Chapter 78 Winter Solstice Mutton Dumplings(1/2)
Because the store is not in enough staff, they are busy with the antique soup business every day. The quantity of instant noodles and seasoning sauce is limited, and the market demand is huge. Not only Jiang Yanyi is anxious, but even Chu Zi Yao and Aunt Guo are anxious for her. They get up early and come to her store to help in the dark every day.
Yang Xiu and Bing Shao didn't go back in the evening. He directly put the bench together in the shop in front, laying a layer of quilt at the bottom, and covering the top with a layer of quilt to sleep.
It is still not enough to add the oven from the original one to five.
Everyone was strung with a string, and it felt like they knew there was a large gold brick in front of them, but you couldn't move it!
The source of income in the store is still the pots. Jiang Yanyi knows that if you want to make money, you must go from scratch to whole. They are now in a retail stage and work hard every day to make instant noodles, but the money they earn is actually not as good as the ones that specialize in pots.
But if instant noodles can be mass-produced in the later stage, it will be a very considerable income.
After all, there are only a few people who can afford to eat pots, but the general public can afford to eat instant noodles. The money earned by selling ten dollars of noodles is not as good as the money earned by selling one pot, and is it even worse to sell one hundred dollars or one thousand dollars of noodles?
Jiang Yanyi knew that this matter should be done slowly. In order not to exhaust the people in the store, she limited the amount of noodles made every day and asked Yang Xiubing to inquire whether there are noodle shops in the city that specializes in "beard noodles". The beard noodles in this era are the noodles in later generations. Because they need to be dried when making noodle noodles, the noodles hang down from the wooden pole and look like dragon whiskers.
Jiang Yanyi plans to cooperate with the noodle shop to produce instant noodles. People who have worked in the noodle shop are familiar with the kneading process and the process of making instant noodles is simple. If the negotiations are reached, she wants to borrow the noodle shop site and workers to mass produce instant noodles.
But when there are too many people, there are also mixed eyes. It is only a matter of time before others learn art and follow the trend. Jiang Yanyi plans to create a brand effect.
In this way, even if instant noodles are sold everywhere, the brand effect will be her main customer base.
She originally wanted to make rice sauce, but she was so tired that she was afraid that the market would be opened again but the subsequent supply would not keep up, so Jiang Yanyi had to put this idea on the shelf for the time being.
The money earned by selling instant noodles and seasoning oil these days is trivial and messy. Jiang Yanyi is not good at using this ancient abacus. He holds the homemade charcoal pen and makes his eyes dizzy. He calculates the accounts several times and fails to match them. She is so worried that she pulls her hair straight. Once, Chu Yangui sees her crazy while calculating the accounts, he says that he is idle and helps her to check the accounts.
Jiang Yanyi only thought it was a kind-hearted child and declined it a few times. Chu Yangui insisted repeatedly before she handed him the account book to him. She wanted him to give up, but Chu Yangui looked at it with all his eyes and soon found the problem.
"Sister, you missed a conclusion here."
"This place doesn't match. The previous page is still one ounce three, but it becomes one ounce five."
Jiang Yanyi looked confused: "Is that so, let me take a look."
She took the account book and found that there was something wrong with Chu Yangui's circle. After correcting it, she carefully proofread it and then calculated it again. The account book finally matched the money that was paid.
Jiang Yanyi was very surprised: "You have good abacus skills."
Chu Yangui smiled and showed a pair of dimples: "If Sister can trust me, I can help me watch the account in the store in the future."
Jiang Yanyi shook her head: "I'm asking someone to find you a master. When the master finds you, you will concentrate on studying and I can get through the store myself."
Seeing that Jiang Yanyi worked so hard to open a store, Chu Yangui always wanted to do something for her. Hearing this, he said, "It won't take me much time to check the bill."
Jiang Yan insisted on his opinion, and thought for a while and said, "When I encounter difficult accounts in the future, I will look for you again."
Although he could only say this to her, Chu Yangui was still very happy.
The mason found by Jiang Yanyi had already opened up the wall of her house and the Fengfu West Cross Courtyard, and built a hanging flower door.
Jiang Yanyi looked over and found that Xiqianyuan had changed a lot. When she rescued the parrot and fell off the wall, there were no other plants in Xiqianyuan except for a pomegranate tree. Now there are several red plum trees planted in the yard. This is obviously Feng Shuo's work.
The room was also redecorated early in the morning. The furniture inside ranged from tables, chairs, benches, to small blankets and pillows, and it looked like it could be directly occupied.
The room prepared for her and Chu Yangui can be easily identified.
Chu Yangui's room was divided into two rooms inside and outside, Chu Yangui slept in the inner room, and Chu Zhong slept in the outer room at night to facilitate the care of Chu Yangui.
Maybe considering that he was unable to move, the bed and the desk were next to each other, and the four treasures of the study, the inkstone and the strokes were placed on his desk, Jiang Yanyi, an outsider could see that it was of extraordinary quality.
