The Pentium Era - South to North

They walked to the opposite side, a shop called Jiajia Beef Shop. There were dozens of wooden round tables in the shop, surrounded by red plastic chairs. The door was completely open, and there was no air conditioning. There were only rows of The ceiling fan was blowing loudly, and the entire store looked like a food stall.

The sink for washing vegetables, the dock for weighing and cutting meat, and the seasoning table are all placed at the door. Everything is done under your eyes. You can watch the meat you bought being cut into pieces and marinated. , is also marinated in front of you. Everything is made from real ingredients, which makes people feel at ease just by looking at it.

When the chefs and owners of the store saw Lao Qi coming, they all stopped what they were doing and called him master. Zhang Xiangbei asked Lao Qi, are these your apprentices?

Lao Qi smiled and said, no, everyone in this street calls me master.

Lao Qi rinsed the beef in water, gave it to the master in Duntou, and told him, half and half.

This tells him that half of the beef will be roasted later, and half will be used for hotpot. The roasted half needs to be marinated first after being cut.

Beef liver and beef ribs are given to the waiters. After cleaning, they are also given to the master in Duntou to chop and slice them.

Zhang Xiangbei saw that the beef here was completely different from the meat of Kobe Wagyu. There were almost no snowflakes and no frost. It was pure lean meat.

Lao Qi took a stainless steel plate, put the cow brain on the plate, rinsed it in the sink, then took a toothpick, picked it a few times very quickly, picked out the fascia in the cow brain, and handed the plate to Dude, dude asked:

"Quick freezing?"

Lao Qi nodded, and he told Zhang Xiangbei that it would be better to freeze it for a while.

Zhang Xiangbei understood.

Master Duntou cut the half of the beef that was going to be roasted and put it in a stainless steel basin. The chef looked at Lao Qi and didn't dare to do it. He wanted to wait for Lao Qi to cook it himself.

Lao Qi scolded, "Are you betraying me?"

Master Dahe smiled sheepishly and was about to start seasoning. Lao Qi changed his mind and pushed him aside. He picked up the basin and used a spoon to add seasonings on the seasoning table. He mixed it with Zhang while he was mixing it. Xiang Bei said, this is three fresh powder, this is white sugar, this is Nan milk...

Then they added thirteen spices, oyster sauce, Haitian soy sauce and minced garlic. In the last stainless steel basin, Lao Qi said that this is their secret sauce. The other seasonings are the same for everyone. The secret is the secret. In the sauce, this is different in every house.

After all the seasonings were added, Lao Qi put on disposable gloves and kept grabbing the meat with his hands. The meat in the stainless steel basin began to darken and thicken. Lao Qi covered the mouth of the basin with plastic wrap to let The guy took it to the refrigerator and refrigerated it.

Lao Qi and Zhang Xiangbei said: "Ordinary customers will not take this step. After refrigeration, the beef can be more delicious."

Next came the marinated beef liver and beef ribs. The beef liver had been cut into thick slices. Lao Qi said that it would not taste good if cut thin. The beef ribs had been chopped into small pieces, marinated and fried.

After finishing all these tasks, Lao Qi began to order. In addition to the ingredients they had just bought, Lao Qi ordered a red braised beef offal stew. Because the beef offal stew needs to be simmered for several hours, the ingredients You can't buy it now, it's from them, it's an a la carte dish.

Next, Lao Qi ordered a portion of black tofu, a portion of sweet potato, and a portion of cabbage rice.

After ordering the dishes, everyone went over to sit down. The pot here is a Zimu pot. There is a round pot in the middle with two large beef bones in it. It is steaming. This is beef bone broth, which is used to cook hot pot. In addition to beef bones, taro stems are also added inside.

Around the round pot is a baking tray covered with barbecue paper. Sitting here, you can cook and grill. Zhang Xiangbei thought about it. Isn't this just a combination of barbecue and sukiyaki? Or are we? Chinese people are smart and save trouble.

Everyone was sitting drinking tea and chatting. The people who were behind them had already started eating. They had nothing here yet. Lao Qi was not in a hurry. The chefs here did not dare to touch the ingredients without Lao Qi's instructions. Zhang Xiang Bei knew that Lao Qi was giving the marinated ingredients in the refrigerator time to taste.

Bao Tianbin remembered it and said to Lao Qi: "Lao Qi, Mr. Zhang really wants to know why Ding'an's black pork bone soup can't be seen now."

Lao Qi sighed and said: "We didn't seize the opportunity. When the black pig bone soup was red, it was redder than the current Xiangou beef. At that time, not only Ding'an City, Sanya and Haicheng, There are many Ding'an black pig bone soup stores. From 2011 to 2016, our Ding'an black pig bone soup was most popular.

"At that time, Xiangou's beef was not very famous, but in 16 years, just this year, the brand of Ding'an black pork bone soup collapsed, and the pork bone soup restaurants closed one after another.

"Why? Because during this period, we failed to launch an industry development plan and form a unified standard for the industry. In the end, due to the low industry threshold, anyone can open a black pork bone soup shop and establish the name of An black pork bone soup. First of all, these stores have not received the necessary technical training, and the quality is mixed.

"In addition, in order to reduce costs, some businesses also use ordinary pork bones or pork bone powder to pass off as black pork bones, which has chilled the hearts of consumers and ruined the brand. We have received many complaints and are aware of this situation, but we also There is no way, we are not a law enforcement agency, don’t you think so?

“In the end, the brand of Ding’an black pork bone soup was lost to us, Ding’an people, and we couldn’t survive on our own.”

