Chapter 125 Sesame Paste's Blessed Marriage
Crab roe oil is priced at three ounces per jar.
Sure enough, once the price was announced, even though some diners were so tempted by the aroma of the crab roe oil, they couldn't bring themselves to buy it.
But as Manager Lu said, there are plenty of people in Lin'an Prefecture who are not short of money, so there is no shortage of crab roe oil to sell.
Shopkeeper Lu is a regular customer. He bought a jar yesterday and brought it home, intending for the whole family to try it. However, his sons, who are at the age where they can eat a lot, finished it off in no time, while he himself didn't get to taste much. He was very disappointed.
In addition to selling whole jars of crab roe oil, Lin Yao also makes crab roe oil noodles and rice.
Early this morning, Manager Lu arrived at Baiwei City with his silver, intending to buy several jars to store.
As soon as I stepped into the store, I noticed a new wooden sign on the second floor that read "Rolling Crab Roe Noodles" and "Rolling Crab Roe Rice." My eyes lit up immediately. Now I don't have to fight with the kids at home for it!
He strode to the counter and loudly ordered the clerk, "Reserve me five jars of crab roe oil first, and also a bowl of rice and a bowl of noodles!"
The noodles and rice were very easy to make, and the meals were served in no time.
In a white porcelain bowl, golden crab roe oil evenly coats each grain of rice, while the noodles on the side are sprinkled with bright green scallions. The aroma of crab mixed with the fragrance of rice and noodles wafts straight to your nose.
Manager Lu picked up his chopsticks and took a big bite of the mixed rice. The rich crab flavor exploded on his tongue, making it even more delicious than when he fought over it at home yesterday.
Crab roe noodles are also exceptionally delicious. A spoonful of golden crab roe is placed on top of the chewy noodles, sprinkled with a little bright green scallion, and the steam rising from the top is truly irresistible.
The waiter quickly cooked the plain noodles, drained them, and put them into a warmed porcelain bowl. He then scooped a spoonful of crab roe oil onto the noodles and quickly stirred them with long chopsticks.
The golden grease coats each noodle, instantly transforming the originally plain noodles into a glossy and vibrant dish.
Manager Lu picked up a mouthful with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. After chewing it a couple of times, his eyes lit up: "Wonderful! The chewy noodles are wrapped in the rich and fresh crab roe, without any fishy smell. It's much more fragrant than the crab meat I mix at home!"
Perhaps it was the restaurant's exquisite control of the cooking temperature, or perhaps it was the pleasure of eating alone that satisfied his cravings, but Manager Lu found this meal even more delicious and refreshing.
He ate heartily, leaving hardly any noodles behind. After wiping his mouth, he asked the waiter to pack up the five jars of crab roe oil.
This booming trend lasted for two months. As the weather turned cooler, crabs could no longer be found in the market, and crab roe was taken off the shelves.
Although the crab season is over, Lin Yao is still busy.
The weather is getting colder, and the season for eating mutton is just around the corner.
One day, Lin Yao stared at the fresh mutton that had just been purchased for the kitchen, and soon she had a new idea.
If you ask what goes best with lamb hot pot, it has to be sesame sauce!
The sesame paste is rich and fragrant, and it is perfect for mixing with cold dishes, dipping lamb, or seasoning noodles. It is the perfect substitute for crab roe oil as Baiweicheng's signature sauce for autumn and winter.
When making sesame paste, the ingredients are of utmost importance.
Lin Yao bought a batch of perfectly ripe white sesame seeds, with plump and uniform grains, and no mold or spoilage whatsoever.
She first soaked the sesame seeds in clean water for ten minutes, skimming off all the chaff, empty skins, and impurities floating on the surface. Then she rinsed the remaining plump sesame seeds three times with clean water until the water was clear. After that, she scooped them out, drained them, and spread them out on a bamboo tray to dry completely.
Roasting is a key step in determining the aroma of sesame paste.
Lin Yao poured the dried sesame seeds into a large iron pot, kept the fire low throughout, and stirred them constantly with a custom-made long-handled wooden spatula.
The sesame seeds crackled as they were stir-fried, releasing a slow, fragrant aroma.
The burnt sesame seeds tasted bitter, so she dared not be distracted for a moment, constantly turning them over to ensure they were heated properly.
The sesame seeds were roasted until they turned a light yellow color. Lin Yao grabbed a handful and crushed them with a gentle squeeze in her palm. She tasted one, and her mouth was filled with a rich, roasted aroma. She then immediately extinguished the firewood.
The roasted sesame seeds should be removed immediately and spread on a clean bamboo tray to cool quickly, to prevent residual heat from causing the pot to burn.
Once the sesame seeds have completely cooled, they can be ground.
Lin Yao poured the sesame seeds into the hole at the top of the millstone, then gently patted the donkey to make it start the millstone.
As the stone mill slowly turned, the delicate sesame paste slowly seeped out from the gaps in the millstone, its color a bright brownish-yellow. The rich aroma of sesame made Lin Yao unable to resist taking a deep breath of the fragrance.
Lin Yao stood to the side, inhaling deeply the aroma of sesame paste in the air, watching the apprentices carefully scoop the paste into jars, feeling delighted.
God knows how much she loves sesame paste. With sesame paste, she can make spicy hot pot, spicy mixed salad, cold noodles, and even Qianlong cabbage...
Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.
Baiwei City's mutton hot pot restaurant quickly added new dishes, and every table of diners who ordered hot pot received a small bowl of freshly made sesame sauce for free.
At first, some people were curious about what the brownish-yellow sauce was, but when the tender lamb was coated in the rich sesame sauce and entered their mouths, the aroma of oil and sesame intertwined on the tongue, and the fresh but not greasy taste instantly impressed the diners.
