I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 358: Chapter 332: Going to Catch Mountain Crabs Tomorrow

Amazed as they were, the two women were also incredibly delighted.

It turned out that pork intestines, an ingredient they previously disliked, could actually be delicious.

”Boss, how in the world did you make this? Is it your own original recipe?” both Ling Xiaoru and Chu Yiwei asked.

Li You smiled faintly and said, ”This is a traditional, famous dish from Lu Province called Nine-Turned Pork Intestines. I didn’t invent it.”

’So it’s a famous dish from Lu Cuisine.’

Ling Xiaoru and Chu Yiwei both had a moment of realization. They never knew such a dish existed in Lu Cuisine.

’Learned something new today.’

Ling Xiaoru said, ”And here I thought you invented it yourself, Boss. Speaking of which, the flavor of this dish seems a little similar to our Chuansheng Cuisine.”

Li You said, ”Compared to most Lu Cuisine, the flavor of Nine-Turned Pork Intestines is a bit unique. It is indeed somewhat similar to the primary flavor profile of our Chuansheng Cuisine.”

Chu Yiwei asked, ”Why is it called Nine-Turned Pork Intestines?”

Li You said, ”Well... there are many stories about that. One of the main ones says the dish originated during the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty, first created by a chef at the Jiuhua Building restaurant in Jinan.

The owner of Jiuhua Building, a man surnamed Du, was very wealthy. He opened nine restaurants in Jinan and had a fascination with the number ’nine’.

At first, the dish didn’t have a name.

That is, until a scholar came to the restaurant for a meal. After tasting the Nine-Turned Pork Intestines, he couldn’t stop praising it and asked, ’A dish this exquisite must have a beautiful name, what is it?’

Boss Du replied that the dish was still unnamed and asked the scholar to help choose a name for it.

The scholar was delighted and more than happy to oblige. He said that Daoists were skilled in alchemy and spoke of a legendary ’nine-revolutions elixir.’ He felt that eating this delicacy was as wonderful as consuming such a mythical elixir.

And so, he named the dish ’Nine-Turned Pork Intestines.’

Boss Du was thrilled when he heard the name, especially because he was already so interested in the number ’nine.’

And so, the name ’Nine-Turned Pork Intestines’ was set. The dish quickly soared in popularity and remains famous to this day.”

Chu Yiwei and Ling Xiaoru both nodded slowly after hearing the story.

’The story might not be true, but it certainly adds a lot of historical depth to the dish.’

’It seems every famous traditional dish, regardless of the cuisine, has a legend attached to it.’

’And to think they were only just learning about this famous dish from Lu Cuisine today.’

’We’ve been so out of the loop.’

Li You chuckled. ”It’s perfectly normal not to have heard of it. So, does that mean you’re quite satisfied with the taste?”

Both of them nodded repeatedly. ”We never imagined pork intestines could be this delicious,” they said. ”It feels like it’s better than any of the ways they’re prepared back in Chuansheng Province.”

’Hmm? Wait a minute... I can’t really say that.’

’They both realized that there was another important reason why the dish was so delicious, besides the recipe itself being incredible.’

’It was because Li You was the one who made it.’

’If someone else had cooked it, the taste might have been far inferior.’

’So, rather than saying the dish itself was inherently delicious, it was more accurate to say that *Li You* made it delicious.’

’Therefore, they couldn’t claim this dish was better than every other pork intestine dish from Chuansheng Province.’

’Of course, regardless, the dish itself was undoubtedly incredibly delicious and remarkable.’

Li You added, ”In that case, I’ll start thinking about adding this dish to the menu.”

Both Ling Xiaoru and Chu Yiwei agreed. ”Absolutely. This dish will definitely be a huge hit. We don’t even need to talk about the people who already love pork intestines. Even people who don’t like them, or are even repulsed by the very idea of them, might end up loving this.”

’The latter case was probably a long shot, but at the very least, people who previously disliked pork intestines—but weren’t completely repulsed by them—would most likely grow to love it.’

Just like Ling Xiaoru and Chu Yiwei themselves.

Li You laughed heartily and added, ”Alright, once I’ve sourced enough high-quality pork intestines, I’ll officially add it to the menu.”

Both Ling Xiaoru and Chu Yiwei said they were eagerly looking forward to it.

The three of them then continued eating the Nine-Turned Pork Intestines and drinking.

They ate the other dishes as well, of course, not just the Nine-Turned Pork Intestines.

After eating for a while, Ling Xiaoru spoke up again. ”Oh, right, Boss. Didn’t we talk about going to catch more mountain crabs to eat? The fish pond is built now. Shouldn’t we get going?”

Li You nodded. ”Sure! I’m free anytime. It’s up to you. Whenever you want to go, we’ll go.”

Ling Xiaoru said, ”How about tomorrow, then? It’s Saturday, and I have the day off.”

Li You said, ”You don’t work a corporate job. You still take weekends off?”

Ling Xiaoru replied, ”Of course! Even when you’re your own boss, you need to rest. It’s called work-life balance. So, can we go tomorrow, Boss?”

Li You nodded. ”Sure!”

Ling Xiaoru was overjoyed and turned to Chu Yiwei. ”Teacher Chu, you don’t have classes tomorrow either. Do you want to come with us?”

Chu Yiwei nodded. ”Okay! I’ll go with you. It’ll be fun, and catching crabs sounds interesting. By the way, are mountain crabs those hard-shelled crabs you find in shallow waters or creek beds?”

Ling Xiaoru nodded. ”Yep, that’s the one.”

Chu Yiwei said, ”But aren’t those crabs usually pretty small, with very little meat? Can they taste good?”

Ling Xiaoru said, ”They might not be delicious if someone else cooks them, but they’ll definitely be amazing if the Boss makes them.”

Chu Yiwei’s eyes lit up. ”That’s true.”

At this point, Li You interjected, ”Now, don’t get your hopes up too high. What if I cook them and they don’t turn out that great?”

”You’re just being modest, Boss,” both Ling Xiaoru and Chu Yiwei said.

Then, Ling Xiaoru added, ”But not all mountain crabs are small, Teacher Chu. The Boss and I caught a huge one last time. Have you seen it?”

”No!” Chu Yiwei exclaimed. ”I haven’t seen it! Where is it? How big is it?”

Ling Xiaoru looked at Li You. ”Boss...”

Li You nodded. ”I’m keeping it in the kitchen. I’ll go bring it up for Teacher Chu to see.”

Chu Yiwei was full of anticipation. ”Sorry to trouble you, Boss.”

Li You waved his hand, signaling that it was no trouble at all.

He then went downstairs into the kitchen, grabbed the giant mountain crab from the Spatial Fish Pond, and put it in a bucket.

He carried the bucket back to the second floor.

He placed the bucket in front of Chu Yiwei.

Chu Yiwei peered into the bucket and couldn’t help but let out a ”WOW!” ”It’s huge!” she said in disbelief. ”I’ve never seen a mountain crab this big before. I had no idea they could grow to this size.”

Ling Xiaoru said, ”See? It’s massive, right? Let’s try to catch another one this big tomorrow.”

Chu Yiwei’s excitement instantly surged. ”Yes! Let’s catch another one this big!” she said, thrilled.

’Li You rolled his eyes. ’Did these two really think a mountain crab this big was something you could just go out and catch whenever you felt like it?’’

’Still, it was good to have a goal.’

’Now it all depended on their luck tomorrow.’

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