Chapter 236 (1/2)

Chapter 236: Imagined Delicacy

“You are welcomed to savor it. You can go to the needle peak to try your fortune alone tomorrow. Somebody managed to pick it several months ago over there.” The warm-hearted aged man showed to Yuan Zhou the mountain peak like a finger in the distance.

“Humm. Do you have the picture of the mushroom?” Before Yuan Zhou came here, he had once heard of a famous dish originated here.

With the name of “Wu Chicken”, it was said to be a dish of the royal palace and was once served in the Banquet of Thousand Aged People held by Kang-hsi Emperor. As a result, it naturally had its own fame and rule. However, it had been lost for a long time.

The reason why the Yanfeng Village was famous was because every villager could cook this dish. Besides, there was once a chef working in the royal kitchen and he was also from the village.

“No, I don’t. But it’s very easy to recognize it. You’ll know what the mushroom is like when you see it.” The aged man revealed a mysterious smile after he finished.

“Ok.” Yuan Zhou nodded the head.

“Here we are. This is the house of this aged man. The contiguous room is for you. You can prepare some foodstuff and cook in the kitchen. The oven is over there.” The aged man pointed at the neighboring two stone rooms and then at the small shed behind them and explained one by one.

“Thank you.” Yuan Zhou nodded the head and thanked him.

Following a sound of “zhi ya”, Yuan Zhou pushed open the wooden door. Unexpectedly, the room was quite clean. There was only a stone bed, a stone table and an empty wooden box inside.

“It’s clean, isn’t it?” The aged man stood behind Yuan Zhou and asked him proudly.

“Yeah, it’s very clean. Thank you.” Yuan Zhou nodded the head and went up to put down the backpack.

“Of course. I clean the room every day. Those people like to live in my house very much.” After a proud smile, the aged man turned around and left.

He put down his stuff, took out his phone and checked the time. It was 3:00 in the afternoon. China Mobile was powerful. Even in the mountain area, there was still one signal bar.

“Time for lunch.” Yuan Zhou had been travelling around all the time in the morning and hence, didn’t get time to eat.

With a sound of “Peng”, he shut the door and prepared to go out with only a wallet.

“Young man, I cooked a bowl of noodles just now. Do you eat it?” While the aged man was coming out from the small shed with a white porcelain bowl in his hand, he just bumped into Yuan Zhou who was walking toward him and then asked him enthusiastically.

“Great. Thanks a lot.” Yuan Zhou received the big bowl, inside of which there were some white noodles and a poached egg as well as some chopped green onion.

“I especially put some beef tallow inside. Just try the taste. It’s the specialty here in our village.” The aged man revealed an expression of pride. He presumably went to cook the noodles after he left just now as Yuan Zhou had told him that he didn’t have lunch.

“Yes. It smells good.” Yuan Zhou nodded the head.

“All right. Just eat it up. But I have to suggest that you go to look for the golden mushroom early if you want to eat that dish.” The aged man waved his hand and returned to his own room.

“Many thanks.” After thanking him, Yuan Zhou put the bowl on the table and began to eat.

Actually, beef tallow wasn’t really suitable to put into the bland noodles. However, Yuan Zhou felt the noodles were sweet and fragrant as well as chewy. Therefore, he ate the noodles up and even drank up the broth in the end.

As he had lunch too late, he ate it slowly and eventually finished the meal at 4:00 pm. He then went out of the room and washed the bowl first. After that, he started on a journey to the needle peak.

As far as Yuan Zhou knew, the dish was actually the stewed chicken with the mushroom. The mushroom was called the Golden Mushroom.

This mushroom was quite suitable to grow in the soil rich in metals. It was said that if one could find the wild Golden Mushroom, he found the gold mine. That’s why people called this kind of mushroom as Golden Mushroom. What it meant could easily be seen.

The shape of the mushroom was unknown to him. He only knew the taste was incomparably fresh and delicate. Normally, mushrooms grown in the soil rich in metal weren’t supposed to be edible. Nevertheless, it was not so for this mushroom. It not only had an incomparably delicate taste but also tasted smooth and tender while being eaten. The taste was extremely great.

The very dish served in the Banquet of Thousand Aged People used Bian Chicken, also known as Youyu Chicken in Shanxi Province, as the main food material. It was actually Dagu Chicken brought in from Fengtian area when Suidong Siqi Region was reclaimed and cultivated. After domestication, the chicken multiplied, expanded and then formed a distinct breed with the characteristic of decent meat quality, good adaptability and cold resistance. It was especially suitable to stew the chicken soup.