Shokugeki: Start with an izakaya, making everyone cry

Chapter 215 Endless love

"Hey!"

"Can't you two be in love with each other until later?"

Behind him, Taki Kadozaki, who was feeling very depressed, muttered.

At this time, she was always on edge because of the closure of Taki·Amarillo restaurant.

Today happened to be Valentine's Day, and the two of them actually behaved intimately in front of her!

Isn't this deliberately irritating her?

……

"how?"

"Are you jealous?"

Zhang Fan turned his head and chuckled.

"Sometimes I really wish you were mute, no, ugly, a waste!"

Kadozaki Taki glared at him angrily, but was helpless.

"hehe."

"I hope you can act a little more feminine."

Zhang Fan shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

Kadozaki Taki's pretty face heated up, then turned around with a stamp of his feet, and simply stopped talking to him.

On the side, Mu Jiuzhi, who was a little shy, secretly looked at the two of them with the corner of his eyes, and couldn't help but laugh secretly in his heart.

As a "best friend" for many years, she must know some of Taki's thoughts. Ever since she worked in an izakaya like her, she began to have feelings for Zhang Fan.

……

Another beautiful and pleasant evening.

With the preliminary round over, some contestants began to have free time to visit izakayas.

It just opened for business, and the first diners to come in were the three boarding students from Jiexingliao dormitory:

Tian Suohui.

Yoshino Yuki.

Ryoko Sakaki.

Moreover, Yoshino Yuki was also carrying two three-yellow chickens whose feet were bound by ropes.

Both chickens have plump flesh, shiny feathers, black eyes, and red combs, which makes them quite majestic.

"Shopkeeper Zhang."

"You're welcome and safe!"

Seeing the familiar figure, Yoshino Yuki seemed particularly excited and took the initiative to come over to say hello to him.

"You three, are you all so early tonight?"

Zhang Fan quickly brewed three cups of hot ginger tea and came to their side to get closer.

"Isn't this the preliminary round just ended? I have some questions to ask you. Here, shopkeeper, let me test you, which breed of chicken do you recognize?"

After saying that, Yoshino Yuki quickly raised the two chickens in her hands and waved them in front of Zhang Fan.

"Three yellow chickens!"

Zhang Fan just glanced at it and said calmly.

"You actually know?"

Yoshino Yuki looked slightly surprised.

But then he remembered that he, Zhang Fan, was from the Celestial Dynasty, and the Sanhuang Chicken was an excellent meat and egg chicken from the south of the Celestial Dynasty, so of course he knew him.

……

Sanhuang Chicken, a famous local chicken breed.

It is called "Three Yellow" because this chicken has the distinctive characteristics of yellow feathers, yellow beak and yellow feet.

Under normal circumstances, an adult three-yellow rooster weighs about 2 kilograms, and a hen weighs about 1.3 kilograms.

tender.

Thin skin.

Moderate amount of intermuscular fat.

Delicious and nutritious.

Contains higher levels of linolenic acid and sinapinic acid, as well as umami and sweet amino acids.

Therefore, Sanyellow Chicken is gradually recognized by the world.

With the improvement of people's living standards and the increase of the consumer market, the demand for broiler chickens has increased.

In order to meet the needs of consumers, chicken scientists and technicians actively carry out the cultivation and breeding of three-yellow chickens based on modern genetic breeding principles and technologies.

Yuji, who is good at game ingredients, also took a fancy to some of the advantages of Sanhuang chicken, so she chose it as a cooking ingredient to participate in the preliminary competition!

however.

Braised chicken made with three-yellow chicken.

In the end, he still fell short and missed the quarterfinals!

……

Two three-yellow chickens.

The combs are bright red and the eyes are bright.

Even though Yoshino Yuki tied his feet with a rope, unable to move or escape, he could still tell that this chicken was strong and healthy.

"You raised it yourself?"

Zhang Fan, with a look of satisfaction in his eyes, then asked Yuji.

"Yes, how about it? The quality is good, right?"

Yoshino Yuki smiled.

"good!"

Zhang Fan said.

Prepare the ingredients yourself and then let him cook.

There have been precedents for this kind of thing before, such as Kobayashi Gentian's bear paw and crocodile.

Therefore, Zhang Fan, who understood the meaning, didn't waste any more words, took over two three-yellow chickens, and started cooking braised chicken according to her request!

……

First add some cooking wine to cold water and soak for 1 hour.

