dkrc Chapter 127 Can you really sell this meal for 58?
Chapter 127 Can you really sell this meal for 58?
Amidst the everyday hustle and bustle, the moment the lid of the food storage box is lifted, the kitchen is filled with a faint, cool, fresh aroma of raw food.
Su Chen and Xing Ruo stood around the cutting board, their eyes wide open, staring intently at the free-range Sanhuang chickens in the box, their skin tinged with a faint ivory yellow, all carefully wrapped in sterile air cushions.
"Brother Chen... this chicken is different from the ones we've seen at the market before." Su Chen stuck out a finger and poked the chicken breast with some curiosity.
The meat was so firm that it had a subtle, jade-like elasticity, and the skin was so clean that there was not a trace of dirt. When you got close and smelled it, there was not a trace of poultry smell, but rather a fresh, grassy fragrance.
"This is genuine Spicy Yellow Cactus that grew up eating Cordyceps in the woodlands."
Chen Feng had already changed into a clean apron. With a gentle touch of his right hand to the edge of the cutting board, the boning knife fell into his palm like a fish swimming in water.
Without even looking up, he ordered Xingruo, who was standing to the side, in a deep voice: "Xingruo, go and move that jar of aged Daughter Red wine and Shaoxing wine over here."
The essence of today's dish lies entirely in the "marinating" and "cooking time".
Ordinary ingredients require heavy seasoning to mask any fishy smell, but top-quality fresh seafood doesn't need that.
"Understood, Master." Xingruo's almond-shaped eyes were full of bright admiration. She hurriedly ran to the storeroom and, together with Su Chen, carried over the wine jar with the old mud still on the seal.
When Su Chen was a young master in the Su family, what delicacies and high-end French cuisine hadn't he seen?
But this was the first time he had ever seen in person how the food he used to eat was processed.
The boning knife in Chen Feng's hand drew an arc in the air, accompanied by a soft "shh" sound.
The chicken's breastbone, leg bone, and wing bone were completely and completely removed without any meat attached within two seconds.
The whole chicken was laid flat on the cutting board, skin and meat still attached, yet not a single tiny piece of cartilage was damaged.
"Brother Chen... isn't that the real detector in your hand?" Su Chen watched from the side, swallowing hard, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Watch closely." Chen Feng turned the back of his knife and cut the boneless chicken into large pieces, then threw them into a huge earthenware basin.
He smashed two pieces of old ginger, grabbed a small handful of tender scallions, then opened the wine jar and poured a bowl of thick, amber-colored aged Shaoxing wine down the rim of the basin.
"Buzz—"
The aroma of the wine seemed to undergo a wonderful chemical reaction the moment it touched the chicken.
A sweet aroma, reminiscent of ripe rice, blends with the pure, natural flavor of chicken, creating an incredibly potent fragrance that wafts straight into everyone's nose.
"It smells so good, Dad!"
Mengmeng stood on a small stool, her two little hands gripping the edge of the cutting board, her little nose twitching, and her big eyes full of longing.
"Today's clear broth Shaoxing wine chicken doesn't need any extra seasoning. It relies entirely on the natural sweetness of the chicken and the rich flavor of the Shaoxing wine to enhance the taste."
As Chen Feng rhythmically rubbed and seasoned the ingredients in the ceramic basin with his hands, he said to Xing Ruo,
"Xingruo, slice the dried shiitake mushrooms that were delivered today into thin slices and arrange them on the bottom of the plate."
After placing the chicken on top, steam over high heat for eight minutes.
"I understand, Master!" Xingruo deftly picked up the plate and began to assist him with his work.
Looking at the orderly scene, Su Chen scratched the back of his head, pointed somewhat awkwardly at the two boxes of divine ingredients, and finally asked the most practical question after holding back for a long time.
"Brother Chen... I don't know how you got this meat and chicken, but I know what I'm talking about."
The cost of this dish would be at least a thousand or eight hundred yuan for a single plate in those private restaurants.
"Our 'Human Fireworks' restaurant, what should we price it at today...? We can't possibly still sell it for fifty-eight, can we? Otherwise, we'd be losing so much money we wouldn't even have anything left!"
