Shokugeki: Start with an izakaya, making everyone cry

Chapter 224 A grain of rice contains the strongest taste in the world
Black-bone chicken, so called black-bone chicken.

Just because it was completely black and couldn't find any white spots.

If you see a Silkie at night, you probably won’t be able to see it singing, dancing, rapping, or playing basketball at your feet!
However, I believe no one would be so bored that they would run out to watch Silky Chicken at night...right?

……

Fresh Silky Chicken.

The chicken's mouth is dry and shiny, and the oral mucus is off-white, clean and odorless.

The black eye fills the entire eye socket, the cornea is shiny, the skin pores are raised, the surface is dry and tight, and the muscles are strong and elastic!
Male black-bone chickens generally weigh 1 to 2 kilograms.

Hen, about 1 and a half pounds.

At present, the raising of silky chickens is very common in China, with many varieties and different names.

The most famous variety is the silky silky chicken native to Taihe County, JX Province. Of course, the silky chicken, a specialty of Xingwen County, Sichuan, is also very famous.

The black-bone chicken used by Zhang Fan is a nourishing and medicinal treasure:
Xingwen Silky Chicken!
According to legend, during the Qianlong period, villagers presented Xingwen silky chickens as tribute to the emperor.

At that time, Emperor Qianlong saw that the silky chicken not only had an outstanding appearance, but also had tender meat and a unique aroma, so he regarded it as a rare product and classified it as a "tribute chicken", and the eggs it laid were also classified as "tribute eggs".

"Is it really black chicken?" Leonora was confused when she saw that the ingredients used were really black chicken.

Although silky chicken does taste more delicious than ordinary chicken, if it is cooked alone, its strong aroma will affect the entire dish.

Moreover, silky chicken is very lean and has a very low fat content, so it is not easy to produce oil when stewing the soup.

Ah!
Chicken rice?
Would rice be delicious without the blessing of animal oil?

Leonora expressed doubts about this, and even Nakiri Shinagi next to her also held this view.

……

Prepare ingredients.

Black-bone chicken, glutinous rice, matsutake mushrooms, chives, ginger slices, white wine.

There are also black fungus, black beans, shiitake mushrooms, and their own special soup ingredients.

First, Zhang Fan hollowed out the internal organs of the black-bone chicken, and then washed the inside and outside.

Then chop the matsutake mushrooms, add a little salt and long-soaked glutinous rice, stir evenly, and stuff it directly into the belly of the silky chicken.

After filling in a little bit, press it gently with your fingers to ensure that the ingredients do not fall out.

The whole process seems to be a bit heavy.

After all, who would have thought that a silky chicken that had been practicing for two and a half years would end up like this?
Then, Zhang Fan put the chicken into a casserole, added water, boiled it and skimmed off the blood foam, and then put everything else in.

Wait for the soup to boil, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Finally, take out the chicken and cut it open from the back, then put all the contents inside the chicken belly into another casserole.

Cover it with a casserole and continue to use the remaining heat to simmer!
……

"Using a casserole?"

"And the stuff stuffed into the chicken belly seems to have been taken out again just now, and is it just put in this casserole?"

"Strange, wouldn't this approach waste ingredients like silky chicken?"

"don't know!"

"I really don't understand!"

"Silk chicken should be the main ingredient."

“In the end, it was discarded as if it had no value at all.”

Leonora Nakiri looked at the casserole with great confusion. She had seen Zhang Fan's entire cooking process before.

"That's right, the stuff inside is indeed not silky chicken."

With that said, Zhang Fan took a step forward and slowly opened the lid of the casserole.

……

Whoosh!
There was a loud bang.

But a dazzling white light burst out from the casserole and shot straight into the sky.

In the past, when Zhang Fan cooked these special recipes, it would indeed glow, but it usually emitted a softer yellow light instead of this more dazzling white light!
"Ah! This light... is so... so dazzling!"

Alice, who was already very curious, inevitably poked her head over to see what was inside the casserole.

As a result, the sudden white light almost blinded her eyes.

The entire izakaya suddenly became as bright as day, with light overflowing and every corner clearly illuminated.

Soon, the white light dissipated, and the true face of this mysterious "silky chicken dish" finally appeared in front of everyone!

