Food starts with Mapo Tofu

Chapter 720 Braised Flavor Bottleneck

For example, the legs and wings of chickens and ducks that can often be seen in later generations, as well as chicken necks and duck necks, as well as some internal organs, such as chicken gizzards, duck intestines, chicken hearts, etc., can be made.

And the price can be sold even cheaper at that time.

People's quality of life at this time was generally not high, and the current Great Qi Dynasty was not even as good as the later Great Xia Dynasty.

However, the methods of these chicken and duck products must not be similar to those of pork, but they have learned a lot in the past, coupled with the original knowledge level, so it is not a problem to make these.

So after returning home, Chen Nian shared his thoughts with Song San. Song San thought about it and felt that it was still feasible. After all, the price of chicken and duck is now cheaper than that of pork. It can also be lowered and sold as an auxiliary product.

"However, I didn't make much of these poultry before. At most, I made goose meat. Because goose meat is fatter and has a lot of meat, Master Wang would occasionally kill a goose and take it to the kitchen for cooking." Song San Said, and after he finished speaking, he looked at Chen Nian again, "I'll think about how to do it later, chicken, duck and pork are different, and the seasonings to be put in may be different at that time, if you want to make it delicious, you have to Try it a few more times."

"Father, then I will study and study together. In the past six months or so, I have almost figured out the medicinal materials we can use."

"Okay." Song San looked at Chen Nian with relief. He knew that it was a good thing for young people to have a heart, and his son's ability was also good. He was able to make beggar's chicken for the first time before. When Nian made this request, he agreed without even thinking about it.

There is a bit of waste in researching new ingredients, and his tolerance is also greater.

So in the next period of time, Chen Nian began to think about which aspect to try.

Every day, besides visiting the vegetable market, observing and studying different chickens and ducks, he also visits the spice shop.

There are basically two or three ways to make lo-mei with these two things. The first is to make Sichuan-style food, that is, to go in that direction. Although there is no such crop as pepper, cornel can be used as a substitute.

Cornus officinalis also contains an alkaloid called capsaicin. After eating it, the heartbeat will speed up, the secretion of saliva and sweat will be accelerated, and the gastrointestinal motility will be accelerated. At the same time, it will bring strong stimulation, excitement, and increase appetite.

This is also the reason why many people like to eat spicy food, but if you want to use cornel, there is a problem that the current cornel is all picked from the wild, and after it is brought back, it has to be processed before it can be eaten normally.

This process is a little more troublesome.

Because it has been made with cornel before aging, so I know how to deal with this thing.

But if you don't make spicy flavor, you can only make sauce flavor.

"It's better to make the sauce-flavored one first, and you can try the spicy one later." Chen Nian thought.

And during the market research in the past few days, Chen Nian discovered a very important problem, that is, there is no five-spice powder in Daqi Dynasty now!
For this well-known seasoning in later generations, Chen Nian has also studied its origin, but basically there are only two theories. One is that five-spice powder originated more than 300 years ago and was invented by Shanxi people. The saying originated from India during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China.

Because Indian Buddhism did not eat beef and pork at that time, mutton became their main meat, but mutton was naturally smelly, so in order to solve this problem, the monks at that time created plant seasoning powder to reduce the smell .

And this seasoning is also the predecessor of the well-known Indian spice masala, so after Buddhism was introduced to China, masala also became five-spice powder as the Romans did.

But Chen Nian felt that the feasibility of this legend was not very high, but no matter what, since there was no five-spice powder now, Chen Nian planned to make this kind of seasoning.

The basic ingredients used in five-spice powder are ground pepper, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and cumin seeds, but with the development of the seasoning industry, dried ginger, cardamom, licorice, pepper, Chen Pi and so on.

But no matter what kind of recipe it is, Chen Nian firmly believes that as long as it is delicious, it will be fine.

Five-spice powder is the main seasoning used to make stewed pork, so in the next month, Chen Nian has been trying the specific formula ratio of five-spice powder.

It doesn't matter even if it fails, anyway, these are seasonings, and they can be used for home cooking, so it's not a waste.

After a month of research, Chen Nian finally came up with three recipes.

These three recipes can be used for different materials.

When stewing pork, you can use a recipe based on aniseed ingredients, and when making sauce-flavored chicken and duck, you can use a recipe based on amomum.

And in the last kind of lo-mei with cornel as the main flavor, you can use cinnamon and pepper as the main formula.

However, in the last formula, there are more than five kinds of spices in the five-spice powder, and a total of eight kinds of spices have been added for aging.

But there can be five of the four heavenly kings, and there are actually more than seven Big Dippers, and only one of the four masters and apprentices is actually a human being, so who said that five-spice powder can’t use eight kinds of seasonings?

After figuring it out, Chen Nian plans to try the sauce-flavored chicken and duck.

At the beginning, in order to avoid waste, very little material was used for aging, and only a small pot was used to make it.

But when it was first made, it was only 80% complete. Although Song San and Xu Erni were full of praise after eating it, it always felt a little weird to eat it. The sales are not comparable, let alone compared with those chain brands.

As for going up, the gap with those old shops and master chefs who specialize in lo-mei is even bigger.

"That's not acceptable at all." Chen Nian shook his head.

And Song San comforted him from the side: "Son, isn't this good? The meat is also tasty, and it's very fragrant, and it doesn't clog your teeth when you eat it."

"Father, I feel that this is not enough just now, and it can be made more delicious, but I probably have some direction now, I will adjust the heat later, and the proportion of those seasonings also needs to be adjusted. .”

Song San looked at Chen Nian. Before that, Chen Nian had been repeating his work all the time. This kind of teaching with someone feeding him next to him, as long as he was not too stupid, he would basically not make any big mistakes.

