Chapter 43 - Stewed Onion’s Tastes!
Chapter 43: Stewed Onion’s Tastes!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the oil pan, the onions went from tender to soft. Some of them still spread out in the oil pan.
Two minutes passed. Xu Le picked up a small knife and found that it could easily pierce into the onions.
At this moment, Xu Le smirked.
He smiled.
It was about time.
Xu Le turned the flames on the stove to the maximum. Under the burning of the red flames, the oil pan started bubbling.
The pot of oil finally began to boil.
At this moment, even the scalding hot oil would not burn the onions as they were already soaked with oil.
Swoosh!
The small shrimps that had been prepared beforehand were thrown into the pot.
Although the onions couldn’t be fried, the shrimps could be.
Under the high oil temperature, the shrimps emitted a crackling sound. Within ten breaths, it had turned into a beautiful golden brown color.
At this time, under the fire, the hot oil gradually reduced in volume. When there were only two-thirds left, Xu Le immediately turned off the fire.
…
The fragrance of onions, the clear sweetness of wine, the unique savory taste of seafood brought by the shrimps, and the fragrance of oil…
All the flavors merged together.
However, the most prominent part of this dish was the taste of the onions itself.
After all, the theme of this episode was “the original taste of food”.
Hence, Xu Le specially chose the dish [Stewed Onion] to show that with a unique cooking method and use of various ingredients, he would be able to stimulate the original taste of a common ingredient like onions.
Obviously, he had succeeded.
The fragrance of the onions filled the entire room, causing everyone to suck in large mouthfuls of the fragrance.
Although they hadn’t eaten it yet, just the smell alone was enough to make their appetite increase.
Even a few people who didn’t like the taste of onions had developed some interest in this unique ingredient.
“All the supplementary ingredients and the cooking method only have a sole purpose.”
Xu Le turned towards everyone and explained.
“That is to stimulate the taste of onions!”
“Usually, when we cook, we will only use onions as a supplementary ingredient and use its unique taste to stimulate the taste of other ingredients.”
“But now, we are using the onion as a main ingredient, and we use a special method like stewing in oil. Under the low oil temperature, we let the oil soak into the onions, making it soft while filling it with the fragrance of oil.”
“The taste of the onions became the main flavor of this dish, and the method of stewing in the oil gave it a unique taste.”
Xu Le smiled.
“This is the unique cooking method created by Mr. Wang Shixiang—[Stewed Onions]!”
“Please have a taste!”
The stewed onions were placed on a smooth white plate, and a spoonful of golden oil was poured onto it.
A simple plate presentation was enough to make everyone drool.
They wanted to rush over and have a bite.
However, the first bite of this dish had to be given to Mr. Cai Lan who had the highest authority in the program team.
Mr. Cai Lan’s eyes were fixated on the stewed onions in front of him, and he was extremely excited.
The first time he heard of this dish was in 1996.
At that time, he had heard that Mr. Wang Shixiang from Beijing had a specialty dish called stewed onions.
However, Mr. Cai Lan had never tasted it.
After that, the news of Mr. Wang Shixiang’s death in 2009 came. While Cai Lan mourned for him, he couldn’t help but feel a little regretful that he might never have the chance to taste the stewed onions again.
After that, Cai Lan tried to make this dish at home several times, but all of his attempts failed.
What he did not expect was that Xu Le would be here that day talking about this dish.
And… Xu Le really made this dish!
Therefore, when faced with this dish, Cai Lan felt the joy and excitement of meeting an old friend.
After half a minute, he looked at the plate of stewed onions, and tears even flowed out of his turbid eyes.
In the end, it was Xu Le who reminded him in a crisp voice.
“Grandpa Cai Lan, hurry up and eat. If you don’t eat, this dish will get cold and the texture won’t be good.”
Cai Lan was taken aback for a moment before he nodded.
“I’ll try it now!”
He picked up his chopsticks and carefully picked up an onion.
Due to the fact that it was stewed in oil, the onion had already become a little soft and mushy. As soon as he picked them up with his chopsticks, it began to disintegrate.
Cai Lan put the onion, along with the layer of golden oil, into his mouth.
The moment it entered, Cai Lan’s pupils dilated.
This taste!
The first to rush up was the smell of onions!
It was extremely fragrant!
Master Cai Lan had tasted delicacies from all over the world for so many years, but this was the first time in his life that he had tasted such a rich onion fragrance.
Onion was an ingredient with very strong smell and there were even many people who could not accept this taste.
The reason for that was because there was simply too much stimulation in its smell.
As for Xu Le’s cooking method removed the stimulating taste, so that there was only the purest fragrance of onions left. Furthermore, it was a very mild onion fragrance. The moment it entered his mouth, it exploded.
Next, as the fragrance of the onions spread, there was a faint sweetness.
He could not tell if the sweetness came from the onion itself, or if it was because of the white sugar that Xu Le added, or… the white wine?
In short, this taste gradually filled his entire mouth.
It was still one of the fragrance of onions, but it was not the pure and monotonous fragrance of onions. It was… a sweeter fragrance of onions.
The next moment, the taste that came out of his mouth was the taste of shrimp.
The purpose of this dish, [Stewed Onion], was to replace the dish, [Boiled Sea Cucumber with Onion].
Although this dish was delicious and was also a famous Chinese dish, the sea cucumber was a high-end and expensive ingredient. It was not something that ordinary people could afford.
In particular, Beijing was not near the sea, and transport was not convenient in the last century.
Therefore, it was not easy for the common people in Beijing to eat sea cucumbers.
Therefore, the shrimps were more like a substitute for sea cucumbers.
He mixed the cheap shrimps to add the flavor of the sea into this dish.
This was the purpose of adding the shrimps in this dish.
At this moment, the fragrance of the shrimps and onions filled Cai Lan’s mouth.
His eyes were closed, and he could not see anything. It was as if his ears could not hear the discussions around him.
Cai Lan’s senses were only left with his taste buds, which were magnified endlessly.
So that he could enjoy the pleasure brought by this delicacy!