Chapter 179: Making potato flour
Shen Zhi commissioned the village to find some honest, reliable and hardworking people to work in the workshop, regardless of gender, but they must pay attention to hygiene and those who are sloppy will not be accepted.
The village head was familiar with the character of the villagers, and he discussed with Zhou for a whole night and finally selected more than 30 people, most of whom were women, but there were also more than ten men.
After Shen Zhi received the list from the village head, he went door to door with him to ask the people if they were willing to work. Without exception, all the people who were selected agreed. Everyone's face was filled with joy, and they secretly thought that this stable job would make their family life more affluent. Especially the women, they couldn't help but be happy, because from now on, they would be more confident in front of their husbands and mothers-in-law.
Shen Zhi was very familiar with most of the people on this list. Aunt Zhang, Guo Ning and her daughter-in-law, Qin Zheng and others were all on the list. Shen Zhi had a very good impression of them, as these people had helped them a lot in the past.
After recruiting the right people, everyone followed Shen Zhi to the workshop. Shen Zhi took out the overalls and hats that he had prepared in advance and asked everyone to put them on.
"Dear uncles and aunts, we are in the business of cooking, and the most important thing to pay attention to is cleanliness and hygiene. So you are required to wear overalls and hats before going to work, and your hands must be washed with soap in advance. Do you understand?" Shen Zhi stood in front of everyone and said loudly.
When everyone heard this, they immediately nodded to show that they understood.
Aunt Guihua smiled and answered first: "That's right, Erya, don't worry, I will definitely do as you ask."
Others also echoed and said that they would definitely abide by the regulations.
Next, Shen Zhi began to divide the work. She assigned the tasks in an orderly manner, and everyone had their own clear responsibilities. Some people were responsible for peeling, some were responsible for washing potatoes, some were responsible for grinding potatoes, some were responsible for fetching water, and so on. Of course, for those jobs that required greater physical strength, such as grinding potatoes and fetching water, Shen Zhi assigned them to men and gave them higher wages as compensation.
However, Shen Zhi did not ask them to sign a confidentiality agreement because she knew that as time went on, potatoes would be widely grown throughout the Great Xiao Dynasty, and by then, everyone would make potato flour, which would be more conducive to the storage of potatoes.
After Shen Zhi personally led everyone in making potato flour, everyone basically got the hang of it.
As for the extra potato residue during the production process, Shen Zhi did not waste it. When she built the workshop, Shen Zhi had anticipated that there would be extra potato residue, so she asked Li Zheng to build a large pigpen in the yard behind the workshop in advance and raise a few piglets in it. These piglets were bought by Aunt Guihua two days ago. In this way, the remaining potato residue in the workshop can be used to feed pigs. When the New Year comes, these pigs can be killed and distributed to the villagers, which can also be regarded as a welfare for the village.
Among the workers, there was a middle-aged man who was dumb and could not speak since birth. Because of this defect, it was difficult for him to find a job outside. He could only farm two mu of thin land at home and his life was very difficult. This time he was very grateful to Shen Zhi for providing him with a job, so he took the initiative to take on the hardest work and even asked to be responsible for feeding the pigs.
Shen Zhi knew this person. Everyone in the village called him Li Yaba. His family lived at the innermost part of the village, farthest from Lao Qin's house, so Shen Zhi didn't have much contact with him before. But one year, Liu asked Shen Zhi to dig wild vegetables. At that time, she was often hungry, weak, and dim-sighted. When Shen Zhi was squatting on the hillside to dig wild vegetables, she accidentally fell down the hillside and broke her head. It was Li Yaba who passed by while cutting firewood who carried her back and secretly gave her half a piece of black flour cake. Shen Zhi felt alive after eating that half piece of black flour cake. So Shen Zhi was always grateful to him, so he told the head of the village that he wanted to ask him to work. Unexpectedly, the head of the village and his wife agreed with both hands.
The workshop started to operate in full swing. Shen Zhi handed over the management of the small workshop to Shen Changgeng, and specially asked two agile servants from Bibo Villa to stay to help. After all, this is a place for making food, and in order to prevent sabotage by those with ulterior motives, someone needs to stay on duty. So the two stayed in the workshop and took turns to guard it.
Just two days later, the first batch of 2,000 kilograms of potato wide noodles was completed and transported to Wangxian Tower.
At the same time, Wangxianlou launched a new dish on the same day - big plate chicken with wide noodles. Once this new dish was launched, it was immediately welcomed by diners. The chicken was tender and juicy, melting in the mouth; and the ingredient called potato was soft, sweet and had a unique taste. The wide potato noodles were covered with rich soup, tasted very delicious and chewy. The potatoes of Wangxianlou were not provided by Shen Zhi, but came from the output of Songjiazhuangzi. However, many of the seasonings in this dish were sold to them by Shen Zhi at a low price. Wangxianlou made a lot of money with this new dish, which aroused the jealousy of competitors. But they could only watch helplessly, after all, they had no way to get such delicious potatoes and potato wide noodles.
Shen Zhi also taught Song Che several common potato recipes, including hot and sour potato shreds, dry pot potato slices, and dry stir-fried potato shreds. These simple and delicious dishes soon became a regular on the tables of ordinary people. With his unique ingredients and recipes, Song Che opened 15 branches and his business became more and more prosperous. Even the dignitaries in the capital praised these novel delicacies. For a time, eating big plate chicken and wide noodles became popular in the capital.
Even the emperor went out of the palace incognito to eat at Wangxian Tower after hearing about it. He couldn't stop eating it, and he wanted to come every morning. The Grand Tutor Pang who accompanied him was very scared, fearing that something might go wrong outside the palace, but he didn't care about anything after he ate it.
"Your Majesty, these potatoes taste really good. They are not only delicious but also highly productive. Look, I heard that these wide noodles are also made of potatoes. They are easy to preserve and delicious." Master Pang said while eating.
"That's right. My Great Xiao Dynasty has such a good breed. God bless my Great Xiao Dynasty, haha. I asked this old fellow Cao Rumo to announce an imperial decree. He brought back such important news to me, he deserves a reward." Long Xiaotian tasted all the dishes with potatoes in the private room and couldn't stop praising potatoes.
Master Pang stroked his beard and said, "In my opinion, Eunuch Cao is eager for you to let him stay there for a while longer."