and more round.

In the past, Lin Xu tried to make dumplings at home several times, but all ended in failure.

Mrs. Lin also specially comforted him and said:

"My grandson is someone who does big things, and he can't play with a rolling pin."

Lin Xu thought so too at the time. He always felt that if he studied finance, he would be able to find a job in the financial industry after graduation and walk in and out of high-end office buildings in suits and leather shoes every day.

However, the reality is completely opposite.

Instead of finding a job in finance, he became a chef who relied on a rolling pin to earn a living.

The first pot of gold for opening a store was given by the rolling pin.

Now using the rolling pin again, Lin Xu felt a lot of emotion.

Unlike a few years ago when he was clumsily rolling the dumpling wrappers into a rectangular shape when the family was making dumplings together, now he is not only able to use various rolling pins skillfully, but can even do some flower work.

For example, now, after he rolls out the dough, he presses the rolling pin with his left hand, and presses hard on the dough with the rolling pin with his right hand.

Soon, a slightly wrinkled ruffle appeared on the dough.

These ruffles are the symbol of shaomai dough. Regardless of the south or the north, whether pure meat or vegetarian, all siomai skins need to be wrapped with this kind of dough with lotus leaf folds.

Only this kind of dough can make delicious shaomai like flowers.

"Holy crap, this Shaomai dough is rolled out like a work of art, and it's so thin. I'm worthy of being a hand-rolled noodle maker. This skill is amazing!"

Lin Xu was busy when Dai Jianli's praise rang in his ears.

He raised his head and realized that his senior brothers Dai Jianli and Qiu Zhenhua had walked into the kitchen.

Seeing the paper-thin Shaomai skin on the eucalyptus board, Qiu Zhenhua asked curiously:

"Are you preparing to make shaomai?"

Lin Xu nodded:
To be continued...