Anyway, it was still early, and besides, Delicious never had a fixed mealtime.

He might as well have his staff try the dish, which would also take care of their lunch.

Yes, Su Chen loved killing several birds with one stone.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Su Chen tossed the already-thawed three-yellow chicken onto the cutting board. With a few whacks of the cleaver, he chopped it into three-centimeter cubes.

Watching Su Chen, Ling Shuyu silently took a step back.

’I’m not cut out for making meat dishes...’

’Eating them, though, is fine.’

Su Chen’s movements were as smooth as flowing water. He placed the chopped chicken directly into a pot, letting it simmer over medium heat. He also threw in a scallion knot and some ginger slices, then sprinkled in some cooking wine.

"This chicken is quite tender. If the water comes to a boil too quickly, it’ll cook through easily, and then we can’t proceed. For this step, you have to quickly remove the chicken right as the water is about to boil."

Eager to offload this task as soon as possible, Su Chen went straight into teaching mode in the kitchen.

He Shuting was still in charge of... filming!

A supermarket three-yellow chicken is different from a free-range chicken raised in a village; it cooks very quickly.

Take the stir-fried chicken from Lu Province, for example. The methods vary by region, but the main difference is the ingredients used. Each area prioritizes its local chicken breeds. The same principle applies to the ’big plate chicken’ from Jiang Province.

This was a key reason why Su Chen was modifying the recipe.

You can’t compare a commercially-raised three-yellow chicken to those other breeds. They’re not in the same league.

But as a gourmet... turning a lower-grade ingredient into a higher-grade delicacy—now that’s where the fun is!

While the chicken simmered over low heat, Su Chen added a large amount of vegetable oil to another wok. When the oil was about 60% hot, he switched to medium heat and poured in all the previously chopped onions.

He continued to slowly Blast them over medium heat.

"Onion oil. This type of oil is common in Min Nan cuisine, but ours isn’t as fragrant as theirs. I’m just making some to have on hand."

Su Chen made it sound simple, but the others were confused. Now wasn’t the time to figure out the exact principles, so the employees silently committed his words to memory.

The pot with the chicken was about to boil. Before it did, Su Chen skimmed the scum from the surface, then scooped out all the chicken pieces and placed them in a basket to drain.

Meanwhile, the onions being slowly Blasted over medium heat quickly turned golden brown. He used a skimmer to remove the onions and discard them, then poured the oil from the wok into a basin to set aside.

With the prep work done, Su Chen glanced at the time. It was getting late.

"We won’t make the chili sauce now. We’ll do that this afternoon."

Without homemade chili sauce, he would have to use dried chilies instead.

Next came the most crucial step of Su Chen’s homemade stir-fried chicken!

The stir-fry!

He heated the wok until it began to smoke, then added a generous amount of the onion oil, immediately followed by a large handful of ginger slices.

"This stir-fried chicken without ginger..."

"What happens?" Ling Shuyu, who was averse to chopping chicken but not to stir-frying it, asked curiously.

"It’s like you didn’t add any ginger."

The Delicious staff mulled over this sentence for a moment. Gradually, their expressions started to turn...

Just before everyone was about to get violent, Su Chen quickly started adding various spices to change the subject.

"A fifty-fifty mix of green and red Sichuan peppercorns, then some dried chilies, star anise, bay leaves, and angelica root. Be sure to use low heat."

When you’re stir-frying spices, if you don’t control the heat well, they’ll burn easily, and the dish will taste bitter.

Spices are truly magical. As he added them and stirred them back and forth with his metal spatula, a peculiar, fragrant aroma began to fill the kitchen.

Everything Su Chen did looked ordinary and common. You could even casually browse a food blogger’s feed and see more or less the same few techniques.

Heat the wok, add oil, and toss in the spices.

When the aroma became very intense, Su Chen poured all of the drained chicken pieces into the wok.

TSSSSSS~~

Even though the chicken was drained thoroughly, the moment it hit the hot oil, a loud sound erupted from the wok, accompanied by splattering droplets of oil.

’I’m out! I’m so out!’

Because the chicken had been briefly blanched, the pieces had already firmed up. After a few light stirs to coat all the pieces in the onion oil, the skin began to take on a glistening, golden-brown char!

Su Chen didn’t know how to explain this next part...

The amount of oil to use is a fine art.

Unlike a free-range chicken, a three-yellow chicken’s meat is looser. If you don’t use enough oil, it will stick to the wok. If you use too much, it becomes ’oil-passed chicken’ instead.

To save time, many restaurants will pass the chicken through a large amount of oil before stir-frying. But if you do that, it’s not a true stir-fried chicken anymore.

The flavor will be much worse.

As for how to master the amount of oil... it all comes down to practice.

Su Chen started adding the seasonings. This step was crucial!

He pushed the chicken to the edges of the wok, clearing a round space in the center. You could see that after a few stirs, there wasn’t a large amount of oil at the bottom. In fact, after frying for a while, the oil hadn’t become cloudy at all; instead, it had grown exceptionally clear.

"Then, add Boss Su’s secret..."

Sensing the murderous glares from the staff, Su Chen quickly changed his tune. "...sweet bean sauce, soybean paste, oyster sauce, huadiao wine, plus dark and light soy sauce. Finally, a dash of Yipinxian and thirteen-spice powder."

Continue on low heat.

This dish is cooked almost entirely over low heat.

"Keep stir-frying, until..."