Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 291 - 277: The Power of Grilled Corn

Ten cents per skewer?

The Northeastern guy’s emotions were like a roller coaster. At first, he thought Boss Chen Mo was going to teach these Sichuan merchants a thing or two with Northern corn cobs!

But when he saw Chen Mo also threading corn kernels from the cob, he felt a bit disappointed.

When he looked at the menu again, his eyes lit up immediately, "Ten cents per skewer? So a whole corn cob comes to only five or six yuan?"

Chen Mo grinned, "That’s about right. There’s no rush. Our barbecue can’t be priced high because it’s all about being affordable."

When the menu was hung in front of the food truck, the long-waiting customers saw the text and the crowd suddenly became noisy.

"What! Corn for ten cents a skewer?"

"What the heck? The barbecue I had at the night market yesterday was a yuan per skewer, and Boss Chen is offering it for just ten cents?"

"This is flipping the table! From now on, if I see anyone in Chengdu selling corn at a barbecue stand for more than Boss Xiao Chen, I’ll just flip their stall!"

"Boss Chen is so clever, and he’s got the skills. It’s impossible for him to lose money on this business. If he can earn at ten cents a skewer, then what are those other owners earning at a yuan?"

"Geez! I got stuffed on Boss Xiao Chen’s barbecue for fifty yuan, and it was so good. At other places, fifty yuan only gets me started! Boss Xiao Chen, please keep selling here forever!"

The crowd was overflowing with praise and surprise.

Chen Mo heard it all and felt happy inside.

To be fair, on the day he took on this task, Chen Mo did take some time to visit several barbecue shops, and he felt a bit puzzled then.

The overall income level in this city isn’t low, but it’s definitely not high either...

So why is barbecue so expensive here?

People spend 100 yuan and still just feel half-full, while for Northern men with a bigger appetite, they could easily polish off two or three hundred skewers in no time.

It’s not just expensive; it’s ridiculously expensive!

Chen Mo crunched the numbers for this batch of corn. Shipped by air from the Northeast, with shipping costs averaged out, it’s about two yuan per cob.

In fact, this stuff sells for two yuan a cob in Northern supermarkets. Since he buys in bulk, the cost comes to the same price.

One cob makes about 60 skewers, and averaging it out, selling each cob for 5 yuan is definitely profitable, no matter how you do the math.

The best part is, turning corn cobs into small skewers of corn kernels reveals a great advantage.

Chen Mo now has two grills, and he fills them up immediately!

A thousand skewers!

The golden corn skewers laid flat on the grill look so tempting, and Chen Mo also prepared various flavors for selection.

"Boss, give me a hundred skewers first!"

Ten cents for a skewer, ten yuan for a hundred skewers.

It’s so cheap that you can eat without a second thought. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"We have cheese flavor, spicy flavor, and original flavor!" Chen Mo quickly turned around to write these flavors on the menu, to save the customers from asking later.

An early-arriving young lady raised her hand high in the crowd, "I want a hundred cheese ones!"

"I’d like the spicy ones!"

"What’s the original flavor, just roasted corn cob, can that be tasty?"

If it were up to Chen Mo, he prefers the original grilled corn.

It’s a unique memory for a rural kid.

Every October and November, you could harvest corn cobs from the fields, and for a child from a Northern farm, dinner on this day would be: roasted potatoes, roasted corn, roasted soybeans.

After a busy day, the farmers gather at night, piling up firewood from the fields.

They light a fire and throw the freshly dug potatoes into it. There’s no trick to it; cooking them thoroughly is enough.

Then they throw the corn cobs with their husks into the fire. Corn cobs in this season aren’t as juicy, with dry kernels that get drier when roasted. Once cooked, the surface of the corn kernels turns black, but they taste peculiarly sweet.

They also toss soybean plants into the fire. This way of eating like a primitive tribe feast is, however, a favorite among many Northerners.

Especially the fire-roasted potatoes.

Those freshly dug potatoes become black on the surface from the fire, looking dirty.

The older generation grips the black potatoes, rubs the surface with a piece of sand or stone to grind off the charred skins, revealing the golden, crispy layer of potato inside.

In his childhood, Chen Mo loved eating this crispy layer, grinding off the crispy part of a potato, and then giving the soft, floury inside to his mom and dad.

The adults would hold a potato in one hand, take a bite, take a sip of beer, and enjoy it with some pickles from home. The day’s labor fatigue vanished at that moment, replaced by the joy and happiness of the autumn harvest.

Once the potatoes and corn cobs were eaten, the adults would pack up their tools and prepare to head home.

The kids would gather around the extinguished bonfire, using a stick to sift through the ashes in search of black beans, popping a found bean into their mouths with a crunch, and enjoying the rich bean flavor.

Chen Mo was thoughtful then, rarely eating the beans he collected. He would stash them in his pocket to take home for his dad as a snack with his drink.

Thinking of this, Chen Mo couldn’t help but shake his head and smile.

Comparing his childhood with Jiang Fei’s son’s, he can’t decide which is better.

Their school organizes special outings to the countryside, while he frequently had picnics during his childhood. That difference...