Chapter 498
Tang Ziyi usually just eats and has never really chosen the duck embryos himself.
He knew that when choosing duck embryos, he should pick those that were round and smooth, but every duck in this row was beautiful, so he chose the one that he liked the most.
"Okay, just use the brush and sauce to mark the duck, and we'll roast it for you."
Because roasting a duck takes a long time, and it is now 5 o'clock, Su Yuanzheng and Su Miao are not hungry, so they decided to go out for a walk and come back in an hour.
Outside is the famous Qianmen Street, which has a large flow of people and many private businesses. All kinds of shops you can think of are here, making Su Yuanzheng dazzled.
Su Miao still remembered that when she came to Beijing to study in her previous life, she behaved like a bumpkin when her local classmates brought her here.
After I went back and checked the information, I found out that Qianmen Street was the former Zhengyangmen Street.
During the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, Yu Qingyuan described it in his Chunming Congtan:
"The Pearl Market is located at the intersection of Zhengyang Gate, stretching two or three miles in front, back, and left and right. It is filled with wealthy merchants. The main street in front of the gate is the market. Gold, silver, jewelry, and food are piled up like mountains. There are wine pavilions and singing halls, and people cheer and drink, never stopping until dusk."
This describes the decadent and decadent life on Qianmen Street, and also proves that this place has been very prosperous from ancient times to the present.
At this time, Su Yuan saw a roast duck restaurant with a long queue just like the one they had just visited, and asked:
"There's a roast duck restaurant here too. It's the same one we're going to eat at later, right?"
"Uncle Yuan, these two are really different. There are two schools of Beijing roast duck. One is the hanging oven roast duck we are going to eat later, which is roasted over an open flame;
The other type is the braised oven roast duck, which is represented by this restaurant. The characteristic is that the duck is not exposed to open flames and is supposedly cooked through stewing.
"So there are different ways to cook it! Next time I'll try this place and compare the differences."
The bustling streets were so fun to stroll around. Su Yuanzheng started shopping as soon as he saw the special items, and even Tang Ziyi and Ye Jiayin became eager to buy them.
If Su Miao hadn't been keeping an eye on the time and reminding them to go back for dinner, they would have been carrying even more things.
When they returned to the restaurant, the roast duck was still a while away from being cooked. Tang Ziyi brought the menu and asked them to order some more dishes.
Su Miao looked at the menu. The price of a roast duck was about 10-12 yuan, and you could also order half a duck.
A large bowl of duck bone soup costs 70 cents, and a small bowl costs 50 cents. The onions and sauces that go with roast duck are charged separately, at 30 cents per serving.
The lotus leaf pancake for wrapping roast duck is 2 taels per portion and only costs 15 cents.
There are also many special stir-fried dishes and seafood, with prices ranging from 1 yuan to several yuan.
At the end they added some duck bone soup, moo shu pork, chicken slices in hibiscus, crab and dried shrimp in rapeseed.
After sitting for a few more minutes, the roast duck came out. A duck carving chef in white work clothes brought the roast duck to the four people.
Tang Ziyi explained: "Uncle Yuan, Miaomiao, this is for us to confirm whether this is the duck we just picked, and see if the cooking temperature is satisfactory."
The freshly baked roast duck is an attractive reddish-brown color, with a crispy skin and a charming luster.
The duck exudes a rich aroma, a mixture of the fresh fragrance of duck meat and the fragrance of fruit wood, which instantly arouses everyone's appetite.
Su Yuanzheng couldn't help but widen his eyes and praised, "This roast duck looks really good, it's worthy of being a famous dish in the capital!"
Seeing that they were all very satisfied, the duck slicing chef began to slice the duck for them.
I saw that he had a very skillful technique and his movements were as smooth and natural as flowing water.
The kitchen knife danced lightly in his hands, and each piece of duck meat was cut into even size, moderate thickness, with the skin and meat connected just right.
He started from the duck breast, cutting the fattiest part into thin slices, and then skillfully sliced the meat from the duck legs, duck wings and other parts one by one.
While slicing the duck, the chef also introduced it to everyone:
Our roast duck is not only roasted meticulously, but also sliced according to traditional methods. Each duck is sliced into 108 pieces, no more, no less, to ensure the best taste of roast duck in every bite.
The duck slicing chef was very quick, and while he was talking, three plates of duck meat had already been sliced. The first plate was sliced duck breast, with the skin and meat separated.
The second plate was sliced duck legs, with the skin and meat connected, each slice had skin and meat, and was thin but not broken.
The third dish consists of two pieces of tender meat: duck head and duck tail, which symbolizes having a beginning and an end.
Afterwards, the master asked them how to deal with the duck bones, and Tang Ziyi said to fry them for them.
After the chef took the duck carcass away, Tang Ziyi said with a smile:
"Fried duck racks are delicious, but at my house we usually just pack up our roast duck and take it home to prepare it ourselves. But Uncle Yuan, since you guys aren't ready to start the fire yet, let them prepare it."
Su Yuanzheng smiled and nodded, saying, "You are very thoughtful."
The duck skin needs to be eaten while it's hot. Ye Jiayin sprinkled some sugar on it and said, "Miaomiao, Uncle Yuan, this duck skin dipped in sugar is a classic way to eat it. Try it."
Su Yuanzheng picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. It was indeed crispy and delicious, with a hint of sweetness. This was indeed a new taste for him. He had never eaten meat directly with sugar.
Then, looking at the beautifully presented roast duck on the table, Su Yuanzheng didn't know what to do for a moment.
Next to the duck meat, there were several plates of exquisite side dishes, including tender green onion shreds, juicy cucumber strips, and a small dish of rosy sweet noodle sauce.
In addition to these, there is also a stack of dough sheets as thin as cicada wings, exuding a faint noodle fragrance.
Tang Ziyi picked up a piece of dough, skillfully sandwiched shredded green onions and cucumber strips, then spread the duck meat with sweet bean sauce, and then gently rolled it up, and a plump duck meat roll was ready.
He handed the duck roll to Su Yuanzheng and said:
"Uncle Yuan, try it. It's different from Yongcheng. We usually eat roast duck rolled up like this."
Su Yuanzheng took the duck roll, put it in his mouth and took a light bite.
In an instant, the aroma of duck meat spreads in your mouth, the crispy duck skin makes a "crunch" sound, the spicy chopped green onion stimulates the taste buds, making the whole taste richer, and the sweetness of the sweet noodle sauce adds a touch of mellow flavor to this delicacy.
Su Yuanzheng's eyes lit up and he praised it highly:
"Delicious! This taste is amazing! Our Yongcheng roast duck is salty and can be eaten directly as a meat dish with rice.
This is made into a roll directly, and it contains meat, vegetables and staple food in one bite. The addition of sweet noodle sauce gives me the feeling of eating dim sum.
The tenderness of the duck meat, the crispiness of the duck skin, the spiciness of the chopped green onions and the sweetness of the sweet noodle sauce, all the flavors blend together in your mouth, it's really good!
They are both roasted ducks, but the two methods and tastes are completely different, but both are delicious.”
In order to avoid revealing that he had eaten Beijing roast duck, Su Miao, who was waiting for Jiayin to help him roll it, heard his father's comments and chuckled, saying:
"Dad, I think your vocabulary is getting bigger and bigger, and your comments are very accurate. You can almost be a food reviewer."
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