Rebirth 07: Starting with Saving a Bankrupt Restaurant

To make pickled bullfrog, you'll need an extra lettuce; just slice the lettuce.

Heat the oil, add fermented soybean paste and stir-fry until fragrant, then add scallions, ginger, wild chili peppers, and pickled chili peppers.

After cooking for a while, add the lettuce, and then add water to cover the ingredients.

Next, add seasonings, such as salt and sugar, to enhance the flavor.

The flavor of pickled pepper frog legs must be fully absorbed during cooking to achieve the best taste.

When it's almost done cooking, sprinkle with minced garlic and fresh Sichuan peppercorns.

Next, heat another pot of oil to about 60% of its maximum temperature, which is when it's almost smoking.

Prepare dried chili peppers and dried Sichuan peppercorns, sauté them until fragrant, and drizzle with oil.

The pickled pepper frog legs are also ready.

Shi Ying had also prepared all the bowls and chopsticks.

So this time, Zhou Wen cooked a whole pot of rice before taking a break.

Since Shan Wei started delivering food, his daily food intake has increased significantly, and he has also become a bit darker-skinned.

This was also the first time Ren Xuan had tried the restaurant's new dishes since arriving.

"Give it a try and see how it tastes," Zhou Wen said.

I tried it myself, first picking up a piece of pickled pepper frog.

The texture of frog meat is somewhere between fish and chicken, but it is more like the smoothness of fish.

Frog meat has a relatively mild flavor and relies more on the taste of seasonings. The flavor is fully absorbed during stewing, allowing you to taste the pickled pepper flavor.

In short, it can be summed up in four words: sour, spicy, and smooth.

As for the lettuce, Zhou Wen would scoop it out as soon as the water boiled, because he was afraid of overcooking it and losing its crispness.

By taking the lettuce out of the water beforehand, the whole lettuce becomes very crisp and tender, and you can hear a sound when you bite into it.

Zhou Wen also ladled a spoonful of the pickled pepper frog broth into his bowl, blew on it, and took a sip to taste it.

It's sour and spicy, with a sour-spicy ratio of about 7:3, which is very appetizing.

Zhou Wen nodded secretly; he was quite satisfied with the taste.

Shi Ying, who loves spicy food, naturally tried the dry pot bullfrog first.

The sight of all those dried chilies is enough to make your mouth water.

Because the dry-pot frog is fried first, the entire frog has a crispy skin.

It's dry, fragrant, spicy, and numbing, with a rich oil and aroma. The Sichuan peppercorns have a prominent numbing sensation, and there's also the wok hei (wok aroma) from cumin, scallions, and ginger.

What actually pleased Zhou Wen was that the side dishes for both dishes were quite well made.

The potatoes in the dry-pot frog dish are also crispy and fragrant.

Because the two methods are prepared differently, the taste and texture of the frogs are also different.

Compared to the smooth texture of boiled frog legs, dry-pot frog legs have a drier, savory flavor.

Speaking of these two cooking methods, dry-pot frog is more suitable as a snack with alcohol, similar to cold-cooked rabbit.

Pickled pepper frog legs are more suitable for eating with rice, mainly because of the broth.

Dan Wei, on the other hand, ate with gusto, pouring a spoonful of broth over himself and swallowing two large mouthfuls of rice without needing any side dishes.

Shi Ling, on the other hand, ate the frog legs in small bites. Both the pickled pepper frog legs and the dry pot frog legs were a bit too spicy for her.

Although it was spicy, Shi Ling never stopped eating, just taking small bites slowly.

While eating, Ren Xuan would occasionally glance at Zhou Wen. She had to admit that she had eaten quite a lot of Western fast food, but the food made by the boss was indeed much tastier than those Western fast food meals.

A large plate of pickled pepper frog and dry pot frog was eventually devoured by everyone, leaving only a pot full of dried chili peppers.

After finishing his meal, Shan Wei couldn't help but let out a burp, then rubbed his stomach.

During my time at the restaurant, I haven't actually eaten much white rice.

They usually order a bowl of noodles or rice and then serve it with the other dishes.

The previous dishes were indeed more like snacks, with a lot of them being suitable for drinking.

The same could be said for the dry pot frog and pickled pepper frog this time, but at least they can finally be served with rice.

After finishing their meal, Shi Ying and Shi Ling began to clear the dishes. Since the two of them were in charge of the front of house, Shan Wei and Ren Xuan naturally assumed that these tasks should also be handled by the two of them.

Then I just sat in my seat and played on my phone.

Shan Wei would occasionally exchange a few words with Ren Xuan, but Ren Xuan wouldn't lift her eyelids, just look at her phone and give a few vague replies.

After his previous conversation with Zhou Wen, Shan Wei stopped pestering him and remained silent, sitting quietly.

Ren Xuan has noticed the changes in Shan Wei these past few days, and she is actually quite happy about them, as they mean she won't be disturbed every day.

It's enough to go to Shan Wei when you need help.

Ren Xuan goes home alone every day at noon, and in the evening, Xiao Kai, who used to come and pick her up in his electric car.

However, what's giving Zhou Wen a headache right now is that the restaurant is launching new dishes at a fairly good pace.

It takes about a month to prepare three or four dishes.

Therefore, the content on the cards also needs to be added. It's like you can't print multiple copies at once; you have to add new dishes every now and then.

It's impossible to go every time a new dish is added.

In the end, Zhou Wen decided to wait until the previous batch of cards was almost used up before printing new cards and content every two weeks.

……

That evening, a notice was posted on the sign outside the restaurant.

A serving of pickled pepper frog costs 28 yuan, while a serving of dry-pot frog costs 32 yuan.

One serving contains approximately two pounds, and the price is indeed cheap in the market.

Frogs are a common food in Fujian Province, and there are many street food stalls that serve them.

However, everyone wanted to see how Zhouji Restaurant's frogs differed from those in other restaurants or street food stalls.

First of all, there's the price; the price of frogs at street food stalls is higher than that at restaurants.

The price difference is already apparent; now it's all about the taste.

As for the taste, you'll have to try it to know.

The restaurant hadn't introduced any new dishes for half a month, and many diners had been asking about it, to which Zhou Wen had given an answer.

So after the restaurant opened tonight, there were many more customers.

As regular customers of the restaurant, Li Lichun and Lao Wang naturally had to check out the new dishes, since it had only been half a month.

Not only Lao Li and his companion, but other diners were also curious about what the new dishes had been for the past two weeks.

"Old Li, the new dish seems to be frog."

Old Wang looked at the notice on the restaurant sign.

Li Lichun looked over upon hearing this.

Because the restaurant has been very popular lately, Li Lichun and his companion arrived early, fearing that they wouldn't get a good seat if they arrived late.

"Let's see what we'd like to eat," Shi Ling said, placing the menu on the table.

Soon, Li Lichun and his group encountered a dilemma: they didn't know whether to eat pickled pepper frog or dry-pot frog.

There are now many more options available at restaurants.