Border Cook

Chapter 98 Cold Pot Skewers (Monthly Ticket 100 plus more)

The popularity of Xia's restaurants in various places did not drop with the temperature, but instead became more and more popular. In addition, Ding Quan's food stall sold more goods every day than Xia Mingyue's because of his sweet and warm personality.

Because of the booming business of the two branches, Xia Mingyue's home gradually became lively.

Many people came to inquire about franchising and whether they could open a branch on East Street.

The daily operation of the two franchise stores has allowed Xia Mingyue to accumulate a certain amount of experience, so she was familiar with the selection of franchisees this time.

After some comparison and investigation, Xia Mingyue quickly decided on one.

This man's name was Liu Fulin. If you look closely, he was a distant relative of Manager Qian. He used to make a living in another county, working as a waiter in a big restaurant. He knew a lot about food and had mastered the skills of welcoming and seeing off guests.

She is good at talking, hardworking and very suitable for the snack stand business. After hearing about Xia Mingyue's abilities from Shopkeeper Qian, Liu Fulin hurried to find her.

Xia Mingyue also admired Liu Fulin's good manners. The two sides hit it off and quickly finalized all the details of joining the team.

Dongcheng District is the most prosperous place in the entire Jinqiu County. The location of each place is excellent, and it didn't take much effort to find a suitable location.

Liu Fulin had some savings, and he borrowed a few taels of silver from Manager Qian and Liu, and started planning to open a branch on East Street.

After a few days of hard work, the business is about to open.

This also means that the amount of goods Xia Mingyue supplies to the outside world will have to increase by another 20% to 30%.

Considering the overall operating conditions, Xia Mingyue found another person to do the work at home so that Lu could free up some time to take care of more purchasing matters.

The person finally chosen was Song, who was introduced by Zhou earlier. She was her distant aunt, but only one year older than Zhou.

Song had arranged a marriage several years earlier, but a few days before the wedding, her fiancé fell ill and died. As a result, Song was given the reputation of being a husband-killer.

Song's natal family despised the marriage and refused to return the betrothal gift given by her husband's family. Her husband's family finally compromised and asked Song to marry her deceased husband's younger brother, who was also her uncle.

My brother-in-law was only ten years old, just old enough to chop wood. He understood nothing and everything was arranged by his family.

But Song refused to do so and threatened to commit suicide. In the end, she still entered her husband's family as a sister-in-law and promised to serve her parents-in-law wholeheartedly, take care of her brother-in-law, and help him find a wife and start a family in the future.

Later, as the war continued, Song followed her parents-in-law's family through many twists and turns and finally settled in Jinqiu County. However, her parents-in-law had died of illness on the way, leaving her and her younger brother-in-law to depend on each other.

At this time, the younger brother-in-law was already fifteen years old, tall and strong, working as a long-term worker in another family. Song took on some sewing and mending work to supplement the family income. Later, through Zhou's introduction, she came to Xia Mingyue.

Song was diligent and clean, and did things efficiently and effectively. She always smiled when she saw people and was very friendly. Xia Mingyue was quite satisfied with her. Just like Zhou before, she kept her job after a few days of trial and paid her the same salary as Zhou.

With one more person doing the housework, Xia Mingyue's hands were freed up and she started to do other things.

Every day, the jars of pickled beans are moved out of the house, exposed to the sun for sufficient time, and then moved back in the evening.

The radish, mustard and cabbage seedlings in the yard have grown very tall and need regular care.

Xia Mingyue also planted some garlic cloves on the edge of the vegetable patch, preparing to eat fresh and juicy garlic sprouts when the weather gets cooler in a few days.

In addition, Xia Mingyue began to prepare ingredients for the cold pot skewers. The first step was to make the soup base.

Stir-fry dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, fennel, star anise, onions, ginger, garlic, and bean paste to make red oil, add some broth from chicken racks and chicken ribs, season with salt, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar, use a colander to scoop out all the ingredients, leaving the bright red soup, sprinkle some white sesame seeds and chopped green onions on it to enhance the flavor, and wait for it to cool.

Next is making various skewers.

Slice the potatoes, tear the mushrooms into pieces of appropriate size, cut the soaked bean curd into small pieces, cut the fresh tofu into cubes, slice the lotus root, and cut the tenderloin into thin slices...

All the ingredients are skewered on bamboo sticks, cooked in bone broth, and then soaked in the previously prepared red oil soup base for half an hour before being served on the table.

The red oil soup base is already bright in color and extremely fragrant, and with the addition of various foods, it becomes even more appetizing.

Moreover, the red oil soup base looks bright red, but because it is neutralized by the addition of sugar and balsamic vinegar, and it is a cooled sauce, it is not very spicy when you eat it, but rather quite comfortable. Moreover, because it contains a lot of seasonings, oil, and broth, it is fragrant and delicious.

In Lu's words, it is fragrant but not spicy. Even if it is a little spicy in the back, it is just the right amount and very appetizing.

When Zhou and Song tried the Jiangzhu fruit, they also praised its taste.

And this food tasting eventually became a side dish for everyone's dinner. Xia Mingyue finally had to give up the troublesome task of stringing the vegetables and meat on bamboo skewers. She simply prepared the vegetables and meat slices and cooked them in the pot. After taking them out and soaking them for a while, she served them directly on the table and ate them with chopsticks.

"good to eat!"

“This cold pot skewers is so delicious!”

"It tastes as delicious as a mosquito eaten by a toad..." Zhao Dahu also sighed.

Everyone, "..."

What nonsense!
But if you think about it carefully, it seems to make some sense?
After all, the attraction of cold pot skewers to them is no different from the attraction of mosquitoes to toads.

"Aunt Xia, are the cold pot skewers going to be sold at Xia's?" Zhao Erhu asked.

"I'm still considering it." Xia Mingyue said, "It can be sold for a while, but looking at the weather, it probably won't be sold for long."

The weather is still quite hot at this time, and the best-selling items at Xia Ji’s food stall are still cold skin and cold noodles. If skewers are sold, they can be added directly to the bowl and the taste will not be affected.

But after the Beginning of Autumn, autumn will soon arrive, and the air will get cooler. The main food at Xia Ji's stall will become hot food with soup, such as wontons. It is not easy to put cold pot skewers in the bowl together.

If you take a bowl separately, in addition to the cost of the bamboo skewers, you will have to add the cost of buying and washing the bowl, and the profit ratio will drop significantly.

It is very likely that you will be busy for a long time but end up not making much money and just going through the motions in vain.

Moreover, when the weather gets cold, such cold pot skewers will not be the first choice of diners.

In fact, after all, this cold pot skewers is a snack, and is more suitable to be sold by snack carts in modern times.

Wait, a food truck?

　感谢猫猫海盗、读云酒量2、书友20230821172611351、记忆中的冬日暖阳、书友202102072143245553、在海底处窒息、fdbI、境子、海妖洛夕、yiwan390、BjgLiao、jm910、1982102605、风儿1970、胖胖1697、天一生水晶、书友202302191855306、书友20230926145128885、蒙格洛塔、diqiounini、书友20220422015143501、姬烟、泪之可儿guov投出的月票，感谢jewelmay、愛喝氣泡水的打赏，谢谢小可爱们的支持~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)