The recipes Xu Qinyu wrote for her uncle were all kinds of barbecue recipes, including marinade recipes and grilled recipes for a dozen kinds of meat and a dozen kinds of vegetables, as well as sour plum soup drink, barley tea drink, osmanthus honey drink, sour milk drink, rice milk drink, and of course milk tea made from cow's milk and goat's milk, and some recipes for sugar water, and also a recipe for a sweet wine, which is glutinous rice wine.

The marinades for chicken, duck, fish, pork, beef and mutton are all different, so it’s quite troublesome.

Xu Qinyu told her uncle in the letter.

In summer, some of these drinks, such as sugary milk tea, can be made into ice bowls or added with ice to make cold drinks, which are also very popular.

When the weather is cold, it is a hot drink. Barbecue can also be sold with alcohol. Barbecue goes well with alcohol.

In summer, you can also add some cold noodles and cold dishes, turning the tea stall into a barbecue stall all day long. The recipes of these cold noodles and cold dishes are naturally also in the letter.

Xue Liang murmured, "Barbecue, what is that?"

He looked at the recipe. The letter also explained how to grill. It required an iron rack with charcoal fire burning inside and an iron mesh on top. The skewered meat and vegetables were grilled on the iron mesh and then brushed with sauce.

Xu Qinyu specially changed the method of sprinkling seasonings at the end of grilling. After grilling, she placed the meat on a plate and brushed it with the seasoned sauce. After all, spices were too expensive, and it would be a waste to sprinkle them directly on the skewers like in later generations!

She saves a lot of costs by making the sauce this way. Needless to say, the sauce recipe she made tastes better than many barbecue stall recipes.

It's a bit like deep-fried skewers, and you brush them with sauce after frying.

Xue Liang looked at the recipes, as well as the recipes for these drinks, sweet soups and glutinous rice wine. Where did Yu Jieer get them?

Yu Jieer said in her letter that it was her own idea. Can such a recipe really be delicious?

That thing called barbecue sauce contains two or three kinds of spices, as well as many other seasonings.

And they actually use charcoal to grill meat and vegetables?

He did know that Jixiang Restaurant sold roasted meat, which should be what Yu Jie'er mentioned as barbecue, but it was a little different. It was placed on an iron plate with charcoal fire underneath. Oil was brushed on the iron plate, and when the oil temperature was right, a thin slice of marinated meat was placed on it. With a sizzling sound, the meat rolled up and was quickly turned over. Such a thin slice of roasted meat would cost at least twenty cents in Jixiang Restaurant.

Everyone knows how to make this kind of roasted meat, but the difficulty lies in not knowing the recipe for marinating the meat. Some of them imitated the method of roasting meat in Jixianglou without marinating it, but the result was very fishy, ​​the meat was tough, and not very tasty.

Xue Liang had naturally never tasted the twenty-cent-a-slice roasted meat at Jixianglou. He had only heard people talk about how to eat it, and also heard that it was very delicious and tender.

Xue couldn't help but ask, "Brother, what do you think of the recipe Sister Yu gave you? Will it work?"

“I don’t know.”

Xue Liang shook his head. He really didn't know.

He just remembered that Yu Jie'er learned her cooking skills from him, and she cooked for him and his sister. As for the taste, he could only say it was just okay, but to say it was delicious was a bit of an exaggeration.

But if that doesn't work, then Sister Yu is too confident in writing so many recipes. These recipes seem to be quite authentic.

Shi murmured, "Can it work? The recipe of Jixianglou's roasted meat is so difficult, and there are only a few kinds of meat. The meat that Yujie gave has different marinade recipes for different parts of the meat. There are almost twenty kinds of meat and vegetables, right? Can she compare with the chef of Jixianglou? I heard that the roasted meat of Jixianglou is the result of the chef trying out marinade recipes over the years to get such tender and delicious roasted meat. Look at Yujie's recipe, it's as if it's free. Did she think of so much at once? Has she tried it all? She wouldn't have given it to us without trying it, right?"

She didn't blame her niece for being unreliable, but she didn't believe in her niece's cooking skills.

Xue glanced at Shi, feeling somewhat helpless. "Yujie'er should know her limits. Big brother, do you think we can give it a try?" In the end, whether or not to change the tea stall into a barbecue stall as Yujie'er mentioned depends on big brother's own thoughts.

Xue Liang was still hesitating.

