Speaking of those delicacies that "just give up trying once you know how to make it", today's steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce should be nominated.

Everyone was a little curious about steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce: how to make it taste boneless and soft? How can you avoid splashing oil when frying?

Later, I posted a detailed description of the process of making chicken feet with black bean sauce, and the style in the comments became like this:

I just intercepted the first few posts, don’t doubt it, The dozens of comments that followed were basically the same style. If you have read this tweet at the beginning, you should have some impression of the grand occasion at that time.

Of course, in addition to steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce, there are many similar recipes that “you won’t want to make once you know how to do it”. For example, this one: Would you like to spend ten days cooking a dish? | Dried abalone with abalone juice

Everyone’s answer is: No!

Haha, they are all real people.

Speaking of which, this recipe of steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce will continue to be presented this time.

No matter how you say it, it is a Cantonese tea snack that I really, really, really like. Moreover, such a detailed production process is not so easy to see usually.

Steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce

Ingredients: 400 grams of chicken feet

Black bean sauce seasoning: 15 grams of dried black bean sauce, 2 cloves of garlic, 5 grams of ginger , 25 grams of fine sugar, 10 grams of light soy sauce, 5 grams of dark soy sauce, 15 grams of cooking wine, 1 gram of white pepper, 30 grams of vegetable oil, 3 grams of salt, and 1 teaspoon of chili powder.

Other ingredients: 25 grams of corn starch, 150 grams of boiled peanuts.

Production process:

Step 1: Boiling

First process the chicken feet. Wash the chicken feet and cut off the nails. Add water to the pot, add chicken feet, bring to a boil over high heat, then turn to medium heat and cook for 10 minutes.

★Choose large and thick chicken feet for a better taste.

After the chicken feet are cooked, take them out and drain the water.

Step 2: Drying

Next is the most important step in the entire chicken feet processing - letting the chicken feet dry. The traditional method is to dry the chicken feet flat in the sun. If you don't have the conditions to dry it, you can use an oven to dry it. Heat the oven to 80°C and bake for about 2 hours until the chicken feet are dry.

After the chicken feet are fully dry, there should be no sticky feeling when you pinch them with your hands. However, the chicken feet at this time are still soft when you pinch them - at this time, the chicken feet are properly dried. degree.

★Drying chicken feet is a very important step. If the chicken feet are not dry enough, firstly, they will not be able to bubble smoothly during subsequent frying, and secondly, they will splash very badly.

★Chicken feet must be dried or sun-dried until the surface is completely non-sticky, but do not dry them too thoroughly. If the chicken feet are completely dried out, the taste will not be good.

Step 3: Frying

Then get ready to start frying. Pour oil into the pot and heat it up. The oil temperature should be high enough (170℃). Put the chicken feet into the hot oil. Under normal circumstances, the chicken feet will blister immediately, and a layer of bubbles will form on the entire surface, making the chicken feet look larger and whiter. Continue frying for a while until the chicken feet turn light golden brown and take them out.

★If your chicken feet are properly dried and the oil is hot enough, the chicken feet will bubble quickly after being put into the hot oil. Only when the chicken feet are blistered will the taste of the steamed chicken feet be good. If it doesn't bubble, either the chicken feet are not dry enough or the oil temperature is not high enough.

★ (emphasis added) There is almost no oil splashing on the chicken feet when fried! If other recipes tell you to be careful because chicken feet will splatter with oil when fried, it actually only proves one thing: the chicken feet are not properly dried (please do not fry chicken feet that are not fully sun-dried or oven-dried).

★High temperature and quick frying, the entire frying time is controlled within 3 minutes, the chicken feet will turn light golden brown and can be taken out. Again, as long as the chicken feet are properly dried, frying them for 3 minutes is enough. Over-frying will make the chicken feet skin taste bad.

This is fried chicken feet. You can see that the surface of the chicken feet has been completely blistered, and the entire chicken feet look very fluffy.

