Chapter 115 Hele Noodles and Pig Trotter Soup [First Update]...

A heavy snow fell, and the snowflakes quickly painted the ground white, turning it into a silver-white wonderland.

When Wen Fan got up in the morning, the first thing he did was draw back the curtains and see everything outside covered in white.

Even though he had many memories of snow scenes, seeing them in person still left Wen Fan speechless for a long time.

When I was in the palace, the most difficult time was winter, especially the days with heavy snow.

The snow made travel difficult, charcoal was scarce, and the palace maids and eunuchs, lacking food and clothing, would fall ill in droves every winter. Those who survived were spared, but those who didn't, by the end of the winter, had vanished without a trace…

Wen Fan was also sick once when he was fourteen years old.

If it weren't for one or two kind-hearted palace maids who fed her some hot water, she probably wouldn't have survived.

Because of this experience, Wen Fan's first reaction when he saw snow yesterday was to close his business.

Her impression of cooking in the snow was far from good. She had to get up before dawn, wash the vegetables in the icy well water, prepare everything early, and wait for the palace ladies to come and collect the food. If the food got cold, she would be fined or even punished.

Later, she belatedly realized that there was actually heating now...

However, Wen's mother also advocated for the business to be shut down.

"We're braving the heavy snow, so please don't make things difficult for our guests."

The roads are slippery in snowy weather, making driving inconvenient, let alone other modes of transportation, so we simply closed the doors and rested.

Mr. Wen checked the weather forecast on his phone and said that the snow would last for three days, and although it wouldn't be heavy, it would continue indefinitely.

The family rarely gets a break, so with nothing to do at home, they watch TV and then start playing cards.

Wen Fan quickly became familiar with the rules and always tried to be the landlord in every game. He won more and lost less, and only had three slips of paper stuck to his face.

There are more warm mothers, five sheets.

Father Wen...

With his face covered in notes, Mr. Wen looked somewhat aggrieved.

Who does this? His wife became a farmer but still had to provide water for the landlord!

"...Let's cook."

Seeing that he was destined to lose, Mr. Wen wisely got up to cook.

Wen Fan removed the note from his face to indicate that he would go himself.

"Shall we make he luo noodles?"

Wen Fan took home some leftover lamb chops and two lamb bones from yesterday's shop, and started simmering lamb soup as soon as she got up this morning.

On a snowy day like this, it's best to drink some mutton soup to warm up.

The mutton soup contained some spices and several Chinese medicinal herbs.

The mutton soup, simmered for half a day, had a thick, white broth.

Wen Fan used high-gluten flour to make the dough, and then stuffed the proofed dough into a pasta strainer.

Heluo noodles are noodles made by pressing noodles through a heluo press. They are commonly made with buckwheat flour or sorghum flour. Well-made heluo noodles are chewy and smooth, and when paired with mutton soup and mutton, the soup is fresh and delicious.

Since there was no large noodle press at home, Wen Fan used a simple noodle tool with perforations. He pressed the noodles with one hand and rotated them continuously with the other until they were pressed into the pot. After pressing the noodles to the required length, he made a cut at the bottom of the tool and pressed them again.

Place the seasonings at the bottom of the bowl, add a spoonful of mutton fat and chili, pour the boiling mutton soup into the bowl, scoop up the he luo noodles with chopsticks, let them spin beautifully in the air, and fall into the soup bowl.

The noodles are infused with the rich aroma of mutton soup, and the mutton fat and chili oil melt quickly in the soup bowl, leaving a layer of bright red chili oil on top.

The freshly squeezed noodles have a slightly irregular shape, but they are surprisingly chewy and smooth when you put them in your mouth. The chewy noodles are somewhere between thick belt noodles and hand-pulled noodles. The chewiness is not stiff, but rather has a lively quality. With a slight bite, the remaining noodles fall into the bowl in irregular strands.

The mutton soup is rich and fragrant, and the noodles don't get mushy even after soaking for a long time. After eating the noodles, drinking the mutton soup makes you feel comfortable from beginning to end.

The mutton and chili are fragrant but not overly spicy, and you won't feel the spiciness even if you drink all the chili oil.

Wen's father and mother each ate two bowls, while Wen Fan ate one bowl, reminding his parents that there would be another meal that evening and they shouldn't eat too much.

Mr. Wen burped: "It's nothing, I'm going out this afternoon."

Wen's mother frowned: "Why are you going out in this cold weather?"

