After finishing the previous task, it was almost ten o'clock when she began peeling and cutting potatoes nonstop. The cut potato shreds were soaked in water to prevent them from turning black and discoloring.
Around eleven o'clock, she started steaming rice. Based on the morning's flour ratio, she needed almost twenty jin of rice. Since rice could not be controlled individually like steamed buns, she had to prepare a bit more, so she settled on twenty jin.
Lunch was served at half past eleven, so as soon as the rice began steaming, she hurriedly started stir-frying dishes.
After boiling the pork, she drained the moisture, mixed in Sichuan peppercorns, fried it in the pan, then scooped it out to remove the excess oil and set it aside. In the same pan, she left some oil to sauté chili bean sauce, scallions, and ginger until aromatic. She then added a bottle of Lao Ganma, followed by the pork, and began to stir fry, causing the color to become invitingly bright red.
Next, she added onion slices, chili segments, salt, and other seasonings in turn. Before removing from the heat, she poured in starch water. Adding starch helped the flavors to better integrate. Starch would dissolve in water and solidify upon exposure to high heat, improving the texture. In this way, the dish would not end up with the first bites being dry and the latter oily.
She didn't discard the water from soaking the potatoes, as it contained potato starch. Using this water, she made a tofu soup. To avoid leftovers, she made a small pot with just two jin of tofu, a handful of coriander, a bit of chopped scallion, and cracked two eggs into it. The soup didn't require many seasonings—just a sprinkle of pepper powder was almost enough. Before serving, she stirred in some starch, drizzled a little light soy sauce and sesame oil for garnish, and then it was ready to serve.
After the Fried Pork Slices were ready, she stir-fried vinegar potato shreds. One meat dish, one vegetable dish, and one soup—lunch was quite sumptuous, wasn't it?
The price for this meal was set at 86 yuan.
Five jin of meat cost 23 yuan, a little more than four yuan per jin.
Potatoes were 0.4 yuan, and she cut ten jin, making it four yuan.
Adding tofu, coriander, scallions, eggs, etc., she rounded up the cost to two yuan.
Onions and chilis together came up to, at most, one yuan.
Oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and such needed to be more than in the morning because the meat had to be fried. So she estimated four yuan for these condiments.
Rice was 1.1 yuan per jin, so twenty jin was 22 yuan. Combining all costs, it was roughly 56 yuan, leaving a profit of thirty yuan.
Actually, after preparing two meals, it was clear that the profit from lunch was a bit higher. Breakfast and dinner really didn't earn much profit, with just a slight increase in ingredients easily exceeding the cost. Gong Mingxia quickly did the calculations in her head—if she could make a twenty yuan profit each day, she could earn six hundred in a month. If it were thirty yuan, it'd be like making nine hundred yuan a month. Thɪs chapter is updated by noveⅼfire.net
Plus her regular salary, it was undoubtedly one to two thousand yuan. To make that amount in the nineties wasn't bad at all.
However, generally speaking, the imagination is wonderful, but reality is harsh. It all depended on whether the management would entrust her with the authority. If she could have full control over grocery shopping and manage the kitchen herself, it could be a long-term job.
Experience proved that as long as you put your heart into it, you naturally would receive positive feedback. This lunchtime meal once again showcased her "formidable" ability.
Ha-ha, not to boast, but cooking is truly addictive.
It's ever-evolving, offering absolute realms of imagination and creativity. Many dishes come to life through constant refinement.
Take the Big Pot Dish, for example. Although it lacks the finesse of smaller portions, mastering the Big Pot Dish also signifies a significant culinary ability.
Vinegar potato shreds, simple and a common Big Pot Dish, can have a taste that lingers on the palate if done with one's own signature touch.
Her vinegar potato shreds must be finished with a handful of minced garlic. The addition of garlic brought a special aroma to the dish, along with white vinegar and a touch of sugar, the flavor was both fresh and commendable. Moreover, the cooking time for potato shreds had to be perfect—not too overcooked and not too undercooked. Achieving a crunchy texture and full release of flavors meant success!