With Su Jinrong's permission, some people who had breakfast at the breakfast shop next door, who had no place to sit after buying breakfast, chose to come to Su Ji to sit down and eat.
After getting a signal from his father-in-law, Feng Yifan simply cleared out a few tables at the outermost part of the restaurant so that guests who wanted to have breakfast could come in and sit down.
The busy Lin family next door were unaware of all this.
Even if they knew, the Lin family couldn't care less now because business was too busy.
I don’t know if it’s because of some people’s promotion yesterday, or because of the aroma of the pot stickers, but more people came to buy pot stickers for breakfast today.
Lin Ruifeng and his mother were in the back, wrapping the dumplings and keeping an eye on the pot. They were really busy. Sometimes, even Old Lin, who was not very busy in the front, would go in to help.
Such a hot business really made Lin Ruifeng a little uncomfortable. If his parents were not there, he might have been overwhelmed.
Fortunately, the old couple have been in the breakfast business for so many years and they know very well how the breakfast business works, with many people coming in waves.
The old couple coped with it with ease.
Father Lin was even busier, running in and out, collecting money, frying dough sticks, pouring soy milk, and making pot stickers, all in an orderly manner. He was not at all panicked because business was getting better and there were more customers.
Even when busy, I can make no mistakes in calculating bills and collecting money.
Lin Ruifeng looked at his parents' ease and admired them. His parents suddenly became much taller and he no longer thought that his parents' small breakfast shop was mediocre.
Perhaps this is the case: only when you have truly experienced many things and tried the hard work yourself, can you understand the hard work of your parents.
Besides making pot stickers, Lin Ruifeng also feels a sense of satisfaction when he hears the sincere praise from customers who eat breakfast outside.
“The pot stickers here are really delicious.”
"Yes, I heard about it yesterday, so I came here today to try it. I didn't expect it to be so delicious."
"It's a pity that it's only available in the morning. If it were also available in the afternoon, I would definitely bring my children here to eat it again in the evening."
"We are a breakfast shop, how can we sell until the evening?"
"I still like this shrimp, corn and pork. It tastes really refreshing, neat and not too greasy."
"I like beef filling, it's really fragrant. If you feel it's greasy, you can dip it in vinegar or chili oil. It tastes really good."
"I like them all. I want them all."
…
Listening to the guests' praise, Lin Ruifeng seemed to work more vigorously.
Next door, at Su Ji, Feng Yifan saw that the breakfast shop was doing well, and knew that Lin Ruifeng might be late to help. So he asked the neighbors who had already finished their meals to help look after his father-in-law, while he went to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients.
Wang Cuifeng, who came early in the morning just to try the pot stickers, said with a smile: "Okay, Yifan, go ahead and do your work. I'll help you take care of it."
Li Jianping was a little embarrassed and said, "Then let Xiaofeng take care of it. I have to go back too. I have to cook some new stew today."
Wang Cuifeng smiled and said, "Uncle Li, go and do your work. I'll take care of Uncle Rong. Are you worried?"
Of course, in addition to Wang Cuifeng, there were several other shop owners on the old street. Most of them were not very busy in the morning and usually opened for business after ten o'clock.
With the help of his neighbors, Feng Yifan went to the kitchen with confidence and started his busy day.
In the morning, the kitchen prepares ingredients mainly to make various soup bases. Whether it is clear soup to enhance the flavor or the soup stock needed for some soup dishes, boiling is very time-consuming.
So every morning, Feng Yifan needs to prepare these soups in advance.
This is why, according to Su Ji’s old rule, cooking usually starts in the evening and ordering is only allowed for dinner.
Because it takes a long time to cook the soup, the preparation of some of the soup bases is also quite time-consuming.
Bones, chicken frames, fish bones, and some other ingredients all need to be processed before the soup can be made.
In some of the early processes, the chicken bones are slightly cracked, the chicken frames are also deboned from the whole chicken, and the fish bones are also the bones removed from the fish meat.
This series of processes all reflect the basic skills of a chef.
Deboning a whole chicken and fish truly demonstrates the magic of knife skills.
In the process of making the soup, a chef's control over fire is also demonstrated.
Cook over high heat to force out the blood foam and impurities in the ingredients, and then you need to be very patient and skim them all off.
Then turn to low heat and simmer for a while.
