59 Copper Hot Pot
"Master, this pot is quite unusual."
In the kitchen, Xiao Hei watched as Ju Tao washed the strangely shaped copper pot she was carrying in the water, poured in hot water, and handed it to him, saying, "Take it to the outer room and put it on the table."
This is a two-tiered copper pot. The bottom tier has a tray that supports a hollow cylinder, which is connected to the pot on the top tier. In short, Xiao Hei had never seen a pot like this before.
He carried the copper pot filled with hot water from the kitchen to the main hall, glanced at where Shen Suqin was sitting, and then carried the pot over and placed it on the table.
Manager Zhao became interested as soon as he saw the pot, and quickly stood up to look inside: "Master, this pot is quite unusual."
“I call it a copper stove hot pot. There’s charcoal burning in the middle, and you cook the ingredients in the pot. You eat it while it’s cooking, and it’s hot,” Shen Suqin explained.
"This charcoal fire..."
"Go and have your sister Ju Tao bring the charcoal," Shen Suqin said to Xiao Hei.
Xiao Hei nodded and went downstairs.
Shen Suqin continued to tell Zhao Ji, "Just shovel the charcoal and pour it in directly."
Won't it burn out?
"A copper pot isn't so easy to burn."
"Even if it doesn't burn, can food really be cooked over charcoal?"
"Of course, I can cook some sliced meat and vegetables. I'll cook some for you to try later."
As they spoke, Ju Tao carried a tray of sliced meat and vegetables, while Xiao Hei carried a red-hot charcoal brazier. The two of them walked over together.
Ju Tao and Shen Suqin had eaten this copper hot pot together many times when they were in Fuliang Mountain, so she skillfully poured charcoal into the inner pot, waited for the water to boil, and then poured the sliced meat into the pot.
As soon as she finished, the other diners in the lobby gathered around curiously, chattering about the strange pot.
"Wow, this meat really has turned white."
"It's still quite hot to the touch."
"It's steaming hot, and it looks so warm. It's a great food for winter. If you eat stewed meat, the oil will solidify before you can even take a couple of bites."
"Exactly, we should put some meat bones in it, so it will taste even better when we cook it and eat it at the same time."
“Hey,” Shen Suqin stood up, “This fellow villager is right. Bone broth and meat broth are even more fragrant. If you have some green vegetables and tofu, just cook them in for a bit, and one bite will make you feel absolutely comfortable.”
"Yes!" everyone agreed.
As the meat slices curled up, someone couldn't wait to say, "Is the meat cooked? Shopkeeper, please have a taste."
Zhao Ji chuckled and reached for the meat with his chopsticks, but Shen Suqin stopped him halfway and said, "Wait, the dipping sauce hasn't arrived yet."
"Dipping sauce? What's dipping sauce?" Zhao Ji asked.
"My sister went to get it done, she'll be here soon."
Soon, Ju Tao and Xiao Hei brought over several bowls of seasoning.
Daliang has a relatively rich variety of spices, including ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, fennel, and more. However, these are usually used as medicinal herbs and are very expensive for ordinary families.
For most ordinary people, having a little salt to eat is already considered quite good.
Xingyuan's advantage lies in its rich seasonings; in other words, it has a strong flavor.
Take their stewed pork offal rice, for example. It's made with pork offal, cooked in a heavy oil base, and then simmered with spices to remove any fishy smell and enhance the flavor. The addition of dogwood adds spiciness, resulting in a flavor that's spicy, numbing, and fragrant. It's very appetizing and suits the tastes of itinerant merchants who do manual labor.
This time, Ju Tao brought a seasoning base made with spicy and savory offal, along with scallions, dogwood, sesame oil, sugar, salt, and other seasonings.
"Come on, Mr. Zhao, everyone, let's all try this hot pot." Shen Suqin called out to everyone.
Everyone was already impatient and started picking up their chopsticks to scoop meat from the pot, which was quickly devoured.
