stingy landlady

Chapter 126 Candied Potatoes

When the waiter at Xiangmanlou heard that it was Wang Guizhi, he immediately put on a big smile!

"The master said that Miss Guizhi should go in to see him! I'll take you in to see the master now!"

Master Qu was very welcoming to Guizhi! Just as the waiter was about to leave after serving tea, Master Qu called out:

"Wait! Tell the kitchen to prepare a meal for Guizhi and the others! Go on!"

He then said to Guizhi:

"You must have come so early without eating! Let the kitchen prepare some dishes for you! You should at least have a meal at Uncle Qu's place!"

Guizhi replied with a smile:

"Uncle Qu! Let me make this clear first! I don't have any money to eat at a restaurant!"

Qu Dongjia reached out to flick Guizhi's forehead, but Guizhi ducked to avoid it!

"You don't pay for your meal, and you're afraid I'll flick your forehead! Huh?"

Guizhi objected, saying, "No way! Uncle Qu, a flick on the forehead hurts so much!"

"Guizhi! Did you come here today specifically to ask for swill?"

"Okay! Uncle Qu! How about we skip the meal and just take care of the swill and leave?"

"No way! Since we're here, we definitely have to eat! But..."

Qu Dongjia smiled slyly and began to sing in a drawn-out tone! He handed the menu in front of him to Guizhi and said:

"Look! This is our restaurant's menu!"

Guizhi looked at the menu with a puzzled expression: boiled sliced ​​pork, braised pork, braised pig's trotters, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, sweet and sour spare ribs, braised lion's head meatballs, beggar's chicken, braised carp, stir-fried spinach with shredded pork, cold mixed shredded vegetables, smashed cucumber, and so on!

"Uncle Qu! Your menu is great!"

Qu Dongjia asked:

"Of course I know it's great! It just feels like something's missing! Guizhi, can you help your uncle think of something and figure out what's missing?"

Guizhi looked at it carefully again, deep in thought, and muttered to herself:

"It looks pretty good to me, right? What's missing? What's missing? It seems to have all the things I like to eat, but the sweet and sour pork ribs and sweet and sour pork tenderloin are just so-so! The potatoes and sweet potatoes with batter are coated, but wait? There's no batter!"

Mr. Qu smiled and said:

What is coating?

Guizhi snapped out of her daze.

"Uncle Qu! You're trying to trick me into telling you something!"

Mr. Qu laughed loudly:

"Guizhi! Uncle Qu knows you're short of money, so he's going to send you some to spend!"

So, what is plastering?

Is it good that the cassia branches are in tangled knots?

Thinking back to when I worked odd jobs at a restaurant, the head chef would yell at me whenever the front of the kitchen ordered candied sweet potatoes or candied potatoes.

"So busy! And you still ordered this dish! It's so much trouble to make! Hurry up and peel the potatoes, cut them into chunks! Hurry, hurry! If you don't finish it, they'll come and rush you again!"

Recalling the funny things that happened in the past, Guizhi couldn't help but smile!

"Uncle Qu! This battering process uses a lot of oil and sugar, and it's time-consuming! Most chefs don't like to do it! It's a waste of time. When it's mealtime and they're in a rush to cook, they're afraid that if they're slow, the customers will scold them!"

Qu Dongjia turned his head to look at Guizhi, "What are you thinking about with that little head of yours? I want new dishes! And you're wondering if the chef will even make them!"

"I was just afraid the chef would talk bad about me behind my back! Hehe! Uncle Qu! The batter is really delicious!"

Guizhi, quick-witted, asked:

"Uncle Qu! Do we have sweet potatoes here? In some places they're called yams!"

Qu Dongjia thought for a moment.

"I've eaten sweet potatoes before! But it was in the south! They were a bit sweet and a bit powdery! They were alright, quite delicious! I haven't seen any growing here!"

Guizhi's eyes widened instantly, and she beamed with joy.

"Uncle Qu! Could you get me some sweet potatoes? I want to see if I can grow some here! We can introduce new dishes at our restaurant then!"

Mr. Qu nodded with a smile and said:

"Okay! Sweet potatoes are quite common in the south! They're not exactly rare here either! I'll ask around for you!"

"Hmm! Guizhi! It's not mealtime yet, how about some potatoes with a batter coating today?"

Guizhi was happy; she liked sweet things. Although she knew in her heart that Master Qu was trying to trick her into revealing the recipe, Master Qu was generous, so she willingly gave him the recipe!

"Uncle Qu! Should I write it down for you? Or should I just tell it to the chef?"

Qu Dongjia pointed to the brush and ink in front of him and said:

"Write right here, I want to see how well you've improved your handwriting!"

Guizhi picked up the brush, and Qu Dongjia casually ground the ink.

Gui Zhi wrote and spoke at the same time:

"Uncle Qu! Baked potatoes are also called candied potatoes! When we have sweet potatoes, we can make baked sweet potatoes too! They're all delicious!"

Qu Dongjia also said quite naturally:

"Okay! I got it! I'll find someone to get you some sweet potatoes as soon as possible, and you have to take good care of them! Try your best to grow some sweet potatoes!"

As Guizhi wrote down the recipe for starch-coated potatoes, she spoke to Qu Dongjia:

"Uncle Qu, first peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks. Heat oil in a pan, use plenty of oil! When the oil is about 70-80% hot, add the potato chunks and fry until golden brown. Then take the potato chunks out."

Continue heating the oil to a high temperature, then add the potato chunks back into the pot and fry them a second time! Once the potato chunks are cooked, remove them from the oil. In a separate pot, add an appropriate amount of water, about a large spoonful.

Add sugar to boiling water and stir the sugar syrup repeatedly with a spoon. Cook until it reaches a thick consistency when poured from a spoon.

Now quickly add the potato chunks, stir-fry a few times, and it's ready to serve!

Uncle Qu, don't forget to serve this dish with a bowl of cold water, just in case!

Qu Dongjia looked at Guizhi's handwriting; it was neat and tidy, but nothing special.

"Hmm! Guizhi's writing is legible, which is an improvement! I'll have the head chef come over and take a look. If there's anything he doesn't understand, you can teach him again!"

"Should we have him make it now so we can try it?"

Guizhi nodded in agreement so that she could have a bite of candied potatoes!

The head chef came over, glanced at the recipe, and was slightly surprised! But then he was overjoyed, looked at Guizhi and Xu Hong, and bowed deeply.

"Thank you both for passing on your skills!"

He turned to face the host and bowed again.

"Thank you so much for your guidance, sir! I will never tell anyone! This is our Xiangmanlou's signature dish!"

Mr. Qu nodded.

"Talk is cheap! Luckily, Guizhi is here. You can ask her if you don't understand anything! If you really don't understand, have her go to the kitchen and guide you through making it!"

The chef looked at the recipe, thought for a moment, and then said:

"This dish can be made, but I'm afraid I won't be able to control the heat well at first! It would be even better if Miss would go to the kitchen to guide me personally!"

"But the kitchen is a very important place, and ingredients are being prepared in the meantime, so it's a bit dirty and messy. I'm afraid it might offend your eyes, Miss!"

Guizhi thought for a moment and said:

"Uncle Qu! I don't come here often, I think it's better for the master to learn it all at once!"

Mr. Qu nodded, thought for a moment, and said:

"Uncle Dong! Prepare the ingredients first! Then tell Guizhi to come and watch the fire with you!"

Guizhi was overjoyed to have earned several hundred taels of silver again!

Wang Yifei is away on another business trip, and Qian and her family continue to make and sell boxed lunches as usual.

Qian's younger brother asked Qian:

"Sis! You're not opening the shop anymore?"