Chapter 10 Tofu Pudding
A tender egg pancake is wrapped with crispy vegetables, and inside is a fragrant, crispy, and melt-in-your-mouth fried dough stick. One bite offers a triple-flavor experience. The vegetables neutralize the greasiness and heat of the fried dough sticks, bringing a touch of freshness. A sip of soy milk completes the meal, and as you exhale a comfortable breath of warm air, a sense of satisfaction arises.
Andre's 'eating broadcast' obviously aroused everyone's appetite. They took a cup of soy milk, added sugar or not according to their taste, and then dipped the fried dough sticks in it, and put the half-wet and half-soft fried dough sticks into their mouths with an inquiring look.
“Mmm, delicious!”
“I love this!”
"Greasy and sweet, such a happy taste!"
Jiang You also held two balls of soul fire in her hands, one the pale color of soy milk, the other the golden color of fried dough sticks. She dipped the golden one into the pale yellow one, watching the pale yellow color gradually spread through the golden soul fire. She happily sipped, "Ah, this is the taste!"
The shop door remained open, and passersby kept looking in. "Smells great! Skeleton Boss, are you open so early today? What are you eating?"
"Soy milk with fried dough sticks. A cup of unsweetened soy milk is one copper coin, and a fried dough stick is also one copper coin. If you need sugar, the price is calculated according to today's market price, and I don't charge extra." Jiang You replied with a smile, "Everyone, please feel free to sit down. We'll have breakfast first and then serve you the food."
"good!"
Leila didn't need breakfast, so she went to greet the guests. Jericho quickly finished his breakfast and joined in. Jiangyou finished his soul fire and went to the kitchen to fry another pot of fried dough sticks. Then, calculating the time, he opened the wooden barrel of tofu pudding.
The tofu pudding was beautifully coagulated, white and tender, jiggling a few times at the slightest touch, making it look very tempting. Jiangyou prepared two different broths: one made with maltose, and the other with pork ribs and dried shrimp, sprinkled with chopped green onions and celery, and drizzled with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.
Because making tofu pudding requires a lot of effort, and the soup uses sugar and pork ribs, Jiangyou charges two copper coins per small bowl, which is a trial price that most diners can afford.
The first group of people to try tofu pudding were naturally the people inside the brewing workshop.
The light, refreshing tofu pudding is scooped into a bowl, and toppings and broth are added to suit the diners' taste: sweet, salty, or even salty with a spoonful of Jiangyou's special chili oil. The tofu pudding itself is flavorless, with only the aroma of soybeans and a subtle sweetness. When mixed with the sugar syrup, it imbues the syrup with its sweetness. Combined with the pork ribs and dried shrimp broth, it tastes like a supremely tender tofu soup.
Andrei, a true food blogger, once again took the lead in promoting new food. Seeing him enjoying his meal, the onlookers asked which was the best. Andrei didn't have a preference, simply describing it truthfully. He then added, "I think both have their own unique flavors. You can choose according to your preference."
"Everyone has the freedom to like or dislike a dish. Just choose what suits your taste. The money is in your own pocket. No one has to make decisions based on others, let alone try to persuade others to choose a certain taste."
I don't know if Andre's words had any effect, or maybe it's because these flavors of tofu pudding are completely new to the people of Huntington, and there's no special filter for them because they've been eating them since childhood. Or maybe it's just that the diners here have a strong tolerance for food that doesn't suit their taste...
Overall, the tofu pudding sold incredibly smoothly, with no complaints from customers due to differing tastes. Some regulars even teamed up with each other, with one person buying the sweet version and the other the salty, and then sharing both flavors.
Seeing that everything was normal in the store, lively and peaceful, Jiangyou went into the kitchen again and took out the wooden box that Andre had made last night.
The wooden box had been assembled the previous night, cleaned, and dried again. Jiangyou lined the box with clean gauze and boiled the second bucket of soy milk until it was cooked through. He let it cool slightly, then added the gypsum solution and left it to set. Once the tofu pudding was set, he scooped it into the gauze inside the wooden box with a large spoon. After filling the box completely, he covered it with another layer of gauze, closed the lid, and then pressed a stone on top.
As time goes by, the moisture in the tofu pudding will slowly be pressed out by heavy objects, and the tofu will gradually take shape in the box and become a thick large cube.
By controlling the pressing time, you can control the firmness of the tofu: more water makes it softer and more brittle, while less water makes it thicker and firmer. Soft tofu is great for salads, soups, or steaming, while firm tofu is best for stir-frying, stewing, or deep-frying.
If you freeze firm tofu, you'll get frozen tofu. The moisture inside the tofu freezes into ice chips, expanding the internal structure and creating honeycomb-like pores, making it perfect for hot pot. When cooked in hot pot broth, the pores in the frozen tofu absorb the broth, creating a rich, flavorful flavor in every bite.
This time, Jiangyou planned to make two sheets of tofu, leaving one third for cooking, one third for frying, and one third for freezing. This way, he could use it whenever he wanted to make soup.
"Tofu is delicious, but making it every day is too much trouble. That's the downside of the Middle Ages. If you want to eat something delicious, you have to make it yourself from scratch... When will I ever be able to have kway teow soup and fried rice noodles again?"
As she worked, Jiangyou muttered to herself, but her mind was as clear as a mirror: it was easy to enjoy rice noodle soup or beef fried rice noodles. All it took was a little time to prepare them. In a different world, one could only rely on oneself. The only things that stood in the way of her culinary journey were laziness and procrastination.
However, every time she wanted to eat something to satisfy her craving, she had to spend a lot of effort to make it all over again, which was indeed a bit too troublesome. She couldn't get up early every day to grind soy milk and make tofu, but if she could industrialize these ingredients, outsource them, and hire someone to make them, wouldn't she be able to eat tofu whenever she wanted?
Rice noodles, sweet potato vermicelli, noodles... These are all ingredients that are incredibly difficult to prepare from the raw materials, but once they're ready, they're incredibly convenient and delicious to cook. Jiang You decided she needed to find a way to develop a business around these ingredients. It would be profitable, free her from having to make them herself, and still allow her to enjoy the convenience of a finished product. And, by the way, improve the culinary standards of the people of Huntington.
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