100 Food Dilemma
◎At most...at most it's just a little unpalatable.◎
On an autumn morning, the bright morning light climbed over the eaves, and the street market that had been silent all night began to bustle. Wang Minzhi walked towards Juxing Tower with brisk steps.
She had a son studying at the Imperial College, and her husband was the steward of a noble family, so she had no parents-in-law to support her. When she had nothing to do on weekdays, she loved to go out and wander around.
A few days ago, she tasted the hot and sour noodles from Juxinglou, and the sour and spicy aroma lingered on her tongue for a long time.
If I don't eat it for a few days, I always feel like something is missing. So I come back every now and then to eat it to satisfy my craving.
Today, as she went upstairs, before she even entered the second-floor lobby, she smelled a strange odor. As she reached the second floor, she saw a colorful sign hanging above her head, with a second word written on it at some point: "Stinky Tofu."
Although she had not read many books, she could still read. Stinky? Tofu?
Could it be rotten tofu? She wondered wildly, but the smell was indeed unpleasant. She took out a handkerchief from her sleeve and gently covered her mouth and nose.
Seeing many people like her pinching their noses as they curiously gathered around the stove in the middle, she followed and found the source of the smell: a bamboo basket covered in layers of white cloth. She heard someone ask, "What's that? Could it be rotten tofu?"
Song Jinyi replied calmly: "This is a new dish that has been researched recently. The reason why it has such a unique fermented taste is due to the production process.
"What you are seeing now is just the raw ingredients. Only after they are fried and marinated with sauce will their true flavor be revealed."
After hearing this, Wang Minzhi was still thinking about whether this thing could be eaten. As she thought about this, she accidentally said it out loud.
"Of course you can eat it."
Some people care about the taste, while others care about the price. "Hey, why is this thing five cents more expensive than hot and sour noodles?"
Zhang Yao said in a hoarse voice, "This tofu is not like other tofu. The preparation is even more complicated than ordinary tofu. I grew up in Shengjing, and yesterday was the first time I saw it. But I can guarantee that the taste is no less than hot and sour noodles."
Although some diners heard that it was edible and tasted better than hot and sour noodles, they still remained skeptical. Some people ordered hot and sour noodles as per the rules, while others could not stand the smell of stinky tofu and avoided it.
Zhang Yao was anxious when she saw this. She kept looking up to observe the customers. She approached Song Jinyi and asked in a low voice, "Master, what should we do? No one wants to buy this stinky tofu."
Zhang Yao had tasted the food, so she naturally didn't think it was the food that caused the problem. After thinking about it, she could only blame it on the price. She discussed with Song Jinyi whether they should lower the price.
Song Jinyi rejected Zhang Yao's proposal without thinking. If the price was lowered without reason, it would make people feel that the price was fluid and could be even lower. In the long run, it would only get worse.
Facing Zhang Yao's impatience, Song Jinyi gently soothed her, "Don't be anxious, take your time."
Song Jinyi knew that new things were not easy to accept, and that a brave warrior would always have to come forward, so she made an agreement with Zhang the Butcher downstairs yesterday to help her warm up the atmosphere.
Song Jinyi could have made something first, but this kind of fried food would lose its crispness if left for a long time, so Song Jinyi waited patiently for her acting partner.
After a while, Song Jinyi saw Zhang the Butcher going upstairs, and immediately whispered to Zhang Yao to prepare things, as she was going to "perform".
But who would have thought that when Butcher Zhang smelled the smell, he also showed hesitation and stopped at the stairs.
Butcher Zhang knew that it was Song Jinyi who proposed the idea of renting out the meat, and he couldn't help but feel grateful to her. He had also tasted her cooking skills, and when he heard her make this request yesterday, he agreed without thinking.
It wasn't until he saw the pitch-black tofu blocks emitting a foul odor that he felt like vomiting his breakfast.
It's not that he didn't feel Song Jinyi's gaze, but his feet seemed to be entangled by something, nailed to the spot, unable to move an step. He was frozen like this for a moment, and the diners who came behind him shouted a few words in dissatisfaction.
Instead, it made him wake up as if from a dream. He gritted his teeth and went to Song Jinyi. How could a grown man be scared by a piece of food?
When he got closer, he swallowed nervously, as if he saw the stinky tofu emitting an evil glow.
His heart tightened. The weather in early autumn was still hot, and a thin layer of sweat soaked his forehead. After all, Madam Song would not harm him. At most... at most, the food would just taste a little unpalatable.
He consoled himself as he stepped forward amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd and said, "I'll have a bowl of stinky tofu."
The diners next to him all looked at him.
Wang Minzhi also exclaimed in surprise, "Good man!", but her voice was too soft and no one noticed her. The look she gave Zhang the butcher gave people the feeling that what he was about to eat was not a delicacy, but a stone fished out of a cesspool.
Song Jinyi heated up the iron pan, and the hot oil slightly raised golden waves. She threw the tofu cubes in, and the sizzling sound mixed with the aroma of oil made them explode, and the pickled smell instantly faded away.
After fishing it out, Song Jinyi took chopsticks to poke the tofu open, revealing the tender white inside, so that people could see that it was not rotten tofu.
