Chapter 260: Chapter 178: An Extremely Labor-Intensive Dish to Impress - Crystal Sugar Pork Knuckle! [Seeking Monthly Ticket]_2
This is actually the process of scorching the skin. It involves using high flames to char the surface hair follicles and sweat glands of the pork knuckle. This method not only reduces odors but also makes the skin of the knuckle firmer and more appealing.
But with an extra step of tightening the skin, the effect of scorching the skin became even better.
Soon, all four knuckles were scorched to a pitch-black color, and they also emitted the smell of burning hair.
Xie Baomin placed the knuckles into mildly hot water and grabbed a newly unwrapped steel wool to start scrubbing.
Quickly, the knuckles, once covered in black ash, were washed clean.
Then he began to heat oil in a pot, getting ready to deep-fry the knuckles.
The oil needed a little more time to heat up. With nothing else to do, Xie Baomin took a sharp knife and trimmed the fascia at the joint of the thinner end of the knuckle, where it connects to the Pork Trotter.
Song Dahai couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, "Old Xie’s technique is really meticulous."
"Meticulous?" Lin Xu asked curiously. "Is there something special about this step?"
Song Dahai explained, "After removing the fascia at the lower joint, the meat shrinks when stewed. This exposes a section of the bone, which not only looks appealing but also allows you to easily pull out the leg bone when eating."
Lin Xu then understood. So that’s how those handle-like knuckles were processed.
"What if the fascia weren’t cut?"
Song Dahai answered, "If not cut, the bones won’t be exposed. During stewing, the fascia at both ends pull simultaneously, easily tearing the knuckle apart. Many people’s homemade knuckles lose their shape because those fascia are the culprits."
So that was it! He had found the culprit for why his mother’s knuckles always fell apart into several pieces each time she cooked them.
While busy with this step, Xie Baomin said to Lin Xu, "With knuckles, the odors are all in the skin. Once the skin is thoroughly cleaned, there are hardly any odors left, and it can be deep-fried directly."
Song Dahai couldn’t resist adding his explanation, "After deep-frying the Pork Skin, it cooks more intact and doesn’t spoil the appearance. If you’re worried about oil spatter at home, you can also use a blowtorch to sear the Pork Skin. This creates fine bubbles and achieves the same effect as frying."
These were all experiences they had summarized after spending half their lives in the kitchen. To others, it might just be a topic of conversation, but for those in the culinary industry, these are invaluable treasures.
Lin Xu silently committed them to memory. He would definitely encounter many dishes involving knuckles in the future. Remembering one more processing method could certainly come in handy.
Xie Baomin used a deeper, larger pot for frying the knuckles.
The larger the pot and the more oil, the lower the chance of oil splattering. When the oil was ready, Xie Baomin casually tossed in the four knuckles. The pot didn’t splatter; in fact, the oil only bubbled for a moment. It was very safe.
Before long, when the skin of the knuckles bubbled, Xie Baomin scooped them out.
"A quick fry is to make the Pork Skin stretch, not to create ’Tiger Skin,’ so it shouldn’t be fried too long, or else it becomes Tiger Skin Pork Knuckle."
After scooping the knuckles from the frying pot, he set them aside to drain the oil.
Then he put a pot of water on the stove.
He placed the drained knuckles into it, added ginger slices and scallion segments, poured in a ladle of Cooking Wine, and began to blanch them.
"Blanching knuckle-type dishes is different from other dishes. Because they are hard to cook through, they need about half an hour to be completely cooked until no longer raw. Then, stewing afterwards will yield a better flavor."
After finishing, Xie Baomin wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel.
Once the water in the pot boiled, he skimmed off the froth with a spoon and continued cooking.
Seeing this, Song Dahai understood a bit more. "Is the sugarcane added during the stewing later?"
"Yes, adding some green sugarcane during stewing enhances the fresh taste of the knuckle. Old sugarcane works too, but it doesn’t have the same flavor as green sugarcane."
After responding, Xie Baomin took a sip of tea and casually checked the time.
It was just past three in the afternoon.
It looked like they wouldn’t be eating the knuckle until after five o’clock.
And that was with the help of a pressure cooker. Using a regular pot, just stewing would take about three hours, and then reducing the sauce would take at least another half hour.
This dish, when well-made, is really delicious.
But it also requires quite a bit of effort.
After a short break, Xie Baomin began preparing the braising liquid needed for the knuckles.
He poured two ladles of oil into the pot. Once the oil heated up, he added two large handfuls of Crystal Sugar, making it look like he was deep-frying the Crystal Sugar in hot oil.
"Watch closely, Junior Brother, today I’m teaching you a different method of caramelizing sugar."
While speaking, Xie Baomin stirred continuously in the pot with a spoon to speed up the melting of the Crystal Sugar.
With plenty of oil, the sugar melted quickly.
Before long, the Crystal Sugar chunks turned into syrup. Under the heat of the oil, the syrup began to mix with the oil. Soon, the oil in the pot turned light brown and started to bubble vigorously.
Xie Baomin immediately poured in the prepared Scallion and Ginger, along with the rinsed Sichuan peppercorns and other spices, and began to stir-fry.
"Add the aromatics when it bubbles vigorously. It’s easier to manage the timing this way and is suitable for beginners. Once the Scallion and Ginger are almost done, the caramel is also ready. Moreover, the Scallion and Ginger, and the rinsed spices, help lower the oil temperature, preventing the caramel from overcooking."
Hearing his Senior Brother’s explanation, Lin Xu felt this method of caramelizing sugar was quite suitable for beginners. The online tutorials for caramelizing sugar are more challenging, with details like distinguishing large bubbles turning into small bubbles, or achieving a ’date-red’ color, which are completely baffling to a novice.