The main dish of the Hunan flavor mountain and river banquet naturally has to be the best in Hunan cuisine.

The main dish prepared by Li Yi was once used as the main dish of the birthday banquet of the Empress Dowager Niu Colu, Qianlong's biological mother, as the main dish of the birthday banquet, and was presented to the Niu family's [Hundred Birds and Phoenix].

This dish appeared for the first time at Niu's birthday banquet, and later the concubines in the palace were all proud to be able to taste this dish at the birthday banquet.

Gradually, this dish was also spread to the people and became a popular government dish.

Because its main ingredient is Hunan yellow chicken, it is the most popular in the officialdom of Hunan Province and has become the most famous classic official dish in Hunan cuisine.

But in the real world, it seems that the recipe has been lost because of the war.

Li Yi, who possessed Zheng Er, could witness the original appearance of this dish from memory fragments.

At the birthday banquet, along with this dish on the table, hundreds of birds of various colors flew over the Dabaoen Yanshou Temple.

And this dish at the banquet really used a hundred kinds of birds to hang the soup.

But in modern times, most of the birds used at that time have become protected animals and can no longer be used for cooking.

So, Li Yi asked Shen Han to buy ten kinds of famous chickens, including Wenchang chicken, Taihe black chicken, Lingshan fragrant chicken, Jingyang chicken, and Dehua black chicken.

These ten chickens, stewed from yesterday afternoon to today, have been stewed to the point of bone puff pastry and turned into meat scraps and bone residues.

The stock has become golden and thick, and it is extremely fresh.

After making shark fin in the morning, Li Yi used this pot of broth as the soup base, made a good shape of the Hunan yellow chicken that Shen Han bought and put it in.

Subsequently, Li Yi dipped bamboo paper in water to wrap all the cracks of the casserole, so as not to let a trace of aroma escape.

Then it was placed on the stovetop and simmered for more than two hours.

After serving the other dishes, it was finally time for this dish to make its debut.

Li Yi came to the stove and first used a thin knife to cut a circle of dried bamboo paper along the lid of the casserole.

As he cut the bamboo paper, a fragrance that seemed to be able to turn into substance came out of the cracks.

Xiao Zhang and the others followed behind Li Yi and watched his movements curiously.

The ten chickens were the ones they saw Li Yi put into the soup bucket and boiled into a bucket of soup that was extremely thick.

This Hunan yellow chicken was also put into a casserole by their own eyes and stewed on the fire.

What would it taste like if you simmered it in one chicken with the essence of ten chickens?

They are full of curiosity.

And this seductive fragrance gave them the answer.

The moment they smelled this aroma, they all raised their heads in unison and spit out two words in shock: "it!" ”

Chicken is the most commonly eaten meat in the world, and almost no one is unfamiliar with its taste.

Because of cultural relations, some people don't eat pork, some people don't eat beef, but there has never been a country or region where people don't eat chicken.

As apprentice chefs, the aroma of chicken soup is all too familiar to them.

They also learned several of the 108 ways to mix chicken essence with chicken broth.

But this is the first time they have smelled such a strong aroma of chicken soup!

This feeling is like a hundred hens stewed to a soft and tender body, surrounding them, wantonly releasing the aroma, enveloping everything around them in the unique aroma of chicken soup, which makes people intoxicated!

This rich aroma is not like the monotonous umami of chicken essence, but an attractive taste that concentrates the essence of eleven fat and tender hens and concentrates all the energy and nutrition.

"It smells so good!"

Xiao Guo couldn't help but light up his eyes, looked at Li Yi's scratched casserole lid, and licked his lips.

"Can the broth from the stewed ten chickens not be fragrant?"

Xiao Zhang stared at Li Yi's hand to get the rag, full of anticipation.

Soon, Li Yi used a rag to pad the lid of the casserole and lifted the lid directly.

Rise~!

A stream of hot air steamed, making the aroma of chicken soup that was just drilled out a thousand times richer in an instant!

