Chang’an Small Restaurant Chapter 33 (Part 3)
Translated by Pure (ko-fi)
Chapter 33.3 The Evil of Hot Pot
Shen Shaoguang considered it a good narrative. In the face of storytelling and suspense, logic and morality were not important!
Shen Shaoguang then brought the conversation back to their culinary endeavors, saying, "Our clear broth won't have this problem. It's adequate and hygienic enough for us to stew plenty of Cabbage Tofu, as well as to be used for countless hot pot soup bases."
Clarifying clear broth was more troublesome than simmering milky broth because of the extra ‘clarifying’ process.
Pork bones and mature hen meat were to be boiled over a low heat. The temperature must be maintained so that the surface of the liquid is lightly bubbling— if the fire was too high, it will become a milky broth; if it's too low, the umami flavor from the flesh and bones would not be fully extracted. And all the while, all the oil must be skimmed from the froth. After enough time, an ordinary clear broth would be complete.
For a regular home-cooked meal, this would suffice. But if one aimed for a crystal-clear effect, finely minced chicken breast meat should be placed in a cheesecloth and soaked in the stock. This would absorb any impurities in the soup. This process, known as 'twice-clarified', needed to be repeated twice. The result was an exceptionally transparent, almost water-like broth.
Under the guidance of Shen Shaoguang, Yu San’s first attempt at clarifying broth came out successfully. Shen Shaoguang smiled like a kind and proud mother.
Yu San turned his head and just so happened to see it. Their Miss was truly talented when it came to culinary arts, but it's just her personality... He then thought about the two round-faced idiots outside, and shook his head. Forget it. Don’t think about it.
This clear broth base was the most suitable for particular people who don’t enjoy bland vegetarian food. It looked ordinary at first glance, but was delicious, full-bodied, and savory in flavor.
In addition to the original milky broth base and clear broth base, Shen Shaoguang consecutively added a seafood broth base, mushroom broth base, fish broth base, and a wolfberry-red date-longan broth base to the menu... Meat, vegetarian, seafood, riverside piscine, and herbal; they were all suitable for the mix-matched dippings of hot pot, and suitable for hypocritical people like Deputy Magistrate Lin who only ordered one ingredient for the entire pot. Heh, with these endless combinations, everyone was bound to find something they enjoy!
The dipping ingredients also found its own characteristics— various kinds of ‘meat balls’. The many kinds of raw cuts were easy to imitate, but meat balls were not so easy to duplicate.
How could this fish ball taste more tender than tofu? Everyone who ordered fish balls were reminded, "This can only be dipped and eaten immediately. If soaked too long, it will fall apart." The inside of the beef ball was filled with soup, unconventional but delicious. Unlike the fish and beef balls, the chicken balls were bouncy in texture...
Not to mention the myriad of dipping sauces...
Everyone who commissioned their own hot pot cookers found that hot pot had to be eaten at Shen Indelible as they could never fully replicate their flavors.
There were also people who visited Incoming Cloud Tavern to nitpick.
"Why doesn't Incoming Cloud have hot pot? This tavern is bigger than Shen Indelible."
The waiter looked troubled, what does size have to do with anything?
Thus the waiter reported to the manager, Wei San. Wei San didn't dare to do anything on his own initiative anymore, so he carefully reported to the Shopkeeper Feng.
"Why don't we go have someone make a few similar pots?"
Shopkeeper Feng glared at him. "Did you already forget?!"
…
On that day, someone came to report that Deputy Magistrate Lin and an elderly man had booked the entirety of Shen Indelible for dinner. Deputy Magistrate Lin was very respectful to that man, the latter was most likely a senior official in the court.
With the twelfth lunar month approaching, Steward Lu, the fore-overman of Prince of Zhao Residence, followed Administrative Assistant Cao to the capital. They were tasked to present the New Year's tributes to the Emperor and to bear festival gifts to their master’s relatives and familiar officials in the court, as well as visiting their city-situated employees.
Shopkeeper Feng concealed the former circumstances, and only reported about Shen Indelible's lack of manners and Deputy Magistrate Lin's dining with a plausible high-ranking member of the court.
Steward Lu warned, "You mustn’t ever provoke this Shen Indelible. From your description, the distinguished visitor should be Grand Chancellor Li."
Shopkeeper Feng repeatedly concurred with a guilty conscience.
…
With Wei San mentioning this, Shopkeeper Feng quickly reprimanded him. He repeatedly exhorted that they should never ever act on this unreasonable intention.
In fact, even if Steward Lu didn't say anything, Shopkeeper Feng still wouldn’t have replicated Shen Indelible's so-called hot pot cooker— To follow behind another and study the walking method of the people of Handan[1], I can't afford the embarrassment.
Unfortunately, the people who came to inquire about hot pot were not limited to just a few individuals. Shopkeeper Feng bitterly laughed, it felt as if he was surrounded by this nefarious thing known as ‘hot pot’.
Deputy Magistrate Lin also felt as if he was encircled by hot pot.
The end of the year was approaching, the capital city's government repository needed to hand over several felony convicted cases to the Ministry of Justice. After the handover was over, Lin Yan and Deputy Minister Song exited the Ministry of Justice’s department together, and walked the same way home.
Deputy Minister Song said that he had gotten his hands on something good, and he must invite Lin Yan to taste it.
Deputy Minister Song was a direct line of descent of the Song Clan in Taiyuan. His forefathers were all once third-ranked officials. He was also someone of surpassing insight and acumen, so at times Deputy Minister Song was a bit haughty. He and Lin Yan could be considered more friendly than ordinary colleagues.
The Song Clan was a family that truly enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle, so what was it that could garner praise from him? With his curiosity aroused, Lin Yan went to have a look— hot pot, and Deputy Minister Song turned out to be the type to throw everything in at once.
"It's much easier to use than those small ding vessels! I heard it was created by a tavern. Someone gave me two, isn’t it amazing? Amazing, right?"
Lin Yan: "..."
When he got home, Lin Yan went to his grandmother's place for dinner. On the table was another hot pot cooker.
His grandmother’s whole face lit up with excitement. "A’Yan, look at this novel cooking cauldron, Twelfth child Pei had someone deliver this to us today. .”
Lin Yan looked at the various ingredients, ready to be dipped, scattered around the hot pot and muttered, "...Amazing, amazing indeed."
.
.
.
Footnote:
[1] Study the walking method of the people of Handan (邯鄲學步) - is a Chinese idiom used to describe people who “badly imitate others, and lose their individuality in the process”. Or ‘slavishly copying others, one risks becoming a caricature.’
