Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 377 Honest and Loyal
For things like chicken, duck, and goose, there are generally only two ways to cook them: either braise or roast them.

Because the technique of "roasting" requires a high level of skill from the chef and is difficult to control the heat, Chen Fan decided to put it aside for the time being and first teach them the relatively simpler technique of "braised dishes".

Later generations had many varieties of braised dishes, such as red braised, salt-baked, spicy, pickled pepper, soy sauce-flavored, five-spice, cold dishes, etc. ... Chen Fan did not intend to teach them all.

Good things should be released gradually. If you release everything at once, how can you develop in the future?
Besides, what if someone copies it?
As long as Lujiawan opens a cooked food shop in the county, Chen Fan is certain that at least the production teams around the county town will get involved, and competitors will appear within three months at the latest.

In market competition, you don't need to have a leading advantage, just a tiny bit is enough, and you can gradually give out the rest.

So, when you take it all in, it becomes quite simple.

Chen Fan took out a spice packet wrapped in white cloth and said in a serious tone, "Don't think that making cooked food is complicated. It's actually very simple. It's so simple that as long as you follow the instructions, process the chicken, duck and goose, and then just throw them into the braising liquid to cook, you're done."

So everyone, relax and just learn diligently. However, there are two key points: one is the spice packet I have, and the other is the method for preparing chicken, duck, and goose. Even though you're all kitchen experts, let me ask you this: which of you cooks chicken without a gamey smell?

There were 30 people present, looking at each other in complete silence.

They rarely kill chickens more than twice a year, so how would they know the correct way to kill chickens?

Guangdong is probably the place in China that loves eating chicken the most. There is a word called "劏鸡" in Cantonese, which means killing a chicken and cleaning its internal organs.

Whether a chicken is cooked well or not starts with how it is butchered.

Chen Fan learned the chicken-cutting technique from a demonstration by a Cantonese chef in later generations, and it was the most particular way to remove the fishy smell from poached chicken.

If this kind of chicken isn't cooked properly, it tastes ordinary, and some people might even find it unpalatable. But if the technique is right and the cooking time is just right, Chen Fan can slurp down three plates without even breaking a sweat.

He couldn't recreate it before, but now, with his skills, it's no problem at all. Not to mention that now it's braised, which is even easier.

The other packet of braising spices was also from a video personally demonstrated by a master of braising, who also provided a complete analysis of the braising spice recipe.

It has to be said that there's a lot of rubbish in short videos, but there's also a lot of good stuff. You can find all sorts of tutorials. Look, we're using them now.

He looked at the silent female workers and smiled arrogantly, "You all smell fishy? Do you know why?"

He tossed the spice packet onto the table and said with a smile, "That's because your chicken-killing technique is wrong. But as long as you do it the way I say, the braised chicken you make will be fragrant and not fishy at all."

Hua Hua Hua...

The female workers immediately applauded enthusiastically.

Although they felt that the chickens they killed smelled delicious when cooked and didn't have any fishy smell, they didn't understand what Teacher Chen meant by knife skills, and what kind of knife skills were needed to kill chickens.
But that doesn't stop us from applauding!

Before leaving home, everyone—grandparents, in-laws, husband, relatives, aunts and uncles—as well as the team leader, accountant, custodian, militia leader, and neighbors, all repeatedly reminded me to listen to Teacher Chen and especially to avoid being eliminated, otherwise…

There is something unspeakable that may happen!

So all the women here are extremely attentive, afraid of missing even half a sentence and being eliminated.

Chen Fan felt a little smug under the gaze of so many admiring eyes. Thinking of Yang Xingxiu, who had just given a brief 20-minute speech, he finally understood why she had spoken so much.

Being looked at like that really makes it easy to talk too much.

However, Teacher Chen is a worldly person and naturally will not be lost in these admiring gazes.

He immediately coughed and continued explaining the production process, "I'll talk about the techniques for killing chickens later. Also, there are different techniques for killing ducks and geese, but don't worry, we'll do it one by one. As long as you can learn them before August 30th, that's fine."

By August 31st, you'll need to head to the county town to produce a large quantity of cooked food to prepare for the opening on September 1st. Next, I'll talk about how to cook it. We'll start with theory, then practice, and finally combine theory and practice…”

……

In the front office, listening to the screams coming from the middle courtyard, Secretary Yang bit his pipe and dared not utter a sound.

Xiao Liewen, who was standing next to Ye Shubao, couldn't help but lean forward and ask, "It's so noisy inside, it's giving me a headache. How many chickens did you prepare for them?"

