Big clients, well, they need careful schmoozing.

After thanking him, Lin Xu helped carry everything into the shop.

While they were busy, Ou Hua also arrived in a small van to deliver alcoholic drinks and other beverages.

"Boss Lin, I saw the online buzz is huge, so I brought you a few small kegs of draft beer. Share it with the guys when you're done. This is on me; it won't be on the bill."

"I appreciate that a lot."

After Mr. Hu and Ou Hua had left, Lin Xu contacted Uncle Shen to arrange payment for the vegetables, only for Uncle Shen to repeatedly refuse.

"Those vegetables aren't worth much. Consider them a gift."

Tsk... If you all keep this up, I'll never get to close the shop!

Back in the kitchen, he was just about to get busy again when Xie Baomin opened the box of chilled chicken thighs and examined them.

"Wow, these chicken thighs are quite nice, all uniformly sized. What are you planning to do with them, Junior Brother? I can help you prepare them."

What to do? Lin Xu hadn't really thought it through.

He said with a smile, "You decide, Senior Brother. Besides, we have to host Reporter Zeng for dinner, right? Whatever you think is appropriate, just go ahead."

Right, I'll leave the choice to you. I'm just here to learn.

At the moment, the shop had roosters for making Steamed Chicken with Black Bean Sauce and Dry-Fried Chicken Pieces.

Originally, Lin Xu had planned for Xie Baomin to make the Zaozhuang Spicy Chicken he had mentioned before. However, with a TV station reporter present, Zaozhuang Spicy Chicken seemed a bit too homestyle.

It would be better to let Senior Brother have free rein. After all, this man was the head chef at the Fishing Platform. Just one or two dishes from him would be enough to wow everyone.

Xie Baomin poured the chicken thighs into a basin and soaked them in clean water.

No matter the dish, this soaking step was indispensable. This not only helps stretch the chicken skin, making it easier to clean impurities from its pores and folds, but it also allows the blood to soak out from the meat, rendering the chicken thighs even fresher, more tender, and delicious.

Eventually, he made a decision. "I'll blanch these chicken thighs and then add them to the braising liquid for the chicken feet to make some braised chicken thighs. As for the rest, I'll make you guys a dish of Sauce Burst Chicken Cubes."

Sauce Burst Chicken Cubes? Lin Xu's eagerness to learn surged uncontrollably.

Compared to Zaozhuang Big Plate Chicken, Sauce Burst Chicken Cubes was clearly a better fit for the positioning of the future new restaurant. Plus, it tasted great and had a good texture. If he could master it, it might even become the new restaurant's signature dish!

He decided he'd secretly learn from his Senior Brother while he cooked.

All day long, that Superior Culinary Skill Learning Card had been tempting him, making him want to learn this dish and that. Lin Xu decided he would just use the card to save himself from constantly wondering what to learn next.

Xie Baomin cleaned the chicken thighs. He picked out seven or eight uniformly sized ones to continue soaking and placed the rest in a pot. He covered them with fresh water and added scallion and ginger for blanching.

After the water boiled and the froth was skimmed off, the chicken thighs were boiled for another three to five minutes to cook them through completely.

Then, they were taken out and rinsed with warm water.

Just then, Xu Xinhua was about to simmer the braising liquid to start on the Braised Chicken Feet, so Xie Baomin directly added the chicken thighs into the liquid.

This way, they would first simmer in the braising liquid for a while, and once the chicken feet were added, they would all braise together. Then, they were left to soak for another hour. The chicken thighs would fully absorb the flavors of the braising liquid, becoming deliciously tender and tasty.

Lin Xu announced, "These chicken thighs aren't for sale; we'll eat them all ourselves. Since they were a gift, there's no need to sell them."

Everyone perked up at the mention of having chicken thighs for dinner.

Zeng Xiaoqi, holding the camera and filming, could hardly believe her ears.

Oh my gosh! What kind of boss is this? He hears the head chef say the chicken thighs are good quality, and instead of figuring out how to sell them for profit, he's letting the staff eat them all! I should try one later too. Everyone says the camera operator deserves an extra chicken thigh, and I've been filming for so long, I definitely deserve a braised chicken thigh as a reward, right? But I'm even more interested in tasting the Sauce Burst Chicken Cubes made by Chef Xie. I wonder when he'll start making them.

Xie Baomin didn't keep her waiting too long.

At four in the afternoon, he fished the chicken thighs out of the water. Peeling off the skin, he explained, "For dishes like chicken cubes, you need to peel off the chicken skin in advance. The resulting chicken cubes will have a better texture."

Having soaked for so long, the chicken skin came off easily. The removed chicken skin could be used to render chicken fat, ensuring nothing went to waste.

After all the chicken skin was peeled off, Xie Baomin used his kitchen knife to make an incision along each chicken thigh. The blade ran close to the bone, and then he peeled the meat back from the cut to expose the bone.

Then, using his knife, he severed the fascia at both ends of the thigh bone, and a complete chicken bone was removed.

"In the past, life was tough, and old Beijingers often couldn't afford pork. So, they'd use cheaper chicken breast as a substitute. They'd use the Sauce Explosion technique to make it fragrant, passing it off as Sauce Burst Meat Shreds. And that's how this dish, Sauce Burst Meat Cubes, eventually came to be," Xie Baomin explained as he worked.

He had been learning culinary arts from Master Gao since he was a teenager and was quite knowledgeable about the history of various dishes.

As he busied himself, he continued, "Now that living conditions have improved, the main ingredient for Sauce Burst Chicken Cubes has switched from chicken breast to the tastier chicken thigh meat. The only troublesome part is deboning it."

After deboning all the chicken thighs, he meticulously removed the fascia from each piece of chicken thigh meat.

Next, he cut the chicken thigh meat into small cubes, about 0.8 centimeters in size.

After dicing, he added light soy sauce and pepper powder to the meat, mixing it evenly. Then he added an egg white, followed by a handful of starch, mixing again to ensure each cube was lightly coated.

Finally, he drizzled a spoonful of cooking oil over the chicken and mixed it a little more. This would help the cubes separate easily during the initial shallow fry.

After marinating the chicken cubes, Xie Baomin began to prepare the sauce for the Sauce Burst Chicken Cubes.

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