The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book)- 14

 

| TBBOTOF | 14

Chef Liu actually wanted to know how to make the meat shreds so tender without being overcooked, but he didn't have much money left. Seeing Tang Xu refuse Boss Wu's offer of three hundred taels for the recipe, he abandoned the idea.

Earlier, he had told Boss Wu that if Tang Xu rejected one of them, their agreement would be nullified.

Now, seeing Tang Xu about to leave, he quickly stood up.

Boss Wu hurriedly spoke up to stop him, "Wait, don't rush to go. We can negotiate."

Tang Xu felt Boss Wu wasn't sincere.

Judging from the restaurant's menu, if he taught them his skills, it wouldn't just benefit one dish, but all dishes that required frying. He firmly believed that with a few extra steps, any fried meat could be made tender and juicy. He didn't believe they couldn't figure this out.

"Boss Wu, it's getting late, and I need to get back home before dark. If you're not sincere about discussing cooperation with me, let's not waste any more time. You can tell from my appearance that I'm not wealthy, so whether I do this business or not doesn't matter to me. Making money is good, but if I can't, it won't affect my current life. After all, money can be made anywhere, right?"

Boss Wu felt helpless. Why was this young man so straightforward in his speech? He also realized that if he didn't buy this recipe today, perhaps tomorrow it would appear in other restaurants in town. After all, Fuyun Restaurant wasn't the only one in Yungning Town.

After some hesitation, reluctantly, he opened his hand, "Fine, the restaurant can offer up to five hundred taels. That's the highest price."

This was the maximum amount of money he could personally offer. Any more, and he would have to invite the owner to negotiate personally. However, he felt that bringing the owner from the capital just to negotiate for these two recipes might not be worth it.

Tang Xu raised an eyebrow, stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, five hundred taels. Deal."

After saying this, he extended his hand.

Boss Wu's goatee trembled as he took out five silver tickets of one hundred taels each from his sleeve and handed them to Tang Xu.

Tang Xu smiled and accepted them, tucking them into his chest pocket. Then, he turned to Chef Liu and said, "I'll explain the recipe to Boss Wu first. Please wait a moment."

Chef Liu nodded and left the room.

Tang Xu dictated the recipe while Boss Wu wrote it down. After finishing, Boss Wu looked at the method written on the paper with a somewhat conflicted expression.

He had spent five hundred taels!

And what he bought was just a method for marinating meat and soaking potatoes in starch!

This method was so simple.

Even if he didn't know how to cook, just by looking at what was written, he felt like he could do it himself.

"This... this method is too straightforward," Boss Wu said with a frown, looking at Tang Xu.

Tang Xu shrugged and spread his hands. "Well, that's your business." Who knew how he negotiated with Chef Liu. This method for marinating meat and making it tender mostly involved coating the meat with a little starch solution.

The problem was, while there were potatoes and corn here, they didn't have potato starch or cornstarch, so they hadn't discovered how to use the starch yet.

It's up to him to figure out how to make money. Who would he reason with!

Tang Xu held two contracts in his hand as he left and went to the small kitchen with Chef Liu. He demonstrated the making of snowflake bean paste to Chef Liu in person, starting from the preparation stage. He cleaned and dried a large bowl, separated the egg yolks and egg whites, added a few drops of white vinegar to the egg whites, and then sifted some flour onto the side.

"The flour must be very fine, and you should err on the side of less rather than more. About one and a half spoonfuls of flour for six egg whites should suffice. Then, start whisking."

He took six chopsticks and began briskly whisking the egg whites.

"While whisking the egg whites, you mustn't stop, and the motion should be uniform until you can lift the chopsticks and they stay upright, or when you turn the bowl upside down, the egg mixture doesn't flow."

After about fifteen minutes, he stopped whisking and inserted a chopstick into the mixture. The chopstick stood still without falling, and when he turned the bowl upside down, the egg mixture didn't move. 

Chef Liu stood by, astonished, even though he had seen how the egg whites were whipped. He still found it miraculous.

"After whipping the egg whites, add the flour. It's best to sift it again, then gently fold it in from top to bottom. Don't stir, or else the dense bubbles will disappear."

Tang Xu said, turning his head to look at Chef Liu, who was busy writing and nodding repeatedly. Tang Xu couldn't help but smile, "You'll get the hang of it after doing it a few more times. Just remember the main points."

Chef Liu nodded, "How do you wrap the filling?"

Tang Xu skewered the small round balls of filling with chopsticks, then swirled them in the egg mixture, completely coating them with the white batter.

"Wrap them like this, and fry them while wrapping them. The oil temperature must not be too high, and don't fry them for too long, or they'll burn."

Tang Xu lifted up a cooked white ball, gesturing for Chef Liu to try.

Chef Liu nodded, put down his notebook, washed his hands, and came over to try it out.

The process of frying the round balls was very therapeutic, and Chef Liu's handling was smooth. In no time, he had fried a dozen or so white balls and placed them neatly on a plate.

"Sprinkle some sugar crumbs on top, not too much, just to enhance the texture." Tang Xu pinched some sugar crumbs from the sugar jar, which were a bit large. He tapped them with a rolling pin to break them into smaller pieces before sprinkling them on top.

"There, done."

Chef Liu tasted one and found it to be just as delicious as the ones they had earlier.

Rubbing his hands together, he said, "It looks pretty simple. Let me try it myself."

"Then I'll go to the bank first," Tang Xu said, not wanting to carry such a large sum of money home. After all, it was one thousand taels of silver bills, and he needed to deposit it.

Chef Liu smiled and gave him some advice, "Deposit your money at the bank owned by the government. The interest rates might be lower than other banks, but you can exchange your money at any official bank branch. Just make sure not to lose your receipt; they won't replace it if you do."

Tang Xu's lips twitched. It made sense, no wonder it was called the official bank. Their policies were quite domineering.

Recalling the general plot from the book, although there was war, the domestic situation seemed quite stable. The Great Xia Dynasty hadn't been overthrown or replaced by another dynasty, which meant his money would be safe in the official bank.

"Alright, thanks Chef. I'll go deposit the money first, and when I come back, I'll taste the snowflake bean paste you made," Tang Xu waved to him and went to the official bank located in the center of the town, carrying the large sum of money.

When he emerged from the official bank, he no longer had ten one hundred-tael silver bills; instead, he had a document stamped with several red seals and handprints. This document would be used for future withdrawals.

He hadn't bothered to separate the money for deposit; he just deposited the entire one thousand taels.

With money in hand, he had no worries. He planned to wait until he left the Tang family before using this money.

Clutching the two taels of silver earned from selling dried mushrooms, he thought for a moment, then turned back to the official bank. He exchanged it for five hundred copper coins and half a tael of silver. Afterward, he took a stroll around the street, spent three wen to buy a small linen money pouch, and went straight to the butcher's shop.

"Boss, do you still have any meat?" Tang Xu lifted the curtain and entered the butcher's shop. A strong smell of blood and grease hit his nose, making him wrinkle it.

Apart from the boss, there was also a tall and muscular man in the butcher's shop. When he heard Tang Xu's voice, he turned his body slightly. Tang Xu looked up, and their eyes met.

Tang Xu: Wow! Those chest muscles are well-developed!

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