pjbooks Chapter 136 Selling Dried Tofu Skin
Chapter 136 Selling Dried Tofu Skin
"Manager Wang, are you busy?" Song Jiaojiao came to Manager Wang. This time, Song Jiaojiao brought Mu Qing with her. Mu Xue had to attend class and couldn't come. Mu Qing needed to run around, so how could she not come out and meet people?
"Madam Song, it's been a long time! You haven't been to Sifanglou for half a year. I thought you'd forgotten about Sifanglou!" Manager Wang was very surprised to see Song Jiaojiao. Ever since the sweet potato starch recipe was leaked, Song Jiaojiao hadn't come to Sifanglou. Manager Wang thought he had offended her. If it weren't for the fact that he had to go to Qingshui Village every day to get mung bean starch and learned from the villagers that Song Jiaojiao had gone to the county, Manager Wang would have been unable to sit still and went to find her long ago.
"How could that be? I've just been quite busy lately and haven't had a chance yet," Song Jiaojiao said with a smile. "That's why I come to you as soon as I have something good!"
Upon hearing this, Manager Wang was overjoyed. Although no restaurant could currently rival Sifanglou's business, new products still needed to be introduced. Without innovation, the current situation might not be able to be maintained for more than a few years.
"Madam Song, let's go to the back to talk." Manager Wang led Song Jiaojiao and Mu Qing towards the kitchen, still talking about the sweet potato noodles from last time as they walked.
"We've also investigated the matter of sweet potato noodles. It was done by the former owner of Yuan's Restaurant, Master Yuan. However, they only learned how to make sweet potato noodles; they don't know how to make vermicelli."
Song Jiaojiao had already guessed about this matter; she had learned about it from that woman last time. After thinking for a moment, she said, "The sweet potato starch incident was indeed my oversight. This situation will not happen again. However, it has caused considerable losses to Sifanglou."
"Madam Song, you're too kind. Consider this incident a warning to everyone. Sifanglou didn't suffer any losses, but Madam Song even lost her recipe." Manager Wang thought that this incident was actually a good thing for Sifanglou. Ever since Song Jiaojiao told Sifanglou how to make sweet potato starch, the costs had been reduced considerably. Even though the prices of dishes made with sweet potato starch in the store had been reduced, the profit was still much higher than before when Song Jiaojiao provided the sweet potato starch. Most importantly, the production volume had increased.
"It's nothing to me. I just happen to have too many workshops to manage, so I'm just taking Sifanglou's help to ease the pressure," Song Jiaojiao said with a light laugh, thinking that there was still potato noodles to come, so this was nothing.
Thinking of something, Song Jiaojiao asked again, "I wonder if Manager Wang has any way to contact Boss Wang?"
Manager Wang was surprised that Song Jiaojiao wanted to see his employer, and asked with some curiosity, "What brings you here, Madam Song? If it's something small, please tell me, and perhaps I can help." Manager Wang thought that Song Jiaojiao needed his help with something, and he remembered that he had accidentally revealed to Song Jiaojiao last time that Sifanglou was owned by the General's Mansion.
Song Jiaojiao knew that Manager Wang had misunderstood, so she tried to explain, "It's nothing, it's just that there's a big collaboration that I need to talk to Manager Wang about. If it's convenient for you, Manager Wang, you can ask. If not, just pretend I didn't say anything."
Shopkeeper Wang saw that Song Jiaojiao was acting casually, as if it were a trivial matter like drinking water or eating, without revealing anything about what it was all about.
There was no time for Manager Wang to think further, and the group quickly arrived at the kitchen. Everyone in the kitchen smiled when they saw Song Jiaojiao arrive, leaving the new apprentice bewildered, wondering what had happened and why everyone was suddenly so happy.
Song Jiaojiao has become a regular at the kitchen of Sifanglou Restaurant; she knows exactly where everything is placed.
This time, Song Jiaojiao didn't plan to do it herself. She had sold the mala tang recipe to Sifanglou before, so this time, she directly asked the chef to do it. She soaked the dried bean curd sticks she brought in boiling water for about five minutes, and then put them into the mala tang. They only needed to be cooked for a short while.
After it was cooked, the kitchen staff came to taste it. The tofu skin that had soaked up the soup was delicious. Most importantly, the tofu skin was very chewy and didn't fall apart like other soup-soaked foods.
"This is called dried bean curd sticks. You can stir-fry it with wood ear mushrooms, or make a cold salad, or you can cook it in soup like this. It's delicious in any kind of soup," Song Jiaojiao introduced the long, yellowish thing in front of her to everyone.
"Did Madam Song come here today to sell this dried bean curd?" Manager Wang asked after tasting the dried bean curd in the spicy hot pot. The dried bean curd cooked in the spicy hot pot was indeed delicious.
"Yes, that's all for today. We'll have something new in a couple of days," Song Jiaojiao said, thinking about the dried tofu. Actually, she could also make tofu to supply Sifanglou, but considering that tofu is needed during the day, she could only make it at night. With that in mind, Song Jiaojiao gave up on that idea and decided to make something that was easy to store. She understood the principle of not trying to do too much at once.
"Madam Song, how do you plan to sell the dried bean curd?" Manager Wang asked the crucial question.
"100 coins per catty. There's a lot of dried bean curd sticks, and they can be stored for a long time. The ones I brought today were made yesterday and only partially dried. You only need about half an ounce of dried bean curd sticks for one dish, so the price isn't expensive," Song Jiaojiao analyzed.
Indeed, judging from how little dried bean curd Song Jiaojiao had soaked, this much already seems reasonable. "Alright, we've been working together for a long time, so I won't haggle. I'll go with your price. I just wonder how much Madam Song has at home this time?"
Song Jiaojiao soaked the soybeans and roughly counted how many there were. She estimated it was only about 4000 jin (2,000 catties). Ten jin of soybeans can yield two jin of dried bean curd sticks, which is about 800 jin (400 catties). This year, only Qingshui Village grows soybeans here, so it's probably rare to have any left. It seems we'll have to ask Sifanglou to help us buy some.
“I roughly calculated that I have about 800 jin of soybeans at home. The main problem is that we haven’t seen soybeans here before. He Fan brought these seeds back for me. If Sifanglou can help purchase the soybeans, we can supply them long-term. Right now, we can produce about 20 jin of dried bean curd sticks a day.”
"Buying soybeans is a small matter. Buying mung beans is just a side job. But isn't twenty catties a day too little?" Manager Wang thought. A restaurant like Sifanglou uses at least ten catties of dried bean curd a day. This output is really just a drop in the bucket for Sifanglou.
"This is the only way for now. We really don't have enough manpower. Manager Wang can limit the sales." Song Jiaojiao said guiltily, touching her nose. There was really no other way. It was the busy farming season, and everyone was vying for work in the fields.
Looking at Song Jiaojiao's expression, Manager Wang really wanted to say, "Why don't you just sell me the recipe? I have connections, but I don't know how to use it."
"That's the only way. Madam Song still needs to expand the workshop; there are so many people in the Great Jin Kingdom."
"Maybe it will come true in the future," Song Jiaojiao said mysteriously, blinking her eyes.