Ye Shubao remained expressionless and made two hand gestures.

Xiao Liewen blinked. "35?"

Sitting in the corner, Zhang Wenliang stared in disbelief. "So many?"

Anquan wiped away the tears streaming from the corner of his mouth. "These chickens are so pitiful. Killing so many chickens at once, what are we going to do later?"

Ye Shubao sighed softly, "Today we have 35 chickens and two pork bones, tomorrow we'll have 35 ducks, the day after tomorrow 35 geese, and then 35 rabbits. If that's not enough, we might have to order more... What a huge loss!"

Before the others could even swallow, Yang Xingxiu came running back, his fists clenched, and exclaimed excitedly, "That was so exciting! They killed over 30 chickens at once, and the blood was splattered everywhere..."

"what?"

Secretary Yang jumped to his feet, his eyes wide with shock. "Blood splattered everywhere?"

He clenched his fists and cursed repeatedly, "What a spendthrift! That's chicken blood! Can't we just make chicken blood tofu? They can't even collect blood properly! Is this the kind of people they chose? I'll skin them alive..."

Yang Xingxiu quickly said, "Father, Father, it's not that exaggerated."

Secretary Yang glared at her. "Didn't you say it yourself? Blood was splattered everywhere. How is that an exaggeration?"

Yang Xingxiu swallowed hard and said cautiously, "I just used a little rhetorical device."

"rhetoric?"

Secretary Yang glared at him, "I think you're the one who needs a beating."

As he was about to roll up his sleeves, Zhang Wenliang almost rushed up to stop him.

You can't beat your daughter in public.

Seeing this, Yang Xingxiu quickly said, "Actually, I'm just stating the facts. When have you ever seen a chicken killed without spilling a single drop of blood? The chicken is lively and jumping around; surely some blood will spill out, right?"
Thirty of them were killing a chicken together, and with Xiao Chen included, they filled the entire yard. If each person spilled a little blood, how could there not be blood splattered everywhere?

Upon hearing this, Secretary Yang fell silent, Zhang Wenliang silently stepped back, and An Quan, Ye Shubao, and the others covered their eyes.

Finally, everyone looked at Zhang Wenliang.

Zhang Wenliang was a little confused. "Why are you looking at me?" An Quan smirked slightly. "Because you become like those you associate with."

Yang Xingxiu's eyes widened, just like her father's, and she whispered to An Quan, "What did you say?"

Anquan immediately sat up straight and coughed lightly. "What I mean is, you were able to describe it so accurately after only one collaboration with Teacher Chen, which shows great progress. On the other hand, someone who is with Teacher Chen every day hasn't made much progress, which is really worth pondering."

Yang Xingxiu glanced at him, then at someone else, and sighed inwardly, "He really hasn't made any progress!"

Just then, a strong smell wafted from the backyard, somewhat unpleasant, yet very attractive.

Yang Xingxiu's eyes lit up immediately, "They've started scalding the water to pluck the feathers, I'll go take a look."

After saying that, he ran out in a flash.

Zhang Wenliang immediately shook his head and sighed, "He's 24 years old and still not mature enough."

Secretary Yang immediately looked at someone, his teeth grinding together.

The people around were so frightened that they didn't dare to make a sound. Even Xiao Liewen, who was the bravest of them all, silently lit a cigarette.

Anquan glanced at someone who was also 24 years old, silently stood up, and walked towards the middle courtyard behind.

……

Kill the chicken, bleed it, pluck its feathers, and butcher it. Then, put the chicken into hot water that is steaming but not boiling, with ginger and scallion knots added, and stir it constantly until the blood is drained. Then, take the chicken out and set it aside. After that, go and process all kinds of chicken offal.

Thirty people lined up in a row of six vertical and five horizontal lines, squatting in front of the basin to process the chicken. Chicken kidneys, livers, hearts, and gizzards were relatively easy to process, but the chicken intestines were the most difficult to process.

First, cut open the chicken intestines and then clean them thoroughly.

Chen Fan specially prepared wood ash here, which, when mixed into the water, can help clean it quickly.

When Yang Xingxiu arrived, she saw them preparing chicken giblets. She swallowed hard, then slowly approached Chen Fan and whispered, "Little Chen, there are so many chickens, what are we going to do with them?"

Chen Fan turned to look at her and smiled, "You'll have to ask your father about this."

Yang Xingxiu was speechless. "My dad has never dealt with such a rich chicken before."

She looked at the female workers and said with a smile, "I last saw this scene when I was a child. Back then, the production team ran a canteen, and everyone ate there. This is what it looked like when they slaughtered chickens and pigs."