In the kitchen, Feng Yifan has to use almost all the stoves just to cook the various soup bases, and each stove has a pot for cooking. There are deep iron buckets and clay pots for boiling.
When all the soup was cooked, Feng Yifan still couldn't sit back and relax because he still needed to pre-process some ingredients.
The cut chicken, fish, etc. need to be processed and cannot be left aside, as that would be a waste of good ingredients.
The pre-processing process tests the chef's patience.
For example, the fish meat can be sliced first, then coated with starch and egg white, and then sealed with oil. This way, when you want to make fish fillets, you can take it out and use it directly.
As for the chicken part after removing the chicken frame, further cutting is required.
Chicken legs, chicken wings, and chicken breasts should be separated and refrigerated, and taken out when needed for cooking.
Although there are now special chicken legs and chicken wings for sale in the market, Feng Yifan is still used to buying whole chickens because this ensures that the meat is fresh enough, and the key is that each part has its own use.
For example, when you make chicken porridge for your family in the morning, part of the chicken breast has actually been used up.
This is how the restaurant kitchen works. Try to make the best use of all kinds of ingredients. For small restaurants, avoiding waste is a way to save money.
Of course, for big restaurants, since they mainly rely on volume, they can naturally be more arbitrary.
This is how Feng Yifan spends every morning. Although it is not very busy, it can be said to be quite boring for one person to do these repetitive tasks in the kitchen.
But the reason why he can support Su Ji by himself and manage the business at noon and at night is that he can endure loneliness and the boredom of daily repetition.
Only by preparing most things in advance can the operations at noon and in the evening be arranged in an orderly manner.
While Feng Yifan was busy in the kitchen, Su Ruoxi and her mother-in-law Lu Cuiling sent their daughter to kindergarten. Instead of going back to Su Ji directly, the two decided to go to other markets to find a table this morning.
After leaving the kindergarten, Su Ruoxi said to her mother-in-law, "Mom, let's go to the south of the city again today."
Lu Cuiling smiled and nodded: "Okay, Mom will go with you."
Su Ruoxi checked last night and found that there were several markets in the southern suburbs of the city, and it seemed that there were also some that specialized in selling tables and chairs. She decided to go to the south of the city with her mother-in-law this morning to look for them.
However, the south city and the north city where the old street is located are still a bit far away, so today Su Ruoxi decided to take the bus with her mother-in-law.
"Mom, let's take the bus. We can save some money. It's too expensive to take a taxi."
Lu Cuiling thought for a moment and said, "Wouldn't it be too much trouble to take the bus? It shouldn't cost much to take a taxi, right? Going directly from the outer ring road would also save some time."
The route that Lu Cuiling mentioned is the route she and her husband took every time they drove to Huaicheng to deliver goods.
Su Ruoxi pulled her mother-in-law and said, "Mom, there are buses that go along the outer ring line. They don't go through the downtown area in the south city. It won't take too much time and it's much cheaper than taking a taxi."
Su Ruoxi is now in charge of the household money, and she tries to save money wherever possible when spending it.
It’s just that Lu Cuiling has always been a straightforward person and she spends money lavishly. It’s a bit hard for her to get used to seeing her daughter-in-law being so frugal all of a sudden.
So she couldn't help but say, "How about Mom pay for it? It's really hard to take the bus there."
Su Ruoxi refused and took her mother-in-law's arm and walked directly to the bus station in front: "Oh, Mom, let's go, just think of me as accompanying you to visit the scenery of our city."
In the end, Lu Cuiling was pulled onto the bus by her daughter-in-law, and started this slightly bumpy journey to the south of the city with her.
…
Business at the Lin family breakfast shop did not begin to slow down until after 9:30 in the morning.
Today's pot stickers are basically sold out, and when he saw that there were fewer customers, Lin's father immediately asked Lin Ruifeng to seal up the remaining fillings so that they could be used tomorrow.
Lin Ruifeng somewhat disagreed with his father's approach. Perhaps it was a habit he developed at Su Ji, and he felt that the fillings should be kept fresh.
"Dad, if we keep these fillings, they won't be fresh tomorrow and won't taste good."
Father Lin was stunned when he heard his son's words, and then he smiled helplessly: "You kid, the breakfast time is over. If you pack all the food, who are you going to sell it to?"
Although what his father said made sense, Lin Ruifeng still stubbornly believed that the stuffing should not be saved for tomorrow.
The parents looked at each other and smiled bitterly, finally realizing their son's stubbornness.
