The Game of Life

*By the time I found out that Dezhou braised chicken wasn’t supposed to be deboned, this chapter was already written_(3Jz)_

Parallel world, parallel world!

Dezhou braised chicken is a classic Shandong cuisine that, during the Qing Dynasty, served as tribute for the emperor, empress, and royal family. It is now famous both nationally and internationally, known as the “world’s number one chicken.” The preparation has since spawned various methods, and during the Republican era, more than a dozen restaurants in Beiping each had their own unique recipes, leading to the curious sight of them secretly learning from each other.

Jiang Weiming’s method was the old way from Taifeng Building, involving more than twenty kinds of Chinese herbal medicines and seventeen seasonings. From coloring to deep-frying, every step was meticulous, not to mention the final simmering in soup, which Jiang Weiguo would start slow-cooking on the stove a day in advance. Jiang Feng’s seasoning skills and experience were not sufficient yet to learn how to prepare various high-quality broths.

This afternoon, the only hands-on task Jiang Feng needed to do was debone the whole chicken, while the rest of the time he could just watch and learn.

In learning to cook, the ability to observe is crucial. Like Jiang Weiguo, he learned many dishes by watching in the back kitchen of restaurants—watching to grasp sixty to seventy percent of the process, then going back to slowly figure out the rest. Those with talent could learn it quite well.

Jiang Feng was quite adept at observing. He may have been slow to learn caramelization and how to make tenderizing sauces, but he picked up making sweet and sour syrup quite quickly, all because of a game bug that had him watching Jiang Huiqin make Sweet and Sour Yam every day!

After watching for an afternoon, an inflated Jiang Feng declared,

I’ve got it!

“Got it?” Jiang Weiming asked with a smile.

“Yeah.” Jiang Feng nodded proudly.

“Then tomorrow, Feng, you give it a try and let me see how well you’ve learned,” Jiang Weiming said.

Jiang Feng: ( fl #)

The next day, as expected, Jiang Feng’s attempt was a spectacular failure.

The steps to making Dezhou braised chicken aren’t complicated in theory, but doing it well is a true test of a chef’s knifework and seasoning. The best choice is to use a small rooster of about two jin, or an unegg-bearing hen, slaughter and pluck it, debone the whole chicken without breaking its skin, especially the skin covering the spine and the tail. After removing the bones and inner organs, the chicken skin should be turned inside out, while maintaining its overall shape.

Deboning a whole chicken isn’t too difficult—Jiang Feng knew how at junior high school age, but often ended up mangling the meat and tearing the skin apart. To maintain the overall shape after turning the skin inside out was hoping for too much— it was good enough if the chicken didn’t fall apart after deboning.

The fatter the chicken, the harder it is to debone. The chickens Jiang Feng practiced on during junior high were Mrs. Jiang’s fat old hens, each one plumper than the last. Each finished product would earn a scolding from Sir, and the poor chickens could only be chopped and used for sauteing instead of braised chicken.

But today was different. Jiang Feng handled the deboning process quite adeptly. Although his speed was still slow, the quality was much improved. Unlike before, when the chicken was almost falling apart after deboning, this time although he accidentally cut the skin on the back, overall the deboning was quite well done.

Jiang Feng believed that with a few months of practice deboning whole chickens, his speed might not match the two Sirs, but the quality certainly could.

“Not bad, Feng, your knifework has improved. The leg meat on this chicken is thick, you were too rough when removing the tendons and cut into the meat. The skin on the back is tight; you peeled it too quickly, otherwise it wouldn’t have torn,” Jiang Weiming complimented, his expression one of satisfaction.

“It’s decent, much better than at the start of the year,” Jiang Weiguo rarely praised.

Jiang Feng soaked the deboned chicken in cold water to remove the blood, not idle even while soaking it, as he started to caramelize the sugar. He was now quite adept with caramelizing sugar. Just as the color seemed about right and he was about to turn off the heat, Jiang Weiguo stopped him.

“You can deepen the sugar color for the deboned chicken a bit more, wait another twenty seconds.”

About ten seconds later, Jiang Feng felt the sugar color in the pot was already good enough, so he turned off the heat.

This time Jiang Weiguo did not say anything, but instead wore a smile. Jiang Weiming turned to Jiang Weiguo and whispered, “Feng is capable, has his own ideas, and didn’t just copy what you said.”

Jiang Weiguo nodded and watched Jiang Feng’s movements closely.

Having removed all the blood from the deboned chicken, Jiang Feng followed Jiang Weiming’s method from yesterday, shaping the chicken into a mandarin duck playing in the water. He then evenly applied the sugar color over the chicken body, hung it up to dry. After drying, he lit the fire, heated the oil to about seventy percent hot, fried the deboned chicken in the oil until it turned golden and its skin was somewhat shiny. It looked dazzlingly gold before he removed it to drain the oil.

All the above steps, Jiang Feng completed quite impressively, and both sirs were very satisfied. It looked like he was about to achieve a great success, just one step away from victory—the final step of boiling in soup. But just as he was getting carried away, Jiang Feng began to mess up royally.

It wasn’t entirely Feng’s fault for getting carried away; mainly, his strength wasn’t up to par, his seasoning couldn’t match his knifework. He had what the game rated as beginner-level Food Testing skill that couldn’t be upgraded, and seasoning had always been his weak point. Even though Jiang Weiming had prepared the old soup for him, shown him the ingredients and ratios for the spice bag yesterday, and he knew all about how each seasoning should be added, it still couldn’t stop him from messing up.

With Jiang Feng’s current seasoning skills, trying to master the cooking of up to forty kinds of seasonings at once certainly posed a great difficulty. Both sirs were also prepared for Jiang Feng to mess up, and Jiang Feng himself had an inkling. He just didn’t expect…

The chicken that had been stewed for nearly 6 hours could taste so awful!

Six hours, the chicken had thoroughly absorbed Jiang Feng’s terrible seasoning ratio. Jiang Feng only tasted a mouthful and nearly questioned his entire existence, even beginning to ponder whether he should give up his culinary pursuits.

Jiang Weiming fearlessly tried a mouthful as well, silently put down his chopsticks, and began to reflect, “Indeed I shouldn’t have forced growth. Feng, your seasoning… you should start from thebeginning… simmering soup first.”

The chicken made by Jiang Feng looked quite appealing. The mandarin ducks playing in water shape, the golden color with a hint of red, the reflective skin— it somewhat resembled roast duck from a distance, looking plump and delicious, enough to whet someone’s appetite.

But the taste…

Made one want to have a serious talk with the chef about life aspirations and certain things that don’t conform to socialist core values.

Like, for instance.

Chopping him.

While Jiang Feng was doubting his life choices, a staff member from the cooking competition called and informed him that he was to participate in the first round of preliminaries tomorrow at 4 PM, needing only to bring his ID card and entry ticket. They mentioned nothing about the competition format— it was all rather secretive.

Jiang Feng messaged Wu Minqi to ask if she had received a call from the organizers. Forty minutes later, she replied that she was also in the first round of preliminaries tomorrow at 4 PM, but the location was different from Jiang Feng’s.

Could it be… that the organizers wanted all three thousand contestants who passed the initial selection to compete at the same time?

That’s… that’s a bit thrilling!

*Why am I writing a side story today, because it’s Valentine’s Day! V

Shall I write an alternate story of Jiang Feng and Da Hua? With Da Hua’s star value so high, you all are really devils.