Chapter 169 Crispy Pork Belly with Salted Egg Yolk Rice Dumplings, Braised Crucian Carp with Chopped Pork, Apricots...
The removal of crayfish from shelves has sparked discontent among many people, including Jiang Yuan.
She works at an advertising company, and her favorite thing to do during breaks from working overtime is to find delicious food.
Ever since she was blown away by the egg yolk dumplings at Wenji last year, she has gradually started going to Wenji every Friday night.
Sometimes I'm alone, and sometimes I'll invite my college roommate or colleague who works in the same city.
After visiting so many times, Jiang Yuan even joined a few groups, which were almost entirely filled with loyal fans of Wenji. They not only shared their food experiences in the groups, but also frequently invited each other out for meals.
There's no way around it, Wen Ji's food is delicious and the portions are huge. When I go alone, even ordering rice and soup isn't enough to finish it all, so I always end up taking leftovers home. In order to try more dishes, people in the group are always "asking for dining buddies".
One is never too many, and two is never too few.
Jiang Yuan stopped going out to eat with friends and later even brought her work partners there.
The clock ticked away, and soon it was six o'clock in the afternoon.
The man glanced at his watch, then at Jiang Yuan, who was sitting motionless at her workstation: "Aren't you leaving?"
I didn't hear Jiang Yuan say she was working overtime tonight.
Jiang Yuan's face was full of helplessness: "I don't know what to eat."
"Why even choose? Let's go with Wenji!"
Jiang Yuan poked the plush cat on the table angrily: "I'm not going!"
His companion chuckled: "Still angry? Is it really necessary? Didn't they say they were temporarily taking it off the shelves because of raw material issues? At this point in time, are there really any shortages of crayfish on the market? They'll be back sooner or later."
Jiang Yuan slammed her hand on the table: "Aaaaaah, I don't care! I just want to eat crayfish and crispy pork belly stewed with green wheat! Is there no justice in this world?! I made it through a month of overtime because of this! And then, after I finished my overtime, it was taken off the menu! Taken off the menu! Waaaaah..."
Her companion patted her head sympathetically: "Take it easy, everyone's like that."
They were already incredibly envious of the photos others posted in the group chat, and during a month of non-stop overtime work, all they talked about was how they would go out for a big meal after the project was finished.
As a result, Wenji actually took the crayfish off the menu, and the two of them felt like the sky had fallen.
The man patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder: "How about we find another place? I heard there's a crayfish rice place on Market Street."
Wen Ji started the trend, and now the standard at local crayfish restaurants is a choice between hot dry noodles and green wheat rice. Some people have also tried adding crispy pork cracklings, with mixed reviews online. The restaurant my friend recommended is actually the second best-rated among them, after Wen Ji.
Jiang Yuan was clearly tempted, but soon gave up.
"Let's go to Wen Ji instead."
Buddy: "...Didn't you say you wanted to eat crayfish rice?"
Jiang Yuan covered her head and whimpered, "I feel like a devoted male lead who has a mental breakdown after the female lead leaves without saying goodbye. Even if she doesn't tell me why, I'll still wait for her to come back..."
His partner said expressionlessly, "I told you to read fewer novels... Speak like a human being."
"I want to go to Wen Ji."
Jiang Yuan whispered, "We shouldn't have to queue if we go now, right?"
His friend's phone pinged, and after reading the message, his expression was complicated: "Hard to say... The group said Wen's Restaurant has new dishes."
Jiang Yuan's eyes widened. She no longer seemed tired. She jumped up from her workstation, grabbed her coat and bag, and ran outside with her partner.
When the two arrived at Wen Ji, there were already seven or eight people ahead of them, who had a keen sense of smell.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and the two entered the store a dozen minutes later.
Upon entering the store, you'll see a steamer in the corner of the hall.
In front of the counter was a menu with the words "Zongzi" (rice dumplings) taped out in red tape.
Jiang Yuan then vaguely remembered, "Of course, the Dragon Boat Festival is just a few days away!"
