Chapter 5 Chapter 5 The legendary first candy in Chang'an that failed miserably...
Of course Duan Zhiwei hadn't slept yet. How could anyone sleep with a headless monster sitting on the bed?
There was only a tiny light in the narrow room, and a small hole was barely chiseled out on the rammed earth wall next to it to serve as a window. Fortunately, the moon was bright enough tonight, and a few faint moonlight struggled to filter through the dusty window. The Feitouman was kind-hearted. With a wave of his hand, the bean-sized light immediately grew several times larger, illuminating the room brightly.
It was already summer, and it was even hotter now. Duan Zhiwei wiped the sweat off his face and looked at the fireball, thinking.
"I am a good demon." Fei Tou Man said slowly.
Duan Zhiwei looked at her with suspicion.
The flying head said anxiously: "I am really a good demon. I have been in Jiujiang County before. The county magistrate there always brought a group of playboys to tease the passing female guests on the river. I pretended to be a pipa girl at night, and scared them so much that they never dared to do such a rogue behavior again."
Duan Zhiwei was so shocked that his mouth could hold an egg: "The frightening flying head on the Xunyang River mentioned in the popular lecture at Da Ci'en Temple was you."
Fei Tou Man covered her veil with her hands and acted shy: "Hate it, my name is Luo Tou Shi. Calling me Fei Tou Man is very rude."
Duan Zhiwei: "..."
The reason why Luotou came here was because his body had a quarrel with his head, and he hoped that Duan Zhiwei could cook a delicious piece of meat to reconcile them.
The Luotou complained, "That guy loves to eat delicious food. He made me very fat, so we started quarreling."
The leader who was left alone would eat lavishly in the restaurants in Chang'an every night, and that day he was just unlucky enough to be seen by a Hu man selling cakes.
Duan Zhiwei took a green plum from the jar and chewed it: "Don't you think plumpness is beautiful?" When the neighbors saw her, they all liked to say that Mrs. Duan was quite pretty, but unfortunately she was too thin, which made her extremely doubtful about her own aesthetic taste.
Luotoushi was about to stand up and perform a dance: "I am a monster born in the State of Chu. My lady, haven't you heard that 'the King of Chu likes thin waists'?"
Duan Zhiwei sighed and asked, "What kind of meat is it?"
The Luotou clan showed a fascinated expression: "That is an extremely delicious taste."
Seeing that she was immersed in her memories, Duan Zhiwei asked tentatively: "Are you sure you don't eat humans?"
Luotoushi looked offended: "Please don't slander my taste."
Duan Zhiwei showed doubt and was about to refuse, but the demon was able to see through people's minds and quickly said, "I will reward you handsomely after the task is completed."
"make a deal."
The next morning, after assigning the task of preparing breakfast to Aunt Duan, Duan Zhiwei decided to make a serving of steamed pork with sugar. This meat is a dish from Hubei and will definitely suit the taste of Luotou.
First wash the pork, cut it into two-inch long and four-centimeter wide pieces, put it in a bowl, add chopped green onion, minced ginger, brown sugar, rice flour, soy sauce, cooking wine, saltpeter water, and honey, mix well and marinate, then put the meat pieces neatly into a pot, put them in a steamer and steam them over high heat for one hour.
Next, Duan Zhiwei took a coarse porcelain bowl. Mix some brown sugar water and set aside.
Today Su Xun reported in on time again. He would buy a lot of meat pie and locust flower egg pie every day and he even wanted to bring a carrying pole with him. It is said that Captain Yuan, who used to have a sullen face from morning to night, even relaxed his tense jaw after eating breakfast here. It also became much easier for his subordinates to do their work.
Duan Zhiwei was so happy that he gave him an extra meat pie. Su Qun's advertising was very effective. Hearing that the fourth-rank captain liked to eat breakfast at this restaurant, many more customers came to check in. There is always a long queue at the door every day. Aunt Duan bakes Hu pancakes while muttering that she must recruit workers today.
Half an hour had passed, and Duan Zhiwei thought it was about time, so he opened the steamer to loosen the meat, poured the coarse porcelain bowl of brown sugar water into it, and continued steaming it for a while.
A sweet aroma of meat wafted out from the cracks in the steamer, causing passers-by to turn their heads frequently to look over. This made Duan Zhiwei quite proud.
When the time was almost up, Duan Zhiwei opened the lid of the steamer and turned the meat over onto a plate. The meat looks bright red in color and has a strong aroma.
