Crystal cuisine" also known as "Zhenjiang cuisine", also known as "crystal dish", is a well-known Chinese and foreign Zhenjiang dish, has a history of more than 300 years.
Legend has it that more than 300 years ago, there was a husband and wife hotel in Jiuhai Street, Zhenjiang. One day, the owner bought back four pig's trotters and prepared to eat them in a few days, but because of the natural fear of spoiling, they salted them. But he never expected that he would mistakenly use a bag of salt that his wife bought for her father's firecrackers as refined salt. It was not until the next day when the wife was looking for salt to prepare for firecrackers that she found out, and quickly opened the pickling tank to take a look, only to see that the hooves not only had no change in meat, but the meat plate was firm, the color was ruddy, and the hooves were white. In order to remove the smell of nitrate, he soaked it in water many times in a row, and then blanched it in a pot of boiling water and rinsed it with clean water. Then add green onion and ginger, peppercorns, cinnamon, fennel, and water to the pot and simmer.
The owner and his wife wanted to cook it at high temperature to relieve its poisonous smell, but they did not expect that after more than an hour, the pot emitted a very attractive aroma. Zhang Guolao, one of the "Eight Immortals", happened to pass by this place and was also attracted by the fragrance. So he turned into a white-haired old man and knocked on the door of the small hotel. As soon as the door opens, the scent immediately drifts into the street. The crowd came to inquire, and the shopkeeper's wife, while fishing out the pig's trotters, told everyone the truth: "This hoof is misplaced and cannot be eaten." But the white-haired old man bought all four pig's trotters and ate them in the store. Because of the excellent taste, the more you eat it, the more fragrant it is, and as a result, you eat three and a half in a row before you stop. As soon as the old man left, people knew that he was Elder Zhang Guo. The shopkeeper and the people present tasted the remaining half of their hooves and felt that the taste was unusually delicious. Since then, the store has used this method to make "salt meat", and soon became famous. Later, the owner considered that the word "salt meat" was indecent, and only then did he change it to "pork". Since then, "meat" has always been famous at home and abroad.
Crystal hoof is developed on the basis of the ancient dish "cooking pig" and "crystal cold tao", the fine meat is slightly reddish, although cool and crisp and easy to melt; the glue is transparent and smooth, so the "crystal", flexible and not difficult to mouth, not fat and not greasy. When this dish is served, different names of meat can be cut according to different meat textures, such as "glasses dish", "jade belt hook dish", "lantern stick dish", "triangle edge dish" and so on. The food is refreshing and appetizing, the color is elegant and tasteful, with ginger shreds, balsamic vinegar, and more flavor.
To prepare the crystal meat:
raw material:
2 pig's trotters, coarse salt, star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns, salt, green onion, ginger to taste, rice wine, and old brine.
method:
1, pig's trotters scraped and washed, cut open with a knife one by one, can not be dissected, remove the bone, the skin is placed on the cutting board;
2. Poke some holes in the lean meat with bamboo skewers, and then sprinkle the salt water evenly;
3, then smeared with coarse salt, star anise 20 grams, cinnamon 10 grams, peppercorn spices are crushed together with 10 grams of spices, to be kneaded evenly, put into a jar of marinade for about 3 days;
4. Soak the marinated pig's trotters in water for about 10 hours, then fish them out and scrape off the dirt on the meat skin;
5. Rinse with warm water; 20 grams of star anise, 25 grams of cinnamon, and 15 grams of peppercorns are packed into a gauze bag, and ginger slices and white onions are packed into another gauze bag, and the mouth of the bag is tightened.
6: Put the hooves into the pot, add shallot knots, ginger slices, rice wine, peppercorns, star anise and old brine, take the submerged meat noodles as the standard, boil over high heat, turn to low heat and simmer for 1.5 hours;
7, the hoof meat turned over, and then continue to simmer on low heat for 1 hour, until the crisp is removed, the skin is placed in the basin, scoop out a small amount of marinade, skim off the oil slick, pour on the hoof;
8. Press tightly with a heavy object, and after it is cold, it will become a dish. Serve in slices and pots, sprinkle with shredded ginger and balsamic vinegar.
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