Mr. Wen said that it was almost the twelfth lunar month, and the store was running low on cabbages, so they should stock up on some.

"I've already arranged with someone to bring some to the shop this afternoon, and I'll store them there."

The store is heated, so the only place to store cabbages is in a small warehouse behind the store.

This was important, so Wen's mother didn't say anything more, only telling him to come back quickly.

Also, don't buy too much.

"The white radishes are almost gone. Feng Huijuan said that since it has been snowing these past few days, she will send them here when the weather clears up."

Feng Huijuan never expected that what she thought was a small token of her appreciation—sending some white radishes—would lead to Wen's mother calling just a few days later to ask if she had sold out of white radishes.

Of course, Feng Huijuan didn't sell them all.

The couple didn't grow much; they needed to eat some themselves and also give some to relatives, so there was still a lot in the cellar.

Mother Wen didn't mince words; she immediately offered a price higher than the market price, requesting weekly deliveries to the store.

Although there was no shortage of white radishes on the market at that time, Wen Fan decided to buy them from Feng Huijuan's shop after eating them a few times.

I don't know if it's because of the good climate of Qingtang Mountain, but the white radishes from Feng Huijuan's family are big and juicy. They can't compare to the white radishes that have been delivered from other places for several days in the market.

Feng Huijuan would never let such an opportunity pass by, so when she delivered the white radishes, she also gave away some peanuts, soybeans, and corn grown by the villagers.

Wen's mother thought it was good and asked that some of it be sent to everyone.

Feng Huijuan collected some in the village and planned to deliver it here in the next few days, but unexpectedly it snowed.

Mentioning soybeans energized Wen Fan.

"Mom, shall we make some tofu?"

How can we celebrate the Chinese New Year without tofu?

Wen's mother: "We can't wait any longer, let's go buy an electric millstone."

After saying this, Wen's mother became a little worried. She was buying more and more things, but the space in the shop was limited. Where would she put the millstone after bringing it back?

Wen Fan said, "If you can't put it anywhere else, just put it in the counter."

"Make more, and freeze some tofu to eat in a few days."

We've got radishes, cabbage, and potatoes, so how can we forget tofu!

Wen Fan made up his mind to put on a tofu feast.

You can even have a bowl of tofu pudding in the morning!

Wen's mother was used to her daughter's unpredictable ideas, so she didn't object. She just thought about having her husband go to the store to take measurements that afternoon.

The counter isn't big, so make sure you buy the right size.

Modern electric grinding discs don't require manual labor, so there's no need to buy such a large one.

As the family talked, Egg Yolk lay on the windowsill, its dog eyes fixed on the scene below. Because of the snow, there were few people out, and the dog would bark twice at every passerby it saw.

Wen Fan has now gotten into the habit of squeezing the muzzle of the dog, and after squeezing it, he'll find a can of treats for the dog.

Since we can't go out on a snowy day, at least we can have a better meal.

The snow fell intermittently for three days. After three days, the municipal government promptly dispatched snowplows to clear the snow from the streets.

Wen's mother has finally announced that she will be open for business.

Fans who had been eagerly waiting online were overjoyed.

After finishing speaking, I always have to say a few complaints.

I've never seen a store like this before. They just dropped a bombshell saying they were going to change the menu, and then immediately said they were closed due to the weather.

It really piqued everyone's curiosity.

Those who tried it on the first day took advantage of the break to post pictures online like crazy.

Many people have been craving that glistening braised pork for days!

Wen Fan picked up the chalk and wrote the menu on the blackboard.

Since the braised pork was so popular, she didn't bother to take it off the menu. However, since the shop had run out of hawthorns, Wen Fan wrote braised pork with chestnuts instead.

Below the braised pork with chestnuts is a soup of pig's trotters.

Wen Fan made it simply because pig's trotter soup was convenient.

After cleaning and blanching, the pig's trotters are stewed together with white kidney beans until they are tender. The stew is kept in a large pot in the restaurant.

Wen Fan made forty in total, first come, first served.

I made two kinds of dipping sauces: one spicy and the other with Sichuan peppercorns.

The morning was quickly filled with long queues. Ji Baiyi and Ren Haijin arrived on time. The small table had the words "Pig Trotter Soup" on it, followed by a sign that it was limited to forty servings and would be sold out while supplies lasted.

Almost everyone who sees it will be tempted to order a bowl of pig's trotter soup first.

"Two more dipping sauces, please!"

