In fact, the process of killing a chicken is not something that she, a serious chef, can do, even in an ordinary family, there are one or two people who can do it.
But since Su Qingluan accepted the "challenge", she naturally wanted to do something different.
First, she chose a long and thin boning knife. After plucking the chicken's feathers, bleeding it, and removing its internal organs, she took a deep breath, started from the end of the chicken leg, and gently cut a full circle on it with the knife to cut off the muscles and joints.
Then, keep kneading the chicken leg like you would dough. When you feel the flesh and bones inside begin to separate, gently pull the leg bone and the thickest bone that originally supported the chicken leg will be completely pulled out.
Using the same method, Su Qingluan pulled out the bones of another chicken leg and two chicken wings, and the originally solid whole chicken suddenly became loose.
At this time, Su Qingluan made another cut at the tip of the chicken, used a knife to cut off the entire skeleton, and took it out from the inside.
When you turn the chicken over, you can see from the outside that there are no obvious scratches on the chicken, but all the bones inside have been removed.
In order to increase the "spectacular" of the entire chicken bone removal process, Su Qingluan deliberately made a knife flower whenever the direction of the blade needed to be changed, and also consciously accelerated the speed of bone removal.
According to her rough estimate, the whole process would take no more than five minutes.
Tsk, I've really regressed - shaking her sore wrist, Su Qingluan grimaced silently in her heart: when her master trained her to break bones, she was never allowed to do it for more than three and a half minutes.
What's more, I have never had wrist pain from dismantling a chicken before. It turns out that strength training should be put on the agenda. Otherwise, based on the physical fitness that has been pampered for the past ten years, how long will it take for me to be able to lift a big spoon?
Thinking this, Su Qingluan casually threw the boneless chicken onto the chopping board and said casually, "Excuse me for showing off."
No one spoke for a moment.
Xu Yuanwei turned around and glanced at the kitchen helper who was obviously stunned, and asked: "Did you see it clearly? Do you know where you are lacking?"
The original provocative and defiant looks disappeared, replaced by admiration and praise.
Su Qingluan was not too proud of it. After all, removing chicken bones was a skilled job. With diligent practice, even an ordinary chef could develop this "bone-breaking skill".
She was just standing on the shoulders of time, and the reason why people here were so surprised by her showmanship was simply because of the limitations of the times. The cooking skills at that time were far less diverse than those of modern times.
Thinking of this, Su Qingluan didn't stop working. She put the whole chicken in a clay pot, added some scallions, ginger slices, and a few spices to make a stew. She called over a kitchen helper and said, "Young man, please help me."
After the performance just now, the kitchen assistant's attitude was very respectful: "What do you want?"
"I'm not worthy of your order." Su Qingluan smiled and waved her hand. "Put this clay pot on the stove later. Please keep an eye on the chicken soup and skim off the foam until the soup is clear. Then wait for the chicken soup to boil. After a quarter of an hour, add salt to taste, cover it and set it aside to absorb the flavor."
Thinking of something, she said, "Actually, if you want to maximize the freshness, tenderness, and taste of the chicken, it's best to move the clay pot away from the stove right before the chicken soup boils."
Someone took a deep breath and couldn't help but exclaim: "How much effort does it take to do this?"
Su Qingluan nodded. "Yes, Hongfulou is a restaurant, but most of the people who come here are merchants and travelers. Small Lefeng County can't possibly be as wealthy as the Imperial Capital, so we can't just consider the taste without considering the cost."
To put it bluntly, the reason why "Hongfulou" can dominate the market in Lefeng County is simply because it relies heavily on the support of its peers.
In modern terms, even the most famous restaurant in a prefecture-level city or even a county-level city cannot be a top five-star restaurant or a Michelin restaurant.
Su Qingluan's words were quite straightforward.
But she was impatient to talk about those flashy and empty things. After all, business is business, and it is simply unrealistic to discuss the completeness of the food without considering the customer base.
For example, if you open a Michelin restaurant in a rural town, probably no one will patronize it except the rich, who think it is not cost-effective to spend thousands of dollars on a meal.
Therefore, some "ugly words" must be said in advance - although she is responsible for the new dishes of "Hongfulou", unless there are special circumstances, she cannot increase the cost indefinitely in pursuit of taste.
Shopkeeper Liang obviously understood that although he had a wide circle of friends, he was still a profit-seeking businessman after all. Being able to develop new delicacies at a lower cost would naturally be a good thing for him.
While stewing the chicken, Su Qingluan steamed a bowl of rice in the steamer and soaked some dried tofu skin for later use.
"What rice?" someone asked.
"Brown rice, polished rice, or sorghum rice will all be fine," Su Qingluan said. "Also, get some seasonal vegetables and a few eggs."
Su Qingluan beat the eggs and put the iron pan on the stove.
Because it was a hemispherical iron pan, Su Qingluan didn't have to be as careful as she did at home when making the egg pancake, fearing that the egg liquid would spill out accidentally.
I saw her brushing a layer of lard on the bottom of the pot, and then immediately poured a spoonful of egg into it.
The stove in the restaurant is much hotter than the one at home, and the temperature of the iron pan is high. As soon as the egg liquid is put into the pan, a layer of light yellow solidified skin forms.
Su Qingluan held the handle of the iron pan and gently turned her wrist. The egg liquid that had not yet solidified adhered to the wall of the pan as the pan turned.
Su Qingluan picked up a piece of intact "egg skin" with chopsticks.
Then brush lard again, add egg liquid, turn the pan, and the egg liquid solidifies into egg skin, which is then picked out of the pan.
At the beginning, Su Qingluan was not used to the new stove and did not quite understand the depth of the fire, so her movements were not very smooth.
After cooking two egg skins, her movements became faster and faster. The whole process was smooth and flowing. The egg liquid was put into the pot almost as soon as the egg skins came out, which dazzled the onlookers.
Next came the seasoning of seasonal vegetables - this made Su Qingluan envious again.
Sesame oil! Rock sugar! White refined salt! And piles and piles of spices!
Any kind of seasoning costs dozens of coins per ounce, and some even cost hundreds of coins per ounce!
How come spices are so expensive in this world! No wonder high-ranking officials and dignitaries used to paint their walls with Sichuan peppercorns to show off their wealth!
Not to mention that the walls with the flavor of Sichuan peppercorns are insect-proof and have a special aroma, Sichuan peppercorns themselves are a valuable "luxury product"!
Just as Su Qingluan was missing the highly efficient modern industrial assembly line for the one hundred and eighth time, the kitchen helper came over and told her, "The chicken is ready."
Su Qingluan nodded when she heard that: "Take out the chicken and dry it, then it's my turn to prepare the things I brought." As she spoke, she took out the package and shook it open.
Then he pointed at one of them and asked, "Chef Xu, is there anything like this in the kitchen?"
Xu Yuanwei shook his head and asked, "What is this?"
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