Shi couldn't help but say, "It's okay to give it a try. We're not just going to turn the tea stall into a barbecue stall like Sister Yu said. Let's try the milk tea and barbecue first after we get home. Don't we have a small iron net at home? We still have some coal. Dad, go chop some wooden sticks and make skewers. Buy some pork belly. It won't cost much to try it anyway, only one or two silver coins at most. Buy less sauces, spices and other seasonings to save waste."

Xue Liang asked, "When are we going to try it?"

"Let's do it now." Shi was also impatient. "The tea stall is being looked after by the boss and his wife. Let's go back and try it. Sister-in-law, don't go back to the mansion so early. Come with us and taste the flavor."

"Okay." Xue nodded.

She also wanted to know whether her daughter's recipe would work.

Shi returned to the kitchen and said something to her eldest son Xue Huai and daughter-in-law Zhang, then she and Xue Liang divided the work of buying things.

Xue Liang went to cut bamboo, and Shi went to buy milk.

There are some dairy products for sale in Beijing, so there are always cow's milk and goat's milk for sale, and the price is quite cheap.

After buying the milk, she went to buy some pork belly and the seasonings and spices for making pork skewers. When she and Xue returned to Shangpo Lane, Xue Liang had already returned from cutting bamboo. He found the small iron net at home and scrubbed it clean, and also found the charcoal basin and coal. He had bought some coal for heating before the New Year when it was too cold in winter.

Xue Qing was helping nearby.

She had heard from her father that her cousin had sent him many food recipes.

She is still looking forward to it.

Shi began to busy herself with washing, cutting and skewering the pork.

As for making the sauce, she didn't dare to try and decided to ask Xue Liang to do it.

The skewer recipe Xu Qinyu gave was for large skewers, which were more enjoyable to eat, so only about twelve skewers were used for one pound of pork belly.

When making the sauce, Xue Liang was a little worried that he might not be able to make it well. Finally, Xue Qing raised his hand and said, "Dad, how about I do it!"

She is usually responsible for preparing breakfast and dinner, and her cooking skills are better than her father's.

Xue Liang agreed to come down.

Xue Qing took the spices and seasonings into the kitchen and started to cook the sauce according to the recipe given by her cousin.

While it's cooking, the aroma fills the house.

Shi murmured, "It smells strangely fragrant."

Xue Liang had already lit the charcoal fire and was just waiting to grill the skewers.

After Xue Qing had cooked the sauce, she put it on a plate and took it to the table outside. "Dad, you grill the skewers, and I'll make the milk tea that my cousin asked about."

Xue Liang nodded. He had already marinated these large skewers of meat using the recipe given by Yu Jie'er. He put the skewers of marinated meat on the small iron net and grilled them. He was also half a cook, and his hands were shaking when he was grilling the skewers.

Xue Qing stayed in the kitchen and followed her cousin's instructions. She first added sugar and stir-fried it until it melted, then added black tea and stir-fried it, added an appropriate amount of water and brought it to a boil, then poured in milk and continued cooking. Soon, the house was filled with the sweet aroma of milk. After the milk boiled over low heat, she took the clay pot off the stove and finally filtered out the tea leaves. She was a little hesitant looking at the brown milk tea in the ceramic basin.

She strictly followed her cousin's instructions on the proportions of water, sugar, black tea, and milk.

But the color after cooking is brown. It's not that the color is bad. My cousin also said that it is this color after cooking. But compared with pure white milk, brown is indeed not good-looking.

Shi also came in after smelling the aroma and saw the brown milk tea in the ceramic bowl. She couldn't help but ask, "Is this really drinkable?"

Xue Qing said: "You will know whether you can drink it or not after you try it!"

She went over to get a few bowls, poured out four bowls of milk tea, and first took two bowls out to her aunt and father.

When I entered the kitchen, I saw my mother holding a bowl. She looked very surprised, her eyes wide open, staring at the brown milk tea in the bowl in disbelief.

Xu Qing's heart skipped a beat. "Mom, is it not very tasty?"

Shi took another sip from the bowl; it was a little hot.

She murmured, "No, it's delicious. I've never tasted such a delicious drink." She didn't know how to describe it. It was just delicious, sweet, with a scent of tea, without any smell of milk. She liked it very much.

Xue Qing hurriedly picked up the bowl and took a sip, and was also stunned.

It tastes sweet, smooth and mellow.

Xue Qing murmured, "It tastes great."

However, they didn't know that if Xu Qinyu was here, the taste of this milk tea would be even better. The taste would be mellower, the sweetness would be more moderate, and it would have a hint of caramel.

Xue Liang was still grilling outside and had no time to drink the milk tea. Xue took the bowl and took a sip. Her expression was the same as Shi and Xue Qing's.

