In the private kitchen on the first floor of Baozi Shop, Li Youran stood near the door, watching with interest that Chef Liu and a waiter were busy in front of the gas stove in the corner.
There is a large stainless steel steamer on the stove, with blue flames licking the bottom of the pot. A special cylindrical wooden steamer is placed on top of the steamer. The cover of the steamer is shaped like a bamboo hat and is emitting steam.
Chef Liu specially went out to find a carpenter to customize this a few days ago. A wooden steamer and a wooden basin are both made of cypress wood. There are layers of steamer grates inside the wooden steamer, which can hold about ten kilograms of washed glutinous rice.
This is an essential tool for the traditional wine-making process. Of course, if it is a specialized wine-making workshop, the wooden steamer will be much larger, and it must hold at least fifty kilograms of glutinous rice.
"The choice of glutinous rice is very particular. It cannot be too rough or too refined. There is a degree of control in it." Chef Liu explained to the waiter.
"Oh, what's the explanation for this?" Li Youran asked.
"Glutinous rice that is too rough carries the seed coat and embryo, which is the result of grinding rice bran. It contains more fat and protein, especially protein. If the content is too high, various microorganisms will ferment too vigorously, and the acidity in the wine will be high, which will be harmful to the rice wine.
The mellow flavor." Chef Liu explained.
"Then use refined rice with the skin removed." Li Youran understood and nodded.
"There are also troubles if it is too refined. The glutinous rice itself is very sticky. During the cooking and stirring process, the steamed glutinous rice will stick to the wall of the wooden steamer and be difficult to pour out. Also, when pouring into the wooden basin and stirring
, it is also very laborious, and it is not easy to spread the wine and medicine evenly. So I have to choose glutinous rice with a little dark red husk. I went to the farmer's market to choose this, and did not ask the logistics department to buy it. There is also steamed glutinous rice.
The heat must also be controlled. It must be steamed thoroughly, but not rotten, loose and not mushy. If it is steamed too rotten, it cannot be stirred. A bucket of rice will be useless. Xiao Shen, please remember this." Liu
Chef tips guys.
"Master Liu, I remember." Xiao Shen, the waiter, filled a basin with water and promised at the same time.
It is not easy to be knowledgeable in everything you do. It is a blessing to have such two capable and talented chefs under you. Li Youran was secretly grateful in his heart.
After a while, Chef Liu opened a corner of the steamer lid, blew in and looked inside. The unique fragrance of glutinous rice suddenly overflowed, making people salivate.
"Okay. Not much left (--the fastest update of the house). Take it away." He said, and then reached out to turn off the gas stove.
The waiter Xiao Shen stepped forward, and together they lifted the steamer and bucket off the stove and walked out of the kitchen.
Li Youran helped open the door of a small warehouse next to it and let them in.
The warehouse has been emptied. All the original items inside have been packed and moved to the large warehouse on the second floor of Baozipu North Store. From now on, it will be used exclusively as a wine-making laboratory. There is a special rectangular wooden frame in the center of the room. This is for Qi
My uncle and his assistant made it in a hurry using the wood cubes in stock.
Together, Liu Senjiang and the two put the retort bucket on the rectangular wooden frame. Under the wooden frame was a stainless steel basin facing the bottom of the retort bucket. Chef Liu then directed the waiter to get the bucket and ladle.
"Master Liu, what are you doing now?" Li Youran asked. He didn't know much about the local brewing process. He only knew that rice wine is made by fermenting glutinous rice mixed with wine and medicine.
"This process is called cold water pouring. Use cold water to cool down the cooked glutinous rice, which is conducive to fermentation." Chef Liu said as he lifted the steamer lid and put it aside.
White steam immediately emerged and filled the entire room.
The waiter Xiao Shen came back with a tin bucket, and there was a ladle floating in the bucket.
"This water is specially made from the backyard, don't use tap water." Chef Liu confirmed.
"Don't worry. Master Liu, we have used special water from the beginning to now." The waiter replied quickly.
Liu Senjiang nodded. He took the water ladle and poured the cold water in circles over the glutinous rice in the steamer bucket, one ladle after another.
The cold water passed through the glutinous rice and dripped into the stainless steel basin below, turning into hot water.
Liu Senjiang took a closer look and asked his assistant Xiao Shen to pour the hot water from the stainless steel basin back into the iron bucket, saying that this was a second pouring, commonly known as "pouring soup".
After the warm water from the tin bucket has been poured through the glutinous rice again, this process is over.
After waiting for another ten minutes, it was estimated that the water in the steamer bucket was almost drained. Chef Liu asked the waiters to tilt the steamer bucket sideways, pour it into the large wooden basin prepared in advance, and use a spoon to stick the wall of the steamer bucket.
Scrape off the glutinous rice.
Then let the glutinous rice continue to cool in the wooden basin. During this time, Chef Liu went out for a trip. When he came back, he had a paper bag in his hand and took out a few oval things from it.
"Is this Jiuqu?" Li Youran leaned over to take a look.
"Yes, this is distiller's yeast specially handmade by farmers, using all natural materials." Chef Liu nodded, washed his hands first, then crushed the distiller's yeast, sprinkled it evenly on the surface of the glutinous rice, and then inserted his hands into it,
Stir constantly.
"This must be mixed thoroughly, otherwise the fermentation will be inconsistent and the taste of the wine will be affected."
After mixing the koji and glutinous rice, he flattened the cooked glutinous rice in the tub with both hands and compacted it. Then he dug a round hole in the center of the rice pile, which was relatively deep, and compacted the walls and edges of the hole.
.
"I know this one, it's called 'Sakai'." Li Youran said from the side.
Chef Liu nodded, took another bowl, dipped his hands in water and poured it evenly on the surface of the glutinous rice, then covered it with a wooden lid.
"That's it for today. Let it sit for about thirty hours, and then go through the process of adding water and soaking the wine. After that, there are several processes of filtering the wine, twisting the wine, pressing the wine, and distilling. It will take about a week to produce rice wine.
Now." Chef Liu introduced while washing his hands in the basin.
The waiter Xiao Shen handed him a towel to wipe his hands.
"Don't look at this local brewing method, the process is quite complicated. But I heard that homemade brewing made from pure grains by farmers is becoming popular now, and many people regard it as a treasure." Li Youran said, many things are now returning to the trend.
, perhaps it is inevitable that industrialization has developed to a certain extent.
"By the way, Master Liu, the smell of the lees is very strong after it comes out. Will it affect the store?" Li Youran thought of a new problem. In his impression, there was a lot of smell in the air near the brewing workshops.
It was filled with a pungent smell. It would be unimaginable to do this in a bun shop in the future and let customers dine in such an environment.
"It's not a big problem for us to do this, but I'm afraid it won't work if we do it in batches in the future. It's best to find another place." Chef Liu said, wiping his hands clean with a towel.
Li Youran thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case, but it was still being tested and the final quality of the rice wine could not be determined. Let the logistics department take care of it after a while.
So, he thanked Liu Senjiang and Liu Senjiang for their hard work, and then left the laboratory.