Chapter 475: Eating Chicken Without Seeing the Chicken, Smelling Flowers Without Seeing the Flowers
The fat man spread out the chicken skin completely, cut off the two wings, and then slowly used a steel pick to move the edge of the skin back and forth and fix it on the bamboo.
After everything was fixed, the fat man began to pick up the remaining chicken after skinning.
When peeling the skin, the fat man seemed to deliberately keep the attached fat on the skin side of the chicken, so there was still a layer of yellow fat on the bottom of the skin, while this side of the chicken body appeared smooth and clean, without too much fat.
The fat man first removed the chicken legs and breasts, removed the butter slices, separated the meat and bones and placed them on plates separately. Then he carefully disassembled the other parts of the chicken and removed the fat and internal organs one by one.
The fat man put down his knife only when the fat was no longer visible in the eyes of the cut chicken and started to wash the chicken skeleton.
Then put the skeleton into the pot with cold water, skim off the foam when the water boils, add cold water several times to continue skimming, then add ginger slices and angelica and simmer over low heat.
During this time, the fat man cut the chicken leg that he had just put aside, took another knife and started chopping the chicken.
The fat man stopped his knife only when the chicken mince was visibly fine and satisfied, and then he cooked the chicken breast in the same way.
After chopping two bowls of minced chicken, the fat man washed his hands again and this time took out the flowers he had asked Zhao Xiaojing to buy from the bag.
The flowers of Jiangnan Baihua Chicken are seasonal edible flowers, but the types of flowers are fixed. In this season, they are usually roses and chrysanthemums.
The fat man took a clean basin, carefully picked the petals of the roses and chrysanthemums, soaked them in water to wash them, and then opened the stainless steel steamer that had been prepared on the side.
Add purified water to the bottom of the pot, add a steaming grate, and place a deep bowl in the middle. Scatter the washed petals around the bowl, then turn the steamer lid upside down.
Then, bring the heat to a boil. When the smoke from the steamer begins to spread, take out the ice cubes in a sealed bag from the refrigerator and place them on top of the inverted pot lid.
"This is condensation, have you heard of it?" The fat man turned his head and saw Zhao Xiaojing coming over, pointing at the pot and explaining.
The three of them often exchanged cooking skills at Zhao Xiaojing's restaurant. Except for some secret recipes, they were open with each other when cooking, so they got used to the eye contact and communication while cooking.
"I think I heard it in school. Is this the simplified version?"
The smoke became much weaker after adding the ice, but the subtle fragrance of the flowers seemed to be more obvious than before. Zhao Xiaojing sniffed and sniffed carefully, and could already smell the quiet and rich fragrance of the rose.
“It’s a simplified version, but it’s enough.”
The ice cubes in the pot quickly reduced in volume under the scorching steam. After they were completely turned into a sealed bag of water, the fat man took out another bag of ice cubes from the refrigerator and refreezed the melted ice water.
"Besides these two kinds of flowers, what other flowers can be used?" Zhao Xiaojing asked curiously.
"I used lotus flowers when they were in bloom in the summer, and I used locust flowers when they were in bloom a while ago. Anyway, they are all flowers that are in bloom at the right time of year. Oh, I also tried jasmine before, but I got a good scolding from my master. I was afraid of him for that week."
Zhao Xiaojing looked at the fat man in confusion, "What's wrong with Jasmine?"
"The smell was too overbearing. After it was steamed, it immediately took over the chicken flavor, making it lose my appetite. The main thing is that the dish wasn't my practice dish, it was served to customers. I happened to see Jasmine selling it this morning, so I wanted to try it on impulse. I thought they were similar, but it turned out to be something else entirely. In the end, the master chef just gave the customer a free meal."
Zhao Xiaojing chuckled. The fat guy was still stubborn. It was not unfair for him to be kicked like that.
After changing the ice pack several times, the fat man looked at the situation in the pot through the transparent glass lid. He saw that the petals had gradually collapsed and wilted, and the deep bowl had already filled with more than half a cup of floral dew. He asked Zhao Xiaojing to help make some scallion and ginger water. He changed the ice pack for the last time, turned off the fire when the ice melted, and finally took out the floral dew and put it aside.
As soon as the flower dew came out of the pot, the contestants in the kitchen took a deep breath.
Throughout the afternoon, the kitchen was filled with aromas from time to time, including the aroma of meat, oil and seasonings, which made everyone in the kitchen, including the photographer, confused and dazed while cooking.
At this moment, a burst of floral fragrance suddenly wafted over, startling everyone. A feeling of awakening immediately cheered everyone up.
"Captain, what kind of perfume is this? Can I spray some?"
"Captain, I won't spray it, can you put it here with me?"
"I want it too. After working all day, if I don't smell something fresh, my brain will be marinated with the flavor of lard." Lu Pengyun, who was boiling lard, said bitterly.
Zhao Xiaojing glanced at everyone's reactions, and while laughing, she thought to herself that it was time for the fat guy to show off again.
As expected, the fat man smiled brightly. "This isn't perfume, it's my seasoning. Jiangnan Hundred Flowers Chicken, you can't see the chicken when you eat it, and you can't smell the flowers when you smell them. If you like it, hurry up and take a sniff. It's going to be put into the pot soon."
After the fat man finished speaking, he put the flower dew to the outside with a smirk on his face, and then continued to process the chicken paste.
It took an hour to steam the floral dew, and the chicken soup in the pot was almost cooked. The onion and ginger water that Zhao Xiaojing had helped to make was also ready.
The fat man fished out the dry ingredients from the scallion and ginger water, added rice wine into it, and then added the mixed scallion and ginger water into the minced chicken while stirring until one part of the minced chicken became a slightly thick paste and the other part became a slightly thin slurry.
After that, use the finest strainer to remove all the dry ingredients in the chicken soup cooked with chicken bones, and then filter the soup with gauze.
After filtering, the soup was light yellow. The fat man washed the soup pot again, poured the soup back into the pot, turned on high heat and brought the soup to a boil.
The slightly thicker chicken paste is made of chicken thigh meat. After the soup is boiled over high heat, the fat man puts the thigh meat paste into the soup in circles with his left hand, and slowly stirs it in the soup with a spoon in his right hand.
After all the leg meat paste is put into the pot, it first sinks to the bottom, then slowly floats up from the surface of the soup, and the soup begins to boil again.
The fat man immediately picked up a brick and placed it next to the stove. He used a rag to lift half of the pot away from the fire, so that half of it was sitting on the stove and the other half was sitting on the brick.
At this time, the soup in the pot is half boiling and half not boiling.
About two minutes later, all the minced chicken floated up, and the entire soup looked like white flowers blooming. The fat man then turned the heat to the minimum.
The soup noodles immediately became calm.
After soaking for five minutes, the chicken thighs sank again. The fat man picked up the soup pot and filtered it with gauze again.
This time the soup becomes much clearer, and a lot of oil and impurities in the soup base are absorbed together. As the soup is poured into the pot again and boiled, the aroma that wafts out becomes much richer.
The fat man added the slightly thinner chicken breast paste again.
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