Chapter 421: Stay the Night?

Chapter 421: Chapter 421: Stay the Night?

The earthenware pot for the braising liquid had been brought over. Conveniently, there was a kitchen in the backyard, so upon returning to the shop, they immediately began washing the ingredients.

Ji Huan took stock. The new items included braised pork heart, liver, skin, and belly, as well as braised chicken and duck legs, and braised chicken and duck drumettes.

These were all relatively "high-end" items.

There were also braised seitan and peanuts.

She had originally wanted to braise some pig trotters, stomach, and intestines, but these items were difficult to prepare. There wasn’t even enough time for marination, so she had to give up on the idea.

Xu Laifu and Zhou had to tend to the customers out front, leaving Ji Huan to work on her own.

But just as she rolled up her sleeves, Guan Shan gently pushed her down to sit on a nearby stool.

"Tell me what to do. You rest."

Guan Shan hadn’t been there during the rush yesterday, and he likely felt bad that Ji Huan had gotten so tired.

Ji Huan truly hadn’t recovered yet, but she felt just as bad about leaving everything to Guan Shan.

Knowing she couldn’t win him over or talk him out of it, she began to deliberately find fault—this wasn’t right, that wasn’t good, he was too slow, they were running out of time... until she successfully managed to join the work.

When Zhou came over with some tea, he saw Guan Shan—a man he held in such high esteem—silently letting the boss nitpick his work.

’Looks like the boss is the truly formidable one...’

When the shop wasn’t too busy, Xu Laifu came over to share an idea with Ji Huan.

"Since we’re able to supply our braised foods to Hongfu Restaurant, couldn’t we also supply them to other restaurants and eateries in the city?"

"I do have that in mind, but it’s not possible right now."

For one, our braised foods haven’t made a name for themselves yet. For another, staffing is an issue.

"We can’t keep borrowing people from Yide Hall and Hongfu Restaurant every day, can we? And it’s obviously not realistic for me to do it all by myself."

"It’s not that I haven’t thought about hiring people, but..."

"We can’t put the cart before the horse. As I’ve said before, we aren’t running a restaurant, nor are we exclusively a braised food shop."

Ji Huan’s plan was to wait until the dehydrated vegetable order was delivered in a few days. Then, she would keep a few of the temporary workers on to specialize in making the braised foods.

Xu Laifu understood.

’Although the braised foods are important, they’re not the main focus for Ji’s Flavor Industry. Ji Huan’s primary goal is likely to use them to drive sales of her soy sauce, vinegar, and spices.’

Ji Huan didn’t deny it.

"Don’t be fooled by how they’re being snapped up and seem so profitable right now. Just wait a while. These cheap ingredients are bound to get more expensive. Our purchasing costs will go up, so our prices will have to rise. On top of that, once the novelty wears off for customers... our profit margins will inevitably shrink. There will still be money to be made, but it won’t be a windfall. Instead of making it the main attraction, we should expand and sell the braising spice packets directly."

"If we sell the spice packets to other people, will we still be able to sell our own braised foods?"

"We won’t sell them right away. We’ll wait a while, until our brand is firmly established."

’Besides, I have plenty of braising recipes in my head. I’ll definitely keep the best one for ourselves.’

’And we’d only be selling the spice packets and briefly teaching people how to use them.’

’The exact cooking process will vary from person to person, and small differences in preparation will lead to a wide variety of flavors.’

’We just need to ensure our own flavor remains unique and irreplaceable.’

’If we’re really worried about competition, we can just sell the braising liquid itself as a last resort.’

"Speaking of a brand name... let’s just call it the Braised Fragrance Workshop. Baiwei Square, Sauce and Vinegar Workshop, Braised Fragrance Workshop—anyone would know they’re from the same family just by hearing the names."

Guan Shan certainly wouldn’t object, so what else could Xu Laifu say.

"The boss is right."

After all the ingredients were washed and prepped, they were either blanched or marinated, then separated into two batches for braising. Except for the chicken and duck pieces, which would use a spicy marinade, everything else would be cooked in yesterday’s red braising liquid.

Since she had decided to cultivate the master stock, she couldn’t just mix everything together haphazardly anymore.

Items like eggs, dried tofu, seitan, peanuts, and pork skin were cooked in a separate, smaller pot, using some of the braising liquid ladled out from the main one.