The milky white trotter soup looked like a bowl full of solidified fat. The rich, savory aroma of the trotters and the rustic, sandy texture of the kidney beans finally settled on the trembling piece of pork skin on the tip of the chopsticks.

The stewed pork skin is so soft and tender that it's almost semi-liquid when you eat it; you don't even dare to put your teeth on it, for fear of accidentally piercing it. The rich and smooth pork skin seems to slide into your mouth, and your tongue is instantly enveloped by a strong aroma.

The lean meat is tender and melts in your mouth, paired with collagen-rich pork skin, creating a rich and mellow flavor.

Dipping it in the spicy sauce makes the pure meat flavor even richer, and the Sichuan peppercorn sauce is so spicy that you can't help but eat a spoonful of green beans to relieve the spiciness. The green beans are cooked into a soft, powdery consistency, and the smooth bean paste balances the richness of the pig's trotters.

"...These green beans are so delicious!"

"The pig's trotters smell so good!"

"Damn, you guys only eat the meat and don't drink the soup? If you won't drink it, I will!"

"Who says I won't drink!"

The milky white pig's trotter soup is so delicious and fragrant that words fail to describe it. The rich broth, simmered slowly over low heat, has absolutely no fishy smell, only a deep and rich umami flavor.

This pig's trotter soup alone makes many people feel that "this meal was worth it".

On a cold day, a bowl of soup like this is just the thing; both the meat and the broth are incredibly satisfying.

Especially when the pig's trotters are dipped in sauce and placed on top of rice, it makes you want to keep eating it.

"Waaaaah, I really want to buy another one!"

To be fair, the Wen family's pig's trotters were quite large, but not enough to eat!

The limited supply of forty servings sold out in less than two hours at noon.

The customers who were still eating in the shop watched as Wen's mother took down the small blackboard and erased the item for pig's trotter soup.

My heart aches so much!

This is different from the heartache of not being able to eat it; this is the pain of getting something and then losing it, which is simply unbearable.

"...I have never looked forward to a store growing bigger than I have ever done."

Someone once asked the owner of Wenji why the items in the shop are always taken off the shelves after being made for a short time.

The proprietress said it was because the shop was too small.

"If we try to do everything, we won't be able to handle it!"

Everyone understood this statement before, after all, a small two-room storefront has to consider production capacity when making anything.

But now, everyone is expressing their expectations.

"Let's open a restaurant as soon as possible! I'd rather spend the money!"

"Yes, hurry up and open a restaurant to take down Jin Yu Lou!"

The guests stared at the small blackboard with grief and indignation, thinking that one day they would eat everything written on it!

The store's limited quantity of forty servings of pig's trotter soup sold out, so Wen Fan naturally set aside a portion for his family and employees.

With two servings of pig's trotter soup simmering in the pot, Wen Fan finished taking orders and then started thinking about the electric millstone her mother had bought.

The millstone wasn't big, only about the size of a deep pot in the shop, with the millstone on top and the motor at the bottom.

Wen Fan put the soaked beans in, and soon the machine started humming as soy milk flowed out.

Wen Fan dipped a little finger in his mouth and nodded in satisfaction.

With such a precious baby around, she'll be able to enjoy homemade tofu pudding tonight!

Wen Fan had already come up with various ways to prepare soy products.

Before that, Wen Fan first filtered and heated the prepared soy milk, and then peeled off some dried bean curd skin from the coagulated soy skin on top of the soy milk.

After making the dried bean curd sticks, Wen Fan set them aside.

The solidified soy milk turned into tofu pudding, and Wen Fan made several dipping sauces.

Although sweet and savory tofu pudding has become a battleground in the internet wars, Wen Fan is the kind of person who can enjoy both.

She can even add some sesame paste to the tofu pudding; as long as it tastes good, she's willing to try anything.

That night, everyone had tofu pudding for supper.

Hot tofu pudding is topped with various sauces; add sugar if you like it sweet, or add braising sauce if you don't.

Wen Fan poured a spoonful of chili oil on top, stirred it, and then ate it with a sesame seed cake.

Business exceeded expectations that evening, leaving the shop almost empty. Wen Fan managed to make a few dishes and baked some flatbread.

Cut the flatbread in half, spread two spoonfuls of chili oil on it, and then add some roasted lamb.

A bite of roasted mutton flatbread, a bite of tofu pudding.

On their way back home that evening, Ji Baiyi and Ren Haijin still felt warm.

Ren Haijin licked his lips, already looking forward to tomorrow.

"I wonder what dishes we can make with tofu tomorrow."

That's something to look forward to!