Chapter 215: Chapter 215: The Secret to Delicious Fried Chicken, the Sauce Recipe!
Over the next two days, the fried chicken shop’s business continued to boom.
Jiang Feng arrived at the fried chicken shop on time every day, bustling about.
People were always taking pictures outside the store.
When he opened for business that day, Jiang Feng noticed that Sun Zhuangfei had brought his violin.
He wondered if Sun Zhuangfei was planning to play accompaniment again.
"Why the violin? Are you thinking of performing for the customers?" Jiang Feng asked.
"Ah, no, eating fried chicken and violins don’t really go together," Sun Zhuangfei answered honestly. "Since I get off work so early every day, I plan to go to the square to play the violin, get in some practice."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Feng was stunned and asked, "Are you sure you had autism when you were young and were very introverted?"
Jiang Feng was baffled. Is this introverted? Introverted, you play the violin in the square? Is that something ordinary people can do? This is social brilliance!
"I didn’t like to talk when I was younger; the doctor said I had it, but it got better slowly," Sun Zhuangfei responded truthfully.
Jiang Feng nodded. It didn’t really matter, as long as he was happy. Who would have thought that within a meticulous apprentice chef, there lived a soul of music?
Soon, the two of them began processing chicken, and the other young employees also started helping.
The dissemination of information online is subject to delays and persistence. Meaning, news of the fugitive’s arrest from two days ago was only seen by many people today. After seeing it, these people came over, inevitably wanting to taste this fried chicken. To leave a fugitive longing, there must be something special about it.
The fried chicken shop wasn’t even open yet, and there were already crowds outside.
Jiang Feng looked outside and sighed calmly. Whatever. So be it.
At this very moment, not far from Jiang Feng’s fried chicken shop, there was a spicy hotpot stand. It was a husband-and-wife business, and their trade was also quite good. In the catering industry, these family-run businesses probably had a lower risk and a higher probability of making a profit.
The shop was operated by a young couple. The man was called Chen Zhi, and the woman was called Lin Jiao.
Jiang Feng’s business often affected many people, not only the customers but also other store owners.
Chen Zhi and Lin Jiao watched the business outside Jiang Feng’s shop and became increasingly envious. How much money that must be! When can we have business like this?
Chen Zhi wondered, Should I try making fried chicken? Maybe everyone loves fried chicken?
He was an ambitious man, with an intense desire to make money, and hoped to find a way to earn even more. Running the spicy hotpot stand was something he had learned bit by bit online and then put into practice, gradually building it up. This was the age of shared information. As long as you studied diligently and worked hard, you could always find some pathways.
Lin Jiao agreed with his idea, saying, "We can give it a try, and if it works out, we can also introduce a fried chicken combo. I see that fried chicken shop does it pretty quickly, which suggests making fried chicken isn’t too much trouble. Let’s dip our toes in first."
No sooner said than done. Chen Zhi was filled with confidence. Especially seeing so many customers at Jiang Feng’s fried chicken shop, he felt even more assured. It was as if those customers would soon be his.
Thus, that evening, Chen Zhi started learning how to make fried chicken online. How to mix the batter, how to cut and marinate the chicken—all this information was available online.
The next morning, before the spicy hotpot stand opened, he went to the back kitchen to try making fried chicken following the online tutorial. He was confident he could do it well. With so many people still coming for fried chicken, he could totally ride the wave of traffic. Catch this enormous wave of wealth.
Before long, the chicken was marinated and coated with batter. After heating oil in the pot, Chen Zhi carefully placed the chicken pieces into it.
SIZZLE SIZZLE SIZZLE!
Under the influence of the hot oil, the chicken quickly began to turn golden brown. The couple watched the frying chicken in the pot with anticipation.
Online tutorials only provided the method. Many details of actual cooking had to be handled on the spot. For instance, different oil temperatures required different frying times.
Chen Zhi, seeing the chicken legs nearly done, scooped them out onto a plate. Gotta say, just from the outside, with the irregular golden crust, they looked pretty good.
Done! Looks decent! I’ll try it in a bit.
Chen Zhi was overjoyed, thinking if he really mastered this, he could add a fried chicken option to their shop in the future.
"Yeah, definitely no problem," Lin Jiao echoed. "With some more practice, we can also make fried chicken."
Both of them seemed somewhat excited.
After a short wait, Chen Zhi picked up his chopsticks, but didn’t go straight to eating. Instead, he used the chopsticks to tear the chicken thigh meat. Inside the golden batter was white chicken meat. At this point, their appetites weren’t as high. Upon further tearing apart the chicken thigh meat, strands of blood were visible on the meat near the bone. Meaning, it was completely undercooked inside.
