After escaping the cameras from hell, I spot that these two burners are busy with something else.
A nearby table sports these fine looking creatures.
Yes those carp which I saw being deep fried earlier are also "twice-cooked", this time being finished off in a chilli laden sauce. They smell good with a capital OO.
Another wok and burner combo is poaching those second chickens we saw being de-feathered.
These are chopped to give us "White Cut Chicken, a Cantonese speciality of poached chicken but also popular here.
So, it seems everything is ready. We take our places at random. As a VIP, I am offered a seat at a table inside the house but explain that unlike them (the village leaders) I am a real communist rather than an opportunistic jackass and prefer to sit with the great unwashed masses.
Well, of course, I don't. But I do insist on sitting outside ("to take pictures", I say).
and the food!
Carp
Chillis
White Cut Chicken
Potato. Don't be misled. These are wonderful, but very spicy.
This unappetising mud is actually the bamboo tube soup.
It looks better in the bowl and tasted just fine, if underwhelming. Neither the bamboo or herb added anything I could detect, so really it was just water and chicken. Still I've had worse.
Somehow I managed to miss photographing the kou rou at the table. I certainly ate it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably the best I've eaten. although the meat is very fatty, not something I generally like, it wasn't at all greasy. It just melted in the mouth. Also, the taro picks up enough of the fat and cooking juices to be very tasty indeed rather than just starchy as I often find it.
It took ages to prepare - days if not weeks of planning then hours of hard work. And we demolished it in twenty minutes or so.
The Remains of the Day
The Team - Thanks. See you next year!
