Li Xiao wasn’t paying attention to the complaints in the live stream chat, because his focus was entirely captivated by the white-cut chicken in front of him.
The skin on the three pieces of white-cut chicken was firm and smooth. When he pressed down gently with his chopsticks, the indentation bounced back instantly.
Judging by its resilience, he knew the chicken skin would undoubtedly be exceptionally crisp.
These three pieces of white-cut chicken were from the best cuts: skin-on chicken breast. Each piece was small, only about two fingers wide.
To the side, a dipping saucer held three unique sauces: one was soy sauce, another a vibrant yellow-green ginger-scallion paste, and the last was a sand ginger sauce.
Li Xiao picked up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks. On the plate where it had rested, there were only a few tiny droplets of oil, with no trace of bloody liquid. This was a sign that the cooking had been timed to perfection.
He didn’t pop the chicken directly into his mouth. Instead, he held it under his nose. A delicate chicken fragrance washed over him, completely free of any raw, metallic odor.
Looking at the pristine white meat, Li Xiao nodded to himself in approval.
The most difficult part of making white-cut chicken is mastering the cooking time and temperature.
If it’s overcooked, the meat becomes tough and stringy.
If it’s undercooked, the meat will be streaked with blood and have a foul, gamy odor.
But this restaurant’s control over the cooking was simply perfect.
To his pleasant surprise, the chicken also seemed to carry the faint aroma of Huadiao wine. This meant that a high-quality, aged Huadiao wine had been used during the preparation.
Even without tasting it, Li Xiao knew this white-cut chicken was bound to be good.
He took a gentle bite. The skin was even more springy and crisp in his mouth than he had anticipated.
The chicken used for this dish had to be a high-quality, free-range Qingyuan Chicken.
Moreover, the chicken must have been just on the cusp of maturity, not yet fully grown. This gave it the best of both worlds: the meat was firm, yet exceptionally smooth and tender.
As he bit down, the juices locked inside the meat burst forth. The savory-sweet essence and chicken flavor were both incredibly rich. The chicken itself was cool, as if just removed from an ice bath, yet its surface was perfectly dry. The draining process had been handled flawlessly.
After swallowing the bite of chicken, Li Xiao gave a slight nod.
He hadn’t used any dipping sauce for that first bite, wanting to taste the dish’s true, unadorned flavor.
The meat was light and sweet. The chef must have added a bit of salt to the poaching liquid, so even without any sauce, the chicken had a subtle savory flavor.
As he swallowed the chicken, the system notification arrived right on cue.
[Congratulations, you have lit up the 25th entry in your Atlas!]
[Food Atlas Entry Unlocked: White-Cut Chicken]
[Food Rating: 90/100 [Excellent]]
[As the food rating is Excellent, rewards are quadrupled (x4).]
[Congratulations, you have received a cash reward: 800,000]
[Congratulations, you have received a cash reward: 800,000]
[Congratulations, you have received a recipe reward: White-Cut Chicken Recipe]
[Congratulations, you have received a reward: 60-Year Usage Rights for 10 Random Commercial Properties]
[For specific property information, please contact the real estate agent...]
He dipped the other half of the chicken piece in the soy sauce before putting it in his mouth.
The next moment, his eyes narrowed slightly in pleasure.
After being dipped in the soy sauce, the flavor of the white-cut chicken was instantly transformed.
The soy sauce imbued the otherwise simple white-cut chicken with a rich complexity of flavor.
This soy sauce was unlike common types. Its soy flavor wasn’t overpowering. Instead, it was subtle, with a delicate saltiness and just the right amount of sweetness.
What amazed Li Xiao even more was that he could detect a hint of chicken essence in the soy sauce.
This was the first time he had ever encountered such a unique soy sauce.
After swallowing the chicken, he extended his chopsticks, dipped the tip in the soy sauce for a small taste, and his eyes lit up.
