I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 566 - 274: Top Five Rice Killers? Salted Fish Eggplant Stew is a must! [Subscribe please]_2

Pork lard not only adds fragrance but also gives eggplant a rich, meat-like texture. Many rice lovers are smitten with the enchanting flavor that comes from the combination of pork lard and eggplant.

Lin Xu took some salted fish from the storeroom. Since all the staff were eating that day, a larger quantity of the dish was needed, which meant using more salted fish. Normally, a small piece of salted fish is enough for one Salted Fish Eggplant Stew. The slimy Fish Skin on the outside was removed, then the fish was filleted, and the backbone and bones were discarded, leaving only the dense Fish. This type of salted fish was usually made from Mackerel, which has a dense and tender texture ideal for making Salted Fish Eggplant Stew.

In the Northern Region, there was a custom of stewing eggplant with salted Spanish mackerel. The flesh of the Spanish mackerel was tender and became mushy upon stewing; combined with eggplant in the dish, the fish enveloped the surface of the eggplant, lending it an entirely different texture and flavor.

Lin Xu thought that he might buy some to try when he had time. He wanted to see whether the Northern Spanish mackerel stewed with eggplant or the Southern Salted Fish Eggplant Stew was more appetizing and tastier with rice.

Lin Xu cut the salted fish into granules slightly smaller than peanuts and set them aside in a bowl. He then took a chunk of Pork Fat, weighing a little over a pound, and finely minced it. This Pork Fat was the soul of the Salted Fish Eggplant Stew; once the lard was rendered, the Pork Fat turned into golden granules that were mixed into the soft, mushy cooked eggplant to be eaten. The texture, that flavor—it was just fantastic with rice!

If preparing Pork Fat is too troublesome, one can use pork lard directly. However, lard lacks something compared to Pork Fat rendered into granules. While lard offers good aroma and texture, it doesn’t have the surprising delight of Pork Fat granules melting in the mouth.

Once the Pork Fat was ready, Ma Zhiqiang brought over the washed eggplants. With many people eating that day, a whole basket of eggplants had been prepared.

The eggplants were peeled and cut into ten-centimeter-long, two-centimeter-square sticks. There was no need to wash the cut eggplants or dust them with flour; they could go straight into the hot oil for deep-frying. The secret to delicious eggplant lay in using plenty of oil; most eggplant dishes required deep-frying for the taste and texture to reach the next level.

When frying, the oil in the wok needed to be hot, about 70% of its smoking point. This way, the eggplant skins would crisp upon contact, preventing oil from seeping inside. If the oil was too cool—below 50% hot, for example—the eggplant sticks would absorb a lot of oil like a sponge. Later, during stewing, this oil would seep out, making the dish excessively greasy.

Patience was key when frying eggplant sticks; they had to be fried until the surface turned golden brown and they felt light and airy when stirred with a spoon. That was how one knew they were thoroughly fried. Only then was the unique aroma of the eggplant completely brought out by the frying.

The fried eggplant sticks were scooped out with a slotted spoon and immediately immersed in clean water. This was to remove excess grease, ensuring that the resulting eggplant stew would be delicious and not too oily.

High-end dishes relied on ingredients to stand out, while ordinary dishes relied on details. The Salted Fish Eggplant Stew had remained a bestseller precisely because these little details made the dish perfect, and customers wanted to eat it again and again.

After frying the eggplant sticks, Lin Xu poured out the oil from the wok. He ladled in a scoop of used oil. Used oil referred to oil that had already fried ingredients several times; it was relatively murky and unsuitable for stir-frying, only for flash-frying some strongly flavored ingredients.

Once the oil was hot, he added the prepared salted fish granules to the wok for frying. To enhance the dish with the fragrance of the salted fish, the Fish had to be fried to eliminate any musty smell from it and to use the high-temperature oil to transform any faint off-odor into umami. That was the secret to the delicious taste of Salted Fish Eggplant Stew.

When the salted fish granules were first added to the wok, they were not to be stirred, because the heat would cause moisture to leach out from the Fish, making it soft and sticky. They needed to be fried in the wok for a while until their surfaces were dry before he could shake the wok to flip them. He fried the small pieces of salted fish until they were golden brown on the surface, then scooped them out with a slotted spoon and set them aside.

The oil in the wok now had to be discarded. This oil was not only very salty but also had an unpleasant fishy odor, making it unsuitable for any other dish.

He washed the wok clean and placed it back on the stove. Once hot, he seasoned it with oil. After pouring out the oil used for seasoning the wok, he added no extra oil. Instead, he poured the minced Pork Fat into the wok, spread it out, and rendered it over high heat.

Soon, the grease began to ooze from the Pork Fat. The finely minced Pork Fat pieces also gradually fried to a golden hue.

Ma Zhiqiang exclaimed, "Damn, no wonder Salted Fish Eggplant Stew is so delicious! With so much Pork Fat added, even cabbage stems would smell heavenly and make one drool."

While Lin Xu was busy, Zhiqiang stood by, watching. Seeing the Pork Fat in the wok, he, being adept at making large-pot dishes, finally understood the secret behind the deliciousness of Salted Fish Eggplant Stew. This dish might seem to only have eggplant as a vegetable and just a tiny bit of cured salted fish as an ingredient, but who would have thought that it also contained Pork Fat! Many people like Salted Fish Eggplant Stew, partly because they think it’s a vegetarian dish. Yet, in truth, this so-called vegetarian dish has a higher calorie count than most meat dishes.

Lin Xu said with a smile, "To make vegetarian dishes delicious, fat is essential. Even high-end ingredients like Matsutake need to be cooked with fat to achieve the best flavor and texture."

When the Pork Fat pieces turned a crispy golden brown, Lin Xu added the prepared garlic, ginger, and Thai chilies to the wok to stir-fry. These aromatics, when flash-fried in the pork lard, would remove any off-flavors from the lard, making the dish’s final aroma even richer.