Duan Zhiwei picked up a corner and took a bite. He found it fresh, mellow, oily and refreshing. The meat was steamed to perfection, melting in the mouth, and salty with a hint of sweetness.
Duan Zhiwei nodded in satisfaction. She moved closer to Aunt Duan with the plate in her hand. Aunt Duan reluctantly praised: "This meat looks shiny and pleasing to the eye."
As if she was afraid of hurting Duan Zhiwei's self-esteem, Aunt Duan said cautiously: "Zhiwei, your meat is too sweet. I have never seen any restaurant add sugar to meat."
Due to social, economic, and cultural factors in this dynasty, the upper class prefers mutton, but mutton is expensive. In addition, the Duan family restaurant is originally aimed at the civilian consumer group, so pork is mostly used. Duan Zhiwei was fully prepared to serve sugar-steamed pork, cherry pork, and Dongpo pork elbow, but he didn't expect that people in Chang'an would not buy it.
That's right, after all, this is Chang'an where salt and onions are added to tea and milk...
By noon, all the food was sold out except for a few plates of sugar-steamed pork that no one was interested in. Aunt Duan couldn't bear to part with the meat, so she had to share the dish of steamed pork with Duan Zhiwei. As a result, she was so nauseated that she kept drinking water, which seriously hurt Duan Zhiwei's self-esteem.
This is the consequence of not doing enough research. People in Shu like spicy food, while people in the south of the Yangtze River like sweet food. Duan Zhiwei wasted the meat and can only blame himself for his bad luck.
She brought a plate of steamed pork with sugar to the backyard to find Luotou, only to see her lift the white gauze on her veil, lower her neck to take a closer look, then shrink back and wave her hand in disappointment.
“That’s a kind of chicken.” Luotoushi seemed to be lost in memory: “That day I disguised myself as a girl from the music school who was good at playing the pipa and sneaked into the banquet at the mansion.
The banquet was filled with luxury cars, music and other forms, and the tail feast included roasted shrimp, jade dew dumplings, and golden milk cakes in a single cage..."
Luotou was very disappointed: "But the guards checked very carefully, so the little fox from Zhongnan Mountain and I only managed to steal a chicken. It was a whole chicken, fried to golden brown, with a crispy skin and juicy meat inside."
Duan Zhiwei thought, "You two disguised yourself as beautiful women from the music school just to steal a chicken." But she didn't dare to offend her, so she could only ask, "Which mansion?"
Luotoushi seemed to want to shake his head, and in the end only his hat was left swinging from side to side: "It happened many years ago. It is said that the house is haunted now, and there are long spider webs hanging all over it."
Duan Zhiwei thought, "...the ghost must be you."
Duan Zhiwei thought for a long time but couldn't figure out what kind of chicken it was. She was in a daze when she was frying the crispy pork in the afternoon. Su Qian, who came to buy the crispy pork after work, found that she was in a daze when he handed her the copper coins.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." She quickly came back to her senses and saw Su Xun's light green official uniform, so she asked tentatively: "My dear, have you heard of a kind of chicken that is fried until crispy and still intact, and is still tender and juicy inside?"
I didn't expect that Su Qie, who looked like a low-ranking official, was quite knowledgeable: "I have heard from my uncle, the son-in-law of the emperor, that it was said that the chef of the former Minister of Rites made it. It should be steamed first and then fried, so that the meat and bones are separated, and it tastes crispy and tender."
Duan Zhiwei got the hint and slapped his forehead and said, "Yes, isn't this the famous traditional Xi'an dish, gourd chicken?"
It is said to have been created by the chef of Wei Zhi, the Minister of Rites. The chef was very particular about food, especially chicken, so he invented this method of cooking chicken by first boiling it, then steaming it and finally frying it, a very complicated process. Because the whole chicken was tied up with flax and looked like a gourd, this dish was named gourd chicken.
Duan Zhiwei went to buy a whole chicken, prepared it, and put it into boiling water for half an hour. Put the chicken into the steamer, pour in enough broth to cover the chicken, then add rice wine, salt, onion, ginger, garlic, cinnamon and star anise. Put it in the steamer and steam for one hour.
While waiting for the steaming process, she ran to prepare the meat pie for the next day. Seeing the white steam coming out of the steamer, Aunt Duan couldn't help but say: "Amitabha, it's too much effort to cook only one chicken in the whole afternoon."
Duan Zhiwei said: "This is a reservation by a customer. We won't do it anymore."
You must be kidding. The location of her shop is not good, and the people who come here are either common people or minor officials. This gourd chicken takes so much effort to make, the price cannot be set too low. Even if it tastes good, not many people will buy it.