Seeing the blood, they both froze in an awkward silence, not speaking a word.
"This... isn’t cooked, right?" Chen Zhi finally spoke up after a while.
"Let’s not do fried chicken anymore," Lin Jiao suggested consolingly. "How about we stick to spicy hotpot, or just put the chicken thighs in the pot to boil them thoroughly?"
"No way, I refuse to believe we can’t get this right. Go buy two servings of his fried chicken this afternoon, and I’ll study it some more. I want to see how big the difference is."
Chen Zhi clearly wasn’t ready to give up.
That attitude was positive. But reality is often harsh.
Between one fried chicken and another, there’s a gap. Take Jiang Feng’s fried chicken, for example. When torn open, not only is it hot inside, but there’s also steaming juice. That juice is incredibly fragrant. The chicken meat is succulent and tender from inside out, the texture soft and smooth. Eating it, one could almost wish to swallow their tongue.
Thinking about this, Lin Jiao began to miss Jiang Feng’s fried chicken. After all, they had also tried it a couple of days before.
"Okay, I’ll go buy it this afternoon. We can take our time to figure it out, no rush," Lin Jiao immediately agreed.
It wasn’t just Chen Zhi’s and Lin Jiao’s shop. The owners of the surrounding small eateries were all considering whether they should also try making fried chicken. Many people have a herd mentality, liking to replicate others’ success. But they didn’t realize that while the core concept might be the same, others could make it work because they possessed special resources in that area. It could be talent, effort, or background. Of course, it could also be a system.
Jiang Feng continued to fry chicken in the oil pot unhurriedly; every piece that came out of his hands was cooked just right.
At this moment, two more customers approached.
"Boss, is there anything special about the sauce?" one customer inquired.
Jiang Feng heard from not too far away and replied, "The sauce is an extra option; you can choose to add it yourself. You can choose between spicy and non-spicy flavors; I’ll sprinkle some dried chili powder on top. The sweet and spicy flavor has a higher spice level, but it’s more effective at stimulating the appetite. The fragrant spicy sauce is rich and can enhance the flavor. Garlic sauce depends on personal taste. The honey sauce is sweet, suitable for those who don’t like spiciness."
After hearing this, one customer chose the fragrant spicy flavor, while the other opted for the honey flavor.
Jiang Feng prepared their fried chicken and paired it with his secret sauce. The fragrant spicy sauce was a deep brown, appearing rich and satisfying.
The customer with the spicy sauce spread it on the fried chicken and took a bite. As the crispy batter and sauce melted in their mouth, the flavor was extraordinarily good.
"This sauce is really good! When I ate fried chicken before, I would get tired of it after one piece with sauce," the customer exclaimed in surprise. "But his sauce is fragrant yet not too heavy. It doesn’t feel heavy in the stomach."
The other customer, who chose the honey sauce, spread it evenly and also sampled the honey fried chicken. The coating was both crunchy and sweet, the honey flavor perfectly neutralizing the oiliness of the frying. It was an indescribably refreshing and delightful experience.
"This sauce tastes good too, very delicious."
Both customers kept praising it. Not only was the fried chicken delicious, but the sauce was also excellent. No wonder so many people were buying it.
Many shop owners near Jiang Feng’s fried chicken business were envious. They were unaware that, in addition to the frying technique, the exclusive secret sauce was the ace up Jiang Feng’s sleeve that attracted customers.
More and more people were coming to Jiang Feng’s fried chicken shop.
At this moment, a young man, seeing four or five men in plaid shirts and glasses in line, couldn’t hide his astonishment. These were company coders, renowned for being homebodies. They were creatures of habit, either ordering delivery or going to restaurants. Furthermore, they had all sworn they would never queue for trendy snacks. For them, queuing for food was a waste of time. After all, anything could satisfy hunger.
But now, unusually, these guys were actually lining up.
The young man walked over and greeted them, "Wow, you guys are here too? This queue must be over 40 minutes. You can stand it?"
Upon hearing this, one of the coders sighed, "It’s because we can’t order delivery, so we had to come down. It was fine just a few days ago; we even ordered delivery. But then the business suddenly took off."
Hearing this, the others chimed in:
"It got popular so fast, now if we want to eat, we have to come here early."
"But it is really good."
"It would be great if they could offer a pricier delivery."
Hearing their conversation, the young man couldn’t help but marvel. He had never tried Jiang Feng’s fried chicken and just heard it was delicious. He had come today just to see what the fuss was about. Judging by the fact that these coders were willing to line up, the flavor of the fried chicken evidently needed no further endorsement.
Is it really that tasty? I’d better hurry and join the queue.
The young man didn’t dawdle and quickly headed to the back of the line.