Chapter 14: Pickled Pepper Lettuce Stew with Pig’s Stomach 

Now, it was Nan Tu’s turn to calm everyone down.

“Everyone, calm down. It’s not a big deal, don’t spoil the mood. Since you all have come to my little restaurant today, how about I treat everyone to a meal?”

This successfully shifted everyone’s attention.

“The neighbors are here to support your business, and now you’re inviting us to a meal? Aren’t we the ones shamelessly taking advantage?” Aunt Ma muttered.

Old Man Qiao said, “Does this old man lack that bit of money? You young people have only earned money for a few years, but I have earned money for many years. Don’t talk about treating us, just bring the menu here.”

He had been craving the dishes from Nanlai Restaurant for years. He had tried many other restaurants, but none of them were to his liking, especially now with pre-made dishes being popular. Some restaurants’ chefs couldn’t even cook, and their most used tool was the microwave—simply laughable!

The parrot timely interjected, “I have money, I have money!”

Everyone laughed, and Xin Huan handed over the menu.

Old Man Qiao ordered a fresh pot of One Pot Fresh—the very one that had almost been slandered earlier—an indirect way of showing his support. Zhao Sufen and her husband ordered a dish of lettuce and pig’s stomach stew, while Aunt Ma chose the homestyle dish, Ants Climbing a Tree.

“I make ‘Ants Climbing a Tree’ at home myself, but I always feel like something’s missing. It’s not as good as Nanlai Restaurant’s; I’ve been craving it for years.”

Nan Tu, with nothing to hide, said, “Actually, the secret to this dish is to soak the vermicelli in beef bone broth in advance. The vermicelli absorbs the essence of the broth, making the dish naturally delicious.”

Aunt Ma quickly adopted an attitude of not listening, “Oh, at home, we don’t have bone broth, so I still have to come to the restaurant to eat.”

Once the dishes were all ordered, Nan Tu returned to the kitchen to get busy.

The pig’s stomach had been stewed in advance, but it hadn’t been seasoned yet. Otherwise, when customers place their orders, the kitchen wouldn’t be able to prepare them in time. Before Xin Huan came to help, Nan Tu never considered making dishes using pig’s stomach as the main ingredient—it was too troublesome, and she couldn’t handle it on her own.

Though Xin Huan had never worked with cooking before, she was diligent and obedient, always doing what Nan Tu asked with care and attention, saving her a lot of trouble.

Ants Climbing a Tree is a quick dish, and since all the ingredients were ready, it was no trouble at all.

Among the dishes, One Pot Fresh was the most complicated. As the name suggested, all the fresh and fragrant ingredients were in this pot. For this dish, Nan Tu selected perch, river crabs, snails, clams, and eel.

Some high-end restaurants, in order to make it sound like eight kinds of fresh ingredients, would add soft-shelled turtles, river mussels, and shrimp.

Nanlai Restaurant is a small restaurant after all. If the ingredients for One Pot Fresh were too many, the price would skyrocket, making it harder to sell.

Although the difficulty is the highest, One Pot of Fresh is not difficult in the seasoning. In fact, with so many ingredients that bring their own umami flavor entering the scene, the seasonings for this dish are instead very few. The difficulty is in blending together ingredients with different textures, flavors, and required cooking times, letting them each have their own outstanding highlights, yet also be harmonious and unified.

The dishes were served one by one, and the neighbors eagerly picked up their chopsticks.

Not to mention the taste, just the appearance and the fragrance were enough to make one’s fingers itch with hunger.

The translucent vermicelli had soaked up the essence of the beef bone broth, becoming moist and elastic, like long ribbons gently swaying. Tiny bits of minced meat were sprinkled throughout, each one clinging to the vermicelli branches, truly living up to the name “Ants Climbing a Tree.”

After tasting it, everyone agreed, “I have to admit, it’s much better than the ‘Ants Climbing a Tree’ I make at home.” The stir-fried minced meat was still fragrant and tender, and most importantly, it wasn’t dry or tough, nor did it lose its meat flavor. It perfectly blended with the smooth and slippery vermicelli.

Old Man Qiao tasted it and remarked, “The fresh taste of the broth is something no seasoning can replace. If you swallow it in a hurry, you might not taste it, but if you savor it, you can immediately recognize the sharp, thin freshness of the seasoning.”

Everyone teased Aunt Ma, “Nan Tu already told you the secret. Don’t worry, she won’t mind if you learn it and try it at home.”

Aunt Ma quickly responded, “I didn’t hear anything!” She didn’t want her little ones to hear and start demanding she use beef bone broth-soaked vermicelli for their cooking. Who could handle that? Thankfully, she hadn’t brought them today.

The next dish was lettuce and pig’s stomach stew, or more accurately, pickled pepper lettuce and pig’s stomach stew. The pickled pepper added a finishing touch, making the broth a rich golden-red color. Just looking at it made one’s appetite grow, and the deliciously fresh and spicy aroma in the air only heightened the anticipation.

Although it was tempting, the neighbors were all older and had their concerns. It wasn’t until Grandma Zhao took the first bite that the others asked, “Is it spicy?” “Can you chew it?”

Grandma Zhao chewed slowly, and after swallowing the pig’s stomach, she finally said, “If I were younger, I’d tell you it’s very spicy and hard to chew, and this entire pot would be mine. But now, I can’t eat that much, so you can enjoy it.”

After hearing her, everyone understood, and happily went to scoop some broth and pig’s stomach.

They first tasted the soup. The pig’s stomach really had the ability to make the broth rich and flavorful, complemented by the other ingredients. The first taste delivered the sour and spicy flavor of the pickled pepper, perfectly balanced in intensity. It was refreshing, with just the right amount of kick, awakening the taste buds without being overwhelming.

