Chapter 230 Are you considering opening a hot pot restaurant?
Su Yuchen was stunned for a moment, shook his head and chuckled, his mood suddenly becoming complicated.
She had said this to Zhao Xiaojing before.
At that time, Zhao Xiaojing's mother had been ill for some time. Zhao Xiaojing dropped out of school and had been taking care of her in Yangcheng, while she went to college in another province. The two could only see each other when she went home during the holidays.
Su Yuchen almost always treated Zhao Xiaojing to a meal every time they met, and every time she would drag Zhao Xiaojing to eat hot pot and order a bunch of their favorite foods.
Because hot pot is the only food that two people can eat, they can try a variety of different types of food, and different dipping sauces can also give you different flavors of food.
Although she was still a student at that time, her family was well off and had relatively ample living expenses. In addition, she felt sorry for Zhao Xiaojing, so she always ordered the most ingredients within the range that the two of them could eat, and they always enjoyed their meal to their heart's content.
When Zhao Xiaojing felt embarrassed to treat her in return, she was afraid that Zhao Xiaojing had no money, so she dragged Zhao Xiaojing to eat spicy hot pot at the school gate.
At that time, she often said this: It's just hot pot, spicy hot pot with butter.
Unexpectedly, so many years have passed, and the life trajectories of the two people began to overlap again when they were already drifting apart. Thanks to Zhao Xiaojing, she lived a life she had never thought of before. In just a few months, her life goals began to become clear, and she began to do what she really wanted to do.
When she looked back, she realized that she had walked such a long way, and Zhao Xiaojing still remembered this little thing on the road.
"Yes! Spicy hot pot with butter!" Su Yuchen's eyes were slightly sore, and he held the wine glass and drank it in big gulps.
Zhao Xiaojing also drank the wine in the glass at this time, glanced at Su Yuchen, and raised her lips slightly.
Su Yuchen didn't know how rare this moment was.
No matter how luxurious the hotpot is, if close friends no longer share the same thoughts and goals, what is the point of sitting together for a meal?
After getting married in her previous life, Zhao Xiaojing became more financially well-off, and she had sat down with Su Yuchen to eat hot pot again.
However, at that time, their paces, views, and attitudes towards life were already very different. No matter how many dishes Zhao Xiaojing ordered, there was an unignorable gap and unfamiliarity between the two of them. They even had fewer and fewer common topics, and no matter how much hot pot they ate, it was still tasteless.
It’s nothing like now. Now two people not only have a common career, but can also pursue what they like at the same time, and have a group of like-minded partners around them.
"The beef is ready, come on, take it all!" The beef on the colander had been rolled several times in the boiling red oil. Zhao Xiaojing exhaled to interrupt her thoughts, picked up the colander and flipped it with the serving chopsticks. The beef had changed color evenly.
The eight people each used a chopstick, and the colander was immediately empty. Zhao Xiaojing put new food on the colander and continued cooking. Lu Hongwen also put the beef rolls and luncheon meat in front of him into the pot.
"Delicious! It smells delicious even without dipping it in any sauce! Sister Jingzi, what did you add to the base sauce? Did you adjust it yourself?" Lu Hongwen took a bite and nodded repeatedly.
"I added some spices and oil to stir-fry. I also got two beef bones as a gift when I bought beef in the afternoon. I made a broth with it." Zhao Xiaojing ate a piece without dipping it in the sauce and was very satisfied with the taste of the base sauce.
There was no shuangxiang hot pot in the store, so she took the largest pot that could be used on a battery stove. Although it looked red, in fact, in order to cater to the different levels of spicy food tolerance of everyone, she only made it slightly spicy. In the taste of the base, fragrance is the main one, and spiciness is secondary.
"This dipping sauce is really spicy and delicious!" Su Yuchen scooped the spicy dipping sauce and dipped it in the food. His originally complicated mood instantly became excited.
"Xiao Zhao's cooking skills have improved again. The sesame paste dipping sauce is so fragrant and not greasy at all." Geng Mingyan said in surprise.
She and Hou Guihua couldn't handle spicy food, so they both scooped up a mild dipping sauce, which surprisingly didn't affect the flavor at all. Some sesame pastes are too rich and cloying, especially when dipped in hot pot, but Zhao Xiaojing had somehow managed to create a rich, yet perfectly balanced hot pot.
The moment the red oil rolled, the beef rolls and the beef in the colander changed color at the same time.
"Okay, okay." Zhao Xiaojing lifted the colander, and everyone actively stretched out their chopsticks. The fatty beef and beef were immediately cleared out, and they did not forget to put the most meat in Zhao Xiaojing's bowl.
"By the way, Xiao Wu, put the marinated beef in the dish into the pot. It needs to be cooked for a while." Zhao Xiaojing pointed at the plate and said. Wu Kaile took action immediately and put half of the spicy beef into the pot. The pot that was originally boiling immediately calmed down.
Because the spicy beef needs to be marinated, Zhao Xiaojing cuts it into relatively thick slices, while the other parts are eaten directly in small thin slices.
"This beef roll is okay, but why do I feel it's not as delicious as the beef I cut myself?" Su Yuchen wondered as he ate.
"Because this beef roll is not synthetic and contains fewer additives, it is frozen right after it is cut, and we don't know how long it has been frozen. Therefore, the taste is bland and the texture of the meat is a little worse. Of course, it is not as good as the fresh beef I bought today." Zhao Xiaojing explained at the right time.
"I don't think that's the reason." Yun Yongyuan shook his head. "The main reason is that this wasn't cut by you, Junior Sister. If you had cut it, Comb Sister would have thought it was delicious too!"
"Don't say! Now that I've heard about what Sister Jing made, I haven't even eaten it and don't even know what it is, but I'm already drooling and feeling so happy!" Ouyang Yidan laughed.
"You guys are just using the chef filter!" Lu Hongwen said disdainfully, "Unlike me, as long as Sister Mirror is watching me cook this dish, I'm sure it will be delicious!"
"The spicy beef is ready, and the shrimp and duck blood are cooked too." A group of people laughed. Zhao Xiaojing picked up the beef from the bottom of the pot and poked it, greeting everyone.
"With Xiao Zhao's cooking skills, he can make a lot of money by opening a hot pot restaurant!" Hou Guihua, who tasted the spicy beef, praised it while drinking a sip of spicy wine.
The marinated beef is tender and tasty, with a moderate spiciness and the aroma of peppercorns. One bite makes you feel slightly sweaty, and it makes you feel refreshed from the throat to the stomach.
"Yes, Sister Jingzi, have you considered opening a hot pot restaurant? It's not a bad idea actually. It saves time. Once the hot pot base is prepared, you just need to hire some employees." Lu Hongwen asked.
"I'm not considering it at the moment. Hot pot restaurants rely mainly on ingredients. The main job every day may be to cook the base. It is more of a test of management, but it doesn't hone my cooking skills." Zhao Xiaojing scooped up the shrimp paste and luncheon meat that had been floating in the pot for a while and distributed them to everyone. At the same time, inspiration suddenly came to her mind as Lu Hongwen spoke.
After Lu Hongwen graduates and joins them, you can actually consider partnering with him to open a restaurant similar to a hot pot restaurant that strictly controls the quality of dishes but requires few cooking skills. Even the method of preparing the base ingredients can be precisely controlled, and you can ask others to prepare it step by step according to her method.
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