Since they were making steam pot chicken, it was natural for all the family mbers to get a taste. Although the chicken itself wasn’t the main focus, the inclusion of herbs such as Panax notoginseng and Astragalus was quite beneficial for won, especially during autumn, a key season for nourishnt. Eating it several tis could significantly boost one’s immunity.
To ensure there was enough, Lin Xu specifically took out the largest steam pot Old Huang had sent. The diater of this pot was nearly forty centiters. It was very large and could hold plenty of ingredients, enough even if many people were eating together.
The steam pot isn’t a standalone cooking tool; it needs to be placed on top of a soup pot. To prevent the steam pot from being damaged or tipping over due to excessive condensation during cooking, Lin Xu had Che Zai weld a custom tal stand matching its diater. During cooking, the tal stand would bear all the pressure from the steam pot, ensuring no stress was placed on the pot below.
After setting up the steam pot, Lin Xu washed his hands and went to the TV station to film for the afternoon. This would allow him to focus solely on making the steam pot chicken at the shop the next day.
「The next morning.」
When Old Huang ca to deliver the vegetables, he said to Lin Xu, "I have a friend who contracted an orchard in the suburbs. He raised a flock of hens there, never feeding them comrcial feed. Instead, he let them eat bugs in the orchard and scattered wheat kernels. They aren’t very fat, but their at is firm, and their bellies have a lot of Butter... What ti will you start cooking? I can drive over there early to slaughter the chickens and bring them over."
The fresher the hens used for steam pot chicken, the better. Since the chicken at couldn’t be washed or blanched, the longer it sat, the worse its taste and texture would beco. Authentic steam pot chicken requires the chicken to be placed in the pot while it’s still warm and twitching to ensure that none of the nutrients and flavors are lost.
However, current regulations prohibited all food service venues within Beijing from slaughtering and processing live poultry on-site. It could only be brought in from the suburbs after slaughter. To ensure freshness, the ti between slaughter and cooking had to be minimized as much as possible.
After thinking, Lin Xu said, "Bring it around two in the afternoon. We can start cooking as soon as it arrives."
"Two o’clock? Will there be enough ti? A typical steam pot chicken takes more than four hours, you know. If you start that late, won’t you miss the dinner rush?" Old Huang was visibly worried, fearing that the cooking ti allocated was too short.
Lin Xu replied with a smile, "Don’t worry, I have a trick for making steam pot chicken that can cut the cooking ti in half."
This comnt made Old Huang pause. "A trick? Even I, a son-in-law from Southern Yunnan, don’t know that. Where did you learn it? It’s not so dubious shortcut like adding chicken broth or Chicken Essence, is it? That would be a waste of good ingredients, let tell you..."
The ingredients for the steam pot chicken being made today alone cost at least four figures. Using the restaurant thod of adding chicken broth or Chicken Essence would ruin everything.
"Relax, Old Huang, we’re eating this ourselves. How could I do that? This is a technique my master taught , and it’s not usually shared with outsiders," Lin Xu explained.
Upon hearing it was a thod passed down by Master Gao, Old Huang’s doubts vanished completely. It couldn’t be helped; the old master’s reputation was simply too great. He was practically a legend at Fishing Platform.
After settling the serious matters, Old Huang winked and asked, "Brother, those Moringa Seeds are working out alright, aren’t they?"
Working out? Lin Xu wasn’t really sure, as he couldn’t very well ask his senior brother or his father-in-law about it directly.
"I’m not sure. A friend of mine has been using them. They seem to be effective, as he hasn’t looked as troubled these past few days."
Troubled? Not troubled? Old Huang’s eyes lit up. The phrase ’not troubled’ is so vivid—much better than just saying ’listless,’ which everyone understands. Brother Lin truly lives up to his Finance University degree—such a cultured man!
He glanced around, and seeing no one was paying attention, he lowered his voice and said, "A friend of mine managed to order so Maca. It hasn’t arrived yet, but once it does, I’ll have my friend share so with yours. They say an expert from afar always has better tricks. We’ll see if it’s true."
Lin Xu was taken aback. Old Huang, you don’t actually think I’m as run-down as you are, do you?
I wanted to tell him the truth, but then I felt it wouldn’t be right to betray my senior brother. He’s constantly surrounded by adversaries and has very few allies on his side. Better not to sell him out. Still, I’ll have to find a way to clear up this misunderstanding later, or it’ll only get worse.
After Old Huang left, Lin Xu grabbed a small handful of Panax notoginseng, rinsed it twice to remove the surface dust, and then placed it in clean water to soak. Although the steam pot chicken was only to be cooked in the afternoon, the preparation had to start now.
Hard dicinal herbs like Panax notoginseng needed to be soaked for several hours in advance. Only then would their dicinal properties be fully released during cooking. Besides Panax notoginseng, other ingredients like Astragalus and morel mushrooms also needed pre-soaking and plumping. This would ensure they could all be added to the pot at the sa ti once the chicken arrived.
However, ingredients like Astragalus and morel mushrooms weren’t as hard as Panax notoginseng, so they didn’t need to be soaked too far in advance. Soaking them around eleven in the morning would be sufficient and wouldn’t delay their use in the afternoon.
After soaking the Panax notoginseng, breakfast at the shop was almost ready.
Today’s breakfast was Hot Dry Noodles.
The amount of dough made last night was a bit excessive. Plus, the pastry chefs had been practicing enthusiastically, so about twenty pounds of dough was left over. To avoid waste, Ji Minghui used a noodle machine to process it directly into round noodles. These were then boiled, mixed with rapeseed oil, cooled, and packed for refrigerated storage in the cold room.
Dough and noodles tended to fernt overnight. Even when kept in cold storage, they would develop a slight sour, fernted taste. So, they were imdiately cooked and processed into semi-finished Hot Dry Noodles to prevent this.
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