Chapter 190 Slow-roasted beef brisket, steamed wontons

In the sweltering heat of late July, Wen Fan's acceptance letter and the news that Wen Ji was going to open a pop-up store arrived at the same time.

Han Lulu managed to get into X University through a loophole and successfully met up with Wen Fan.

“My mom said I was a bit lucky; it just so happened that the admission score for X University dropped a little this year, which is why I was able to get in.”

But no matter what, at least she got in. Han Lulu got rid of most of her worries and started coming to the store every day to pester Wen Fan. When it was busy during mealtimes, she would help carry plates, and when she was free, she would wait in the kitchen to eat.

With a "ding," the oven timer went off, and Han Lulu very conscientiously picked up an empty bowl and brought it over.

Wen Fan:......

I thought to myself, "Didn't this person say they were going to lose weight? How come they haven't stopped talking all morning?"

Wen Fan cut off a few pieces of roasted meat and put them into Han Lulu's bowl. Based on the principle that even small wastes can be reused, he asked her how it tasted.

"Wow—it smells so good!"

The piping hot meat was juicy and incredibly tender, with a hint of smoky flavor.

"What kind of meat is this?"

As Wen Fan cut the meat, he answered, "Beef brisket."

She saw it online; there's a slow-roasted beef brisket recipe from abroad, and her dish is an improvement on that. Fourteen hours of smoking, plus twelve hours of resting, results in a fragrant piece of beef.

A layer of caramel-colored outer shell resembles tree bark; scraping the surface with the back of a knife produces a distinctly rough sound, but cutting it open reveals tender pink beef inside, with abundant juices flowing out as you press it with your fingers.

Wen Fan: "The smoking process uses local tea leaves and a type of pine wood."

To get this little bit of pine wood, Wen Fan had to ask Feng Huijuan to inquire with many people. There was some readily available on Qingtang Mountain, but it couldn't be cut down; it could only be bought from farmers' own forest land. Even after buying it, it couldn't be used immediately; it had to be processed. It took Wen Fan almost half a month in total.

Han Lulu was somewhat taken aback: "Is it that complicated?"

This must sell for several hundred dollars.

Wen Fan placed the cut meat on a large tray, took out a jar from the bottles and opened it. Inside was her homemade green wheat chili sauce. She scooped out a spoonful and put it on a plate.

"Try it."

After adding green wheat chili sauce, the fat in the beef brisket takes on a completely different flavor. The rich and spicy wheat chili sauce perfectly balances the greasiness of the beef brisket, making the tender and juicy beef satisfying with every bite.

Han Lulu's eyes lit up: "Although it's not right to say it like that, but... this stuff would be so delicious in a hamburger!"

Especially with the sauce, sandwiching two hamburger buns together sounds delicious.

Wen Fan paused for a moment: "It's not impossible..."

Wen Fan retrieved a piece of fermented dough from the kitchen, flipped it a few times, and put it back into the proofing box. Once the dough had risen a bit more, he put it in the oven.

In less than half an hour, a fluffy, golden-brown bread, something resembling a chapata, appeared.

Spread a little green wheat sauce, add a few lettuce leaves, and then put in thinly sliced ​​beef. With a quick squeeze of your hands, the beef juices overflow, and the spicy, flavorful green wheat sauce, combined with the soft bread, is absolutely delicious.

Han Lulu exclaimed with delight, "This is exactly the taste! You could open another burger shop!"

Wen Fan hadn't considered a burger joint, but this beef brisket dish was a huge success; no one in the kitchen said it wasn't delicious.

Wen Fan clapped his hands: "Alright, this dish will be the main course. We'll serve some sauce and bread later."

Speaking of which, the restaurant's teacher appreciation banquets are almost all booked now. Wen Fan was too lazy to let people order the dishes one by one, so he directly made three set meals, high, medium and low price, to suit everyone's taste.

I originally thought there would be very few people booking the high-end option of 10,000 yuan per table, but when the news was released, it turned out that this option was the most popular.

