074, Claypot Rice
074, Claypot Rice
“Sizzle——”
Sesame oil poured from the outside of the clay pot lid, and the pot made a sizzling sound. The rice in the clay pot was slowly cooked under the high temperature, and the sausage and bacon on top gradually changed color, pink and white, and even emitted an oily sheen.
After waiting for a while, Xu Yue Niang opened the lid, and the aroma of rice mixed with meat wafted out and drifted from the store to the street.
An old customer, attracted by the aroma, looked at the row of small stoves that had appeared in front of the pancake shop and asked the proprietress who was beating eggs into a small pot: "Madam, what are you making? Why does it smell so good?"
"Haha, you haven't tried it before? Our store has a new clay pot rice, which has meat, eggs and vegetables. Would you like to have one?" Xu Yue Niang beat the eggs into the clay pot and covered it with the lid.
"It looks pretty good. How much is this meal?" The old customer was really greedy when looking at the pot of rice.
"A portion like this costs ten cents, and a portion with meat costs two more cents." Xu Yue Niang opened another small pot and cracked an egg into it.
"Okay, give me one." The old customer had ten cents in his pocket, so he went into the store.
At this time, the restaurant was full of diners. There were not many tables in the restaurant. When customers came in, they found that there were no empty tables, so they found a table and shared it with others. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. We all come here to eat.
The old customers who came in later saw that others were already eating. When they saw others put a piece of what looked like meat into their mouths and made a satisfied "hmm" sound, the old customers couldn't help but swallow their saliva.
"Mr. Liu, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Here's your clay pot rice." Boss Lu brought the cooked clay pot rice to the customer who was waiting for his meal. When he placed the clay pot rice in front of the customer, he also reminded him, "This pot is very hot. Please be careful not to touch it."
"Okay." Mr. Liu looked at the rice in front of him, picked up his chopsticks, picked up a piece of meat and put it into his mouth. He couldn't help but let out a long "hmm" and asked Boss Lu: "What kind of meat is this? Why haven't I eaten it before?"
"This is our newly made sausage, and there is bacon in the rice. They are all made from high-quality pork. This sausage and bacon are delicious when eaten with rice, or when roasted, fried, or stir-fried." While answering the customer's question, Boss Lu returned to his wife and watched her make the clay pot rice.
The recipe for this clay pot rice was given to them by their adopted son. The main purpose of selling this clay pot rice in the store is to promote their newly made sausages and bacon.
Otherwise, many customers have never seen this thing, let alone eaten it, and don’t know how their sausages and bacon are cooked, let alone what they taste like. Others will have concerns and will not buy such things from them casually.
But if everyone enjoys the food, that would be a different story. Then they wouldn’t need to sell it to others because customers would come and buy it themselves.
Just like now, when customers in the store find something delicious, they will actively ask them if they want to sell it.
"Oh, do you sell the sausages and bacon separately?" Mr. Liu has no other hobbies except eating. The sausages and bacon in this pot taste salty and delicious, much better than pork alone.
"Sell it, how much do you want?"
"Yes, how much do you want to sell it for?"
When the customers asked to buy Chinese sausages and bacon, Boss Lu picked up a bunch of Chinese sausages and a piece of bacon from their counter and showed them to them, "The Chinese sausages are a little more expensive, 80 coins per pound, and the bacon is 60 coins."
"How heavy are those sausages in your hand?" Mr. Liu prefers sausages with a salty and fragrant taste.
"These ones in my hand weigh about half a pound." Boss Lu weighed the weight in his hand and replied.
"Half a pound is a little less. Give me three pounds, and two pounds of bacon as well." Boss Liu said.
"Okay, no problem. I'll pack it for you after you finish your meal." said Boss Lu.
At this time, a full customer nearby also said, "Give me ten pounds of this sausage, and ten pounds of bacon too."
"I'll have three pounds of sausages too," another customer said.
The other customers in the store thought the sausage was delicious and asked to take some away. Some ordered 10 or 8 kilograms, while others ordered 2 or 3 kilograms to take home and taste.
Knowing that the store also sells meat sauce and pork jerky, some wealthy customers would take a few pieces of meat sauce or pork jerky away.
***
When Lu Mingfei brought his two younger brothers to the store from home, it was the busiest time of the day. He asked his two younger brothers to go into the backyard to play for a while, and then he came over to help his godfather pack things for the customers.
It took them a while to finish the work. They packed up everything the guests wanted and let them take it away.
