"What is it, my lady? Please speak."
"Here's the thing, a friend and I have started a small food stall and we need to use chicken in our dishes. I was wondering if you can provide a stable supply?"
The butcher and his wife were both surprised and delighted to hear this.
Although the demand for food stalls is not as high as that for restaurants, it will still provide an additional sales channel, so they are naturally happy.
"Supply is definitely not a problem! I wonder how much my wife needs each day?"
"We're just starting out, so it's hard to say exactly how many we'll need. Let's start with three chickens a day," Su Yun'er estimated.
After one chicken is cooked, it can be divided into three to four servings, so three chickens would be nine to twelve servings.
I was worried that the butcher would think it was too little, but to my surprise, he agreed with a smile and even promised to deliver the goods to the dock once a day.
“There’s no need to go to such trouble. I come to the city every day to buy things, so I can just come and pick them up myself,” Su Yun’er said quickly.
A few steps from the butcher stall, Su Yun'er suddenly remembered that she had planned to make peppered pork tripe chicken, and two chickens wouldn't be enough. So she went back and bought two more chickens.
Actually, Su Yun'er ordered chicken because she wanted to add some dishes to the food stall.
She pondered the decision all the way, and finally decided to make braised chicken when she arrived at the meat stall.
The braised chicken I made at the Xu family's wedding banquet a few days ago was very well received, which shows that the dish suits the local people's tastes. In addition, chicken is a high-quality animal protein that can enhance immunity and quickly restore physical strength.
Moreover, braised chicken is easy to make, and you can make a day's worth at once. When customers order, you can just scoop it into a small clay pot and reheat it. You can also offer customers some side dishes to choose from.
However, chicken is a meat dish, so it is naturally more expensive than vegetables. If someone can't afford meat but still wants to try it, they can use the broth from the braised chicken to cook some vegetables.
The largest flow of customers at the dock currently comes from laborers. Meat dishes are still a bit expensive for them, so their main food is tofu pudding. Braised chicken is more for traveling merchants, so the main dish at the food stalls is still tofu pudding.
Moreover, soy products also come in a wide variety of forms. In addition to tofu pudding, there is soy milk made before making tofu pudding, the tofu skin that forms when boiling soy milk, and tofu made by pressing tofu pudding.
Tofu can be made into many dishes, and depending on the cooking methods such as frying, stir-frying, boiling, stewing, and cooking, there are many derivative products.
In short, the dishes that Su Yun'er planned to buy were all flexible and versatile in their preparation, and would not be restricted by any set rules.
In addition, Su Yun'er wanted to add a dish of blanched seasonal vegetables. The variety of vegetables would vary each day, depending on the vegetable reserves in the space.
For staple foods, rice and noodles are provided.
As for the future, once the customer traffic increases and business improves, the menu can be adjusted at any time.
Let's do some things for now.
Having finalized her short-term business goals for the food stall, Su Yun'er unknowingly returned to the dock.
In the distance, she saw an unfamiliar ship entering the port.
"Could it be a merchant ship?" Su Yun'er was overjoyed and dared not delay any longer, hurrying towards the food stall.
"Slow down, slow down, the ground is covered in ice and snow, don't slip and fall." He Liu saw her from afar and reminded her repeatedly. He came out of the tent to greet her and took the four cleaned chickens and a large basket from Su Yun'er's hands.
The basket contained vegetables and a small bag of flour, which Su Yun'er had taken out of her spatial storage when they were almost at the dock, as if she had bought them at the market earlier.
"Auntie, do you see that ship over there?"
"I saw it. I've been looking here for ages. It was quite lively over at the dock just now."
"What's all the fuss about?"
"From what I heard, it seems the ship arrived ahead of schedule, and the canal officials haven't made any preparations yet. Sigh, they were shouting nonsense on the dock just now, but I didn't understand a word." He Liu wasn't interested in the infighting among the canal officials; she was only concerned about how many guests the ship would bring them. "Yun'er, let's hurry up and get ready. We'll have guests after it enters the port."
Seeing He Liu's enthusiasm and positive attitude, Su Yun'er was also infected by it.
Together with He Liu, they started preparing the meat and vegetables.
The chicken has been cleaned very well; it just needs a quick rinse, then chopped into pieces and cooked.
For the side dishes, Su Yun'er prepared shiitake mushrooms, potatoes, and green peppers for the braised chicken, as well as some romaine lettuce and cabbage. After blanching and seasoning, it's ready to eat.
Simple, easy to make, and tastes great.
Three chickens were used to make braised chicken, and the smallest chicken, before the guests arrived and while there was still time, Su Yun'er cleaned it and the pig's stomach together and began to prepare to make braised chicken with pig's stomach.
The pig's stomach was cleaned using the old method. After the chicken was cleaned, crushed white peppercorns were put into a small gauze bag, which was then stuffed into the chicken's stomach.
Then stuff the whole chicken into the pig's stomach, stuff ginger slices into the gaps, and seal the opening of the pig's stomach with cotton thread.
"My goodness, what kind of elaborate dish are you making? It looks like it takes a lot of effort." He Liu couldn't help but watch Su Yun'er cook.
"Sigh, it's quite tiring." Su Yun'er wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Auntie, I've hidden a clay pot under the pots and pans over there, could you bring it over for me?"
The casserole dish was something I found and prepared at home when I decided to make pork tripe and chicken soup.
"Auntie, put a bamboo strip at the bottom of the pot, then put ginger slices on it."
He Liu did as Su Yun'er instructed, and then watched as Su Yun'er placed the whole pig stomach filled with chicken into the casserole, the size of which was just right.
After adding water and a little cooking wine, skim off the foam that rises to the surface after the water boils, then turn the heat to low and simmer.
This clay pot is sealed very tightly, which can retain heat and reduce moisture evaporation, allowing the food in the pot to be stewed and cooked through quickly.
More than an hour later, the tent was filled with a delicious aroma.
He Liu circled around the two pots with a look of anticipation, having already forgotten that he had come to open a food stall.
"Yun'er, is the peppered pork tripe and chicken soup ready?"
Having developed a taste for braised food before, He Liu fell in love with pig's stomach. Now, just smelling that enticing aroma makes her stomach rumble.
"Judging by the time, it should be about ready." Under He Liu's repeated urging, Su Yun'er lifted the lid of the casserole.
After simmering for more than an hour, the clear water in the pot had turned into a milky white broth, with some golden-yellow substances floating on top.
"Yun'er, what is this golden yellow thing?"
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