Riding the wind of rebirth

The staple food in the shop is noodles. Yao Shucheng put his mind to work and even hired someone to make "white flour potstickers" in the shop to fill steamed beef in small bamboo steamers, making the sales "fast food-like" and the business became more and more popular.

He put a lot of thought into the business. During the Anti-Japanese War, Yao had a foodie friend who was a movie projector. At the time, movies were a novel and fashionable thing, and wealthy families flocked to see them. He asked this friend to help him "slide" the menu, specialties, signboard, and address of "Zhidehao" for advertising. At the same time, he also offered discounts or free meals to customers who gave feedback on the taste, quality, and service. As a result, "Zhidehao's" business and reputation spread like wildfire throughout the four gates of Chengdu.

The earliest "Zhiwenhao" faced such fierce competition that, despite its best efforts and struggles, it was powerless to resist and quietly closed down before the war ended.

But fortune and misfortune are intertwined. After the business of "Zhidehao" reached its peak, Yao Shucheng accumulated a lot of money in just a few years. With the money, he began to buy land and finally, before 1949, he became a well-known big landlord in Chengdu.

After being jointly owned by the public and private sector and relocated several times, Zhidehao eventually survived. However, the owner changed and the taste changed. Instead, the method of making white flour flatbread with beef filling spread to Jiaozhou and became a popular "Kabing" in Jiaozhou.

And the hardships the old man later endured need not be mentioned.

In comparison, Zhou Zhi had to admit that Mr. Lan Guangbi's approach was brilliant!
We had a great time chatting and eating today. By the time we left Xinghua Village, the moon had already climbed high in the sky.

In the summer near the plateau, the nights are incredibly cool, and the moon in Liangshan Prefecture is so bright that streetlights are unnecessary, making it easy to walk at night. The bluestone slabs in Xicheng Lane have been worn smooth by countless years of walking, and under the moonlight, the bluestone slabs look like they have been splashed with water.

At this moment, the cool night air and the moonlight as clear as water became fully tangible.

The next morning, while everyone else was still sleeping in, Zhou Zhi was already up. He was also in high spirits and went with Lan Guiyun to the vegetable market to buy goods and see some novelties.

It's currently peak season for wild mushrooms in Liangshan Prefecture, but even so, you still have to go early to buy good quality mushrooms from the Yi people who come down from the surrounding mountains.

Zhou Zhi also carefully inquired about the prices of various mushrooms. In Lianhe Township, he usually ate the "gifts" that the children brought to the school. Only when Mai Xiaomiao was in the mood would she drag him along so that the children could take him into the mountains to pick mushrooms themselves.

But I've never spent money to buy it before, so this time I've made up for that lesson.

The second lesson is about choosing mutton.

In fact, Zhouzhi is not unfamiliar with sheep, but it is a Yi language system. Moreover, the Yi people do not have the same special requirements for cooking sheep as other ethnic groups. They usually boil it into soup or roast it. They pay more attention to the sheep's head, hooves, and tail, as well as the leg of sheep, which has a larger meat weight.

As for the tender sirloin, tenderloin, and cucumber slices, it doesn't really matter.

Therefore, this lesson will now be taught by Lan Guiyun.

The main lamb dish in Xinghua Village is "Eight Pieces of Lamb," which refers to eight parts of the lamb that are boiled and then served with a sauce similar to that of Dongpo Pork Knuckle, or dipped in a sauce. Therefore, the lamb must be tender, and removing the gamey smell is a very important step in the processing.

The preparation of lamb slices in Xinghua Village is quite particular. First, all cuts must have the skin on. Therefore, although tenderloin and cucumber strips are suitable for stir-frying, they are not fatty enough and are not suitable. The selected cuts include the upper sirloin, sirloin, breast, belly, ribs, tail, and finally, the neck meat and the two strips of meat on the upper part of the leg.

There are exactly eight positions in total.

The sheep that Lan Guiyun customized are Huili Black Goats, which are very famous in Liangshan Prefecture. Black goats have good skin, good meat, strong physique, strong disease resistance, are easy to raise, have a high lambing rate, and another great feature is that they have a high manure accumulation rate, and their manure can be turned into good fermented fertilizer.

Lianhe Township is also vigorously promoting the introduction and breeding of Huili black goats. However, instead of letting them roam freely, they are planted with forage grass for silage and dried storage, and the black goats are raised in enclosures. The results are very good.

Judging from the market, Huili black goat meat is tender, with a mild gamey smell. The muscle is red and glossy, the fat is white or pale yellow, and the muscle fibers are dense. After boiling, the broth is clear and transparent, with fat globules on the surface. It has a fragrant aroma.

Lan Guiyun chose sheep that were only one year and three months old. According to Lan Guiyun, the aroma of the mutton had already developed, but the gamey smell had not yet started. If the sheep were too young, the meat would be tender but not fragrant. Later on, the meat would become tough and the gamey smell would become stronger.

The lamb was freshly slaughtered and was extremely fresh.

Lan Guiyun rode his motorcycle with a large insulated foam box on the back, filled with ice. He placed the still-warm mutton, with its visibly convulsing muscles, inside and covered it with ice to freeze it quickly. According to Lan Guiyun, this was his idea for a good way to remove the muttony smell.

This trick is indeed worth learning. No matter how good the quality of the black goat is, it is still a goat. And a goat is bound to have a gamey smell. But yesterday's lamb slices from Zhouzhi didn't have a gamey smell at all. Instead, it tasted like Ningxia Tan goat. It seems that Lan Guiyun has come up with a lot of ideas.

I've heard of this quick-freezing technique for mutton before. The accurate term is "acid removal." The scientific basis for this is that the muttony smell mainly comes from three branched-chain fatty acids unique to ruminants. Quick-freezing allows these three acids to be excreted through blood and body fluids, reducing the muttony smell.

After taking a long walk around the vegetable market, Zhou Zhi gained a deeper understanding of the crucial aspect of "purchasing" for running a restaurant. This is a complex subject, and also one of the biggest factors that can lead to losses when running a restaurant – waste.

It is essential to have an accurate estimate of the daily food consumption, a clear understanding of the combinations of various dishes and the quantities of finished dishes, and to design some "flexible" "redundant" quantities. For example, cabbage can be prepared as "emergency dishes" such as sweet and sour cabbage or hand-torn cabbage. If there are any leftovers, they can be processed into "quick-pickled vegetables" in the evening to be used as a side dish for the next day, thus avoiding waste.

In ancient times, such a person was called a "master chef," who was responsible for preparing the food list and materials. He had to make sure the food was plentiful and not excessive in order to win the favor of the host and gain a good reputation.

In a culinary team, the most experienced head chef usually takes the position and is also the team leader; the rest are just people who follow his instructions.

Through observation, Zhouzhi has actually figured out some tricks. For example, the red chili oil from Xinghua Village is so delicious because it is made with compound chili powder, which is made by blending four kinds of chili powder.

Lan Guiyun didn't hide anything from him and told him directly that Erjingtiao peppers could enhance the color, Chaotian peppers could provide spiciness, and lantern peppers could provide aroma. The new generation of peppers could neutralize the flavors, so the red chili oil in the store was usually made by blending these peppers.

In addition, there are some other small details. Before pouring the oil over the chili powder, Lan Guiyun will mix it with white wine. This serves three purposes: first, to enhance the aroma; second, to allow the various spicinesses to blend better; and third, to control the temperature of the boiling oil, so that the hot oil that initially comes into contact with the chili powder is suddenly cooled down, preventing the chili powder from becoming too burnt. (End of Chapter)