CHAPTER 672: CHAPTER 671: THE HOSPITALITY OF THE BLACK BEAN (PART 1)

Back in the restaurant, Zhu Qing brought out steaming dishes, three dishes and one soup. It seemed she had grasped Xia Yu’s daily preferences, avoiding rich meats and emphasizing simplicity—yet the meal overflowed with warmth.

After the meal, Xia Yu cleaned the newly harvested black soybeans from the farm and poured them into a wooden barrel. He submerged them in water from the tank to soak overnight; tomorrow, he could wake up early and grind the beans to make soy milk and then tofu.

"Whoosh—"

The beans cascaded.

Looking at the beans in the barrel, Xia Yu suddenly felt pensive. His culinary research had begun with tofu. He had thoroughly mastered "Magical Mapo Tofu," and next, he was set to tackle an even higher level dish, "Great Magic Panda Tofu." If his modifications were successful and he completed the task, he could earn the ultimate tofu recipe—

"Triple Tofu Treat!"

This recipe was on par with "Golden Laughter" and "Four Gods Seafood Eight Treasures Soul Suppressing Bun."

To tell the truth, "Triple Tofu Treat" wasn’t originally Shao An’s recipe; it originated from a top female chef who spanned the history of "Chinese Cuisine World" —

Shell Fairy.

Shell Fairy was Liu Maoxing’s mother and the foster mother and mentor of Shao An. In truth, from beginning to end, Shao An never managed to step out of Shell Fairy’s shadow. His dishes, his life, were imbued with Shell Fairy’s flavor.

"Shell Fairy’s flavor, huh..."

Xia Yu was curious.

What was the mark, the secret of this legendary female chef, in her recipes?

Having roughly grasped the essence of "Happy and Simple" Laughter and the secret of "Soul Suppression," Xia Yu longed to uncover the taste of the Fairy still widely spoken of in the Chinese Cuisine World.

The "Triple Tofu Treat" was the key to unlocking that door!

Let’s go!

...

The next morning, at the crack of dawn, while the Tokyo trams were probably just starting to run, the sound of the grinding wheel turning could be heard from the back yard of Xia’s shop.

The black soybeans soaked overnight had softened shells and plump, water-rich flesh.

Xia Yu, using a more traditional stone mill, pressed out the soy juice. In reality, using a blender would have been a more modern approach, but he had become accustomed to using the stone mill. Treating it as a morning exercise with a bit of charm, he leisurely pushed the mill while watching the cat, Hua Mao, sitting on the porch, yawning and intently observing him, feeling both spiritually uplifted and brisk.

He obtained a large bucket of soy milk.

Filtered the soy pulp.

It’s worth mentioning that the soy pulp was not completely useless scrap; Xia Yu specifically saved it.

The raw soy milk needed to be poured into a big pot and boiled—a crucial process because unboiled soy milk is toxic. IGO had cautioned that the original juice of the Big Tuna Belly Soybeans, being stronger than ordinary soy milk’s, required longer cooking times.

"Gurgle, gurgle—"

Soon enough, a pot of soy milk was boiling, and thick steam filled the kitchen.

For a moment, the shop was suffused with heat and enticing aromas.

Meow!

Hua Mao leapt up, sitting next to Xia Yu with a swishing tail, its large eyes eagerly fixated on the bubbling liquid in the pot, flashing with almost human-like desire.

Xia Yu’s expression turned slightly serious.

"The ratio of water to black soybeans is spot on! Just right!" He scooped up a little hot soy milk, gave it a lick with his tongue, and the robust flavor that dominated his palate made the young man’s eyes sparkle.

Having experience in cooking Big Tuna Belly Soybeans, he knew when to take it off the heat, knew to which temperature it should cool down before adding the essential ingredients to make tofu—the brine and gypsum!

Next, the crucial step was to coagulate the tofu!

Actually, the debate over whether the traditional use of brine or gypsum in tofu making was toxic had never ceased.

The brine itself is toxic, but when it reacts with soymilk, its chemical structure changes.

And gypsum, which can be used in medicine, is only toxic without considering the dosage – that’s just hooliganism. Are those widely used food additives really non-toxic and harmless?

According to Xia Yu’s view, using a food additive like "glucono delta-lactone" to coagulate tofu typically results in a higher quality product than traditional methods; however, to make truly top-quality tofu, one still needed that touch of "alchemy" from the traditional craft – turning stone to gold!

Two small bottles were laid out on the countertop.

Tofu made with brine has a strong taste, but the texture and appearance leave something to be desired.

Gypsum-made tofu is watery and tender with a light flavor.

But combining the two, brine must be used, and gypsum is also needed. As for the proportions? Shh! That was the secret Xia Yu summarized while making Fantasy Tofu in the past, the kind to be handed down to descendants.

With a spatula in one hand and adding brine and gypsum with the other, Xia Yu was extraordinarily careful.

Soon, within the lake-like slurry, corn kernel-sized pieces of tofu began to float. Thinking that it was about right, Xia Yu immediately stopped stirring, withdrew the spatula, and tightly sealed the large pot with a wooden lid!

"In half an hour, we can mold it!"

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Xia Yu stood firm, recalling the process from grinding the beans to the final coagulation step and feeling that he had made no mistakes. A smile formed at the corner of his mouth, and unusually, he gave the cat a pat on the head, vigorously stroking its fur. Messing with cat hair afterward and having to clean up was really asking for trouble.

Xia Yu did not intend to just stand around for that half-hour.

He turned to fetch the black soy pulp he had specially saved earlier. Xia Yu bent over and sniffed the scent wafting from the wooden bucket, "Really, it would be a waste not to make cakes with this!"

His head was filled with recipes involving soy pulp.

Common pancakes, soy pulp buns, soy pulp glutinous rice cakes, stir-fried soy pulp and eggs, and even stir-fried soy pulp with minced green and red peppers, salt, soy sauce, and eggs could be delicious. Just thinking about it made Xia Yu’s stomach start protesting from hunger—he was starving!

...

"What is this smell, so fragrant?"

Thump, thump, thump.

Footsteps on the stairs – it was about eight o’clock, and Zhu Qing was coming downstairs. Stopping at the stairwell, she sniffed vigorously: "The smell of soy? But why is there a hint of sweetness mingling with the soy aroma?"

She followed her nose to the kitchen door.

"Wow!"

Her eyes widened, Xia Yu, wearing an apron, had set up flat pans on two or three stoves, and in his hand, he wasn’t holding a spatula – it was a pair of wooden chopsticks!

Clearly, the chopsticks had replaced the spatula. In Xia Yu’s hands, they moved with an ineffable deftness; a pinch, a lift, the black pancakes in the pans flipped over to make intimate contact with the bottom of the pan.

Outside.

Ninety percent of the shops on the commercial street had been rented out, turning into a variety of restaurants.

At eight in the morning, these restaurants began opening one after another; the staff set up poster stands to push their breakfast specials.

And let’s not mention that, due to the rapid popularity of the commercial street and its location in a busy area that mixed business, schools, and residential housing, people were happy to stop by for breakfast knowing that the street gathered a bunch of high-quality restaurants and food stalls. At this moment, there were uniformed middle schoolers in the crowd, business people in suits from nearby office buildings, and also some elderly men and women returning from morning exercises in the park.

"Ding-ling!"

A bicycle bell rang out.

A pair of White Seagull High School students in black uniforms rode on their bicycles and stopped outside the fence of Xia’s Restaurant.