1984: Starting from a bankrupt Sichuan restaurant

Chapter 12 Beef with Pork Knuckle
Beef with braised pork belly? Zhou Yan was slightly taken aback.

He was familiar with this dish. If we were to talk about the most famous dish in Suji later, it would have to be Qiaojiao Beef. It was not only a local specialty, but there were also Qiaojiao Beef restaurants everywhere in Chengdu.

A lightly flavored soup hotpot, served with a dipping sauce, has become so popular throughout Sichuan and Chongqing, which speaks volumes about its unique appeal.

He had visited Suji in his previous life and interviewed two inheritors of the intangible cultural heritage of Qiaojiao Beef.

The origin of this dish can be traced back to Zhou Village, where cattle are slaughtered. It is said that the method of eating it was invented by an ancestor of the Zhou family who slaughtered cattle, while others say it was invented by an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Zhou Village.

Two of his cousins ​​now sell beef offal at the Tsing Yi River Wharf. When beef and offal don't sell well, his mother also sets up a stall there, which is considered a family tradition.

Of course, he wouldn't.

But he'll learn it right away.

Most importantly, while others selling braised beef need to consider how to obtain fresh ingredients, he can rely on his parents, with his father supplying the ingredients directly!

In the catering industry, the supply of ingredients is a very important aspect.

With his home in Sha Niu Zhou Village, he never had to worry about not having beef or offal.

"What are you spacing out for?" Zhao Tieying waved her hand in front of his eyes.

"It's nothing, there's no business anyway. I'm going to lie down for a while, I got up too early this morning." Zhou Yan smiled as he got up and walked towards the stairs.

"Go ahead, I'll call you in a bit." Zhao Tieying nodded.

This kid got up early to buy groceries and cook the toppings, then kneaded the dough and pulled the noodles. He must have been exhausted. He used to complain and yell at the slightest thing he did, but he hasn't uttered a sound these past two days. He's been like a real man.

Zhou Yan went upstairs and closed the door. Only then did he use his mind to open the recipe for "Qiaojiao Beef". A massive amount of information flooded into his mind, and he was stunned.

Three minutes later, Zhou Yan's eyes cleared, and his thoughts stirred. Everything about Qiaojiao Beef had merged with his memory, as if he had always known it.

"If it sells well, it could be a good growth point, and it won't affect the sales volume of noodles much," Zhou Yan thought to himself.

Although the textile factory has more than 2,000 employees, few people would eat a bowl of noodles that costs six cents every day. He would be satisfied if he could sell a hundred bowls of noodles a day.

But he wasn't satisfied with earning only thirty or forty yuan a day; he was quite idle at noon and in the evening.

It's almost the end of October, and the weather will gradually get colder. At this time, a pot of steaming hot braised beef will become very appealing.

However, he needed the support of Comrades Zhou and Zhao to sell "Qiaojiao Beef".

……

"Zhou Momo is so cute, and Zhou Yan is quite interesting too." Xia Yao said with a smile, sitting on the back of the bicycle with one arm around Meng Anhe's waist.

"Polite and mature beyond his years, it's quite interesting." Meng Anhe smiled slightly, then quickly added, "However, you two might not be a good match."

"Huh?" Xia Yao was stunned for a moment, then understood what Meng Anhe meant. A blush rose on her cheeks, and she said in a low voice, "Auntie, what are you saying!"

"I'm just warning you, you can't fall for someone so easily, or your mother will tear me apart." Meng Anhe turned to look at her and said gently, "Zhou Yan saved you, we will be grateful and repay him, you don't need to feel burdened."

After you graduate, you'll be returning to Hangzhou, which is thousands of miles away. He'll be running a restaurant in this small town, while you'll be working and living in Hangzhou. It'll be difficult for you to have any further contact.

"I know, and I didn't even have that thought..." Xia Yao said helplessly. She hadn't thought about it that way at all; she just thought Zhou Momo was cute and Zhou Yan was quite interesting.

"Then I'll just assume you're overthinking it." Meng Anhe said with a smile, "I'm going to Chengdu after lunch tomorrow. I have some things to take care of at the design institute. I'll take you to Jiazhou city on the way. I've also asked you to take leave until tomorrow."

"Okay," Xia Yao replied.

……

After finishing up for lunch, Old Zhou rode his old bicycle into the shop, holding a colorful little windmill that spun around in the wind.

Seeing this, Zhou Momo, who was sitting by the door, skipped and hopped towards him, muttering, "Windmill!"

Zhou Miao stopped the car and handed the windmill to Zhou Momo.

"Thank you, Dad!" Zhou Momo exclaimed happily, and ran around in front of the shop with the windmill in her hand.

