Shopkeeper Liang looked at the piece of meat in front of him with some suspicion, but based on his trust in Su Qingluan's cooking skills, he picked up the piece of meat and tasted it.
Then my eyes lit up: not only did it not have the beany smell I had imagined, but it actually had a unique burnt aroma that was characteristic of deep-frying!
Su Qingluan saw the change in Shopkeeper Liang's expression from suspicion to surprise and finally to enjoyment. She smiled and narrowed her eyes: "Wait for me to process it a little bit and let everyone taste it."
As she said this, she did not stop her hands. She waited until the oil temperature rose again, then put the meat pieces back into the pot to fry again. After a while, when the surface of the meat pieces showed a deeper layer of brown than the previous light yellow, Su Qingluan knew that the temperature for frying was almost right.
Su Qingluan put the oil used to fry the meat back into the barrel that Manager Liang used to store soybean oil. She left only a little base oil, crushed a few cloves of garlic, chopped them into minced garlic, and put them into the oil to stir-fry.
But after stir-frying for a few times, the garlic aroma will be stimulated.
Seeing this, Su Qingluan added mung bean starch to the water and re-prepared half a bowl of water starch. However, unlike before when she filtered out the water, this time she directly stirred the starch thoroughly and dispersed it in the water. While there was no precipitation, she poured it all into the pot and added a little soy sauce to adjust the color.
When the soup gradually heated up and the starch inside became gel-like, Su Qingluan began to stir the sauce with a long-handled ladle until it gradually thickened and became a paste. Su Qingluan quickly poured the fried meat pieces on the side into the pot.
The iron pots used in Hongfulou are much larger than modern large spoons - because the earthen stoves are wider than modern gas stoves, so the diameter of the iron pots is also larger.
Therefore, the iron pots in Hongfulou usually have double-ear handles, which makes it much more convenient for Su Qingluan, who has not yet developed the strength to flip the wok in this life as she did in her previous life.
She first picked up two rags and placed them on the handle which was hot from the heat. Then she used both hands to lift the iron pot. Then she used the strength of her arms and wrists to gently push the iron pot forward and lift it up.
"Swish!" The meat inside turned into a wave of burnt yellow meat, tumbling in the air along the curved wall of the pot for a moment, and then fell into the pot again.
After doing this several times, the thick soup had evenly coated every piece of meat, and looking at the bottom of the pot, there was almost no soup left.
Some of the young kitchen helpers who had figured out the trick secretly gave Su Qingluan a thumbs-up—
"It's collected the juice perfectly!"
"And there wasn't enough thickening sauce on the meat, so the meat didn't leak out!"
"The temperature for thickening the sauce is so precise!"
As the head chef, Xu Yuanwei could naturally see it more clearly than anyone else, but his expression was very strange. He didn't look happy, nor unhappy, but rather - indescribably complicated.
Shopkeeper Liang noticed Xu Yuanwei's expression, looked up and asked him what was wrong, but he shook his head and ignored him.
Su Qingluan didn't pay attention to what others were talking about. She just put the meat slices covered with starch sauce on the plate and brought it over again: "Uncle Liang, come and try it. If you think it's good, let the other chefs try it too."
With the piece of meat as a foundation, Manager Liang was even more confident this time. He directly asked the people nearby to come over and try Su Qingluan's cooking skills.
As for himself, he was the first to "get the moon first because he was close to the water". He took a chopstick and put it in his mouth. Then his eyes lit up -
Unlike the dry fried pork chunks just now, the meat slices coated with a layer of thickening sauce give the taste and flavor a more layered feel.
The tiny particles of garlic are evenly dispersed on the surface of the meat. The high-temperature frying almost completely eliminates the spicy and pungent taste of raw garlic, but retains the unique flavor of garlic. The granular texture of the minced garlic also adds another layer of taste to the meat.
The originally crispy fried meat was thickened, and although there was a layer of crystal clear light brown thickening sauce on the outside, it did not affect the crispy texture of the meat inside.
In terms of taste, the garlicky aroma of the sauce is tinged with the salty freshness of soy sauce, and the spicy and unique flavor of the spice powder added when marinating the pork makes it even more irresistible.
When everyone had divided up the plate of garlic-flavored pork slices and were staring at her eagerly, Su Qingluan laughed and said, "Has everyone forgotten? I was just demonstrating how to use soybean oil to remove or mask the beany smell."
So having another plate of garlic-flavored pork slices is absolutely impossible.
While most of the helpers only thought about eating, Shopkeeper Liang was more thoughtful. "My dear niece, this dish is salty, fresh, crispy and fragrant. I see everyone likes it. How about adding this dish to our 'collaboration'?"
Su Qingluan nodded: "Okay, I will come over tomorrow to sign the contract with Uncle Liang." She can make money just by providing a recipe - although there is a time limit - and for the time being she is quite satisfied with this situation.
After all, although opening your own shop is a good thing, it also depends on various luck and circumstances - for example, whether there is a vacant shop that you can use to run your business.
Su Qingluan made a dish of fried pork slices, which finally reassured Manager Liang that he really intended to use soybean oil to make delicious dishes, and not just to make do with soybean oil to light oil lamps due to his hard life. He even signed an extra recipe, and Su Qingluan expressed his satisfaction.
Although she had no particular affinity with winning the Qiaoguo lottery, Su Qingluan quietly called the boss aside before leaving and whispered, "Uncle Liang, I'm really curious about who the first prize winner is. Could you please keep an eye out for me?"
Shopkeeper Liang hadn't expected Su Qingluan to ask him to help keep an eye on this. He turned around and said, "It's rare for my dear niece to ask me for something, so I'll naturally do my best to keep an eye on it. But who won the jackpot, and why does my dear niece care so much?"
"..." How should she describe a girl's gossipy mentality to an ancient uncle?
After thinking for a moment, Su Qingluan gave a rather vague answer, but it wasn't exactly a lie: "...I'm just curious. If someone from our town were here, I'd go take a look. Maybe I'd get lucky and win the jackpot next time, too?"
Shopkeeper Liang actually still doesn't quite understand this kind of "curiosity" that comes from the gossip mentality, but he still agrees to help you pay attention to the appearance and identity of the winner.
Su Qingluan thanked Shopkeeper Liang and turned to return to Huaxi Village with her parents and her younger siblings. As for the heavy barrel of soybean oil, Su Guangfu was responsible for carrying it back.
Walking back, Su Qingluan kept her head down and said nothing.
Yang thought she was too tired, so she walked over and asked softly, "Daya, are you feeling unwell? Do you want to see a doctor?"
Su Qingluan finally came to her senses and said in confusion, "I feel like I've forgotten something..."
When she reached the door of her house, she finally realized what she had forgotten.
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