Chapter 102 - 100: All-Beef Banquet

Chapter 102: Chapter 100: All-Beef Banquet

A "Full-Ox Banquet" uses every part of a whole ox, with each part’s unique characteristics serving as the main ingredient for a variety of delicious dishes prepared through different cooking methods.

This culinary style emphasizes the concepts of "ox" and "entirety," symbolizing soaring success and a bountiful harvest.

The Yongding Full-Ox Banquet features over a hundred dishes. It’s a traditional Hakka feast made from a whole ox, offering a rich variety of dishes steeped in cultural history.

The Yizheng Full-Ox Banquet has more than 40 dishes, combining flavors from both the north and south. It has a standardized menu system that can be freely adapted based on the season and the number of guests.

The Hengli Full-Ox Banquet is characterized by its "ten dishes and one soup" format. It’s a standardized menu chosen through a selection process, focusing on showcasing the unique flavors of different parts of the ox.

The Chaoshan-style Full-Ox Banquet includes over 24 courses, emphasizing fresh ingredients and skilled knife work. It evolved from a traditional 10-dish meal and is constantly being updated with new creations.

The Sanjiang Town Full-Ox Banquet consists of a full table of twelve dishes. It’s a local specialty set meal that champions the principle of "using every part," with affordable prices and a fixed combination of dishes.

Uncle Sandao learned the Yizheng Full-Ox Banquet, but he has since adapted it to local tastes, so the flavor is now somewhat different from the original.

Cold Dishes: Five-spice beef, tri-color tripe slivers, five-spice tongue, five-spice ox heart, and savory ox testicles, highlighting the original aromas and braised flavors.

Main/Braised Dishes: "Lucky" ox head, braised oxtail in savory sauce, stewed ox tendon, crab roe beef meatballs, and garlic ox pizzle, featuring impressive presentation and a tender, flavorful texture.

Stews/Soups: Dragon-phoenix soup (ox trotter soup), chestnut-braised beef ribs, carrot-braised beef brisket, steamed egg with ox brain, and ox bone marrow in white sauce, offering rich, mellow broths that emphasize nourishing and restorative properties.

Sautés/Stir-fries: Blanched ox kidney, blanched omasum, stir-fried ox liver with scallions, sweet and sour tenderloin, and "maoxuewang" on an open flame (ox offal hot pot), which require precise heat control to achieve a fresh, tender, and smooth texture.

Not only is preparing a Full-Ox Banquet incredibly troublesome, but the cooking process also takes a huge amount of time. Only a portion of the dishes are suitable for a regular menu.

After Uncle Sandao went back yesterday, he began his preparations. Right now, he’s putting the finishing touches on some of the dishes that require on-site cooking.

Some tourists, drawn by the aroma, came over to ask about it. Soon, news of the Full-Ox Banquet spread throughout the village.

A number of tourists who wanted to try it ran over and asked why these dishes weren’t on the menu.

"Boss Lin is here! We want to order the Full-Ox Banquet too! Boss, just put it on the menu."

"Yeah! Even though this Full-Ox Banquet looks expensive, we can afford to have it at least once."

Lin Feng quickly placated them, "Everyone, please be patient. It’s not that we’re unwilling to add it to the menu, and it’s not because of the price. We simply don’t have enough time to prepare it.

As you can see, Uncle Sandao is still busy with it. He started working on it yesterday afternoon."

"Boss Lin, can’t you just offer it as a limited-time dish, once a day? With so many dishes, it should be enough for a few dozen of us."

"If Uncle Sandao makes one Full-Ox Banquet every day, we won’t have enough staff for the ’flowing water banquet’ here."

"Boss Lin, your ’flowing water banquet’ is so popular. Can’t you just hire a few more chefs?"

Lin Feng asked, "Uncle Sandao, would you be willing to make one Full-Ox Banquet every day?"

"Making it is no problem, but the price for this meal is indeed a bit high."

"Since the tourists want to eat it, we’ll open up online pre-orders. If someone pre-orders it, we’ll make it."