Ju Tao quickly cooked the second plate of meat.
The third set, the fourth set...
After several rounds, everyone was eating so much that their faces were glowing red, and they couldn't stop.
Seeing this, Shen Suqin waved her hand, signaling Ju Tao to stop.
The group couldn't get any meat, and they licked their lips, still wanting more, complaining, "Why did you stop? We paid for this, we didn't eat for free."
Shen Suqin smiled and said, "Let me ask you a few questions first. After that, please continue eating. It's on me."
As soon as I mentioned treating everyone, everyone burst into laughter and said, "Go ahead and ask."
Shen Suqin: "If this copper hot pot restaurant were to open in Xingyuan in the future, would people be willing to spend money to eat here?"
"Absolutely! I'm not only coming myself, but I'm also bringing my whole family so they can all come and have a good time."
"That's right, it's a good meal for the whole family, not bad at all."
"The key is that it keeps you warm the more you eat, which wasn't possible before."
"That's right."
Shen Suqin listened and nodded in satisfaction, saying, "Then you all must come and support us more often in the future."
"Are you really going to do it?" someone asked.
Shen Suqin replied, "If it's true, it will become Xingyuan Restaurant's signature dish from now on. Please remember, it's called Reunion Pot."
"Reunion Pot?"
"Yes, that's right. A family eating and drinking together around a round pot, isn't that a reunion pot?"
"A good name."
Shen Suqin smiled and said, "Then please continue eating. It's my treat today, so please eat your fill and don't be shy."
The crowd cheered and hurriedly called the waiter to bring out the dishes and meat.
"Manager Zhao, shall we move to the third floor? Let's discuss this matter together," Shen Suqin called to Zhao Ji.
Zhao Ji quickly stood up: "This way, please, host."
Upon reaching the third floor, Shen Suqin got straight to the point: "These are the new dishes that Xingyuan plans to launch next. What do you think, Manager Zhao?"
Zhao Ji: "The food is indeed novel and delicious, but I'm afraid I can't afford this copper pot."
Daliang produces copper, but not much, and copper is expensive. Making one pot like this isn't a big problem. But if every table needs one, that would be more than a dozen, which would be a huge expense.
“You can only have sustained output if you invest,” Shen Suqin said. “To put it bluntly, this stuff doesn’t require much technical skill. Other shops can learn it just by looking at it for a bit. What can we rely on to stand out? First, the ingredients, fresh and novel; second, the seasoning; and third, the cookware, the so-called authentic sense of ritual. So we can’t skimp on this copper pot. I also have to print the Xingyuan logo on the copper pot so that others can’t imitate it.”
"What the boss says is true; I was short-sighted."
Shen Suqin shook her head: "Manager Zhao is very good, no need to be modest. In that case, I will entrust this matter to Manager Zhao. If there are any problems, you can ask Ju Tao, she knows the answer."
"Yes, boss."
"Also, we need to hurry up with this. I want to launch it as soon as possible so we can make money quickly."
"I've written it down."
As she spoke, Shen Suqin was about to get up and take her leave, but after thinking for a moment, she sat down again and asked, "Manager Zhao, I remember that you were in charge of sending grain to the Shule River before, right?"
Zhao Ji was somewhat flattered and quickly said, "It is indeed me. I didn't expect my master to still remember me."
Shen Suqin: "When you went to Shule River and saw their camp, what did you feel?"
After a long silence, Zhao Ji slowly said, "The puppy still has a roof over its head and three meals a day."
Shen Suqin's eyes were gloomy: "They are not dogs. Only wolves could make the Shatuo flee in terror."
Zhao Ji nodded silently: "I heard that the master promised to give the Black Flag Army 100,000 taels of silver every month as military pay?"
"yes."
"Can I join you too?"
After leaving Xingyuan Restaurant, Shen Suqin did not go directly back to her residence, but instead went to the western suburbs.
A thousand or so people in the western suburbs worked for several days and barely managed to dig out a few deep pits, each about ten feet square.
