I'm the Culinary God

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

In the kitchen, Lin Xu finished preparing the Gu fish, laid it flat on the cutting board again, and patted it a few times, as if smashing garlic.

In the industry, this step is called "loosening."

It’s about loosening the fish meat and bones after cutting it to make frying easier.

Don’t pat too hard during loosening, just a few taps on each side will do. If you use too much force, the fish meat will get crushed, and even the peony flower cuts may fall off.

Setting aside the loosened Gu fish, Lin Xu picked up another one and continued cutting.

Every fish has a peony flower cut, which, although seemingly simple, requires precise knife pressure, spacing, and more; nothing can be done haphazardly.

This type of cutting technique is very similar to the sweet and sour Yellow River Carp in Shandong cuisine.

The appeal lies in its crispy texture and sweet and sour flavor. The difference is that sweet and sour carp doesn’t require as much double-frying, and the preparation of the sweet and sour sauce differs from that of the vinegar sauce.

Qiu Zhenhua watched for a while, found nothing wrong with Lin Xu’s cutting, and picked up a knife to help out.

"Wow, wild Gu fish, huh? This must have been delivered by Old Huang?"

Gu fish are divided into wild and farmed types; wild Gu fish are slightly slenderer and have firmer meat, which you can feel resistance when cutting with a chef’s knife.

Only with such fish can you make the classic dish Vinegar Fried Crucian Carp.

If you use farmed Gu fish, even if freshly killed and cooked, the fish meat will still feel grainy and powdery in your mouth, completely different from the firm texture of wild fish.

Lin Xu said:

"All the ingredients used for today’s engagement banquet are provided for free by Old Huang."

"This guy is really shrewd, truly made for business."

Everyone’s familiar with Old Huang, but unlike Old Xie and Old Dai who often take advantage of him, the gentle-natured Qiu Zhenhua never does so.

Once all the fish is prepared, Lin Xu sets up the oil pot and pours half a pot of peanut oil into it.

Making Vinegar Fried Crucian Carp requires frying with peanut oil for a richer aroma and moderate color. Using rapeseed oil, for instance, would overpower the fresh fish flavor, and the result would be too dark in color.

Both soybean oil and corn oil fall short in coloring, resulting in pale fried fish.

Only peanut oil provides a golden color and rich aroma, making the Gu fish more delicious.

As the oil heats up, Qiu Zhenhua said to Lin Xu:

"You prepare the batter; I’ll powder the fish."

Fresh Gu fish don’t need marinating; directly coating them in batter for frying preserves the tenderness of the fish meat to the maximum.

However, to achieve a better batter coating effect, you need to pat a layer of potato starch on the fish before coating, ensuring a crisper, more delicious result.

There’s a technique to powder patting; raise the Fish Tail and shake it a few times to fully spread the flower cuts on both sides, then evenly sprinkle starch along the cuts.

After sprinkling inside and out, shake off the excess starch by lifting the Fish Tail again.

As for the batter Lin Xu prepared, it’s a simple crispy skin mixture.

In a bowl, combine potato starch and low gluten flour in a 1:1 ratio, mix well, beat in two whole eggs to enhance color, and add a little salt and Five-Spice Powder.

Finally, drizzle in peanut oil and an equal amount of water, mixing to a consistency resembling thin cream.

The batter is crispy but fluffy, with a lingering fragrance, absorbing vinegar sauce excellently for a delightful taste.

Once the batter is ready, Qiu Zhenhua has finished powdering.

By this time, the oil temperature in the pot has risen to sixty percent hot, starting to fry the fish.

Lin Xu held the Fish Tail, immersing the fish body and head completely in the batter, getting it fully coated. Then gently shook it twice.

The batter on the fish body began to flow down in strands.

When frying fish, whether making sweet and sour carp or Squirrel Guaiyu, once batter involvement occurs, shaking the Fish Tail is essential to let excess batter drip off.

If the batter is too thick, the taste will be all dough, causing poor texture and an undercooked condition.

When the batter has almost dripped off, Lin Xu brought the fish to the stove, dipping the fish head in the oil pot first to shape it, then used a ladle to scoop hot oil over the fish body, setting the flower cuts on both sides.

For this type of fish, the flower cuts on the body shouldn’t stick directly; they need to spread like wings so that the fish bones are fried, making the fish meat crispy and flavorful, even the bones become aromatic.

Once the batter on the fish surface takes shape, slowly place the fish into the pot.

Use a slotted spoon to remove any scattered batter from the oil surface to prevent an over-fried taste from ruining the whole pot of oil.

After removing the fragments, Lin Xu started coating the next fish with batter, repeating the shaking, fish head frying, body drizzling, and finally immersing it in the oil pot.

Today’s fish frying uses a large pot with plenty of oil, allowing several at a time.

But if using a small pot, you’ll have to fry one at a time; otherwise, two fish next to each other can easily lose their coating and break apart.

When the third fish was lowered into the pot, the first one floated completely to the surface, its batter fried to a tempting golden color.

Its floating indicates the moisture in the fish meat has significantly reduced.

Lin Xu flipped the fish with chopsticks and a slotted spoon, fried it for a bit longer, then fished it out of the pot.