Chapter 48: Braised Duck Head. (First update)...
As soon as the business was over for the day, the family of three collapsed in their chairs. Even the maid who was in charge of washing dishes and cleaning was exhausted. She came out of the kitchen and looked at the three of them hesitantly.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Lin Sen quickly stuffed thirty coins into her hand and said, "Thank you for your hard work today, Madam Zhao. This thirty coins is a bonus from our shop!"
"Huh? This..."
“This is extra.”
Upon hearing this, Mother Zhao unconsciously clenched the thirty cents tightly, feeling very hesitant.
She knew that she was old and not in good physical condition and it was difficult to find a job, so she came to this new shop after being introduced by someone. However, she did not expect that the business would be so good, and she was so tired that her back and waist ached.
She wanted to leave, but the bonus was thirty cents, plus the original sixty cents, so she could earn ninety cents for two hours' work, which was much better than elsewhere.
Mother Zhao swallowed the farewell words that were on the tip of her tongue, responded honestly, and went back to the kitchen to continue cleaning.
As she sat on a bench washing dishes, she couldn't help but think of the scene where many servants from the official family were scrambling and arguing over a roast duck, and she couldn't help feeling envious.
Mother Zhao touched her purse, shook her head and stopped thinking about it. She was still focused on saving money.
After she had cleaned the dishes, swept the stove, filled the water tank, and mopped the floor, she lifted the curtain and said, "Miss, I'm done."
"Excuse me, Madam Zhao." Lin Zhi walked into the kitchen and took a look around, feeling quite satisfied. Madam Zhao, though a bit older, was a very clean person, as her attire suggested, and she was very careful with her work.
She took a piece of oil paper, wrapped a few braised duck heads and feet, and handed them to Mother Zhao: "Take these back and eat them."
"Huh? How can this be so embarrassing?"
"It's okay, it's not worth much money. I just made it to satisfy my craving." Lin Zhi said with a smile.
In fact, she had no intention of making braised food at all, but she roasted too much duck today, and the duck heads, duck feet and duck offal filled up the whole pot, which she couldn't throw away and waste.
Originally, these braised dishes could be used as gifts for roast goose, or sold together with the other dishes, but Linzhi had not prepared them in advance and only started making them around noon.
Once the duck heads and feet are braised, the business is closed and you can only keep them for yourself or give them away.
After hearing what Linzhi said, Mother Zhao accepted it and left happily.
Lin Zhi also put the braised food on a plate and took it out: "Come, let's try it too."
Seeing their daughter bring the braised food, Lin Sen and his wife sat up with difficulty and said, "Today is really... very tiring."
"You were worried about the official opening."
"Who knew that roast duck could sell so well?" Lin Sen shook his head repeatedly, finding it unbelievable.
In his opinion, this roast duck should be as unknown as his own Chongyang cake, with only occasional customers buying one or two.
Only after a long time and accumulating a certain number of old customers can you take off and soar into the sky.
What’s the result? What’s the result?
The Chongyang Cake is still being eaten by no one, but the roast duck here has just been patted and has quickly flown to the heavenly palace.
Lin Sen thought back to what had happened today, and felt a sharp pain all over his body. He quickly collected his thoughts, picked up half the duck head, examined it from side to side, and then took a bite from the top of the skull: "Hmm... Hmm? Hmm!"
Three different tones were enough to express his shock.
Lin Sen didn't bother to describe it. He squinted his eyes and savored it carefully. The duck brain was soft and mellow, melting in his mouth, and the duck bones had been thoroughly cooked after a long period of stewing. Except for the top of the skull and the beak, the rest of the bones could be chewed into small pieces, and the aroma of the marinade could be swallowed into his stomach without causing any waste.
“Wow…it’s delicious!”
"That's for sure." Lin Zhi's lips curled up, unabashedly modest. This braising soup recipe was something she'd devised in a previous life, winning a gold medal. It was later spotted by several chain stores, who were looking to acquire it.
When preparing it today, she used her original outstanding taste to upgrade and modify the broth again, and even the last bit of flaw was completely covered up.
