Rebirth: Starting from the Cafeteria

Chapter 70 Texas Braised Chicken
"Before the school started, I was told to teach math, but after the school started, some people suddenly had the idea to let me lead the propaganda team. I am not a musician or dancer, but now I have to rehearse programs every day."

Qi Yan talked a lot about school things in the letter, which was completely different from Liang Meiqin.

Du Shaojie knew very well that Liang Meiqin must have confidentiality requirements, so there were many things she could not say.

Qi Yan, on the other hand, had no such concerns. She said whatever came to her mind. Overall, there was a gap between reality and her imagination, which made her feel a little unhappy, but not to the point where she couldn't stand it.

In fact, in today's schools, both teachers' teaching tasks and students' learning tasks are not heavy, and extracurricular activities occupy half of the time.

For example, various art performances are held from time to time, and the programs rehearsed include modern model operas, chorus, etc. The propaganda team is responsible for this job.

"Shaojie, I want to eat big plate chicken."

Qi Yan's letter ends here. Her writing style is completely different from Liang Meiqin's.

Liang Meiqin treated Du Shaojie as someone to confide in. Between the lines of her fresh and graceful words, there was a faint sense of separation and a vague feeling of longing.

Qi Yan treated Du Shaojie as a target for complaints, laughing and scolding him without any concealment.

However, the two of them also have one thing in common, which is that they want to eat the food cooked by Du Shaojie.

"So I'm your personal chef, right?"

Du Shaojie took advantage of the afternoon when he was not busy to go to the private room to write a reply letter.

After finishing writing, he went to the field office again. The old man in the mail room looked at him and laughed. Could it be that Master Du was dating someone?

After dinner, Qin Xiaomei mysteriously pulled him aside and said, "Master Du, remember to bring a chicken back after get off work. I'll keep the egg-laying chicken, and we can each get one, and leave the rest for the canteen."

Qin Xiaomei introduced a new batch of chicks when the weather was hot, and the grown-up chickens would naturally be eliminated.

Most of the eliminated chickens were given to the canteen. She selected four fat chickens and planned to share them with three people in the canteen and Wang Liwen. Although Wang Liwen was now in the infirmary, she had worked in the canteen for a long time before, so she should be given one.

"Yeah, I remember."

Du Shaojie smiled. He thought Qin Xiaomei was a nice person and not greedy at all.

Even if these chickens were given more to each individual, no one would say anything, but she did not do so.

I carried a chicken back to my house and looked around the yard, wondering where to keep the chicken. If I let it run around the yard, wouldn't there be chicken shit all over the place?

"Master Du, are you there?"

Just as I was worrying, I heard Wang Liwen's voice outside the door.

He turned around to open the door without even putting down the chicken in his hand.

Then he saw Wang Liwen in the same image, also holding a chicken in her hand, smiling at him awkwardly.

"Master Du, I don't know how to raise chickens or kill them, so why don't I give you this chicken?"

Theoretically, Wang Liwen, like Du Shaojie, has vacation time every month to go back to the city.

But her home was thousands of miles away, and she was single. She used to live in the dormitory and eat in the canteen when she worked in the bureau, so she couldn't even handle a chicken.

"Can't you kill a chicken with the hand that holds the scalpel? It just so happens that I'm too lazy to raise it, so why not get rid of it now."

Du Shaojie couldn't help laughing, and then invited the other person in.

After tying up the two chickens and throwing them on the ground, he went to the kitchen and lit the stove to boil water.

After the water boiled, he started to kill chickens in the yard. His technique was so skillful that Wang Liwen stared in amazement.

"I can pluck hair."

Du Shaojie scalded the chicken feathers with boiling water, and Wang Liwen came forward to help.

This was a delicate job and it took me a while to clean the two chickens.

