Chapter 168 (1/2)

Chapter 168: Translucent Beef Slices and Sautéed Vermicelli with Spicy Minced Pork

“These people don’t know to appreciate it at all. Of course the Baked Egg Cakes should be eaten while being held in the hand. Otherwise, where would that taste come?” Wu Hai uttered that with a seemingly knowledgeable manner.

“Even if you say so, I still won’t tell you anything about the new dishes,” Yuan Zhou uttered a rare long sentence, but it was to refuse Wu Hai.

“Boss Yuan, I won’t say anything else. I’m going home. Bye-bye,” Wu Hai felt it would be great if he was capable of cooking the dishes, if possible.

However, he was lucky if the gas furnace didn’t explode and if it did explode… it was considered normal if he did cook. He would rather keep away from the kitchen, which improved the safety of others and him.

The breakfast time was almost up when Wu Hai left. After all, he had originally waited there for quite a while.

Then, Yuan Zhou started to prepare the ingredients for the new dishes at noon. Three of the four new dishes required advance preparations.

Yuan Zhou prepared for the Silk Twined Rabbit first as it required the most time. Beside him, there was a cabinet that had been marked with “Rabbit”. With a squeak, he pulled open the cabinet straightforwardly.

“What the hell?” As soon as the cabinet was open, Yuan Zhou was so surprised that he immediately shouted.

Inside the cabinet, several living rabbits were bounding about actively. To his surprise, there was even some grass on one side inside of the cabinet and the rabbits were eating the grass leisurely.

Some of the rabbits were astonished by the sound of opening the cabinet and thus stared blankly at Yuan Zhou, their long ears hanging down.

“Is there anything you are unable to do? Even the cabinet can be made into a cultivation farm by you. You are really awesome, my system,” Yuan Zhou closed the cabinet and couldn’t help ridiculing the system.

The system displayed, “Thank you for your compliment.”

“I’m not actually speaking highly of you.” Yuan Zhou suddenly felt like he was conversing with Wu Hai. He had the same feeling of being speechless when talking with the system, which Wu Hai also had when he was talking to Yuan Zhou.

Having taken a deep breath, he focused the attention back to cooking and then felt better. The dish of Silk Twined Rabbit had very high requirements on rabbits and craftsmanship. Living rabbits were required to complete the preparations for the next process.

Yuan Zhou prepared all the ingredients for 6 Silk Twined Rabbit in one go. It was definitely not a problem to sell it based on the number of his customers.

The remaining work was to prepare the beef, which was also required beforehand so that it could be available at noon.

Luckily the beef was placed together with the pork this time, rather than living cattle. Yuan Zhou then began to process the beef calmly after he had soaked the beans.

After finishing all the preparations for the Translucent Beef Slices, all he had to do was just to wait until someone ordered this dish and then cut it into slices.

The other dish was even more troublesome. Starting from soaking the beans, it needed many procedures to be eventually made into tofu.

Speaking of which, the origin of tofu was awfully interesting. It was invented by Liu’an, an alchemist and the King of Huai’nan. It had the advantages of high protein and low fat along with the good effects of lowering blood pressure, blood lipid and cholesterol. It was also edible no matter if it was cooked or uncooked.

In the Compendium of Materia Medica written by Li Shizhen, the most well-known medical expert in Ming Dynasty, the way of making tofu was also listed.

The tofu was divided into south school and north school. For the tofu of south school, it was tender, smooth and refreshing, suitable for making soup and being a cold-dish. However, for that of north school, it was more suitable for braised-dishes and boiled in clear soup.

What Yuan Zhou was preparing today was to make the tofu of north school.

The morning time filled with various preparations soon passed. When he opened the door for lunch at noon, there had been a lot of people waiting outside. The first, of course, was Mu Xiaoyun.

“Boss, what a fragrant flavor it is. Have you prepared the new dishes?” As soon as she came in, Mu Xiaoyun asked with a smile.

“It surely is. I smelled the spicy and fresh scent. What a wonderful taste.” Wu Hai was the second who entered the restaurant.

“Humm, come on in, please.” With a serious look, Yuan Zhou made room for the customers to get inside.