The Game of Life-Chapter 713 - 712: Fruity Chicken

Chapter 713: Chapter 712: Fruity Chicken

Zhang Guanghang had been quiet all along, standing at a distance with Jiang Feng, watching Sun Maochai make the snake soup. Jiang Feng thought Zhang might have changed his mind and decided not to make his own creation that day. However, it turned out that Zhang Guanghang simply didn’t want to disturb Sun Maochai’s cooking process, lest he steal the spotlight.

“Qiqi, what do you think Zhang’s original dish is about?” Jiang Feng whispered to Wu Minqi.

His cooking skills were now very advanced, but his progress had been so rapid that it was somewhat like a cultivation novel where the protagonist acquires a divine treasure and advances several levels in a breath—an unstable stroke of fortune. An original dish, which requires a combination of talent, strength, creativity, and luck, was completely outside his dictionary of challenges.

Wu Minqi thought for a while but still hadn’t figured it out by the time Zhang Guanghang started processing the whole chicken. “I’m not sure, I haven’t seen him tinkering with dishes in the kitchen recently.”

Zhang Guanghang usually tinkered with dishes at Fen Garden; for him, working hours were simply for work, and extracurricular guidance had to take place outside the office.

“What original dish?” Sun Jikai, who had gone to bed early the night before, knew nothing about it.

“We are not sure about the specifics, but it’s an original dish Zhang came up with by himself. We’ll know once he makes it,” Jiang Feng said.

Zhang Guanghang’s original dish fell into the roasted chicken category but was more than just that. The method incorporated both the techniques for roasted chicken, as well as the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, making it quite novel.

Jiang Feng watched as Zhang Guanghang thoroughly cleaned a whole chicken, marinated it for a few minutes, and then stuffed the chicken cavity with bland-tasting ingredients such as glutinous rice, pigeon eggs, pigeon meat, corn kernels—but not too full. Using a technique similar to the one used for the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, he quickly poked a few small holes in the belly and then boiled it in hot water for a few minutes.

It looked like an oversized Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.

Starting from the “Eight Delicacies” of the Zhou dynasty, chefs from various countries have been keen to stuff various ingredients into the bellies of different animals, whether it’s for stewing, steaming, or roasting, with no specific method, cuisine, or even country limitations. There were dishes that only required stuffing, like the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon and Eight Treasures Duck, and those dishes that involved a series of stuffings, like a roasted camel stuffed with sheep, with the sheep stuffed with chicken, and the chicken stuffed with pigeon, which is then filled with fish that contains eggs. There were also preparations like Triple Duck, which involved stuffing a wild duck with a domestic duck and then a pigeon inside of that, not only testing the chef’s skills but also the size of the wild duck.

Some of these dishes were enjoyed for their flavors, others for their novelty. As long as the customer dared to eat, the chef dared to cook. Creative chefs even didn’t spare camels, trying to stuff or layer every conceivable combo. Zhang Guanghang’s entry point in attempting to create an original dish was considered very clever.

The chicken was only boiled for a few minutes before Zhang Guanghang took it out, coated it with butter and the spices loved in French cuisine. He then removed all the ingredients previously stuffed into the chicken and replaced them with a new filling primarily consisting of lightly seared beef, filling it to about sixty percent before topping it with an apple cut in half. After the cavity was filled again, he placed it back into the oven.

Halfway through roasting, he took the chicken, which was now vaguely taking on the appearance of a roasted chicken, out of the oven. He removed the somewhat shriveled apple from its belly, restuffed it with the previously used vegetarian stuffing, mixed well, and smeared the chicken with butter and a bit of honey water before putting it back into the oven to continue roasting.

Just by looking at the steps, this dish was more complicated than the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon and Roasted Pig combined.

The more complex the steps of a dish, the more opportunities there were for making mistakes. Zhang Guanghang’s fruit-flavored chicken had to be stuffed three times, first boiled then roasted, and coated with butter twice. Although Jiang Feng thought that with his cooking skills it was certain the dish wouldn’t taste bad and might even be very delicious, the multitude of steps and the long cooking time seemed not quite worthwhile, unless it was a culinary delicacy like boiled napa cabbage chicken or tofu flower.

