The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Liu Yunong personally demonstrated how to debone a whole chicken.

The extracted skeleton was neatly placed on a tray beside her.

Her speed was fast, and her technique was skillful.

Even speaking while doing it didn’t affect her speed during the operation.

”Xiaofu, you give it a try.”

Shangshi Private Kitchen sells high-priced dishes, using only the most expensive and best-selected ingredients.

Unlike the music restaurant, which uses domestically raised chickens, they use authentic free-range chickens here.

The most important characteristic of free-range chickens is the even distribution of subcutaneous fat, with thin, tight skin, and fine pores arranged in a net-like pattern. Once cooked, the meat broth is clear, with fat clustering on the surface, giving off a fragrant aroma.

This chicken’s meat is tender and succulent, and won’t become dry and tough after frying, far superior to that of ordinary chickens.

Upon touching it, Fu Yu could tell that this hen was indeed genuine and of exceptional quality.

He had deboned duck bones before, so switching to this hen was relatively effortless for him.

Following Liu Yunong’s teachings step by step.

Using the backbone as a reference, a cut was made on the skin with a knife as a starting point, then the wishbone was to be removed.

Liu Yunong instructed, ”At this point, you should move slowly, using the pressure applied by your hand to separate the meat from the ribs. Try to make the cut as small as possible, and be careful not to cut through the other side of the skin. Stop the cutting process when you reach the leg and wing joints.”

Fu Yu nodded and swiftly made a cut; the boning knife was very sharp. To be honest, though, it wasn’t as handy as the knives that seemed to cut through iron effortlessly.

As Fu Yu operated, Liu Yunong carefully reminded him, ”You must be cautious when you encounter the wing and leg joints, carefully separating the meat from them, and pay attention to the pressure, don’t rush.”

Fu Yu did as instructed.

After finishing one side, he switched directions and continued to cut the other side’s wing and leg bones.

Liu Yunong also advised, ”When operating, you can actually separate the joints of the legs and wings first before removing the bones on the other side to preserve the shape of the bone to be removed as much as possible, making it easier to separate the ribs from the chicken meat completely. This way, it’s more convenient to cut.”

Fu Yu paused in his action, quickly tried Liu Yunong’s suggestion once.

Indeed, it worked well.

Removing the wing and leg bones, carefully locating the bone fragments.

As the bone fragments are cartilage, extra caution is needed during removal to avoid puncturing the skin.

While operating, Fu Yu realized why Liu Yunong insisted that he must cleanly remove the other side’s bones in advance.

Because without completely removing the bones, now you have to let the knife get extremely close to the meat, and the gap between the two is very small.

Previously, Fu Yu hadn’t paid attention to this matter at all.

It was evident that Liu Yunong had a complete understanding of the whole chicken’s structure.

Even though Fu Yu didn’t like studying when he was in school, he had undergone subtle training and habit formation through practical teaching in class, so he could still focus on learning something when he needed to.

In Liu Yunong’s view, Fu Yu was a good apprentice, not only diligent and eager to learn but also exceptionally intelligent.

It was easy for her to guide him; as long as she got her point across, Fu Yu could imitate the example exactly without deviation.

Once the preliminary work was completed, the next was the three key processes of cooking gourd chicken.

Simmering, steaming, deep frying.

The hen with the bones removed was put into a pot of boiling water to cook.

After half an hour, take it out and place it in a steaming basin, pour in broth to cover the chicken.

Add yellow wine, soy sauce, and fine salt.

Place scallions, ginger, cinnamon sticks, and anise over the chicken.

Then steam on high heat in a steamer.

Shangshi Private Kitchen uses an authentic wood-fired stove for steaming, with a dedicated steaming room.

The small workers there are all skilled, from lighting the stove to watching the fire; everyone is experienced, and the operation is done with ease.

The only thing more troublesome is the final frying.

The hallmark of a well-cooked gourd chicken is its golden red hue, crispy skin, tender meat, and rich aroma.

To achieve this, controlling the heat and timing during frying is crucial.

Liu Yunong taught Fu Yu a little trick.

”Before frying the chicken, besides draining the water, remember to puncture it to let air escape, which can effectively prevent oil from splattering. Also, start frying with hot oil to maintain the integrity of the main ingredient, then switch to warm oil midway, allowing the oil to gradually penetrate inside, achieving a crispy exterior and tender interior.”

Fu Yu followed this, took out the steamed chicken, removed the scallions, ginger, cinnamon sticks, and anise, and drained the water.

When this was done, it could be tied up before frying.

In front of everyone in the kitchen, Liu Yunong took hemp rope, demonstrating as she instructed Fu Yu: ”First cross the hemp rope, wrap the ends around and pull them together, then cross again, wrapping it once more above the cross. At this point, if the wrapping direction is wrong, it would result in an amateur flat knot, so be particularly careful. Watch carefully, hold the two rope ends and pull tight.”

”If the wrapping method is wrong, it might result in an incomplete live knot that will come apart with a pull. If the knot is tied too tightly, it would also be hard to undo, but with the hands holding the rope ends, you can easily undo it by pulling hard to both sides.”

”Once tied, the chicken won’t easily fall apart during frying, keeping its shape, and when served at the table, customers can easily untie it without affecting the presentation of the whole chicken.”

Fu Yu listened attentively, committing all the operations to memory.

When Liu Yunong tied the hemp rope, she used the chicken she had previously deboned.

So when it was Fu Yu and Liu Zhangpeng’s turn, they could only use the hens they had deboned.

Fu Yu had already started to try operating swiftly.

Liu Zhangpeng was sweating anxiously, whispering for help from Wang Yulong: ”Master, what should I do? I haven’t finished deboning yet!”

”Then you’d better speed up.” Wang Yulong looked at him, also whispering, ”Just need to check for bone fragments?”

Liu Zhangpeng nodded.

Wang Yulong fell silent.

So, even a skilled hand who privately deboned dozens of hens ended up getting outdone by a newbie making gourd chicken for the first time.

He was somewhat helpless.

His apprentice was great in many ways, both diligent and hard-working, only lacking a bit in talent.

Not that he was particularly dull; compared to ordinary people, he was actually quite clever, but when faced with someone like Fu Yu, who was extraordinarily gifted, he was undoubtedly outshone in minutes.

Seeing Wang Yulong’s expression, Liu Zhangpeng quickly said, ”Yes, I’m about to finish.”

Wang Yulong said in a voice only the two could hear, ”The cooking process for gourd chicken is the same throughout, all you need to do now is complete all the operations step by step. There isn’t time to learn the details of the operation now, but you’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future.”