There was a bookcase on the other side, full of books. She read a few casually and found that these books were not stuffed into the bookcase to count. Each one was very suitable for Chu Yanji. There were also collections of poems written by those who were capable of predecessors, without any depressedness or fighting spirit.
Jiang Yanyi used to not know what it felt like to be spoiled by someone in his heart, but at this moment he felt a little urged to cry.
With Feng Shuo's identity and family background, giving a house is nothing, but he has paid close attention to her relatives.
The rooms of the siblings were all set up in the east wing. In her room, Feng Shuo also placed a small bookcase, and put all the travel notes she had read about customs, humanities and food.
On the pineapple wood dressing table, a huge silver mirror shines and can almost see half of her body. The table is filled with all kinds of rouge and water powder, and the beads and hairpins in the jewelry box are also dazzling. There are not ten sets of seasonal clothes in the cage box and eight sets, all of which are the most fashionable styles, and each piece is made of her size.
Four treasures of the study were placed on the agarwood desk, and a copybook for her to practice calligraphy. Jiang Yanyi opened the copybook and found that the first page was written with a small line of characters: Practice one page of copybook every day, and do not be lazy.
At some point, she was already familiar with his handwriting. Looking at this vigorous and thin gold body, she could even imagine his straight wrist when he used his pen. He always looked very focused when reading and writing, his jawline was tightly stretched, and his body was full of noble spirit.
Jiang Yanyi raised her hand and stroked the handwriting on the copybook, raised the corners of her mouth, but there was a faint feeling of tears in her eyes.
What kind of virtue does she have in her life? She can be loved by such a person.
On the winter solstice, some of the details on the Xiqianyuan were cleaned up, and Jiang Yanyi decided to move in.
Okra was about to be next to Jiang Yanyi's room, and refused to ask for the big wing in the west wing. Instead, she asked for the ear room next to Jiang Yanyi's room. Although it was an ear room, it was much larger than the room they had lived in before, so Jiang Yanyi followed her.
Before, there was not enough room, Yang Xiu and Bing Shao had always lived with other Chu Changping's guards. Later, they used benches to hit the floor in the shop. Now the yard is big enough, and they and Aunt Guo moved in together.
The house that Jiang Yanyi originally rented was kept as a warehouse.
It was said that it was moving, but there were everything on the west cross-yard. They didn’t have many things, they all had bed sheets and bedding, etc., and they moved it in a few round trips.
However, the yard was several times bigger and the snow was very tired. Fortunately, Jiang Yanyi and Okra did not need to do this job by themselves, so Yang Xiu and Bing Shao took care of the work.
Jiang Yanyi went to the kitchen to prepare to cook dumplings.
Eating dumplings on the Winter Solstice is a custom in ancient times. There is even a folk proverb that "If you don't serve dumplings in the Winter Solstice, you won't take care of your ears when you freeze them."
In the world where Jiang Yanyi originally lived, dumplings originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty and were created by the medical saint Zhang Zhongjing. Because they were mainly used to treat frostbite on the ears, they were called "dumpling ears". The shape was also made into a half-moon shape, just like an ear.
Lamb is the most nutritious meat in winter. Jiang Yanyi plans to make mutton dumplings. The most nutritious vegetarian dish that matches it is carrot 1.
When making dumpling skins, you can't escape the kneading step. The dough for steaming buns should be soft, while the noodles should be slightly hard. When rolling the dumpling skins out between the two, how to grasp this degree depends on the chef.
However, there is a small trick: If the dough you knead is not strong enough, you can add some salt to improve the toughness and tendons of the dough.
The old saying goes, "Alkali is bones, salt is the tendons." A small dough is full of knowledge.
Jiang Yanyi kneaded the dough this morning was just right, and there was no need to add salt to increase the stress.
When she was dumplings, she began to prepare the filling.
Now that Aunt Guo has moved in, someone has taken care of Jiang Yanyi’s everything. When she was dating, Aunt Guo has already helped chop the mutton filling and some of the pork filling. Jiang Yanyi just adds seasonings.
To make dumplings with mutton stuffing, adding some pepper water can effectively remove the mutton smell, onion, ginger, cooking wine, and salt. In order to increase freshness, Jiang Yanyi poured a few spoons of broth that he had hung last night, stir evenly, and poured in sesame oil into the filling to lock in the moisture.
It is said that the mutton and pork are made into 30% 70% of the stuffing, and the cooked dumplings will taste better. Jiang Yanyi also mixed a bowl of mixed meat filling.
She peeled and washed the carrots and cut them into small diced pieces. She was afraid that someone would not like to eat carrots, so Jiang Yanyi specially evened some fillings out and then mixed the carrot diced pieces into the mutton filling.
Cut the dough into small pieces to make a dough, and roll it into thin crust with a rolling pin to wrap the filling directly. Every time Jiang Yanyi scoops the filling into the dough, he will be a big spoonful full of it. The wrapped dumplings have beautiful pleats, bulging belly, and cute.
