"Braised chicken with mushrooms, pork ribs with green beans, pork with vermicelli, catfish with eggplant, big bones with pickled vegetables..."

Lin Xu: ???????

Tiantian, were your PE school's math teachers also physical education majors? Didn't you realize that there's an extra dish in the 'four great braised dishes'? But then again, the Four Heavenly Kings are also five people, so it's quite normal for the Northeast's 'four great braised dishes' to have five. If you add dishes like iron pot braised goose, there might be even more.

Seeing the longing on Song Tiantian's face as she spoke of her hometown food, he said with a smile,

"Are you homesick? When things calm down, I'll have Che Zai buy a few free-range chickens, some high-quality Hazel Mushrooms and potato flour noodles, and make braised chicken with mushrooms to comfort your homesickness."

"Thank you, boss. I'll work hard!"

Leaving the service counter, Lin Xu headed toward the braising section.

With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, once the business was on the right track, he planned to discuss with Dou Wenjing and Shu Yun about giving the staff time off so everyone could take turns visiting their hometowns.

Although a long holiday was out of the question, allowing the staff to gather with their parents and family for a reunion meal was definitely possible.

Arriving at the braising section, the pig heads needed for the afternoon had already been prepared.

Considering that yesterday's leftover pig heads and the four from this morning were not enough for the customers' orders, Che Zai had increased the quantity and was now soaking eight well-prepared pig heads in a basin.

Increase the quantity. All dishes must increase in quantity.

In the past, when the roadside shop sold out, everyone would just say business was good. But now, with such a large storefront, selling out would mean a lack of professionalism in planning.

After all, selling out means there was an insufficient preparation of dishes, and it also means missing out on money that could have been earned.

From a businessman's perspective, money not earned is like losing money.

However, it's hard to gauge the customers' buying limit on the first day of business after renovation, as this was still just a trial operation.

Only after fully opening could they know the amount of ingredients to prepare each day.

The braising liquid for the pig heads had now become a master stock, with a thick layer of fat floating on the surface, all of which was rendered from the pig heads.

The fat in the braising liquid makes the braised ingredients more luscious.

Moreover, with the fat sealing it, the braising liquid can maintain a long-lasting temperature, making the braised food softer and easier to debone.

But too much fat can prevent odors from escaping during the braising process. This causes the flavors to be reabsorbed by the ingredients, leading to a decrease in quality.

Lin Xu scooped out the excess fat and poured it into the braising liquid for Tiger Skin Chicken Feet.

Tiger Skin Chicken Feet have less fat, so some lard usually needs to be added during braising.

Now, this was solved. Fat could be scooped directly from the stockpot for the Braised Pig Head. The braising department no longer needed to go upstairs for lard, thus achieving an internal circulation of fat.

After putting the pig heads in to braise, Lin Xu then went upstairs to start working on another popular dish for the day, Crystal Pork Hock.

While busy, he remembered the dish ordered by his sister-in-law.

The shop had many dishes rich in collagen. For example, the Braised Pig Head that had just started simmering and the Crystal Pork Hock currently being made were both rich in gelatin. But as for something to accompany rice… these two clearly weren't enough. What about making a special pork hock dish just for his sister-in-law? Thinking of the Crystal Sugar Pork Hock he mastered, he realized it was also mediocre with rice, since that dish is almost a dessert.

Muttering to himself, Lin Xu opened the system and searched for the dishes he had mastered in the skills column to see if they could meet the needs of his top-ranking sister-in-law.

While scrolling through, he saw the Perfect Level braised dish rewarded after completing the last mainline task—Braised Pork Trotter.

Back then, Dundun helped him draw three Perfect Level dishes.

He had already made Yangzhou Fried Rice and winter melon candy quite some time ago.

Only the Braised Pork Trotter remained unmade. Initially, he hadn't found the right opportunity, and later, he had been so busy that he completely forgot about it.

Now, recalling the dish, Lin Xu immediately made a decision.

"Che Zai, do we have any pork trotters in the shop?"

"Yes, yes, boss, how many do you want?"

How many? If it was just his sister-in-law eating, two would probably be enough. But once she eats, his Shen Baobao would definitely want some too, so he'd need to add two more. His mother-in-law was so concerned about her appearance; she wouldn't miss out on such a collagen-rich dish. He'd have to add even more.

After some rough calculations, Lin Xu said,

"Bring me ten. I'll make some Braised Pork Trotter for the family to try, and if they taste good, we'll add the dish to the restaurant's menu later."

"Alright!"

Soon, Che Zai came over carrying ten Pork Trotters.

Seeing Lin Xu was busy, Che Zai, without a word, put the trotters in a pot for a preliminary boil and then used a blowtorch to scorch their skin.

Pork Trotters are divided into fore trotters and hind trotters.

The fore trotters are less bony and meatier, suitable for eating the meat, while the hind trotters have less meat and are more bony, better for making soup.

After scorching the trotters, he soaked them in hot water.

When Lin Xu had put the Crystal Pork Hock into the pot to stew, the trotters had about finished soaking.

He lifted the soaked trotters from the basin and scrubbed them clean of any blackened residue with a steel wool pad, restoring the trotters to their original white appearance.

Once all were clean, he vertically split the trotters at the hoof joints.

This step is essential when preparing Pork Trotter dishes because there are often hairs and impurities trapped between the two halves of the toes that are hard to remove without splitting them.

After cleaning out the middle of the split hoofs, he chopped the trotters into uniformly sized pieces.

Once all were chopped, Lin Xu put the trotters into the pot, then added clean water, Scallion and Ginger, and Cooking Wine to blanch them.

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