A mouthful of fried rice at a sky-high price, Old Tang apprenticed on the spot

Chapter 503 [Hundred birds facing the phoenix]

The main course of the Xiangwei Mountain and River Banquet naturally has to be the best of Hunan cuisine.

The main dish prepared by Li Yi was the [Hundred Birds and Phoenix] that was presented to Niu as the main dish at the 80th birthday banquet of Qianlong's birth mother, the Empress Dowager Niu Gulu.

This dish appeared for the first time at Niu's birthday banquet, and later all the concubines in the palace were proud to taste this dish at the birthday banquet.

Gradually, this dish was also spread among the people and became a popular official dish.

Because its main ingredient is Hunan yellow chicken, it is the most popular in the official circles of Hunan Province, and it has become the most famous classic official dish in Hunan cuisine.

But in the real world, this dish seems to have been lost because of the war.

Li Yi, who is possessed by Zheng Er, can witness the original appearance of this dish from memory fragments.

At the birthday banquet, with this dish on the table, hundreds of birds of various colors flew over the Dabaoen Yanshou Temple.

And this dish at the banquet really used a hundred kinds of birds to make soup.

But in modern times, most of the birds used at that time have become protected animals and can no longer be used for cooking.

Therefore, Li Yi asked Shen Han to buy ten kinds of famous chickens including Wenchang Chicken, Taihe Black Chicken, Lingshan Fragrant Chicken, Jingyang Chicken, and Dehua Black Chicken for soup.

These ten chickens have been stewed from yesterday afternoon to today, and the bones and skins have been stewed until they are rotten and turned into meat and bones.

The broth has also become golden and thick, and it is extremely fresh and thick.

After making the shark's fin in the morning, Li Yi used this pot of broth as the soup base, shaped the Hunan yellow chicken that Shen Han bought specially, and put it in.

Afterwards, Li Yi covered all the cracks of the casserole with bamboo paper dipped in water, so as not to let a trace of fragrance escape.

Then put it on the stove and simmer for more than two hours.

After serving other dishes, it was finally time for this dish to appear.

When Li Yi came to the stove, he used a thin knife along the lid of the casserole to cut the dried bamboo paper around it.

As he cut the bamboo paper, a scent that seemed to be able to turn into substance came out from the gap.

Xiao Zhang and the others followed behind Li Yi, watching his movements curiously.

Those ten chickens were the ones that they saw Li Yi put into the soup bucket and boiled into a bucket of extremely fresh and thick broth.

They also watched Li Yi put this Xianghuang chicken into the casserole and stew it on high heat.

Use the essence of ten chickens to simmer in one chicken, what would it taste like?
They are full of curiosity.

And this seductive fragrance gave them the answer.

The moment they smelled this fragrance, they all raised their heads and uttered two words in shock: "Damn!"

Chicken is the most commonly eaten meat in the world, and almost no one is unfamiliar with its taste.

Because of cultural relations, some people don't eat pork, some people don't eat beef, but there has never been a country or region where people don't eat chicken.

As apprentice cooks, Xiao Zhang and the others are all too familiar with the aroma of chicken soup.

They also learned several of the 108 ways to mix chicken broth with chicken essence.

But it was the first time they had smelled such a rich chicken soup aroma!
This feeling is like a hundred hens that have been stewed soft and tender, surrounding them, releasing their aroma wantonly, covering everything around them in the unique aroma of chicken soup, making people intoxicated !

This rich aroma is not like the monotonous umami taste of chicken essence, but a seductive taste that concentrates the essence of eleven fat and tender hens, concentrating all the energy and nutrition.

"smell good!"

Xiao Guo couldn't help but stare at Li Yi's scratched casserole lid, and licked his lips.

"Can the broth made from ten chickens not be fragrant?"

Xiao Zhang stared at Li Yi's hand to get the rag, full of anticipation.

Soon, Li Yi used a rag to cover the lid of the casserole and lifted the lid off.

