Chapter 195 - Testing Out Dongan Chicken (1/2)

Xu Le listened attentively and vaguely heard Xu Tian’s weak and indignant reply.

“It’s black because it’s burnt.”

“These are two chopsticks and a straw.”

“… I do eat. Is there something wrong with my drawing?”

Lu Yuxi was quite patient, but after tutoring Xu Tian for ten minutes, she gradually gave up.

Xu Le whistled and washed away the soap foam on his hands in a good mood. Although the house was not as peaceful as he had imagined, this kind of chaos could also dispel fear and loneliness.

“Of course I respect the naivety of children, but, Tiantian, if you continue to do whatever you want, this poster will be exactly the same as the previous one!”

Lu Yuxi was so angry that she got up to pour some water to distract herself.

Xu Le looked at the mysterious cuisine his sister had drawn and did not know whether to laugh or cry. He said, “Use a pencil to draw a grid on the blank space beside it. I’ll teach you how to draw a recipe book.”

In the end, after spending most of the night, Xu Tian finally finished her poster. Halfway through washing up, she fell asleep with her toothbrush in her mouth.

Lu Yuxi looked helpless. After looking at Xu Le, the two of them laughed at the same time.

“Your sister is so stubborn.”

“But the final product is not bad.”

After taking care of Tiantian, it was already late at night. Thinking that he would definitely talk about the dishes when he was going to discuss the collaboration with Zhang Heng the next day, he needed to find a dish that was suitable for both old and young to test the waters.

He closed his eyes and entered the system. The familiar decor and kitchenware made Xu Le feel confident. The fish meat was tender but prickly. It was difficult to preserve the texture of the fish meat and it was easy to become mushy.

The cost price of beef and mutton was high, so the dish price would definitely soar. If the price was too high, it would definitely create a controversy. At first, Xu Le was worried that the technology was not advanced enough, so he wanted to use a conservative method to cook.

It was not easy to choose a dish that was famous, had a good texture, and was easy to preserve. How could it be easy to restore the taste of a dish after opening the packaging as though it was freshly cooked?

He flipped through almost half the recipe book before he saw a dish that would be served at the state banquet—Dong’an Chicken.

The earliest records of Dong’an Chicken originated from the ancient tomb that was unearthed in Changsha. Archaeologists discovered the vinegar chicken recorded on bamboo slips.

The cooking of this dish originated from the Western Jin Dynasty. It was because a chef had accidentally added vinegar, thinking that it was seasoning wine. However, he was afraid that the county magistrate would blame him, so in order to remove the vinegar, he put in a lot of ginger and pepper. Unexpectedly, by a freak combination of factors, he even created a delicious dish.

In order to distinguish this dish from “Kung Pao Chicken”, everyone specially named it “Vinegar Chicken”.

Later on, it was added to the state banquet and ranked first among the eight Hunan dishes.

Xu Le had tried this dish at a five-star hotel before. The Dong’an Chicken perfectly demonstrated the taste of sour, spicy, and tender. It was not overly spicy and bitter, but it was extremely refreshing and suited the taste of the public.

He had to choose a hen that weighed less than 500 grams as the ingredient. It was best if it had never laid an egg. Just this step alone made Xu Le feel that it was “picky” to choose the raw ingredients.

It was very difficult to buy raw materials in bulk outside. If he wanted to produce the dish in bulk, they would have to discuss it with the breeding ground, furher complicating the process.

Xu Le casually clicked on the ingredients on the transparent crystal board and realized that a long string of numbers followed closely behind.