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The Age of Chicken Love

One spring day during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty

By Hasti DaeiPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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The Age of Chicken Love
Photo by Shaira Dela Peña on Unsplash

One spring day during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty, the Feng Hua Restaurant in Guangzhou, Zigong posted an advertisement for an apprentice, looking for a tall young beauty to apprentice.

Someone asked, "There are many beautiful women in Zigong, but why do you need a tall one to learn to cook?" Chef Wang Shizhu said, "High enough to reach the stove, right?"

After waiting for 3 days, finally, a tall woman with white and red skin came to reveal the list. Meng Fenghua, the owner of the restaurant, was pleased and asked Wang Shizhu to come for an interview. Wang Shizhu asked her to introduce herself. The woman said, "My daughter Song, small character Wenqing, settled in Rongzhou with her mother from Shanghai town this year, and what I want to learn most is to make salt-rubbed chicken."

Salt rubbed chicken is a Shanghai dish, Zigong because of the developed salt industry, people from the north and south of the sky to this business, people's tastes also in this big party, the major dishes have made an appearance, restaurants to attract customers with strange tricks. The purpose of the new dish "salt rubbed chicken" launched by Feng Hua Restaurant is to compare the "cold rabbit" of the opposite "Bawei Xiang" restaurant, and for this reason, they also played a They also put up the signboard of "the world's first chicken".

At the end of the conversation, Song Wenqing asked how long it would take to learn, Wang Shizhu put up a master's frame and said: "Wenqing, it will take 3 months to learn quickly, to prove your sincerity to learn the art. You must pay 50 taels of silver as a deposit, think it over."

The next day, Song Wenqing paid the deposit and came to work. Wang Shizhu brought a bowl of rice and scattered it in the pot, and the rice jumped up in the pot just after frying, exploding everywhere. Wang Shizhu held two spatulas, one to fry the rice and one to block the splashing rice, and said, "Wenqing, no matter what you do, you have to practice from the basics, look at my gesture, the spatula to block the rice is moving around the edge of the pot in a hexagonal shape, so that the rice can be blocked. When your fried rice does not fly out of the pot, I will start teaching you to make salt-rubbed chicken."

From then on, Song Wenqing practiced frying rice for an hour every day, in addition to plucking chicken feathers, shedding duck feathers, and cutting vegetables. Although it was hard work, she never complained of being tired. Wang Shizhu was very satisfied with her performance.

After a month, Song Wenqing mastered the skills of fried rice. Wang Shizhu then took her into the operation room and taught her how to make salt-rubbed chicken by hand. The seasoning is nothing but salt, yellow wine, ginger, star anise, etc. Wang Shizhu hung the clean chicken to air-dry and then used a silver needle to pierce the breast and thigh of the chicken once, and a small needle hole appeared on the skin of the chicken, and the seasoning, which was ground into powder, was rubbed into the body of the chicken by Wang Shizhu's palm.

Song Wenqing thought the chicken marinated for a while on the cage and steamed on the line, but who knows Wang Shizhu and the chicken with a stone pressed into a tile bowl steamed. Steamed for twelve hours, until the next morning, he took out the bowl head of the chicken, put it into the chicken soup prepared in advance, soaked it for three or four hours before taking it out, and then steamed it in a cage. After steaming for half an hour, the salt-rubbed chicken is a dish. On the table of the chicken was a golden color, taste mellow, the aroma straight to the mouth and nose, people mouth-watering.

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About the Creator

Hasti Daei

Happy, what happens when it happens, and what happens when it doesn't?

I would rather live in peace

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