Back home squatting stove, greedy grandma this pot with firewood flavor of chicken

this weekend, I went back to my hometown in Fengxian County with the exhaustion of the city. As soon as the car stopped at the gate of the courtyard, I smelled a smell of meat that could not be turned away, mixed with the burning smell of firewood, and drilled into my nose-don't ask, grandma must be stewing chicken in the earth stove again.

I am Lin Xiaoman, a girl from Fengxian County in northern Jiangsu who has had enough office seats in the city and always reads fireworks in the countryside. She usually talks about the rough tea and light meals in her hometown in the aifoodnews when she has nothing to do. She doesn't like to write about the exquisite food copy she is carrying. She likes to say some really down-to-earth home words and share the hard fireworks hidden by the people in northern Jiangsu. When I was young, I followed my grandmother to crawl around the earth stove table. I didn't learn any professional cooking skills, but I recognized one principle: the most delicious food is never the dishes in the restaurant, but the slow cooking with firewood and the homely flavor of the pot. The pot chicken is the addiction carved in my bones. If I don't eat it every ten days and a half months, my heart will be empty and I will panic.

Many people think that the ground pot chicken is an ordinary stewed chicken paste cake, but in the hearts of us in Northern Jiangsu, it has never been a simple home-cooked dish, but a regional delicacy that belongs to northern Jiangsu and southern Shandong, and it is synonymous with farm fireworks. The biggest difference between this dish and other stewed chicken is that the food is cooked in a pot, the chicken is soft and rotten, the pot paste cake is half soaked in soup and half burnt, there is no gentle and light Jiangnan cuisine, and there is no extreme spicy Sichuan cuisine.

Earlier, I heard from my grandmother that the chicken in this pan was originally a way for people running boats on the canal to figure out how to eat it. At that time, the boat people were floating on the water, with few kitchen utensils and convenient cooking. They stewed chicken in an iron pot and pasted a circle of flour cakes on the edge of the pot. With the heat in the pot, the rice and vegetables were cooked together without extra steamed rice. The meal was lively. Later, it was spread to the rural farmers. Everyone slowly changed their taste, added chili bean paste, and changed the pasted cakes into corn flour and white flour. The more they were made, the more fragrant they became, and slowly they became the housekeeping dishes of every family in northern Jiangsu. They had no famous background and were all the wisdom of living.

I threw my backpack and went to the kitchen. Grandma was adding wood to the stove. The flame licked the bottom of the black iron pan and crackled. The iron pot on the hearth was bubbling and bubbling. The red soup was wrapped in chicken nuggets. A circle of yellow cakes was pasted on the edge of the pot. Half of them were soaked in the soup, half of them were burnt crispy, and the aroma rushed straight to the top of the head. I moved a pony to squat on the hearth, and without help, I stared at it, just like when I was a child, looking forward to cooking earlier.

Grandma never uses those fancy seasonings, let alone frozen chicken. They are all native chickens raised at home. They are killed and chopped now. When the blood is washed clean, they are directly put into the pot, even blanching water is saved. She said that the local chicken was clean, but the blanching water blanched the fresh taste. The iron pan was hot. The chicken nuggets were directly stir-fried in the pan. The grease was forced out until the skin was slightly yellow. Then ginger and garlic, dried chili and home-brewed bean paste were added, red oil was fried, a spoonful of yellow wine was poured, boiling water was added over the chicken nuggets, and the fire was turned to low and simmered.

The most important thing is the cake. Grandma made the noodles in advance. The corn flour was mixed with some white flour. It was just hard and soft. It did not stick to the hands or hard. She pulled a small piece and kneaded it into a thin cake with her hands. She pasted it tightly along the edge of the pan. The lower half of the cake was soaked in chicken soup. The upper half was exposed. The lid was covered and slowly stewed by the warm swallowing strength of firewood. At this time can't rush to open the lid, grandma always said, rush to lift the lid, gas ran away, cake is not soft, meat is not rotten, delicious rice, are waiting to come out.

Only for more than 20 minutes, when the lid is lifted, the aroma can directly confuse people. The chicken nuggets are stewed soft and rotten, and the bones are removed with a slight poke with chopsticks. The soup is thick and wrapped on the meat. The salty flavor is slightly spicy, and the more you chew, the more fresh it is. The cake at the edge of the pan is the essence. The side attached to the pan is burnt and crisp. With the atmosphere of the pan, the half soaked in the soup is full of chicken soup. It is soft and glutinous. Take a bite. The wheat flavor of coarse grains is mixed with the meat flavor, which is more appetizing than chicken.

When I was a child, the conditions at home were ordinary. Only during the holidays or relatives at home could I have a meal of boiled chicken. At that time, my brother and I were scrambling to eat cakes. Grandma always gave us the most burnt cakes and ate some chicken nuggets and soup for herself. The family gathered around the hearth and did not need to place bowls and chopsticks. They were directly placed in an iron pot and served the table. It was very lively and the cold wind could not disperse the warmth in the room. At that time, they felt that this was the best delicacy in the world.

In the city, I have also ordered countless chicken takeout. Either the chicken is served with firewood, or the cake is soft and not chewy. The soup is either salty or tasteless. It is full of quick taste and has no firewood. Later, I tried to do it at home. I used induction cooker and stainless steel pot, but I couldn't remember the taste of my grandmother. Only then did I understand that without the firewood on the earth stove, the local chicken in my hometown, and the slow temper of my grandmother, no matter how I did it, I lost my soul.

In fact, delicious home-cooked dishes never rely on precise seasoning grams and complicated cooking steps, but are cooked slowly and steadily, which is fully reflected in the pan chicken. I sincerely recommend you to try the authentic Subei pan chicken. First, it has a taste level enough. The chicken is soft, rotten, boneless and does not produce wood. The pan cake is crisp, soft and glutinous. After being filled with soup, it is fragrant but not greasy. Both the elderly and the children can enjoy it. Secondly, the atmosphere is full. It is steaming. It is especially suitable for family reunion and friends, let go of eating is comfortable enough. In the third place, it is enough to cure without fancy modification. It is full of fresh fragrance of the ingredients themselves. One bite can dispel all fatigue and is the surest source of happiness in ordinary days.

When I went back to my hometown this time, I squatted on the hearth and ate the hot chicken. Looking at the back of my grandmother adding firewood, I suddenly felt that all the tiredness in the city was gone. The so-called homesickness is just a taste of hometown and a meal made by grandma. It is simple but enough to cure.

I don't want to write about those gorgeous feelings, just want to talk to everyone about this authentic northern Jiangsu delicacy. The ground pot chicken has no precious ingredients, no loud gimmicks, but with a breath of fireworks and a real taste, it has become a nostalgic taste engraved in the bones of Subei people. When you are free, you may as well try the common practice, or come to the countryside of northern Jiangsu to try the stewed firewood stove. This practical and healing delicacy is definitely more poignant than many delicacies. What is the hard dish that you are most obsessed with in your heart? Welcome to the comment section to talk with me.