Chapter 17: Ferdinand Chicken

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"This was left to me by my father. I had a piece tested and they said it was low quality, only about 80% pure," Josh said, pointing to the gold in the box. "As long as I exchange this gold for dollars at the bank, I can pay for this house."

"What? The bank? No, no, no, we can't go to the bank to exchange it," Margaret replied immediately after hearing Josh's words.

"Why not?" Josh feigned ignorance.

"It's not worth it. The bank's exchange rate is just a government gimmick to extract money from the public. If it were a regular transaction, it should be at least fifty dollars an ounce, according to the current market," Margaret explained.

Although she was a wealthy young lady and not adept at managing finances, Margaret was not completely ignorant. She had some basic economic knowledge.

"So where do I exchange it?" Josh asked.

"That's easy; leave it to me. Uncle John needs a lot of gold right now, and this amount will be easy for him to handle," Margaret said confidently.

"Uncle John?" Josh was confused.

"He's the one who took over my father's jewelry business, and he was also my father's partner. They had a great relationship. After my father died, I was not good at running things, so I sold most of my shares to him, keeping only a small portion," Margaret explained.

"That is wonderful. But won't that be too much trouble for you?" Josh expressed his gratitude.

"It's not an inconvenience; this is mutually beneficial. Don't think the bank's price for gold is $35 an ounce. If you sell it to companies that need it, while the price stays the same, when you factor in various fees and approval processes, the actual cost isn't much less than buying it at a high price on the black market. Plus, the supply is limited. Uncle John's business hasn't been easy these past few years," Margaret shook her head.

Hearing Margaret's words, Josh nodded.

He was aware of that aspect as well.

The U.S. government was quite adept at extracting wealth from its citizens and the world.

Although it seemed that Roosevelt's New Deal had saved the American economy ten years ago, the government was actually deeply in debt at the time and had little money to implement the New Deal.

Yet the New Deal was successfully implemented... but where did the money come from?

The answer was: by taxing the public.

The first piece of New Deal legislation was the Emergency Banking Act, which devalued the dollar against gold and banned the export of gold.

It forced the public to turn over their gold at $20.67 an ounce and ordered American gold miners to sell their gold to the Treasury at the same price.

Then, just one year later, the gold exchange price was raised to $35 per ounce, effectively devaluing the dollar by 40%.

This meant that the wealth in the hands of the public had directly shrunk by 40%.

The government got richer while the common people got poorer.

This ability to extract wealth was remarkable.

And consider how the dollar often depreciates in the future, or how the government gives money to the public at the slightest expense.

Thus, wealth extraction had become a traditional skill of the U.S. government.

"I've helped you again; shouldn't you thank me?" After the matter was settled, Margaret teased.

"Of course! That's why I want to cook dinner for you," Josh smiled slightly.

"Oh? You can cook?" Margaret was very surprised to hear that.

"Of course I can! Just wait and see, but first we have to buy some ingredients," Josh said.

"Oh, I can't wait!" Margaret said with a beaming smile.

So they got back in the car and drove to the nearest farmers' market.

Supermarkets had been around in America since the 1940s, but at that time they sold mostly national brand products and did not carry fresh produce.

Supermarkets were usually located far out in the suburbs. In the early 1940s, refrigerators were not widely available and conventional foods lacked preservation methods, making distant supermarkets unsuitable for the shopping needs of residents of that era.

As a result, the primary source of fresh food at the time was small retail stores, roadside stands, or farmers' markets that resembled vegetable markets.

Basically, local farmers would sell their homegrown fruits, vegetables, honey, and other agricultural products.

After wandering around the farmer's market, Josh quickly bought beef, chicken, salmon, lettuce, onions, potatoes, mushrooms, and carrots.

He had no intention of making authentic Chinese food; it wasn't that he couldn't, but he lacked the necessary ingredients.

Here, he couldn't find essential ingredients like scallions, ginger, and garlic, nor soy sauce or cooking wine. The only spices he could find were rosemary, cinnamon, ketchup, and chili peppers.

There were actually chili peppers, because America was the home of chili.

In addition to ingredients, cooking equipment was also an issue.

There was no wok (T/N: A wok is a deep round-bottomed cooking pan of Chinese origin.) at home; they only had an oven, a frying pan, and a grill.

So he had to prepare some dishes that were a mix of Chinese and Western styles.

For example, beef could be steamed with tomatoes and potatoes.

The chicken could be made with ketchup and cornstarch, resulting in a dish that would be familiar in America but confusing to the Chinese: General Tso's chicken - basically just chicken cooked in a sweet and sour tomato sauce. It was very simple, created in the 1950s by a renowned chef to serve the commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet.

The salmon was prepared in the standard Western way - baked with a little lemon juice, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and garnished with rosemary.

Finally, the vegetables were shredded lettuce, carrots, and mushrooms, casually sauteed in a frying pan.

As for the staple food... it was bread, of course. Two freshly baked baguettes would solve all problems.

One could say that the dishes prepared in this way would probably be rejected by the Chinese.

But it was enough to impress foreigners.

If he really wanted to make authentic Chinese food, he would have to wait until he had time to go to Chinatown to gather the necessary spices and utensils.

"Wow, this is really sumptuous! The chicken is delicious! Is it an Austrian specialty? What's it called?" Although Josh considered this to be a rather simple dinner, the overall sweet and sour flavor clearly suited Margaret's palate, and she was thoroughly enjoying it - especially the somewhat incongruous General Tso's chicken.

"Yes, indeed! This is Austrian cuisine, called Ferdinand Chicken!" After looking at the General Tso's chicken, Josh firmly stated that he would not admit that this was Chinese food.

Besides, it was completely inappropriate for him, an Austrian, to be making Chinese food.

So it was Austrian cuisine, Ferdinand Chicken - no mistake.

As for why it was called Ferdinand, apart from the failed art student, Josh could only think of the spark that ignited the First World War.

And so, in a rather mysterious way, a dish that would later become popular in America, Ferdinand Chicken, was born all over Austria.

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