Lao Qi said, pointing outside, and said to them:

"Look, isn't the beef in Ding'an Xiangou very popular now? It's becoming more and more popular, and more and more people come to eat it, but I'll tell you honestly, every time I come here, it's... We are on tenterhooks, fearing that when we come one day, there will be no one here. Although we have strengthened management in this area, it is still not enough.

"There are several shops here that make black pork bone soup. When I see them, I want to give them a fuck. When there is money to be made, everyone closes their eyes and makes it hard. It doesn't matter if they make it hard, but they are afraid of making money randomly."

As he spoke, Lao Qi turned to Zhang Xiangbei and asked him: "Mr. Zhang, do you know Chaoshan Beef Hot Pot?"

Zhang Xiangbei said: “I’ve had it a few times, but I don’t really understand it.”

Lao Qi said: "Actually, our Xiangou beef is the same as Chaoshan beef hot pot, both of which are based on the freshness and authenticity of the ingredients.

"Chaoshan beef hotpot also sells fresh ingredients and has quickly become a popular product in the hotpot category. In 2016, Chaoshan beef hotpot blossomed all over the country. At that time, in Shanghai alone, the number of Chaoshan beef hotpot stores reached More than a thousand people.

"But just one year later, that is, last year, Chaoshan Beef Hotpot ushered in a nationwide wave of store closures. The number of store closures in first-tier cities was as high as 80%. Why, it relies too much on ingredients, too much on ingredients, It is your advantage, but looking back, it will also become a disadvantage that limits your development.

"Like our Xiangou Beef, you can see the beef here. If you go to other places, not to mention Beijing, Shanghai, or even Haicheng, you can still see the beef? That's right. Whenever you see beef, it is not yellow beef from Xiangou, but beef from other places and other varieties.

"Your most advantageous things are gone. If consumers still don't like you, it's a sure thing to close your doors. Do you think I'm right, Mr. Zhang?"

Zhang Xiangbei nodded. He felt that Lao Qi was right. However, he also thought of another problem. This is also a common problem of all restaurants in the country, especially those with local characteristics. That is, in a Once a place becomes famous and makes money, it is eager to run a chain business and expand across the country without looking at its own objective conditions.

Just like what Lao Qi said, if you open a shop thousands of miles away to make Chaoshan beef, how can your ingredients still be fresh? If you open a shop to make Qiandao Lake fish heads in Urumqi, even if you have fish heads, It was still airlifted from Qiandao Lake. Can the Qiandao Lake fish heads in Urumqi be the same as the fish heads sold freshly by Qiandao Lake?

Those who make large kidney slices do well in Chongqing. The key is to go to the slaughterhouse every day to purchase the freshest pork kidneys, process them on the same day, and sell them on the same day. When you go to Beijing, can you get the same pork kidneys? Even if you get it, the pork kidneys in Beijing are different from the pork kidneys in Chongqing.

Zhang Xiangbei thought of how he and Zhou Ruoyi went to Guangzhou Shawan to eat raw pig offal porridge. It was because the porridge shop was located next to the slaughterhouse, and the pig offal was still warm when it was shipped there, so it was delicious. If you opened it in downtown Guangzhou, would it still be so delicious?

Zhang Xiangbei also thought about his sister taking him to Wadakin in Mie Prefecture to eat beef when he was in Japan. Wadakin’s business is so good and has a history of hundreds of years, but he has never heard that they would open a Wadakin in Tokyo or even Osaka. I won’t even go there. If you want to eat the best Matsusaka beef, I’m sorry, then I’ll invite you to Mie.

He is so awesome, and he makes a lot of sense. Zhang Xiangbei even thought about why many of Hayao Miyazaki's picture books, including those made by Mr. Kao and others, can only be sold in Miyazaki's art museum and Kinosaki Onsen. , it’s not unreasonable that you can’t buy it elsewhere.

"Mr. Zhang, what are you thinking about?" Bao Tianbin asked when he saw Zhang Xiangbei in a daze.

Zhang Xiangbei smiled and said that he had some ideas after listening to what Chairman Qi said.

Lao Qi shouted: "Tell me, tell me, Mr. Zhang, come and listen."

Zhang Xiangbei told them what he had just thought of and his experience of eating Wagyu and Matsuzaka beef several times in Japan, including visiting their auction market for Wagyu beef auctions. Lao Qi was very interested after hearing this. Zhang Xiangbei said :

"I would say, if you are not sure and cannot guarantee the freshness of the ingredients, Xiangou Beef should not think about going global, don't think about going nationwide, or think about Shaxian snacks. To be honest, Shaxian snacks We have gone out, but what about our reputation? As more and more stores open, is our reputation getting better or worse?

"I haven't done any investigation, so I dare not draw any conclusions, but the Chaoshan beef hot pot you mentioned earlier, President Qi, is a bloody lesson. I think the first step for your Xiangou beef is to become bigger locally. To become stronger, don’t think about going to the whole country, but let the whole country go to you.

"It's like this now, President Qi, I'm sorry, I'm just telling the truth. There is still a lot of room for change here. You are right. I also think that this place is in a very dangerous situation now, Black Pig The history of bone broth is likely to repeat itself here. I don’t know if I come here in another five years and it will still be so prosperous.”

Lao Qi's face looked ugly. Xiang Nan saw it and touched Zhang Xiangbei under the table. Zhang Xiangbei looked at Lao Qi and said quickly:

"I'm sorry, President Qi, you just think I'm talking nonsense."

Lao Qi shook his head, picked up the teapot, poured tea for Zhang Xiangbei, and said to him:

"Mr. Zhang, you have experience and knowledge. You must tell me what dangers we have here now. As I said before, every time I come here, I feel very panicked, but I just don't You know what you are panicking about."

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