I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 878 - 376: Essential Winter Beef Offal Hotpot—A Warming, Addictive Bite!
"Chef Wei, what are you planning to make?"
Lin Xu had no idea what dishes to learn, so he planned to ask everyone. This way, he could learn with proper guidance.
Now he had two Cooking Learning Cards and one Perfect Level Memory Dish Exchange Card in hand.
The learning cards were limited, and he had spent all his points on exchanging [An Eye for Measurement], so he couldn’t waste the cards and needed to save them for learning his master’s unique recipes.
Once he mastered this dish, he would have learned three of his master’s unique creations and could get a lost recipe at the Perfect Level.
Although he didn’t know what dish he could get, for someone with OCD, the reward wasn’t important; what mattered was clearing the question marks for the unfinished tasks in the task list.
"I’m still working on the old projects, Couple’s Beef Lung Slices and Dry-fried Beef Intestine. If there’s any excess, I’ll make a Spicy Marinated Mixed Beef, otherwise, I’ll just let them play their parts."
You’re being pretty generous at this moment.
Couple’s Beef Lung Slices is a cold dish, using a Cooking Learning Card for it would be too wasteful.
And there’s no need to learn Dry-fried Beef Intestine; the dry-frying technique I know can produce this dish at the Perfect Level.
Since there’s nothing much to learn from Dai Jianli, let’s see what the other chefs are up to.
"Chef Qiu, what are you planning to do with these two beef heads?"
Qiu Zhenhua saw Lin Xu approaching and responded with a smile:
"There are a lot of dishes today, and we can’t finish them all. I plan to leave the bigger one for Old Yin, and I’ll try making a Braised Whole Beef using the smaller one with the method for Braised Whole Pig’s Head from Huaiyang cuisine. Not sure if it’ll succeed though."
No wonder the genteel Chef Qiu took over two pieces of beef right away; turns out he wanted to try a new dish.
Well, carry on, I won’t disturb you any further.
No matter how the new dish tastes, it’s not likely to be a hot seller.
So, let’s move on to another chef.
Lin Xu realized that having too many options isn’t always a good thing. For instance, now, all eighteen head chefs were busy using beef offal for the dishes they excelled at, but he didn’t know whom to learn from.
He was having a bit of analysis paralysis.
"What’s Master Lin pondering over?"
Guo Weidong came over, carrying an entire honeycomb tripe, which piqued Lin Xu’s curiosity:
"Chef Guo, what dish are you planning to make?"
"Oh, I think it’s quite chilly today, so I plan to make a Beef Offal Stew in a clay pot with White Radish, something to warm up with — delicious and cozy."
Beef Offal Stew?
Hey, that seems quite suitable for something new at the shop.
Although Beef Offal Stew is a Cantonese dish, it has a good market even in the North. On a cold day, ordering a portion, letting it simmer over low heat, and eating it hot with rice — the taste and its appeal with rice are definitely beloved by many.
Moreover, Beef Offal Stew is not only great with rice but also pairs well with liquor, catching the hearts of both food lovers and drinkers.
Most importantly, the profit from Beef Offal Stew is high, and it can be cooked in one pot and kept simmering on the stove. When a customer orders it, just heat up a clay pot, add the radish, stew it a bit, and serve — simple and quick.
The more he thought about it, the more suitable this dish seemed for the shop, so he asked:
"Chef Guo, can I learn this dish from you?"
"Want to learn? Sure, this dish is quite simple."
Simple?
Upon hearing the word ’simple’, Lin Xu inexplicably wanted to save a card.
After all, the Cooking Learning Cards were limited and each one was precious.
But he was also afraid that what Guo Weidong considered simple might not be the same as his understanding, so he planned to wait and observe the whole process before deciding whether to use a card.
Anyway, the Cooking Learning Card is only effective before the dish is plated, so there’s no rush.
"Chef Guo, what ingredients are used in the Beef Offal Stew?"
"This is quite flexible; you can put in any cow offals you like. In Cantonese cuisine, it generally includes honeycomb tripe, beef intestine, beef lung, beef pancreas, tripe, beef heart, beef tongue, beef spleen, beef kidney, beef tendon, etc. However, beef tongue and beef heart are more expensive now, so they’re usually sold separately and not added in, and beef kidney cooks easily, so it’s generally served as a standalone dish."
Beef offal doesn’t just refer to cow offals, but a general term for various scraps and offcuts.
In the past, it was food for the poor, but because of its great taste, it gradually became a street food favorite in many areas and even a hallmark dish in many restaurants.
Looking at the ingredients Guo Weidong prepared, Lin Xu curiously asked:
"What is Beef Pancreas? It’s not the cow’s bladder, right?"
"No, it’s the cow’s pancreas, which is quite tricky to handle, but its taste and texture are superb — the essence of beef offal. If you don’t get to taste Beef Pancreas in a portion of beef offal, it’s considered incomplete."
Really?
Then I must get a taste later.
Guo Weidong organized the ingredients he would use and asked the other head chefs:
"I’m about to blanch, anyone wants to blanch together, let’s do it in one batch."
Blanching was done in a giant iron pot, where all the cow offals were put in, enough water was added to cover them, and a larger stainless steel grate was placed on top.
A stone was also placed on top of the grate.
"Beef lung is quite light and tends to float on the water’s surface, so it needs to be pressed a bit, or it won’t blanch through."
After adding these beef offals, half a bottle of liquor was poured in.
For such strongly odorous ingredients, cooking wine and rice wine no longer did the trick; high-strength liquor was needed to remove the odor.
As he poured the liquor, Guo Weidong said to Lin Xu:
"There’s also a science to adding liquor; don’t use soy-sauce-flavored ones because their strong smell would transfer to the ingredients — the best choice is just ordinary Erguotou."