Just like the snake soup Sun Maochai had just made, it was tasty indeed, but also undeniably troublesome.

By dinner time, Zhang Guanghang’s fruit-scented chicken was finally finished roasting.

He garnished it with a few slices of lemon, outlined a design with sauce on a large plate, and a western-style roasted chicken was ready – one look and you knew it was from the western cuisine.

Jiang Weiming and Sun Maochai nodded approvingly.

Sir, being straightforward by nature, always spoke his mind, and promptly said upon seeing Zhang Guanghang’s dish completed, “It’s too much trouble.”

Zhang Guanghang didn’t speak and instead, cut open the belly of the chicken. The various ingredients wrapped in glutinous rice within the chicken belly tumbled out, the white rice laying over the slightly charred roasted chicken, creating a strong visual impact.

“It is a bit troublesome, I’ve tried to simplify the steps, but then the flavor completely changed,” Zhang Guanghang explained.

Sir nodded, indicating his understanding, and scooped up half a bowl of the stuffing, then cut off a small piece of chicken and sat down in a spot to start eating.

The tasting had been ongoing from ten in the morning until dinner time. During this period, everyone had only the six dishes prepared by Sun Maochai and his team without any staple food, so by now everyone was quite hungry and each took a bowl of Zhang Guanghang’s fruit-scented chicken to share.

The flavor was still acceptable.

Because the roasting time was not perfectly controlled, the chicken flesh was a bit dry and the texture was not great, but the taste was quite good. Because the belly of the chicken was stuffed with ingredients, the chicken meat was not just flavorful on the outside and bland inside which could have been awkward. Eating it, you could detect a faint fruit aroma along with the sweetness of apples. The stuffing inside was well-mixed; the glutinous rice had absorbed most of the oil and juice, making it the most flavorful part of the dish, but it also caused the beef to be a bit dry and not very pleasant in texture.

These small issues were more or less noticeable to everyone present.

“The dish is good, with a lot of thought put into it, but indeed it is too complicated,” Sun Maochai put down his chopsticks, “With convoluted steps, it’s difficult to control the fire, too much spice rub can mask other flavors, too little and the chicken will taste bland. The amount you’re using still needs work, it feels like you’re holding back, scared to let go, and you’re using less than you should.”

“The choice of ingredients for the filling is also somewhat problematic; beef has a rich flavor but with your method, it inevitably ends up dry. Have you tried pork?” asked Jiang Weiming.

“I have,” Zhang Guanghang said, implying that pork worked even less well.

“Keep experimenting, if done right it could turn into a fine dish,” Jiang Weiming smiled and encouraged.

Although Zhang Guanghang had anticipated this outcome, he couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed.

Jiang Feng noticed that Wu Minqi had been staring at the few pieces of chicken meat and bones left on her plate, lost in thought.

With the tasting session over and the menu largely decided, everyone had a rough understanding of Sun Maochai’s abilities, who would soon become the chef in charge at Taifeng Building. All immediate tasks in the kitchen were completed, leaving the rest up to Fan Mei to handle and resolve. As long as she and Wang Xiulian agreed on a date to send out the invitations and the Midsummer Banquet went smoothly, the first phase of Taifeng Building’s counter-offensive would be considered a success.

After everyone dispersed, Jiang Feng originally wanted to find a small eatery nearby with Zhang Guanghang to casually dine and settle their dinner, but Zhang Guanghang, preoccupied with his fruit-flavored chicken recipe, declined and drove back to Fen Garden to continue refining his dish. Fan Mei had matters to attend to and ordered takeout before heading home. Master Wang was there just for the excitement; feeling reassured after seeing the new chef’s skills, he happily went home for dinner. Qiu Fu, new to Beiping and unfamiliar with the surroundings, wandered around and went to the supermarket to buy some fruit before leaving. Sun Maochai followed the two elderly sirs to a restaurant beloved by the middle-aged crowd, to discuss matters appropriate for head chefs to talk about.