In desperation, the mother had to say: "How about this, go next door and ask your chef if you can save the unused stuffing for tomorrow."
Lin Ruifeng was obedient to his master now, so when his mother asked him, he immediately agreed: "Okay, I'll go ask the master."
Watching his son quickly go out and run to the next door, the father smiled bitterly and shook his head: "This silly boy is still so stubborn and naive. Fortunately, Yifan has the patience to teach him such a disciple."
The mother still protected her son: "You old thing, you said your son was not motivated before, and now he is motivated, you say it again, you are always right."
Hearing this, Father Lin had no choice but to smile and say, "Okay, okay, I won't say anything about him. Let him go and ask."
Lin Ruifeng came out of the breakfast shop and went to Su Ji Restaurant. As soon as he entered, he saw that the tables at the entrance of Su Ji had obviously been used, and there were discarded paper towels on the table and the ground.
Seeing this scene, Lin Ruifeng was a little surprised, then looked at Su Jinrong and the old neighbors who stayed in Su's house and asked, "What's going on?"
Wang Cuifeng smiled and said, "What else could it be? Your business was so good in the morning, and there weren't that many seats for people, so Uncle Rong asked some of your guests to sit over at Su's."
Hearing Wang Cuifeng's words, Lin Ruifeng was immediately unhappy: "How can this be? No, I have to go talk to my parents."
Seeing that Lin Ruifeng was about to argue with his parents about this matter, Su Jinrong called out to him, "Ruifeng, don't go."
Wang Cuifeng also stood up and walked over, reaching out and pulling Lin Ruifeng back.
"Boy, why didn't I notice that you have such a bad temper before? Why? Are you worried that your master will start selling breakfast at Su Ji one day and take away your business?"
After Wang Cuifeng said this, Lin Ruifeng quickly argued: "No, if Master wants to make breakfast, my family won't make it. I came here to help Master."
Wang Cuifeng saw that Lin Ruifeng was very excited, so she smiled and comforted him: "Alright, alright, don't get excited, you are so angry at such a young age."
Lin Ruifeng continued, "What I mean is that my guests shouldn't come over and occupy Su's place. It's all dirty here."
Wang Cuifeng immediately said, "You know it's dirty, but you won't clean it up? Are you going to wait for your master who is busy preparing ingredients in the kitchen to come out and clean it up?"
This sentence immediately pointed out the problem. Lin Ruifeng suddenly came to his senses and quickly picked up the broom and dustpan to start cleaning.
After cleaning, he took a rag and wiped the tables and chairs, and even mopped the floor carefully.
Seeing how Lin Ruifeng worked, Wang Cuifeng and others were really surprised. They didn't expect him to work so hard.
After Lin Ruifeng finished cleaning, Wang Cuifeng said, "Look, isn't this good? Su Ji is closed in the morning, so let your guests come to Su Ji and sit for a while. It's nothing, just come and clean after you're done."
Lin Ruifeng was still very stubborn and said: "No, they still can't eat at Su Ji if they don't pay Su Ji."
Wang Cuifeng rolled her eyes. It was the first time she felt that Lin Ruifeng was really a simple-minded guy.
Finally, it was Su Jinrong who spoke up: "It's okay, you can sit down. Your house is small, so it's spacious to sit at Su's. I agree."
Lin Ruifeng looked at Su Jinrong with some surprise.
Wang Cuifeng smiled and said, "Look, Uncle Rong is so generous. You have been learning from the master for so long, why can't you broaden your horizons? What's the big deal about such a small matter?"
Feng Yifan had heard the noise and walked out from the kitchen. He also said, "Yes, it's just a small matter. Ruifeng, you don't have to take it seriously."
Seeing that both his master and his teacher had spoken, Lin Ruifeng could only accept this result.
Then, Lin Ruifeng ran to the master again and asked in a low voice about the matter of the fillings that had not been used up.
The reason why he whispered to the master was that Lin Ruifeng felt that he must not let others know that his family was planning to store the unused stuffing and use it tomorrow.
After listening to his apprentice's question, Feng Yifan was also amused by his apprentice's stubbornness.
I have to say, Lin Ruifeng's stubbornness is really a little bit cute.
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "It's okay, you can use it the next day, but before putting it in the refrigerator, you need to pour a layer of oil on the surface to seal the filling, so it will still be fresh tomorrow."