About five years ago, a colleague from his hometown of Liaocheng, Shandong Province went home to celebrate the New Year. After work, he gave me two Wei's smoked chickens brought from his hometown.

When I got home and opened the outer packaging, I found that there were two layers of vacuum packaging inside. After completely unpacking, I was presented with a smoked chicken that was dry, hard, and dark. When I used my hands to tear it, it was very hard, so I had to slowly tear it into strips with both hands.

Because this kind of smoked chicken is fragrant and hard, it is said that in 1935, it was praised as the "Liaocheng Iron Rooster" by the famous writer Lao She.

Put a piece of it into your mouth and chew it slowly. It is not greasy or greasy, and has a strong salty and incense flavor. It is very suitable to be used with porridge. Used to accompany wine, it is also a delicacy.

So I fell in love with this kind of smoked chicken, and I always buy a few online every year to eat.

According to the instructions on the product packaging, this smoked chicken originated during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, canal water transport was developed. By the Liaocheng Canal, one of the Wei family's sons was responsible for transporting water and troops, and he often went there for several months. Every time he goes out on the boat, Wei prepares his family's braised chicken. In order to make the braised chicken easy to preserve, Wei placed the braised chicken on pine shavings and fruit wood and smoked it for six times and dried it for six times until the water was smoked dry, the chicken was firm, and the oil and spices penetrated the meat and bones. For example, "Crouching with Feathers and Phoenix" can be preserved for more than six months. One time, the luck road was blocked and the ship was stranded for dozens of days. Fortunately, Wei's smoked chicken brought everyone on board safely. When ships pass through Liaocheng on the Hou Canal, they never forget to bring a few more Wei's smoked chickens. Its special technique of "stewed in old soup and Liuliu smoked" was praised by people at that time. Wei's smoked chicken is also called "Wei Laoliu smoked chicken".

When I eat this kind of smoked chicken, what I admire the most is that after the chicken is torn into strips, it is yellow, salty, fragrant, golden and pliable. The seller calls it golden silk. I appreciate this kind of smoked chicken even more. The bones are hard and bright, unlike those of soft chicken.

Chickens have hard bones, so the meat is fragrant; people have hard bones, so their lives have meaning.