Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2822 Peony Tower

The previously fragrant aroma came from a row of open sales windows along Parkway Street. The lower half of the window is a row of half-person-high counters. The overall frame of the counter is made of wood, but a large piece of glass is installed on the side facing the street, through which pedestrians can effortlessly see the goods displayed inside. The clerk in charge of sales behind the counter is dressed in a yellow top and red short coat, and the same M-shaped archway logo as the one on the top of the building is pinned to his top. The clerks were both male and female, but they all wore the same strange red and yellow hats.

This hat is generally similar to the common local uniform hat, but with a forward-protruding brim, it looks a bit nondescript. Girl Zahra noticed that a clerk at the counter was holding a long-handled dustpan-like container made of thick wire, which was filled with clusters of long golden objects. The clerk poured the items into a rectangular iron pot and evenly sprinkled some white seasoning mixed with a small amount of black powder into it. As he moved, the previous fragrance became even stronger. What is tumbling in other oil pans are fluffy flakes wrapped in golden coating.

The clerk kept stirring the pot and used a special slotted spoon to put the fried food into paper bags made of newspaper, and displayed them in the cabinet in front of him. Another clerk kept shouting: "Freshly baked Australian chips, two cents for a large portion, I guarantee you'll want to eat them again!" "Fish and chips, special five cents discount!" Before Zahra could wait, After reacting, Sonia, who was willing to try something new, had already paid for it and picked up two packages.

The salesperson was a discerning young man who was a naturalized citizen. He knew that these two strangely dressed Yanma girls were probably the elder's life secretaries, so he quickly directed the two girls to sit in the second floor seats and taste the food slowly. The two girls walked in through the door next to the sales counter. When they entered, they were greeted by a wooden carving mounted on the wall, depicting various patterns of life in a medieval city. If Mr. Xu had come here, he would have recognized this as part of the Qingming River Scene. But for girls, they just find the lines delicate and interesting.

One side of the corridor leading to the second floor is an area for dining. The wall is an unusual white brick wall, which looks quite clean and concise. On the wall are some pictures of dishes and a large number of posters printed by the publicity department. Because it is a restaurant, the theme is basically food hygiene and safety. It adds a lot of interest to the slightly monotonous wall. The floor is made of ceramic tiles that are commonly seen in veteran bathrooms. They are just alternating white and brown splicing, which looks quite decorative. The tables and chairs for diners arranged in threes, threes, fives, and fives are also in the IKEA style. The two girls just thought they looked similar to the Australian furniture at home.

On the other side of the passage is a style that the girl has never seen before. The half-height white wall is covered with a large piece of raised dividing glass, and the aroma of hot food is constantly coming from the mosquito screen at the top. Through the glass, you can see the rows of flame-belching furnaces embedded in the wall opposite. In front of the stoves are wooden platforms lined with various ingredients. People wearing red and yellow uniforms and white aprons surround the ingredients and Busy clerk in the hearth.

This scene is actually quite shocking. In this time and space, not only did Mencius say that "a gentleman is far away from the kitchen," but kitchens all over the world are places that are unsightly and therefore secretive. It is unheard of for it to be displayed in front of the public as openly as it is now. But this place, which has things spread out everywhere and seems a bit crowded and chaotic, has a strange Australian compact and uniform feel.

The attentive girl Zahra particularly noticed a row of round mechanical objects hanging on the furnace. Every time the chef holding a long-handled shovel pushed the processed round dough covered with various ingredients into the furnace, I will go to fiddle with this thing specially. And this thing makes a crisp ringing from time to time. At this time, the chef will shovel out the final product that has been baked and gives off an attractive aroma, and then put it on a plate and prepare it for serving.

Little did the girl know that what she saw was actually a standardized fast food kitchen that was far ahead of its time. Following the example of a modern catering company from a different time and space, Mudanlou has adopted central kitchens, cold chain transportation, standard operations and standardized brand image, which are all invincible tools for chain catering.

Every morning, freight carriages use special refrigerated transport boxes with ice cubes and diatomaceous earth interlayers to transport uniformly processed semi-finished ingredients from the central kitchen located outside Dongmen City to various branches.

Branches that can afford it store it in their own gas cold storage, and those that don't have the ability to store it in earthen refrigerators with ice cubes. The subsequent operations are strictly standardized, limiting the method steps and even the specific temperature and time for post-processing. This set of methods, which was invincible in the old era, has been proven to be effective in the new era as well. Although it is impossible to ensure fresh and perfect taste, it provides uniform quality and guaranteed food quality. Since the opening of several branches, the rising sales illustrate this point.

