The authentic Huaijiang old hot pot originally does not have the Yuanyang pot.
However, with the development of tourism, most old stores have made concessions.
"Here we go, three fresh white soups and spicy mandarin duck."
Maybe it's leisure time at noon, and the owner seems to be the only one in the store now.
The middle-aged man carried a large pot and walked steadily to Xia Zhaoyao and Qin Shuo's table and put it down.
Different from the Chuanchuan pot that Xia Zhaoyao had eaten before, the shape of Yuanyang pot is quite unique.
In the center of the thick iron pot, a soothing "S" shape divides the left and right sides, and the red and white pot bottoms each occupy half, which is very beautiful.
Click.
The fire at the bottom of the pot ignited.
"Over there at the red soup, I gave you some fresh duck blood. Can you try it later?"
The boss pointed to the side of the red pot, grinned and explained to the two of them.
"The fresh duck blood in hot pot must be cooked cold to taste better——"
Since it was a food tasting, he definitely had to greet more, otherwise it would still be his own sign that would be smashed.
…………
Generally speaking, there is no such thing as "half portion" in hot pot restaurants.
But it's different if the boss is easy to talk to. At least the two of them have privileges during this meal.
Qin Shuo didn't look at the menu and simply ordered half portions of each item - except for a few things that couldn't be divided equally.
The boss is also a cheerful person. After asking a few questions, he went straight back to the kitchen to prepare various dishes.
Now only Qin Shuo and Xia Zhaoyao were left staring at each other in the empty hotpot restaurant.
The fire was sizzling at the bottom of the pot, and the hot air slowly spread out.
Compared to the white soup, the red soup obviously boils faster.
The gurgling butter red soup rolled lazily, and a very rich and special aroma came out.
"..."
"..."
Xia Zhaoyao and Qin Shuo looked at each other a few times, with great embarrassment written in the air.
Now what the heck, well, let’s rule out dating in the first place—
Xia Zhaoyao couldn't resist the pressure at first, retracted his gaze, and began to fiddle with his mobile phone.
work, work——
It was as if he overheard Xia Zhaoyao's thoughts.
The next second.
Qin Shuo suddenly asked.
"Well, you are still within employment time, right?"
"Of course - I remember the time!"
Xia Zhaoyao quickly raised his head, stared at Qin Shuo, and replied fiercely.
If it wasn't for money, who would eat alone with such a perverted, shameless, and lustful guy?
"You don't want to default on your debt, do you? Let me tell you, the relationship consultation period will last until we separate."
"That's good, that's good -"
Qin Shuo nodded, put down the menu in his hand, and moved towards Xia Zhaoyao.
"Then what if, I mean what if, I made an appointment with Han Mengxi to eat alone at a hot pot restaurant -"
"Look, in an embarrassing situation like this, there is nothing to talk about. What should I do?"
Qin Shuo glanced at Xia Zhaoyao's expression and added something extra sincere.
"Anyway, sit on the chair, you can play the role for the time being——"
"..."
Xia Zhaoyao couldn't help but frown, and almost threw the tea over.
Forget it, don't be angry, there is no need to get wrinkles for this bastard.
"What are you talking about? You can't talk about food?"
Xia Zhao shook his chin and nodded at the hot pot, and replied angrily.
She didn't make this up, it was introduced in Zhao Huanxi's "No Embarrassing" Rules for Couples.
"Eat? Uh-how can we talk about hot pot? Han Mengxi is from Fuzhou."
"What happened to Fuzhou?"
"Huaijiang and Fuzhou both have hot pot."
"Then, we have one in Yancheng too——"
Xia Zhaoyao looked at Qin Shuo helplessly. This time she really hated the fact that iron cannot become steel.
No wonder this guy came to Huan Tang Wanshiwu for campus love counseling.
With this IQ, it is not impossible to live alone for the rest of your life.
Xia Zhaoyao put down his cell phone, picked up the tea cup and took a sip, imitating Zhao Huanxi's old-fashioned demeanor and asked.
"Hot pot, hot pot, there is a pot on the fire, but do you know how to distinguish where the hot pot belongs?"
"Uh, bottom of the pot?"
Qin Shuo hesitated for half a second and said tentatively.
"Yes, the ingredients of the hot pot are not enough to distinguish the place where the hot pot belongs. But the bottom of the pot must be."
Xia Zhaoyao snapped his fingers in a cowardly manner - well, the silent kind - and patiently guided Qin Shuo.
"The base of pickled cabbage is Northeastern's pickled cabbage hot pot; the base of tomato and sour soup is Guicheng's sour soup hot pot; if it's water with onions and ginger, it's nine out of ten our Yancheng hotpot; and if it's boiled mutton from Yancheng,
A pot of red oil soup with chili peppers floating on it must be..."
