Chapter 30 – Guo Jing and Huang Rong [1]
Translated by Prosperousfood.com
Rehosted by Gumihou at kitchennovel.com
Edited by Gumihou
“Ye Chui, it ran that way, catch it, catch it! There! There… ah?”
At the top of Feng Ye Hill, Lin Wei took great delight in directing Ye Chui hither thither with with his net, yelling and screaming her directions excitedly. They were currently after a black Tibetan Chicken which had just switched direction and was squawking towards Lin Wei…
This Tibetan Chicken was small, nimble and extremely fierce, making it hard to deal with. It ducked away from Ye Chui and made to attack Lin Wei, its flapping wings and warlike screeches was so fierce that Lin Wei instinctively ducked down with her arms over her head.
Luckily, Ye Chui managed to intercept the angry chicken, clapping the net over it, finally securing his prey.
As the chicken squawked and threw itself against the net, doing its level best to escape, Ye Chui twisted the net and stepped on the handle as he called out to Lin Wei, “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, phew, that was really scary.” Lin Wei lightly patted her chest, a smile bloomed on her face, happy to have survived unscathed. Everything seemed funny now that the danger had passed. “That was dangerous, luckily you’re quick with your net.”
“These chickens had been running wild for generations in the past 80 years. It won’t be easy to tame them. But I really didn’t expect it to be so difficult either.” Ye Chui blew out a sharp breath as he panted a little from the exertion. Chen Sitang had offered to let his team catch the chickens for Ye Chui, however, he wanted to go catch the chickens himself. While it was true that as a chef, he prided himself in getting his own ingredients, and well, since Lin Wei was here for fun, why not have fun?
Chen Sitang merely assumed that Ye Chui was some silly, rich young man out to have fun in the mountains with his girlfriend.
At this moment, Ye Chui squatted down to inspect the bird. He nodded, “This chicken is only about a few months old, that’s the best time to eat them. Not bad we’ll be able to make something good out of it!”
“Ye Chui, what are you planning to make?” Lin Wei asked excitedly, the young lady was most interested in this question.
“Something called Stewed Chicken with Mushroom,” Ye Chui said with a smile.
The Stewed Chicken with Mushroom is a type of home cooking, but one that could also stand as a superior cuisine. It has a refreshing taste and very nutritious. Ye Chui planned to serve Elder Han with this dish in a few days time.
Lin Wai repeated the words ‘Stewed Chicken with Mushroom’ to herself, her large eyes bright, “It sounds delicious, Ye Chui, I want to try it.”
“Hehe, you’ll definitely get a chance to tastes it, but for now, let me serve you something else.”
“Is it the Beggar Chicken you mentioned yesterday?” Lin Wei immediately grinned, she clearly remembered everything Ye Chui had said yesterday.
“That’s right, a simplified Beggar Chicken. We won’t need anything fancy to make it. In fact, this is the best place to make it.” Ye Chui smiled. He carefully placed the Tibetan chicken into a bamboo basket along with three other chickens. These three were the short legged, broiler chickens. These three were pretty docile, and were now sitting quietly in the basket.
Ye Chui stuffed the Tibetan chicken in, with barely a pause, he grabbed one of the broiler chicken out. The other two will be served along with the Tibetan chicken to Elder Han. Since it was supposed to be a feast, he planned to serve two other famous chicken dishes in addition to the Stewed Chicken.
The Manchu Han banquet represent the highest level of the Chinese food culture. The complete banquet boasts of 328 dishes. The 328 dishes are separated into 4 classes: Common, Fine, Royal and Diet. For example, and excellent, top notch dish like La Zi Ji was only a Common class dish. Ye Chui still had quite a lot of cards in his sleeve.
“Ye Chui, how do we make the Beggar Chicken, ah? Can I help you?” Lin Wei was nearly hopping with excitement.
“Look for some firewood for me, I need to prepare the chicken.” Ye Chui said, killing chicken was a type of skill that would result in a quite a bit of blood, and he really want to protect Lin Wei from that sight.