The fragrance of the lettuce came next, followed by the deep, rich flavor of the pig’s stomach. This final flavor was the essence of the dish, the soul of the soup—long, thick, and unforgettable.

To ensure the soup remained rich and fresh, Nan Tu had two little tricks. First, she added a bit of minced meat to enhance the flavor.

This was a secret Nan Yuanhai had discovered when opening the restaurant, and he naturally passed it on to Nan Tu without holding back. After countless trials, Nan Yuanhai found that using a mixture of pork and beef mince created the most balanced aroma and flavor.

Using minced meat in this way could save many otherwise bland dishes. The minced meat also helped clarify the soup, making it clearer.

When Nan Tu made this dish of lettuce and pig’s stomach stew, she modified the recipe by using stir-fried minced meat, and the final taste was indeed better.

Why did everyone feel that the dishes at Nanlai Restaurant, even simple home-style ones, tasted so much better than at other places? It was because the chefs here never stopped experimenting, never satisfied with the status quo, always striving for improvement.

Another trick for the pig’s stomach soup was to add a little Sichuan pepper oil before it is taken out of the pot. Sichuan pepper oil has a stimulating taste. For the sake of general palatability, do not add too much, and also do not add it too early. The aroma of Sichuan pepper oil will evaporate if heated for a long time. With just this small amount of Sichuan pepper oil added to the soup base, the overall tone becomes more lingering, and it will not steal the show.

The people drinking the soup didn’t need to know all this. They only felt that after drinking the soup, their mouths were refreshed, their stomachs warm, and everything felt comfortable.

Next, they tried the pig’s stomach, sliced into thick strips. The pig’s stomach, carefully prepared, had no trace of the usual odor. It retained its unique smoothness and freshness. After being simmered for a long time, the pig’s stomach gradually became tender and absorbed the essence of pickled peppers and lettuce. Each bite was full of layers of flavor, constantly transmitting a rich and deep taste from the ingredients to the diners.

When the large bowl of lettuce stewed with pig’s stomach was nearly empty, everyone sighed with relief. When eating at Nanlai Restaurant, one has to stay alert. One had to constantly glance at the actions of others constantly. Otherwise, if one got too absorbed in eating, they’d find the soup gone, the pig’s stomach finished, and even the lettuce would be gone, leaving them regretting and slapping their thighs.

“One can tell it’s not me who’s taking care of Nan Tu’s business. It’s Nan Tu who pities me for being old and not having good food, so she opened such a restaurant!” an elderly neighbor with white hair said.

Old Man Qiao said, “Pig’s stomach is one of the most extraordinary ingredients. A chef who can’t cook will make a pot of foul-smelling soup, but one who can cook will create a divine flavor. Today’s ‘Buddha Jumping Over the Wall^[1]佛跳墙 (Fó Tiào Qiáng). It is a luxurious and time-consuming soup or stew from Fujian cuisine, especially popular in Fuzhou. It is made using a large variety of premium ingredients and is … Continue reading’ often uses shark fins and abalone. In reality, the authentic version only needs old chicken, deer tendon, pig’s stomach, fish belly, and pigeon eggs. Never underestimate pig’s stomach.”

The parrot in the cage suddenly called out, “Taste it!”

“You can’t eat it.” Old Man Qiao said without turning his head.

“Impertinent! Impertinent!” the parrot squawked in dissatisfaction.

Everyone laughed. It was clear that not only had their stomachs been satisfied, but their moods had also become exceptionally good.

Next came the main dish.

A pot of fresh delicacies was the star dish, enough for three or four people to eat together. This was also why Aunt Ma immediately saw through Sun Yinfeng’s lie. It was very strange for her to order such an expensive dish. It didn’t make sense for just the two of them, old and young, to order this dish—wasn’t it a waste? Sun Yinfeng was the least wasteful person.

However, now that the delicious food was before them, the interruption brought by Sun Yinfeng had already been forgotten. In the rising white steam, this pot of delicacies, gathering the essence of the rivers and seas, took away everyone’s attention.

The ingredients in the pot were so abundant that each neighbor picked up their chopsticks and their harvest varied.

Aunt Ma loved fish, so she picked up a piece of mandarin fish meat. The carefully selected mandarin fish had tender flesh that melted in the mouth. But it wasn’t enough just to eat the fish meat. It was best to pick a piece with skin. The fish had been pan-fried, and the skin was slightly crispy. Not only did it not smell fishy, but it was also crunchy and delicious.

Grandpa Wang picked up a crab that had been split in half. This crab had been chosen well, with golden roe, white fat, and firm, plump meat. Its taste was naturally excellent.

Old Man Qiao loved drinking soup. The soup in the pot wasn’t much, but every drop was a rich, white fish soup brewed from fried mandarin fish and snakehead fish. With other ingredients added, the flavor was even richer. He scooped a spoonful and poured it over the rice. Even without anything else, he could easily eat a bowl of rice.

There was even a surprise in the soup. A few snails and clams had caught a ride with the soup’s rich flavor and landed in the bowl. Of course, Old Man Qiao didn’t let them go. He slurped up the snails quickly. A small, smooth one flashed across his tongue, leaving behind an unforgettable fresh taste. The clam meat gave a sweet and tasty feeling. When bitten, it even burst out with a mouthful of juice, so fresh that it made one shiver.

The ingredients in the pot blended together, complementing each other, creating a feast for the taste buds.

Before long, the dishes on the table were cleaned up, with nothing left.

Fortunately, everyone had been mindful and didn’t order too much. Otherwise, if they had ordered more and eaten so cleanly, who knew how full they’d be afterward? When they went back, they’d probably get scolded by their children. They used to teach their kids not to overeat, but when it came to themselves, they forgot!