A delicious roast chicken became a solace in my journey
After reading the homecoming policy, I silently opened the booking software and returned the ticket to go home. I sighed to myself and muttered that this year's Spring Festival was mostly going to be spent in Beijing by myself. At this time, the scene of returning home during the Spring Festival in previous years flashed in my mind one by one, and suddenly for a moment, I thought of the days when I used to take a green car back to my hometown.
Almost seven or eight years ago, I was in high school in Northeast China, and my parents were in Qingdao. So every winter vacation, I will take the train home for a reunion. At that time, no more than now, the Spring Festival ticket was very nervous, buying a sleeper was a very small probability event, either looking for scalpers, or only looking at luck, so every year I basically sat on a hard seat for thirty hours toss back.
The hard-seat carriage environment is very poor, but the people in it are very lively. A group of travelers who have no intersection have formed a temporary community, playing poker and nagging, and eating and drinking together at mealtime, which is definitely a "walking Spring Festival atmosphere group".
In the center of each atmosphere group, there will be a nearly square table, and on top of that, there will be a variety of meals. The originally unremarkable dry cucumbers, dried tofu, and chicken feet have all been transformed into uncompromising delicacies. When it comes to eating, it is not unusual to pull out these foods, and who can pull a roast chicken out of their pockets, that is particularly tasteful. Roast chicken, easy to carry, the taste is not bad, whether it is under the wine, or under the rice, it is definitely the best choice. Therefore, the salesmen also targeted this demand, and in the sales strategy along the railway line, roast chicken ranked at the top of the best-seller list all year round.
Documentary "Flavor of the World"
My knowledge of roast chicken also comes from the green car. When the train slowly leaves the northeast plain and heads towards Shanhaiguan, it is time to sell roast chicken. They spoke in a tongue-in-cheek dialect, learned the appearance of a TV commercial, and introduced the smoked chicken of the ditch gang in a tone. Some people should wonder, isn't it said that the roast chicken, how did it become smoked chicken? In essence, the Gou Gangzi smoked chicken can be counted as another form of existence of roast chicken.
According to the records of Goubangzi County, a delicatessen owner named Liu Shizhong moved here from Anhui, and in order to survive, he returned to his old business and began to sell roast chicken that was very popular in his hometown. The finished product that can be made according to the famous Anhui Fu li ji roast chicken method is not popular, so Liu Shizhong began to improve the process, the cooking method was improved, the seasoning was also debugged according to the taste of the locals, and the smoked chicken came into being in the western region of Liaoning. However, there are many versions of its origin, and when you listen to a legendary story, you will stop.
Don't look at the rough customs of the northeast people, study and eat, this group of people is more delicate than anyone, which is vividly reflected in the production process of the gully gang smoked chicken. There are more than a dozen processes before and after smoking chicken, not to mention the process of selecting live chicken and shaping, which are only understood by veterans, just the ingredients, boiling, and smoking these steps have to be learned for a period of time. However, in the mouth of the train salesman, it does not sound too difficult. Although their words are homogeneous, they can clearly sort out the selling points and production process of this smoked chicken.
After the chicken is shaped, it is put into the old soup with more than 20 kinds of spices, then put it into the pot and cook it for two hours, and when it is rotten and silky, it is fished out. This is followed by a very elaborate smoking, the surface of the chicken is brushed with a layer of sesame oil, then put into the smoker, and when the bottom of the stove is slightly red, it is sprinkled with sugar, and when the sugar melts, it will emit white smoke. After two or three minutes, turn over, and when the white smoke turns yellow, the smoked chicken is finished.
Documentary "Taste of Judi"
In the production process of Gou Gangzi smoked chicken, there are "three quasi", one is to put salt accurately to ensure that the salt is suitable; the second is to be accurate in the material, to enhance the flavor and increase the fragrance; the third is the fire temperature is accurate, which can be pinched in place, so that the finished product is fragrant and delicious. The smoked chicken from the pot is bright red and bright, and it is very tempting just to look at it. When you actually taste it, you will definitely not live up to the expectations of diners.
Its outer skin has a special smoked aroma, the entrance is oily and not greasy, and the aftertaste is slightly sweet, and the aftertaste is endless. When you eat chicken, the first bite can be tasted tender, and then the fleshy fibers connected into silk release chewiness in the mouth, the more chewy the more fragrant, the taste that seeps into it is long and has a lingering aftertaste. In the tired journey, come to one, with some small wine, looking out the window at the changing scenery, how pleasant it feels.
After passing through Shanhaiguan and entering the land of Qilu, the Texas grilled chicken should show its might. The salesman of the Shandong railway section is like an Allegro book, telling the beauty of Texas grilled chicken. Perhaps someone should wonder again, how to talk about grilled chicken, in essence, grilled chicken can be counted as the 2.0 version of roast chicken, because of the traffic and prosperity of Texas grilled chicken and Fu Li ji roast chicken can also be regarded as two kinds of food with relatives. The fate of their kinship will not be repeated here.
Speaking of Texas grilled chicken, this traditional flavor, the production process is not too difficult. Blanching the water first, then coated with a layer of caramel, the whole maroon chicken in the oil pan after a hot oil, you can put in the brine. The chicken sinks and floats on the brine water, first undergoes a large fire, and then bears a low heat and simmers slowly, before and after more than ten hours, and when it is soft from the bone, the grilled chicken can be served on the table.
The grilled chicken on the table is complete and elegant, its wings are held in the mouth to complete the initial shaping, and its two leg bones are tucked into the abdomen to maintain balance. The oily grilled chicken is placed on the plate, which is a representative work full of Qilu flavor. Gently pulled open, its chicken skin is very tight, sent to the mouth to chew, quite tough. The meat attached to the chicken bone is crisp and tender, salty and delicious. When the chicken wire dances in the mouth, the journey is also a happy one.
I once watched Mr. Lao She's "Not Far Away", and I was quite impressed by the passage describing Texas Grilled Chicken. He wrote: "Mr. Wang ran over, others also ran over, and those who sold chickens could not wait for him even if they had a pair of hands." Killing is deafening, passionate, do not eat roast chicken, how can you be human? Mr. Wang 'snatched' one, and if he didn't grab it, he would never get it. Grab it and nibble on it, oops, delicious, Texas roast chicken, especially when it's not yet dawn, it's a bit wild! "Just one scene, the smell of grilled chicken wafted out of the paper.
In fact, there are two famous roast chickens associated with the transportation hub, one is Daokou roast chicken, and the other is Fu Li Ji roast chicken. They also have a long history and outstanding flavor, but I have not yet tasted these two things in the green car, so I am not in this context.
In my memory, Texas grilled chicken and ditch smoked chicken are always associated with slow green cars, as if they were born rationed for the journey.
Hou Xiaoxian has a movie called "Love Wind and Dust", which is about inseparable love, and I think it is also very appropriate to use this word for roast chicken and green leather cars. Roast chicken is the "love dust" of the green-skinned train.
Movie "Love Dust"
I remember when I was not old, one year when I came home, I bought a ditch chicken before I got in the car, and I ate it without waiting for the car. Along the way, I was bored and hungry, and I could only look at "other people's roast chicken" and salivate.
Later, when I grew up, my appetite was not as good as before, and now even if I was able to eat the train, I would no longer have the courage of the past. Of course, even if you want to ride the green-skinned train for more than thirty hours now, it is difficult. But I haven't lost those good moments yet, because I know that after eating the roast chicken, I'm almost home.
Unfortunately, this year, I didn't even have a ticket home, and I calculated that it would be a kind of self-consolation to concoct a roast chicken on the night of the New Year.