A pot of southern milk beer chicken, braised with Cantonese fireworks and foreign tenderness

I am Lila Rose Hayes, and my friends who know me well are used to calling me Lila. I am 38 years old this year. I have been focusing on sharing Cantonese home-cooked food for six years. I am not a professional food blogger who studies cuisines, but more like a life recorder who keeps lingnan fireworks. I grew up in the old lane of the Pearl River Delta town. I grew up with my grandmother guarding the old-fashioned casserole. My bones are engraved with my preference for Cantonese-style homemade stewed dishes. I am especially obsessed with dishes with mellow sauce flavor and full of fireworks. I do not pursue light and light food, but prefer the steady taste of food stewed and fragrant. Grandma's kitchen is always filled with several cans of "soul seasonings" of cantonese kitchen such as southern milk and zhuhou sauce. in her hands, ordinary chicken and pork can be stewed with different flavors. southern milk beer chicken is the most common innovative home flavor made by grandma in her later years, and it is also the dish that can relieve homesickness and tiredness after I leave my hometown. I always follow my heart and memory in cooking. I don't stick to the rigid menu dogma. I always feel that the essence of home-cooked food is never the accurate matching, but the regional habits hidden in the seasoning, the patience in braising and the family's heart and mind. This is the case with Nanru Beer Chicken. It is not a famous dish in cantonese restaurants. There is no regular classification of cuisine, but it is in folk fireworks, the most heart-warming home taste.

My first memory of the southern milk beer chicken dates back to the rainy season when I was a teenager. Spring in the Pearl River Delta is always humid and cold. The continuous rain makes people feel bored, and there is a lingering moisture all over my body. At this time, grandma will bring out a casserole and make a steaming southern milk beer chicken to dispel the wet and cold of the whole body. At that time, the kitchen at home was not big, and there was a black-brown old-fashioned casserole near the window. After more than ten years of use, the wall of the pot was stained with faint traces of sauce, but it was the most convenient thing for grandma to cook. I always like to lie prone at the kitchen door and watch grandma busy. she never pays attention to precious varieties when choosing chickens. she chooses free-range three-yellow chickens that are now killed in the neighborhood vegetable market. the meat is tight and not firewood, fat and thin, chopped into pieces of moderate size, without complicated blanching to remove fishy smell, only ginger slices are used to wipe the pan wall, chicken pieces are slightly fried until the skin is slightly yellow, and then the key seasoning-red, bright and delicate.

Grandma always said that southern milk is the soul of Cantonese stewed vegetables. Compared with ordinary fermented bean curd, southern milk has a little more bouquet and mellow, and its color is red and bright. It can be used to stew meat for color, fragrance and greasy meat. It is an indispensable treasure in Laoguang's kitchen. She crushed two pieces of southern milk, added a little southern milk to stir it, evenly wrapped it on the chicken nuggets, and quickly stirred it for a few times. The rich southern milk sauce flavor spread instantly. Then she opened a bottle of beer, poured the whole bottle along the edge of the pot, without adding a drop of water, covered the casserole lid, and turned to a small fire to simmer slowly. The window of the kitchen was covered with thin rain and fog. The sound of gurgling in the casserole was especially cured. The mellow sauce flavor of southern milk, the malt fragrance of beer and the fresh breath of chicken slowly merged and drifted all over the room. The fragrance was not pungent or strong, but it was especially seductive. Even the dullness brought by the rain was washed away by this warm fragrance.

It takes about half an hour to stew. When the temperature is just right, Grandma will lift the lid of the casserole and gently poke the chicken with chopsticks. The easy bone removal indicates that the temperature is in place. At this time, the soup in the pot was slightly thickened and wrapped around each piece of chicken. The chicken was braised red, bright and oily, with attractive color and even the chicken bones were fragrant. Grandma always put a bowl in front of me and let me taste it when it is cool. I carefully picked up a piece of chicken and sipped it gently. The meat was soft and rotten but not loose. Every grain was filled with the soup of southern milk and beer. At the entrance, the salty and mellow flavor of southern milk was first introduced, with a faint aroma of fermented wine, followed by the sweet malt flavor of beer, completely without the bitterness of alcohol. The two flavors were perfectly integrated, the chicken is fresh but not greasy, fragrant but not fishy. Even the soup in the pot is very special, mixed with a bowl of freshly cooked white rice, the soup is wrapped in rice grains, and every bite is fragrant and tasty. I can always eat a large bowl at one go, even the soup is reluctant to leave. At that time, I only thought that this dish was delicious, warm the stomach, and could dispel the wet and cold of the rain, but I didn't know that this taste would become the hometown flavor that I cared about most for the rest of my life.