So it was only now that he discovered that his son was so persistent.

"But I feel that what you're doing now is actually quite good, and you can completely sell it." Song San said.

"Father, let me try again. I think since this is something to be sold for money, it is natural to do the best I can."

After hearing this, Song San suddenly said: "That's right, you can rest assured if you think so, father. Although we are in business, we have to have a conscience. When people come to us to buy things, every dollar spent Every penny is hard-earned, so naturally our things must be worthy of the money that other people spend."

With Song San's permission, Chen Nian spent more time on it every day, and the number of times Xiaotao came to play with Chen Nian has decreased recently, because Chen Nian is either standing in front of the stove and looking inside fire, or writing and drawing in a small notebook.

She also tried to look closer, but after watching for a long time, she felt nothing but dizziness.

"So I don't know how to read!"

Only then did Xiaotao realize that she was illiterate and couldn't understand what Chen Nian wrote.

So after returning home, she asked her parents to tell her that she wanted to be literate.

It's just that Xiao Tao's parents are more traditional, so they immediately rejected Xiao Tao's request. On the one hand, they are both illiterate and only know some simple words. Besides, they can count.

On the other hand, they think that girls do not need to be literate. Compared with being able to read and write, they think that being able to do housework and being a female celebrity is actually more important.

There is also the last reason, because the two of them are illiterate, if Xiao Tao wants to learn, she has to send Xiao Tao to a private school, but going to a private school costs money.

Their current daily income can allow them to live a normal life, and by the way, save a little money for emergencies.

Xiaotao didn't get support from her parents and felt very depressed, so when she went to find Chen Nian again, she told Chen Nian about these thoughts in her heart.

"Want to learn words?"

"It's very simple, how about it, I can teach you when I finish my work, but Xiaotao, I have to make a statement in advance, if you want to start learning characters, you have to go home every day to do your homework, and play The time will also be greatly reduced, and I don't want you to give up halfway once you start, so if you agree, I will teach you."

Xiaotao seemed to realize something after hearing this. Although she still doesn't know the pain of doing homework every day, she can't help but retreat in her heart when she hears that the time for playing will be greatly reduced every day.

As the drums became louder, Xiaotao suddenly realized something.

"Why should I learn to read?"

"Because I want to get closer to Brother Chen!"

"Playing every day is also with Brother Chen. If you can learn to read every day, you are also with Brother Chen. As long as you can play with Brother Chen, isn't it the same?"

Then she nodded seriously, her beautiful eyes seemed to be filled with the sea of ​​stars: "Brother Chen Nian, I want to learn how to read!"

"Okay, let's wait for a while." Chen Nian said, "By the way, Xiaotao, I just made some braised chicken wings, you can take it and eat it, it's a snack in the afternoon, and there are some here, you Take it back to your parents."

Before Xiaotao could react, she was stuffed into a small porcelain bowl filled with marinated chicken wings.

"Don't uncle and auntie eat?" Xiaotao asked curiously.

"They..." Chen Nian smiled helplessly, "At first they ate it, but then they didn't want to eat it."

"Why? Chicken wings are so delicious!" Xiaotao asked puzzled.

"You can ask them."

Then Xiaotao came to the yard with these chicken wings, and asked Song San and Xu Erni: "Master and Madam, do you eat chicken wings? Brother Chen Nian just made them."

Song San now has a headache whenever he sees chicken wings. For a period of time in the past, Chen Nian made every day and tried every day, but he was not satisfied every time he made it, and the things that were not perfect were sold at the original price. Song San and Chen Every year I feel very uncomfortable.

But if you sell at a lower price, this will affect future prices.

After all, it used to be three renminbi a chicken wing, but now you want ten renminbi. Even if the taste is better, so what, the price is here, and the buyer will always feel that he is losing money.

So they can only stay at home and eat by themselves.

However, although Chen Nian does not make many chicken wings each time, he can't stand it anymore and will make two or three pots every day, so that he has to eat it in the morning, noon and evening.

Eating every day, every meal, no one can bear it.

Now Song San feels that the luteal bone on his back is a little itchy every day, as if a pair of chicken wings are about to grow out of it.

"Don't eat, don't eat, take this thing away!"

Song San said.

Only then did Xiaotao believe what Chen Nian said.

In this way, through the comparison method, the proportion of seasonings is constantly adjusted. In addition to five-spice powder, there are others, and the degree of completion is increasing bit by bit.

But in the end, when he reached 95%, he could no longer go up.

"Now the amount of cooking water and most of the seasoning ratios are not a problem, but there are still 5% left, which means that some things seem to be missing."

But Chen Nian couldn't figure it out even after thinking hard, so he asked his father specifically for this, but Song San felt that the lo mei that Chen Nian made now was good enough, and in his opinion there was no problem at all.

And he couldn't figure out why Chen Nian always felt that the prepared lo mei was not tasty enough.

I even wondered whether Chen Nian had eaten too much, had a psychological illusion, or was too persistent, so he had such an idea.

But Chen Nian can't tell about the recipes. No one would believe this thing in modern times, and no one would believe it in ancient times. If I really said it, maybe my father would think that I was bewitched .

But after Chen Nian tried to add some other spices into it, but after six or seven days of experiments, Chen Nian still failed to test it out.

"It would be great if I could go online. With modern and transparent information, I might be able to find some clues."

No way, after aging, I will try it out and start making two other kinds of lo mei.

Cornus officinalis is not bad, after all, aging has relevant experience, so cornel was quickly processed so that it can be used as a spice to add to ingredients.

"Oh, after all, I still don't have enough experience." Chen Nian couldn't help sighing.

Right now, my research has not made much progress, so I can only go to the herbal medicine store to ask again.

(End of this chapter)