Mountain and Sea Canteen - Chapter 10

The main ingredients of Spicy and Sour Chicken Offal are pickled long beans, bird’s eye chili, and chicken gizzards. The gizzards are scored in a crisscross pattern, ensuring that after being stir-fried, they absorb the sourness from the pickled long beans and pickled chili, blend with the spiciness of the bird’s eye chili, and still retain their original crispy and tender texture, making it a perfect dish to accompany rice.

When making this dish traditionally, a generous amount of pickled chili and bird’s eye chili is used. However, running a restaurant requires catering to the general public, and it can’t be assumed that all customers can handle extreme spiciness. Therefore, Ying Linglong has adjusted the level of spiciness accordingly.

She even instructed Chongming in advance that if a customer can’t handle spicy food, they should try to persuade them not to order this dish. After all, Spicy and Sour Chicken Offal is all about the tangy, refreshing, and spicy flavors. It can’t be made into a non-spicy version, nor would it suit the taste of customers who can’t handle spice.

Old Man Zhang didn’t have this problem. He had almost no dietary restrictions and particularly loved spicy food. The only issue was his deep skepticism about the skill of this young chef.

After sitting and waiting for a while, with a few customers ahead of him, Chongming brought Old Man Zhang a cup of Sour Plum Soup, which was complimentary.

The Sour Plum Soup was brewed by Ying Linglong the night before, using authentic ingredients like smoked plums, rock sugar, dried tangerine peel, and licorice root, far superior to the powdered mixes available on the market.

The sweet and tangy flavor, with a hint of the smoky essence unique to Sour Plum Soup, surprisingly smoothed out Old Man Zhang’s anxious mood. Not many places still brew their own Sour Plum Soup, which showed the young chef’s dedication.

Halfway through the Sour Plum Soup, the two dishes Old Man Zhang ordered finally arrived. Chongming set the plates down and reminded him, “Be careful, it’s hot.”

He thought for a moment and added, “The plates are hot too.”

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Old Man Zhang reached out to touch the porcelain plate holding the Mapo Tofu. Only when he felt the intense heat on his fingertips did he withdraw his hand with satisfaction.

Chongming was utterly puzzled. He had seen Ying Linglong specifically hand the plates to Golden Crow before serving the dishes. Golden Crow held them and spun them around, heating the plates by several degrees. Ying Linglong was busy, and although Chongming was curious, he didn’t have time to ask why. Now, after warning the customer that the plates were hot, the customer deliberately touched them.

Is this what they call being contrary?

Old Man Zhang, however, smiled with satisfaction. Although he hadn’t tasted the dishes yet, his opinion of the chef had already improved significantly.

For dishes like Mapo Tofu, which are rich in oil and spice, the key is to bring out that unique aroma with a touch of heat. This “heat” doesn’t just apply to the tofu itself-in upscale restaurants, even the serving plate is preheated. If the plate is cold, the oil can congeal, ruining the dining experience.

While the average person might not pay much attention to this detail, foodies like Old Man Zhang understand the nuances. However, he hadn’t expected the chef here to be so meticulous as to even heat the plates.

During the ten minutes he waited for his food, he had come to terms with the fact that this was just a simple, unassuming little restaurant with modest prices. It wouldn’t be fair to hold it to the same standards as a high-end establishment.

Most customers here were likely looking for a humble, home-style meal. Someone like him, arriving with sky-high expectations, was probably the outlier.

Ironically, it was when he lowered his expectations that he was pleasantly surprised.

Old Man Zhang glanced down at the bowl of rice in front of him. It had a subtle fragrance, and upon closer inspection, the grains glistened with a faint sheen of oil. High-quality rice naturally produces this kind of luster, though it’s easy to mimic with lower-grade rice by adding a few drops of sesame oil before cooking.

The rice here was decent, perhaps upper-mid-tier, but surprisingly, it was fresh. For a bowl of rice priced at just two yuan, using fresh rice was already a rarity. In his years of traveling and dining at countless restaurants, Old Man Zhang had encountered plenty of places that used old rice or a mix of old and new rice. Most people wouldn’t notice or care, but he did.

He scooped up a spoonful of Mapo Tofu and raised it to his mouth. His eyebrows relaxed as the flavors hit him-it was utterly satisfying. The spoonful contained soft, tender tofu, vibrant red chili oil, and finely chopped green garlic. The tofu was spicy and fragrant, with the sharp aroma of ground Sichuan peppercorns. The peppercorns, ground from high-quality stock, provided a mild numbing sensation without a trace of bitterness.

Mapo Tofu is all about achieving a balance of numbing spice, heat, fragrance, and tenderness, and this dish nailed every aspect. The flavors lingered, leaving no room for criticism. Old Man Zhang, the seasoned foodie, was thoroughly impressed.

Next, he tried the Spicy and Sour Chicken Offal. The dish was cooked to perfection-the chicken gizzards were crisp yet tender, neither greasy nor gamey. The initial tanginess came from pickled mustard greens, while the lingering heat of pickled peppers filled in the back end. The flavors melded seamlessly, complementing each other flawlessly.

Old Man Zhang ate with gusto.

