Soon the young man ate up the noodles, but was just reluctant to open the mouth so that the fine, smooth and chewy texture of the noodles could still linger in his mouth.
Not until the young man felt that all the fragrance in his mouth was swallowed did he speak, "Boss Yuan, why does your smoked fish have a fresh and sweet texture instead of the smoky taste?"
"Yeah, right. I also want to know that." A middle-aged man at the side was also quite curious.
"Get it smoked twice," said Yuan Zhou earnestly.
"Pardon? Wouldn’t it have more smoky taste after being smoked twice?" The young man showed a manner of disbelief.
"You simply couldn’t be more foolish. Obviously, the fish was cold smoked with litchee peel at the second time." Lee Yanyi happened to gulp down the last mouthful of broth. He took a glance at him and said seriously.
"Litchee peel? Cold smoke? What’s that?" The customers basically had no idea of that.
"Humph. Get me a serving of Honey Tremella." Lee Yanyi nevertheless didn’t answer them anymore and just proceeded to order the dish.
"Sorry, sir. This dish is temporarily unavailable," said Zhou Jia with an apologetic expression.
"What does that mean? Even the newly developed dish is unavailable?" Lee Yanyi revealed a discontented expression.
"Yes.One of the major ingredients is royal jelly. We only use the fresh ones and then Boss Yuan will cook it personally. So it’s fairly rare." The working attitude of Zhou Jia was excellent. She explained very carefully to him.
This explanation was far better than Yuan Zhou’s saying that it depended on the mood of the bees. At least, Lee Yanyi didn’t want to beat somebody on hearing that. If Zhou Jia used the explanation of Yuan Zhou, she would definitely be complained by the old man repeatedly.
"Could the stuff of royal jelly be used to make dishes?" Lee Yanyi knitted his brows.
"Yes, sure. The taste is extremely refreshing and crisp as well as unique." Zhou Jia was absolutely confident with Yuan Zhou’s craftsmanship right now.
"It’s indeed unique." Lee Yanyi grunted. Since he was unable to eat that, there was no need to stay here anymore. Therefore, he turned around and left in anger.
"Apart from his bad temper, this old man doesn’t even explain to others," the young man muttered to himself.
It wasn’t appropriate to ask Yuan Zhou now. After all, he was too busy during the business time.
It was not an easy work to prepare the smoked fish. To Yuan Zhou, however, it was no more than a matter of time and skills.
Taking the selection of fishes for example, Yuan Zhou felt the Crucian was better to make the smoked fish, as the Crucian from Dragon Pond area of Liuhe district of Nanjing were different from others. The bigger it was, the more tender the flesh was. Besides, the fish bones were far lesser.
At that time, Yuan Zhou asked the system directly what fish it would provide.
"System, is there any option of the fish provided by you?" Looking at the ingredients of the Smoked Fish Silver Thread Noodles, Yuan Zhou couldn’t help uttering and asking.
The system displayed, "The fish is optional."
This time, the system answered point-blank, but it didn’t give any selection range. By chance, Yuan Zhou happened to know the place of Dragon Pond area of Liuhe district, therefore he straightforwardly ordered the dish from this place.
The system displayed, "The ingredients have been provided. Host, you can use them by yourself."
However, Yuan Zhou suddenly became curious at that time.
"System, are the Crucians provided by you the descendants of a dragon?" Yuan Zhou had some knowledge of the legend of Dragon Pond in Liuhe district.
The system didn’t display anything more until Yuan Zhou prepared to cook the dishes after waiting for quite a while in vain.
"As the folk legend says, the child bride married the black dragon. They lived at ease in the dragon pond and gave birth to lots of descendants. And the big Crucians in the dragon pond were exactly those descendants." The four characters of ‘Folk Legend’ were made extraordinarily large by the system for fear that Yuan Zhou couldn’t see them clearly.
"Every Crucian in the dragon pond weighs more than 1 kilogram. It has been an article of tribute to the emperors in every dynasty. It’s famous worldwide for its small head but plump body, fine and smooth flesh, delicate and appetizing taste."