Step 4: Soaking

The next step is soaking. Soak the fried chicken feet in cold water overnight. Keep the chicken feet fully soaked - the blistered chicken feet skin absorbs water and fully stretches. Then, pour enough water into the pot, put the soaked chicken feet in, bring the water to a boil over high heat, then turn off the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

The fully soaked chicken feet feel thick and moist when pinched. See the fluffy and soft texture of chicken feet skin? This is a guarantee that the chicken feet will taste good. They must be fully fried and then soaked.

★Soak thoroughly in cold water first, then simmer in hot water. This allows the chicken feet skin to fully stretch and achieve the best taste. Although it is troublesome, don't try to save trouble.

Step 5: Black Bean Sauce

The processing of chicken feet is basically over. It’s time to prepare the black bean sauce. Pound the garlic into minced garlic and cut the ginger into small slices. For tempeh, it’s best to choose black dried tempeh like the one in the picture.

Heat 30 grams of oil in a pot, first pour in the minced garlic and ginger slices, and fry slowly over low heat until the minced garlic begins to turn yellow.

Pour in dried tempeh and chili powder (you can add chili powder according to your own taste, or leave it out). Continue to stir-fry over low heat for 1 minute and then turn off the heat.

Pour all the fried soy sauce in the pot (including all the ingredients of minced ginger, minced garlic and tempeh) into a small bowl. Then add sugar, cooking wine, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, salt, white pepper and other seasonings, mix well, and the black bean sauce is ready.

★Dark soy sauce can be used to color the steamed chicken feet to make the color of the steamed chicken feet richer and deeper. If you don’t like the color too dark, you can replace dark soy sauce with light soy sauce.

Step 6: Marinate

Drain the treated chicken feet and cut each chicken foot into two sections.

★Why cut off the chicken feet now instead of cutting them off before starting to handle the chicken feet? It’s also very particular. If the chicken feet are cut off first and then processed, after a series of operations such as boiling, drying, and frying, the skin of the chicken feet at the break will retract, the bones will be exposed, and the appearance integrity will be destroyed. Only now can the chicken feet be cut off so that the skin and bones of the chicken feet are neat and orderly, so that the chicken feet can maintain their most complete appearance and look better.

Put the chicken feet into a large bowl, sprinkle in 25 grams of cornstarch, and mix well.

Finally, pour all the black bean sauce into the chicken feet, mix well, and marinate for 1 hour.

★Make it fully marinated and then steamed for a better taste. After completing this step, we can seal and refrigerate the marinated chicken feet, and steam them within 2 days. It can also be frozen in the refrigerator at -18°C and can be stored for 2 months. Just defrost it before steaming.

Step 7: Steaming

Prepare some boiled peanuts. The preparation of boiled peanuts is very simple. Boil the peanuts in water for about 2 hours until the peanuts become soft and mushy (about 1 hour if you use a pressure cooker).

★Boiled peanuts and steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce are the most common combinations. Peanuts must be cooked in advance. Do not steam dry peanuts directly with chicken feet, as this will not be enough to steam the peanuts until soft. If you find it troublesome, you can omit the peanuts.

Finally, it’s steaming. Spread a layer of boiled peanuts under the plate, then place the pickled chicken feet on the peanuts, and pour some of the pickled chicken feet's black bean sauce on the surface of the chicken feet. Put it into the steamer, turn on the steam and steam over high heat for 15 minutes. After steaming, put some green and red chili shreds on the surface for decoration.

★As mentioned before, you don’t need to steam all the steamed chicken feet at once, you can steam as much as you can.

★If you want a particularly tender and bone-free texture, steam the chicken feet in a pressure cooker for about 25 minutes. The chicken feet will be very, very tender.

Tips:

1. All details are basically explained during the production process. Let me emphasize it again. The most important thing for chicken feet to taste good is that they can bubble sufficiently during the frying process and fry into a very fluffy texture. To achieve this goal, first the chicken feet must be fully dried (sun-dried or oven-dried), and secondly, the oil temperature must be sufficient. The second key to the good taste of chicken feet is to fully soak them. After soaking in cold water and then stewing them in hot water, the resulting chicken feet will be very delicious.

2. Chicken feet will hardly splash oil when fried. If your chicken feet splash a lot when fried, it means the chicken feet are not dry enough!