Although Su Qingluan's question was joking, Manager Liang saw through it clearly.
He smiled and shook his head. "I'm a novice in cooking, but Yuanwei is a master. He once said that without years of hard practice, my niece's knife skills wouldn't be so perfect. I wonder if my niece has studied under a master chef before?"
I have learned it, but I cannot tell the truth.
Su Qingluan complained in her heart, but laughed it off on the surface: "Maybe I learned it before I lost my memory, so I feel particularly familiar with the kitchen knife when I touch it."
Boss Liang heard Su Qingluan say this, so he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he instructed the outsiders, "Send in two servings of the new tea and snacks made yesterday."
After a while, a waiter came with two plates of plum-shaped pastries with a juicy green color and placed them in front of Su Qingluan and Manager Liang respectively.
Shopkeeper Liang pushed the plate in front of Su Qingluan slightly towards her and said attentively, "My dear niece, please try this. This is the tea snack that I improved according to the method you described. Try it and see if it suits your taste."
Su Qingluan nodded, picked up a piece of cake and took a bite.
Sure enough, the overpowering sweetness from last time was gone, replaced by a refreshing, slightly bitter taste with a hint of green tea fragrance. The slightly astringent taste was also made more delicate by the addition of lard.
When Su Qingluan looked up, she saw Shopkeeper Liang looking up at her expectantly.
Su Qingluan nodded: "After this improvement, it is not so sweet. Even people who don't like sweet things can eat it."
Shopkeeper Liang nodded in agreement. "For me, this slightly bitter pastry is just right. But, my niece is truly ingenious. How did you come up with the idea of using tea to flavor the pastry?"
Su Qingluan smiled and said, "Anything that is eaten can be used as a condiment. Since tea can be drunk, it can naturally be used as a condiment as well."
Then, she briefly gave a few examples of how ingredients can be used as seasonings, such as using hawthorn to make broth to remove the fishy smell, stuffing the fruit pulp with soy sauce and aged vinegar to ferment together to make the taste more mellow, etc.
While chatting, Shopkeeper Liang picked up a piece of snack and savored it carefully.
"This tea snack can be considered another new dish of yours," Shopkeeper Liang said with a smile. "Although the profit may not be very high, I will definitely not let your niece take away a penny."
When Su Qingluan gave the recipe, she didn't expect to make money from this snack - after all, she only suggested adding tea leaves to the original method to improve the sweet taste. In essence, it was still someone else's method, and it was completely her own "recipe", which she felt was not very authentic.
However, Boss Liang was very kind and straightforward. He gave her a share of the profit from the snacks without saying anything.
Su Qingluan knew the other party was well-intentioned and quickly thanked him. However, she was puzzled and asked, "I see Uncle Liang really likes this snack, so how can you be sure it won't be very profitable?"
Shopkeeper Liang took a sip of tea, smoothed the almost in his mouth, and explained, "After all, this tea snack is slightly bitter. Most customers in the market prefer sweets, and our taste is in the minority."
Su Qingluan thought about it for a moment and understood the reason: unlike the modern times where there is no shortage of sugar, for many people in this era, sugar is even a luxury that they may not have a bite of for a long time.
Therefore, in this era, except for the very wealthy, it is impossible for ordinary people to get tired of eating sugar, just like it is impossible for ordinary people in modern times to eat until they vomit at a "Michelin three-star" restaurant all day long.
It’s too expensive. I can’t afford it.
Since Hongfulou is located in a county town, it is destined to serve mostly local customers or diners who come here to do business, who are basically ordinary people rather than wealthy people.
In this case, there is bound to be a lack of customers who "don't want to eat sugar".
After figuring this out, Su Qingluan nodded: "In business, besides doing our best, we also have to leave it to fate. We just need to provide it, and the choice is up to the diners."
The two chatted for a while, and Su Qingluan looked up at the sun outside and was about to leave, but was stopped by Shopkeeper Liang: "My dear niece, please stay. I'll bring you some fresh goods!"
As he said that, Shopkeeper Liang hurried out, and went downstairs with a series of "dong dong dong" footsteps.
Su Qingluan slowly walked down to the first floor, passed the clerks who were busy running back and forth, stepped back, turned around and went behind the front counter where the accountant was.
The accountant was counting on his abacus while smiling and saying, "Thanks to Miss Su, the fish soup and thousand-thread rolls were very popular. This month's revenue has increased significantly."
Su Qingluan was also very happy: "Thanks to the fame of 'Hong Fu Lou' in this area, I have the space to display my skills."
Although this statement contains some commercial flattery, it is also partly true.
After all, "Hongfulou" is the largest and longest-running restaurant in the county. If the same food were sold elsewhere, it might not attract so many customers.
So it is equivalent to Hongfulou providing Su Qingluan with "advertising space" and Su Qingluan providing "finished product technology", and the two are mutually beneficial.
As he was speaking, Manager Liang came out carrying a basket belonging to the editor-in-chief and turned to go upstairs.
Su Qingluan hurried over and asked curiously, "Uncle Liang, what is this?"
Shopkeeper Liang pushed the basket forward and placed it in front of Su Qingluan. "Niece, what do you think this is?"
Upon hearing this, Su Qingluan curiously leaned over and looked into the bamboo basket, and actually saw a slender and lively fish inside.
Looking closely, the fish was covered with black patches like snake skin. At first glance, it looked as if the whole fish was black.
Su Qingluan's eyes lit up: "This... this is a black fish?"
"Hahaha..." Shopkeeper Liang nodded and laughed, "My dear niece, you really know what you're talking about. Today, a friend sent me a few snakehead fish, and specifically told me that these fish are ferocious by nature, but their meat is tender and boneless, making them very delicious. So I thought of giving one to my dear niece, and I won't let this delicacy go to waste!"
Su Qingluan knew that the snakehead fish had always been difficult to catch, due to its ferocious nature, regardless of the era. She was extremely grateful that Shopkeeper Liang had shared such a precious ingredient with her without blinking an eye.
Shopkeeper Liang looked at her and waved his hand nonchalantly, "My dear niece, you helped me solve such a big problem before. What's a fish to me?"
Su Qingluan stopped refusing and turned around to say goodbye with the fish.
This fish is really ferocious. It came all the way from Hongfulou to his stall, and half a day later he was carried all the way back home from the stall. The fish was very noisy and cheerful the whole time, as if it knew that its life was about to come to an end and wanted to act up until the last moment.
Because the fish was restless, Su Qingluan had a hard time carrying it, and her mind was full of thoughts about how to cook this troublesome fish.
After thinking about it, Su Qingluan came up with an idea.
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