After the customers left, Lu Mingfei suddenly remembered something and told his adoptive father and mother, "We'll have someone carve a seal with our brand name on it. We can then put our seal on a piece of paper and stick it on the outside of the oil paper."
"Brand name? What is that name?" Boss Lu seemed to understand what his adopted son said, but also seemed not to understand.
"Brand, you can understand it as a signboard, but it's slightly different from a signboard." Lu Mingfei thought for a moment and gave an example. "For example, our pancake shop is called Lu's Pancake Shop, which is our signboard. But this signboard can't be used as our brand, because our sausages and bacon are not pancakes, so the signboard can't cover our products. We can choose a bigger name and use it as our brand."
"With this brand, customers who come to buy things from us in the future will recognize our brand. Even if someone else starts selling similar products in the future, they won't be able to steal our customers."
Lu Mingfei explained to his adoptive father and mother what a brand is and its role.
"Oh, I see, but we need to discuss this with your parents before making a decision." Boss Lu now understood what brand his adopted son was talking about. However, sausages and bacon were not unique to their family, so he had to discuss this with Liu Sanniang and Lu Youtian before making a decision.
They had just finished their business when two kids, who had been playing in the backyard, ran into the store. Boss Lu asked his adopted son and the two kids, "Are you hungry? What would you three like to eat for lunch?"
"How about some clay pot rice? There's still some rice left. I'll cook a few pots of clay pot rice and we'll have it for lunch." Xu Yue Niang suggested.
"Okay, then let's eat this later." said Boss Lu.
"Is the clay pot rice selling well in the store these days?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"It's not bad. When the customers who come to buy things see me cooking this rice, many of them ask for a portion." Xu Yue Niang said.
The clay pot rice they launched in their store these past two days is selling quite well.
Lu Mingfei talked to his adoptive father and mother in the store for a few words. Thinking that his mother's stall was about to close, he said goodbye to his adoptive father and mother and went outside to help his mother look after the stall.
After everyone put their things away in the backyard of the pancake shop, they went to the shop in front of the shop to eat clay pot rice.
By the time they had lunch, it was already afternoon.
This is basically the case in the catering business. They don’t have time to eat when the customers are eating. They have to wait until all the customers have left before they can sit down to eat.
After dinner, Xu Yueniang discussed with Liu Sanniang, "Today is Mingfei's birthday. I bought a chicken this morning. Why don't you guys have dinner with us this afternoon?"
"Sure, Youtian will be here soon, and we'll just have two simple dishes tonight." Liu Sanniang didn't bother to be polite with Xu Yueniang. They were making sausages and bacon here recently, and sometimes they were busy too late, so they had dinner at Xu Yueniang's before going home.
It just so happened that today was her eldest son's birthday, and since Xu Yue Niang asked her to cook and eat here, she had no reason to refuse.
When Lu Mingfei heard his two mothers discussing how to celebrate his birthday, he suggested: "How about I cook dinner tonight? How about you try my cooking skills?" In previous years, on his birthday, both families would cook a meal together or go to a restaurant outside, but this time he wanted to let his two mothers take a break and let him be the chef.
"You do it?" Liu Sanniang looked at the child and asked with a smile.
"Yes, mother, don't you still believe in my cooking skills?" Lu Mingfei nodded.
"Okay, let's relax tonight." Liu Sanniang did not doubt her eldest son's cooking skills, because in the past few years, her eldest son would cook from time to time, and the food he cooked tasted very good.
Thinking back carefully, the recipes for braised dishes, meat sauce, pork jerky, sausages and bacon, and clay pot rice that their family currently uses were all provided to them by their eldest son.
The child said he learned it from a book, and Liu Sanniang never doubted it. Isn't it said that books are the golden house? Isn't it normal for a book to contain a few recipes?
So Lu Mingfei agreed with the adults that he would be the chef in the evening.
After everyone had finished their meal, Boss Lu closed the door of the pancake shop and everyone went into the backyard to work.
The two aunts hired to do the work went home after washing the dishes and did not participate in their afternoon work.
In the afternoon, both families were busy chopping meat and stuffing sausages in the backyard, with Lu Mingfei helping out. After they'd been busy for a while, his father arrived and joined them in making these things.
After helping out for a while but ended up making things worse, the two little guys went back to their room and fell asleep.
After the two younger brothers woke up, Lu Mingfei took care of them while preparing dinner for their two families.
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