The okra boiled the water in the pot by boiling it. Jiang Yanyi put some salt into the pot before putting the dumplings so that the cooked dumplings will not stick together.
Many people like to use aged vinegar alone for the sauce for dumplings, but Jiang Yanyi is more spicy. While the dumplings were cooked in the pot, she found two small bowls, poured vinegar into one bowl, and put oil-splashed dogwood chili and crushed garlic, aged vinegar.
As soon as the dumplings were out of the pot, the aroma of meat wafted out of the kitchen. Jiang Yanyi asked Okra to ask everyone to eat, but she put some of the three flavors of dumplings into the food box and sent them to Fengfu.
Seeing this, Aunt Guo smiled a little.
Before she could explain the matter between her and Feng Shuo, Jiang Yanyi was shy and sent it to Feng Shuo on the grounds of thanking her neighbors, and also gave a plate of dumplings to Mrs. Chen in the garment shop.
A carriage was parked in front of Feng Mansion. Jiang Yanyi guessed that Feng Shuo might be meeting the guests, so she did not go to see Feng Shuo in person and asked the doorman to give the dumplings to Feng Shuo.
When we returned, we hadn't started to take off our chopsticks. We were obviously waiting for her. There was a plate of braised pork head meat on the table, which was a gift from Mrs. Chen.
This winter solstice dumpling banquet, the people in the shop had a happy meal.
I bite the dumpling skin in one bite, but the soup inside is extremely fresh and thick, and it is already delicious without dipping sauce.
Jiang Yanyi was originally worried that someone would not like to eat carrots, but she obviously was too worried. The one with carrot filling was the most popular one.
Chu Yangui wanted to dip hot sauce several times, but Jiang Yanyi didn't agree.
During the meal, Yang Xiu also told him what Jiang Yanyi had told him a few days ago that there were still several noodle shops in Xizhou City that made noodle shops. He had talked to the noodle shop managers, but the result was not satisfactory. There was even a noodle shop that saw the momentum of instant noodles and said arrogantly that they wanted to buy out the recipe for instant noodles they made.
Speaking of this, Yang Xiu looked unlucky: "There is another noodle shop. The old boss died. The young boss was a gambling man again and owed the gambling shop a lot of money. When I went to discuss business, I didn't even have a manager. The young boss was drunk and said we might as well buy his noodle shop."
When he mentioned this, Jiang Yanyi was really thinking. She raised her head and asked, "How much does it cost to buy that noodle shop?"
Yang Xiu was stunned by Jiang Yanyi's question and replied, "It's time to ask for at least three or five hundred taels."
Jiang Yanyi asked again: "All the veterans who make beard noodles in the noodle shop are there?"
Yang Xiu was a little troubled: "This... I haven't found out so much, so I'll ask again afterwards."
Jiang Yanyi nodded: "As soon as possible."
The remaining money she had, whether it was expanding stores or opening branches, was only a sure profit. It was a bit risky to throw this money into a noodle shop on the verge of bankruptcy.
But Jiang Yanyi is very clear that her business in the antique soup store has stabilized and there is no need to spend too much effort at the moment. However, if she wants to expand the antique soup store in a short period of time, it is unrealistic and there are restrictions in all aspects.
But instant noodles are different. From the perspective of market demand, instant noodles are more popular and easier to popularize.
From a cost perspective and a technical perspective, making instant noodles is relatively low, and the technical content is lower than making a pot. If the noodle shop is made and opening a branch later, it will be much easier than opening a branch with antique soup.
Even if the taste produced was worse than that produced in later industries, it was enough in ancient times when there was no convenient fast food.
She was just a chef and couldn't buy preservatives that kept food fresh and fresh, but she opened the store in various prefectures and counties, so that the people of the Daxuan Dynasty could still buy her instant noodles!
There was no such saying in ancient times, but before, Laifu Restaurant copied everything from her antique soup shop, which also gave Jiang Yanyi a lot of inspiration. Imitation would be late, but I would never be absent.
The ancients did not have so many marketing strategies in the field of commodity marketing because their predecessors had not practiced enough, and unlike later generations, they could learn skills from various business competitions, so they did not have so many marketing strategies. But they were not stupid, and they could tell which path they would be the easiest to make profits.
She started to do it herself first, and her power was strong enough. Only by attracting people to join the gang can she achieve the effect of joining. Before, Laifu Antique Soup was like a follower, learning everything from her. The reason why she was fearless was that her antique Soup store was not big enough. At this time, even if she came to her house to cooperate, the other party would look down on her, and even wanted to eat her store.
The benefits brought by instant noodles now seem small, but when it is promoted to the entire Daxuan Dynasty, it is her main economic chain, which can not only provide economic support for her hot pot restaurants, but also lay the foundation for her hot pot restaurants to open elsewhere.
"Sister, the dumplings are cold."
To be continued...