Border Cook

A bowl of Hu La Tang is extremely rich in flavor, and can be said to be full of the mellowness and richness of the Central Plains people.

Hu La Tang can be said to be one of the places Xia Mingyue came to when she traveled all over the country in search of alley delicacies, and it was also a very surprising harvest for her.

However, the spicy soup prepared for Jiang Zhuguo and others to taste did not contain any beef or mutton. Instead, it only used soup boiled from mutton bones as a base, and the taste was still good.

In order to add more flavor, Xia Mingyue added some boiled peanuts in it.

An occasional crunch can add a touch of crispness and a bit of extra rich flavor.

In short, Xia Mingyue's pot of spicy soup was so delicious that even Xia Mingyue herself was satisfied.

"When are you going to put this spicy soup on the food stall, sister-in-law?" asked Mrs. Lu.

After a moment, he became a little worried again, "But this spicy soup needs to be eaten with some staple food, fried dough sticks or pan-fried buns are fine, no matter which one it is, but if so, the three people busy at the food stall may not be enough."

Moreover, fried dough sticks are quite different from the steamed dumplings sold at food stalls today.

You can make some steamed dumplings at certain times, put them in a steamer and steam them to keep them warm, then eat them right away.

But youtiao must be fried freshly made to taste good, and if you want to make and fry it at the same time, you need another person to do it.

Hu La Tang also needs to be served and held in a bowl...

I'm afraid we'll have to add two more people!
"Nowadays, the food stalls have steamed dumplings, wontons, and noodles with three kinds of stews. If we add a few more dishes, wouldn't it be too many varieties?" Jiang Zhuguo also raised his own question.

There are too many varieties, but the tables and chairs at the stalls are limited, so the money earned from daily sales may not be much. On the contrary, because there are too many varieties, it is busier and may even incur some losses.

It's easy to lose more than you gain.

Seeing that Lu and Jiang Zhuguo were now very experienced in business management, Xia Mingyue was very pleased and said with a smile, "So we plan to turn these into breakfast stalls."

In the past few days, she has been traveling back and forth throughout Jinqiu County. There are many places selling breakfast, such as steamed buns, meat patties, tofu pudding, and bean paste, and their business is good.

Xia Mingyue also tasted them one by one and found them to be quite ordinary. If these foods she made were used to set up a breakfast stall, the business would definitely be booming.

"It's feasible!" Mrs. Lu and Jiang Zhuguo immediately nodded in agreement.

Xia Ji’s current food stalls and snack carts all start operating in the mid-morning and last until about half an hour in the afternoon. There is really no breakfast business.

If this business is successful, it will definitely be good!
"When the time comes, add some freshly ground soy milk, and pair it with fried dough sticks and pan-fried dumplings. It will all be delicious." Xia Mingyue added.

"That's right!" Mrs. Lu and Jiang Zhuguo nodded vigorously again.

Several people gathered together and began to discuss the preparations that needed to be done next.

Wu Jin, who had been neglected for a long time, silently returned to the shack and continued to gnaw on the half of the big bone.

As expected, the dog is the most pitiful. No one considers its feelings, and no one makes delicious food specifically for the dog.

Hey……
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When you have an idea, just do it.

Xia Mingyue began to look for carpenters to order long tables and chairs, went to the grocery store to buy bowls, spoons and chopsticks, looked for a small stone mill, and ordered a large iron pot for frying dough sticks, pan-fried dumplings and spicy soup... Xia Mingyue was busy with these things with great interest, planning to go to the street to try to sell them after preparing everything to see the market response of the breakfast stall.

On this day, the Xia Ji food stall on East Street was particularly busy.

Seeing that many of the people who came to eat today were students from the county school, Liu Fulin smiled and said, "It doesn't seem like today is a day off. How come you can come out to eat today?"

"Chef Wei in the small canteen asked for leave to go home, and the assistant cook did not dare to take charge of the cooking. Therefore, there is no food available in the county school today, and the teachers asked us to come out and eat." The student answered truthfully.

Another person chimed in at the right time, "It is thanks to Chef Wei that we can quickly have a bite of Xia Ji's food to save our tongues."

If I continue to eat in the canteen like this, there will be no use keeping my tongue.

"You're exaggerating like that. Can Chef Wei's dishes be so bad?" Liu Fulin was a little unconvinced.

"It's not just unpalatable, it's extremely unpalatable!" Another student answered, "We won't fry vegetables that can be boiled, and we won't add salt to anything that can be plain. Even the meat is so tasteless that it's totally unpalatable!"

"If it's so unpalatable, why doesn't anyone do anything about it?" Liu Fulin was still puzzled. "Or is it that the headmaster is unaware of this?"

"The headmaster eats and lives with us every day, so he naturally knows about it. But Master Dai from the county school said that students should study hard and not put their minds on other things. The desire for food and drink will only increase people's greed and desires, which is not beneficial to studying."

The student frowned and replied, "Master Dai also said that food is meant to fill the stomach, so as long as you are full, you don't have to worry about the taste. So the food made by Chef Wei is really getting worse day by day."

And every day there are new levels of unpalatability.

Every dish has its own way of being unpalatable. There is nothing that cannot be made unpalatable, only things you can’t imagine.

"That's really hard for you." Liu Fulin laughed and gave a few more wontons to the students while speaking.

After this topic was brought up, several students still gathered together to discuss the canteen.

"I don't know how many days Chef Wei will be on leave. It would be great if the county school would let us out for dinner during these days."

"We are relatively well-off, so we don't care about the money for food. However, there are always some students from poor families who are waiting for the meals in the canteen. We probably won't leave the canteen idle all the time. We should find a chef to take over Chef Wei's job temporarily."

"It would be nice if we could find a cook who could cook delicious food..."

"Hey, it would be great if we could ask Madam Xia to cook!"

"Do you want to see where the sun rises today?"

"I think you should go to bed later when you get home at night, otherwise you will have dreams if you go to bed too early..."

A few students were laughing there. A man who looked like a book boy nearby turned his head to the side, took the wontons that Liu Fulin had scooped out, paid the money and left in a hurry.

He walked a long way with the wonton bowl in his hand until he got to the carriage, and then he brought it up, "It's not cold yet, eat it while it's hot."

Zhou Zhiqing in the carriage hurriedly took it, blew a breath of hot air, and then poured the big bowl of wontons into his mouth.

After eating half a bowl in one breath, he breathed a sigh of relief and slowed down his eating speed, even sighing, "Xia Ji's food is still the best..." (End of this chapter)