Chapter 354: Let You Open a Gourmet Restaurant, You Open for Business at Three in the Morning

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

Lu Feng placed the duck on the chopping board and looked at the cut on its neck.

The cut was very neat, with some blood traces remaining at the edges, showing no signs of blackening at all.

He touched the duck's chest with his hand and could vaguely still feel the duck's residual body heat.

The inside of the duck's abdominal cavity was still warm; judging by this temperature, the duck should have been slaughtered no more than half an hour ago.

Lu Feng's gaze was focused, like a forensic doctor examining a crime scene.

Only, others searched for clues to restore the truth of a case, while he was selecting the most perfect ingredients for a dish about to be born.

After a careful observation, Lu Feng nodded in satisfaction.

As expected of ingredients sold by the System Mall, this duck's meat quality was fresher than those slaughtered on the market.

When he turned around to prepare to take the knife, intending to further process the duck's body, his nose suddenly caught a trace of an unusual smell.

That smell was different from the meaty flavor of duck meat itself, carrying a rich and lingering aroma.

It was somewhat like the sweet, mellow wine fragrance when aged wine lees, sealed for many years, were opened again.

Lu Feng frowned and looked around, but there was no wine nearby.

A hint of doubt arose in his heart, and he leaned close to the duck's body to smell it carefully.

The wine fragrance became even clearer.

How could there be wine fragrance on the duck?

Lu Feng opened the System Mall in his mind and carefully examined the detailed introduction of this duck; after reading it, he was instantly dumbfounded.

It clearly displayed: this duck breed is the Jingcheng Duck, produced in breeding bases around Jingcheng, with a history of over four hundred and twenty years.

In ancient times, it was exclusively supplied to the imperial kitchen; its entire body feathers were pure white without miscellaneous colors, its body was large and plump, and its weight after maturity could reach five to six jin.

This duck's meat was tender and not greasy, with fat evenly distributed.

The duck's age was strictly controlled at three months; for the first five weeks, it was raised free-range in the wild, allowing the duck to freely peck at herbaceous plants and insects.

Later, it was switched to artificial fattening, fed daily with strictly selected high-quality rice grains, paired with top-grade Shaocheng Yellow Wine.

After reading the introduction in the System, Lu Feng felt somewhat speechless.

This duck's diet was simply better than his, this System Host.

Others had been drinking Shaocheng Wine since childhood; no wonder the meat was infused with wine fragrance.

But was this System a bit too extravagant?

Actually using top-grade Shaocheng Wine to feed ducks?

It would be better to put it in the System Mall for sale; Lu Feng also wanted to taste the flavor of this wine.

After all, this Shaocheng Wine was indeed quite famous.

As early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, this wine was listed as an imperial tribute because of its "color like amber, taste like jade nectar."

Lu Feng suddenly recalled an anecdote about Shaocheng Wine he had seen online before.

In ancient Shaocheng, whenever a family gave birth to a daughter,

they would bury a jar of fine Shaocheng Wine under the osmanthus tree in the courtyard.

The jar was wrapped with oil paper on the outside, the mouth of the jar was sealed, covered with red cloth, and the daughter's birth date and hour were written on top.

On the day the daughter grew up and married, they would dig up the wine jar, ask a craftsman to carve bird and flower patterns on the jar body, and use it as the daughter's dowry.

Therefore, this wine was also called Huadiao Wine, and also called Daughter Red.

This wine is now deeply respected by many wine lovers.

Many on the market today flying the flag of Shaocheng Wine are actually blended with yellow wine from out of town.

Genuine ancient-method brewed authentic Shaocheng Wine has long become a scarce item, mostly hoarded by collectors.

For ordinary people on the market to buy authentic ones, it is not just difficult.

Yet this Shaocheng Wine, which countless wine lovers seek but cannot obtain, is what this duck before his eyes drank since childhood.

This made Lu Feng unable to help but feel a bit envious.

After all, having lived this long, he had only heard of this Shaocheng Wine and still didn't know what it tasted like.

Lu Feng couldn't help but rummage through the duck's belly, hoping to find a trace of residual Shaocheng Wine.

Only a pity that the duck's belly had been cleaned out completely, with nothing left.

Looking at the duck on the chopping board, and recalling the introduction in the System Mall, Lu Feng couldn't help but sigh.

This duck's diet in life was much better than his, this System's Host.

He never expected that after living so many years, what he ate was not as good as what a duck ate.

However, complaints aside, Lu Feng's movements were not careless.

He quickly collected his thoughts and began to focus on processing the ingredients before him.

After all, with such good ingredients, if not processed finely enough, it would be too sorry for the Shaocheng Wine this duck had drunk.

First was the washing process.

Lu Feng reached out and picked up the duck on the chopping board, washing it carefully with water.

The duck bought from the System Mall had already undergone preliminary processing; the duck's abdomen had a one-inch-long small opening.

The internal organs were taken out completely from this opening, neither damaging the duck's overall shape nor making it inconvenient for him to now clean the inside of the abdominal cavity.

Lu Feng did not use tap water to rinse, but used the mountain spring water bought from the mall.

Although tap water is clean, trace disinfectant components inevitably remain in the water.

Later, this duck needs to be roasted over charcoal fire; if impurities remaining in the water attach to the duck, they may affect the final aroma.

Of course, such an extremely subtle change would definitely be imperceptible to ordinary diners.

However, Lu Feng, who is incomparably picky about the taste of food, does not want to let even the slightest flaw slip in such details.

The mountain spring water he used comes from deep mountain rock strata, bringing a hint of refreshing sweetness upon entry, and is pure without any impurities, making it perfectly suitable for washing this duck to be roasted.

After a thorough rinsing, the small amount of residual blood inside the duck was also washed clean.

After washing was finished, Lu Feng placed the duck on a specially made rack, letting the residual moisture in the duck's belly drain naturally.

Afterwards he took an absorbent cotton cloth and carefully absorbed the water stains on the surface of the duck skin.

Next it was time to inflate this duck.

Among the tools that came with the roast duck set Lu Feng bought in the System Mall, there was an air gun specifically for inflating ducks.

The reason he didn't blow with his mouth was of course for hygiene.

After all, this roast duck is to be sold to diners; if he blew with his mouth, let alone those diners, even Lu Feng himself felt a bit squeamish in his heart.

Taking advantage of the time while the duck drained, Lu Feng rummaged out the air gun for inflating ducks from the toolbox.

Afterwards he slowly inserted the air nozzle into the neck from the cut at the duck's neck.

He tightly gripped the connection between the duck's neck and the air nozzle with his left hand to ensure no air would leak during inflation, while his right hand slowly pressed the air gun, gradually pumping air into the duck's body.

With a slight hissing sound of airflow, the originally shriveled duck body slowly swelled up like a balloon.

While inflating, Lu Feng lightly pressed the skin on the duck's chest with his fingertips, constantly feeling the changes in elasticity.

Only when he could feel a very obvious rebound upon pressing did he stop the inflation movement.