Chapter 118: Soul Dipping Sauce

Chapter 118: Soul Dipping Sauce

After Deng Shirong received the matchmaking gift from Deng Changwang, the cash he had on hand exceeded 5,000 yuan, making him a half-millionaire. However, half of this cash had been spent on furniture-making, cultivating an orchard, marrying off his eldest daughter-in-law, buying seafood, and various daily expenses. If word got out about how quickly he was spending money, it would likely cause a sensation throughout Bobai County.

After all, in this era, there was hardly anyone in the rural areas who could spend money as freely as Deng Shirong.

Although half of his money had been spent, Deng Shirong had received income from the tile factory three times since Deng Changwang's marriage. Additionally, he had received a thank-you gift from Deng Changmei's family the previous day, which made up for the money he had spent earlier. As a result, Deng Shirong still had 5,000 yuan in cash on hand.

Now, with the thank-you gift from the Zhang family, the 38-yuan red envelope became 418 yuan thanks to the tenfold reward from the matchmaker system. After two and a half months, his wealth had finally started to grow again.

In addition to cash, various supplies were also replenished. However, the 20 kilograms of braised pork and over ten kilograms of pork on display were not easy to handle. After some thought, Deng Shirong decided to call upon a few strong young men in the village who had nothing to do and asked them to help transport stones from the stone mountain. This way, they could build their own water wall after the Spring Festival.

When Uncle Jiu invited them, the young men in the village responded with great enthusiasm.

Over the past few months, most villagers had tasted Uncle Jiu's cooking and knew how delicious his dishes were. Since most families in the village could only afford to eat meat less than twice a month, the young men were eager to help, knowing they would at least get a few good meals in return.

Initially, Deng Shirong had only invited a few young men to help transport the stones. However, after just half a day of work, the team began to grow. By the second day, more than a dozen young men had joined in.

Deng Shirong welcomed all of them, as he only had to provide food. There was no cheaper labor than this.

The work ethic of the young men in this era was incomparable to that of later generations, where some would feel dizzy just standing in the sun. Although they used relatively primitive tools—lifting by hand, carrying on shoulders, and pulling with ox carts—their efficiency was impressive.

In just one week, the young men had brought back a large pile of stones to Deng Shirong's home, enough to build the water wall.

With more than a dozen young men and their own family members, over 20 people were eating every day. After a week, the more than 30 kilograms of meat were nearly gone. To compensate, Deng Shirong retrieved two pork butts from his system space and added other vegetarian dishes to get through the week.

To thank the young men, Deng Shirong decided to kill several chickens that day.

The simplest way to cook chicken is to boil it. The taste of boiled chicken depends on three factors:

1. The quality of the chicken.

2. Heat control.

3. The dipping sauce.

First, the quality of the chicken. If the chicken used is the cheap, feed-raised variety common in later generations, the boiled chicken made from it would be unappetizing. This is also why people from other provinces often think boiled chicken isn't delicious—they've never tasted truly good boiled chicken.

The chickens nowadays are authentic free-range local chickens, and the quality of their meat is naturally excellent.

As for heat control, when rural people cook boiled chicken at home, they don't use the three-in-three-out method or soak it in ice water like restaurants do. In Thatchfield Village, the method is simple: add water from time to time (lifting the chicken with chopsticks or other tools to pour out the non-boiling water from the chicken's cavity, ensuring even heating) and cook until no blood comes out when the chicken leg is pierced with chopsticks.

Finally, the most important part of boiled chicken is the dipping sauce. Since boiled chicken itself is bland, its flavor depends entirely on this sauce.

In Thatchfield Village, the most classic dipping sauce for boiled chicken is made with local sand ginger.

At this moment, Deng Shirong was instructing his eldest daughter-in-law on how to make the sand ginger dipping sauce.

"Ah Ping, this ginger dipping sauce is actually very simple to make. First, take a bowl, pour in an appropriate amount of oyster sauce, and dissolve it with a little water. The main purpose of adding water is to reduce the saltiness of the soy sauce."

Deng Shirong watched as Zhang Xiuping dissolved the oyster sauce with water, then continued, "Now pour an appropriate amount of soy sauce into the bowl. Next, heat some oil in a pan. Don't use lard—use the peanut oil I bought a few days ago.

Yes, add a little more. Now, that's about right!"

Zhang Xiuping asked, "Dad, should I pour the prepared dipping sauce in and cook it now?"

Deng Shirong shook his head and smiled, "No, you don't cook it that way because it won't bring out the fragrance. You need to heat the oil until it smokes, then pour the prepared dipping sauce in. Use the high temperature of the pan and oil to bring out the aroma of the soy sauce. It only takes about two to three seconds to finish the dipping sauce!"

Zhang Xiuping followed his instructions. When the dipping sauce was poured in, it began to sizzle and boil in the pan, releasing a rich, savory aroma.

She stirred the sauce twice with a spatula and quickly poured it into another clean bowl.

Deng Shirong scooped a spoonful of water into the pan and said with a smile, "See? It's simple, isn't it? The dipping sauce is ready. Next, just crush the washed sand ginger and mix it into the dipping sauce. It will make an incredibly delicious dipping sauce for the boiled chicken!"

Zhang Xiuping looked at the dipping sauce she had made and said in surprise, "It really is simple!"

As she spoke, she crushed the washed sand ginger.

This sand ginger was locally grown and had a very strong fragrance. When washed, it smelled incredibly aromatic. Once crushed, the fragrance filled the entire kitchen. Compared to the imported sand ginger sold in markets in later generations, which had almost no fragrance, the difference was like night and day.

After mixing the crushed sand ginger into the dipping sauce, the full effect was achieved.

It was truly a soul-stirring dipping sauce, bursting with flavor.

Zhang Xiuping smiled and said, "Dad, I feel like after learning how to make this dipping sauce, my skill at cooking boiled chicken has surpassed most people in the village!"

Deng Shirong smiled and replied, "Don't doubt it. When it comes to boiled chicken, your skill is already better than 99% of the people in the village!"

(End of Chapter)