"The superior Crucian is characterized by its freshness. As it is soil-natured, it likes living in the mud. The Crucian living in the turbid water is especially plump and delicious with the meat slightly crisp. In winter, it is fat and has a lot of fish roe."
After the lengthy introductions by the system, Yuan Zhou caught another Crucian from the deep pool where the prawns were raised. It was flat with the white color.
"Only the flesh of this fish could be made loose and tender." Yuan Zhou heaved a sigh while catching the fish and then started to dissect and wash it.
Before smoking, the fish was first pickled for a night with Qiu You, soft-fried with vegetable oil and then covered with the sesame oil for better smoking when it was slightly cooled down. While smoking, Yuan Zhou scattered some fennel, chopped ginger and wild pepper over the fish.
After it was washed again to remove the dirt and then dried, it would be fried again and then braised with the yellow rice wine and sweet sauce. When the redundant sauce was removed, it would be smoked again with the litchee peel.
Only in that way could the smoked fish have the fresh and sweet texture as well as the soft and tender taste sensation. Naturally, there was none of the smoky taste.
As for the silver thread noodles, Yuan Zhou selected the preparation method of Eight Treasure Noodles.
The preparation method had likewise been passed down from a former royal chef, therefore the noodles cooked by Yuan Zhou required much work and time.
The fragrance and freshness of all the eight treasures were preserved, gathered and then mixed into the noodles. Regarding how to make the noodles, Yuan Zhou naturally selected the noodle-making craftsmanship of Lanzhou people, who were well-known nationwide for their distinctive Hand-Pulled Noodle Soup. Then, he blended the eight treasures into the flour and kneaded them into the dough with the egg white.
Although it took a long time, the dough nevertheless could be picked with the fingertips and made into thin strip randomly after being kneaded. Even if it was 10 feet long, it didn’t break.
That made the chewy texture of the silver thread noodles. However, all these details of making noodles or smoking the fish weren’t worth telling others. The young man nevertheless started to savor the next dish.
Because of the new dish, the business time at noon was rather lively. Of course, Zhou Jia also felt much fatigue.
In the afternoon, Sun Ming arrived at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant early along with others.
"Sun, are you going to treat us or what today ?" The tall and slim man with his nickname KFC said smilingly while holding Sun Ming’s shoulders.
"No, it’s not me. I’d say they just don’t t have the good luck. It’s Compass who is treating us today," Sun Ming said with a smiling face.
"I still can’t believe it. That guy is so slow and unwilling when he offers the meals for free. What does he suddenly stand treat for?" KFC revealed a suspicious expression.
"Since he has told me to savor the new dish, what suspicion do you have?" Sun Ming straightforwardly entered the restaurant while dragging KFC.
"Hi, take your seats, please." Yuan Zhou walked out of the kitchen and greeted them when he saw them come in.
"Compass, what’s your new dish?" As soon as Sun Ming arrived, he got straight to the point. It was KFC who appeared more implicit. He just sat at the side and listened to them attentively.
"Thin Skinned Dumplings as a kind of snack," Yuan Zhou also said concisely and comprehensively.
"Sounds nice. But will you lengthen the business time?" Sun Ming asked curiously.
"No, I won’t."
The point-blank answer made Sun Ming relieved. They were brothers and Sun Ming also ran his own business, therefore he knew how tired it was to run a store on his own, let alone a booming business such as Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. It meant he was more tired.
"Speaking of that, I haven’t been here for a long time. There have been so many new dishes. Wait, what’s the price of this dish?" Sun Ming stood up and began to check the price list behind him.
"Welfare price." Said Yuan Zhou lightly.
"I would have been here every day if I know there’s such a good price," KFC and Sun Ming said at the same time.
"Yeah, right. 1 RMB, wow. Come on, get one serving for each of us," Sun Ming said generously, as if he were a rich guy.
Yuan Zhou, "..."