Wenji's zongzi are small, about the size of a palm, and there are only two kinds of fillings: one is peanut, sesame and osmanthus filling, and the other is crispy pork and salted egg yolk filling. They are not expensive, only five yuan each.
While Jiang Yuan was hesitating about whether to buy it or not, she saw that someone had not only bought and eaten it, but also chased after Wen's mother the day before yesterday to ask if she could order a gift box.
Mother Wen also said kindly, "We have gift boxes, three of each of the two types, plus a Five Poisons Cake. They're vacuum-packed and cooked in the shop, but it's best to eat them within a week. If you want one, register first and come pick it up before the festival."
The guest asked in surprise, "What are Five Poison Cakes?"
Since Wen's mother didn't have any molds on hand, she could only explain, "It's a kind of pastry made with pine nuts, walnuts, and red bean paste, and it has patterns of the five poisonous creatures on the outside... May is a month of poison, so this is also meant to ward off the five poisonous creatures."
The locals had never heard of "Five Poison Cakes," and upon hearing this, they immediately became interested. Each gift box contained six zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), but when the customers said it wasn't enough and they wanted to order more, Mother Wen said there was a purchase limit.
"Time is too tight. The store can only produce a few hundred servings at most. Once they're sold out, they're gone."
Upon hearing that there were hundreds of portions, Jiang Yuan didn't even bother to try one; she ordered one portion herself.
My friend initially thought it wasn't that bad. He thought, "What's so special about zongzi? The company gives them out every year, a huge gift box, but nobody likes them. They just sit in the fridge until Chinese New Year. Like the mooncakes at home, they're just festive 'get by' food."
Jiang Yuan paid the bill and bought two more zongzi: "Whatever, if I can't give them away, I'll just eat them myself. Besides, I always feel that Wenji's zongzi must be different."
There was nothing she could do; she simply didn't like this sticky, mushy glutinous rice, so she turned around and ordered other new dishes from Wen Ji.
Braised crucian carp with chopped meat.
Today, a large, deep pot appeared in the cold dish display case, bubbling gently inside, filled with various whole stewed crucian carp.
The crucian carp were small, weighing only five or six ounces each, and they smelled delicious after being braised.
When someone orders crucian carp, Mi Xiao scoops one out of the pot and places it on a tray, garnishing it with chopped green onions and cilantro.
Jiang Yuan was holding her two zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) when she noticed that her partner, Yu, had a sore throat.
She dislikes eating fish, especially crucian carp. The meat is tender, but it has a lot of bones!
Jiang Yuan is an impatient person. She has gotten fish bones stuck in her throat several times while eating fish. After this happened so many times, she has stopped eating fish altogether.
The girl looked at her zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and she looked at her fish; both were thinking that theirs tasted better.
Peeling back the bamboo leaves, fine, transparent threads stretched between the leaves and the glutinous rice, revealing the stickiness of the rice dumpling. Jiang Yuan's mouth watered at the sight of the glistening dumpling, and she couldn't wait to take a bite of the savory one first.
The savory rice dumpling was filled with crispy pork cracklings and salted egg yolk. Jiang Yuan had never tried crayfish and crispy pork crackling rice before, but now she was tasting the flavor of the crispy pork cracklings. Although the extremely crispy pork cracklings were wrapped in glutinous rice, the long steaming and cooking process did not cause them to completely collapse. Instead, they absorbed moisture and became soft, chewy, and oily. The crispy pork cracklings inside the rice dumpling were much smaller, each only the size of a little fingertip. Blending with the savory glutinous rice, it almost gave one the illusion of eating glutinous rice.
Jiang Yuan's eyes sparkled: "Delicious!"
Especially when you get to the middle, you can see a salted duck egg yolk inside the rice dumpling when you separate it with a spoon. What's amazing is that this salted egg yolk is actually layered!
Even his friend who doesn't eat zongzi was a little surprised: "That's amazing."