The praise spread with the comings and goings of diners, and within a few days, it was known throughout Lin'an Prefecture that Baiwei City had introduced a new sauce that was a perfect match for mutton.
Many diners have come from the west and north of the city just to taste the flavor of sesame sauce with mutton, making the lunch and dinner markets at Baiwei City much more lively than usual.
In the past few days, seeing the endless stream of customers coming to the shop for sesame paste, Lin Yao knew the time had come.
She stood on the second floor and looked down, her gaze sweeping over the remaining empty stalls.
When the first batch of apprentices graduated from the culinary academy, the number was small, just enough to support the operation of the current stalls.
She was unwilling to hire outside vendors, partly because they were difficult to manage, and partly because she was afraid it would ruin the quality of Baiwei City. So she kept these stalls empty, waiting for subsequent apprentices to fill them.
Now that sesame paste has made a name for itself, it's time to make use of these vacant slots.
After closing that evening, Lin Yao selected three quick-witted and fast-learning apprentices and called them to the kitchen.
She took out the spices she had prepared in advance, such as dogwood, Sichuan peppercorns, and star anise, and taught them how to stir-fry the spicy soup base.
Modern mala tang (a type of spicy hot pot) often uses beef bone broth as its base, but since cattle cannot be slaughtered at will these days, she uses chicken broth instead, which is also extremely delicious.
For several days in a row, Lin Yao and her apprentices were busy making soup and stir-frying base ingredients, keeping them extremely busy.
One of the apprentices complained that the simmering time was too long and secretly turned up the heat. Although Lin Yao saw this, she did not stop him. She waited until the soup was cooked and then scooped up a spoonful of soup for him to taste.
Seeing his face flushed red, Lin Yao said, "If the heat is too high, the soup will become cloudy and the flavor will dissipate. Both Mala Tang and Mala Ban look simple, but there are many tricks to making them. You can't rush them."
Seven days later, two adjacent stalls on the first floor of Baiwei City near the entrance officially opened.
On the left hangs a wooden sign that reads "Mala Ban" (Spicy Mixed Vegetables), and on the right, "Mala Tang" (Spicy Hot Pot). Dozens of fresh ingredients, from seasonal vegetables and bean products to various meatballs, are neatly arranged in front of the stall.
Long queues quickly formed at the two stalls. The spiciness of the spicy soup base mixed with the rich sesame sauce mingled in the air, attracting passersby to stop and watch. Many people took a number and joined the queue, which stretched from the stalls all the way to the entrance of Baiwei City.
Lin Yao was going downstairs to check the food supplies when she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure as she reached the top of the stairs.
The man was dressed in a dark blue outfit, with a tall and straight figure. He was standing on tiptoe, looking towards the spicy mixed noodles stall. His profile was much more defined than I remembered, and he had lost the baby fat and immaturity of his youth.
"Bai Yi?" Lin Yao asked, slightly surprised.
The man turned around at the sound of her voice, a hearty smile spreading across his face, and strode forward: "Lin Yao! I've finally found you!"
The person who arrived was Bai Yi. After not seeing him for several years, his demeanor had become much more composed, and he did indeed look like the young master of a martial arts school.
The two exchanged a few pleasantries and learned that Bai's father had led the martial arts school's staff to the front lines with General Xu, where he had injured his leg and was now confined to a wheelchair. Therefore, he was now in charge of managing the martial arts school.
I finally managed to steal a moment from my busy schedule these past few days to catch up with old friends.
Seeing that he was still holding a number tag, Lin Yao smiled and asked, "Are you here for mala tang too?"
Bai Yi nodded. "Yesterday I went to the restaurant in Qingquan Town, and Xiaoyu told me that you opened a restaurant in Lin'an, so I rushed over to show my support."
As he spoke, his eyes darted around: "I asked for directions all the way from the city gate, and many passersby said that the new sauce at Baiwei City is amazing with mutton, and that there are also limited quantities of roast duck and roast goose every day. I wonder if I'll be able to eat them today."
"Look at what you're saying, do you think you can't eat here?" Lin Yao laughed heartily, her tone cheerful. "Don't even mention roast duck and roast goose, you can have as much as you want!"
She asked the waiter to bring Bai Yi's spicy hot pot to the second floor, and then led Bai Yi upstairs, saying, "It's quieter upstairs, let's eat and chat."
Upon reaching the second floor, considering Bai Yi's appetite, Lin Yao instructed the kitchen to prepare a table full of dishes. These included roast duck and roast goose, which Bai Yi had been longing for, as well as mutton hot pot, a recent popular dish from Baiwei City. Several new dishes made with sesame sauce were also added: braised pork knuckle with sesame powder and cabbage with sesame sauce. Even three desserts were served.
Soon the dishes were served one after another, and Bai Yi didn't stand on ceremony. He picked up his chopsticks and ate heartily, praising each dish as he tasted it, his face full of satisfaction.
After finishing the dishes on the table, he held his teacup to aid digestion, gazing at the street scene outside the window, and suddenly sighed, "I kind of miss the taste of your Eight Treasure Duck. That year on Laba Festival, a few of us took the kids to eat Eight Treasure Duck, and Ah Heng even fought with me for the last piece of duck meat."
Lin Yao smiled upon hearing this, a hint of nostalgia in her eyes, and nodded gently: "How could I not remember? He didn't manage to snatch you away that time."
"That's right." Bai Yi's tone was tinged with melancholy. "Speaking of which, it would be great if Aheng were here too. It's been so long since we've all gotten together."
He seemed to suddenly remember something, turned his head to look at Lin Yao, and said casually, "By the way, I heard from my father that His Majesty seems to intend to bestow a marriage upon Aheng, and I wonder which family's daughter he has chosen."
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Author's Note: Bai Yi: Brother, my mission is complete, over.
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