One of the "Memory Classics": Master Huang Ziyun's "Dry-roasted yellow croaker" at Beijing Hotel

Master Huang Ziyun is a national treasure-level cooking master, a master of Sichuan cuisine, a national first-class chef, and a representative of the Sixth and Seventh National People's Congress.

When he was at the Beijing Hotel, Huang Ziyun, Ye Huanlin, Xiang Shaoxing, Xu Haiyuan and the famous Cantonese chef Kang Hui were collectively known as the "Five Tiger Generals" of the Chinese kitchen of the Beijing Hotel.

Around 1954, he entered the Beijing Hotel with his master Luo Guorong and pioneered the Sichuan cuisine kitchen.

Master Luo Guorong is even more remarkable. He was strongly recommended by Mr. He to join the Beijing Hotel in preparation for establishing a Sichuan cuisine kitchen.

Of course, Master Luo Guorong also entered the restaurant at the same time as the famous Sichuan chef Fan Junchang and chefs Zhang Zhiguo and Chen Shulin recommended by Yu Xinqing, director of the Ceremony Bureau of the Government Affairs Council at the time.

It is worth mentioning that the two masters Fan Junchang and Luo Guorong are brothers in the same discipline.

However, Master Huang Ziyun has learned the true story of his master Luo Guorong. He has profound knowledge and superb skills, especially his ability to cook authentic delicious food.

Among them, the dry-roasted series is one of his specialties.

The reason why Sichuan cuisine, one of the eight major cuisines, is "flavorful and spicy" and "one dish has one style, one hundred dishes and one hundred flavors" is because it has many cooking techniques, among which the "dry roasting" technique is more special.

This technique ranks among the top three Sichuan cooking techniques. Any dish cooked will be bright red in color, with excellent flavor and rich texture.

The dry-roasted dish is salty, slightly spicy, and sweet in the mouth.

There is no need to thicken the soup during cooking. Let the soup slowly dry up, allowing the flavor to slowly penetrate into every part of the ingredients until every tiny part of the surface is firmly wrapped in red oil, waiting for the diners to feast on it.

Of course, dry roasting is also divided into four types, such as spicy, non-spicy, meat and vegetarian.

For example, dry-roasted large yellow croaker, dry-roasted crucian carp, dry-roasted mandarin fish, etc. are all spicy (for example, dry-roasted shrimps and dry-roasted prawns also add a little tomato sauce).

Another example is dry-roasted shark's fin, dry-roasted abalone, dry-roasted winter bamboo shoots, dry-roasted white mushrooms, etc., which are not spicy.

The seasoning methods of these dishes are unique to Sichuan cuisine.

What I want to talk about here is Master Huang Ziyun’s Sichuan cuisine “dry roasting” technique of dry roasting large yellow croaker.

1. Ingredients and technological process of dry-roasted fish 1. Main, auxiliary and seasoning ingredients of dry-roasted fish. The main ingredients are 700 grams of large yellow croaker (or mandarin fish) and 100 grams of diced pork belly (a little fatter).

Accessories: 50 grams of diced mushrooms and 50 grams of diced winter bamboo shoots.

Seasoning: 20 grams of Pixian bean paste, 10 grams of Chengdu pickled pepper paste (chop pickled peppers into puree), 20 grams of Lao Caichen soy sauce, 15 grams of Lao Caichen rice wine, 20 grams of Lao Caichen soup cooking wine (mash juice), refined salt

2 grams, 15 grams of sugar, 10 grams of rice vinegar, 1 gram of white pepper.

Remarks ① Try to use live fish for dry-roasted fish, kill it and eat it now.

Frozen fish can also be used, but the texture and taste will not be as good as fresh, live fish.

However, the dry-roasting technique still tastes better than other techniques.

2. The process of dry-roasting fish ① The fish is processed and cleaned, and cut into flower knives on both sides. The knife edge does not need to be too deep, 0.5 cm is enough.

Dry the water on the surface of the fish and let it dry for a while.

★Before frying the fish, it is best to dry the water on the surface and inside the belly of the fish, otherwise oil will easily splash during frying.

② Chive segments, ginger dices, garlic dices (cut all three into 0.5 cm cubes), Pixian bean paste and pickled pepper paste need to be chopped finely.

③ Clean the wok and heat it up. Pour in 100 grams of salad oil. When it is 80% hot, add the fish. Fry over high heat until both sides are golden brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

★Before frying the fish, be sure to pre-treat the pan (slide the hot pan). Half-fry the fish until golden brown on both sides and take it out of the pan immediately. Otherwise, the fish will become old.

★When frying fish, try to use high heat. Do not flip the fish easily when it is first put into the pan, otherwise the fish skin will break easily (it is best to fry in a non-stick pan).

Fry for about half a minute before flipping, so that the surface of the fish skin can be easily shaped quickly, not easy to stick to the pan, not easy to break when flipped, and color faster.

④ Pour out the oil for frying the fish, pour in an appropriate amount of clean oil, add diced pork belly and stir-fry over medium-low heat until the oil becomes fragrant, then turn to low heat. When the oil temperature drops, add Pixian bean paste and add the diced fatty pork.

Stir-fry until the red oil is cooked, add onion, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, and diced winter bamboo shoots. Stir-fry over medium heat for a few times, then turn to high heat. Add Lao Caichen rice wine and Lao Caichen soy sauce and stir-fry until steaming.

Pour in an appropriate amount of stock, add refined salt, sugar, and white pepper, bring the soup to a boil over high heat, gently put the fried fish into the pot, and cover the pot.

After boiling, turn to medium-low heat and turn over after 5 minutes.

Cook until the soup is thick and oily, take out the fish, pour Lao Caichen rice vinegar into the pot, bring to a boil over high heat and pour it over the fish.

The color is golden and red.

The characteristic juice is thick, fragrant, spicy, sour and sweet.