Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 187 Developing New Dishes

Mobei is very cold and dry, so it is easy to cough. Drink some pear soup to moisten your throat.

Old Madam Pei was very happy. Lei'er was such a thoughtful girl. She even thought about the cold and dry weather in Mobei and the old marquis' cough.

Liang Xiangyi looked at the buds and couldn't help laughing. He thought to himself, "Tsk, you're just trying to sell the goods and make a little extra money. You don't even leave room for my crew members to get in, right?"

Madam Pei sent someone to follow the ship north, to serve as a guide for Liang Xiangyi's ship and to contact the old marquis.

Hua Lei didn't need anyone to follow her, but she thought that the pig was freshly slaughtered, and the pork might still secrete water in two or three days. She needed to pour out the blood, turn the meat over again, and apply a small amount of salt on it, otherwise the pork would taste bad. So she sent someone to follow her on board with dozens of kilograms of fishing salt.

Liang Xiangyi's ship was loaded with goods and set off. She earned a sum of money from her friend's transportation. Her friend earned several sums of money. Originally, Mrs. Pei only bought chili sauce, but after Hualei's scratching, she also bought pork, salted duck eggs, pear paste candy, and canned peaches. The total amount was much more than the chili sauce. But Mrs. Pei was very happy to spend it.

After seeing off Liang Xiangyi's boat, Hualei returned to Yuanying Manor and started a new plan. There was less than a month left until the Chinese New Year, and Hualei was ready to make roast duck.

Yuanying Farm now has several batches of chickens, ducks, geese and pigs, so there are more than enough ducks. In addition, the ducks are well fed and have more activities on the farm, so they are particularly fat and suitable for making roast duck.

Nowadays, there are relatively few roasted foods in Dasheng Dynasty. The most common way to cook duck is to stew it in soup, such as eight-treasure duck soup and mushroom duck soup. Even braised duck is rarely cooked.

Hualei thought there should be a market for roast duck, so she temporarily transferred Aunt Zhao from Baihuazhuang. Hualei discovered that Aunt Zhao was very talented in making baked foods. From the fresh flower cakes at the beginning to the egg yolk pastries later, the first one was born from her hands. After making the day's braised food, cousin Zhao also followed Aunt Zhao to help.

According to Hua Lei's description, the two people carefully adjusted the various spices. Many of these ingredients are actually Chinese herbal medicines. Both of them are very careful and good at cooking, so the roast duck baked after four or five days was already quite presentable.

Although the taste is still not as good as the roast duck that Hualei had eaten in her previous life, she is still slightly comforted to be able to taste the familiar taste nowadays.

However, in the past, many ways of eating roast duck were to wrap it in dough and dip it in sweet noodle sauce with radish strips, but Hua Lei hoped that this roast duck could also be on the dining tables of the students at the Imperial College.

If the duck skin is wrapped in dough and eaten with dipping sauce and radish strips, it may be too complicated and not suitable for the students of the Imperial College to share, so Hualei made some changes. The duck skin retains the characteristics of crispy skin, but the meat may be more flavorful and tender, and can be eaten directly with rice without dipping sauce. In this way, the teachers and students of the Imperial College are more likely to accept it.

After all, the way to make money by engaging in both wholesale and retail business is much wider than that of retail alone. Moreover, Guozijian is a big customer, and Hualei does not want to give up.

After trying the flower buds, I felt that the taste was okay, but not as good as the taste in the previous life, after all, some of the spice buds were not found. After trying it, the people in Zhuangzi said it was delicious. Indeed, compared to the way of eating duck in soup, this fragrant and oily roast duck can better conquer the diners' sense of smell and taste.

As before, when there was fresh food, Hualei would bring some back to the mansion for everyone to taste and listen to everyone's opinions. Sure enough, Mrs. Pei, who always liked heavy-flavored food, liked it very much and unceremoniously took a large piece and put it in her own bowl.

The children of the Marquis' Mansion, Rong Jue, Rong Yu, and Rong Chen, were scrambling to eat the duck, especially the duck skin, which was oily and a little crispy. Even Xiao Yuan, who usually ate well-behaved, was chewing on a duck foot with relish.

Seeing everyone’s reactions saying that the food was good, Hua Lei, who originally lacked confidence, gained some confidence, and soon, roast duck started to be sold in Hua Qianbian’s shop. In order to make up for the single variety, Hua Lei also put braised food in the shop.

At the same time, the roast duck was also delivered to the table of the owner of Zuiyuelou. Hualei didn't need to recommend anything. After tasting the roast duck brought by Hualei, the owner of Zuiyuelou directly placed an order, temporarily ten ducks a day. At the same time, Qianweilou and several other restaurants also placed orders.

Although the owner of Zuiyuelou wanted to buy a man to roast the duck himself at the beginning, he also promised to purchase the live ducks from Yuanyingzhuang and would not interfere with Hualei's roasting and selling.

But after thinking it over, Hua Lei refused. Although she could earn tens or hundreds of taels of silver by selling the recipe, her roast duck had not yet been sent to the Imperial College. If she sold the recipe, and if the Imperial College, a big customer, was snatched away by another family, she would only be able to rely on retail sales, and the sales market would be greatly reduced, and the ducks on the farm might be unsalable.

Besides, after selling it to Zuiyuelou, if other restaurants also ask to buy the house, should I accept it or not? If I don't accept it, I will make enemies. You have already sold it to Zuiyuelou, why don't you want to sell it to me?

The solution is to create competitors for yourself. Although you can make some quick money by selling the house, as there are too many competitors in the capital, someone will definitely lower the price of roast duck, and then you will be forced to reduce your profits.

There is an endless supply of ducks on her farm. The roast duck cannot be sold at a high price, and the prices of live ducks are basically the same. As a result, Hua Lei will not be able to make any profit from the roast duck. In the long run, this will be a big loss for Hua Lei.

If they were to roast and sell in towns outside of Shangjing, Hualei would be willing to sell the fruit. But in Shangjing, Hualei had to take the initiative. She was not afraid of not being able to eat it, because there were plenty of people on the farm, so she could just build a few more ovens if she didn't have time.

So Hua Lei tactfully expressed her concerns to the owner of Zuiyuelou. Although the owner was a little unhappy, when he thought of the Dingbei Marquis Mansion behind Hua Lei, he gave up the idea of ​​taking it by force or robbing it secretly.

After all, you can't afford to offend her. Madam Pei looks kind now, which means you haven't offended her. If you offend her, it will be harder to deal with than offending Marquis Pei. Back then, Madam Pei could play with a silver gun like a toy gun.

Before the roast duck entered the Imperial College, it had already gained a reputation in Hua Qianbian Shop and several restaurants, and its own braised food also gained a good reputation for being clean, delicious, good quality and inexpensive. The retail business of braised food also improved a lot.