Then pick it up and clean it. The inside of the chicken belly must be cleaned.

Chicken!

The smell itself is small.

The brine formula has odor removal and other effects, so you don’t need to blanch it.

You can marinate it directly after soaking and drying it.

Take the soup stock, add Zhang Fan's own special brine package, salt, oil, maltose, yellow gardenia, Sichuan peppercorns, and dried chili peppers.

After the fire comes to a boil, turn to medium heat and cook for 40 minutes until the brine is ready.

Then add ginger, garlic, cooking wine, and put the 2 processed three-yellow chickens into the brine.

Then turn off the heat and soak for 60 minutes before picking it up. In this way, the entire braised chicken production process is completely over.

……

The long-awaited three girls of Yoshino Yuki.

At this moment, they were all sitting at the dining table, staring closely at the plate of braised chicken on the table.

Then Yuji was the first to react. She swallowed hard, then couldn't wait to tear open a chicken leg and eat it!

Carefully marinated.

The aroma of chicken has already penetrated deep into the bone marrow.

With every bite, you can feel the rich taste and full sense of happiness.

The meat is tender and juicy, and the unique marinade flavor blends perfectly with the chicken, making your taste buds dance in your mouth.

The skin is crispy on the outside, but the chicken on the inside is tender and juicy. People can’t help but sigh that this is simply:

Delicious on earth!

Although the chicken leg meat has the best taste among chickens.

But to be able to make it so delicious and improve its quality to a more wonderful level, Yoshino Yuki said that she was not qualified.

……

"Zhang Fan, it's also braised chicken, why is it more delicious when you make it?"

Wiping her mouth, Yoshino Yuki had a trace of hope in her bright eyes.

"Ok?"

"Isn't this normal?"

"The chef's own level will definitely affect the taste of the food!" Zhang Fan chuckled and replied with a smile.

"But when I was in the preliminary contest, the braised chicken I made also used this kind of three-yellow chicken. Even the use of spices followed the traditional Chinese method of braised chicken with eight ingredients and old soup!"

"I don't know why, I...I just failed."

After saying this, Yoshino Yuki's bright eyes suddenly turned gloomy.

Thinking about my braised chicken dish, it’s really not bad at all, but why can’t I even make it to the top eight?

"It stands to reason."

"The more traditional eight spices perfectly match the characteristics of chicken."

"The braised chicken should be fresh and delicious."

“But why can’t the chicken braised with eight ingredients and old soup achieve the effect we want?”

"I think the first thing is the proportion of spices."

“Chefs who know the authentic proportions generally don’t tell them easily.”

"unknown."

"Most of them are based on my own imagination and random combinations."

"Catching it as soon as you see it. This is one of the reasons for the poor texture and taste of braised chicken."

"Secondly, it has a lot to do with the quality of spices. The origin, maturity time, storage method, etc. of each spice will all cause differences in the quality of spices!"

"So if you want to make good braised chicken, you need to slowly learn and understand the basic knowledge of spices."

“Only by understanding the characteristics and functions of spices and learning to identify the quality of spices can we prepare a spice dosage ratio that meets the characteristics of chicken.”

……

talk!

A bit much.

But for Yoshino Yuki, it was a rare experience.

Only now did she realize that her braised chicken should have focused too much on the quality and handling of the chicken, while neglecting the preparation of the braised ingredients.

"Then...then what should be done to achieve a balance between the chicken and the marinade?"

Finally, Yoshino Yuki couldn't help but ask again.

"Just the chicken itself."

"Those so-called [to make braised chicken fragrant, all depends on eight ingredients and old soup] is just a popular saying."

"The most important criterion to determine whether chicken is fragrant or not is whether the braised chicken can maximize the original flavor of the chicken itself!"

"With a braised chicken, you can't taste the meaty aroma and umami of the chicken itself."

"Then, this braised chicken will never be delicious."

"And the flavor of the chicken itself depends on the quality of the ingredients."

"So it comes back to the previous topic. The quality of the ingredients is the most important. If the chicken is marinated, part of the umami flavor will be lost, which will affect the aroma of the final product."

"In other words, the use of spices only serves to assist in adding flavor and removing some of the remaining odor."

"The aroma of braised chicken."

"It cannot play a decisive role!"

"If you can understand this, it will be easier to decide between the two."

Zhang Fan continued to express his views.

……

"This approach seems to be really useful!"

