I'm the Culinary God

For abalone to taste good, it needs to be cleaned; otherwise, it will not only have an off-flavor but also oil stains and various impurities.

Those packaged, ready-made abalones, due to industrial processing, need to be grasped and washed one to two times with flour before being eaten. This way, the abalone won’t have impurities or an off-flavor.

Lin Xu said:

"Abalone also requires grasping and washing because using flour to wash not only removes dirt but also makes the abalone whiter and more tender. It’s not just abalone; fluffy ingredients like pigskin are best grasped and washed with flour or starch as well."

Once the abalone in the basin is thoroughly soaked, Lin Xu scoops it out, adds a large handful of flour, and begins to grasp and wash it.

Initially, when soaking, there didn’t seem to be much oil on the water surface, but once grasped and washed, all the hidden grease came out. Just for this reason alone, the cleaning step cannot be skipped.

After grasping and washing with flour, place the abalone into clean water and rinse several times to remove the flour inside, making the texture softer and more crisp.

It’s now near noon, and Lin Xu has cleaned all the abalone thoroughly. Then he scoops out the excess abalone, squeezes out the water, and soaks it in stock.

This is a method for short-term preservation of abalone.

If you want to preserve it for a long time, you have to freeze it with water, sealing the abalone in ice blocks. Later, when you want to eat it, simply defrost naturally, and the abalone’s texture will remain soft, tender, and crisp.

Soaking the abalone, Lin Xu begins preparing the dish for lunch.

First is Sour and Spicy Abalone, a well-known dish in the Central Plains. The preparation is relatively simple, not as grand as Pot Roast Abalone, but the sour and spicy flavor is appetizing, delicious, and never gets old.

Lin Xu takes the abalone needed from the water, squeezes out the excess water, and then slices it into large pieces with a diagonal cut.

The processed abalone is about half an inch thick in some parts; if cooked directly, the flavor is difficult to penetrate, and the pieces are too large, making them hard to eat.

So, the best way is to change the knife angle, slicing the abalone diagonally into pieces about half a centimeter thick. The larger the slices, the better, because it makes eating them more satisfying and enjoyable.

Having sliced the abalone, next he rinses a few tender bok choy.

Trim the roots, remove excess leaves, and prepare some smashed garlic, scallion, and ginger mince. With these, the ingredients for cooking Sour and Spicy Abalone are ready.

Add water to the pot and a little bit of salt, then drizzle a bit of cooking oil.

Bring to a boil over high heat, pour in the bok choy for blanching, once the vegetables are cooked, scoop them out and cool them in cold water.

Ma Zhiqiang quickly comes over to help, scooping out the cooled bok choy, squeezing out the water, and then arranging them neatly on a plate as a simple garnish.

Lin Xu brings the pot of water back to a boil, pours in the abalone for blanching again, which removes residual flour and oil from the abalone.

Once the water boils again, skim off the foam, scoop out the abalone with a slotted spoon, and repeatedly press with a spoon to remove water from the abalone.

Next, the cooking officially begins.

Heat the pot and add vegetable oil, slide the pot, pour out the oil, add some more fat, and once reheated, put in the scallion and ginger to sauté until fragrant, then remove and discard, then stir in the garlic.

Then add a bowl of Pork Bone Broth into the pot.

Add a spoonful of aromatic vinegar, two small spoons of pepper powder, a small spoonful of salt, half a spoon of sugar, and a bit of chicken broth for flavor enhancement.

Once everything is added, the soup in the pot has come to a boil.

Simmer over high heat, extracting all the flavors, then pour in the blanched abalone, reduce to medium-low heat slowly stew, thickening the soup gradually.

Seeing Ma Zhiqiang and Qi Siliang watching from the side, Lin Xu proactively said:

"If you want to enhance the presentation, or feel that the quality of the abalone isn’t high enough and want to conceal it a bit, you can add some water infused with saffron, making the abalone take on a reddish-yellow hue, which looks very high-end."

Upon hearing this, Ma Zhiqiang curiously asked:

"The golden abalone we usually eat, is it all made using saffron water?"

"Not necessarily, to enhance color, you can sauté some pumpkin puree into it, or specially add a bit of abalone sauce, or mix the abalone with egg yolk. But these aren’t crucial..."

Lin Xu held the wok and shook it slightly, letting the abalone and the gradually thickening soup inside move around, then said:

"When making abalone dishes, you must first season, then add the abalone, otherwise the flavor will be uneven."

Soon, the soup in the pot became less, and the abalone was completely coated in the soup.

When the heat seemed about right, drizzling a little aromatic vinegar along the edge of the pot, boosting the sour and spicy flavor.

Then drizzle a bit of Chili Oil, rapidly turning the wok a few times, letting the vinegar’s aroma and the Chili Oil’s tangy-spice permeate into the abalone, while also giving the abalone a faint blush.

Finally, holding up the frying pan, Lin Xu plated the abalone on the garnished dish.

The amount of abalone made today was a bit large, filling three plates to finally serve all the abalone out.

"Xu Bao, we bought a car and came back, any food? I’m starving!"

Shen Jiayue originally planned to shout at the kitchen door and then go for some snacks, but as soon as she reached the door, she was greeted with a sour and spicy aroma from inside.

"What’s the smell? So tangy and spicy, smells really good."

The greatest feature of the Sour and Spicy Abalone dish is its appetizing sourness and spiciness; even if you don’t eat it, just smelling it makes you want to try it.

Lin Xu carried a plate of abalone out of the kitchen with a smile, saying: