A Bowl of Jjajang, The Son-in-Law of Jegalse - Chapter 565



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Episode 565: The Heavenly Hemp Rooster

The kitchen of my family home, where I still have memories of cooking for my mother.

As I entered the place, the emotions I had poured out in my heart when I parted ways with my mother came flooding back to me.

“You’re back again.”

Back then, I made dishes to express regret for parting, but from now on, I will make dishes to celebrate our meeting.

As my emotions were mixed, Cheong-i’s voice was heard.

“It’s been a while. We cooked for you here…”

Cheong-i thought of something different from me, even though it was the same space.

Suddenly, the aftertaste of Cheong-yi’s words faded away, and the memory of the poisoned dish that Yeong-yeong and Cheong-yi had made came to mind, startling her, but she quickly pushed that aside and asked the servants to take care of it.

“Could you please light some fire in the stove and bring me some water from the well?”

“Understood, Mr. Ryu.”

He asks his servants, who are former gisaengs and subordinates of Biyeon, to light a fire in the stove, and the first dish to prepare is swallow’s nest dish, Yeonwa (??).

Since lotus root is also used in appetizers, it is a good dish to serve first.

It’s also simple to make.

“Then, shall we start with Yeonwa?”

The only ingredients needed for the yeonwa are chives, ginger, onion, and sea cucumber.

I laid out the ingredients and started cooking right away.

-Chit chit chit chit.

-Knock knock knock.

First, dissolve the sugar in a bowl to make sweet water, then slice the green onion, ginger, and onion.

The sweet sound of a spoon dissolving sugar is followed by the clear, crisp sound of green onions, ginger, and onions being sliced ??on a cutting board.

The subtle scent of green onions, ginger, and onions being cut drifted into my nostrils.

“I put in all the firewood and brought water, but what should I do?”

“First, put water in a pot and place a steamer on one side, and then place a large pot on another side and boil the water.”

“Okay? Everyone heard. Let’s hurry.”

“yes.”

He brought out small bowls, placed them in a row, and put sliced ??ginger and onions in them.

And I placed the sea cucumber that I had caught earlier while picking the swallow’s nest on the cutting board.

-bang!

Cut off the head of the sea cucumber, which has teeth and is not very tasty, with a knife.

I laid the sea cucumber down and cut its stomach open.

-Ji-ik.

Then, the sea cucumber’s intestines flow out from inside.

I used my hands to scrape out the dirt-filled parts of the sea cucumber’s intestines, which resembled a bunch of white tentacles, and then took the intestines out separately and placed them in a small bowl.

I’m not going to cook this separately today, but it’s a very high-quality ingredient.

You can enjoy the rich, savory taste of sea cucumber intestines by lightly coating the sea cucumber intestines with sesame oil, sprinkling sesame seeds, and topping them with some green onions.

It’s also delicious when you just put it on top of rice and mix it in.

‘I’ll give you this later.’

Once the intestines are removed, wash the sea cucumber in water once and cut it into bite-size pieces. Place two or three pieces in a small bowl to put the swallow’s nest in. Everything is ready.

I put two or three of the swallow’s nests that Young-young had cleaned earlier into a bowl and poured sugar water into the bowl.

-Crunch.

A swallow’s nest, slightly submerged in clear sugar water, and a piece of ginger lying next to it.

And onions, cut into thin slices that are indistinguishable from the swallow’s nest.

Inside, pieces of sea cucumber were visible through the transparent swallow’s nest.

When I was young, my mother would cover the opening with paper and put the bowls in a boiling steamer, just like she would when boiling medicine in a herbal medicine pot.

Now, all that needs to be done is to steam the lotus once.

While the kimchi was being prepared, we immediately started preparing today’s main dish.

‘It’s been a long time since I’ve made this.’

“Did you buy the crow bone chicken?”

“Yes, my lord. Here you go.”

There are many different versions of this dish, but when you have Gastrodia elata, why not just make it with chicken?

That is why the main ingredient is, of course, black O-gol-gye, which suits Cheonma.

I took the black chicken that Mimi handed me and cut it into bite-sized pieces using a knife.

-Bang! Bang!

And I washed it once to remove any bone fragments that might have formed when cutting the ogolgye.

The difference between good and bad cuisine is not only about taste, but also about these little details.

A foreign body sensation suddenly felt in the mouth while eating something delicious can upset the eater, so it is basic to pay attention to even these small details.

Once you have washed and prepared all the Ogolgye, the main ingredients are ready.

Next, I washed the requested Gastrodia elata in water and cleaned it thoroughly.

The reason why the skin is not removed is because in Korea, when cooking ma, the skin is not completely removed, but in China, it is standard to cook ma with the skin on.

-Clang clang.

I rubbed the surface thoroughly with a cloth to remove any sand that might have gotten stuck between the roots, then used the tip of a chisel to cut the sesame seeds into edible chunks.

-Swish! Swish.

Once you’re ready to go, almost all the ingredients are ready.

I asked the servants to bring me a large pot of hot water and filled the wok halfway with it. I also added some sliced ??ginger and green onions.

I tied three leeks together and threw them into the wok, then sliced ??a piece of ginger and sprinkled it evenly in the wok.

-Bubbling.

Then, the water in the wok boiled quickly because it was already hot.

When the subtle fragrance from the green onions and ginger permeated the water, I put all the black chicken that I had cut into bite-size pieces into the wok.

Boiling the Ogolgye chicken like this is to remove the oil and unpleasant smell from the Ogolgye chicken.

Since this dish is a light dish, it is boiled in water with fragrant ginger and green onions to remove any unpleasant odor and reduce the oiliness.

After a while.

I took all the Ogolgye out of the wok where the oil was floating on the surface and the water was boiling.

Then I washed it once in cold water and prepared it cleanly.

Now that the pretreatment process to remove any unpleasant odors and oiliness is complete, the actual cooking begins.

I put pork fat in a wok and squeezed out the lard.

-Chiiik.

The fat of white pork shrinks in the heat and gushes out.

When a faint fragrance filled the kitchen and the oil that had gathered in the center of the wok started to accumulate to a certain amount, I drained the fat and threw in the green onions and ginger to extract the green onion and garlic oil.

-Choowawawa!

That was when.

Yeong-yeong’s voice, which had followed Cheon-ma, was heard from the kitchen entrance.

“Wow, what a nice, fragrant smell. I really like the smell of this blue ginger. I like it best when mixed with the smell of pork.”

We all looked at the kitchen entrance together in surprise at the sudden appearance of Yeong-yeong. Yeong-yeong was like a fish with a fishhook in its mouth, with its eyes closed, being dragged along by the scent.

Cheong-i and Mimi asked with surprised expressions, as Yeong-yeong had followed Cheon-ma.

“Sister, are you okay?”

“Young-Young, are you okay?”

Yeong-yeong, who had been following the scent with her eyes closed at the two’s questions, blinked and asked back.

“what?”

“You said you went to be the companion of the Heavenly Horse? Did anything happen?”

“Yeah, Cheonma didn’t do anything?”

Yeong-yeong smiles at the two’s questions.

Yeong-yeong said, snapping her fingers.

“It seems like you both forgot. The Heavenly Horse that came this time is a good Heavenly Horse.”

“Good Heavenly Horse?”

“Are you a good horse?”

Now, Cheong-i and Mimi are blinking at Yeong-yeong’s strange answer.

Yeong-yeong, who was snickering at the two’s expressions, preached her good Cheonma theory just as she had told me earlier.

“Yes, the Heavenly Horse that came this time is a Heavenly Horse that has never done anything bad in the Central Plains, right? So, he is a good Heavenly Horse.”

“Is that so?”

“Oh, anyway, what happened to the thing you followed?”

“I just wanted to hear a funny story, so I came here to tell you a funny story.”

“Is that a funny story?”

“Yeah, we talked about something.”

“Our story?”

Seeing that it was our story, I felt like it was probably told from Young-young’s perspective about how my wives and I met and became a family.

As the three of us looked at each other, worried about how Yeong-yeong would tell Cheon-ma about us, Yeong-yeong asked.

“Gaga, is it dinner time yet?”

“Why? Did Cheonma say he was hungry?”

“No. I’m hungry.”

It seems that Yeong-yeong got hungry while talking to Cheon-ma, and that’s why she stopped by the kitchen for a moment.

“Okay, just wait a moment.”

Let’s take a look inside the steamer by slightly freezing the lid of the steamer, and the sweet scent of sea cucumber and ginger rises up.

Since the lotus root dish seemed to be done, I put the black chicken in the green onion and ginger oil and stir-fried it.

-Chiiik.

A wok in your left hand and a ladle in your right.

I snapped my wrist to rotate and stir-fry the ingredients in the wok.

Then, a rich and delicious aroma rose from the Ogolgye chicken being stir-fried in fragrant green onion and ginger oil.

I blanched the Ogolgye once to remove any unpleasant odors hidden in the meat, and then stir-fried it in ginger and green onion oil. Now, it’s almost the end of cooking.

He placed the pot he had made on the stove and put all the Ogolgye that was being stir-fried in it.

Add enough hot water and add Shaoxing wine, which is best for removing unpleasant odors. Then, add the following ingredients: Korean ginseng, jujube, wolfberry, and shiitake mushrooms.

-Click.

Finally, all that was left was to bring the steam to a boil and add the Gastrodia elata, but other than that, all the cooking steps were done, so I put the lid on and immediately scooped the lotus seeds out of the steamer one by one and placed them on a plate.

“Okay, let’s go, Young-young.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

“Let’s all go.”

“Us too?”

“Me too, my lord?”

Yeong-yeong had already walked a distance in front of me, showing that her hostility towards Cheonma had disappeared considerably, but Cheong-i and Mimi looked hesitant when I asked them to go with her.

He answered them both with a smile.

“The hostesses of the house should welcome the guests. So, who will be welcomed?”

“Oh, that too.”

“Oh, I see.”

When they arrived at the pavilion with the two of them, Cheonma was leaning against Oksogyo’s body with a languid expression.

“I prepared a meal. Would you like to eat?”

“Oh, dinner? I hope it’s as delicious as you expected.”

Cheonma rises up at my question.

He placed each bowl of tea on the tea table that had already been set up.

-Dalgrak.

“You may have lost your appetite after the long trip, so I prepared a dish to whet your appetite. Please eat this first.”

As I removed the paper cover from the bowl of the sea cucumber, the fragrant scent of the sea rose up.

When I placed the spoon next to Cheonma, it was sucked into her hand.

‘Is this a hollow object?’

Heungseopmul is a technique that Cheong-i also uses frequently.

As it was already a familiar scene, while Cheonma was putting Yeonwa’s transparent gelatin into his mouth with a spoon, he also offered food to Okshogyo and his mother who were next to him.

“Did you say you were an elder of the Okso Church? Would you like to eat together?”

Two people flinch at my words.

The startled Okso-kyo’s voice was heard shouting.

“Oh, how dare you come with Seonghwa!”

Then, Cheonma brought the spoon to his mouth and sighed toward Oksogyo.

“It’s noisy, just eat.”

“Yes? Oh, I understand.”

-Churup.

While Ok So-gyo was panicking and holding the spoon, not knowing what to do, the first drink he had thought of disappeared into Cheon Ma’s mouth.

Cheonma closes his eyes tightly and savors the taste.

After a while she looked at me and said.

“Not bad.”

‘No, is that all?’

I expected at least someone to say that it was delicious, if not rave reviews, but it was only not bad.

For some reason, when Okso-gyo opened his eyes wide next to him, he smiled with a calm expression.

“I’m glad I wasn’t that bad.”

As a chef, my pride almost got a little scratched.

Yeah, honestly, Yeonwa is an appetizer that whets your appetite.

Well, I couldn’t say that it tasted all that great, so I calmed down.

And this dish wasn’t necessarily meant for Cheonma.

Let’s look to the side to find the real owner of the dish. My mother is looking at me with tears in her eyes.

I spoke to my mother, who remembered the meaning of cooking.

“We prepared this to welcome you back.”

Then, Cheonma checked his mother’s complexion and asked with an interested expression.

“I guess there is a story behind this dish between the two of you.”

It seems that Young-young guessed that there was some story behind the cooking based on her mother’s reaction, but as soon as Cheon-ma finished speaking, she burst out in a scary voice.

In the meantime, we had become a bit closer, and Young-Young quickly came out and explained the cooking in a way that was neither formal nor informal.

“Oh, what kind of cooking is that, you know. So, the transparent thing you’re eating right now is a swallow’s nest. You know. Swallows go to Gangnam and come back, right? So······.”

As Yeong-yeong’s explanation ended, Cheon-ma, who had heard Yeong-yeong’s story, spoke with an expression of interest.

“You put meaning into your cooking? That’s fun. Will the next dish be fun too?”

“I prepared it with all my heart, so I hope you enjoy it as well as the taste.”

It seems that Cheonma is a bit stingy with praise, so I don’t know if he’ll say it’s delicious, but wouldn’t it be fun?

The next dish is stir-fried chicken with celery.

This dish is made by boiling chicken with Gastrodia elata, so that the meat is tender while maintaining the crunchy texture of the Gastrodia elata. After all, it is a dish with ingredients similar to the name Gastrodia elata, which is his nickname and symbol of his position.