With the higher prices, Wen Fan started bringing out the luxurious dishes he used to make. Besides beef brisket as the main course, there were also dishes like Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

Han Lulu couldn't help but ask Wen Fan, "When does the pop-up store open? Aren't you going to prepare a menu?"

Wen Fan wiped his knife: "No need... They said it would be better to use the previous dishes for the encore."

I don't know how much information Director Hao collected, but the documents he took out clearly listed the dishes that Wenji had previously been very popular with.

Claypot rice, braised beef brisket, salted egg yolk meatballs, sesame flatbread with vegetables, osmanthus persimmon cake, fresh meat pie, spicy beef noodles, mashed potatoes with sauce...

Director Hao even suggested holding a vote.

"We should let the tourists choose for themselves; that way, we can also promote the products."

Wen Fan took out his phone and showed it to Han Lulu: "Look, the voting has started now."

Han Lulu exclaimed enthusiastically, "I'll vote too!"

****

The event held by the cultural and tourism sector in City X quickly became a trending topic, with over 30,000 people voting in just half a day.

Below are all kinds of "virtual foodies".

[XueX: I'm torn between egg yolk dumplings and beef noodles. My decision-making is killing me! Why is there a single-choice option in the poll?!]

[Bai Xiaoda: Exactly! I want to eat every single one! I was so hungry after watching the videos!]

[Chengcheng: Osmanthus-flavored persimmon cake! My dream cake! I'd book a flight to X city right now just for this cake!]

[Master: No, why is our braised beef brisket so unpopular? I refuse to accept this! I'm going to find people to campaign for our beef brisket right now.]

[Rabbit: I've already called the hotline in City X. You guys are all too naive. Why bother with the votes? I'll just give you all my suggestions!]

[Second Sister: How could we possibly serve them all? Didn't they say that production capacity is limited? The pop-up store can only offer a dozen or so dishes at most... You know, Wenji has changed its menu a lot in the past two years, not even counting the dishes from their private kitchens.]

[Halo: Draw your swords, everyone! I, Egg Yolk Dumpling, will definitely be among the dozen or so spots!]

[Hissen: Oh my god, Su Tiantian voted too!]

...

After casting her vote during a break from filming, Su Tiantian looked intently at her agent.

The agent understood her meaning without her saying a word, and rolled her eyes: "Do you know that after this movie ends, you'll be joining the next one right away?"

Su Tiantian: "Then I can go in the middle, they said there's a Qixi Festival event."

Su Tiantian even came up with a brilliant idea: "Why don't you go and talk to them, and I'll do some publicity? It's free."

Agent: "Forget about it. What time is it? There's no time to talk about cooperation now."

"Then let me go. I'll go eat secretly and then come back secretly."

"...No way! You said you'd go eat there once when it opened, but you stayed for two days and came back with six pounds! If you keep eating like this, are you planning to change your career path?"

Su Tiantian muttered, "Don't bring up the past. I came back to lose weight, didn't I?"

Although the process of losing weight is very painful, Su Tiantian would rather eat all the delicious food before losing weight, just because she thinks about eating delicious food.

Before the agent could say anything more, the phone rang. He turned to answer it, but when he came back, he had a strange look on his face.

Su Tiantian was determined to keep pestering him.

Agent: "Never mind, the director just called... They've finalized the recording of another episode."

Su Tiantian instantly smiled as if she had won the grand prize.

"That means..."

Agent: "...You're lucky."

****

The voting for Wenji became increasingly lively. After Su Tiantian joined in, her fans also started voting. In just three days, a total of more than 500,000 people participated.

With so many popular snacks and dishes selected, Director Hao has been walking with a smug sense of pride lately, feeling that he truly had foresight this time. The publicity effect of the vote far exceeded expectations. And with summer vacation approaching, one can only imagine how lively the pop-up store opening soon and this year's even richer cultural festival will be.

"There's also a variety show coming to record, scheduled for next week. We won't clear the set then, so everyone can participate."

This was an unexpected surprise. Unlike the previous time when they had to pull strings to invite people over, this time the people came of their own accord. With the success of the previous visit, Director Hao was more experienced this time.

After rushing to meet the deadline in just a few days, Wenji's pop-up store opened.