Naturally, limited by the objective conditions of cold chain transportation, Mudanlou’s cold chain distribution can currently only cover Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and beyond that it is beyond its capabilities. In fact, even on the entire Hainan Island, there are very few areas that can accept cold chain distribution. Of course, these methods are easier said than done. Among other things, the standardized kitchen utensils customized for this kind of kitchen are a headache for the seniors in charge. For example, the round object that Sonia noticed was a simple mechanical timer that she asked the Ministry of Science and Technology to customize. The circular clock face has several scales representing different times. Turn the circle to the corresponding position and the bell will be triggered after different times, which greatly standardizes the time required for food baking. In addition, a lot of effort is spent on the custom-made gas oven, the frying equipment required for French fries, and the corresponding special thermometers.

However, the two girls just found it novel. Sonia was already holding the fries she had just bought and took the lead upstairs. The basic layout of the upstairs is the same as that of the downstairs, but there is no kitchen area and a row of floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street. At the same time, there is a power shaft on the ceiling that passes through the entire house, driving a number of ceiling fans scattered in the house to spin leisurely. Together with the linen tablecloths and napkins covered on the tables, it is more stylish than the individual guest area downstairs. It improved greatly all of a sudden.

It was still early and there were not many customers upstairs, only a few girls wearing Australian plaid skirts chattering. The two girls walked straight over and chose a viewing spot facing the street. The young female clerk serving upstairs came over and helped put down the bamboo curtains to protect the sun. Zahra noticed that her clothing was a little different. Although it had the same markings as downstairs, it was mainly pink in color, and the style was also in the form of a dress, which was somewhat similar to the uniform of a maid school.

The female clerk immediately handed over two brochures. The bamboo covers were printed with the logo of Peony House and the two characters "menu". The girls opened it and saw that main meals, snacks and drinks were listed in categories on each page. Not only were the prices clearly marked, but the main ingredients used were also listed under the food. Like all foreign language learners, the wide variety of ingredients names can make girls dizzy. They simply took out the coupons sent by the popsicle man and handed them to the female clerk.

The female clerk seemed to be very familiar with this, and she said loudly without even looking at it: "Then let's take a medium-sized seafood supreme pancake. Can the two girls add a piece of our special crispy roasted honey chicken wings, paired with a large bottle?" Chilled Australian kvass, only 4.5 cents." Zahra calculated in her mind and felt that it was still within the budget, so she nodded and confirmed the order. Sonia left a menu specially, saying she wanted to read more.

While waiting for the meal to be served, Sonia opened the warm paper bag in her hand. The paper bag was made of "Lingao Times", but the Peony Building logo was covered with wood. Inside are steaming hot chips and battered fish fillets.

This kind of thing is not a rare thing in Lingao, it existed several years ago. However, because it requires a large amount of cooking oil, it only appears sporadically on the dinner tables of the elders. Mudanlou can be regarded as the first to popularize fried food.

This is naturally based on the fruitful results achieved by the Senate in promoting oil palm cultivation in Vietnam, southern Hainan and other places over the years. Although there are many difficulties in growing oil palm, the shortage of edible oil has always been a pain point for the elders. Therefore, the Council of Agriculture has made great efforts to solve the problem of large-scale production of oil crops.

The two began to imitate others' eating methods and tried their first French fries and fried fish. Since they had already recognized the main ingredients of French fries as "Australian potatoes, salt and black pepper seasoning" on the menu, the two girls' expectations were actually lowered a lot. After all, potatoes are already a common item in veteran recipes. Whether it's spicy stir-fried shredded potatoes or roasted beef with potatoes, they're nothing new. As for the main ingredient of fried fish, "deep sea fish fillet" is the most common food in the canteen of the Senate.

But the taste of the French fries in your mouth is unexpectedly different. The salt grains with a slight taste of black pepper match the crispy outer shell, but the inside is soft and slightly sweet. How could this be a normal potato! From this moment on, Zahra became a big fan of french fries. She even tried to fry them at home more than once, but unfortunately she couldn't make them taste like those in Peony House.

French fries have never been an easy task for families. Take Mai Kee in the old days as an example. Not to mention the specially selected varieties of potatoes, which must also be carefully selected and divided in the factory. The oil used must be added with the later notorious trans fat to increase the shelf life. Temperature control during frying alone is difficult for most home cooks.