More than 20 kinds of spices are intertwined with the flavor of the rich broth. After being simmered over low heat for several hours, they are completely integrated into a rich and fragrant stew.
To use the words of later generations, this braised food would be delicious even if you put the soles of your shoes in it!
Upon hearing this, Song Jiaoniang's eyes swept across the braised food in front of her. After hesitating for a moment, she picked up a plump duck paw.
She took a sip and exclaimed, "It smells so good!"
The duck feet are soft and sticky after stewing. You don’t need to use your teeth to separate the meat and bones, just suck gently with your lips.
The skin is smooth and crisp, the duck tendons are chewy and elastic, and the collagen melts in your mouth as you take a bite, filling your mouth with a mellow flavor.
“Mmm, delicious!”
"Let me try this too!"
"Oh, oh, where's the duck blood and duck offal?" Song Jiaoniang was halfway through her meal when she looked at the duck heads and feet on the plate and couldn't help but think of the rest of the duck offal. "I saw you struggling for a long time just now."
It’s not that she is greedy, or that she only likes duck offal, but the main reason why Linzhi is busy today is to deal with these offal.
Because it is easy to produce a fishy smell during processing, in order to avoid the other dishes being contaminated by the smell, Linzhi only goes to the yard to process it when he is free.
Song Jiaoniang saw with her own eyes her daughter boiling duck blood in hot water that had not been boiled, then washing the duck offal with flour and stewing them in the pot, which took a lot of effort.
But now these things are not seen, which makes Song Jiaoniang very surprised.
"Those are for making other dishes later." Lin Zhi kept it a secret for a while, but when she saw Song Jiaoniang wanted to ask more, she changed the subject and asked curiously, "Dad, how many people just ordered roast duck for tomorrow?"
It was noisy and chaotic just now.
When Lin Zhi heard the noise, she couldn't help but lift the curtain to take a look. She saw Lin Sen surrounded by dozens of people. The scene made her shake her head.
"I was so busy collecting money and writing out the bills that I didn't count them carefully." Lin Sen put down the braised food in his hand, wiped his hands with a handkerchief, and took out a stack of bills from the counter: "Here, it's all here."
"Let me count." Song Jiaoniang volunteered and took the stack of invoices. "Have you paid the deposit for all of these?"
"Yes, I paid a hundred coins each."
"Let me see..." Song Jiaoniang looked at the pictures one by one, "half, half, one, two, half, one..."
At first, Song Jiaoniang was full of energy, then she gradually lowered her voice, and in the end it was unbelievable.
Lin Sen was not in a much better condition. As he listened to his wife counting, he felt something was wrong.
When he finished counting them all, he felt terrible: "Wait? Three, thirty-five!?"
This is a pre-order, so the shop needs to have at least ten... no! Twenty.
That means tomorrow—
Lin Sen's face turned pale: "We have to roast at least fifty-five?"
Then why do other businesses? Just run a roast duck shop!
Song Jiaoniang also felt that this number was a bit exaggerated. She hesitantly comforted Lin Sen: "Maybe everyone is still in high spirits. In a few days, it will be..."
Lin Sen quickly reached out to cover his wife's mouth and spat three times on the ground: "So much good, so much wonderful. We are in business, we should hope for good business!"
"I sell fifty, maybe a hundred a day, hehe." Lin Sen's face flushed as he spoke carefully, "The roast duck sells for eighty wen per pound, but a duck is only fifty wen. If I buy more, it's even cheaper. I can make three times as much. If the braised food my daughter makes can also sell..."
Lin Sen chuckled, "Just from the roast duck, we can make a net profit of five strings of cash a day. If we count the other miscellaneous items as one string of cash, we can still make seven strings of cash. That's two hundred and ten strings of cash a month!"
"Four hundred and twenty strings of cash in two months!"
"Two thousand five hundred strings of cash a year!!!"
The more Lin Sen and his wife calculated, the more excited they became. Their faces turned red and they were so excited that they couldn't control themselves.