"Southern hot pot in Huaijiang or Fuzhou?" Qin Shuo nodded and looked at Xia Zhaoyao in confusion, "Then what -"
"Then the question is - is there no way to tell the difference between Fuzhou hot pot and Huaijiang hot pot?"
Xia Zhaoyao put down his tea cup and concluded like a great detective.
"There must be, otherwise the two would have the same name."
"Well--"
Qin Shuo was stunned, he was really asked this question.
As an out-and-out Huaijiang person, he really doesn’t know the difference between the hotpots in the two places.
after all……
As a Huaijiang person, who would go to Fuzhou to eat hot pot?
"Maybe... we put a lot of pepper in the hot pot here, right?"
Qin Shuo looked at the Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers floating on the red soup, hesitated for a few seconds, and answered with an uncertain look on his face.
Fuzhou is spicy, Huaijiang is spicy, that's what he generally remembers.
As for other differences——
At this moment, dissatisfied shouts came from next to the two people:
"Hey, what's the matter with you kid?! You dropped your chain at such a critical time?!"
He is the owner of a hot pot restaurant.
He was carrying a large iron tray, with a small plate and a small plate of half-portioned dishes on it.
"You're not from Huaijiang, are you? It's really embarrassing, your little girlfriend knows better than you!"
("Not a girlfriend..." Xia Zhaoyao subconsciously clarified, but his voice was immediately blocked by his boss.)
“How could the difference between Fuzhou and Huaijiang hot pot be Sichuan peppercorns?”
Xia Zhaoyao and Qin Shuo looked at each other, not understanding what the boss was talking about for a while.
"The bottom of the pot, of course it is the bottom of the pot - the soul of hot pot is the bottom of the pot!"
The boss looked angry.
So, the two of them silently put down the dishes and sat down obediently.
"Although it's all spicy, the bottom of the Fuzhou hot pot is not the same as our Huaijiang..."
"The soul of Fuzhou hot pot is Danxian Douban, and the soul of Huaijiang hot pot is butter."
He seemed really angry.
The boss knocked on the edge of the pot, then quickly retracted his hand - the edge of the iron pot was still very hot.
"The authentic Huaijiang old hot pot is absolutely fried with pure butter, and the bottom of the pot is butter. This is the symbol of our Huaijiang hot pot."
"Of course, you don't just throw the butter into the pot directly, it needs to be stir-fried first."
The boss patted his chest proudly, looked at the two of them triumphantly and said.
"Butter, watercress, dried chili, white wine, fermented glutinous rice, ginger, onion, garlic... and the proportion of each spice, the order of cooking, time, and color are all commercial secrets. For example, the recipe of our store, that is
It has been passed down from my great-great-grandfather’s generation, and it has been passed down to me for the fourth generation. Once you leave this place, Quan Huaijiang will not find anyone with the same taste as ours.”
"Uh, but I see... there aren't many DIY recipes on the Internet -" Xia Zhaoyao raised his hand cautiously and asked curiously.
Internet search is a good thing. As a newborn in the Internet era, she is not easy to fool.
"Formula, what's the use of light formula——"
The boss snorted disdainfully, waved his hand and replied.
"The heat, the proportion, and the color change are the key."
"To give a very simple example, as far as the oil temperature is concerned, if the temperature of the oil is too low, the aroma of the chili peppers will not be produced; if the temperature of the oil is too high, the pepper will be burnt and it will have a bitter taste——"
Having said this, the boss seemed to be interested and started doing it directly at their table.
"I see that you two don't know how to eat hot pot at all——"
"yes."
"Actually... uh, yes."
Xia Zhaoyao nodded confidently.
Qin Shuo seemed to want to refute, but because of the boss's momentum, he held back.
"Come on, you guys can boil it and eat it one by one. While you're eating, I'll give you two a good lesson."
The boss glared at Qin Shuo and patted his shoulder with his big hand like a cattail leaf fan.
"Especially you, please listen carefully and remember it carefully!"
"Don't shame our Huaijiang skin outside in the future——"
"Oh, okay-"
Qin Shuo was so caught off guard that he almost got slapped on the table.
He smiled bitterly, rubbed his shoulders, and nodded in agreement to the hotpot restaurant owner.
On the other side, Xia Zhaoyao was extremely happy, his eyes narrowed into two crescents.
Watching Qin Shuo eat up was more enjoyable than having a hot pot meal for nothing.
“Good quality butter adds flavor and flavor without being greasy——”
The boss picked up the long hot pot chopsticks, picked up two pieces of tripe and put them into the rolling red pot, while explaining.
