Chapter 1130: Uncle Mag, Are You Planting Flowers?
This was a Yangzhou fried rice full of mistakes.
However, it was also Anna’s first attempt at making Yangzhou fried rice herself.
Mag swallowed the fried rice and gave her a thumbs up with a smile as he said, “It’s not bad overall, but there is still room for improvement when it comes to controlling the fire, techniques, and your use of salt. However, it is already very impressive for our Anna to be able to achieve such a standard on her first try.”
“It seems that I’ve still made a lot of mistakes. But it’s okay, I will continue to work hard.” Anna nodded and smiled happily.
“Anna, wait here for me for a while. We’ll go to the market together. Let’s buy you some ingredients to practice with.” Mag reached out and stroked Anna’s head before he turned to go upstairs.
He clicked on the shimmering gold recipe in his mind, and a flood of information surged into his head.
Congee with pork and century egg was not a complicated dish, but it was still very scrumptious.
Making congee itself was not complicated work, but making delicious century egg was the most complicated part of this entire dish.
Century egg was also called songhua egg.
It could be considered part of one of the dark cuisines of the East.
Mag was okay with century eggs. He was neither a fan nor a hater. If he came across a plate of delicious century egg salad, he would still be able to take a few mouthfuls of it.
According to the regular procedure, it would take around 30 days to make century eggs.
However, the system’s upgraded recipe and improved technology were able to shorten the 30 days’ time period for the fermentation of the century egg to three days.
Despite that, even if Mag could master the congee with pork and century egg, he would still be unable to make the cleaners a piping hot bowl of congee with pork and century egg because of the lack of ingredients.
“System, is this a trap? How can a congee with pork and century egg be called a congee with pork and century egg without century eggs?” Mag said as he rolled his eyes.
“Don’t worry, Host. The system had already prepared three days’ worth of century eggs for you, so as long as you can master the congee with pork and century egg, the sale of it would not be affected,” the system said.
“What type of egg did you use? How much are you charging for each egg?” Mag asked.
“The system uses the eggs of Karon ducks from the Morning Lake in the southwestern side of the Twilight Forest. Karon ducks are 3rd-tier magic beasts, and feed mainly on fish. Their eggs are rich in nutrients, sweet in flavor, and cool in nature, with the benefits of nourishing the yin and clearing the lungs. Only one egg is produced every month, so it is very limited.
“In addition, to make the century egg, the system chose to use the soil at Vic Mountain and the ashes of rice watered by the Spring of Life—”
“Alright, just tell me the price.” Mag rolled his eyes.
“The price of one century egg is 200 copper coins. One century egg can be used to make four bowls of congee with pork and century egg,” the system replied.
Mag thought for a while before asking, “System, what is the cost price of one century egg if it was made from an ordinary duck egg and ingredients that are more easily obtainable?”
“Host, as a candidate for the God of Cookery, it is only basic professional ethics to use the best ingredients to make delicious food for the customers. How can you make do with ordinary ingredients in the situation where you have the choice of excellent ingredients? That’s not befitting of the status and judgment of the God of Cookery—”
“Firstly, I am the owner of a restaurant who has to think about making profits. While doing good, I have to control the amount I put in for my cost price to prevent the restaurant from running into a crisis just because of my personal feelings or actions. This is a display of intelligence. It has nothing to do with status or judgment,” Mag interrupted the system.
“But with normal ingredients, you would not be able to bring out the best flavor of this dish. There would be a big gap with the capabilities of the host as a candidate for the God of Cookery. This would not be advantageous for the image of the God of Cookery,” the system insisted.
“I will use normal ingredients and my most sincere culinary skills to make a bowl of congee with pork and century egg for the hardworking cleaners, not so that they would embark on the journey of a foodie, but because they have worked in the cold for consecutive hours, and having a bowl of piping hot and delicious congee will make it easier for them to bear the winter. System, you’re forgetting the initial cause of this. You’re missing the point.”
Mag smirked, and said, “Prepare 33 servings of ordinary century egg for me. An ordinary duck egg costs 2 copper coins in the market. I will give you 5 copper coins for making the century egg and additional 3 copper for your other expenditure. So, it’ll be 10 copper coins for an ordinary century egg.”
“Host, you—”
“That’s settled,” Mag interrupted the system calmly, and continued, “I will take the best century egg from you for the congee with pork and century egg that is sold in the restaurant.”
“I—”
“You will supply the ordinary century egg from now on. It’s a fixed order and the price quoted is reasonable. Your profits will be more than five times your cost price. This is a business opportunity that is hard to come by,” Mag said with a smile.
“Deal!” the system said almost immediately.
The corner of Mag’s lips curled up slightly. After going through the ingredients in his mind, he turned to walk downstairs with a basket as he brought Anna out to the market.
Learning cooking required a large number of ingredients. The cost price of using the ingredients in the fridge was too high, so Mag wanted to let Anna practice with normal ingredients first, just like Firis.
At the same time, he wanted to buy the ingredients for the breakfast that he was going to make for the cleaners tomorrow morning. Lowering the cost price for his philanthropy would allow him to last longer.
Mag’s money did not fall from the sky, so he knew very well what he should do.
100 duck eggs, two bags of good quality pearl rice, a piece of lean meat, and other ingredients needed to make century eggs… When he came out from the market, Mag’s basket was already filled with various ingredients.
“Send the rice to Mamy Restaurant in half an hour,” Mag told the owner of the rice shop who was loading the rice into his cart. After that, he brought Anna to a DIY shop to buy some soil and ashes before returning to the restaurant.
“Uncle Mag, are you planting flowers?” Anna looked at Mag curiously as she watched him put the soil, ashes, and other things down.
“No, I am preparing to make a food called century egg.” Mag shook his head and put the things down behind a shelf for later use. He had to wait until he entered the test field for the God of Cookery tonight before he could start making century eggs.
“Century egg?” Anna thought for a while. She had never heard of such food.
However, she had never heard of any food that Uncle Mag made, yet he could still surprise everyone every time.
“Anna, if you want to continue practicing, you can use these ingredients. When you are able to make a plate of Yangzhou fried rice that I am satisfied with, you can start using the ingredients in the fridge,” Mag said with a smile as he put the ingredients for Anna on the table.