Chapter Six, Chicken with Shredded Cabbage and Boiled Water.

The cook suddenly realized, "Oh! Look at my forgetfulness!"

Suyou felt a little proud and said, "Pay attention, once you've learned this dish, you can consider yourself truly capable of making a decent main course."

Su You pursed her lips and said with a smile, "Thank you very much for your kind words, Uncle. Let's continue with the preparations."

Speaking of this, the chef uncle's eyes were spinning in circles, with a bewildered look on his face. Only then did he suddenly realize and quickly shut his mouth, "Ah, I've said too much."

The cook secretly rejoiced: "So... how is the young master going to prepare this chicken blood soup?"

The cook was delighted and had an oily face, repeatedly bowing to Su You and saying, "Thank you, young master. Thank you, young master. You have given me a skill to make a living."

Pour the shredded chicken onto a plate and let it cool. Su You said, "I have taught you this method. In the future, if the food at home lacks appetite like Ba Niang, you can try adding some seasoning, not too much, just enough for flavor."

The cook has been in a state of surprise and excitement all day today, saying "Sir, this chicken soup, this chicken soup is so clear and bright!"

The chef looked puzzled: "Sauerkraut?"

菘, which is the original cabbage, belongs to the four-season vegetables in Meishan and is suitable for use.

The cook said, "Oh, yes."

Handle the chicken breast meat afterwards.

Su You squinted his eyes and slightly curled his lips, saying, "I didn't say to throw away the rest. But the masters and madams eat more delicately, while you all eat a bit coarser."

He could only silently touch his nose and said, "Forget it, let's just have some chicken blood tofu. There must be tofu, right?"

A foul and putrid smell emanated, and Su You quickly called a halt: "Forget it, forget it. This is useless. My uncle, what exactly is this?"

Su Oil is not in a hurry: "Uncle Chef, let's first make the chicken soup well before deciding."

After speaking, he covered the terracotta pot used to cook chicken soup with the mulberry paper brought from the study, and tied it up with a rope.

The chef wiped his hands: "I don't understand this, but being able to discuss the principles of the master from cooking, young sir will surely achieve great success in the future."

Suyou laughed heartily: "This prescription, is the best for treating hunger, and it is also highly effective for loss of appetite."

Afterwards, he guided the chef to use a rolling pin to easily press the chicken meat into shredded chicken.

After fifteen minutes, the shredded meat becomes fluffy and turns golden. The chef uses a pair of iron chopsticks to stir-fry the shredded meat in the hot oil, just like whisking beaten eggs.

Suyou asked the chef: "How many people are there in the main household that you usually cook for?"

Su You secretly laughed in his heart. This boiled water cabbage is a famous Sichuan dish thousands of years later.

I am quite satisfied with the soy sauce, and replied with a smile, "This is the correct way to open a can of chicken soup."

The variety of vegetables in the Song Dynasty was not as abundant as in later generations, but there were vegetables such as turnips and mustard greens.

The moon nodded and replied, "When asked, he said that this prescription is too strange, and he doesn't know what illness it is for."

Continuing the technique of using Su oil to clarify the soup, the chef was amazed. After boiling the chicken on high heat and skimming off the impurities, add ginger slices and Sichuan peppercorns. The chef then removed the open flame and used charcoal fire to simmer the soup. Then he said to the chef, "Uncle, look, now the soup only occasionally bubbles, so just maintain this temperature."

Su stood on the newly moved stool and instructed the cook to remove the small amount of fascia on the surface of the chicken breast meat, put it in the pot with water and rice wine, and cook it with scallion and ginger. After boiling over high heat, reduce to low heat and cook for two quarters of an hour. Then, take it out, drain the water, and let it cool slightly.

The kitchen is very aggrieved: "I feel unjustly treated because I have added a lot of salt, but if it doesn't meet your standards, then there is no place in the entire city of Manmeishan that would meet your standards."

The cook wiped his hands and grinned foolishly, saying, "After killing chickens for decades, I never knew that chicken blood could be used to make soup."

The cook was exhausted and sweating profusely. After Su You called a stop, he picked up some food with chopsticks and offered it to the cook, saying, "Uncle, try it."

After finishing this dish, Su You looked at the clear soup in several bowls with vegetables floating in it and said, "Due to limited ingredients, this is the best we can do. Next, we will prepare the spicy blood stew. Do we have pickled vegetables?"

Su You smiled and said, "Not only chicken blood, but also duck blood, pig blood, and cow and sheep blood are all acceptable."

The cook felt a little reluctant: "Sir, isn't this too wasteful?"

