Chapter 167 Class Representative in the Diner

Kimchi takes a long time to pickle, so Zhao Xiaojing decided to make kimchi first.

Marinate the shredded cabbage with salt, pour out the water after half an hour, then add garlic cloves, chili peppers, wild peppercorns, and the water from the wild peppercorns.

While pickling the cabbage, boil some vinegar water, add white vinegar and a small amount of rock sugar, and bring to a boil.

Finally, put the cabbage into the kimchi jar that Zhao Xiaojing bought in the morning. After filling it up, press it down, pour in cooled vinegar water to completely cover the cabbage, then cover the jar and refrigerate it. The flavor will come out after about a day.

While the food was being pickled, the rain outside the window was getting heavier and heavier, and the sky was extremely dark. Zhao Xiaojing even turned on the kitchen light to illuminate the area.

Zhao Xiaojing took a look at the rain outside that was pouring like water, thought for a moment, and called Wen Jin.

"Eat, of course you should! Just do it, it's convenient, it's okay, they drove over.

Don't worry, I'll definitely ask them to drive slower. It's not that I force them to take it. They just said they have to eat it even if they have the knife. They feel uncomfortable if they don't!" Wen Jin said firmly over the phone.

I originally thought that due to the heavy rain, it would be unsafe for Wen Jin’s employees to drive over the elevated road to get the food, so I thought about canceling the order today since the food hadn’t been cooked yet anyway.

After receiving Wen Jin's firm answer, Zhao Xiaojing no longer insisted. She washed her hands and prepared 33 meals. She also boiled a large pot of boiling hot ginger cola to accompany the order and put it into the takeaway cups she usually used to sell sugar soup.

Just as half past eleven arrived, two young men who were getting food rushed into the store holding umbrellas, but the rain was so heavy that both of their shoulders were wet.

Seeing this, Zhao Xiaojing turned around and handed them two cups of ginger cola that were left after packing. "Drink it before you go. Get out of the cold. Don't catch a cold in this heavy rain."

Hey, be careful, it’s hot!

The two happily took it, but before they could hear anything, they both burned their tongues and gasped. "Hiss!"

"Sister, your shredded ginger is so delicious! Even though it's scalded, it's still so delicious!"

"That's right! It's delicious!" The two boys' eyes were filled with tears, but they still forced themselves to breathe and praise.

Zhao Xiaojing suppressed her laughter and took some paper to give to the two of them. She let Su Yuchen entertain them and went back into the kitchen.

As Xiaozhi expected, the rain continued throughout the afternoon and there were very few customers. Most of them were nearby residents or people passing by who came in to take shelter from the rain and have a meal.

Fortunately, Xiaozhi reminded them early, and the food preparation was not much, so the ingredients were not wasted much.

At 12:30, there were only two or three customers left in the restaurant. Zhao Xiaojing brought out some dishes and called out to Su Yuchen, "Eat!"

Zhao Xiaojing served a bowl of beef brisket with potatoes, fried some three fresh vegetables, and poured a glass of ginger cola for each of them.

The ginger cola was what was left after Wen Jin and the others packed up. Zhao Xiaojing reheated it before cooking. It was not so hot anymore, but still warm enough for drinking.

This ginger cola is a drink unique to Hubei Province. Boil the cola, add thinly shredded ginger, cook on medium heat for five minutes, then turn off the heat and simmer for a while.

Although it sounds a bit dark, the origin of Coca-Cola is actually in 19th-century pharmacies. It was introduced in the United States as a cold medicine. Later, the addictive cola ingredient was removed and it was sold as a beverage.

Ginger cola, on the other hand, emphasizes the combination of spicy and sweet flavors, and is mainly used to disperse the body's heat. After drinking it, you will sweat quickly and dispel wind and cold.

Although it may feel strange when you drink it for the first time, the more you drink it, the more you get addicted to it. After taking a sip, the throat feels spicy, and the unique sweetness of cola interweaves with each other in the taste buds, stimulating a unique taste that makes people feel endless aftertaste.

"It's delicious! Although I don't eat ginger, ginger cola must have a ginger taste!" Su Yuchen drank it in one breath, put down the cup happily, and imitated the customers in the store. He took a small spoon to scoop a few spoonfuls of potato and beef brisket soup and poured it on the rice and mixed it.

Seeing Su Yuchen mixing rice, the two customers nearby laughed. "Boss, this is unprofessional. There's not enough broth for the rice to absorb the flavor. You need to soak every grain of rice in broth to make it truly delicious!"

"Yeah, you guys eat it every day, how come your mixing is so amateurish!"

The two guests who were joking were neighbors. They had eaten here several times in the past few days and had gradually become familiar with the two of them.

From the moment Zhao Xiaojing served the dishes and called for dinner, the two guests stretched their necks to look over here. They saw that the boss was eating the same thing as them.

"Well, I just mixed a spoonful to taste it. Seeing the customers always mixing it with rice, I was jealous." Su Yuchen said with a smile.

"You are mixing beef soup with rice, so you need to pour a little more. The beef soup is not very strong, so you can taste the mixed aroma of beef and potatoes when pouring more on the rice. But it's different when mixing pork trotters with rice. You can only pour a spoonful of soup. If you pour too much, it will be too salty and a bit choking!" The diner summarized with gestures.

"As for Mapo Tofu, it's best to mix a small amount at a time. After half of the rice is finished, directly take the other half and then mix it with the whole plate of rice. The taste is just right!" added another diner.

Zhao Xiaojing and Su Yuchen looked at each other. They didn't expect that there were class representatives among the guests, and their summary was so accurate. They both laughed.

"How do you eat stir-fried pork liver?" Zhao Xiaojing asked with interest after seeing that the two of them were explaining the matter clearly.

"I don't eat liver. I don't know about this. He likes it. If he's older, let him tell me!" The guest on the left pointed to the guest sitting opposite him.

"Eat one bite of liver with one bite of rice! Or eat the liver with the green onions and then a bite of rice. The liver is delicious for its tender, crispy flavor; too much broth is not good."

"But speaking of pig's liver, I feel like the boss's cooking skills are improving rapidly. The past few times I've eaten this dish, I feel like the cooking is getting better and better." A liver-loving diner on the right wondered.

"You're definitely making progress. You've been practicing your fire skills intentionally. Your sense of taste is really sharp. You can even taste it!" Zhao Xiaojing couldn't help but admire.

In the past few days, Zhao Xiaojing has been studying the fire skills course in the learning module whenever she has free time. After a few days, she has studied for more than 400 hours and has completed half of the course.

Of course she could feel the progress, but it was so small that she thought others hadn't noticed. She hadn't expected that diners' tongues were so powerful.

"Hehe! Of course, I used to run two restaurants, which together amounted to ten years!" The diner on the right smiled, proudly picked up the last piece of spicy and sour chicken offal in the bowl, put it into his mouth, and savored it carefully.

"It's not just the pig's liver. The hot and sour chicken offal has also improved. However, if you want to cook the pig's liver well, you need to use the right heat, which is the most obvious when you eat it."

"Uncle, you are very knowledgeable. Why did the restaurant close down?" Su Yuchen asked curiously.

“Hey, in a restaurant, it looks like all you have to do is buy some vegetables and cook, but that’s not the case.” The uncle on the right said, curling his lips and putting down his chopsticks.