He turned to the crowd and said, "Everyone, you heard him. This meal is indeed a bit expensive, so in the future, we’ll be making it available for pre-order. We’ll only prepare it if it’s been ordered in advance."

"Then I want to pre-order right now! How much is it?"

"Me too, me too!"

"We can’t take orders right now. We have to go back and calculate the costs before we can open the pre-order channel."

Lin Feng realized that quite a few tourists were interested in the Full-Ox Banquet. ’It seems this really could become a specialty feast,’ he thought.

He pulled Uncle Sandao aside and said, "Uncle Sandao, when you go back, spread the word and see if any chefs are willing to come work for us. We need to hire two more."

"Alright, I got it. I’ll look for people when I get back."

Looking at the current headcount, they already had 96 employees. The number of staff in Lin Xian Village was about to break one hundred, and it would surely continue to grow.

Noticing Wan Tiejun, the master of Lu cuisine, standing off to the side, Lin Feng walked over and asked, "Uncle Wan, how about you show us a thing or two?"

"I’ll pass. This Yizheng Full-Ox Banquet is well-made. It’s also been modified a bit and has reached a certain standard."

"Uncle Sandao figured out how to make this Full-Ox Banquet himself just by following the recipe, so it’s a little different from the original version."

He looked at Ma Sandao with some surprise. ’I didn’t expect this man’s culinary Talent to be so good. He actually managed to make a Full-Ox Banquet just by following a recipe.’

"Impressive! To figure it out all by himself, truly impressive!"

’It’s a shame he’s a bit old. Otherwise, I could have taught him some Lu cuisine,’ he thought.

After everyone had left, he found Uncle Sandao and asked about the price of the Full-Ox Banquet.

It was just as he had expected. The cost of the meal was primarily tied to the price of the yellow cattle. A better-quality ox would push the price toward thirty thousand yuan.

A slightly lower-quality ox would still result in a banquet costing over twenty thousand yuan, not much cheaper at all.

A regular yellow ox costs around sixteen thousand yuan, while a better one costs over twenty thousand.

"Xiaofeng, we could prepare the entire banquet and then sell it by the portion. It wouldn’t be so expensive for individuals, and it would make pre-ordering easier."

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. ’That’s a great idea. It would allow more people to try it.’

One larger yellow ox would be enough to feed 100 people, and there might even be leftovers.

"Uncle Sandao, you’re full of good ideas. Let’s sell it that way."

"I’ve used this method to sell the Full-Ox Banquet before. It just didn’t sell very well."

He recalled trying to sell the Full-Ox Banquet this way back then. He had thought he would make a profit, but he nearly went bankrupt from the losses.

The main issue was that the spending power in town was nothing compared to these tourists.

"Uncle Sandao, when you go back tonight, calculate how many portions one ox can be divided into. We’ll set the price and the pre-order quota based on that number."

"That’s simple. I’ve done it before. I can calculate how many dishes can be made based on the weight of each ox."

Lin Feng thought for a moment and said, "Uncle Sandao, if you were to stop working on the ’flowing water banquet’ and focus solely on the Full-Ox Banquet, we could base your bonus on its profits. What do you think?"

Hearing this, Ma Sandao did a quick calculation in his head and immediately agreed.

"Yes, absolutely no problem."

’If his bonus was calculated from the "flowing water banquet," he’d have to split 30% of the profits with everyone else. But with the Full-Ox Banquet, he could handle it all himself and wouldn’t have to share the cut.’

’Even if he only made three thousand yuan in profit from one ox, making thirty banquets a month would earn him far more than his current share.’

’Given his skills, if he got a helper, he could even handle two oxen a day without a problem. That would definitely be more profitable.’

’With the number of tourists in Lin Xian Village, two oxen’s worth would absolutely not be too much. It might even be too little.’

He had already made up his mind: he would have his son work alongside him and learn the trade.

With that problem solved, Lin Feng headed back and noticed many of the tourists were still talking about the Full-Ox Banquet.

’It seems that when faced with such a special meal, people are willing to spend the money to give it a try.’

When the employees of Lin Xian Village learned they would be having the Full-Ox Banquet for dinner tonight, their faces lit up with smiles.