Zhou Miao stood by with his arms crossed, watching with a bright smile on his face.

“He’s a total doting father to his daughter,” Zhao Tieying complained to Zhou Yan in the shop.

“Absolutely, I have no fun at all.” Zhou Yan nodded in deep agreement.

"You're so old, why are you still doing this? Your skin is thicker than a city wall." Zhao Tieying laughed and patted his arm.

The restaurant was empty, so the family started eating lunch. They cooked rice, served a bowl of braised beef and a plate of minced beef with two kinds of peppers as side dishes, along with a dish of pickled radishes and some stir-fried greens.

"Is all the meat sold out?" Zhao Tieying asked casually.

"The meat is sold out. Zhou Jie will take the offal to sell; he can sell the soup pot." Zhou Miao shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth.

“That works too, it’s better than letting it rot in my hands.” Zhao Tieying nodded.

Hearing their conversation, Zhou Yan had a sudden thought: "How's the beef jerky business with Brother Jie and the others?"

"It'll be alright. The weather's going to get cold soon, so business will be even better," Zhou Miao replied.

"How about we try selling 'Qiaojiao Beef'?" Zhou Yan suggested, seizing the opportunity.

"If you want to sell, you can give it a try..." Zhou Miao hadn't finished speaking.

"Your noodle business is just starting to pick up, and now you're going to sell soup pot?" Zhao Tieying frowned slightly. "Soup pot will indeed sell better when the weather gets colder, but most of the people who eat beef offal are the laborers at the docks. I've been selling it for a while in the past two winters, and I've rarely seen textile factory workers come to eat it."

“That’s right.” Zhou Miao immediately nodded in agreement. “Zhou Jie and his team only earn a meager living through hard work. They even lose money when they can’t sell the goods.”

Zhou Yan had anticipated their reaction and smiled, saying, "When I was in the factory canteen, I learned a medicinal dish. I plan to combine this medicinal dish with a soup pot. This way, the soup will not only be more delicious, but it will also have some medicinal properties."

Also, from now on, we won't call it "Soup Pot" anymore; our restaurant will call it "Qiaojiao Beef." Our ancestors in Zhoucun invented this dish over a hundred years ago. There was even an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor who sold Qiaojiao Beef at a stall and improved the recipe. This way, we have both tradition and a story to tell.

"This works too?" Zhao Tieying and Zhou Miao exchanged glances, looking a little confused.

"Of course, if we want to sell the soup pot at a higher price and make the workers fall in love with it, we have to tell a good story about the dish, from its historical origins and anecdotes to its inheritance system." Zhou Yan nodded confidently.

He had heard countless brand stories while filming his restaurant review videos, including those of Suji Beef, so he already had a general idea of ​​how to tell the brand story well.

He's not good at cooking, but storytelling is his specialty.

Adaptation isn't fabrication; he simply organized and relayed the information to help the dish gain wider popularity sooner. Zhao Tieying and Zhou Miao nodded thoughtfully. They didn't understand these things, but Zhou Yan said he learned it from the factory canteen, so it shouldn't be wrong.

“Then we’ll slaughter the cow tomorrow, and I’ll save the offal for you,” Zhou Miao said.

“No need to keep it all. Leave me an extra half pound of the hanging tenderloin, and a little bit of each of the tripe, intestines, and tendon. Send the extra to Brother Jie. Let’s cook a pot to try it out tomorrow.” Zhou Yan said seriously. “If we really want to sell it, I plan to build a stove at the entrance, specifically for cooking the hanging tenderloin beef. Once the aroma spreads, it will be more effective than any advertisement.”

“Okay.” Zhou Miao nodded.

"Then I'll process the beef offal you wanted by the river tomorrow," Zhao Tieying said.

"Then I'll have to trouble Comrade Zhao Tieying," Zhou Yan said with a smile.

He was deeply moved by the unconditional trust and support he received from Comrades Zhao Tieying and Zhou Miao.

Family, who understands this feeling of having family!

In this life, he must work hard to earn money, pay off his debts as soon as possible, reduce his parents' burden, and let them live a good life.

Zhou Yan went out with the money in his pocket, and the menu for the "Qiaojiao Beef" that he obtained was the pinnacle of later improvements.

In 1984, an era of scarcity, most people were still struggling to have enough to eat, but some working-class people with stable jobs and decent incomes were gradually starting to pursue not only having enough to eat but also eating well.

As people's living standards continue to improve, their demands for food quality are also increasing, which is an objective law.

From adding spices to remove the fishy smell, to adding Chinese medicine to enhance the flavor, and then to nourishing the stomach, dispelling dampness and cold, and strengthening bones, the preparation of Qiaojiao Beef caters to diners' pursuit of good food.