After listening carefully, Yoshino Yuki couldn't help but roll her eyes a few times, and then she suddenly realized.

"In short, there is nothing wrong with the handed down recipe of eight ingredients and old soup."

"But there are many things to consider when making a braised chicken dish. For example, when the proportion and quality of spices and the quality of chicken have changed, how can we make the taste of traditional braised chicken?"

"Obviously, many chefs have not thought clearly about these issues."

"If you just want to follow the script and copy the recipe blindly, not only will you not be able to produce the desired taste, but it will be counterproductive!"

"Correct!"

"exactly!"

"I just made these mistakes."

Yoshino Yuki finally understood where her problem lies.

"Shopkeeper Zhang, you are really amazing."

"Just by making this braised chicken, your own insights and knowledge can see further and higher than mine!"

"Oh, what a pity. I should have come to the izakaya in advance and tasted your cooking like Tadokoro Megumi. Then I should have been able to advance smoothly in this autumn selection, right?"

After saying that, Yoshino Yuki ate the braised chicken in front of her again.

Zhang Fan's braised chicken dish naturally tasted very different. What surprised her even more was that there were very few spices used in the braised chicken.

The bay leaves, star anise, and fennel that she had never suspected were missing.

but.

Very strange.

Although these spices are missing, it tastes extremely good.

This gave Yoshino Yuki an enlightenment and began to rethink his own cracking ideas:

Chicken may not be fragrant if there are too many spices.

……

Among braised chicken dishes.

The spices can be minimal, but the chicken flavor must be strong.

No matter what kind of spices they are, their aromas must complement each other, and after fusion, they can complement and enhance the original flavor of the chicken.

Only in this way can the chicken aroma be more prominent and the taste more mellow!

"I see."

"The spices used are really different from the traditional recipe."

"Tangerine peel, cinnamon, cardamom, galangal, cloves, amomum villosum, grass fruit and angelica..."

"Among these spices, cardamom and grass fruit, amomum villosum and tangerine peel are matched in pairs, and there is a wonderful dependence and restriction relationship!"

"The three spices of cinnamon, galangal, and angelica are used in relatively large quantities."

"It seems that the flavors of these spices are very close to the chicken and can fully stimulate the aroma of the chicken."

While eating, he continued to analyze the braised chicken that Zhang Fan made!

In the end, Yoshino Yuki was greatly shocked, and at the same time she understood why Tadokoro's angler fish curry hot pot dish successfully defeated the 26 contestants on the field.

Although there is an element of her hard work in this, it is definitely closely related to her being inspired by Zhang Fan's cooking!

……

In Totsuki Academy.

Competition is always a constant topic.

There are so many disputes and killings between students, making this academy full of suffocating and uneasy atmosphere every day.

Therefore, under this environment.

Only by constantly pursuing cooking skills can we survive here!

This is why Yoshino Yuki rushed to the izakaya after her failure and asked Zhang Fan to make braised chicken dishes using three-yellow chicken.

……

Nordic cuisine also exists!

When it comes to Nordic cuisine, many people will habitually think of Swedish meatballs and some limitless dark ingredients!

However, for Leonora Nakiri, there is nothing more exciting than fresh fish.

Ah!

Learned about his daughter.

Won first place in the preliminary round.

She was naturally very happy, so she started cooking herself, planning to make a delicious meal to entertain Alice.

All I could see was that she was cooking cold water shrimp tart in the kitchen. This dish was pioneered by a famous cooking master, Thora Littman, decades ago.

This is a delicious dish made with shrimp mixed with other ingredients and spread on small slices of bread!

Moreover, this small piece of bread is lightly fried, and salmon eggs and dill are placed on the top for decoration.

When the crispy bread is combined with the elastic shrimp, the taste is very wonderful. The more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes. It is also mixed with the fleeting fishy and salty taste of the salmon roe when it bounces on the teeth. ,fragrant!

At this moment, Leonora is a mixture of cold water shrimp, chopped onion, egg white and dill grass, add mayonnaise and mix well.

After that, fry the white toast with clear butter over slow fire until golden brown and absorb the oil.

Place the mixed shrimp meat on white toast and garnish with caviar and dill grass.

"OK, it's done!"

Immediately, I looked at the prepared cold water shrimp tower.

Leonora Nakiri couldn't help but wipe the beads of sweat, and a faint smile finally appeared on her delicate and pretty face.

(End of this chapter)