In the blink of an eye, only Jiang Feng, Sun Jikai, and Wu Minqi were left at the entrance of Taifeng Building.

It seemed that Sun Jikai, who’d essentially been an observer during the tasting, asked the most crucial question, “What are we eating tonight?”

Jiang Feng thought for a moment, “Do you eat huoshao?”

Sun Jikai: ?

What’s huoshao?

Then Sun Jikai, who’d never eaten huoshao before, was taken by Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi to He Yueru’s family’s huoshao shop to try it.

It had been a while since Jiang Feng had been to He Yueru’s family’s huoshao shop. Although He Yueru wasn’t there, her mother still recognized Jiang Feng and stuffed his with generous portions of meat, not forgetting to make some small talk.

“Xiao Jiang, you’ve been quite busy with work lately, haven’t you? Even if you’re busy, don’t wear yourself out. Auntie heard from Yueru last time that you worked so hard you ended up in the hospital, that’s not good. Can you ever earn all the money in the world? Look at your brother, working hard all the time, he comes here to eat dinner almost at nine o’clock every night, and says it’s just after getting off work. I always advise him, you young people just don’t care about these things, but you’ll understand the hardships when you reach our age.” He Yueru’s mother was chopping donkey meat for Jiang Feng.

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Jiang Feng hadn’t expected the news of his hospitalization from overworking to have reached He Yueru’s mother and quickly changed the subject, “Oh yeah, Auntie, where’s Yueru?”

“She’s gone out to dinner with your brother,” replied He Yueru’s mother.

Jiang Feng: ???

Didn’t you just say De was too busy to have time for dinner?

“Yueru loves to eat and has been eating all over Beiping City since she was young. She’s been to every corner and restaurant. De seems to be working on some sort of feature recently, something to do with food, and Yueru got quite excited. She’s been taking him around to eat everywhere, hasn’t come home for dinner for a week now.” He Yueru’s mother shook her head helplessly, “I saw her this morning, and she seemed to have put on weight again. Such a grown girl, not even caring about looking pretty, it really worries me.”

Jiang Feng: …

De, a designer, curiously got involved with a column, even going as far as to encroach on Wang Hao’s territory.

He Yueru’s mother was merely complaining casually and didn’t continue the conversation after cutting up the donkey meat and handing it to Jiang Feng to carry away.

Returning to their seats with the donkey meat in hand, Jiang Feng saw that Sun Jikai and Wu Minqi hadn’t touched the donkey meat soup or huoshao in front of them, one was on the phone and the other was daydreaming.

Wu Minqi had been daydreaming for quite some time.

“Qiqi,” Jiang Feng called to her, snapping her out of her thoughts, “What’s wrong? You’ve seemed a bit distracted since earlier.”

“Oh,” Wu Minqi regained her focus and took a sip of the donkey meat soup, “It’s nothing, I was just wondering if Zhang could really make this dish.”

Jiang Feng didn’t quite understand and took a bite of his huoshao, “Which dish?”

“Today’s dish.”

“But didn’t he already make it? Although there were some issues with fire control and details, I feel the overall result was actually decent. It’s just too complicated, requires high standards, and can’t be delegated, so I doubt it will make it onto the menu,” Jiang Feng said.

“He didn’t make it,” Wu Minqi shook her head, “Right now, this dish is at most seen as having a rudimentary form, a long way from truly being made.”

It was then that Jiang Feng understood what Wu Minqi meant.

“Difficult,” Sun Jikai put down his phone, “Creating a truly qualified original dish is just too hard.”

Jiang Feng nodded in agreement. Over the years, there hadn’t been a lack of chefs creating original dishes, and quite a few had made it into magazines and won awards, but only a few were accepted and remembered by the public. Apart from rare signature dishes like Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon and clay pot Hua Diao chicken, most original creations were just fleeting, like small stones dropped into a deep pool that cause only a negligible splash before sinking out of sight.

Wu Minqi sighed, an imperceptible envy in her eyes, “Even though it’s just a rudimentary form, it’s still pretty good.”

“How many people don’t even have a rudimentary form.”