Xingruo also looked over with some concern; she hadn't forgotten that Chen Feng was still "in debt."
Chen Feng neatly laid the seasoned chicken on a porcelain plate lined with shiitake mushrooms, glancing at the old street stone slab outside where the faint sounds of bustling activity were beginning to emerge.
"Today, I'm still fifty-eight."
Chen Feng carefully placed plates of meticulously carved chicken into the large steamer that was emitting scalding steam.
"I may lose some money today, but I want to show them that here, neighbors can still enjoy a state banquet for just over fifty yuan."
"Brother Chen...you're awesome." Su Chen was stunned for a full three seconds before finally giving Chen Feng a thumbs up.
It was exactly 12 noon.
The wooden door to the "Human World" creaked open as Su Chen pushed it open forcefully from the inside.
The sun was blazing outside. Lin Xiaoyu, wearing a big sun hat, led dozens of members from the "Little Rabbit Bun Group" and had already completely surrounded the steps in front of the shop.
Upon smelling the domineering odor wafting from the crack in the door, a chorus of suppressed swallowing erupted from the crowd.
"Sister Xiaoyu! Hurry up and go in! Hurry up and go in!"
The first person to step into the store was Lu Ming, who was carrying a backpack.
He hadn't even had takeout for lunch and had come all the way from school; his face was now pale with hunger.
"Brother Lu Ming, our main dish today is clear broth Shaoxing wine chicken, fifty-eight yuan a serving, want some?" Su Chen shouted, pulling the rag from his shoulder.
"Eat! I'll eat anything Brother Chen makes, even if it's just boiled cabbage! Bring me a serving right now!!" Lu Ming plopped down on a bench by the window, fanning himself with his hand as he shouted impatiently.
"Alright! One serving of clear broth Shaoxing wine chicken!!"
The curtain in the kitchen was lifted, and Chen Feng walked out with steady steps, carrying a huge blue and white porcelain bowl, and placed it steadily in front of Lu Ming.
As soon as the large bowl was placed on the table, the previously noisy shop fell eerily quiet in an instant.
This bowl of clear broth with Shaoxing wine and tender chicken is so clean it looks like a traditional Chinese ink painting.
At the bottom of the porcelain bowl was a layer of slightly curled black shiitake mushrooms that had absorbed a lot of chicken oil, and on top of that were a dozen or so square pieces of chicken with glistening, ivory-yellow skin.
What's most astonishing is the broth, so clear that you can see the texture of the porcelain bowl underneath, with only a few extremely clear, pearl-like specks of pale yellow chicken fat floating on the surface.
The exquisite aroma of meat, infused with aged Shaoxing wine, exploded throughout the entire restaurant with a resounding boom, freed from the constraints of the steamer.
Lu Ming's eyes widened in disbelief, and he could barely hold his chopsticks.
He picked up a piece of chicken with the skin still on, his hands trembling slightly, and without even blowing on it, stuffed it directly into his mouth.
The moment he bit down, he sat bolt upright.
"Holy crap...this...this meat?!"
Lu Ming murmured absentmindedly, forgetting to swallow the meat in his mouth.
As you chew, the crisp chicken skin makes a "crunch" sound, while the meat underneath is as tender as a bowl of freshly cooked tofu pudding. You don't even need to chew it much; the pure, sweet juices of the top-quality free-range chicken burst on your tongue.
It has no dryness or astringency, nor any extraneous flavor from any seasonings.
The aroma of the wine slid down his throat, carrying its delicious flavor all the way into his empty stomach, making him feel so good that every pore on his body opened up in that instant.
"This is definitely not the kind of meat that costs ten yuan a pound at the market... The quality of this meat is better than any old hen I've raised for three years in the mountains back in my hometown! Brother Chen! With these ingredients and this flavor, can you really make a profit selling this meal for 58 yuan?!"
Lu Ming slammed his hand on the table, his face flushed with excitement, and shouted at Chen Feng behind the counter, his voice filled with incredulous astonishment.
Upon seeing this reaction and smelling the irresistible aroma that could melt your bones, the queuing customers could no longer contain themselves. With red eyes and waving hands, they surged into the store like a tidal wave.
"Give me one too!!" "I'll pay a hundred! Bring it to me first!!"