Zhang Dashao is a happy person, his words must be followed and his actions must bear fruit.
Since we had agreed with Ning Weimin, just one day later, several recipes for "Gongting Jade Liquid" were handed over to Ning Weimin.
And soon, he personally took Ning Weimin to the outer suburbs of Qinghe.
What are you doing?
Going to buy chickens.
The chicken Zhang Dashao cooked for Alain Delon was really no ordinary chicken.
In the whole capital, there are probably only a few families in a village in Qinghe who raise that kind of special chicken.
Not to mention anything else, the appearance of this chicken is unique.
Phoenix Crown!
Golden Feather!
Hairy legs!
The dignified and extraordinary appearance is very ornamental and will definitely make people's eyes bright and unforgettable.
For example, Ning Weimin followed Zhang Dashao to the home of a fellow villager. He just walked into the courtyard and took a look, and he stayed on the spot.
You know, he watched the TV series "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" in his previous life.
The chicken in front of him looked so beautiful!
In particular, the majestic and majestic strutting of the big rooster is just like the angry rooster in "The Ghost Blowing the Lantern: Wrath of Qing Xiangxi", which can destroy evil spirits and poisonous mirages.
The Nuqing chicken in the TV series has colorful feathers and golden claws. It is larger than ordinary chickens and has eyelids that turn down from top to bottom like humans. It is said to be a rare phoenix species in the world.
As for the chicken in front of Ning Weimin, in addition to being golden all over, the eyelids are the same as those of a normal chicken. Apart from turning from bottom to top, all other features of its appearance match it. .
Even the arrogance of giving up on others is exactly the same.
This inevitably made him mutter, thinking that the chicken written by the author of "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" really had a real-life prototype.
He even couldn't help but lower his voice and ask Zhang Dashao secretly while the host was entering the house to boil water.
"Master Zhang, does this chicken come from western Hunan? Isn't it the rumored phoenix breed? Is it called Nuqing chicken..."
And he asked in a fascinating way, But Zhang Dashao was completely confused and shook his head in confusion.
"Xiangxi? Impossible. What is Nuqing? I've never heard of it. This chicken has nothing to do with other places. This is an authentic local species in the capital, and you can't find it anywhere else..."
< br>Ke Ning Weimin looked at the strutting big rooster, his eyes widened, and the more he looked at it, the more he looked like it.
"Are you sure?"
Unexpectedly, Zhang Dashao was so sure, "Of course. Just believe me."
Then he introduced it to Ning Weimin in a well-founded way. The origin of this chicken.
“You don’t know something. Where did this chicken come from? It must be dated back to the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, there were many chicken varieties such as dwarf chickens, nine-pound yellow chickens, Taihe chickens, and bearded chickens in Jiangnan. They settled in the capital with the immigrants. However, these southern chickens were not adapted to the coldness of the capital and could not survive. However, a few of them died, and they gradually changed during the long period of cross-breeding. From these chicken breeds, a rare chicken breed with a hairy comb, hairy beard and hairy legs was born, which is the kind of chicken you see now. In addition, you are right, there are indeed unique chickens. The name is called 'Phoenix Chicken'."
"Phoenix Chicken?" After hearing the last sentence, Ning Weimin, who was already a little disappointed with the origin of this chicken, suddenly became interested.
"Master Zhang, how did you get this name? You have to give me a good education..."
"Hey, this is not obvious! Look at this kind of chicken Its appearance includes a hairy crown, furry beard, hairy legs, yellow feathers, yellow beak, and yellow shanks. It is covered with golden feathers, and even its legs are protected by feathers. Does it look like a phoenix with such distinctive external features? In fact, it evolved to keep out the cold. In addition, as the old saying goes, five claws are for phoenix and four claws are for chicken. There is another special thing about this kind of chicken. Most chickens have four toes. Only it has five fingers. It has a phoenix crown on its head, five toes on its feet, and six wings, so it is naturally called the 'Phoenix Chicken'."
Ning Weimin was overjoyed when he heard this. Great, since there is such a name, it will be a good start."
He Chengxiang Zhang Dashao's response surprised him even more, "Hey, this is not a false name. Where?”
Ning Weimin heard the meaning of the words, and immediately his heart turned again and he started to calculate.
"What do you mean, what else can it say?"
"No."
In fact, Zhang Dashao didn't want to hide it from him. The owner of the courtyard is also in the house, so he won't be in any way.
As we chatted together, we naturally talked endlessly, pouring beans out of bamboo tubes.
"Don't forget, because the capital is cold, this kind of chicken has a slow growth cycle and rich subcutaneous fat. A large amount of nutrients and flavor substances are naturally deposited in its body. Didn't you just eat it a few days ago? This kind of chicken is not only oily. It is large, its fat distribution is particularly uniform, and its firm and delicate meat texture is its outstanding advantage, which makes it particularly delicious.”
