Although Xu Milu said she wanted to make roast duck, fruitwood roast duck cannot be made on the same day; the preparation process alone requires several steps.
Mo Xuan is now very self-aware. As soon as he heard there was something delicious to eat, he went to the riverbank overnight and carried back several bags of mud and stones. He then built a kiln as tall as a person according to Xu Milu's request.
Although it was handmade and looked a bit strange, it was basically usable. The fire spirit was very satisfied with its new home and refused to come out once it went inside.
It is said that foxes love to eat fat chickens and ducks, and this duck-raising skill is not bad either. The fat ducks are raised to be white and plump, and their feathers are clean and tidy. When Xu Milu pinches them, they are full of plump duck meat.
After killing the duck and bleeding it, Xu Milu chose to make an incision at the neck. To ensure the blood was drained completely, she hung the duck up for a while until the blood had drained. Then, she boiled a pot of hot water and scalded the duck's skin clean of the feathers bit by bit.
This step is to make the duck skin firmer, so that the roasted duck will have firm skin and tender meat.
Next, make a small incision vertically through the duck's belly, clean out all the internal organs, then chop off the duck's feet and head, and clean it thoroughly inside and out.
One of the key features of fruitwood-roasted duck is that the skin and meat separate easily, which is closely related to the pre-roasting process.
Insert a flexible tube into the incision site on the duck and inflate it with an air pump to effectively separate the skin from the flesh.
Mo Xuan watched with great interest. He casually made a hand gesture, and without the air pump moving, a ball of air was pumped in from the opening of the duck's neck. The whole duck slowly inflated as if it had been filled with air, looking like a big, fat balloon.
"What kind of magic is this? I wanted to ask you that last time, since your Dragon Ball isn't with me, how can you still use magic?"
Xu Milu held the duck with a curious expression, and didn't hold back her praise:
"You did a good job. Maybe you have some talent for cooking."
Mo Xuan is easily flattered; he gets carried away whenever someone praises him. Hearing Xu Milu say this, he immediately became smug.
"Although the Dragon Ball is not on my body, I have eaten so much spiritual food these days that I can already use some minor earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magic that allows one to control energy) spells. As long as I recite the incantation in my mind, I can control energy."
Xu Milu's impression of magic was all about flying and disappearing into the ground; this was the first time she had ever seen such a convenient spell.
She glanced at Mo Xuan's gesture, then tried to mimic his movements by pinching her hand. She didn't see any magic, but felt a gust of wind blow by, turning her into an invisible lump of clay that she could mold however she wanted.
"That's amazing!"
Xu Milu found some enjoyment in inflating the live ducks one by one. Once the ducks were fully inflated, she carefully tied them with thin hemp rope and hung them on the branches of the wisteria tree in the yard to dry.
Aren't you going to eat now?
Mo Xuan watched with envy, and Xu Milu patiently explained:
"To make the duck skin crispy, it has to be air-dried overnight, then marinated in sauce, its belly sealed with thread, and finally roasted in the oven. Just wait and see. It's not that easy to taste such a delicacy."
After saying that, she went to test her newly learned Qi manipulation technique, controlling that small ball of gas to sweep across the courtyard, eventually blowing the leaves of the wisteria tree all over the yard.
"I knew I shouldn't have taught you. Why keep people in suspense for no reason?"
Mo Xuan was filled with sorrow as he squatted under the tree, staring at the ducks, swallowing hard and imagining what the "unparalleled delicacy" Xu Milu had described tasted like.
...
...
If you let the duck air dry overnight, and the skin springs back quickly when pressed, Xu Milu knows it's almost done.
Mix one bowl of white sugar, two bowls of salt, half a bowl of sand ginger powder, one bowl of pepper powder, four spoons of mushroom powder, five spoons of sesame paste, five spoons of peanut butter, two bowls of sesame oil, and one bowl of peanut oil in a wooden basin. After mixing well, take the air-dried whole duck out and coat it evenly inside and out with the sauce until the sauce melts and adheres to the duck.
Next, the opening in the duck's abdomen is sewn shut with needle and thread. Then, the duck is placed in boiling water for a few seconds. Xu Milu gets the timing just right. Soaking it for too long will affect the texture of the duck meat, and soaking it for too short a time will make the duck skin not crispy enough.
The last and most important step before roasting is to mix peach blossom mica honey and water in a 5:1 ratio, brush a layer of honey water onto the duck, let it air dry for an hour, and then repeat this step three times until the last time the whole duck is soaked in the honey water. Take it out and let it air dry until the honey water on the skin is completely dry, then it can be roasted in the kiln.
It was already evening when she finished this step. Xu Milu had spent almost the entire day brushing honey water on the ducks. When she realized it was dark and looked up, she saw a row of dead ducks hanging on the wisteria trunk, standing against the wind. It was a bit scary at first glance.
"Can we roast it now? We found it according to your request. It's an old apricot tree in the mountains. Hu Silang said that last year a tree spirit of a Pingpo fruit tree died during a lightning tribulation. I think there's no use leaving its trunk there, so I'll just have him bring it back to burn for fuel."
Mo Xuan was the most enthusiastic, squeezing over with a large pile of chopped fruit wood, followed by the ingratiating Hu Silang.
It's obvious that Mo Xuan is very hungry.
I wonder if the branches of the tree spirit would be more heat-resistant when roasted?
The wisteria tree spirit on the side trembled with fear. When it saw Xu Milu's gaze drift over, it picked up its small watering can and began frantically watering the other fruit trees in the yard.
They have an extremely strong will to survive.
...
The earthen kiln was built up little by little with large stones, and then filled with gravel and river mud. After being fired for two or three days, it was ready to use.
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