A stall was set up at the entrance, with osmanthus persimmon cakes and meat-filled sesame cakes each occupying one side. Inside the shop, a stove was set up, and the menu was hung in a prominent place. The shop was divided into two sides, with one side empty and displaying various gift boxes.

Crayfish, fried shrimp balls, crispy fish...

Wenmu displayed her latest product: steamed wontons. Several upright freezers were filled to the brim with frozen steamed wontons.

The cold chain for wontons and dumplings is already quite mature, and Wen Fan's steamed dumplings are even more convenient. Frozen products are not much different from fresh ones. He uses eggs to make the dough, shrimp and meat filling, and steams them all in one pot. Wen Fan's family hasn't had time to make breakfast lately, so they've been using these to make do.

These are easy to eat. Just steam them for about ten minutes after the water boils. The steamed wontons have a yellow outer skin, are round and plump, and have a crisp, bouncy, and juicy meat filling.

Upon seeing this on Wenji's menu, Director Hao went back and contacted the courier company to set up a branch not far from Wenji's.

"Prepare plenty of ice packs then."

Sending goods via cold chain in this weather is not a good option. The courier company was initially skeptical, but after Wenji opened, they were convinced.

"Let's send more refrigerated trucks to speed things up."

...

Shi Xiaolei got off the bus and returned to this city that didn't bring her much joy. Her state of mind was quite different from two years ago.

There is a shuttle bus from the station that goes directly to Qingtang Mountain. Shi Xiaolei spent two yuan to take it and arrived at the foot of the mountain before noon.

At the foot of the mountain, electric tricycles with uniform colors were calling out to pick up customers. Shi Xiaolei cautiously asked the price first.

The other party tapped on the spray-painted mark next to the tricycle: "Here, five yuan per ride, clearly marked price."

The five-yuan price tag is followed by a list of complaint hotlines, clearly to prevent people from overcharging and ripping off customers.

Shi Xiaolei felt much more at ease. Once she got in the vehicle, she realized that this electric tricycle should strictly be called a sightseeing vehicle. The expansive view from the back seat made Shi Xiaolei unable to resist taking out her phone to record it.

Upon seeing this, the driver chuckled and slowed down, then started chatting with her.

"You came here for Wenji too, right?"

A warm feeling welled up in Shi Xiaolei's heart. Two years ago, when Wen Fan gave her brown sugar water by the roadside, she never imagined that Wen's business would be so successful now.

"Yes, I just don't know if we can still get a table now."

"It's a bit risky now, he has a lot of family members! But you can check if there are any sesame seed cakes left at the entrance. If you really miss them, don't worry, there are local specialty shops and snack shops all around. There's a good dried tofu shop, and another one selling pork cracklings, which are also local specialties. Especially the freshly baked ones, they're incredibly delicious..."

Shi Xiaolei felt a little hungry after hearing him say that. She thought to herself that it was a good thing she hadn't eaten anything in the car. It seemed that there were plenty of delicious foods to eat in Qingtang Mountain now.

"Oh, right, there are also celebrities coming today."

Shi Xiaolei: "...Who is it?"

Driver: "That show? They came here to film Carp Village before, and they're back again. It's so lively. There were about ten cars in the morning. I wonder what they're filming today."

Shi Xiaolei was a little excited. She quite liked Su Tiantian, and now she might be able to run into her.

After getting off the sightseeing bus, Shi Xiaolei went straight to Wenji.

When they arrived at their destination, she realized what the driver meant by "a lot of people."

There was a long queue outside Wenji's, as there weren't many seats, so many people bought their food and ate it outside. The aroma wafted through the air, attracting even more people to line up. Several times, Wenji's staff came to tell them that they couldn't buy any more, but the customers weren't discouraged.

"I'm queuing up to buy steamed wontons."

Even without fish and shrimp, everyone is happy to spend their time outside.

In particular, Wenji would occasionally give out something, sometimes drinks or herbal tea, and sometimes various snacks.

Shi Xiaolei glanced at the queue and ultimately decided to buy a serving of pork cracklings and eat them while waiting in line.