Special ingredients were poured on it, and the saffron-colored marinade was like bright paint poured on the tofu. The originally dull tofu instantly became lively and exuded a special fragrance. Song Jinyi also sprinkled a handful of emerald green coriander on it. The combination of yellow and green was quite flavorful.
Song Jinyi handed the stinky tofu to Butcher Zhang and said enthusiastically, "Try my special marinade."
Butcher Zhang originally thought that it would just make his mouth bitter, but he didn't expect that it looked really edible. The golden sauce was somewhat similar in color to the braised meat skin. He sniffed and the unpleasant smell was almost gone.
He took a tentative bite, and his teeth broke through the crispy tofu shell. The inside of the tofu was like a sponge, soaking up the soup. The rich aroma filled the air, and the strange smell suddenly turned into an indescribable deliciousness.
He chewed and chewed, and the more he chewed, the more delicious it became, so he swallowed a piece.
Seeing that he looked happy, others asked him curiously how it tasted.
"It's delicious. It's different from the tofu I've had before. I'm not very good at explaining how it's different." He scratched his head, then remembered his mission and added, "You guys should try it too."
Wang Minzhi looked at the stinky tofu in Zhang the Butcher's bowl. It was like a crow turning into a phoenix. The gray-green tofu transformed into a golden and crispy delicacy.
This hot and sour noodle is delicious, but I've been eating it for so many days and I'm getting a little tired of it. Now there's a new snack, and this woman's cooking is so good. How about...a gamble? I've got plenty of money anyway.
"I'd like a bowl of this stinky tofu too," Wang Minzhi said to Song Jinyi.
Song Jinyi didn't expect that after the first person to eat crab appeared, the second one would come so soon. She raised the corners of her mouth, started to get busy, made a bowl and handed it to her.
Wang Minzhi took a bite. What does this taste like?
It is also soft, but not as smooth as tofu. Instead, it has a bit of chewiness. The sauce-covered skin blends well with the inside, balancing the flavor.
There was no strange smell at all, only the aroma of the stew filling my mouth.
Seeing that the two of them were enjoying the meal, many diners also plucked up the courage to try this strange thing.
Maybe because it’s new and novel, it sells even faster than the hot and sour noodles.
Such a strange delicacy caused a craze, and even the tabloid published it for free. There is a delicacy in Beijing that smells bad but tastes delicious. I wonder if you have ever tried it?
It seems that those who have never tasted it are outdated bumpkins.
When Zhang Yao saw it, she thought Song Jinyi had paid for the advertisement. Song Jinyi replied to her with a smile: "If I had money, I would have posted the missing person notice first."
I thought maybe someone who had eaten it was kind enough to share it with me. After all, sharing happiness is worse than enjoying it alone.
With the promotion of tabloids, the store's traffic has doubled again. Sometimes at meal times, the queue of people cannot even accommodate the second floor.
In order to solve this problem, and given the long production cycle of raw materials, Song Jinyi had to launch a limited-edition event that would whet people's appetite.
This made it even more popular, and people started queuing up as soon as the door opened.
Later, Song Jinyi added wolf tooth potatoes and fried noodles.
The food is always sold out by the afternoon, and many people leave empty-handed. Shopkeeper Zhang doesn't understand what hunger marketing is, but he thinks it's not a good idea to let diners go home empty-handed.
When I mentioned this to Song Jinyi, it's not that Song Jinyi hasn't thought about this problem, but once the number of people hired is increased, the cost will naturally increase and the profit will be greatly reduced.
Snacks are hard-earned money, so we try to keep it simple and affordable, otherwise all the money we earn will be used to pay salaries.
However, the staffing issue did give Song Jinyi a headache for a while. Apart from her and Zhang Yao, there were only two waiters and two chefs left on the second floor.
One of the chefs, Qian Mu, had previously been less skilled than Huang Yan, but he also had assistants and was a bit arrogant. He had thought that after Huang Yan and the others left, he would be the master chef who had the final say in Juxinglou.
Unexpectedly, Song Jinyi showed up and not only changed the restaurant's business model, but also turned himself into a helper, doing only hard labor all day long. How could he tolerate this?
If it weren't for her skills, he would not have been so patient as to secretly memorize the methods of making vermicelli and tofu. Now that he thought he had learned it all, he left without even saying a word and started his own business.
As a result, there are fewer and fewer people who can be used. Song Jinyi raised his sore arm, looked at the potato starch that needed to be stirred and precipitated, and sighed: If only it were in the previous life, there would be college students, which is the cheapest.
Before the manpower problem could be solved, the refugees in the city rioted, and there was unrest both inside and outside the city.
Zhang Yao invited her to stay at Zhang's house. It was getting dark, so she didn't dare to stay any longer. She locked the gate and went to Zhang's house.
The Zhang residence had two courtyards. Zhang Yao was the only daughter in the family and had a separate courtyard. Song Jinyi rested in the side room of her main house. She rubbed her sore shoulders and felt that before she could even sit still, a maid came in to say that someone was looking for her.
Who would come to see her?
She asked what kind of person the little maid was.
The little maid said, "She is a very pretty person, and doesn't look like she is from our place."
A very beautiful person, not from our place... Song Jinyi was shocked, could it be - Xie Wuyang?
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