“Let’s put it this way, you won’t be able to eat this kind of chicken. It doesn't matter, just clean the chicken and stew it with salt, and the soup will be full of aroma and delicious. Moreover, the eggs of this kind of chicken are also very delicious, because they are also oily, and the yolk is red. , it’s very nourishing. It doesn’t smell fishy at all. Is it too much to say it’s a phoenix egg?”
“So, Emperor Qianlong gave it to him in his poem more than two hundred years ago? This chicken was dubbed "The Best Chicken in the World". In her later years, when the Empress Dowager Cixi had a loss of appetite and did not want to eat, she would not eat this chicken. 'Jingcheng Youji', because it first appeared in Chaoyang Wali Village, is also called 'Wali Youji' by some people. However, for hundreds of years, this kind of chicken has been a tribute designated by the Qing Dynasty royal family just like Jingxi Rice. ”
“Therefore, in the capital of the Qing Dynasty, this chicken became famous and its value doubled, and its real name, from the time it became a tribute, should be called ‘Palace Yellow Chicken’. Even at the founding ceremony of our Republic, this kind of chicken was on the table of the first banquet of the founding of the country as a 'state banquet chicken'..."
Well, Qianlong's imperial gift, the best in the world Chicken! Isn't this cool enough?
At this time, Ning Weimin was so excited by Zhang Dashao's popular science that his eyes were gleaming.
He is not a monkey, otherwise he would have scratched his head and ears like Sun Dasheng when he saw the peach garden.
However, the more excited he became, the more doubtful Ning Weimin became.
"Master Zhang, why do I feel like something is wrong? According to you, such good chicken is an irreplaceable imperial delicacy in the Forbidden City. Shouldn't we try our best to carry it forward and breed more. And they are all It was served at the state banquet, and it was the delicacy served at the first banquet of our founding of the country. How prestigious is this? Not to mention that this chicken should be ranked first among the specialties in the capital. At least its reputation should not be lost to the roast duck. Why has this kind of chicken disappeared and become less famous now? Even I, a catering person, wouldn’t have known about it today if you hadn’t told me..."
"Isn’t this surprising? ." Zhang Dashao was not stopped by the question. The old man rubbed his beard stubble and continued to talk.
"Do you still remember? I said before that this kind of chicken is a rare breed. Why do I say that? It's because this kind of chicken is difficult to raise. First of all, the palace yellow chicken likes to run and eat in free space. There must be enough green fodder for it to live well. In the past, those who raised chickens for the palace had to feed them with chicory and catch grasshoppers for them to grow well."
"In addition, this chicken grows slowly and has a low egg production rate. Raising this kind of chicken can kill people. In fifty days, it will grow to about one kilogram. After one hundred and twenty days, it will It can only grow to about three pounds. The good thing is that it has a long growth cycle. Therefore, since the Qing Dynasty, this kind of chicken has been sold at a high price. The price of ordinary chickens on the market is two or three times higher. "
"Think about it, this kind of chicken can't just be kept in the yard, it can only be raised in such a place with few people and wide land, and there is still grassland. And who can afford it? Therefore, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, once the planned economy was implemented, this kind of chicken was no longer allowed to be smoked. Although it was well-known and had excellent meat and eggs, the breeding cost was high and it could not be sold at a high price. It’s still low. Anyone who can raise a three-yellow chicken or a reed chicken is more cost-effective than raising it.”
“In addition, in order to protect people’s livelihood, the government is also introducing and promoting chickens that lay more eggs and gain weight faster. Chicken breeds. Especially in the 1970s, in order to meet the people's needs for poultry and eggs, we introduced broiler chickens from abroad and established related systems. Although the results were good and they could better meet the needs of the public, they were rapidly growing overseas. With the advent of chickens, the situation of local chickens like ours is even more worrying. I don’t mean to say that the chickens you can still see now may not be conquered by those foreigners sooner or later in a few years. Kill them all. After all, they grow quickly. Even if they can't be stewed for more than a few hours, the bones will be broken, but the people don't care about that. Poor people can eat the meat, and there are a few people who really know what chicken should taste like. "
Speaking of this, Zhang Dashao couldn't help but lamented, "Hey, actually, the quality of these chickens you saw today is not as good as before, because these are the last ones that are raised. I don’t know how to handle the chicken, even the chicken is skewered. Although it is still a palace yellow, I have seen it many times. If you add the wind crown, it will be less than 50%. With the conditions of golden feathers, hairy legs, and fast and slow feathers, it is only 30%. In other words, of the dozens of chickens here, I estimate that the whole village will be the last ones. , no more than twenty qualified ones.”
Hearing this, Ning Weimin's mood suddenly changed again, and he broke into a cold sweat with a cry of "Ah".
Stumped... Could it be that such a good chicken is going extinct!
Oh my God!
No way!
This is the best phoenix species in the world! (End of chapter)