The ground is mostly frozen soil, so you have to burn fires to thaw it before you can dig.
However, this was much faster than Shen Suqin had expected.
Seeing her bring people over, Zhou Wu quickly went to greet her.
“Madam hasn’t come for a while,” Zhou Wu said.
Shen Suqin covered her icy ears with her hands and replied, "I've been busy with other things these past few days. How have they been? Have they gone smoothly?"
Zhou Wu stepped aside to let her see the whole picture and said, "It's alright. Now that the pit is dug, we can put up the beams and build the roof."
"What does Zhou Baihu plan to use to build the roof?"
"How about the reeds?"
“Hmm…” Shen Suqin originally planned to just use tung oil paper to cover the top, but then she thought that reeds would be more sturdy and that Jinzhou was often windy, so the tung oil paper probably wouldn’t last long. “Let’s listen to the centurion and use reeds.”
Zhou Baihu's eyes lit up. "Madam, could I ask the women in the city to help weave reeds into straw mats? That way, they can earn some copper coins to supplement their family income."
His wife came along this time and stayed in the city, where she didn't have much to do each day.
“That’s fine, let’s leave it at that. I’ve already allocated the money to you, if you need more, just ask General Xu,” Shen Suqin said.
After construction began in the western suburbs, she entrusted the entire matter to Xu Youcai and also allocated the necessary funds to him.
Later, Xu Youcai wanted to personally deliver a message to the Black Flag Army, so he temporarily entrusted the matter to Zhou Wu.
Zhou Wu was a man of careful planning and hard work, and Shen Suqin trusted him implicitly.
"Thank you, Madam," Zhou Wu said excitedly.
He originally thought he would have to use a lot of persuasion before his wife would agree, but he didn't expect her to be so easy to talk to.
However, Zhou Wu's mention of it made Shen Suqin take the matter to heart.
With spring approaching, farming is one aspect, but to increase income, farming alone is not enough.
Although the land in the North is fertile, the winters are long, and millet requires sufficient temperature to grow, so the yield of millet in the North is not high, and growing millet does not earn money; it is barely enough to fill one's stomach.
However, this needs to be planned slowly, one thing at a time.
Shen Suqin turned her gaze back to Zhou Wu and said, "After the beams are erected, we need to build the fire wall. The principle of this is similar to that of a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-like structure). You should know how to do it, right?"
"Don't worry, Madam. We have a group of people who have studied this before and they can do it."
"That's good. Next, we'll cover the entire field with oil paper so that the light can get in," she said, then paused for a moment. "We'll grow vegetables in the greenhouse. You can pick some that grow fast. Then, we'll select a group of trustworthy people to be in charge of growing the vegetables and doing odd jobs. You can decide who to hire, as long as we can keep things confidential."
Zhou Wu nodded repeatedly.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone."
"Of course, of course, Madam, rest assured, we will do our utmost."
Shen Suqin considered the vegetable greenhouse business as a small business, an add-on to her hot pot business, and didn't expect it to make much money.
Right now, she is focusing her main energy on Xingyuan Restaurant.
The restaurant business is declining, which has directly reduced her profits and had a huge impact.
Moreover, since we had planned to clear out the goods and export them, we haven't been paying attention to the business for a long time. Some of the shopkeepers are getting restless, so it's time to give them a good talking-to.
On the way back, Shen Suqin said to Ju Tao, "Pass down the word that before the New Year, we need to do an accounting check and have all the managers from various places come to Ningyuan."
The accounting process involves reporting the restaurant's annual income, expenses, and profits, and also discussing profit sharing and rewards/penalties.
This is a major event for Xingyuan every year. Regular customers all know that every year at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, the managers would take a long trip, usually to Fuliang Mountain.
Ju Tao was startled: "Ningyuan is so cold and so far away, I'm afraid..."
"If you can't even handle this little bit of hardship, you might as well close down as soon as possible."
"Then I'll pass the word down right away."
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