Teng~!

A gust of hot steam rose up, making the aroma of the chicken soup that was just drilled out a thousand times stronger in an instant!
Xiao Zhang and the others couldn't wait to take a deep breath, and then all their minds were occupied by this fragrance.

up!

Too high!

As the aroma wafted, even the chefs and helpers on other stoves were attracted attention, sniffing the aroma and asking each other.

"What is the taste?"

"It smells so good!"

"Did someone make chicken soup? It smells so fresh!"

They asked each other, and soon they followed the smell and saw the casserole that Li Yi had just opened.

Xiao Zhang and the others have been completely attracted by the aroma in the casserole, and they are all salivating looking at the pot.

There is half a pot of golden chicken soup in the pot, and there is a layer of orange-red oil floating on top.

It was the crab oil that Li Yi fried crab roe with lard before cooking.

In the chicken soup, a hen standing proudly is maintaining the appearance of singing.

After more than two hours of stewing, even hard bones can be stewed soft.

This chicken can keep its head up because Li Yi fixed it with a toothpick.

After filling out two spoonfuls of chicken soup, Li Yi put the lid back on the casserole to avoid losing the flavor.

Afterwards, he returned to the counter and brought over the prepared chicken, freshwater prawns and steamed pigeon eggs.

Let Xiao Zhang fetch another ten spoons, and Li Yi started to make Chaofeng's hundred birds.

At the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet, the hundred birds in this dish were made from the minced meat of the one hundred birds that were used for soup.

Li Yi only used ten chickens for this banquet, so he could only make ten birds.

Seeing the minced chicken that Li Yi took, Xiao Zhang and the others were very excited.

"I smashed that chicken."

"I chopped those two!"

"Rounding up, this dish is also made by us! Haha!"

They muttered excitedly, all staring at Li Yi's movements, for fear of missing any details.

Liao Wendong also took it seriously.

When he saw the name of this dish on the menu, he originally thought that Li Yi just borrowed the name and created his own original dish.

But smelling the aroma in the casserole and looking at the delicate birds made by Li Yi, he couldn't help feeling suspicious.

Could this really be the lost [Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix]?
"What is he cooking?"

Xia Zhuo's voice came from behind.

Liao Wendong looked back, but found that Xia Zhuo was holding up his apron, wiping his hands, staring at Li Yi's movements of making a hundred birds, and asked in doubt.

Looking at him, Liao Wendong hesitated for a while, but still answered honestly: "A hundred birds look to the phoenix."

"what?"

Xia Zhuo suddenly turned to him, questioning in his eyes: "Are you kidding me?"

"No, it's really a hundred birds chasing a phoenix."

Liao Wendong explained with a wry smile: "That's what it says on his menu."

"..."

Xia Zhuo stared straight at him for two seconds, seeing that he didn't seem to be joking, so he looked at Li Yi again.

A hundred birds chasing the phoenix?

How can it be!

A dish that Xia's Restaurant doesn't know how to cook, but he, a foreigner, can cook?

[Bainiao Chaofeng] It is the first official dish in Hunan cuisine, and only Xia's restaurant can make it before.

But because of the war, this dish was lost together with several large official dishes.

Since Grandpa Xia Zhuo’s generation, this dish has become a legend in the Hunan cuisine circle.

Xia Zhuo's father, including Xia Zhuo himself, tried to reproduce this dish, but they all failed.

They can't restore the feeling of "the essence of a hundred birds, the phoenix is ​​unified" mentioned in the recipe.

The essence of a hundred birds?

Xia Zhuo had a thought, and then sniffed the aroma of stewed chicken in the air.

Could it be that the essence of a hundred birds is talking about this kind of aroma?
Only by gathering the essence of a hundred birds can it have such a fragrant taste, right?
A ridiculous idea suddenly appeared in Xia Zhuo's mind.

Could it be that what this kid did was really that [Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix]?
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(End of this chapter)