I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 588 - 281: The Mapo Chicken Cake that’s even more delicious than Mapo Tofu! Come on, serve the wide meal! [Subscribe please]_3

Chapter 588: Chapter 281: The Mapo Chicken Cake that’s even more delicious than Mapo Tofu! Come on, serve the wide meal! [Subscribe please]_3

The note, with its sugar content equivalent to over a thousand plus signs, along with the love practically overflowing from his cousin’s screen, made all of Chen’s sentimentality vanish without a trace.

Even the rabbit head on the table didn’t seem appetizing anymore.

After a good while, Chen, who had been metaphorically choked by their overwhelming public display of affection, finally recovered enough to silently post an update on his social media:

"The tomatoes these days are really sour!"

「At three in the afternoon」

The kitchen staff were tasting the braised dishes and rabbit heads. Meanwhile, Lin Xu moved half a box of Chicken Breast and several pounds of Pork Fat from the cold storage. He also soaked some pea starch, preparing to make Chicken Cake.

The process of making Chicken Cake isn’t highly difficult, but it is very tedious and requires considerable patience.

Luckily, Lin Xu was blessed with the Skill from making Qingshui Furong, which made the step of preparing the Chicken Meatball both fast and effective.

Once the Chicken Meatball mixture was ready, the remaining steps became relatively simple.

He finely minced the Pork Fat into a paste. Then, similar to how he handled the Chicken Breast, he used a knife to press the minced fat into thin sheets, checking for any unminced bits.

After checking, he combined it with the Chicken Meatball mixture and beat them together.

To prevent the Chicken Cake from falling apart during cooking, Lin Xu intentionally added a bit more Water Starch, which improved its binding.

But he couldn’t add too much, or else these Chicken Cakes wouldn’t be tofu-like, but rather jelly-like. While this would make them less likely to fall apart, it would mean losing the characteristic soft and tender texture of Chicken Cake. Moreover, the dish he was preparing today using Chicken Cake was Mapo Tofu, not Mapo Tofu, so too much starch would only be counterproductive.

But... Mapo Tofu?

That might be a new research direction.

If today’s Mapo Chicken Cake didn’t turn out well, he could just switch to Mapo Tofu. That way, he could prevent his Perfect Level Technique from dropping to Superior and save his eighty thousand points from going down the drain.

After the meat paste was ready, he took some small trays and brushed them with Pork Fat. He then covered them with cling film and placed the trays into the steamer basket set on the wok, beginning the steaming process.

Chicken Cake cannot be steamed over high heat, so the steaming cabinet was out of the question. Even a standard steamer wasn’t quite right for the job. So, Lin Xu simply placed the steamer basket on top of the wok. This method didn’t create a tight seal, allowing steam to escape from all directions.

This might not be ideal for steaming buns, but it was perfectly suited for steaming Chicken Cake.

Before long, the Chicken Cake was ready.

Lin Xu took it out for inspection. He found that it was steamed quite well, a bit chewier than Dai Jianli’s batch at noon. In terms of texture, it was closer to the Plaster Tofu used for Mapo Tofu.

Once the Chicken Cake was steamed, he set it aside to cool.

Seizing this Kung Fu, he grabbed a handful of Sichuan peppercorns and placed them in an oil-free wok, slow-roasting them over low heat.

When the Sichuan peppercorns became fragrant, he placed them on a cutting board, crushed them with a rolling pin, and then transferred them to a bowl. This became the essential Sichuan peppercorns to be sprinkled on Mapo Tofu before serving.

With the Sichuan peppercorns ready, Lin Xu cut a small piece of beef from the cold storage and brought it over.

Mapo Tofu requires beef for frying the seasoned minced meat, which enhances the dish’s aroma. Using minced pork instead would greatly diminish the effect.

He sliced the beef, then cut it into shreds, and finally diced it into small pieces the size of mung beans.

Although many recipes mention chopping beef into a mince, the correct method is to cut it into small, mung bean-sized pieces. When fried, these pieces achieve the ’crispy’ quality prescribed by the eight-character mantra for Mapo Tofu.

The beef granules are fragrantly crispy and delicious, melting on the tongue. Only such a texture can be referred to as ’crispy’.

The eight-character mantra, also known as the eight-point requirements, are the rules to follow when making Mapo Tofu. These eight characters are:

Numb, spicy, scalding, aromatic, crispy, tender, fresh, lively!

The first seven characters are generally undisputed. However, the last character, ’lively,’ has various interpretations: some say ’enveloping,’ others ’binding,’ still others ’intact,’ and some argue it should be ’crunchy.’

Thus, the eight-character mantra somehow became a twelve-character one.

Well, if the ’Top Five’ universities can actually number over a dozen, then an eight-character mantra having twelve characters doesn’t seem too hard to accept.

After cutting the beef, he put it into a bowl and sprinkled a tiny bit of salt. Then, he added some Light Soy Sauce, Cooking Wine, and pepper powder, stirring and pounding it a few times before setting it aside to marinate.

Normally, when preparing beef, one should not add salt or Cooking Wine directly, as this can make the beef tough and stringy.

But this dish aims for crispy and fragrant meat granules, so salt and Cooking Wine are required to dehydrate and ferment the meat to achieve this effect.

The art of cooking truly is ever-changing.

After the beef granules were set to marinate, Lin Xu scooped two spoonfuls of Doubanjiang onto a chopping board and finely minced it with a knife.

In this dish, Doubanjiang serves to add color, flavor, and aroma. To bring out these effects quickly, it needs to be minced finely.

The finer it’s chopped, the faster Doubanjiang releases its fragrance and flavor, and the Red Oil effect is also better.

Once the Doubanjiang was prepared, he cleaned a garlic sprout and chopped it into small segments.

The garlic sprout corresponds to the ’lively’ part of the mantra. Its bright green color and fresh taste infuse the dish with vibrant energy and reduce its greasiness.

Finally, Lin Xu took a small dish and filled it with some coarse chili powder.

The chili powder and Doubanjiang both pertain to the ’spicy’ part of the eight-character mantra.

The spiciness of the Doubanjiang and the chili powder together create the overall spiciness of the tofu. The spiciness is not harsh or overpowering; on savoring, one can detect a rich fragrance within the heat. This is the ’spicy’ element of Mapo Tofu.

With all ingredients ready, Lin Xu set up the wok, pouring some salad oil and Pork Fat into it, preparing to briefly fry the Chicken Cake in oil.