Xiao Zhang and the others couldn't wait to take a deep breath, and then they were occupied by this aroma.

Up!

It's too top-notch!

As the aroma drifted away, even the chefs and helpers on the other stoves were attracted to each other, sniffing the aroma and asking each other.

"What does it smell like?"

"It smells so good!"

"Who boiled the chicken soup? It smells so fresh! ”

Asking each other, they soon followed the taste and saw the casserole that Li Yi had just opened.

Xiao Zhang and the others were completely attracted by the aroma in the casserole, and they looked at the pot salivating one by one.

Half a pot of golden chicken broth is served in the pot, and an orange-red layer of oil floats above it.

That is the crab fat that Li Yi fried with lard before stewing, and fried the crab roe.

In the chicken soup, a hen with her head held high is maintaining a singing posture.

After more than two hours of stewing, even the hardest bones can be stewed softly.

The chicken was able to maintain its head held high purely because Li Yi fixed it with a toothpick.

After serving two spoonfuls of chicken broth, Li Yi put the lid of the casserole back to avoid the taste.

Then he returned to the desk and brought the chicken paste, prawns and steamed pigeon eggs that had been prepared.

asked Xiao Zhang to take ten tablespoons, and Li Yi started to make Chaofeng's hundred birds.

At the birthday banquet of the Queen Mother, the hundred birds in this dish were made with minced meat smashed from the breasts of the 100 birds in the soup.

Li Yi only used ten chickens for this banquet, so he could only make ten birds.

Seeing the chicken paste that Li Yi had taken, Xiao Zhang and the others were very excited.

"I smashed that chicken."

"I chopped those two copies!"

"Rounding up, we made this dish too! Ha ha! ”

They muttered excitedly, staring at Li Yi's movements one by one, for fear of missing any detail.

Liao Wendong also looked at it seriously.

When he saw the name of the dish on the menu, he originally thought that Li Yi had just borrowed the name and created his own original dish.

Smelling the aroma in the casserole, looking at the delicate birds made in Li Yi's hands, he couldn't help but have doubts.

Could this really be the lost [Hundred Birds and Phoenix]?

"What is he cooking?"

Xia Zhuo's voice came from behind him.

Liao Wendong looked back, but found that Xia Zhuo was holding his apron, wiping his hands, while staring at Li Yi's action of making a hundred birds, and asked suspiciously.

Looking at him, Liao Wendong hesitated, but still replied honestly: "A hundred birds are chasing a phoenix." ”

"What?"

Xia Zhuo turned to him suddenly, his eyes questioning, "Are you kidding me?" ”

"No, it's really a hundred birds and a phoenix."

Liao Wendong explained with a wry smile: "That's what he wrote on the menu. ”

“……”

Xia Zhuo looked at him directly for two seconds, and saw that he didn't seem to be joking, so he looked at Li Yi again.

A hundred birds and a phoenix?

How can it be!

Xia's restaurant can't cook, he can cook a field of food?

[Hundred Birds and Phoenix] is the first official dish in Hunan cuisine, which used to be only made by Xia's Restaurant.

But because of the war, this dish was lost, along with several large government dishes.

Since the generation of Xia Zhuo's grandfather, this dish has become a legend in the Hunan cuisine world.

Xia Zhuo's father, including Xia Zhuo himself, once wanted to replicate this dish, but they all failed.

They can't restore the feeling of "the essence of a hundred birds, the phoenix is unified" as said in the recipe.

The spirit of a hundred birds?

Xia Zhuo's thought moved, and then he sniffed the aroma of stewed chicken in the air.

Could it be that the spirit of the birds speaks of this aroma?

Only by bringing together the essence of hundreds of birds can there be such a fragrant taste, right?

A ridiculous thought suddenly appeared in Xia Zhuo's heart.

Could it be that what this kid did was really that [Hundred Birds and Phoenix]?

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(End of chapter)