CHAPTER 721: CHAPTER 720: ’GARLIC CHICKEN

As for the recipes, Xia Yu dared to say that he could recite every word fluently without missing a beat.

He didn’t dawdle.

Donning an apron, he carefully washed his hands and took a look around the kitchen, silently memorizing the scene.

Familiarity with the environment was important, such as the position of the knife rack, the specific arrangement of the stoves, and the locations of facilities like the refrigerator and microwave. By keeping this information in mind, he could be much more at ease when he fully immersed himself in cooking later, greatly reducing the likelihood of mistakes due to unfamiliar surroundings.

"First, I’ll start with the most time-consuming process of simmering the soup!"

A gleam flashed in his eyes as Xia Yu scanned the counter filled with ingredients, walked over, and picked up the chicken meat and bones.

He quickly washed the ingredients.

Just as he was about to call the servant to bring the charcoal stove, ruckus timely ensued from outside the kitchen; four male servants carried a specially made charcoal stove into the room. The stove, about two meters in size, seemed to be made of marble, with a smooth surface that looked very impressive.

Several more servants followed, bringing in bags of charcoal wood, piling it at the doorway.

The stove appeared to be newly made, without any signs of prior use.

Xia Yu looked up at Tiqie Xianzuowen outside the kitchen and gave a thumbs up, "Really well-prepared!"

"Instructor Xia, here are your things!"

The maid also brought over his kitchen tools from the bedroom, which included a bellows, a toolkit, and the small wooden storage freezer named "Four-sided Sheep Storage" that had made an appearance in Sapporo.

Tonight, Xia Yu naturally moved all his equipment to Tiqie Mansion, not planning to stash anything in his inventory for these next few days.

"Awesome!"

Turning around, he placed a broth pot on the burner of the marble stove.

He heated water and ignored the broth pot while using another pot on a gas stove to blanch the chicken meat and bones.

Blanching, a treatment suitable for many vegetables and meat with strong odors.

Not to mention vegetables for a moment, currently, simmering the chicken bones and meat, the step of blanching helped remove the blood and impurities from the raw materials, making the broth clearer.

However, seeing Xia Yu rinse the chicken bones and meat with boiling water once, then setting up another cooking pot on the gas stove and lighting it to wait for the water to heat, Eriina and Alice were surprised.

"Another round of blanching?"

"Wouldn’t the meat get too cooked, leading to a significant loss of flavor?"

Tiqie Xianzuowen set down his teacup with an intrigued expression emerging in his eyes.

"It seems he is quite aware of the characteristics of that chicken meat and bones."

Huh?

Hearing this remark, Eriina and Alice froze simultaneously.

Could it be that aside from something like "Blue Star Seaweed," the chicken meat and bones also came from some kind of fantasy poultry?

Only to hear Tiqie Zongwei calmly explain, "Father, blanching twice might not be enough, right? That’s the meat and bones of ’Garlic Chicken,’ inherently carrying an excessive garlic flavor, and if not handled properly, the whole soup would be overwhelmed by a pungent garlic smell. How could that be edible?"

He had a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"Back then, while I was learning this Demon King’s recipe, I struggled with this step of simmering the chicken meat and bones for half a year." Tiqie Zongwei said, "Only then did I find a very unconventional method to somewhat diminish the stubborn garlic flavors from the meat and bones, but..."

"But what?"

Alice and Eriina asked urgently.

"The flavor, it was gone!" Tiqie Zongwei’s tone turned somber, "It’s supposed to be clear chicken soup, but if the umami isn’t up to standard, the whole bowl of ramen becomes mediocre. Forget about a Demon King’s ramen!"

During the conversation, Xia Yu had successfully conducted the second blanching.

The chicken meat and bones were heated in the water from 30 degrees to 90 degrees, removed, and rinsed with cold water.

But that was just a second blanching.

"What?!"

Watching as Xia Yu tossed the plate of steaming, fiercely garlic-scented chicken meat and bones back into the charcoal stove’s broth pot, the crisp sound of water could be heard even from the outer room.