The two chickens were not big, each weighing about one kilogram but less than two kilograms, and looked of good quality. "Doctor Wang, I'm going to make Dezhou Braised Chicken. Are you used to it? The preparation process takes a long time. If you come to pick it up tomorrow morning, you can save a meal ticket."

The processed chicken was placed in a basin, and Du Shaojie then began to process the chicken offal.

These chicken offal can be made into [Spicy and Sour Chicken Offal], while the whole chicken is intended to be made into [Dezhou Braised Chicken].

"I don't have anything to do when I get home. You take a rest first, and I'll come."

Wang Liwen nodded, then snatched the scissors from Du Shaojie's hand, and watched Du Shaojie work while she worked.

After the chicken offal was processed, he soaked the whole chicken in cold water. The purpose of this step was to remove the blood from the chicken, and the water had to be changed two or three times in the middle.

Taking advantage of this gap, Du Shaojie began to prepare various spices and condiments.

Small ingredients include scallion segments, ginger slices, onions, yellow radish roots, coriander, a small amount of dried chili peppers, etc. There are more spices, including pepper, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, fennel, angelica, cinnamon bark, cloves, and amomum.

Condiments include soy sauce, salt, sugar, pepper, etc.

After the whole chicken is soaked, drain the water, shape it, and then start coloring it.

The easiest way to color the chicken is to evenly apply soy sauce to the chicken body. Du Shaojie chose to use sugar color to color the chicken, and then put it aside and wait for the chicken to dry.

Wang Liwen looked at the chicken in the pot and thought that Chef Du was very particular about cooking.

The chicken's wings were inserted through the incision of the neck and stuffed into the mouth, while the two chicken claws were stuffed into the abdominal cavity from the back. The shape alone looks very beautiful.

"Master Du, do you want to put it in the pot and stew it later?"

Wang Liwen processed and washed the chicken offal, then stood behind Du Shaojie and talked to him.

"Don't rush to stew it. The whole chicken needs to be fried first. This process cannot be skipped."

Du Shaojie responded, then went to heat up the pan and pour in a lot of oil.

At this time, the surface of the whole chicken had dried, so he grabbed a chicken and put it into the pot.

"When frying, put cold oil in the pan, wait for the oil temperature to rise, and then use a large spoon to pour hot oil on the chicken. You see, the surface of the chicken is now golden yellow, which means it is basically fried."

Du Shaojie kept moving his hands while talking.

In about two minutes, one chicken is fried. Set the fried chicken aside to drain the oil and fry the other one immediately.

The last step is stewing. Leave a little oil in the pot, stir-fry the scallions, ginger, onions and other small ingredients until fragrant and pour them into the soup pot. Put a bamboo grate on the bottom of the pot, then put the two chickens in one by one, and add more water.

Put the cleaned spices into gauze bags and put them into the soup pot.

Finally, add salt, soy sauce, pepper, sugar and other seasonings, bring to a boil over high heat, and place a porcelain plate on the surface of the whole chicken so that the chicken can better absorb the flavor.

Turn to low heat and simmer slowly until the chicken is boneless.

This process takes about three hours or more, depending on the tenderness of the chicken.

"Just stew it slowly. After it's done, let it soak overnight, and it will be more flavorful."

Du Shaojie washed his hands, then boiled a pot of tea and sat in the yard with Wang Liwen, drinking tea and chatting. Locals usually drink brick tea, which needs to be boiled on fire for a while, otherwise it will not taste good.

It's a bit chilly in the mornings and evenings at this time of year, but the two felt the temperature was just right, neither cold nor hot, very comfortable.

"Master Du, I noticed that you can cook any dish."

Wang Liwen had no intention of leaving. Anyway, she was not afraid of gossip.

If you ask her if she has any improper thoughts about Du Shaojie, that's definitely not the case.

Being the same people who have been stranded in the world, there is a natural sense of closeness between them. What's more, the other person has helped her when she was in the most difficult time. In her heart, she has already regarded him as a younger brother.

(End of this chapter)