This seemingly ordinary soy sauce concealed astonishing layers of flavor: the umami of chicken, the savory aroma of dried shrimp, and the subtle heat of shallots.
After a moment of contemplation, Li Xiao figured out the sauce’s unique preparation method.
’They must have stir-fried chicken bones, chicken meat, and shallots until fragrant, then simmered it all down into a rich stock.’
’Soy sauce, dried shrimp, and a small amount of sugar were then added to this stock, creating a sauce that was both sweet and intensely savory. The chicken and shallot flavors complemented each other, perfectly enhancing the deliciousness of the white-cut chicken.’
Li Xiao hadn’t expected the very first part of his meal to be so stunning.
He then picked up the second piece of chicken with his chopsticks. This time, he didn’t dip it in the soy sauce, but opted for the ginger-scallion paste on the other side.
In his opinion, white-cut chicken without ginger-scallion paste was like a body without a soul.
A top-quality ginger-scallion paste not only had an enticing color but also greatly stimulated his appetite.
When Li Xiao dipped the chicken into the ginger-scallion paste and tasted it, a strong aroma of ginger and scallion immediately filled his senses.
But he soon frowned. Although the texture was fine, the proportion of ginger in the paste seemed slightly off—the ginger flavor was a little too overpowering.
This could be because too much ginger was used, or perhaps the ginger juice wasn’t fully strained out when making the paste.
Li Xiao gently pushed aside the paste. Sure enough, at the bottom of the dipping dish, beneath what should have been clear scallion-infused oil, was a cloudy layer of ginger juice.
A light ginger flavor should enhance the chicken’s savory fragrance, but if it’s too strong, it tends to mask the other flavors.
He pursed his lips. ’Honestly, in my opinion, the best pairing for white-cut chicken is still the ginger-scallion paste.’
His expectations had been quite high. After all, the soy sauce was made so well, and the system had even given a high score of 90.
He figured the other two dipping sauces couldn’t be too bad either.
However, he never expected that the second dipping sauce would be such a letdown.
He figured that if this white-cut chicken had been served only with this ginger-scallion paste, the score probably wouldn’t have even reached 90.
Swallowing the chicken, his gaze quickly fell upon the last dipping sauce.
This time, he didn’t dip the chicken directly into the final sauce.
Instead, he used his chopsticks to pick up a tiny bit and taste it first.
After his experience with the ginger-scallion paste, he worried this sauce would also be a disappointment, wasting one of the few pieces of chicken he had.
However, after he tasted the sand ginger sauce, his expression relaxed.
The flavor of this sand ginger sauce, while not as stunning as the soy sauce, was still far superior to the ginger-scallion paste.
After finishing the last piece of white-cut chicken, he finally had a moment to look at the live stream chat.
Seeing a chat full of complaints, he felt he needed to explain a few things.
Li Xiao:
"The small portion size everyone’s talking about is a valid point."
"But this place serves its dishes in a tasting menu format. Everyone gets a small portion so that guests can try as many different dishes as possible."
"If the portion size for one dish is too large, it might ruin the guest’s appetite for the rest of the meal."
"The portion of white-cut chicken I just had wasn’t large, just a mere three pieces."
"But in terms of quality, among all the white-cut chicken I’ve ever eaten, this one easily ranks in the top 10."
"The meat in these three pieces was crisp and tender, not soft or mushy."
"The only drawback was that among the three dipping sauces, while the soy sauce and sand ginger sauce were excellent, the ginger-scallion paste was pretty mediocre."
"If any of you get a chance to come here in the future, I suggest you just stick with the soy sauce and the sand ginger sauce."
"Dipping this amazing chicken in the ginger-scallion paste would be a complete waste!"
The audience in the live stream couldn’t believe it. Faced with a 58-yuan price tag for three small pieces of white-cut chicken, Li Xiao wasn’t criticizing it—he was praising it.
[Chapter 3 will be up shortly]