The Female Supporting Role Shows Out

Chapter 17: Lady Chef (16)

The new shop was bought at a very low price. It was less than twenty taels of silver which was a vast difference from the grocery shop. But there were reasons behind the difference in prices. The shop was cheap due to its location.

It was simply impossible for people who were unfamiliar with the place to take seven or eight turns in the alley to find her shop. Lady Qi, who almost passed out while finding her way through the alley, was now too worried to eat, as she was afraid that her daughter would make losses by setting up her business here.

Lin Dan comforted her as she cleaned up the tables and chairs. "Don't worry, mother. Theres a reason why I decided to set up my restaurant here. Look at the shops around here."

"What about it? I only saw places filled with vice activities casinos, fighting arenas, the pier, and brothels. And the people who come in and out of these places are people who are involved in these things. I really don't understand why you want to set up a restaurant here. If the Yan family doesnt want us here, we can always leave the capital and lead a peaceful life elsewhere. I don't want you to try and get back anything, and I don't need you to prove yourself. I only wish for your safety." Lady Qi said while holding Lin Dans hands.

Lin Dan gave her a pat and explained, "Although most of the residents of South Town are migrants and have complicated backgrounds, they are also better than those from the North Town. You shouldnt consider the people of the South Town as inferior to others, you will find many hidden talents here too. There are all sorts of people here and it would be much easier to do business here than in North Town. Look at the casinos, arenas, the pier, and brothels arent they popular? Whether a restaurant is able to succeed, it all depends on the food standard, followed by popularity. Since I can make good food, I can make my business even better by riding on the popularity of the shops around. Ill be able to make money, and you will see when my restaurant is opened."

"The popularity of the surrounding shops is indeed fairly good, but you have to see whether youre able to ride on their popularity. Do you think your customers would mind making seven or eight turns to arrive at your shop? Its better to set up a shop along the road. Ive never seen anyone who opens a store at the end of an alley." Lady Qi was still worried.

"Its said that a fragrant wine is unafraid of the deep alley. This wont be a problem." Lin Dan smiled lightly and waved her hand. She did not seem to be overly concerned with this problem.

The servants she brought had cleaned up the shop swiftly and hung a small flag at the entrance. The restaurant was ready to be opened.

The handsome man had something on in the morning and arrived at the shop at noon which was later than usual. He visited the local mafia boss and constables nearby and asked them to take care of Lin Dan before heading to the shop. Of course, these things were done behind Lin Dan's back, lest she felt uncomfortable with him doing so.

"Why are you here again? Dont you have work to do?" Lin Dan looked surprised when he saw the man.

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"I think youve never asked for my name?" The man asked instead.

Lin Dan stunned for a moment and chuckled, "Sure, what is your first and last name? And how old are you, sir?"

"Im twenty-six this year, my name is Tang Jiu. You may call me Tang Jiu, or just Jiu." The man gave Lady Qi a polite bow before taking an axe and began chopping wood.

"Tang, as in soup? This is a good surname." Lin Dan laughed brightly. She was a chef and had a natural affection for soups and the like.

The man knew what she was laughing at, and his dark eyes softened. Indeed, Lin Dan never stopped thinking about her job, she could even associate names with food.

Lin Dan had arranged a carpenter to make a signboard for the restaurant and it could only be delivered in the afternoon. Lin Dan did not plan to open her restaurant on this day and only asked her servants to bring in three large pots for making broths one for making clear broth, one for milky pork broth, and one for making braised broth. As the price of the shop was low, she still had a lot of silver taels left to spend and made the broths without considering the cost price. She stuffed whole chickens and ducks into the pot and added pork knuckles and pork bones before bringing it to boil.

"I learned how to make broths from a master in the north. Although he is not an imperial cook, his cooking skills are superb. After learning from him for three years, I only managed to learn just a little from him. We need to simmer the clear broth in low fire, but cook the pork broth on high, so we have to be careful when adding the firewood." Lin Dan spoke very modestly, but the method of cooking the broth was actually very complicated, but she was very familiar with all the steps and did it in a smooth manner.

Tang Jiu stared at the large pots and asked with a slightly worried tone, "You added so many ingredients, will you be able to earn your cost back?"

Lin Dan chuckled, "It may seem as though I have spent a lot while making these broths, but you must know that these pots of broth are enough for me to cook hundreds of dishes and hundreds of bowls of noodles. I wont be overspending on these broths if they are able to attract customers into my shop which is located deep in the alley. Its said that fragrant wine is unafraid of the deep alley, it also applies to my thick broths which are also unafraid of the deep alley". When the broths are done, Im sure there will be people looking for our shop by following the smell."

When the clear and pork broth were boiling, Lin Dan added a bag of spice into the pot making the braised broth and boiled it over a high fire. After boiling for a quarter of an hour, she added pork knuckles, pork bones, pork belly, pigskin, and other ingredients into the pot. She covered the pot with a lid and surrounded the rim of the pot with a wet cloth to prevent steam from escaping.

"This braised broth will be ready after heating over a low fire until tomorrow morning. Let's take a rest, only one person is needed to watch the fire." When everything was ready, Lin Dan clapped her hands and dismissed everyone. As the business fleet still had to deliver the dry goods, several servants packed up their things and left the capital immediately.