After saying that, he sighed softly, "It's a pity that we only had six months of good days, and then we suffered for several years."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, feeling a gaze fixed on him from the shadows. He quickly coughed and changed the subject, "Why don't you go ask him for his opinion? The weather is hot now, and braised food won't last long. It's best to eat it within a day or two."

So Yang Xingxiu, who had only run over for two minutes, turned around and ran back.

Next, it was time to talk about safety.

He walked up to Chen Fan, handed him a cigarette, and took out a second cigarette to put in his mouth, but Zhang Wenliang, who had rushed over, took it from him.

The three people stood in a row, three wisps of smoke rising from them, their eyes all fixed on the 30 large wooden basins.

After a while, Anquan said, "I want to eat it even when it's still raw. If it were cooked and sold, there would definitely be a lot of people buying it."

Zhang Wenliang stared intently, "How much should this cost?"

Chen Fan dusted off his cigarette ash. "The chickens at the market sell for about 1.2 yuan each. Our braised dishes are all ready-made, so you can eat them right away. They should be worth at least double that. As for the offal, we'll give you a 20% discount."

In the future, chicken giblets at braised food stalls will be more expensive than chicken meat, but that's not the case now. Chicken giblets have no oil and can only be tasted. Unlike chicken meat, although they don't have much oil, they can still fill you up.

The two looked at him together, "So expensive?"

Chen Fan shrugged, turned his head and smiled, "Don't talk about the price yet. Brother An will just report this price to the Bureau of Commerce and see if they approve it."

Seeing the confused looks on their faces, Chen Fan smiled and said, "You've eaten at restaurants before, right? A plate of braised chicken pieces only has half a chicken, but it costs 7 yuan. They can make 3 plates from one chicken and sell them for 8 yuan."

The side dishes and seasonings together cost less than 40 cents. They bought the chickens at wholesale price, which is 90 cents per pound. At most, the market would charge them one dollar. So, assuming a chicken weighs 3 pounds, the cost would be no more than 2.7 dollars. In reality, chickens weighing 3 pounds are rare; chickens weighing 2.5 pounds are more normal.

So, a chicken costing 4 yuan, plus less than 7 cents for side dishes and seasonings, totaling 3 yuan, would be more than enough. But how much did they sell it for? A full 8 yuan! How much profit did they make?

After listening to Chen Fan's analysis, An Quan, who had just thought the price was too high, nodded repeatedly. "They make a profit of one and a half times, while we only double our profit. Besides, the chicken giblets are 8% off. This price is definitely reasonable!"

While they were talking, everyone had finished cleaning the chicken giblets, washed them twice with water, and then piled them into a large bamboo basket.

Chen Fan turned and walked to a clay stove in the corner, threw in a large packet of braised food, and soon the whole courtyard was filled with the aroma of braised spices.

Inside the large pot, two pork bones were sometimes visible, sometimes hidden, in the boiling water, and the broth had turned milky white. However, with the addition of the spice packet, the color of the broth darkened, and it was soon boiled into a pot of braising liquid over high heat.

As Chen Fan threw the ingredients in, he explained to them how to make the soup base, how to add the spices, what to add first and what to add last, emphasizing a rigorous and meticulous process.

At the entrance to the courtyard, Secretary Yang, with his pipe in his mouth, couldn't help but frown. "Little Chen taught so meticulously, he's practically given us the recipe. Old Ye, you have to make sure these people are well instructed that the skills they learn here must not be passed on to anyone else, or else don't blame me for not being upfront about this."

Just as Ye Shubao nodded, Yang Xingxiu covered her mouth and whispered, "Dad, don't worry, the key to this braised dish lies in the secret recipe. Only I know the recipe, and I prepared all the ingredients. I've already instructed Guixiang and Xiaolan to collect all the waste packets and burn them together to ensure that the recipe won't be leaked."

Upon hearing this, the group immediately nodded in agreement, "That's a good idea."

Captain Zhang said, "So as long as we keep the braising spice recipe under control, no one can steal it!"

Secretary Yang smiled and lit the tobacco in his pipe, saying, "With this method, we won't be afraid to expand our cooked food workshops any further."

Xiao Liewen grinned and said, "Xiao Chen doesn't have many other merits, but he is thoughtful, honest and kind. You can rest assured that he can handle things well."

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but look at him.

Everyone knows he's meticulous, and his honesty is understandable, after all, he chose to stay in Lujiawan instead of working for the prefectural committee. But... is he really honest?

Where did you come to this conclusion?

(End of this chapter)