Rebirth 07: Starting with Saving a Bankrupt Restaurant

In order to buy beef tripe, Zhou Wen got up much earlier than usual the next day.

"I'm still getting used to getting up so early," Zhou Wen said, washing his face with water as he tried to adjust.

Upon arriving at the market, Zhou Wen began selecting fresh beef tripe.

Pork stomach is indeed more expensive than chicken. Pork stomach costs 15 yuan per jin (500g), while chicken costs around 11 yuan. Not to mention that you have to ask the vendor to kill the chicken, remove the hair and internal organs, which also costs money.

"Boss, I'll go buy some other groceries first, and I'll be back later."

Taking advantage of this break, Zhou Wen started buying ingredients for stewing soup from some stalls.

Codonopsis pilosula, red dates, lily bulbs, lotus seeds, and goji berries are all ingredients that need to be used.

Making pork tripe and chicken soup is quite challenging compared to the previous dishes.

To ensure the soup tastes good, you also need to pay attention to the flavor of the pork belly and chicken.

Back in the shop, Zhou Wen began processing the pig stomach, which took quite a while.

The surface fat needs to be removed, otherwise the soup will be very greasy.

Add salt, white vinegar, and cornstarch to the prepared pig stomach, then mix well.

This step involves adding a sterilizing and disinfecting agent, which can also effectively remove the odor from the pig stomach and absorb the mucus and dirt on its surface.

The pig stomach is then thoroughly cleaned and removed from the water.

Put the pot in cold water and add white wine to remove the fishy smell.

After a period of time, the pig stomach will set and can be taken out of the pot and cut into small pieces.

The Zhouji Restaurant used to have a wide variety of dishes, so it already had all the necessary kitchen utensils, so there was no need to buy them separately.

Pour oil into a clay pot, add ginger, and sauté until fragrant. Then add peppercorns and continue to sauté until fragrant. Finally, add the pork tripe and stir-fry together.

After frying the pork stomach to render out the fat, protein, and collagen, boiling water is added directly to it.

Then I added the codonopsis and other ingredients I bought this morning to the soup.

Thirty minutes later, the soup had turned very thick and white, and the chopped chicken could be added to the soup.

Cover and simmer for another half hour.

When Shi Ying arrived at the shop, the shop was already filled with delicious aromas.

When Shi Ying arrived at the kitchen, she did not see Zhou Wen.

Because he got up much earlier than usual today, Zhou Wen went to the second floor to rest after finishing the soup.

"Boss," Shi Ying called out symbolically a few times.

Zhou Wen, who was taking a nap upstairs, opened his eyes after hearing the noise coming from downstairs.

Dressed neatly, Zhou Wen smelled the delicious aroma wafting from the kitchen as he reached the stairwell. He nodded in satisfaction: "The aroma is nice; it seems the stewing process went smoothly."

Seeing her boss's sleepy appearance, Shi Ying asked, "Boss, are you resting?"

"I rested for a while," Zhou Wen nodded.

"Did I disturb your rest?" Shi Ying felt a little embarrassed.

Zhou Wen waved his hand and said, "It's nothing."

Upon entering the kitchen and lifting the pot lid, the aroma of pork belly and chicken mingled together, filling the air.

The aroma was pleasant, but upon seeing the chicken in the pot, Zhou Wen shook his head and said, "Oh no."

Because I got up earlier than usual, I went upstairs to rest after finishing my work.

As a result, during this break, I forgot to skim off the oil that had rendered out of the chicken, and now the oil is all stuck to the chicken.

Wasting it is out of the question, and selling it to diners is also out of the question, so this pot of soup can only be consumed by ourselves.

Fortunately, this batch was only intended to be used as a sample, so not much was made.

"This chicken has a layer of oil on it, so it probably won't taste very good. Just eat it as is." Zhou Wen was clearly not very satisfied with the pot of pork tripe and chicken soup he had stewed.

Shi Ying looked inside. What Zhou Wen said about the chicken being coated with oil was nothing to Shi Ying.

The soup is milky white with a slight yellow tinge, neither cloudy nor bland.

A thin layer of golden chicken fat floats on the soup noodles, making your mouth water just by looking at it.

The happiest moment in life is eating the food cooked by the boss.

Judging solely from the aroma, Shi Ying had already given this bowl of pork tripe and chicken soup a very high rating in her mind; the aroma was far superior to that of Italian restaurants.

"Use your own spoons to ladle out the soup. You can take more pork belly and chicken. The chicken has some flaws, so we'll just have to deal with it ourselves."

"Okay!"

Shi Ying actually wished that such a flaw would occur every time, so that she could eat her fill and be satisfied every time.

Of course, this is just wishful thinking; deep down, I still hope that my boss can get the taste right the first time.

After serving the soup, Shi Ying carried it to the front hall and slowly enjoyed it.

Shi Ying was already hesitant to imagine how comforting it would be to have this bowl of pork tripe and chicken soup with a bowl of fried rice, fried noodles, or shredded pork with garlic sauce over rice after get off work this afternoon.

Since there's a lot of pork belly and chicken, we can only start by eating those ingredients.

The first bite was the chicken that Zhou Wen had mentioned, which had some problems.

A thin layer of oil is visible on the chicken.

Although the chicken was coated with oil, Shi Ying thought it tasted much better than the chicken she had at Ruyi Restaurant yesterday. It wasn't greasy at all.

The chicken is tender and firm, bursting with juice with every bite.

It's not just the taste of chicken; it also has the sweet aroma of pork belly and the subtle warmth of white pepper, making it more and more flavorful the more you chew.

As for the pig's stomach, because it was cleaned thoroughly, it had no unpleasant odor.

It has absolutely no fishy smell, is soaked in broth, and has the perfect texture—soft yet firm, with a slightly chewy mouthfeel.

When you bite into it, a little bit of broth will come out with it.

During her time at Zhouji Restaurant, Shi Ying's culinary acumen also improved significantly.

Use chopsticks to separate the chicken from the bone, then cut one piece of meat into several pieces and soak them in the broth.

The chicken, soaked in the broth and absorbing all the flavors, was paired with a piece of pork belly. A simple bite brought a satisfied smile to Shi Ying's face. She placed her hands on either side of her cheeks, looking incredibly happy.

While eating, Shi Ying swung her legs.

After eating most of the ingredients, it was time for the soup.

After the first sip, he gulped down more than half a bowl in one go.

It's just one simple word: fresh!

After finishing a bowl of soup, Shi Ying, with Zhou Wen's permission, went into the kitchen and made a second bowl of soup.

Seeing how happily Shi Ying was eating, Zhou Wen was also influenced and brought a bowl of soup to the front hall as well.

However, as a food blogger and chef in his previous life, Zhou Wen naturally had high standards for taste.

Zhou Wen frowned slightly after eating a piece of chicken, then looked at Shi Ying, who was happily eating, and asked:

"Won't the chicken be a bit greasy?"