"This is... rice?"

"You've been tinkering for so long, and then it's just food?"

Looking at the steaming casserole of white rice, everyone present was stunned for a few seconds.

Black-bone chicken and white phoenix soup, black-bone chicken stewed with wolfberry, steamed black-bone chicken, black-bone chicken and red date soup, black-bone chicken stewed with cordyceps, crispy black-bone chicken, black-bone chicken stewed with yam... These black-bone chicken dishes may or may not be required.

But your so-called black-bone chicken rice must at least be like black-bone chicken steamed with glutinous rice, right?

However, who would have thought?

The entire silky chicken rice dish is actually just a bowl of rice.

Correct!
Pure white rice!

……

"interesting."

“This dish may not be inferior to Shenglong Dumplings.”

Nakiri Shinagi calmed down for a moment, his eyes flashed, as if he thought of something.

Zhang Fan, with an indifferent expression on his face, looked at Nakiri, Leonora and Alice, mother and daughter, who looked surprised.

"Just one bite and you guys will understand."

With that said, Zhang Fan came to the casserole, picked up a crystal clear rice grain, and said, "In every grain of rice you see, there is actually a chef's incomparable passion for chicken cooking!"

"What?" Leonora was obviously stunned, apparently hearing the implication of this sentence.

"Okay, then let's come and eat."

Her eyes tightened, she quickly took the small spoon and said.

Since her mother said so, Alice naturally had no reason to refuse.

And she really wanted to taste it herself to see how much magic this rice-only dish had.

I scooped up a spoonful of rice and sniffed it in front of my nose. I could smell the rice mixed with a mysterious fragrance.

"This luster, and this fragrance... Could it be that the intention is to stuff all the ingredients into the chicken belly, cook it, and then take it out and put it into another casserole..."

Halfway through the words, Reno Nora couldn't hold it in anymore and put a spoonful of rice into his mouth: "Ah... This, does this taste like chicken? Yes, this taste is definitely the best, and it's the best." Chicken flavor!”

Seeing what her mother said, Alice took a spoonful of rice and put it in her mouth. After eating, her face was full of disbelief.

……

Then, under everyone's gaze.

The mother and daughter kept putting rice into their mouths, eating faster and faster with their hands.

Finally, halfway through eating, they felt as if their blood was boiling.

"These rice dishes are so majestic and gorgeously sweet that they seem to sweep over them like turbulent waves. The taste is fragrant and fascinating. It looks like a bowl of rice, but it is very rich!"

"Wait a minute, I think I can hear the blood rushing and flowing in my body!"

Immediately, Leonora couldn't help but touch her chest. Not only could she feel the flow of blood in her body, but she could also hear every frequency of her heartbeat clearly.

Then, his taste buds exploded like a volcano.

At this moment, in the consciousness of her mind, there seemed to be a shining golden chicken flying above her head. The whole person is no longer awake and can only think of two words:
tasty!

"Amazing."

"This is rice-only cuisine. It's definitely the best meal I've ever had."

Leonora, who finished eating last, couldn't help but close her eyes and put on an expression of special enjoyment!

Everyone around her was surprised when they saw her expression.

a bowl of rice.

Does it really smell that good?
……

After a long time, Leonora finally calmed down and couldn't help but ask: "Zhang Fan, I have two questions to ask you about this Silky Chicken Stuffed Rice."

"The first thing is why there is only pure white rice, which tastes like chicken."

"No, it's not just chicken, it also contains many ingredients. It's not an exaggeration to say that a grain of rice contains a delicious dish."

"How on earth is this done?"

"Also, why does it have to be silky chicken? Isn't it possible to use other chicken breeds?"

Two questions, very well asked.

Zhang Fan, however, was not in a hurry to answer, but chuckled and picked up another casserole.

Then without any hesitation, he opened the lid directly, and there was a black chicken inside, and at the same time, a large aroma rushed towards him.

"Chicken...chicken...so you didn't throw it away?"

Seeing the dark silky chicken, Alice, who had just finished eating next to her, said in surprise.

At this time, Zhang Fan picked up the kitchen knife and made a cut in the middle of the black-bone chicken. The rice grains wrapped in the black-bone chicken were immediately revealed.

