Food Stall: Customers Chase Me across the Country-Chapter 316 - 317: Sudden Incident, Meizhou Flood

As the pork belly was slowly sautéed, it began to acquire a hint of golden edges, and the fat inside gradually seeped out, turning the oil in the pan a light yellow.

The aroma of the meat became increasingly rich, with the fragrance of several spices continuously released and merging with the meat’s aroma, becoming as dense as the scent of aged wine.

Once half of the fat had been rendered out, Wang Fan poured in a third of the chopped green onions, otherwise, if he continued sautéing, the pork belly would only become lard crusts.

When the fragrance of the green onions began to release, he lifted the large bowl of sauce and dumped it into the pot, startling both Zhao Liang and Chen Qing.

Goodness, they knew the boss had good physical strength, but this bowl looked to weigh about fifty to sixty pounds. How could he just pour it in without breaking a sweat?

It’s different from carrying rice or flour; lifting it is tough, not to mention dumping it directly! What kind of food made him so strong?

You can’t just leave the sauce cooking unattended; you have to stir it constantly, or it’ll burn at the bottom, and the whole pot of sauce will be ruined.

When the sauce started bubbling again, he added another third of the green onions.

The unique flavor can only be enhanced by spices and time.

After forty minutes of slow simmering, this pot of sauce became glossy and aromatic, with the green onion fragrance from the three additions being incredibly strong. Zhao Liang thought that even if it wasn’t noodles, he could eat three pairs of slippers and three belts mixed with this sauce!

After the sauce was done, Wang Fan started making hand-rolled noodles.

Whether the sauce tastes good determines the lower limit of the noodles, while the quality of the noodles themselves is key to the upper limit.

Previously, his second uncle had taken him to eat at a popular shop selling fried noodles. Honestly, he felt those noodles were wasted on him; they would be great as bowstrings.

You had to grit your teeth and tear to bite through those noodles!

As for machine-pressed noodles, those aren’t even considered.

Machine-made noodles can only fool outsiders. They’re on a completely different level from hand-rolled noodles!

If you want to enjoy authentic, smooth, and firm hand-rolled noodles, the recipe provides detailed instructions.

"Alkali is the bone, salt is the muscle." Alkali increases the elasticity of the noodles, keeping them from softening after rolling and cutting. Salt enhances the noodle’s firmness, allowing them to be rolled thin without tearing.

The ratio of 1 gram of alkali to 5 grams of salt per pound of flour is the unbeatable hand-rolled noodle recipe.

Adding an egg white to a pound of flour gives you an amazingly smooth texture.

One pound of flour and 220 grams of water, Wang Fan was no longer the rookie who added more water or more flour as needed.

After kneading the dough into a smooth ball, Wang Fan let it rest for 15 minutes before starting to roll it.

In no time, he had rolled the dough into a huge sheet, and by this point, Chen Qing and Zhao Liang had completely transformed into little fanboys, watching Wang Fan’s skilled movements with admiration.

Even rolling dough has so many techniques; truly worthy of being the boss!

After the dough was rolled, it was artfully folded into waves, sliced down the middle, and then swiftly cut into noodles. Picking up the end, he flipped it over and slapped it a few times on the board, making Zhao Liang and Chen Qing jump, worried that the noodles might break.

"Boil the water, it’s time to serve."

These words were like a switch being flipped, and as soon as they were spoken, a crowd of students rushed in, immediately looking at the sign by the window.

"Beijing-style Zhajiangmian, 15 yuan a bowl, limit one bowl per person, currently 600 servings left."

"Zhajiangmian? It’s Zhajiangmian? I’ve been craving noodles for so long!"

"Slurp... I didn’t want noodles at first, but just seeing the words ’Zhajiangmian’ made me drool."

"Why is it limited to one bowl? At home, I start with at least three bowls of Zhajiangmian."

His bewilderment didn’t last long, and he quickly understood why.

Because a bowl as big as a man’s head appeared in Wang Fan’s hand, and with that size, almost no one could handle two bowls.

"Do you want it straight from the pot or rinsed?"

Wang Fan asked the student at the front of the line.

The student scratched his head, "What do you mean?"

"’Straight from the pot’ means hot noodles scooped directly out of the pot, while ’rinsed’ refers to noodles cooled in cold water, making them firmer."

"Oh, I’ll have it rinsed, thanks."

Wang Fan scooped out the noodles, passed them through cold water, shook them dry, and placed them into a bowl, filling over half of it.

Then he placed the bowl on a tray where Zhao Liang had already laid out the vegetable toppings, and Chen Qing had prepared a bowl of sauce.

The vegetable toppings included pink heart radish, fresh green cucumber shreds, and blanched tender yellow bean sprouts, all of which appeared very appealing.

Guo Tian happily carried his bowl of Zhajiangmian away, found a spot, and started to feast.

Everyone had eaten this before; it’s not something unfamiliar.

He picked some of each of the three vegetable toppings, scooped a few spoonfuls of the oily sauce into the bowl, and stirred it up with chopsticks until evenly mixed.

The originally pure white, moist, and distinct noodles turned sauce-colored with the mixing, each noodle glossed by the sauce’s oil, and complemented by the three-colored vegetable toppings, it added a lively and refreshing touch.

The rich sauce, meat, and onion aroma continuously tickled the nose, and even before eating, it had already made him drool.

Guo Tian licked his lips, feeling that this bowl of noodles had already maxed out in color, aroma, and form, needing only his tasting!

Picking up a chopstickful of noodles and placing them in his mouth, he felt a smooth and resilient texture. The sauce’s flavor was rich and robust, spreading across his taste buds, compelling him to chew.

The sauce had a perfectly balanced savory-sweet taste, with the flavors of the different ingredients intermingling to create a unique delicacy.

The noodles’ texture was even more remarkable—smooth, firm, and springy, with a rich wheat flavor that made it simply irresistible.

Guo Tian couldn’t help but lift the bowl, scooping mouthfuls of noodles into his mouth, biting into the meat pieces in the sauce, and experiencing an unexpectedly delightful taste.

The meat hadn’t been skinned!

Usually, unsheathed meat in Zhajiangmian can be dry and chewy, but the meat here was tender, gelatinous, and melted in the mouth. The fatty portion even burst with sauce flavor, devoid of any greasy feeling!

"Damn, this is the old Beijing Zhajiangmian flavor I recall! What were those I tasted before in Beijing?! Slurp... slurp..."

"Nothing compares to the skills of the Second Canteen boss. Through wind and rain, I’ll always wait for your culinary delights!"

The whole cafeteria was filled with the sound of people slurping noodles, making it seem like a pig farm to the unknowing.

Wang Fan served bowl after bowl calmly, unaffected by the praises he heard.

But he inadvertently overheard a quiet conversation in line that made him frown.

"Don’t worry, with how advanced our national infrastructure is, your hometown will be fine."

"I hope so. Our area is relatively okay, but Meizhou is really suffering, the whole city is almost submerged."

"Really so bad?? Why haven’t I seen any news about it?"

"If you’re not specifically looking, you hardly see it; it’s all entertainment news everywhere, who even notices this?"

"Ugh, prioritizing entertainment, such a tragedy. Let’s share this info more when we get back, hopefully, we can help a bit."

Meizhou? Flooded?