Crystal dish meat, also known as crystal dish hoof, Zhenjiang dish meat, is a traditional dish of Han ethnicity in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province, which belongs to the Su cuisine family. After the dish is made, the meat is red and white, smooth and crystalline, and the brine is transparent, just like crystal, so it is called "crystal". When eaten, it has the characteristics of lean meat crisp, fat meat is not greasy, crisp and tender, etc., accompanied by ginger shredded and Zhenjiang balsamic vinegar, it is a unique flavor.
On September 10, 2018, "Chinese Cuisine" was officially released, and "Crystal Cuisine" was rated as one of the top ten classic dishes in Jiangsu.
Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, a husband and wife in Jiuhai Street, Zhenjiang, opened a restaurant. One day the shopkeeper bought back four pig's trotters, and for fear of spoiling, he asked his wife to salt them. But his wife mistakenly regarded nitrate as refined salt. It was not discovered until the next day that the pig's trotters not only had no change in meat, but the flesh was firm, ruddy in color, and the hoof skin was white. In order to remove the taste of nitrate, the shopkeeper repeatedly rinsed, and blanched the water, and finally added a variety of spices to simmer, but did not expect to be fragrant. Zhang Guolao, one of the "Eight Immortals", passed by this place and was attracted by the fragrance to become a white-haired old man to taste, because the taste was excellent, the more he ate, the more fragrant it became. Since then, the store has used this method to make "salt meat", and because the word "salt meat" is indecent, it was changed to "pork".
This dish is also a big dish, a kung fu dish. There are also some slight differences in the practices of various places, and the simplest one introduced to you today is the simplest one. Because nitrate is toxic and difficult to buy, many people do not control it well, so they abandon it. Only take its shape, the taste is different, please forgive me.
【Ingredients】Pig's trotters, coarse salt, cinnamon, peppercorns, star anise, green onion knots, ginger slices, Shaoxing wine.
【Directions】
1, the pig's trotters are cut in half, remove the bones, hoof tendons. Poke some small holes in the lean meat with an iron whip. Rub well with coarse salt, wrap in plastic wrap, put in a refrigerator and marinate for one day. (Conditionally, after piercing the small hole, sprinkle some salt water, and then use coarse salt, do not use the meat of the salt water, make the color dull, poor transparency)
2, after marinating, take out the soak in warm water, soak for an hour and then wash the residue on the surface, see if there is hair on the pig skin, the eyebrow clip is removed. Then wash it a few more times. I washed it five times, afraid it was too salty.
3, put the shallots, ginger slices, peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon cloth bag and washed meat into the saucepan, add water over the ingredients, and then pour in a spoonful of sugar, two spoonfuls of Shaoxing wine. Bring to a boil over high heat, skim off the froth and simmer over low heat for two hours. (Some people like to add some alum when cooking, but novices cook, everything from Jane.) After the water is boiling, you can taste it, and if it is too light, you can add some salt.
4, after the boiled meat is controlled by water, take it out, put it into the prepared container, first turn the skin upside down, the skin faces down and lay on the bottom layer, then evenly code the meat pieces, and finally use another meat skin, the skin faces up to cover the surface.
5, the brine soup continues to boil, skim clean foam, if you are afraid of not thick enough, can not pick up the glue, then cook for a while. Once cooked, strain the mesh and pour into the container containing the meat.
6. Cover the container and refrigerate overnight. When serving, change the knife to the plate and serve with ginger shreds and balsamic vinegar, which tastes better.
【Tips】
1, when pouring the brine soup, be sure to filter the net, because there may be unwashed broken bones in the meat.
2, if you want to do well, nitrate is indispensable, Xiaobian novice, afraid of mastering the amount, just remove this. So the meat made out of the dish, the color is black, a little unbearable to look at.
3, some people, like the taste is richer, just choose the elbow, more fat meat, eat more sticky. It still depends on personal preference.