Zaozhuang, this name sounds a little rustic, but don't laugh, because people have also been literary and artistic, even more literary than most place names.

Its past name was Lanling.

This is an ancient place name full of romance, so romantic that even the great poet Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty wrote poems to praise:

Lanling wine tulips, jade bowls with amber light.

But that the master may be drunk, and he will not know where it is.

In addition to the blessing of the poets, there are also "Lanling King Entering the Array", the ancient poem "Into Lanling", and the realist writer Lanling Xiaoxiao in the Ming Dynasty......

Up to now, this romantic place name has been changed to Zaozhuang with revolutionary significance, and the people here have become more pragmatic and simple.

This characteristic is not only manifested in the consciousness of the people in the old revolutionary area, but also in the diet, such as Zaozhuang spicy chicken, which is a true portrayal of Zaozhuang's simplicity and pragmatism.

Zaozhuang is located in the junction zone of Shandong and Jiangsu, and is also very close to the northern Anhui region and the eastern Henan region, so in terms of food, it naturally integrates the characteristics of these places.

The cuisine in Zaozhuang area does not have the grace and luxury of traditional Lu cuisine, but pays more attention to home-cooked flavors, and is good at using simple ingredients to make different deliciousness.

Zaozhuang spicy chicken is the culmination of this aspect.

Different from the way of eating diced meat in chili peppers in Sichuan and Chongqing, Zaozhuang spicy chicken is actually more like stewed chicken or fried chicken.

However, it has long been in its own right, forming its own flavor, and in 2016, it also won the title of the hometown of spicy chicken in China.

While introducing the past of Zaozhuang spicy chicken in a proud tone, the old man grabbed a kitchen knife and quickly chopped the cleaned rooster into medium-sized chicken pieces.

The so-called medium size is a relative term.

Chopped chicken nuggets are roughly divided into three types, one is the large piece of large plate chicken, and the other is the small piece of spicy chicken in Sichuan and Chongqing.

In between, it's the middle block.

Zaozhuang spicy chicken only uses a small rooster, and the folk saying is that it can supplement masculinity.

Of course, this is just a rhetoric, the reason for its practical little rooster is that the meat is delicate and firm, and the rooster does not lay eggs, and if it is fed, it will waste food, so the local farmers improve their lives and pick up the rooster to eat.

Not only Zaozhuang, but almost the entire north is like this, chickens like to eat roosters, while hens are kept to lay eggs.

This is completely contrary to the habit of eating white-cut chicken in Guangdong and eating only small hens.

In addition to the farmer's small rooster, Zaozhuang spicy chicken also uses the famous local thin-skinned chili pepper.

The thin-skinned chili pepper is not big, but the spicinessness is quite high, and it is not only spicy, but also has a lot of fragrance, which is the best choice for making Zaozhuang spicy chicken.

Sifang Restaurant definitely doesn't have thin-skinned chili peppers now, and can only be replaced by the more popular green and red Erjingtiao on the market.

As for the other ingredients, it's simple, onions, ginger, garlic, peppercorns, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, if you want to add potato fungus, you can add it, and if you don't want to add chicken, you can eat chicken.

In terms of seasonings, in addition to salt, light soy sauce and rice vinegar are generally used, and some people use sweet noodle sauce, but the old man didn't plan to use it today.

"The more ingredients you put in it, the easier it is to suppress the umami flavor of the chicken, so if the chicken is freshly killed, don't put too much seasoning. ”

Cooking is a science, not necessarily the more tedious the better, but around the purpose of bringing out the original flavor of the ingredients.

Put the chopped chicken pieces into clean water and wash them again, then take them out and dry them and put them in a basket for later use.

When everything was ready, the old man began to prepare for the production.

For the fact that he suddenly came to the store to cook spicy chicken, the back kitchen attached great importance to it, not only Xu Zhuo and Guan Junjie were both there, but even the chef who had no work in his hands at this time also came over.

gave the old man enough face.

Heat the pan, then slide the pan and pour a little more peanut oil into the pan.

When the oil is hot, put the pepper star anise ginger slices in the pot, fry the fragrant and pour the chicken pieces directly into it for stir-frying.

This step is very crucial, be sure to fry the moisture out of the chicken so that the chicken tastes better.

To achieve this, stir-fry over high heat and for a long enough time.

While stir-frying, the old man explained to the chefs around him.

"Don't blanch the newly killed chicken, just soak it in clean water, once blanched, not only the chicken taste will become lighter, but the meat will also become firewood and lose its elasticity, affecting the final taste. ”

This is actually a cliché, but Zaozhuang spicy chicken pays special attention to the freshness of the ingredients, and it is not too much to emphasize it.

It can be said that using blanched chicken to make this dish is not half a star.

In addition to blanching, it is also important to put peppercorns in the pot when the chicken is put in the pot, because the hemp flavor can not only bring out the deliciousness of the chicken, but also remove the smell and increase the flavor, making the chicken more delicious.

In fact, not only this dish, but almost all dishes, including fried chili oil, are put peppercorns first, and then put other ingredients after frying peppercorns.

And this has the advantage of being able to completely remove the peppercorns in the pot after frying.

When you eat in this way, you don't have to be afraid of eating peppercorns because you are afraid of eating peppercorns, and you can eat them freely.

The old man babbled a lot, and it can be seen from this that he has no one to talk to at home, which is really suffocating.

Although the old lady has been at home recently, the topic of the two never stops at cooking, which causes the old man to be unable to pour out his knowledge.

This kind of feeling of being forced to pretend is really torturous.

So now, when he catches someone who is listening carefully, he keeps talking like beans.

When there is a crackling sound in the pot, it means that the chicken has been fried almost completely, and all the moisture in it has been fried, and now the sound in the pot is hot oil frying the chicken skin.

The old man unhurriedly picked up half a bowl of rice vinegar and poured it into the pot along the edge of the pot, and suddenly a sour fragrance rose from the pot.

The purpose of adding vinegar is mainly to remove the peculiar smell in the chicken, in fact, putting vinegar is the same as putting cooking wine, it is to take away the peculiar smell in the meat through volatilization.

The reason why vinegar is added instead of cooking wine is that after the vinegar flavor volatilizes, it will make the meat more mellow.

In addition, adding vinegar to the meat can also separate the chicken from the bones, making it more convenient to eat.

As for whether the chicken will become sour after adding vinegar, there is no need to worry about this, because vinegar has good volatility, and the temperature in the pot is so high, most of it will volatilize immediately.

When you eat it, it only has a flavor, and it doesn't taste sour.

After pouring the vinegar, Xu Zhuo then poured a large spoonful of light soy sauce and half a spoonful of dark soy sauce into the pot.

This can not only add sauce flavor to the meat, but also give the chicken a base taste, and more importantly, it can also color the chicken.

This is the source of Zaozhuang's spicy chicken.

Next, it's time to add water.

The old man, who was desperate to pretend to be forced, entered the preaching mode again......

————————————

In other words, Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng is put now, it should be called Zaozhuang Xiaoxiaosheng, this name immediately has Nicholas?? Zhao Si's temperament......