I was discussing a question with my friends before: What is indispensable in life.

friends say: affection, friendship and love.

I envy his life. People who don't need to be hungry and worried about life will have such an idea.

and my idea is: rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar tea.

after all, I am a soulless cook.

firewood is rarely needed nowadays. In ancient times, firewood was the main fire source for cooking food. Nowadays, the main source that can maintain our cooking food is probably our salary ....... < P > There are too many words. Today, I want to talk about the salt in the rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar tea.

Salt is an indispensable part of our life. Some people may say that they don't like salty food.

but salt exists not only to have a salty taste.

salt should be regarded as a faithful companion of dishes.

For today's protagonist, salt is an indispensable part of it.

Dongjiang salted chicken

Dongjiang River basin is long and wide, and Dongjiang culture has a long history.

it originated from dazhuling, xunwu county, Jiangxi province. It flows to Guangdong Province, passes through Longchuan County to Huizhou, and finally flows into the Pearl River. At the same time, it is also the mother river of Huizhou. Along this Dongjiang River from north to south, Dongjiang culture thrives, and Hakka culture shines brilliantly.

The origin of salted chicken is closely related to the migration life of Hakkas.

In the process of migration from north to south, Hakkas have to travel long distances. After arriving at a place, they are often harassed by foreigners and find it difficult to live in peace, so they are forced to continue their migration and move to the next place. In the process of living, every Hakka household will raise poultry and livestock. In the process of migration, live birds are inconvenient to carry, so they can only be slaughtered and put into salt bags for storage and carrying.

and the salt used in salt packets is not refined salt in our daily life.

it is crude salt. Crude salt is the crystallization of seawater or salt water in salt wells, salt ponds and salt springs after frying and drying, that is, natural salt, which is unprocessed large-grain salt.

At the beginning, Hakka people preserved the slaughtered chickens with salt piles, which can keep them fresh for a short time, prevent them from spoilage and preserve their food. When you want to eat, steam the stored chicken directly. Is this the practice now? Hakka salted chicken? .

according to legend, in the later days, there was a child who was weak and sick from childhood, and was short of nutritious food at that time. You can only wrap it in pickled chicken paper and put it in fried salt to cook it in a casserole. After children eat it, their bodies gradually recover and become stronger. Later, I took the imperial examination and won the top prize. So I carried forward this kind of chicken I ate as a child and became a well-known food.

Actually, this is mainly due to the chicken itself, which is one of the best ingredients for invigorating qi.

There are generally two ways to bake chicken: the first way is the traditional way, that is, cooking with coarse salt. The traditional way is complicated and takes a long time, but the baked chicken with salt is more original. The second way is to cook salted chicken with brine, which has the advantage of making more salted chicken.

We use Qingyuan chicken as the material.

Qingyuan chicken has tender and smooth meat, crispy skin and soft bones, full fat and delicious taste. Don't choose chicken that is too tender, otherwise it will have no taste. White feather chicken is not as good as Qingyuan chicken in taste and taste.

first, we clean the chicken, and turn around, neck and feet. Hang for about two hours to dry the water (the drier the better).

Then evenly spread the cooking wine on the chicken, then evenly spread the whole chicken with edible salt, and then put the prepared ginger slices and onion knots in the chicken belly.

And if you want to make salted chicken with golden yellow and attractive color, Huangzhi is a very good colorant.

The fruit of Fructus Gardeniae is bitter and cold, which is used for clearing heat, purging fire and cooling blood. Contains yellow pigment, which can extract natural pigment. It can give salted chicken a unique flavor, clear away heat and reduce fire, and most importantly, add golden color. Knock the yellow gardenia open and soak it in hot water. When the water cools, the water soaked in the yellow gardenia will become dark yellow. At this time, pour it on the chicken and spread it evenly.

marinate for half an hour like this.

stir-frying salt

stir-frying salt is to further remove the water in the salt and make the salt taste more fragrant.

put enough coarse salt into it, heat it with low fire and keep stirring. Add star anise, pepper and fragrant leaves at the same time. Heated salt can bake out the flavor of spices. And melt it into the salt. This kind of salt tastes very fragrant. If you stir-fry with refined salt with spices, the dishes you make are very delicious.

put a part of the fried salt in the bottom of the rice cooker. The coarse salt at the bottom of the pot should be later, too thin will make the chicken skin black.

wrap the chicken with special salted chicken paper or kitchen paper, and be sure to wrap it tightly. It is best to use lotus leaves, and the baked salted chicken can also have a faint fragrance of lotus leaves. However, if you use lotus leaves, you must touch a thin layer of oil inside the lotus leaves and then tie them with a rope.

put the wrapped chicken into the rice cooker whose bottom has been covered with coarse sea salt. Then cover the whole chicken with coarse salt and bake it for 1 hour with the cooking stall.

break the coarse salt, take out the chicken, cut it into pieces and put it on a plate. Now, a salted chicken with smooth skin, strong bone flavor and fragrant lips and teeth is finished.

Baked chicken with salt is generally golden in appearance, and the salt is invisible on the surface, which deeply penetrates into the chicken's tendons. It is a natural combination of chicken and salt, and the taste of chicken and salt are deeply blended together, and with delicate baking, every inch of muscle shrinks to the best taste.