I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 212: Chapter 208: A Way to Get Medium-Quality or Higher Bighead Carp

Overjoyed, Li You immediately chose to learn the ”Chopped Pepper Fish Head” recipe.

After a familiar sensation washed over him, he had completely mastered all the knowledge and cooking methods for Chopped Pepper Fish Head.

”Recipe: Chopped Pepper Fish Head.

Required Ingredients: Fish head, chopped peppers, salt, pepper powder, cooking wine, aged ginger, minced garlic, green onions, light soy sauce, cooking wine.”

As the name of the dish suggested, the two most important ingredients were chopped peppers and a fish head.

The chopped peppers were primarily made from either chaotian peppers or bird’s eye chilies. These were minced, mixed with seasonings like salt, garlic, and ginger, and then left to pickle in a large jar for a period of time.

Therefore, chopped peppers were actually a type of pickled vegetable. They could be eaten directly and had a spicy, fresh, and salty flavor.

For those who enjoyed them, they were an excellent side dish to accompany rice.

Jarred chopped peppers were sold at the market, but many of them weren’t authentic.

Besides the chopped peppers, the other main ingredient was the fish head.

Specifically, the head of a Bighead carp.

This was because this type of fish has a very large head.

The Bighead carp, also known by various other common names, is one of the most prevalent freshwater fish.

Together with the silver carp, grass carp, and black carp, it is one of the ”Four Great Domestic Fish” of China.

In the markets, whether in big cities or a small town market like the one in Wenxian Town, the Bighead carp was one of the most common and best-selling fish.

It was also one of the most consumed types of fish.

This was because its meat was tender, had a good texture, and was relatively inexpensive.

However, the Bighead carp available in the market were almost all farmed.

As a result, the quality of the ingredient was basically low-grade.

And this clearly did not meet Li You’s standards for ingredient quality.

Therefore, for Li You, the ingredients for Chopped Pepper Fish Head wouldn’t be easy to obtain.

The chopped peppers were manageable. If he couldn’t find any ready-made ones of satisfactory quality, he could always make them himself.

The key was the fish head.

It was hard to find Bighead carp of mid-grade quality or higher.

Of course, he didn’t strictly have to use a Bighead carp head. But since they were large, tender, and relatively economical, they were undoubtedly the best choice.

Besides, even if he used the head of another type of fish, he would still face the same problem of finding high-quality ingredients.

So, as far as Li You was concerned, he would definitely use a Bighead carp head.

No matter how hard it was to find, he had to figure something out—unless he decided not to launch the Chopped Pepper Fish Head dish at all.

But of course, that was impossible.

Now that he had the recipe for such a famous dish, he was definitely going to introduce it.

’Oh, right. Don’t I still have one more lottery draw?’

’If I could just draw a Dungeon Experience Card, I could easily get one from a game dungeon.’

Thinking of this, Li You grew excited and expectant, and he quickly started the second lottery draw.

The lottery wheel spun rapidly once again. After it stopped, the pointer landed on the ”Kitchenware” section.

’Kitchenware?’

’Crap! All that excitement and anticipation for nothing.’

Li You was very disappointed. But there was nothing he could do about it. He could only see what kind of kitchenware it was.

The familiar gift box appeared. Amidst fluttering ribbons, the box slowly opened.

”Qiankun Pot!”

”Qiankun Pot: Appears no different from an ordinary large pot on the surface, but its actual capacity is one hundred times that of an ordinary large pot.”

Reading the description of the Qiankun Pot, Li You’s disappointment suddenly vanished, replaced by a pleasant surprise.

Because he really needed a pot like this right now.

This pot’s function was similar to the previous Qiankun Rice Cooker and Qiankun Automatic Decomposition Garbage Bin—its capacity held a universe of its own.

With this pot, braising food would become so much more convenient.

Right now, when he braised chicken, he could only fit five chickens in one pot at most.

If it was chicken feet, he could only braise a few hundred at a time.