"It turns out that the inside of the chicken belly is not something but white rice?"

Leonora, Alice, Shinagi, Hisako and others all suddenly understood.

Seeing that everyone understood, Zhang Fancai shrugged and explained: "That's right, slowly cook the chicken with medicinal materials, wine and other ingredients, and then only take out the rice inside to eat, and it will become the white rice you just ate. The rice is ready.”

"Why just eat?"

"Don't you want to eat chicken?"

Blinking her bright eyes like autumn water, Alice asked curiously.

“Because it’s the most complete way to express the deliciousness of this silky chicken!”

"What?" After hearing this, everyone was surprised again.

Zhang Fan continued: "In order to present the most beautiful taste of silky chicken, we can only simmer it in a casserole at high temperature to blend the flavors of all the ingredients into the soup."

"Then it's mixed with the rice stuffed into the chicken belly."

“One grain of rice can absorb the essence of the whole silky chicken and other ingredients!”

Hearing this, Leonora nodded thoughtfully: "That's why we have to use silky chicken with a lower fat content and a sweeter and more delicious taste."

……

Silky chickens are very adaptable to different environments.

Therefore, free-range breeding can be used for breeding, or captive breeding can be used.

But being easy to raise doesn’t mean you can:

Raise whatever you want.

Silky chicken chicks are very fragile after hatching.

Chicks are intolerant of low temperatures, strong light and excessive noise. The place where the chicks are hatched should be placed in a quieter room with a stable temperature of around 30 degrees Celsius.

The feeds fed are mainly corn flour, wheat flour and other nutritious concentrated feeds at regular times and at fixed points.

In short, I can think of cooking in this way.

Leonora and others must have been shocked by this, especially Alice, who was even more in awe of her in her heart.

Then, after eating, her eyes rolled around and she began to muster the courage to express her intention to come to the izakaya in front of him.

"Zhang Fan, Erina has been staying with you for a while."

"And after the autumn selection is over, there will actually be an on-site training activity."

"That...that, I hope that I can temporarily stay in your izakaya as an intern."

"Ok?"

Zhang Fan looked at Alice and couldn't help but be stunned!
……

Well known.

In the junior high school of Totsuki Academy, students generally learn theoretical knowledge, such as:
Nutrition.

Public Health.

Ingredient selection and handling.

Tips on cooking methods.

Kitchen management and organization.

Food security.

In short, junior high school students usually have no practical experience.

When it comes to the higher education department, students' cooking skills are often tested during class. If their cooking fails to meet the instructor's requirements, they may be expelled from the school.

But even so, many students still lack practical experience. After all, none of them have been working in restaurants since they were young, like Soma Kohei, Takemi, Miyoko Hojo, etc.

Therefore, in order to cultivate students' practical skills, Yuanyue officials will hold another grand event after the autumn selection:
Field training!

Freshmen must serve as interns.

They were sent to outside restaurants, restaurants, food suppliers, etc. for half a month of internship!
Although the internship place for each student is officially designated by Totsuki, Alice is the eldest daughter of the Nakiri family after all, so she still has some "privileges".

If she were to say where she most wanted to intern, it would definitely be:
Zhang Fan’s izakaya.

……

Zhang Fan naturally noticed her thoughts.

So, he came to the island platform, pointed to the unwashed ceramic bowls, and said: "You don't have to wait for internship training, you can wash all these bowls now."

"Okay, I'll wash it now."

Alice looked excited when she learned that Zhang Fan was willing to let her stay at the izakaya temporarily.

However, she reacted the next moment!
ha?
Did you hear me wrong?

You want me, a noble eldest daughter of the Nakiri family, to wash the dishes?

……

"Hey, Zhang Fan, are you trying to embarrass me?"

Alice stared at him resentfully, her tone sounding complaining.

"Haha, I'm kidding you. The izakaya has an automatic dishwasher, so why do you need to wash the dishes?"

"I just want you to understand that no matter what your identity is when you come to work in the izakaya, you must obey my orders."

Zhang Fan said with a smile.

"Of course I will listen to you."

"Actually, as long as I can learn cooking skills from you, even if you let me wash the dishes and mop the floor, I will be very happy."

Alice patted her chest, then blushed.

(End of this chapter)