Border Cook

Chapter 250: Rolling Lantern Festival

The pickled cabbage with vinegar made this time was quite successful.

The color looks more shiny and appetizing, and the cabbage retains its crisp texture to the greatest extent. Due to the appropriate reduction in the amount of vinegar, the cabbage not only tastes sour enough, but also does not overwhelm the other flavor. You can still taste the slightly sweet and fragrant taste of the cabbage.

If compared with the dish made by Lou Shanzi just now, it can be said that one is in heaven and the other is on earth, the difference is huge.

Even Lou Shanzi himself was surprised by such a huge difference, and he admired Xia Mingyue even more.

Madam Xia is worthy of being Madam Xia. With just a little guidance, she can make him make obvious progress.

"Thank you Madam Xia for your guidance. I will practice it some more." Lou Shanzi said.

"Yeah." Xia Mingyue nodded.

When it comes to cooking, it is one thing to understand the instructions, another to know how to improve, and another to be able to maintain the cooking feel while cooking.

If you want to improve your cooking skills, practice is the most important thing.

After instructing Lou Shanzi and letting him practice on his own, Xia Mingyue began to teach Zhao Dahu and Zhao Erhu.

The two brothers had no experience in cooking, so they needed to be taught from the basics.

Xia Mingyue taught in the simplest way, starting from the most basic steps such as identifying seasonings, cutting vegetables, and cooking order.

Xia Mingyue taught carefully and the two listened attentively, occasionally asking questions to confirm what they had just heard. After digesting it for a while, they carried out practical exercises according to what Xia Mingyue said.

When he felt that he had practiced well enough, he would show it to Xia Mingyue, and she would decide whether it needed improvement.

Xia Mingyue taught like this for several days in a row.

Lou Shanzi had always had a good foundation, but he had no master to guide him. Now with Xia Mingyue's guidance, he made great progress.

Zhao Dahu seemed a little clumsy when he was learning, especially when he seemed to be unable to grasp the basics, but he showed an amazing talent in distinguishing and using seasonings. Both the ingredients and the quantity were just right.

Zhao Erhu's hands and feet were much more flexible, and he could master everything from cutting vegetables to stirring the wok very quickly. He also learned everything Xia Mingyue taught him very quickly. However, his shortcoming was that he was too self-conscious and often had his own ideas about blending flavors. He liked to try new things.

Each of the three people has their own characteristics. Xia Mingyue thought about it and designed different courses for them.

And during the learning process of the three people, Xia Mingyue often let them compete with each other and study with each other in order to achieve the purpose of teaching and learning from each other.

Xia Mingyue focused most of her attention on teaching the three people cooking skills, and the work in the central kitchen was gradually handed over to Jiang Zhuguo and Lu.

Both of them followed Xia Mingyue to develop the central kitchen from small to large. They are very familiar with everything and are now able to do it with ease.

On this side, Shopkeeper Ge and Wu Xiong were also extremely busy.

First, at the beginning of the new year, when the gambling business is the least busy after the New Year, the Sifang Casino needs to be renovated, especially the roof needs to be repaired and reinforced to prevent leaks during the rainy season.

Secondly, on the restaurant side, the old houses began to be demolished, and all the wood, stone, bricks and tiles needed for the restaurant needed to be purchased.

Third, you need to find people who can work in the restaurant in advance.

The first two items were assigned to Wu Xiong, and the last item was supervised by him personally. In addition to hiring assistants, Ge believed that he still needed a few people who had indentures, so he contacted the brokerage firm to buy a few young, hardworking, and down-to-earth assistants.

As for the rest, Shopkeeper Ge posted a job recruitment notice outside the fence to spread the word of looking for workers in advance.

Moreover, as he and Xia Mingyue had originally agreed upon, this recruitment notice specifically stated that it was looking to recruit women who could do their work cleanly and carefully, and those from poor families would be given priority.

When the news spread, many women or girls who could not find suitable jobs came happily to inquire.

"Both Manager Ge and Madam Xia are kind-hearted people."

"By doing such a good deed, the business of this restaurant will surely be booming and make a fortune every day!"

"But hiring a few poor girls to do the work is not much of a good deed. If you really want to do good deeds, it's best to take out all the money you earn and help the poor and the elderly. That's what good deeds are."

"That's right. I remember you made some money last year. Why didn't you take it out to buy some bread for those who couldn't afford to eat?"

"How can it be the same? How much money do they make and how much money do I make?"

"If someone earns 10,000 taels and takes out only one tael, he is doing good deeds. But if you don't take out a penny, then you haven't done anything. So, it's really different!"

"Hey, hey, hey, listen to me, the point is not here. This is a restaurant. Most of the customers who come and go on weekdays are men. I think it is inappropriate to hire women to do the work and show up in public. Moreover, there are men and women working together. How can there be a good reputation for men and women to mix together? I think they are not doing good deeds, but trying to ruin others' reputations in various ways!"

"You can't even afford to eat, yet you still care about your reputation. How much is your reputation worth? Can it be eaten like a cake or drunk like porridge? Come on, you are such a fussy person."

"That is to say, you are a person whose brains are full of filth, and you only say filthy things. I guess the bad reputation of others is created by people like you who are full of filth."

"..."

In a blink of an eye, it was already fourteen.

The fifteenth is the Lantern Festival, and on the fourteenth day, many people have already begun busy preparations.

Jinqiu County is a typical northern county, and there is only one food served during festivals: dumplings.

In order to follow the tradition, Xia Mingyue and others also made some dumplings.

However, considering that we eat a lot of dumplings during the Chinese New Year, even if the taste is good, it is still a bit bland, so I made fewer dumplings and filled them with water chestnuts and meat.

The chopped water chestnuts are mixed with the pork filling. Even after being cooked, the water chestnuts still retain their crisp texture. The refreshing taste of the water chestnuts mixed with the meat filling can not only relieve the greasiness of the pork filling, but also make the dumplings more mellow, fragrant and delicious due to its unique aftertaste.

In addition to making dumplings, Xia Mingyue led her three apprentices to make some Yuanxiao.

People in the south make glutinous rice balls, and people in the north make Yuanxiao.

The Yuanxiao here is made from real ingredients.

Roast black sesame seeds, white sesame seeds and cooked peanuts, grind them into powder, mix them with melted lard and sugar, and roll them into thumb-sized balls.

Leave it outside to cool slightly, so that the filling has a little hardness, then put it into a large wooden basin filled with glutinous rice flour.