It turned out that Sister Yu didn't lie to her. Sister Yu really knew how to cook. This was the first time she heard that the milk tea tasted so good.

Xue felt even more uncomfortable. Look at what Yu Jie'er has become, and she has come up with so many food recipes.

After drinking the milk tea, the three women knew that this business could be done.

Xue Liang finally finished grilling the meat. There were two skewers that were not well-cooked and a little burnt. He followed Yu Jie'er's instructions and used scissors to cut off the burnt part. Finally, he placed them on a plate and brushed them with sauce.

In fact, before the sauce was applied, the whole yard was already filled with fragrance. The neighbors couldn't help but murmur, "What did the Xue family eat today? It smells so good, or it's meat."

The aroma is different from that of ordinary stewed meat.

Looking at the twelve skewers of barbecue on the plate, no one spoke for a while.

It was Shi who spoke first: "Then let me try it first." She had already finished the bowl of milk tea and left the rest untouched, wanting to save it for her two sons and daughter-in-law. Now that no one was eating the skewers, she thought of trying it first.

She took a skewer of barbecued meat, bit into the skewer covered with sauce, and pulled it with her hand. The skewer fell into her mouth. She hissed, "It's hot, hot, but it smells so good and tastes so good."

Seeing this, a few people also took a skewer of barbecue and started eating.

Some of the fat in the meat has been roasted out, and the surface is slightly crispy. When you take a bite, it has a crispy aroma, but the meat inside is still tender. It is wrapped in the aroma of meat, fat, and sauce, and every bite is fragrant.

Xue Liang said, "It's delicious." His mouth was full of oil and there was some sauce at the corners of his mouth.

In fact, if Xu Qinyu were to try it, she would find that the skewers grilled by her uncle were a little overcooked.

But if you practice more for a few days, it will taste better.

She also suggested to her uncle to bake the cakes at home for a few more days before selling them.

Mrs. Xue squatted in the yard and ate the skewers without caring about her image. They were so delicious. She had never eaten the roasted meat in Jixianglou, but she felt that the barbecued meat made with the recipe her daughter gave her would definitely be more delicious than roasted meat.

Yu Jie'er not only provided the recipe, but also provided the price of each type of meat skewer.

For a large skewer like this, with four large chunks of meat on it, Yu Jie'er recommends six cents per skewer.

The pork belly in the capital is cheaper than in the border areas because the supply is large, there are more pig-raising families, and there are also special farms, so the price of pork belly is thirty cents per catty. Sometimes there is too much pork, and when it is cheap, it is only more than twenty cents per catty.

A pound of pork belly can be skewered into twelve large skewers, and at six cents a skewer, a pound of pork belly can be sold for about seventy cents.

If we deduct the cost of charcoal spices and seasonings, as for the skewers, our family can cut bamboo and firewood to make them. These skewers can be used repeatedly, but they will definitely be damaged and will not work after a few uses.

The stall is also owned by the owner. If business is good and more meat is purchased, the price can be cheaper. This means that one can earn around twenty-seven or twenty-eight cents from one pound of barbecued pork belly.

Each person ate one skewer, and looking at the remaining skewers, they were still a little hungry.

Xue Liang said, "Everyone has eaten these skewers, right? Let's buy some more meat tonight and continue grilling for the boss and Brother Jiang. Sister Yu also said that we might not be able to grill very well at the beginning, so we need to practice more. So let's buy some meat in the next few days and make more barbecue. It's just right for everyone to satisfy their cravings."

But if he wanted to make a living by grilling meat, he certainly couldn't use such a small iron mesh. He had to go to the iron shop and make an iron rack like what Yu Jie'er mentioned. He estimated that such an iron rack would cost seven or eight taels of silver. He also had to buy meat, seasonings, spices, and charcoal. His family had only earned a few taels of silver in the past few months, which was not enough.

In addition, Xue Liang had no intention of bringing out all the barbecue and drinks that Yu Jie'er mentioned.

He planned to sell these big pork skewers first, and then milk tea, and at most add some glutinous rice wine, and he would continue to sell his tea.

Greed leads to indigestion. If the pork skewers sell well, he will make some large mutton skewers to sell. The marinating method and sauce recipe of mutton skewers are also different. He will take it slow at first. His tea stall is small and he can't make what Yu Jie'er said. But what Yu Jie'er told him is enough for him to open a shop two or three stories high.

He knew the value of these recipes, and planned to burn them after he and his sister memorized them to prevent them from being stolen in the future.

Xue knew that her eldest brother didn't have enough money. She had earned a few taels of silver from embroidery in the past two months, so she said, "I have a few taels of silver here too. Give it all to your eldest brother."

