Chen Yan continued, "Elder Gao said he’s planning to show off his skills tonight. You all just wait and see—you’ll be eating roast whole lamb personally made by a State Banquet master!"
Cheers imdiately filled the vehicle.
On a double seat behind, the slimd-down Panda looked out of the car window at the behemoth RV and muttered softly, I really didn’t expect that the once silver-haired young boy would end up in the hands of a wealthy woman like this.
Next to him, Wu Kexin glanced over. "Are you jealous? Wishing a rich woman would provide for you too?"
Panda shook his head quickly. "Not... I’m not jealous at all." He dared not speak recklessly. Otherwise, he’d face the consequences.
Wu Kexin laid her head on his shoulder. "I’ll work hard to make money and try to let you experience what it feels like to be a kept man."
A look of joy appeared on Panda’s face, then he said, "Great... HISS... not great!"
He lifted his shirt and saw the tender flesh around his waist had been pinched red. "I already said not great, so why are you still pinching ?"
"Consider it a taste of married life," Wu Kexin said. "This way, you’ll know how I’ll fight back if you bully after we’re married."
Panda, who had been wincing, was completely srized by the words "after marriage." He lifted his shirt a bit more. "Why don’t you... pinch a couple more tis?"
"What? Are you a masochist or sothing?"
"No, I’m just afraid this is all a dream..."
「Back in the restaurant.」
The oil in the pot was already hot. Lin Xu took the chickens, which had been drained of excess water, and placed them into the hot oil one by one to fry.
The oil for this step needed to be slightly hotter to thoroughly dry and crisp the chicken skin. This way, when the chicken was later placed in the marinade, its surface would develop a "tiger skin" pattern, and the skin itself would be less prone to breaking during the stewing process.
However, before adding the chicken, it was crucial to ensure all surface moisture was removed. Especially the cavity; any remaining water there could cause the hot oil to splatter violently.
Thanks to the maltose coating, the chicken skin quickly fried to a reddish-golden brown.
"When I was an apprentice, the chicken could be removed from the pot once it reached this stage," Xu Xinhua remarked, seeing that the boss showed no intention of removing the chicken yet.
Everyone truly has their own thods, he mused. So cooks briefly fry their roast chicken to tighten the skin before removing it, while others prefer to fry it a bit longer before stewing.
Everyone’s culinary understanding and desired texture for roast chicken differ, leading to noticeable variations in the frying stage.
After frying for a while longer, once the chicken skin had transford from golden yellow to a deep reddish hue, Lin Xu used a slotted spoon to lift the chickens out of the oil one by one.
The fried chickens were set aside to drain the oil before he started the next batch.
The freshly fried chicken couldn’t be added to the pot imdiately, as the skin would easily beco soft and lose its crispness. It needed to cool slightly before being placed in the pot for stewing.
The previously prepared marinade also needed the heat turned off to let it settle, and its temperature had to be slightly lowered to prevent the hot liquid from damaging the chicken skin upon imrsion.
Once all the chickens were fried, Lin Xu stretched his shoulders and then slowly began to place the first batch of fried chicken into the marinade.
The most cost-effective thod for making roast chicken involves using a large stockpot. A bamboo grate is placed at the bottom to prevent sticking. Then, the fried chicken is neatly arranged in circles inside before the marinade is poured in. This thod maximizes space utilization, and the stockpot’s design helps concentrate heat, thus saving energy.
However, Lin Xu didn’t opt for this thod. Today was, after all, experintal, and large stockpots weren’t as convenient as a jacketed kettle.
A jacketed kettle heats evenly all around, ensuring a consistent temperature throughout the pot. A stockpot, on the other hand, is heated from the bottom, leading to varying temperatures from the bottom up.
These differences in cooking vessels result in variations in the quality of the roast chicken.
After all the chickens were placed into the marinade, Lin Xu added a basin of the marinade previously used for Tiger Skin Chicken Feet and half a basin of the marinade from stewed duck products.
Marinated dishes are inseparable from a good old marinade, and the timing of its addition is crucial.
The best approach is to pour it over the top once all other ingredients are in place. This allows the flavors of the old marinade to gradually seep down into the items being stewed.
Simultaneously, it forms an insulating layer on the surface of the marinade, helping to maintain a more constant temperature.
After pouring in the old marinade, Lin Xu added a large ladleful of liquor. With that, it was all set!
He turned up the heat to bring the marinade to a rolling boil and cooked it vigorously for fifteen minutes. This allowed the boiling marinade to thoroughly cook the chicken, draw out any blood and impurities from the at, and let the gay odors dissipate with the evaporating alcohol.
Next, he reduced the heat to its lowest setting, maintaining a gentle simr where the marinade was just lightly bubbling.
This "lightly bubbling" state, or gentle simr, ant only an occasional small bubble would rise to the surface, while a layer of oil floated on top of the marinade.
It’s said that one should not cover the pot when making marinated at. In fact, this layer of oil serves as the best lid.
This oil layer helps retain heat, regulate temperature, and also makes the at more tender and succulent.
If the at were boiled vigorously, even the highest quality cut would turn out tough after stewing.
"Maintain this level of heat for stewing," Lin Xu instructed. "Turn off the heat after two hours, then let it soak for at least three more hours. That’s how this roast chicken will be perfectly done."
This embodies the principle of "three parts stewing, seven parts soaking." The stewing ti can be relatively short, but the soaking period should be as long as possible to allow the marinade’s flavors to fully penetrate the chicken.
A well-made roast chicken is described as one that "falls apart with a shake." This refers to chicken prepared by stewing over low heat and then soaking for several hours.
Only roast chicken prepared this way can achieve that perfect tenderness where the at is fall-off-the-bone tender and the bones themselves are soft.
Once the chicken was stewing, Lin Xu checked the ti. It was already past nine in the morning, so he hurried upstairs to prepare the Spicy Chicken.
Spicy Chicken is a popular chicken dish in the Northwest Region, as famous as Big Plate Chicken, and different regions have their own variations.
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