After finishing speaking, wrap the minced meat in gauze. Reheat the oil-free chicken broth and continuously put the gauze-wrapped minced meat into the chicken broth. Remove it and scrape off the impurities absorbed by the gauze with the edge of a bowl.

Su You smiled and said, "I'm afraid this alone is not enough to establish oneself. Learning knows no bounds, and so does art. I just like to think randomly in my spare time, and if I happen to come across something useful, I'll jot it down. As Confucius said, 'One should not tire of fine cuisine, nor of studying in detail.' The words 'fine' and 'detailed' apply not only to cooking, but also to the pursuit of knowledge."

Sichuan cuisine, not available yet.

Su You smiled and said, "The Cheng family is also a prominent clan in Meishan. Uncle, your culinary skills should also match up! This chicken soup is only halfway done."

The chef hurriedly replied, "I am familiar with this."

Suyou said, "Oh, then prepare four hearts of shungiku, without the green leaves, just leave about one or two parts of the golden leaves."

The cook has already been amazed by the trick of using Su oil and chicken blood to turn the dish into "Xue Wang", and at this moment, without any hesitation, he just follows the instructions.

However, it is not completely cut open, then put into a bamboo sieve, pour chicken soup to cook, put it into a small bowl, pour in clear soup with fine salt, only then the dish is considered complete. The vegetable heart is still a whole, but it falls apart as soon as it is picked up.

After only cooking for half a meal, Su You's title changed from "Little Young Master" to "Little Sir" in the cook's mouth.

Su You then realized: "Zucai, the kind used to make jicai."

The commander instructed the uncle chef to make a strong broth with chicken and then used chicken oil to make a two-color tofu dish. He also taught the uncle chef a technique for thickening sauces. He said to the chef uncle, "Uncle, please ask someone to deliver the dishes to everyone. I will personally deliver them to Ba Niang's place."

At this moment, Siyue arrived holding a medicine package and said, "Young sir, I have prepared two doses of the medicine you requested. Here is also the prescription. I made sure the shopkeeper did not copy it."

Next, let the chef finely chop half a catty of lamb, add a bowl of dried shiitake mushrooms and dried daylily to the chicken soup, and then have him pick the heart of the vegetables.

Take four small porcelain bowls in gray and white, and cut the vegetable hearts into them in a radial pattern from the bottom, stopping at the yellow leafy part.

In the future, there is a famous snack in Shuzhou called "Zhazha Noodles". The reason why this noodle dish is famous is that before MSG became popular, a seasoning called chicken floss was added to the noodles, which can completely replace MSG. It is a unique and delicious dish that is popular everywhere.

Forget about finding a wok, we only found a small copper pot with a thick bottom. Su oil instructed the chef to heat up the pot with a little oil, then pour in shredded chicken, add salt and a little rock sugar, and stir-fry over low heat.

The subtle impurities in the chicken soup are continuously extracted, becoming clearer and clearer, until finally it becomes as clear as a pot of boiling water.

Su Oil put away the prescription and said, "Thank you. The shopkeeper asked why it's not here?"

This time the chef can be sure that this skill is definitely unique to the Su family: "I'm not saying this, even the wealthy households in Shuzhou are not as meticulous as you are. Is this the method your family brought from Zhaojun?"

Su You nodded and advised, "Before stewing the soup, cut off the breast meat, I have another use for it."

Chicken soup is prepared by first removing the oil from the soup, then allowing the chef to heat up the fire. Once the remaining oil is dispersed to the edges by the rolling chicken soup, the soup is ladled out from the oil-free center.

The chef carefully licked a bit of chicken filling from his palm into his mouth, and his eyes immediately lit up: "Oh! How... how delicious!"

Su You frowned, her little face drooping: "The way of cooking, ingredients come first, harmony comes second. If the seasoning is not up to standard, the dish will not be well-made. It's not just about salt, but also about the utensils. These anaerobic bacteria need to be cultivated in a low-oxygen environment. Think about our prestigious Sichuan cuisine..."

The shredded meat became even more fluffy, and the color gradually changed from golden to light, finally becoming a light yellow minced meat.

After speaking, open a jar covered with a thin cloth, with a pomelo on top serving as a stopper: "This."

The cook finally felt relieved: "There it is, indeed."

The cook exclaimed repeatedly, "Hey hey, today my kitchen has finally shown its true colors! These two dishes are so delicate and beautiful."

The cook was stunned, and exclaimed, "Only half?"

The chef shook his head and said, "Your Su family is truly meticulous in cooking. This is the heritage of a wealthy and noble household."

The cook replied, "This is the bookstore. Women rarely come here on ordinary days, only the master, the madam, and the lady. The young master accompanies the master in Jiazhou and only comes back occasionally."