When braising the eggs, she added a small bag of coarse tea leaves, and after simmering for a long time, the eggs took on a faint, fragrant tea aroma.

With the two charcoal-burning barrel stoves from Manager Hong, they had three stoves in total, but there were only two people: Ji Huan and Guan Shan.

As a man unfamiliar with cooking, there was a limited amount Guan Shan could do to help.

Xu Laifu and Zhou took turns popping in, but the most they could do was watch the fires. It was a victory if they didn’t get in the way.

Ji Huan did her best to speed things up, carefully scheduling the ingredients based on their required cooking times. Even so, by the time everything for the red braise was finished, most of the afternoon was gone, and she hadn’t even started on the spicy batch.

There were many recipes for braising chicken and duck pieces, but Ji Huan ultimately chose the one for Jingwu-style duck necks.

This brand had once been popular all over the country, getting its name from its origins on Hankou Jingwu Road. At its peak, more than sixty duck neck shops lined the small, less-than-a-kilometer-long street, making the area famous.

Later, for unknown reasons, most of the shops closed down.

Some said it was due to redevelopment and demolition, while others blamed a dispute over who was the "Number One in Jingwu." It was also likely related to the rise of many new competitors, such as Black Duck Zhou.

Regardless, Ji Huan was quite fond of the flavor.

It was an improvement on a Sichuan-style recipe, so it still had that characteristic numbing and spicy flavor, while being fragrant, savory, and leaving a lingering aftertaste.

Ji Huan had made a few slight upgrades of her own.

She brought clear water to a boil, added eight chicken carcasses, and simmered them on low heat for one hour before removing them, creating a rich stock.

The spice packet consisted of eighteen different spices, including white peony root, dried tangerine peel, cinnamon, long pepper, galangal, and red cardamom. She washed them, wrapped them in a cheesecloth bag, and dropped it into the stock.

She added three jin of king chilis and half a jin of Sichuan peppercorns, brought it to a boil over high heat, then turned it down to a simmer for nearly two hours. Then she poured in cooking oil and continued to let it simmer.

When the time was right, she strained out all the solids and seasoned the liquid with salt and sugar, completing the base stock.

The red braise batch had just finished. Without even daring to take a break, Ji Huan seamlessly transitioned to braising the chicken and duck pieces.

The duck necks, which had already been repeatedly rinsed and marinated in scallion, ginger, salt, wine, and red yeast rice powder, were taken out and placed in a pot of cold water. She then blanched them over high heat to remove any impurities.

The red braising liquid had already been transferred to a jar, leaving the pot empty. She ladled some of the base stock into it, added a new spice packet, some wine and salt, and a few more chilis and Sichuan peppercorns.

After boiling on high heat for about ten minutes, she added a suitable amount of caramelized sugar and red yeast rice powder, followed by the duck necks.

She cooked them for about twenty minutes, then turned off the heat and let them steep in the liquid. After half an hour, she removed them, the braising process complete.

For customers who didn’t eat spicy food, she also braised some using the red braising liquid from before.

Once the duck necks were done, the rest was much simpler.

Items like chicken and duck legs, and chicken and duck gizzards, were brought to a boil and braised for no more than an hour.

Duck feet, duck heads, and chicken and duck wings were timed from the moment they went into the pot and removed within thirty minutes.

Finally, she took the duck intestines that had been scrubbed with salt and dropped them into boiling water, stirring to separate them. Once the ends began to curl inward, she scooped them out, rinsed them under cold water, and added them to the braising liquid to cook for seven or eight minutes before they were done.

The duck hearts, duck livers, and chicken wing tips required about the same cooking time.

By the time she had rushed to finish all the cleanup, the sky outside had already started to grow dark.

Feeling it was too cold for them to be traveling at night, Xu Laifu thought it was a bad idea and suggested the couple just stay the night at the shop.

He’d never really understood it. A room in the inner courtyard had been tidied up long ago, specifically for emergencies like this.

But no matter how late they worked at the shop, Ji Huan and Guan Shan never stayed the night. The most it was used for was when Dabao came by and took a nap there.

’How could he know that only one room had been prepared, with only one heated brick bed, and only one quilt...?’

Ji Huan and Guan Shan glanced at each other, then quickly looked away.