Rebirth 07: Starting with Saving a Bankrupt Restaurant

"Boss, when will we be releasing new products?"

Ruyi Restaurant has hired a head chef, so naturally they can't let someone else steal their thunder. Shi Ying naturally wants Zhou Wen to come up with some new dishes and regain the limelight.

After Shi Ying said that, Zhou Wen also fell into thought.

Naturally, they can't come up with any more rice bowl dishes. The last new product in the store was rice bowl dishes. If they come up with another one, it won't feel as novel. Besides, there are only a few variations of rice bowl dishes.

If you really want to make something that will impress people, Zhou Wen couldn't think of a really amazing rice bowl dish for the time being.

What about noodles?

Zhou Wen thought about the noodles from his previous life, and it seemed that he could really put some effort into making noodles.

Aside from the fried noodles and tomato and egg noodles that they initially offered, the shop hasn't really offered any other noodle dishes since.

Or is there anything that goes well with rice bowls?

The three rice bowl dishes are currently the best-selling items in the store. After all, they are not expensive, have generous portions, taste good, and can fill you up.

Zhou Wen's eyes lit up, as if he had thought of something.

It can be served as a cold dish, paired with rice bowls, which can also help to balance out some of the greasiness of the rice bowls.

Of course, Zhou Wen couldn't possibly be thinking of a simple cold dish like smashed cucumber; that's too common. And even as a food blogger, Zhou Wen couldn't really come up with any fancy ways to prepare cucumber.

Zhou Wen was thinking of a Sichuan-Chongqing cold dish—Husband and Wife Lung Slices.

The braised beef used in the "Husband and Wife Lung Slices" dish is also used in the cold noodles at this restaurant.

This can be considered the first dish served since Zhouji Restaurant reopened, even though it was just a cold dish.

But Zhou Wen believes this can be considered a historic step.

07 can be considered a pivotal year for "Husband and Wife Lung Slices". At that time, a globally popular animated film was released in China. Due to translation issues, a key French dish in the film was translated as "Husband and Wife Lung Slices", which caused quite a bit of controversy at the time.

This also brought this Sichuan-style cold dish into the public eye across the country.

"Shi Ying," Zhou Wen called out.

After swallowing the food in his mouth, he asked, "What's wrong?"

Have you ever heard of "Husband and Wife Lung Slices"?

"Husband and Wife Lung Slices?" Shi Ying repeated to herself, then shook her head and asked:

"Boss, is this for eating?"

Zhou Wen nodded, then kept everyone in suspense: "I'll show you this Sichuan-style cold dish tomorrow."

Shi Ying was quite curious about the name of this cold dish, which she had never heard of before.

After all, the name is really strange.

……

A day passed in the blink of an eye.

"Boss, what are the prices for beef heart and beef tongue?" Zhou Wen asked as he approached a beef stall in the market that looked quite fresh.

"Beef heart is six yuan per jin, and beef tongue is nine yuan per jin."

Zhou Wen nodded: "What's the price of tripe?"

"The same price as beef tongue."

After buying the necessary ingredients, Zhou Wen took another stroll around the market to see if there was anything else he needed or might need in the future.

After wandering around for a while, I did manage to buy some sauces and spices.

……

"Boss, do you also need beef heart and beef tongue for this sliced ​​beef and offal?" Shi Ying shrank her neck, a little scared of these offal dishes.

Zhou Wen nodded and smiled: "The taste will be quite good when it's done."

Shi Ying pouted, looking at the ingredients with some curiosity, and asked, "Boss, why isn't there any beef lung in your husband and wife lung slices?"

"Beef lung doesn't taste very good," Zhou Wen explained.

Since the beef heart was purchased as a whole piece, it needed to be processed first, removing the fat inside.

Put all the ingredients into a pot of cold water, then add white wine to remove the fishy smell.

Skim off the foam that rises to the surface. After blanching all the ingredients thoroughly for about twenty minutes, they can be taken out.

Next, rinse it with clean water. For beef tongue, scrape off the white coating.

While processing the ingredients, Zhou Wen instructed Shi Ying to prepare the seasonings.

"Boss, what's a white buckle?"

Shi Ying can recognize some common seasonings, but he can't recognize the less common ones.

Zhou Wen couldn't quite describe what it was like at the moment, so he put down his work and went to the side to instruct Shi Ying.

"This is cardamom, this is amomum villosum..."

Shi Ying looked at it carefully and silently memorized it.

Once the necessary spices are prepared, the ingredients are then braised.

Boil a new pot of water, add ginger, scallions, Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, and a plate of spices, then add salt and soy sauce to enhance the base flavor. You'll also need to add some white wine to remove any fishy smell and enhance the aroma.

……

Once the ingredients are thoroughly braised, they are sliced ​​into thin slices. There's a trick to slicing tripe: it's easier to slice it at an angle.

The thinner you slice these ingredients, the better, so they can be fully coated with sauce and taste even better.

Zhou Wen even specially arranged a plate.

Finally, prepare a special sauce and pour it over the top.

A devilish whisper came to Zhou Wen's mind.

"Soul juice~ poured over~"

Sprinkle with chopped green onions and crushed peanuts, and a plate of sliced ​​beef and tripe in chili sauce is ready.

Shi Ying looked at the plate of sliced ​​beef and tripe covered in chili oil, and her eyebrows twitched for a moment, but then she frowned when she thought about how it was all offal.

Zhou Wen naturally knew what Shi Ying was afraid of, so he said, "The top layer is tripe, and the ones on the sides are beef. If you can't try the heart and tongue, you can try these two first."

Shi Ying stared at the plate of sliced ​​beef and tripe oozing with chili oil, pouting as she pondered for a long time, clearly going through an internal struggle. Finally, with a determined look in her eyes, she picked up a slice of beef heart.

Although it was said that it was successfully picked up, it was only suspended halfway, as it was still a bit difficult to eat the internal organs for a while.

Shi Ying simply closed her eyes, but her eyelids trembled slightly, clearly revealing a slit.

Zhou Wen looked at Shi Ying's slightly comical appearance and smiled, saying, "If you find it hard to eat, you can try the beef first. There's no need to force yourself."

Shi Ying shook her head, clearly wanting to try and break through her own limitations.

Then he slowly put the beef heart into his mouth, not daring to chew it too much, just gently touching it with his teeth, but soon his expression changed.

"Wow! Delicious!"

Shi Ying's eyes, which had been closed, suddenly opened, and her eyebrows involuntarily twitched.

After finishing the beef heart, we ate the beef tongue, and then the beef tripe.

Both the sliced ​​beef and tripe in chili sauce and the hot and sour rice noodles were flavors that Shi Ying had never tried before. Even though the store had introduced many new products after the hot and sour rice noodles, the hot and sour rice noodles had always been her top choice.

As a native of Jiangxi Province, Shi Ying naturally loved this spicy food.

Now, with the arrival of "Husband and Wife Lung Slices," Shi Ying, who originally had some reservations about internal organs, has completely disregarded it.