"Traditional Chinese medicine says that butter can replenish the five internal organs and replenish qi and blood. But those are matters of the Hot Pot Association."
"For me, the most important thing is the food cooked in butter. It must be wrapped in butter and have the aroma of butter. Try it-"
Steak in Western food is divided into rare, medium rare, medium rare, medium rare, medium rare and well done.
However, Huaijiang people seem to have the same principles when it comes to hairy belly:
"Seven up and eight down" is just right.
"Be careful when ironing the belly, either for 5 or 6 seconds. If you're afraid it's not cooked yet, iron it for 8-15 seconds."
The boss warned Qin Shuo and Xia Zhaoyao in a serious tone while dividing their belly.
"Fresh tripe, it must be 5 seconds. It's so crispy when it's just cut off -"
"10 seconds is fine, but more than 15 seconds is too much."
The boss shook his head, a little angry and helpless.
Apparently he had seen too many counterexamples in his daily life, and he just took this opportunity to throw them away.
"Let me tell you, the hairy belly is meant to be crispy. If it is cooked for more than 15 seconds, it is a waste of natural resources!"
"The hairy belly was definitely old at that time, and the teeth were not good enough to bite it, and it no longer felt crispy at all."
"alright--"
After the boss ironed a few slices, he handed the chopsticks to Qin Shuo.
"Take it and perm it for your girlfriend. Don't ruin my fresh hairy belly."
"us……"
Xia Zhaoyao defended weakly.
However, her focus now is mainly on her dishes.
This... comes directly from that old oil...
"What's the matter, sister? Give it a try."
The boss looked at Xia Zhaoyao, who was frozen there with his chopsticks, and asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Don't worry, it won't be very spicy. The older the hotpot is, the spicier it becomes -"
"no……"
At this moment, Qin Shuo suddenly spoke.
"She must be, uh, not very intolerant of old hot pot."
"As for this oil, she saw on the Internet that many people have eaten it -"
Hey Hey hey--
Xia Zhaoyao's eyes widened and he looked at Qin Shuo with a murderous look.
This black-hearted bastard is trying to harm her, right?!
There is obviously a hotpot fanatic sitting next to you, how can you say such a reason directly in front of others?!
"Uh, uncle, I actually..."
Xia Zhaoyao smiled and turned his head, trying hard to think of how to round off the topic.
But to her surprise, the boss didn't seem that angry.
"Oh, this...I understand-"
The boss sighed, as if he was suddenly discouraged.
"The Health Bureau and other officials sometimes check this. It's hard to make old hot pot now."
"To put it bluntly, a few years ago someone said that our store was selling oil, and I almost lost the entire store."
"Well--"
Xia Zhaoyao looked at his boss who suddenly looked older and asked with some confusion.
"But, the base material is boiled anyway, can't it be replaced with a new one?"
"If it is used repeatedly, the main reason is to save costs, right?"
"of course not--"
The boss glared and retorted without thinking.
"Perhaps some restaurants are messing around, but how can an old hot pot restaurant like us be greedy for such a thing?"
"Old hot pot, old hot pot, what you eat is the same old oil that is cooked over and over again!"
"Eh..." Xia Zhao used his chopsticks to poke the tripe in the oil dish.
"Do you know why butter is not used?"
"Because it smells good?"
"More than that, the key is that butter is heavy and can lock in the flavors of various ingredients."
The boss shook his head, raised his hand to help the two of them lower the meat on the table into the pot, and explained while watching the pieces of meat slide down.
"The freshly fried bottom of the pot is meaningless. After rounds of cooking, the aroma of the hot pot ingredients, especially the flavor of various meats, will be blended into the butter and preserved. This is like
The old soup from the braised pork shop is simmered over and over again every day until it finally develops its own unique flavor, and the cost of our pot of old oil is even higher than the old braised ingredients."
"The aroma of Huaijiang old hot pot is not just Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers or other spices, but the most important thing is the aroma of meat in this mouthful of old oil."
The uncle boss looked at the couple sitting at the table, thought seriously for a few seconds, and then added.
"Or I can pretend to be friends with you young people. They eat in the same restaurant and hang out in the same place, but the feelings between each couple are definitely different."
"This thing needs to be simmered slowly over time. Without so many things slowly simmering out, it won't be possible."
"Take a taste, I guarantee with my life that the oil in my store is absolutely clean——"
"Well--"
Before the boss could finish speaking, Xia Zhaoyao directly picked up the hairy belly and stuffed it into his mouth.
She's not some high-maintenance Princess and Pea, and...
So hungry - so delicious -
The next second.
Xia Zhaoyao opened his eyes suddenly.
She raised her head, covered her mouth with one hand, and spoke vaguely.