After the two women left, Li Haochen brought a large plastic bucket and prepared the knives.
He first took two ropes and tightly bound the legs and wings of the musk duck, so it wouldn't struggle too much when its throat was slit.
Everything was ready. He gripped the duck's neck and, a few centimeters below its head, plucked the feathers clean, revealing the pinkish-white skin.
"Quack~"
Li Haochen's hand moved swiftly. The sharp little knife made a clean cut, and the duck's blood spurted out. It struggled even more fiercely. If its feet and wings hadn't been bound tightly, it would have been impossible to handle.
Li Haochen held the duck's neck and head and twisted them in opposite directions. With a *snap*, the duck lost its life. If he hadn't broken its neck, it probably would have thrashed around for a long time.
After slaughtering the duck, Li Haochen wet the musk duck with cold water and then threw it into a bucket of hot water to scald. Scalding a duck also requires skill; the water temperature cannot be too cool or too hot. If the temperature is too low, the duck's pores will contract, making it difficult to pluck the feathers. If it's too hot, the duck's skin will be scalded off.
A water temperature of around 80 degrees Celsius is ideal, though this is a matter of feel. It’s roughly sufficient, as one wouldn’t use a thermometer for it.
Additionally, a suitable amount of salt should be added to the hot water to remove the stubborn downy feathers.
Also, the scalding time shouldn't be too long, about 3 minutes is enough.
After a while, Li Haochen grabbed a small clump of duck feathers and pulled. They came off easily. He then took the entire musk duck out and placed it on the large plastic basin.
Plucking feathers isn't a simple task. It takes at least half an hour to do it cleanly. Don't think that the twenty yuan charged by slaughter stalls in the market for processing a goose or musk duck is expensive; it's hard-earned money.
After processing and cleaning the internal organs, he chopped off the tail and cut the duck into large pieces. He then added cooking wine and ginger slices, boiled some water, and blanched it for a few minutes to remove blood and any gamey smell.
He took it out, rinsed it again, and placed it in a large earthenware basin. He added a suitable amount of old ginger and dried tangerine peel. Musk ducks are considered cooling, and Zhang Guifang was pregnant, so Li Haochen added some red dates, goji berries, and longans. The pits of the red dates had to be removed. He poured enough water into the basin, covered it, and began to stew.
After bringing it to a boil over high heat, he removed some of the firewood, leaving one main piece for a slow simmer over low heat. This process takes a long time. To get a rich, flavorful soup, one must wait at least four hours for it to stew.
Once the soup was ready, it was time for the goose. The process of preparing the goose was largely the same as for the musk duck.
He slit its throat and quickly twisted its neck. Otherwise, after bleeding out, the goose could still run around the village for quite a while. Li Haochen clearly remembered that when he was slaughtering geese during Chinese New Year in the past, one goose, even after its head was chopped off, could still run around the village spraying blood.
However, goose blood is a good thing and shouldn't be wasted. He grabbed a rooster’s fighting bowl, added half a bowl of light saltwater, held the duck’s foot in one hand and the goose's head in the other, and aimed the knife cut at the rooster's bowl. Soon, the bowl was full.
Letting it sit for half an hour, it would become semi-solid. Then, he poured some boiling water into it and cooked it for two to three minutes.
While the goose blood was solidifying, Li Haochen coated the large fatty goose, inside and out, with the prepared marinade. He stuffed it with garlic sprouts, greens, ginger slices, and scallions, leaving it for half an hour to absorb the flavors.
During this time, Li Haochen also processed the fan chicken. He didn't prepare the chicken gallbladder, saving it for Zhang Guifang to take back later to nourish her body.
It was already three in the afternoon when he started stewing the goose. When he came out of the kitchen, only Murong Yanran was sitting on the sofa watching "Tiān Tiān Shàng Shàng."
"Where's Mom?"
"Aunt Lian went back. Uncle will come with her later."
"Oh, I see. Keep an eye on the fire. You don't need to worry about the soup. Just push the logs for the stewing pot later. You need to watch the goose stew closely to make sure the water doesn't dry up. I'm going to the dock."
"What are you going to the dock for?"
"The seafood is on the boat. I'll get it and come right back. Remember to watch the fire."
"Okay, go ahead!"
Murong Yanran's eyes shifted back to the screen after speaking, occasionally giggling.
She didn't look reliable at all. He decided to add more water before leaving.
After getting the seafood, when he returned to the villa, it was already lively. Murong Yanran and the other three women were playing mahjong. He didn't know when they had bought it.
Looking at the money on the table, Zhang Guifang was dominating. Who said pregnancy made women dumber for three years? She was very sharp.
Playing mahjong without money isn't fun. Of course, they weren't playing for large stakes, just one or two yuan for entertainment.
"Oh no, the fire!"
Seeing Li Haochen return, Murong Yanran remembered the fire. She started to run over, but Li Haochen stopped her. "It's fine, you continue playing. I added water when I left, so it shouldn't have dried up."
Murong Yanran stuck out her tongue and sat back down to continue playing mahjong.
"One qiang..."
"A winning hand from the wall, hehe!"
As soon as he entered the kitchen, Murong Yanran's laughter rang out from the living room outside. She had probably won a round.
He glanced at the two large pots of stewed soup and goose. They were already fragrant but not yet cooked through. He added more firewood and water and then ignored them.
He put on his apron and started preparing the large grouper. At this moment, Liang Minfeng and the other two also walked in, looking envious. "Third brother, this villa is so beautiful. Walking in here feels like visiting Suzhou."
"Oh, are you interested?"
"Of course! Are there any other options?"
"Unfortunately, there are no more plots of land available in the village. But you can try your luck in other villages. Building your own is much more cost-effective than buying."
What Li Haochen said made them eager, and all three of them made plans to visit some villages.
"How much did this cost you?"
"About 7 million yuan in total."
"Alright, forget we asked!"
While they were chatting, Li Haochen had also finished preparing the fish and lobster. However, it was still early, so he set them aside to deal with later.
After wiping his hands, Li Haochen walked out. Gu Xiaonian and his friends had also arrived, all bringing their girlfriends. They looked at the villa with envy.
Before long, Dai Changrun's family also arrived. With most of the guests present, Murong Yanran, as the hostess, naturally had to entertain them well, ensuring no one felt neglected. The atmosphere was quite pleasant.
Seeing that it was past five o'clock, Li Haochen stopped chatting with them. He had to get into the kitchen to start cooking, as there were still quite a few dishes to prepare, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to start the banquet by eight o'clock.
By this time, the stewed soup and goose were ready. He moved the two large platters to a side table and began preparing the braised lamb with chestnuts. Another pot was also busy, washing rice and cooking it.
Cooking rice in such large pots requires skill, especially controlling the fire properly.
Besides the large stove, the gas stove also had to be used for the several other dishes that hadn't been cooked yet.
Li Haochen was extremely busy, wishing he had two more hands. Fortunately, he had prepared a few main dishes in advance, or they wouldn't have been able to start the banquet by eight o'clock.
The number of people was quite large, and the dining tables inside the house couldn't accommodate them all. Therefore, the banquet was set up in the courtyard outside. With the help of Chen He and a few others, the large pine plank table was finally set up.
As the decorative lights on both sides were turned on, flickering, the entire courtyard became romantic.