“I’ll sell it after I open a big store,” Duan Zhiwei thought as he watched the steam coming out of the steamer.
Spread a thin layer of starch on the steamed chicken, then reluctantly pour half a pot of oil into the iron pan, cook it over high heat until it is 80% cooked, push the chicken into the pan with its back facing up, and drizzle oil to set the chicken.
Duan Zhiwei kept pouring oil on the chicken with a spoon. The aroma of frying spread quickly, causing customers who came to buy fried crispy pork to look towards the kitchen. When the chicken is fried until golden brown, Duan Zhiwei uses his hands to roll the chicken into a gourd shape, puts it on a plate, adds a small dish of coarse salt and peppercorns, puts it in a food box, and waits for Luotou to come and take it.
Aunt Duan lifted the curtain and came in. Seeing that the chicken was fried till crispy, she said to Duan Zhiwei, "The diners outside are curious about what you are frying in there. Bring it over and show them."
Duan Zhiwei rubbed his arms and said, "No, no, it's too much effort to make this chicken." A chicken only costs 30 cents. It takes half a day to steam, boil and fry it, and half the pot of oil is used up. It should sell for at least 90 cents.
Aunt Duan was very surprised: "How can anyone buy it if it's so expensive?"
"If we can't sell it, we'll eat it ourselves."
Duan Zhiwei cooked three chickens in total. Many people asked about it but few bought it. He gave one to Luotoushi, sold one to two scholars saying they were to have wine when they took them back, and gave the last one to Yuan Shenji, who got off work in the evening.
He just happened to pass by, and couldn't resist Duan Zhiwei's enthusiastic sales pitch, so he had to pay 90 cents and buy the chicken.
Today the night is falling, the stars are embedded in the boundless sky, and the cool summer breeze is blowing. Yuan Shenji is sitting in the pergola in his garden to eat dinner.
He has always been frugal. There are only the elderly housekeeper and his wife in the whole mansion. The meals are simple too, just ordinary steamed cakes to fill their stomachs. Today, he opened the gourd chicken, which was fried until golden and crispy, and it actually aroused his craving for wine, so he asked the housekeeper to hand him a pot of Ba Ling wine.
Yuan Shenji took a bite and found that the gourd chicken had a thin crispy skin that made a "crunchy" sound when he bit it. The meat inside was tender and juicy, and it had a unique flavor with some pepper and coarse salt. He took another sip of the spicy white wine, watching the starry sky and the fireflies echoing with each other, and actually felt that he had a little leisure time in this busy life for half a day.
On the second day, there was another long line of customers waiting to buy Hubing in front of the Duan family shop. Duan Zhiwei was so busy that he had no time to rest. Aunt Duan had changed into an eye-catching pomegranate skirt again and her movements were much slower.
A breeze blew by, bringing with it a strong aroma, different from the smoke constantly coming out of the oil pan, it seemed to be a strong fragrance of pearls and jade. The diners stopped talking and looked towards the source of the fragrance. An exquisite canopied incense carriage was parked outside the store. The ancients loved fragrance, and the carriage had to be coated with precious spices all over, the price was staggeringly high.
After the coachman stopped the carriage, he quickly took out a pedal machine and placed it in front of the curtain, and a woman slowly walked down from the carriage.
The lady was wearing a colorful dress, her eyebrows were as dark as distant black, and her skin was whiter than snow. There are only two long red lines around the neck, which makes her look slightly charming.
Seeing Duan Zhiwei staring at her in astonishment, she smiled and said, "Madam Duan, don't you recognize me?"
The lady smiled brightly, and Duan Zhiwei came back to his senses. He recognized the fragrant aroma and said, "It's you. Your hair is so beautiful."
The lady laughed heartily and said, "Today I am bidding farewell to Madam Duan and returning to Jiujiang County." After that, she stuffed a clay jar into her hand and got into the car and left in the gazes of everyone.
Aunt Duan hurried over, opened the jar and took a look, and couldn't help but exclaimed "Ouch".
Hearing her exclamation, Duan Zhiwei smelled a strong scent of pepper. He looked down and saw that the earthenware jar was full of pepper.
Aunt Duan immediately took the pepper and ran to the backyard and buried it under the roots of the pear tree, saying:
"This jar of pepper is probably worth a piece of gold."
Seeing a jar of pepper buried under the tree roots, Duan Zhiwei thought this was a good deal, but then he realized how to make up that cold-faced captain?
Hello, Captain. For a can of pepper worth more than gold, I let the monster run away.
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