Later, I slowly learned that the southern milk beer chicken is not a traditional cantonese classic dish, but a home-cooked dish created by folk families in the pearl river delta. it is a warm-hearted delicacy explored by the old people in combination with daily ingredients and taste preferences, and hides the most simple folk food wisdom. Cantonese diet has always paid attention to "not eating from time to time" and is also good at making extreme flavor with common ingredients. As a characteristic fermented seasoning in Lingnan, southern milk is commonly used in braised, boiled and steamed dishes, which can not only improve fragrance and color, but also make meat taste more warm and moist. However, beer entering vegetables is a common folk trick to remove fishy smell and improve freshness. Enzymes in beer can soften meat and make chicken softer and rotten, the fragrance of malt can also neutralize the heaviness of southern milk, making the overall taste more refreshing. The combination of the two is an ingenious attempt by folk people to match ingredients. There is no complicated technique, but it has a proper flavor fusion.

Judging from the regional dietary characteristics, the south milk beer chicken perfectly meets the dietary needs of Lingnan region. The Pearl River Delta has a humid climate. People prefer dishes with mellow taste and can warm up and remove dampness. This dish does not need too much spicy seasoning. Relying on the mellow south milk and the warmth of beer, it can achieve the warm-up effect. It has a warm taste and does not stimulate. The elderly and children can eat it, and is suitable for the tastes of the whole family. Different from the braised chicken dishes with heavy sauce flavor in the north and spicy flavor in the southwest, the southern milk beer chicken is mainly "fresh, fragrant, mellow and moist". It does not rob the taste, is not thick, retains the fresh gas of the chicken itself, and relies on southern milk and beer to endow it with unique flavor. It is a typical Cantonese homely style-low-key, warm and tasty, but does not pursue strong taste, but the more delicious, but the more delicious. It has no fixed cooking rules. Different families have different practices. Some will add a little crystal sugar to make it fresh, some will put a few red dates to make it feel warm and moist, and some will be braised with potatoes and bean curd sticks. The side dish full of soup is more delicious than meat. However, no matter how to adjust it, the core combination of southern milk and beer will remain the same. This is also the dish that can be spread among the people, it has become the reason for the taste of countless families.

In the logic of folk diet, southern milk beer chicken can become a popular home-cooked dish, but also because it is "close to the people" enough, ingredients can be seen everywhere, simple and casual, without high-end kitchen utensils, a casserole, an ordinary iron pan can be made, without complicated seasonings, southern milk and beer can hold up all the flavors, saving time and effort, whether it is daily three meals, or family gathering, making a pot is especially suitable. For Lao Guang, this dish is a warm-up dish in the rainy season, a warm-up dish in autumn and winter, and a fast-handed hard dish in busy days. For Lingnan people far away from their hometown, this dish is the sustenance of homesickness. If you go on one mouthful, you can think of the kitchen in your hometown, the cooking appearance of your family, and the fireworks in Lingnan. It is not as exquisite as banquet dishes, nor is it as portable as special snacks. It is just the homely flavor in the center of the dining table, silently warming every ordinary day.

When I grew up, I left the Pearl River Delta town and went to work and live in other places. The days I worked alone were always busy and hasty. I often worked late into the night. I ate too much takeout and always felt a little less temperature. Whenever I met rainy days and felt tired and homesick, I especially missed my grandmother's southern milk beer chicken and the mellow aroma that warmed my heart. When I first started to re-carve this dish alone, I took many detours, or I put too much milk in the south, and the taste was too salty and greasy, which covered the fresh gas of the chicken. Either the beer was not selected correctly, or the stewing temperature was not enough, and the chicken was hard and tasteless. In other cases, instead of stewing in a casserole, it was directly boiled in an iron pan, without the warm taste, the taste made is far from what Grandma did. Eating in her mouth is full of loss.