Lin Zhi looked at her parents speechlessly, pouring cold water on them. "Not to mention that diners won't eat roast duck every day, if it really makes this much money, ten roast duck shops will open in the market within a month."
In later generations, people often opened shops nearby when they saw that the products in the same category were doing well. Although the times were different, people's hearts were the same and there would be no difference.
"You're just a kid who loves to throw cold water on others!" Song Jiaoniang pouted and complained, "Our Sister Zhi is so amazing, who can compare to you?"
Lin Zhi rolled her eyes. Just two months ago, Song Jiaoniang was so worried, she thought the moment she stepped foot through the family door, she'd be starving, perhaps forced to weave and embroider for a living. Now, she's so proud.
But I don't underestimate the abilities of people nowadays, nor do I think that my tongue is the only one in the world that is so sensitive.
Lin Zhi said helplessly: "All I can do is do better and do it faster than others."
Song Jiaoniang looked bewildered after hearing her daughter's words. She then exchanged glances with Lin Sen: Is he so cocky? Isn't Mingming Zhijie's words even more arrogant?
Song Jiaoniang hesitated for a moment before muttering to herself against Lin Sen's shoulder, "What do you mean by 'one step faster than others'? Doesn't that mean everyone else can only follow her and eat her ass?"
Lin Sen looked up at the sky: "..."
Song Jiaoniang didn't get a response, so she poked Lin Sen's arm and then twisted it.
Lin Sen's eyes twitched, and he tried to lower his voice, "Hmm... maybe Sister Zhi likes to keep a low profile? Enjoying the pleasure of playing the pig and eating the tiger?"
Song Jiaoniang: (oДO)?
Listen to what he said, it seems so arrogant!
Linzhi could never have imagined that the words she thought were encouragement to herself to move forward bravely were actually a display of absolute confidence in the eyes of her parents.
She returned to the kitchen, sorted out the necessary ingredients, and then lifted the curtain and went out: "I'm going to the market to buy some things."
"Do you want dad to buy it for you?"
"No need? I don't have anything heavy. I just want to take a stroll."
"Then Mommy will go with you!" Song Jiaoniang pushed Lin Sen aside and took her daughter's hand gracefully. "It's been a long time since we went shopping together. The last two times you went with your daddy."
Linzhi originally wanted to say that last time their whole family went to Pan’s shop and other shops to buy Chongyang cakes, but seeing the expectation in Song Jiaoniang’s eyes, she immediately swallowed her words and happily agreed.
The mother and daughter left Lin Sen to look after the shop, and went to the market hand in hand happily.
Since she was out with her mother, Linzhi was not in a hurry to go to the shop to buy things, but strolled along the market.
"Just a month, look, they've changed their location again." Song Jiaoniang pointed to the shop in the corner and whispered in Lin Zhi's ear, "It was a mixed soup shop last time, but now it's a roasted meat shop. I heard from Madam Yu that they used to sell fried quail in the front."
"This location is not very good. If you want long-term business, you have to rely on regular customers." Lin Zhi saw the problem at a glance. There was a two-story shop at the corner of this shop. When the sun set, the shadow just covered the small shop, and it could not be seen without careful observation.
Later, when the big shop was brightly lit, the location of that shop was like the shadow of the big shop, as inconspicuous as it could be.
It just so happens that everything from stir-fried quail to offal soup to roasted meat is done in the evening or even at the night market.
Most shops are bought and sold during the day. If the person who takes over does not pay attention to this problem, it will be difficult to get the goods.
Linzhi looked at the empty barbecue shop and thought that this shop might not last much longer.
At this moment, Song Jiaoniang pulled her sleeve and said, "Come on, let's go over there and take a look!"
Linzhi thought Song Jiaoniang had seen something, but when she looked up, she was immediately helpless. It turned out to be a ready-made clothing shop. That's what she said.
"mother--"
"Let's look at some new clothes. You've been wearing old clothes in the shop every day." Song Jiaoniang shamelessly dragged her daughter inside. "You're at an age when you love to look pretty the most, right? Why don't you like pretty clothes as much as I do?"
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