Shi also said, "I also sold my gold ornaments to collect enough silver first. In addition, this recipe was given by Yujie'er. The recipe is the most valuable. When we make money in the future, my family will split it with my sister-in-law. You also don't do embroidery. Yujie'er will definitely not want you to do embroidery before giving us the recipe. She is afraid that you will hurt your eyes."

Mrs. Xue shook her head. "That's impossible. You guys are the ones worrying about it. I can't help you at all. And you're giving me half of it. I really don't need it. Just keep it. And if you treat Sister Yu well, Sister Yu will think of returning the favor and giving you the recipe."

Shi said: "This formula is the most valuable."

She knew the value of these recipes very well. Even the one hundred taels given to Yu Jie'er would not be enough to buy these recipes. Moreover, they were foods that had never been available in the capital, so she would definitely be able to make money.

After much wrangling, they finally decided to give Xue a share of one or two taels of silver every month.

Because everyone thought that even if they just sold barbecue and milk tea, the sales in one month might be better than before, and they could double the amount and earn four or five or six taels of silver.

After Xue Liang had been grilling meat for half a month, the iron rack and iron net he had ordered were ready, the charcoal was bought early, and a lot of skewers for the meat were also prepared. He and his eldest son went outside the city to chop bamboo and wood, and then slowly split and polished them into skewers. It was a very time-consuming job, but when he made money in the future, he could actually hire someone to do this job.

After half a month, Xue Liang's grilled meat has become pretty good. At least it is not overcooked. It tastes crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with the aroma of meat wrapped in the fragrance of fat and sauce.

Finally, the day to sell the barbecued meat arrived. Early in the morning, the family used a donkey cart to pull the goods to the tea stall and started busying themselves in the small backyard, washing, chopping and marinating the meat.

Today is the first day I sell kebabs, so I prepared ten pounds of pork belly and skewered about a hundred of them.

Shi began to worry again, "What if we can't sell it? Our family can't finish eating ten kilograms of meat."

Xue Qing also put on a gray cloth dress and went to the kitchen to help. She said gently, "Don't worry, mother. I should be able to sell some." She didn't expect to sell all of them.

The barbecue skewers at her restaurant taste great. Compared to the twenty cents a piece of roasted meat at Jixianglou, the taste of their barbecue should be comparable, but the portion is much larger. I heard that the roasted meat at Jixianglou is gone before you can even taste it in your mouth. But one skewer of her barbecue can satisfy your craving.

Six coins a skewer is a bit expensive, but compared to the roasted meat, it's nothing.

Of course, her small stall can't compare with Jixianglou.

After breakfast, their tea stall opened its door, and Xue Liang moved the barbecue rack to the door and started grilling meat.

The charcoal fire started burning, and the barbecue on the iron rack was sizzling with oil. The vendors nearby also knew Xue Liang, and they smiled and said, "Old Xue, what are you doing with this weird thing? But it smells good."

There was no shop next to Xue Liang's tea stall, only a few small vendors setting up stalls. The shops were at a distance, so the barbecue smoke did not affect other people's stalls much.

Xue Liang said, "I've thought of some new food and I'm going to try to sell it. This is called barbecue skewers."

The vendors asked about the price and found out it was six cents. They still felt it was a bit expensive, but they couldn't afford to eat it anyway.

After a while, a regular customer came over. He couldn't help but ask the price when he smelled the aroma. Xue Liang said it was six cents a skewer. The customer thought it was a bit expensive, but he thought that the roasted meat at Jixianglou was twenty cents a piece. This roasted meat seemed to be cooked in a similar way. But there were four big pieces of meat, and it was so fragrant, so he ordered two skewers to try.

When you buy a skewer of meat, you get a bowl of tea for free. Milk tea is eight cents a bowl, so of course I can't afford it.

He also told the customer that the shop had a new drink called milk tea, which cost eight cents a bowl. However, most men did not like sweets, so the customer did not really want to drink this milk tea.

When the kebabs are served,

The guest took a bite, nodded and said, "Delicious! Really delicious!" His mouth was full of oil.

The two skewers of barbecue were quite satisfying, but of course, I wasn’t full.

What the Xue family didn't expect was that all the prepared meat was sold out on the first day.

Mainly, a customer tried the meat skewers at dinner time. Since he had some money, he ordered ten skewers and was very satisfied.

However, not much milk tea was sold. Only two customers who like sweets bought some and they both thought it was delicious.

The next day, Xue Liang prepared twenty kilograms of meat, but it was sold out.