Lin Dan was about to make lunch for her mother and Tang Jiu when someone suddenly ran in. It was the waiter from Qiaoyuan Restaurant, he said with slight anger in his tone, "I finally found you, liar! Tell me, what kind of ingredients did you sell to our restaurant? How can you give us shoddy goods!"

"Relax, sir. Ill follow you back to the restaurant and talk about this further. " Lin Dan was not annoyed at all and generously poured a cup of hot tea for the waiter.

As the waiter came here to get her, he tried to pull her out, but Tang Jiu gave him a cold stare which made him speak to Lin Dan in a friendlier tone. The fair-skinned and handsome young chef had already been waiting in the shop. Although he felt like a victim, he acted humbly and spoke to her nicely. "The ingredients you sold to me maybe shoddy. I wasnt able to make dishes that taste exquisite. Here, try it. This was made with the shark's tripe you sold me, while this was bought from Yans restaurant. Since they were all made with the same ingredient, why do ours taste so different from theirs?"

Lin Dan smiled after tasting the dishes. She had been worrying about how to fight against the Yan family, now this young chef had given her a chance to do so. She did not mind having someone else fight for her if she could not fight against the Yan family herself.

As she thought about this, she waved her hand and said, "Lets go to the kitchen and show me how you made this dish. My dried goods were selected and accumulated from hundreds and thousands of sources, and they are all premium-grade ingredients. I dont think the ingredients are the problem. Since the ingredients are fine, something must be wrong with your cooking technique. Lets try finding the root cause of the issue."

The little cook nodded in agreement without hesitation. He followed Lin Dan to the kitchen and was incredibly well-behaved. The old manager glared at Lin Dan and wanted to yell at her for being rude, but he dared not speak up because of Tang Jius powerful presence. The group arrived at the kitchen and started cooking.

Lin Dan stared at the young chef for a long time and said after shaking her head, "You have good cooking basics, but you lack experience. When you cook using dry goods, most of your success comes from the way you soak the ingredients. If you lack the right technique to soak the dried ingredients, you naturally wont be able to make delicious dishes."

"For example, you can't merely soak this black ginseng in water. It is fine if you cut them into sections and stir-fry it. But if you add the entire black ginseng into the dish, it will make the texture of the meat uneven, with some areas soft, and others being hard. The dish wont taste good. Ill teach you a secret method its best to bake the black ginseng on a hot iron plate before soaking it in water. Then, burn the outer skin black with a low fire and use a knife to scrape off the black skin before boiling in water. The reason for doing this is to completely remove the moisture that was still present in the dried black ginseng. The meat texture will be even once all the moisture is removed. You can boil it and let it cool, do this step three times and the moisture will be completely gone. It will become so tender that it will leave a mark when you press it lightly with your finger."

She handled the black ginseng while explaining the steps, and amazed everyone with her pair of skillful hands. The young chef realized that Manager Lin was not merely a dry goods seller, but also a very experienced chef. She would not have come up with such a unique way of soaking black ginseng without three to five years of study and research. Also, not only did she come up with her own method, but she was also selfless in sharing her knowledge with others. He thought of her as someone who was kind and morally upright.

In order to learn more, the young chef quickly took over the work of soaking the black ginseng.

Lin Dan wiped her hands with a handkerchief and continued to handle the fish maw. She began explaining while heating the oil, "You also did not soak the sharks tripe properly. You need to soak it in oil to create a smooth and chewy texture. First, you need to soak the fish in medium hot oil before cooling it. Fry it on low fire on the stove before soaking it in clean water, ensuring that water has been fully absorbed. Add some of the used water and pat it with your hands to completely rinse off the astringency of the water. It can then be used to make delicious dishes. The tripes that are soaked in oil will taste soft and chewy, its freshness will also be retained no matter how it is cooked. With this method, even the poorest quality sharks tripe can be made into a delicacy."

Lin Dan was eloquent whenever she talked about cooking, and she did not stop moving as she spoke. She quickly heated a pot of oil and added the fish tripe into it. One would be able to tell whether a chef was truly skillful based on how she worked on the stove. The young chefs eyes were beaming when he looked at Lin Dan as if he had discovered a treasure.

While waiting for the oil to cool down, Lin Dan said again, "Look, you did not soak this bowl of black fungi correctly too. Its not enough to just soak it with boiling water, you have to add some coarse salt to soften it, and remove away the hair at the back"

"Yes, you are right! Manager Lin, I was wrong to misunderstand you. Please forgive me for my ignorance! Please teach me how to cook, I am really not skillful enough at cooking! Some time ago, Yans restaurant introduced a new dish called the Squirrel Mandarin Fish. The presentation and taste of that dish are superb. It has already attracted the remaining customers that would usually come to my restaurant. If I dont improve, the reputation of my imperial chef family will be tarnished in my hands!" The young chef clasped his hands and bow to Lin Dan repeatedly. In fact, Lin Dan was as good as her father and grandfather when it came to the technique of soaking dry goods, and she was more than qualified to be his master.