Border Cook

Chapter 50 Chili Oil

Shopkeeper Qian read it carefully, and Jiang Erniu listened attentively. At the end, he nodded repeatedly, "Madam Xia has considered it carefully and thoroughly. There is nothing wrong with it."

"I have also gathered the silver that Madam Xia mentioned, and put my fingerprints on this receipt. Tomorrow I will start learning the craft from Madam Xia. As for the location of the food stall, I will also look for it at the same time. How about we not delay each other?"

These past two days he was busy collecting money and choosing a location. Jiang Erniu's pancake stall was no longer open, and the family had no income, so all he had to spend on food and drink was the little money he had saved previously.

The cash box at home was already empty, and Jiang Erniu didn't want to waste even a day.

Xia Mingyue could understand Jiang Erniu's urgency at the moment, and agreed without hesitation, "Then do as Brother Jiang said."

After paying the money and putting their fingerprints on the document, each person held a copy, and the contract was officially about to be implemented.

After agreeing on the content and time for tomorrow's lesson, Jiang Erniu continued to look for a suitable stall location for business, while Xia Mingyue went to the butcher shop and picked out a piece of fat and lean pork leg.

Xia Mingyue's food stall is doing very well now, and she buys more and more meat from the butcher shop. Without waiting for Xia Mingyue to speak, Hong the butcher has already lowered the price again.

Today, when Xia Mingyue bought meat, Hong the butcher still gave her the lowest price. The scale bar was tilted up to the sky, and the weight was almost sliding down.

And Hong the butcher still felt it was not enough, so he tied up a small piece of meat next to it and said, "This small piece is not easy to sell, so I'll give it to Madam Xia."

Xia Mingyue usually gets up early in the morning to buy meat from the food stall before dawn. The meat she buys now must be for her own consumption.

Business is business, and personal relationships are personal relationships. No matter how much discount you give in business, others will still feel it is not enough. But if you give a little as a personal favor, others will remember it for a long time.

Butcher Hong is used to doing business, so he understands this principle and knows how to do it.

Xia Mingyue also understood Hong the butcher's intention and smiled, "Then I'll take advantage of Brother Hong today."

"Why are you being so polite?" Butcher Hong smiled a little embarrassedly, "But to be honest with you, Madam Xia, I really do have something I want you to help me with."

"What favor?" Xia Mingyue said with a smile, "Brother Hong, tell me and see if I can do it."

"My wife is pregnant again, and her appetite is terrible. She keeps clamoring for spicy food, but she is very picky. If there is not enough chili in the dish, she says it is not spicy enough, and if there is too much chili, she says it is not spicy enough. Anyway, no matter what happens, she won't eat a good meal."

Butcher Hong said, "Madam Xia started selling cold noodles a few days ago, so I bought two bowls for my husband. After he finished eating the cold noodles, he started to crave the chili oil in the cold noodles. He said it was delicious, satisfying, and very fragrant, so he asked me to buy more."

"I thought this chili oil couldn't be bought anywhere else, and my husband eats a lot, so I thought about asking Madam Xia to see if I could buy some of the chili oil she made..."

"If Brother Hong asks me about anything other than talking, I'm afraid it will be difficult to handle, but if it's something like food, it's easy to handle." Xia Mingyue smiled and said, "I'll send a can to Brother Hong tomorrow morning, and put some crushed peanuts in it, so it tastes better."

"Thank you so much, Madam Xia." Butcher Hong was extremely happy. He wiped his hands again and again with the rag on his shoulder, and then went to get the cash box. "How much does this can of chili oil cost?"

"Sister-in-law, just take it. Let's not talk about money." Xia Mingyue was quite generous.

The amount of meat that Butcher Hong added just now was quite a lot.

"That won't work!" Butcher Hong grabbed a handful of money and stuffed it into Xia Mingyue's hand without saying anything. Seeing that Xia Mingyue refused to take it, he had no choice but to say, "Okay, from now on, I'll add two cents for every pound of meat I give to Madam Xia."

As long as I can let that woman eat chili oil and let her eat well and take care of her body, it doesn't matter if I lower the price and make less money!

"Thank you, Brother Hong." Xia Mingyue didn't expect that Hong the butcher would make such concessions, so she quickly agreed with a smile.

After leaving the butcher shop, Xia Mingyue bought some red peppers on the street and some oil.

Rapeseed oil is the best oil for chili oil, but Jinqiu County is located in the north and there are not many rapeseed trees. The oil here is all squeezed from peanuts.

Peanut oil is not as flavorful as chili oil, but it has a rich and mellow flavor, so it is acceptable.

After arriving home, Xia Mingyue first busy herself with the chili oil.

The whole dried small red chili peppers are stir-fried with bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, etc. on low heat without adding oil. All the ingredients become crispy. Add the fried crispy peanuts, white sugar, salt, etc., pour them into the stone mortar, and use a pestle to crush them into powder bit by bit.

Peanut oil is slowly boiled with bay leaves, scallions, coriander, star anise, etc. to make a fragrant cooking oil. After it is warm, scoop a large iron spoonful of oil and pour it into the crushed chili powder.

Stir the chili powder thoroughly to make sure all the chili powder is coated with oil, then pour the oil a second time, stir evenly, and pour the oil a third time...

After three times of pouring the oil, the aroma of the chili oil in the porcelain basin was finally fully stimulated, and the fragrant and spicy smell filled the air above the entire yard.

Wu Jin sneezed because of the smell, but he still couldn't help but stick his head towards the kitchen to see what kind of delicious food Xia Mingyue was making.

But after sniffing again and again, Wu Jin lay back down beside the nest with a somewhat dejected look.

There are some things that dogs cannot eat, as they will feel uncomfortable if they eat them.

What an infuriating dog!

Mrs. Lu and Jiang Zhuguo were attracted by the aroma and kept sniffing. After tasting the chili oil, they gave Xia Mingyue a thumbs up.

"This freshly poured chili oil is delicious. The chili oil my sister-in-law made this time is better than the previous ones." Lu said, "I think we don't need to cook for dinner. Just heat up two steamed buns."

However, considering the appetite of his family of three, two steamed buns might not be enough, and he might need to heat up a pot of steamed buns.

"When I made chili oil before, I only put spices in the chili powder, but not in the oil. This time I tried putting some in, and it really tasted better."

Xia Mingyue said, "When the remaining chili oil is used up, we can make this chili oil together. The cold noodles will taste more fragrant."

She also specially added some white sugar to the chili oil, which not only enhances the flavor, but also neutralizes some of the spiciness, making the chili oil taste less dry and spicy.

With this spicy and delicious chili oil, cold noodles will definitely be something you’ll never get tired of eating throughout the summer!

Xia Mingyue became more and more confident.

After dinner, Xia Mingyue began to wash the glutinous rice, process the meat, and try to make rice dumplings.

This time, Xia Mingyue plans to use the Wufangzhai rice dumpling recipe.

Jiangnan is famous for its rice dumplings. Wufangzhai is known as the king of rice dumplings in Jiangnan and is quite skilled in making them. Its meat dumplings are famous for being glutinous but not mushy, fat but not greasy, and having tender meat and delicious taste.

(End of this chapter)