Lin Wei nodded agreeably and rushed off on her mission. She had grown up as a pampered and spoiled miss, and never had to do anything like this in her life. However, the prospect of a delicious meal spurred her to action and she did her job quite happily.
There’s a small man made pond at the top of Feng Ye Hill, it was meant to be the source of water for the free-range chickens running about the place. It was now May going into June, though the lotus flowers had yet to bloom, the leaves were large and round. Perfect for wrapping up a chicken.
Ye Chui came prepared with a small kitchen kit. Inside was a cleaver, it had been a cheap, clumsy, heavy cleaver once, one that Ye Chui had patiently sharpened and adjust into something more reliable. It would do a quick job of killing the chicken.
Once killed and bled, he efficiently plucked and gutted the chicken, all basic skills for a good chef.
From within the kitchen kit, he took out some paper packets of seasoning. These were ripped opened and spread evenly over and inside the whole kitchen. Next, he wrapped up the chicken with a large lotus leaf he had plucked from the pond. Once that was done, he covered the chicken with mud he had dug from the pool, carried over with another lotus leaf of course.
While he was doing this, Lin Wei had managed to collect a little pile of firewood.
Ye Chui dug hole in the ground, placed the mud covered chicken into it, and covered it with a thin layer of soil. This type of Beggar Chicken was the most basic, no extra tricks, no special condiments. Fire control was something that really tested the skill of a chef, knowledge was all good and well, but experience was the only way to learn how to roast something delicious.
He dusted his hands and came over to inspect Wei Lin’s pile of firewood. He collected the wood, stacked it up and set it on fire.
“Ye Chui, Ye Chui, is it done, yet?”
“How could it be, ah. We still have to wait.”
A little while later.
“Ye Chui, Ye Chui, is it done, yet? I think I smelled something delicious.”
“… you’re imagining things, wait a bit more.”
A little while more.
“Ye Chui, Ye Chui, it’s done, yet?”
“… almost, but I think we need more firewood, let’s go and have a look around, ba.”
Another little while longer.
“Ye Chui, Ye Chui, my tummy is rumbling, is it done, yet?”
“Not yet, just a bit more.”
Another while longer.
“Ye Chui, Ye Chui, it’s been a long time. Is it done, yet?”
“Just about done.”
Another while longer.
Lin Wei, who had been sitting with her hands tucked under chin suddenly shot up, “Yi?! Really? Truly? Hurry, hurry, I want to see this Beggar Chicken.”
Ye Chui sighed and shook his head. This little cat was clearly overjoyed. When the fire burnt finally out, he carefully scraped off the layer of ash and dug out a blackened ball of thing. The mud had baked into a hardened ball. He grabbed a rock and cracked the ball opened, and the smell of chicken, spices and lotus leaf whooshed out.
The smell was not as powerful as the La Zi Ji, but has a rather alluring scent, regardless.
Chicken baked using this method came out bright red and particularly mouthwatering. Lin Wei looked at the sparkling chicken and her hand reached out unconsciously, and was caught by Ye Chui. “Careful, it’s hot.”
“Oh,” Lin Wei looked up at Ye Chui with wide eyes. He fished out a kitchen knife with his free hand, seemingly unaware that he was still holding Lin Wei’s hand…
It was at this time that a sudden crackle was heard from behind a collection of tall grasses.
Though it was not loud, it put Wei Lin and Ye Chui on alert. Both glanced over at the same direction.
“Ye Chui, what was that?” Lin Wei looked at the underbrush, which looked thick enough to hide half a dozen people in it with some trepidation, “is it some wild animal?”
“There shouldn’t be any wild animals in this little hill, ba?”
Ye Chui frowned, he could not help but recall the scene where Huang Rong and Guo Jing were cooking Beggar Chicken together and the smell attracted Hong Qigong[2]…
Was he and Wei Ling about to encounter some important character?
[1] Guo Jing & Huang Rong – are the main characters from the series Legend of the Condor Heroes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Condor_Heroes_(2017_TV_series)
[2]Hong Qigong – a character in Legend of the Condor Heroeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Qigong
^_^
Translated by Prosperous Food dot Com
Rehosted by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.
Edited by Gumihou
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