As he continued, a peculiar aroma began to waft through the air.

The scent grew stronger, and Old Man Zhang couldn’t sit still. Weren’t today’s specials the Spicy and Sour Chicken Offal and the Braised Oxtail?

But this aroma was unmistakably different from either of those dishes!

He tiptoed and peeked into the kitchen, only to be caught red-handed by Chongming.

“Old sir, you can’t just wander into the kitchen,” Chongming said.

Old Man Zhang, hands behind his back to mask his embarrassment, replied, “I was just looking.”

Hearing this, Ying Linglong stepped out. This old man had been acting strangely since he entered the shop, and she was starting to suspect he was here to cause trouble.

As soon as he saw Ying Linglong, Old Man Zhang immediately asked, “Miss, what dish are you preparing in the kitchen right now?”

Ying Linglong answered, “Baihua Chicken.”

Despite the name “Baihua Chicken,” the dish actually only uses a single piece of intact chicken skin from the back of the chicken, discarding the rest of the bird.

The dish might sound simple, but it’s famous for its intricate preparation process, often taking several hours to complete. Restaurants that serve it usually require advance reservations.

To make the dish, the chef carefully separates the intact skin from the back of a whole chicken, leaving a thin layer of fat for enhanced flavor. The skin is then stretched over a bamboo frame and repeatedly brushed with a heated crispy skin solution.

Every ingredient in the crispy skin solution blends perfectly with the chicken skin. Malt sugar coats the surface, transforming into an enticing reddish-brown hue when it meets hot oil in the final step. Yellow wine removes any gamey taste from the skin, while vinegar breaks down the fat and tightens the skin until it becomes almost translucent.

And that’s just the “chicken” part of the Baihua Chicken. The “Baihua” refers to the filling, made from finely minced shrimp and pork fat, seasoned and mixed until sticky. This filling is spread over the thin, crispy, and nearly transparent chicken skin, and the whole thing is placed in a lightly oiled pan.

However, the dish isn’t directly fried in the pan. After a quick rotation to sear the bottom, it’s removed and repeatedly doused with hot oil until the filling is fully cooked.

Old Man Zhang grew excited. “Which customer ordered this?”

If he missed it today, who knew when he’d have another chance to try this dish? Given how the handmade fish balls from yesterday were no longer on the menu, he doubted this young chef would be willing to prepare such a complex dish again anytime soon.

Old Man Zhang was even more eager to find the customer who had ordered it. If he could just get a couple of pieces from their plate, that would be enough!

He immediately started scanning the customers sitting at the tables, looking left and right, but none of them seemed like the type to have ordered the Baihua Chicken.

Old Man Zhang couldn’t help but feel anxious on behalf of the customer. The Baihua Chicken was already out of the kitchen-why hadn’t they arrived yet? If they didn’t eat it while it was hot, the texture would surely suffer! What a waste! What a waste!

Ying Linglong calmly replied, “Oh, that’s my lunch.”

Old Man Zhang was stunned: “?!”

Ying Linglong was bewildered: “!?”

Old Man Zhang was momentarily speechless. During the busiest lunch hour, the chef had prepared such a meticulous and time-consuming dish-was it made specifically for him?

Ying Linglong nervously stared at Old Man Zhang. Why was this old man acting so strangely? Could it be that he couldn’t stand the idea of the chef eating better than the customers?

After a moment of silence, Old Man Zhang suddenly broke into a wide grin. The fact that no one had reserved the dish was even better! He could buy the Baihua Chicken for himself!

Old Man Zhang: “Split it with me.”

Ying Linglong repeated: “This is my lunch.”

Old Man Zhang: “I’ll pay extra.”

Ying Linglong decisively said: “Half is yours.”

Once the deal was struck, Old Man Zhang didn’t return to his seat to wait. Instead, he eagerly stood outside the kitchen, afraid that Ying Linglong might change her mind and keep the dish for herself.

When the plate was brought out, Old Man Zhang didn’t let Chongming handle it. He happily took it himself and carried it away.

The prepared Baihua Chicken had an enticing reddish-brown hue, cut into neat, two-centimeter cubes. From the side, you could see the tender white filling speckled with the faint pink of fresh shrimp.

Old Man Zhang picked up a piece with his chopsticks. The fat in the filling had melted under high heat, turning into a rich, savory juice that melted in his mouth. The sweetness of the shrimp paired perfectly with the crispiness of the chicken skin. With each bite, the textures and flavors layered beautifully-tender, fresh, and perfectly complemented by the crispy chicken skin.

He took a deep breath. This trip was absolutely worth it!

Before he could finish the Baihua Chicken, Old Man Zhang quickly snapped a few photos and sent them to a group chat with his old friends, tagging He Lan: “The restaurant Professor He recommended is truly this good!” He added a thumbs-up emoji.

Still feeling it wasn’t enough, he added two more thumbs-up emojis.

As soon as the photos were sent, the group chat exploded with messages, some tagging him and asking for the name of the restaurant. Old Man Zhang didn’t even glance at his phone, flipping it face down on the table. Let those old folks stew in curiosity for a while-he had a plate of Baihua Chicken to savor.