After returning to his small shop, Jiang Feng steamed a pot of rice, took out his own pickled vegetables, paired them with fragrant and spicy braised chicken, and thus made do with his lunch.
Little Black sat obediently by his side, its face a picture of cuteness.
Its gaze was fixed on Jiang Feng, with an adorable smile at the corners of its mouth. Even when sitting, its little tail was wagging back and forth.
This little fellow had a good sense of propriety.
"This chicken is too spicy; you can't eat it."
"I'll give you the chicken gizzards, specially saved for you," Jiang Feng said to Little Black with a smile.
The chicken gizzards had a savory braised flavor and weren't spicy at all.
Jiang Feng poured the chicken gizzards into Little Black's food bowl, and the little guy immediately stood up, buried its head in the bowl, and devoured its meal.
With a chef as a master, it was hard for the little dog's food to be anything but good.
Using chopsticks, Jiang Feng picked up a chicken leg. With a gentle tug, it came off the chicken, skin and all.
He placed the chicken leg on his rice, took a couple of bites of rice, then a bite of the chicken leg.
The chicken leg tasted incredibly delicious.
It wasn't spicy at first, but after a moment, the heat began to surface.
For those who enjoyed spicy food, the kick was particularly appetizing.
With just that hint of spice, one's appetite would immediately grow.
Hmm, not bad, very fresh, Jiang Feng appraised.
The chicken was all freshly bought from the poultry farm. Because the farm raised high-quality broilers, the texture was also excellent.
Good food is like that; it depends not only on the chef's skills but also on the quality of the ingredients.
The higher the quality of the ingredients, the better the taste.
Jiang Feng's braised meats were priced slightly above average, a standard completely justified by their quality.
Jiang Feng finished the whole chicken and felt completely satisfied afterward.
He planned to go home for an hour's nap and then start preparing ingredients for the next day.
The system's task reward for today was a pair of "White Jade Chopsticks," milky white throughout, crafted from white jade, and extremely beautiful.
The extra rewards for daily tasks were unpredictable; sometimes it was a Pebble Wok that could be bought for eight or nine hundred yuan, and other times it was White Jade Chopsticks of indeterminate value.
These chopsticks are a bit extravagant, Jiang Feng thought. Ordinary people use wooden or stainless steel chopsticks. Who eats with jade chopsticks?
He decided to display them as a collector's item.
Then, Jiang Feng took Little Black home for their midday nap.
「After waking up」
Jiang Feng began to prepare the braised meats for the next day.
Braising requires careful attention to ingredient combinations; different items cannot always be cooked in the same pot.
Pork head meat, pig's feet, pig's heart, and pork hocks could be braised in one pot.
Braised chicken, chicken legs, chicken liver, chicken gizzards, chicken feet, and goose could be in another.
Duck necks, duck wings, duck intestines, and duck feet could be in one pot. Braised duck is generally spicy, and chicken and goose meat could also be added to this pot.
Pig intestines absolutely had to be braised separately, not with other meats.
There was no helping it; some people enjoyed intestines precisely for that "funky" flavor—the one that lingers even after being thoroughly cleaned and cooked. If other meats were tainted with this flavor, their appeal would be greatly diminished.
One five-spice braising pot for pig's feet, pork hocks, and pork head meat.
One five-spice braising pot for chicken feet, chicken legs, and chicken gizzards.
One spicy braising pot for whole chicken.
One spicy braising pot for duck intestines, duck wings, duck necks, and duck frames.
Jiang Feng got busy.
He made a rich stock, added specially formulated spice packets, and other seasonings.
Once the stock was ready, he placed the cleaned and pre-cooked meats into their respective pots, stewed them for about an hour, and let them soak overnight. The next day, he would simmer them on low heat before selling them on Snack Street.
Such braised meats were both fresh and fragrant.
Tomorrow is Saturday; there will definitely be more people, Jiang Feng thought. I'll work a bit harder today and make an extra dish.
He had the system's braised meat recipes, which included many regional specialties.