At one time, I felt that it was because I didn't master grandma's secret recipe that I couldn't make the flavor of my hometown. I didn't call grandma until I asked her carefully about the method. grandma smiled and said, "what's the secret recipe? choose fresh chicken, use the right milk. if you don't have chicken in beer, don't worry. when the temperature arrives, the taste will naturally be good. cooking requires patience, not skill. According to grandma's words, I put down my impatience and groped slowly. I chose fresh sanhuang chicken, poured the whole bottle of beer with authentic cantonese southern milk, simmered slowly for 40 minutes over a small fire, did not open the lid impatiently, did not add seasonings at will, and finally made the first pot of southern milk beer chicken with taste close to grandma. When the aroma in the casserole floated all over the rental house, picked up a piece of soft, rotten and tasty chicken, and the familiar smell spread out on the tip of the tongue, I instantly blushed, as if I had returned to the small kitchen in my hometown, and my grandmother was standing beside me, smiling and serving me with rice. All the loneliness and exhaustion of life in a foreign land were healed in this warm fragrance.

I always feel that the most touching thing about the southern milk beer chicken is never how amazing its flavor is, but its sense of healing and belonging. It is a warm-hearted pot to disperse wet and cold in rainy days, a heart-warming dish to soothe intestines and stomach after busy days, a hard dish suitable for all ages at family dinners, and a hometown flavor for foreign travelers to comfort their homesickness. It has no sense of distance. Whether it is a skilled cook or a novice who has just learned to cook, as long as you are willing to spend a little patience and simmer slowly on a small fire, you can make your own taste. The southern milk beer chicken made by everyone may taste slightly different, but the warmth and heart hidden in it are the same. A mouthful of warm chicken, a mouthful of fragrant soup, with white rice, no need for delicate plates, no cumbersome collocation, can make people feel the small fortune of life, this is the unique charm of home-cooked food.

I also often howcooks record these home-cooked dishes with lingnan fireworks and share these common but cured tastes with more people. I always feel that food sharing should not be a cold tutorial or a rigid rule, but should convey the regional culture behind the food, the heart of the family and the warmth of life, so that more people can discover the beauty of home-cooked food and are willing to spend some time in a busy life, make yourself a hot meal and feel the warmth of a meal. This is the case with the southern milk beer chicken. It is ordinary, low-key, and has no noble identity, but it can give people the most practical comfort in every ordinary day. It hides the fireworks of Lingnan, wraps the love of family members, and warms every wandering soul.

Now I still keep the habit of making southern milk beer chicken in rainy days and autumn and winter. Sometimes I eat it alone and slowly taste the taste of my hometown. Sometimes I invite friends from my hometown to come to my home, a pot of steaming southern milk beer chicken and a few bowls of white rice. Everyone talks about the old lane in my hometown, grandma's kitchen and plum rains in Lingnan while eating. As I chatted, my homesickness faded and my heart warmed. I will also put some preserved beancurd and potatoes into a casserole and stew them together. The side dishes filled with soup are soft and glutinous. They are more popular than chicken. Simple ingredients and simple methods can make up the most comfortable meal. There is no hustle and bustle, no impetuousness, only fireworks and warmth.

In fact, in our life, we have traveled to many places, eaten a lot of delicious food, tasted delicacies, and refined dishes, but in the end, the most memorable thing is always the home-made flavors at home. The taste made by patience and love. For me, the southern milk beer chicken is not only a dish, it is my grandmother's love, the fireworks of Lingnan, the warmth of the rainy season, the comfort of wandering in a foreign land, the homesickness engraved in the depths of my taste buds, and the taste that can pull me home no matter how far I go. It taught me that the beauty of life is never in a vigorous moment, but in the ordinary of a meal, in the patience of slow stewing with small fire, in the gentleness wrapped in fireworks, treat food with heart, and food will give back the warmest taste.

Lingnan's fireworks are hidden in a pot of home-cooked dishes, in the mellowness of southern milk, in the fragrance of beer, and in the love of family members. South milk beer chicken has no gorgeous appearance, no loud name, but with a warm and mellow taste, it retains the memory of countless people's hometown and cures countless people's foreign time. I don't know if you have ever tasted South Milk Beer Chicken, or if you have such a seemingly ordinary home-cooked dish full of heart and homesickness? Is there a dish that can make you instantly think of your hometown, your family and those warm and ordinary old days? If you also have a story about this dish, or your own homely taste memory, you might as well share it with me, so that these ordinary fireworks taste will always warm our lives.