Tiqie Zongwei could hardly remain composed, "He’s starting to make the soup after just the second time?"

"Just right, second time, perfect timing!"

Yet from the side came a calm voice, Tiqie Zongwei turned around and saw his father Xianzuowen speaking, "The first time, the blood foam wasn’t thoroughly removed. The second time, the blood foam was completely cleared, and the flavor of ’Garlic Chicken’ was also appropriately diminished, more mellow, and this time, it also properly locked in the ’freshness’ of the chicken meat and bones."

"A triple win!"

Xianzuowen’s eyes were filled with deep admiration. "In the blanching step, he controlled it excellently!"

"But!"

"But indeed!"

Tiqie Zongwei, thinking about his own painful learning experiences, couldn’t help but get agitated, his tone slightly rose. "When you treat chicken and chicken bones like this and just put them into the soup to stew, how should the flavor of ’Garlic Chicken’ be handled afterward?"

Hearing this, Xianzuowen simply pointed at the traditional stove in front of Xia Yu.

"It all depends on that stove."

Tiqie Zongwei looked puzzled.

"Zongwei, you rely too much on equipment!" Xianzuowen said calmly, with a hint of reproach in his voice. "Modern kitchen stoves have stable flames, but for ambitious chefs, such fire, such temperature, it’s too tame, too stable, too easy to control!"

"Temperature control is still your weak spot in cooking!"

Tiqie Zongwei lowered his head.

Undeniably.

As a chef who relied on precise scientific instruments to cook molecular gastronomy, not to mention using a primitive charcoal stove, even a gas stove seemed outdated. Microwave, lightwave, and electromagnetic heating technologies could do a better job.

"Then just... let’s see!" Tiqie Zongwei pushed up his glasses, looked up, and watched the young chef busy filling the stove with charcoal and pumping the bellows with keen interest.

What, ’Garlic Chicken’?

In fact, when transporting the chicken meat and bones, Xia Yu knew right away the ingredients were wrong.

The second type of Fantasy Ingredients? That didn’t matter at all.

Compared to the unknown effects and uses of "Blue Star Algae," the wild garlic flavor of "Garlic Chicken" was, from Xia Yu’s perspective, far easier to handle.

Just one word—

Simmer!

Just simmer it, let the excess flavors evaporate, right?

And that was exactly what he was doing.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

The bellows rhythmically stoked the flames of the charcoal stove.

With each puff, the stove gasped under the heavy breaths; in less than a quarter hour, the entire pot of water was boiling robustly, with large wafts of white steam taking over half of the kitchen. Amidst the steam, Xia Yu was gripped a meter-long pot shovel, leaning forward, continuously stirring the stockpot.

This scene didn’t look like simmering soup at all, more like some warlock brewing some dreadful potion.

An indescribable garlic scent wafted out with the white steam.

"What a choking smell!"

In the outer room, Alice and Eriina covered their mouths and noses, their eyebrows knotted tightly.

Tiqie Zongwei was utterly astonished.

"Do you understand? This is an advanced application of temperature control."

Xianzuowen turned his head to look at his son.

Nodding and then shaking his head, Tiqie Zongwei was completely baffled by Xianzuowen and the young man cooking the chicken broth.

"Tell me what you think about temperature control."

"In the process of preparing the ingredients, controlling the intensity of the heat source, and the duration the ingredients are heated..." Tqie Zongwei replied, "ultimately bringing the ingredients to the desired level of doneness!"

"Hm, a very standard, textbook-like answer."

Tiqie Xianzuowen set down his teacup and stood up.

"Come—"

Tiqie Zongwei followed his father to the fervently hot stove; Xianzuowen pointed towards the stockpot amidst the steam, "What are your thoughts now?"

Hearing this, Tiqie Zongwei could only try to widen his eyes, peering through the steam to see the bubbling soup inside the pot.

Woosh—

Suddenly, speckles of sparks appeared in his field of vision.

"This, this is...?"

As Tiqie Zongwei made out the situation inside the pot, he was as if witnessing magic, dumbfounded and speechless.