A month later, they calculated how much money they had earned and could hardly believe their eyes.

Looking at the small change and copper coins in the box, after a final count, after deducting the costs, they earned almost thirty taels of silver this month.

This was still the case at the beginning when not much was sold every day. Later, as more people came to eat, the reputation of the barbecue skewers spread. There were even wealthy families who sent their servants to buy dozens of skewers. Knowing that her family had a new drink, they also bought a lot to try. Later, she could sell at least 60 to 70 kilograms of barbecued meat skewers every day, from noon to the end of the night market, and there were even not enough meat skewers to sell.

The milk tea in the back is also selling well, but most of the buyers are female customers.

Some female customers would also come to the tea stall to eat barbecue and drink milk tea. They would sit inside the stall, while male customers would sit outside under the oil shed.

Sometimes the table is full, but some people don’t mind and just wait by the side until the skewers are ready, then wrap them in oil paper and eat them while walking.

Shi murmured, "We only earned more than thirty taels of silver?" She even thought she was dreaming.

In the past, I could only earn two or three taels of silver a month from selling tea and fruit. I thought it would be good if I could double it in a month, but now it's only more than thirty taels.

Shi's eyes were red, she wanted to cry and also felt a little guilty. She had been making a fuss for nearly a month about the one or two hundred silver coins her husband gave to Yu Jie'er.

But Sister Yu gave them such a lucrative livelihood.

Xue Liang's voice trembled a little, "Our business has only really picked up in the second half of the month, which means that next month we will definitely make more than thirty taels of silver, maybe even double it." He had never thought in his life that he could earn dozens of taels of silver a month.

Moreover, Xue Liang planned to add some lamb skewers, roasted leeks and lotus root slices, and also sell some drinks.

Xue Liang discussed with Shi that as they could earn so much every month, it would be impossible to give Xue only one or two taels of silver every month. So they planned to give Xue 20% of their monthly earnings.

If it weren't for Yu Jie'er's recipe, how could they have earned so much? Naturally, they also had to take good care of Xue and let her stop doing embroidery work.

Xue hadn't been to her brother's tea stall for a month. When Shi came to see her and brought her seven taels of silver, she was surprised. Finally, when she heard from her sister-in-law that she had earned more than thirty taels of silver that month, Xue was stunned.

Shi also said, "I will make more money next month, maybe even double it!"

Sixty or seventy taels of silver a month, they never dared to dream of that before.

Xue stammered, "She made so much money from the skewers and milk tea, and there are still so many recipes left. This means that Sister Yu really didn't lie to us. She really knows how to cook and wants to open a restaurant."

Shi smiled and said, "That's right, so Sister Yu really didn't lie to you. Her food must be more delicious, and the restaurant she opened must make more money than ours. You don't have to worry about Sister Yu having no money to spend, so you have to listen to Sister Yu, but you must not continue to do embroidery. Otherwise, when you meet, if you are blind, think about how sad Sister Yu will be."

Xue wiped her eyes and smiled again, "Yes, I won't do embroidery anymore."

She also looks forward to the day when she will see her daughter again.

Xue also accepted the money and planned to save it. She asked Ma Liu to help send money to her daughter every six months.

…

Far away in the border town, Xu Qinyu had actually basically figured out how much her uncle's tea stall could earn in a month if it sold barbecue. A few dozen taels of silver was still easy to make, but because of the lack of manpower and venue, it would only be a few dozen taels of silver per month at most. Unless the scale was expanded and the staff was increased to make it a specialized barbecue restaurant, it would be more profitable.

Barbecue is really profitable. In her era, early barbecue enthusiasts made a lot of money.

It was only later that more people followed the trend and barbecue restaurants appeared everywhere, and then the market became saturated.

Xu Qinyu even knew that it was impossible for her uncle to make all the recipes she gave him in one go.

I think they should start by selling one or two kinds of barbecue and one or two kinds of drinks. You won’t get fat by eating all of them in one go.

Originally, all these recipes were given to him according to those from large barbecue shops, and they would be available for use when his uncle earned enough money to open a large shop.

My uncle has a good relationship with my mother. Although my aunt has a quick temper, she is a good person and will never treat my mother badly. She estimates that she will give 20% of her monthly earnings to Xue.

The more money is earned in the future, the more Xue will get. The second branch will have an easier time in the Marquis' Mansion, and she can feel at ease.

Otherwise, she always felt that she had taken over the original body and was very sorry for the original body and her family.

Although this time travel was not what she wanted.

Xu Qinyu waited for Ma Liu to leave for less than two days. She counted the money she had and decided to go find a shop.