Jiang Feng glanced at the recipes and decided to add another dish for tomorrow: braised pork ribs.
Once braised, the pork ribs were incredibly flavorful. Each rib consisted of a single bone with tender meat attached, so tender that you could simply hold the bone, bring it to your mouth, and pull all the meat off in one go.
Convenient to eat and incredibly satisfying.
Braised pork ribs were a "hot-braised" dish, meaning they were best eaten warm, much like a freshly cooked meat entrée.
Jiang Feng started a new pot, adding chicken, large pork bones, and pig skin to begin making the stock.
To create a perfect, creamy, rich white stock, the marrow from the bones, the collagen from the pig skin, and the savory essence of the chicken had to be fully infused into the water.
The process of making stock for braised dishes was always like this.
Stock is the foundation of braised dishes, but the spices and subsequent seasonings truly determine the final flavor.
Jiang Feng heated a wok, poured in oil, then added about a dozen slices of pork fat and began to fry them.
Instantly, the fragrance of the rendering pork fat wafted out.
Next, Jiang Feng added red shallots, ginger, green onions, cilantro, and Thai bird chilies to the wok, stir-frying them until aromatic.
The fragrant oil was then poured into the stockpot.
He added a spice bag containing a blend of 22 different herbs, along with chili, chicken powder, flavor enhancer, white sugar, and 52% ABV baijiu.
The braising liquid was now ready and simmering in the pot.
「A night passed.」
In the early morning, Jiang Feng arrived at his small shop. He took out a few large racks of pork ribs that had been soaking for three hours, cut them, and placed them in a pot with green onions, ginger, and garlic to stew, blanching them to remove impurities.
After simmering for a few minutes until they were cooked through, he could take out the pale and tender pork ribs.
At this point, the pork had little flavor; it was just boiled meat.
Then, he rinsed the pork ribs and placed them one by one into the pot of braising liquid, simmering them on low heat for an hour.
The rich liquid in the pot began to bubble gently, the flavors of all the seasonings blending together and gradually infusing into the pork ribs.
Pork ribs absorb flavor well, and the once pale, tender meat soon took on a glossy, appetizing reddish-brown hue from the braising liquid.
With that, the braised pork ribs were ready and could be taken directly to Snack Street for sale.
The other braised meats had been prepared earlier. Some were scooped out into metal basins, covered with transparent glass lids, and set out for display; others were still simmering on a low flame in their pots.
Jiang Feng drove the food truck once again towards Shuize Resort.
At this very moment, Snack Street at the resort was crowded with people.
At least forty to fifty people were waiting there.
The other stall owners were no longer surprised by this scene.
What else could they do?
They could only watch with envy.
The food blogger Liu Bao was also among the crowd, his assistant pointing a phone camera at him.
Liu Bao said to the phone screen,
"I was too late in queueing up yesterday, and that guy selling braised meats sold out.
"Today, I specifically came at 10:40.
"Look at this queue, there are already more than 40 people!
"I didn't expect it to be this lively."
In the live stream, a large group of people had lined up on Snack Street.
What was outrageous was that the line had formed, yet at the very front, the stall owner hadn't even arrived!
A netizen immediately commented:
[These people must have a lot of free time!]
[I'm the one who least understands queuing. Why bother!]
[You wouldn't say that if you'd tried his braised meat!]
[I saw six or seven delivery guys in line! It's insane!]
People were looking on with eager anticipation.
Before long, they saw a cartoonish bus slowly driving towards the crowd.
"The boss is here!"
"He's finally arrived!"
"That familiar aroma!"
Those in the queue immediately grew excited.
Jiang Feng had become accustomed to such scenes.
He skillfully parked the truck, hung up the sign, and opened the window on the side of the food truck.
He then put on his chef's uniform and transparent mouth guard, beginning a new day of business.
"Boss, two pig's feet, one braised chicken!"
"I want two pounds of chicken feet!"
"A pound of duck intestines, a pound of duck gizzards!"
The queue moved forward in an orderly fashion.
However, as time went by, the number of people in line only increased.