In the past, when eating duck egg yolks, they were at most oily or sandy. This duck egg yolk, however, has oil near the very center, while the outer layer has a slightly sandy texture!
Whether it was because of its different appearance or not, Jiang Yuan felt that this zongzi was incredibly delicious.
As Jiang Yuan was about to pick up her fork to eat the sweet rice dumpling, she saw someone take a small dish to the counter and scoop out a spoonful of some kind of sauce. The yellow sauce didn't look like meat sauce or bean sauce. The person took the sauce back to the table, and with a flick of their wrist, poured it all over the rice dumpling!
Jiang Yuan: "...You eat first, I'll go get some sauce."
The man nodded, intending to pick up the fish belly with his chopsticks first, but suddenly discovered that there was more to the fish on the plate than met the eye.
Unfortunately, the scallions and cilantro that Mi Xiao sprinkled on the fish she served it up landed right on the fish's back, completely obscuring the cut spine. With a flick of the chopsticks, the meat filling stuffed inside the fish was revealed.
...No wonder it's called braised crucian carp with chopped meat.
One bite of the chopped meat, and you'll be instantly captivated by its fresh and delicious flavor.
The minced pork uses a 4:6 fat-to-lean ratio, slightly fatter than the usual sunflower-shaped minced pork. This slight difference in fat is perfectly absorbed by the crucian carp, infusing the fish's umami flavor into the minced pork. The resulting filling, after being cooked until firm, offers a delicious flavor completely different from regular meatballs. The fish meat gains a meaty aroma, and the meat gains a fresh fishy taste.
Especially since Wen Fan added some scallion oil when cooking, the aroma of scallions brought out the best in both the crucian carp and the chopped meat. Besides the scallion aroma, my friend also found a piece of fish roe in the broth under the fish!
The moment he saw the fish roe, his partner got up to go find some rice.
Grilled fish roe with rice is a perfect match!
When I brought the rice back, I saw that Jiang Yuan had already poured the sauce on the rice dumplings. The yellow sauce with a fruity aroma made Jiang Yuan look delighted after taking a bite.
What is this thing?
Jiang Yuan mumbled, "It's apricot jam."
If sweet rice dumplings are rated 80 points, then the apricot jam brings out their flavor to its fullest potential.
Speaking of which, this batch of apricot jam was delivered by Feng Huijuan. There were so many apricots in the mountains that they couldn't eat them all. When Feng Huijuan delivered it, she remarked that this jam was almost treated the same as her own persimmons.
"The older folks all say that apricots are harmful and cause indigestion. Now, even if a tree is laden with fruit, hardly anyone eats them."
When sold in the market, the locally grown apricots aren't as sweet as those from the Northwest, so they don't fetch a good price. The village used to have many apricot trees, but now no one takes care of them; the apricots are simply left to fall to the ground.
The basket that Feng Huijuan brought was made from the best apricots she had picked; each apricot was bigger than an egg, and the whole basket was yellow.
Wen Fan tried one and found it a bit sour, but with a rich fruity aroma, so he simply made all of them into apricot jam.
The apricot jam was much sweeter after it was made. Wen Fan thought it would be good whether paired with zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) or used to make shaved ice in the future, so he put a lot of it at home and in the shop.
Jiang Yuan found the zongzi increasingly delicious and sweet, and shared a small piece with her partner: "You try some..."
Looking up, she saw that her companion had also placed a piece of chopped meat on her plate.
After exchanging bites, Jiang Yuan was surprised to find the chopped meat quite delicious. While the texture was extremely similar to the Four Happiness Meatballs she had eaten before, the flavor had an added layer of fishy freshness.
"So fresh!"
Jiang Yuan ate two small zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and was only half full. She immediately decided to order some cold dishes and braised meats. Most importantly, she wanted a serving of rice!
This dish is a waste of the fish if it's not served with rice.
After tasting the zongzi, his companion also quietly got up.
"I'll go order a gift box of zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)."
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