Yesterday, he had braised thirty chickens, which took a full six batches and was a considerable waste of time.

But now, with the Qiankun Pot, he could braise up to 500 chickens at once. As for chicken feet, he could of course do even more.

In the future, even if he added other braised dishes, one batch a day would be more than enough to meet demand.

This would save him a great deal of energy and time.

Of course, a batch that large would require a lot of brine.

But that wasn’t a problem.

Li You just needed to use the Qiankun Pot to simmer a large enough batch of new brine.

He would make it tonight.

So, although he hadn’t drawn the Dungeon Experience Card he was hoping for, the Qiankun Pot was an equally pleasant and exciting surprise.

It just meant that he probably couldn’t launch the Chopped Pepper Fish Head dish right away.

But Li You believed he would eventually find a way to obtain a large quantity of mid-grade or better Bighead carp.

Just then, Ling Xiaoru, who was eating plums and grapes beside him, spoke up. ”Boss, aren’t you having any?”

She had noticed that Li You hadn’t taken any plums or grapes to eat.

Hearing this, Li You stopped thinking about the Bighead carp. He reached out, grabbed a plum, and said with a smile, ”I am.”

With that, he popped the plum into his mouth and started eating.

Ling Xiaoru nodded and added, ”Boss, these plums from your place are delicious. You could sell some out in front of the shop. They’d definitely sell really well.”

Li You said, ”I only have one plum tree at home right now, so there isn’t much quantity. Once the plums in the Hundred Fruit Garden up front bear fruit, it won’t be too late to sell them then.”

Ling Xiaoru nodded. ”That works too. But Boss, the Hundred Fruit Garden is still a long way from having a hundred types of fruit trees. You should hurry up and get more.”

Li You replied, ”I’m working on it. I’m even thinking of trying to grow some fruits that aren’t well-suited for our region. For example, mangoes. Do you think they’d bear fruit if I planted them?”

”Mangoes?” Ling Xiaoru said. ”They’d probably still bear fruit, right? They just might not turn out well—they might be small and not taste very good. Still, you could give it a try, Boss. It wouldn’t cost much, and you have enough space.”

Li You nodded. ”I’ve been thinking about it.”

Li You loved mangoes. He really wanted to try planting them, even if just for fun. It wouldn’t be a big deal even if it failed.

’I’ll find some time to get a few mango trees and give it a shot.’

The two of them continued to eat the plums and grapes.

Gradually, after all the plums and grapes on the plate were finished, Ling Xiaoru said, ”Boss, should we get back to tilling the soil?”

Li You nodded. ”Alright!”

Although he had already expanded the land by one-tenth of a mu and completed the side quest, it was never a bad thing to expand the plot a bit more.

Since Ling Xiaoru was so enthusiastic, Li You couldn’t very well dampen her spirits.

So, the two of them returned to the field, picked up their hoes, and continued digging.

They dug until five in the afternoon, by which time customers had started arriving for dinner.

”Boss, Miss Xiaoru, are you two expanding the vegetable garden?” a customer asked them.

Li You nodded with a smile. ”That’s right! Making it a bit wider to grow more vegetables.”

The customer said, ”You can definitely grow more vegetables. And I have to say, Boss, you’re pretty good at it. All your vegetables are growing really well.”

Li You laughed and said, ”Honestly, I just plant them randomly. It’s all luck that they’re growing so well.”

Then he turned to Ling Xiaoru and said, ”Alright, let’s call it a day. Go rest for a bit. We’ll have dinner together tonight.”

Ling Xiaoru nodded. ”Okay.”

She had been working all day and was genuinely a little tired.

However, it felt quite good.

It was manual labor, after all. And labor always brought a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.

The two of them came out of the field. Ling Xiaoru sat down on the rocking chair at the shop’s entrance to rest, while Li You went into the kitchen to begin the evening’s rush.

For Li You, this kind of busyness was just as fulfilling.

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Also, wishing everyone a happy Winter Solstice and good health!

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