There are many stalls selling "Qiaojiao Beef" in Suji Town and along the Qingyi River. Ninety percent of them are run by people from Zhoucun. They offer fresh beef offal every day, and their main selling point is that it's cheap and plentiful.

If Zhou Yan wants to raise the price of Qiaojiao Beef, he needs to differentiate himself by offering competitive advantages in taste, texture, and health benefits, and also tell a compelling story.

I went to two old Chinese medicine doctors in town and bought more than ten kinds of Chinese medicine, including Angelica dahurica, Piper longum, Amomum tsao-ko, Amomum villosum, and Kaempferia galanga. The quantities were not large, but it still cost me eight yuan and twenty cents.

Firstly, there are many types, and secondly, qualified Chinese medicines are still expensive.

Seeing Zhou Yan return carrying several bags of Chinese medicine wrapped in brown paper, Zhao Tieying asked with some doubt, "Are you feeling unwell? Why did you buy so much Chinese medicine?"

"I'm fine. These Chinese medicines are added to the braised beef," Zhou Yan explained to her briefly.

Adding Chinese herbs to the braised beef serves two purposes: firstly, to enhance the flavor, and secondly, to increase the medicinal properties of the dish, thus differentiating it from the braised beef served at other restaurants.

“We do need to add some Chinese medicine, but not that much, right? Besides, Chinese medicine is expensive, and few people in our village who sell soup pots actually add it.” Zhao Tieying frowned and said, “If you add it like that, you’ll probably lose money.”

"I'm confident I won't lose money." Zhou Yan said with certainty.

Zhou Yan finished work early tonight and sold out ninety bowls of noodles in no time. Several customers who wanted noodles were turned down by Zhou Yan, who told them to come earlier tomorrow.

His parents had dinner and then took Zhou Momo home.

Zhou Yan soaked the dried bamboo shoots, made a jar of pickled radishes, took a cold shower in the yard, and went back to his room early.

The room was small, and a five-watt light bulb barely illuminated it. Yellowed old newspapers were pasted on the rough walls, and a pane of glass in the window was broken. It was patched up with newspaper and tape, and the edges were peeling. Wind was blowing into the room through the crack.

The bed was just two benches with a few uneven wooden planks on top. The mattress was a thin, dark old cotton quilt that had been passed down from who-knows-when. It was hard and uncomfortable to lie on.

The pillow is like a Xinhua Dictionary, and the blanket is thin and not warm at all. I have to put my coat on top of the blanket to fall asleep at night.

A bamboo pole with a rope hanging from it served as his wardrobe, and two pieces of clothing and two pairs of pants were all his possessions.

It would be no exaggeration to describe their home as being completely destitute.

Xiao Zhou is a good comrade; he spent all the borrowed money wisely and didn't enjoy any of it himself.

Zhou Yan started his life as an orphan and was quite a hard-working person.

But I never expected that after suffering my own hardships, I would have to suffer the hardships left behind by others.

孽 孽!
make money!

He's full of energy now.

Only by making money can we break free from this abject poverty.

Once I make some money, I'll buy myself a new Simmons mattress! A new, thick cotton quilt! A softer pillow! And I'll fix up the glass windows!

No, no, that's too low a goal.

It should be a refrigerator, a television, and a washing machine!
The pursuit of a better life should be more sophisticated.

The box containing the money was placed on the bedside table, and he opened the lid to count it.

Today's income was 54 yuan, and he spent 15.3 yuan on meat and vegetables. He had 35.5 yuan left over from yesterday, so he now has 74.2 yuan in cash.

The rent is due tomorrow, and after paying it, there will be some money left over, which can be used to expand the open-air stove needed for Qiaojiao Beef.

In addition, there was the fountain pen Xia Yao had given him, which still had ink inside. Zhou Yan casually unscrewed it and wrote down today's expenses.

The expensive imported pen not only has an exquisite appearance, but it also writes much smoother than his nine-cent plastic pen.

But what was she thinking, giving a chef a pen?
What a strange girl.

Pull the cord by the bedside, the tungsten filament lamp goes dark, and Zhou Yan falls asleep instantly.

The exhaustion from a long day left him no time to think about anything else; he felt like he had collapsed from exhaustion.

……

The next morning, before dawn, Master Zhou rode his old bicycle out to buy groceries.

A few lights were strung up at the slaughterhouse at Yankantou, barely illuminating the area where several groups of butchers were busily butchering and dividing the meat.

"Zhou Yan!"

As soon as Zhou Yan's bicycle stopped, a loud voice rang out from behind.

He turned around at the sound and saw two burly men carrying blood-stained knives walking towards him.

(End of this chapter)