I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 856 - 368: The Two Best Dishes for Cold Weather—Stir-Fried Chicken Giblets and Boiling Chicken Liver!
If it were before the founding of the country, who knows how many times he would have been beaten to death.
But Head Chef Guo really knows how to pick his moments; today just happens to be the day we’re making two spicy dishes, and he decides to come. No wonder my senior brother is playing tricks.
Right now, the kitchen hand is still washing chicken offal, and Lin Xu begins cutting up chicken livers.
Technically, when dealing with chicken livers, it’s best to soak them in cold water for a few hours to completely wash out the blood, making the liver more delicious.
But it was almost ten already, so they had to quickly prepare lunch. Lin Xu decided to cut the livers first, planning to rinse them later.
He placed the livers on the cutting board, removing the membranes first, then pressed down with his hand to cut them into as large slices as possible.
He managed to slice twenty chicken livers into a whole small basin of liver slices; one has to admit that this method really increases output.
Adding water to the livers turned the water in the basin into blood water in an instant.
Pour it out, rinse it twice, then rub it once with flour. Next, line a tray with kitchen paper, cover with a few sheets, and absorb as much moisture from the liver slices as possible.
Time to marinate.
Add scallion and ginger water, light soy sauce, pepper powder, and dried ginger powder into the basin, mix it briefly, and set it aside to marinate.
"Boss, the chicken offal is cleaned. I rubbed it with salt and washed it twice with flour."
Lin Xu took over, cutting chicken intestines into 5-6 cm segments and slicing chicken gizzards into thin, easy-to-cook pieces. He added a few spoons of chopped chili sauce to both ingredients to marinate them.
Chicken intestines and gizzards are known for their strong odor, so marinating them with chopped chili sauce can effectively remove the smell and allow the chili flavor to permeate.
Next, he added salt, sugar, and light soy sauce, putting all the seasonings in ahead of time so there was no need to add more later.
When making stir-fried dishes, timing is crucial. You can’t add seasonings one by one; either mix them into a sauce in a bowl or combine them with the ingredients directly.
After mixing the seasonings, Lin Xu also chopped some red pickled pepper, young ginger, small spicy peppers, and pickled beans.
With this, the side ingredients for the stir-fried chicken offal were ready.
Taking advantage of the marinating time, Lin Xu blanched some wood ear mushrooms, dried beancurd sticks, tofu skin, and blood cubes, arranging them at the bottom of three small bowls. Then he carefully laid the marinated chicken liver slices on top.
When all was set, he heated a wok with a large bowl of canola oil, a large bowl of seasoning oil, and a large bowl of lard.
Once the three oils blended and heated, he added Sichuan peppercorns and dried chili to release their fragrance, then quickly poured it into the small bowls holding the chicken liver slices.
As soon as he poured it over, the fragrant, spicy aroma spread around.
"Oh, what’s cooking that smells so good?"
Guo Weidong, holding a car key, was about to head into the kitchen but wisely refrained when he caught a whiff of the spicy aroma wafting out.
"Welcome, Head Chef Guo. I’ve prepared boiling chicken liver using the method for boiling fish. Later, please give it a taste test."
"This flavor is quite strong—did Old Xie tell you to use so many chilies?"
Guo Weidong glanced at Xie Baomin. Though they didn’t speak, it was clear that only Old Xie, that old rascal, could come up with such a sly trick.
Once the boiling chicken liver was ready, Lin Xu set up the wok again to make stir-fried chicken offal.
Compared to the boiling chicken liver, this dish was extraordinarily challenging. It required full heat throughout, and he needed to control the doneness of the ingredients from the cutting stage.
For instance, the intestines were cut into segments and gizzards into slices to ensure everything cooked at the same time in the wok.
If the gizzards were cut into strips or chunks, making them cook unevenly, the dish would be a failure.
He poured half canola oil and lard into the wok, heating it to eighty percent, then dumped the gizzards and intestines in, quickly stir-frying them to cook quickly in hot oil.
Once the intestines started to curl and the chopped chili’s fragrance and spiciness were released, he added pickled beans, small spicy peppers, young ginger, and red pickled peppers, continuing to stir-fry on high heat.
This step was to allow the various ingredients’ aromas to blend together.
Also, it allowed the three acidic ingredients—pickled beans, red pickled peppers, and chopped chili sauce—to evaporate.
As the sourness evaporated, it also took with it any off-flavors in the chicken offal, making the dish more delicious.
Once the steam reduced and the sourness dissipated, the dish was ready to be served.
If served at this point, all the ingredients would remain crisp with a sour and fragrant flavor and a perfect level of spiciness.
If you stir-fry for a few more seconds, the texture and flavor would deteriorate.
After plating the dish, Lin Xu called out to everyone:
"Let’s eat!"
He was just about to greet Guo Weidong when he noticed the Head Chef already left the kitchen entrance and was sitting outside.
Evidently, the stir-fried chicken offal’s flavor had overwhelmed him.
Xie Baomin, however, was laughing gleefully.
Bringing a serving of the boiling chicken liver outside, he said to Guo Weidong:
"Dongdong, try this dish. It’s packed with aroma and spiciness, and the base ingredients are delicious too. This should be something you’d like."
Guo Weidong glanced at him without acknowledging him.
Shen Baobao had just returned from the audit office. Upon seeing the dish filled with red oil on the table, she immediately got hungry:
"Senior Brother, what’s this dish?"
"Junior Brother made the boiling chicken liver. Try it and see if it surprises you."
"Since it’s made by Xu Bao, there’s no need to try it!"
This girl picked up her phone and took a picture of the dish on the table, then sent it to their small chat group.
Ever since Dou Wenjing "poisoned" the group with astragalus soy milk, it turned into a habit to "poison" the group with good food snaps.
As soon as she sent it, Chen Yan, sitting in the office looking at a photo of Ren Jie, popped in:
"Has lunch started? Doudou and I will be there soon, wait for us."
Before putting her phone away, she saw a notification in their large group chat—a colleague, Strong Brother, who hadn’t spoken much since joining the new company, suddenly sent a message:
"Brothers, I have a question. Manager Qi said her computer is broken and asked me to go fix it at her place. Should I bring a graphics card or a CPU? What do girls usually use computers for?"
Seeing this, Chen Yan’s strategist instincts flared up.
Looks like it’s time for Zhuge Yan to offer some advice!
————————
I’ll quickly address some comments since I can’t reply directly here. For the reader who makes astragalus health soy milk, remember to soak the ingredients for more than four hours to ensure they’re thoroughly soaked. Typically, water is over three times the ingredient’s volume. Also, astragalus was added to the food catalog in 2019, so it’s fine to use—no fines involved. I’ve got a slight cold today, so this update is late. Please bear with me. This Chapter is 5,100 words. Asking for monthly tickets!
