Take a small piece of slightly fattier pork belly and slice it thin.
Though Dry Pot Cauliflower is primarily a vegetable dish, it requires a bit of pork belly to enhance the texture and make it more satisfying with rice.
After slicing the pork belly, slice so onions and place them at the bottom of the prepared dry pots.
Since the restaurant had several tables of diners, multiple dry pots were prepared.
In the restaurant, Dry Pot Cauliflower represents a dish with low cost but high profit. The cost of each serving of cauliflower is only about one to two yuan, plus a bit of pork belly; the total cost, even generously calculated, wouldn’t exceed ten yuan.
But it can be sold for thirty to forty yuan, or even more.
This is why many restaurants heavily promote this dish.
With all the ingredients ready, Lin Xu placed the wok on the stove and began to cook.
He poured half a pot of cooking oil into the wok and heated it over high heat.
Whether it’s big bowl cauliflower, stir-fried cauliflower, or today’s Dry Pot Cauliflower, all require the cauliflower to be flash-fried in hot oil first.
The reason restaurant cauliflower has such a dry, fragrant, and crispy texture is because of this deep-frying step.
Besides deep-frying, cauliflower can also be blanched or stead, but both thods yield textures and flavors far inferior to frying.
When the oil reached seventy percent heat, Lin Xu poured all the drained cauliflower in at once.
The oil in the wok imdiately began to boil furiously.
The cauliflower didn’t need much ti in the oil—given the high power of restaurant stoves, it had to be removed in under ten seconds.
Otherwise, the cauliflower stems would absorb a large amount of oil like sponges, lose their crispy texture, and beco soft and greasy.
After adding the cauliflower to the hot oil, he quickly fished it out. He held a large slotted spoon over a nearby oil drum and poured the wok’s contents—oil and cauliflower—through it, draining the oil and catching the cauliflower.
He then placed the wok back on the stove and scooped in half a spoonful of lard.
When the fat lted, he added the pork belly slices to stir-fry.
Once translucent, he added minced ginger and garlic along with small chili peppers, stir-frying them before adding two small spoonfuls of Dry Pot Sauce.
Since there was a lot of cauliflower, a larger amount of Dry Pot Sauce was used. For a normal portion of Dry Pot Cauliflower, one small spoonful is enough. The spoon shouldn’t be too big either, otherwise the dish would be too salty.
He stir-fried the Dry Pot Sauce until the Red Oil separated, then added the prepared Erjingtiao chili peppers, followed by the flash-fried cauliflower.
He quickly stir-fried for ten seconds using a flipping technique, ensuring the Dry Pot Sauce coated the cauliflower evenly. Then, he poured a bit of Light Soy Sauce along the edge of the wok to add umami flavor.
Continuing to stir-fry for thirty seconds, he allowed the aroma of the Dry Pot Sauce to develop further.
As he tossed and flipped the ingredients, a layer of Red Oil evenly coated the cauliflower in the wok, and the spicy fragrance grew increasingly intense.
At this point, it was almost ti to take it out of the wok.
He moved the wok away from the stove, placed it on the workbench, and then evenly distributed the cauliflower among several dry pots.
After he finished serving, Cui Qingyuan and his senior brother’s family arrived.
Ti to eat!
"Eh, how co Chun isn’t here today?"
Lin Xu noticed his senior brother, who was still limping slightly, arriving with his wife and child, but the famously ravenous Big Chun was conspicuously absent.
"He went to a dinner with his classmates from sports school. Every ti they gather, they randomly pick a buffet restaurant and eat until their bellies are round before leaving."
Wow, they’re giving the buffet owners a run for their money.
A dry pot stand was placed on the dining table. It had a base tray designed to hold a piece of solid alcohol. After lighting the alcohol, the dry pot was placed on top, and soon a SIZZLING sound ca from it.
This was the SIZZLING sound of the onion strips frying in the heated oil at the bottom of the pot.
Placing onions at the bottom adds a pleasant onion fragrance to the dish.
Additionally, onions have a high water content, which makes them hold up well to frying compared to other vegetables.
Lifting a bowl of rice, Lin Xu picked up a piece of cauliflower coated in Red Oil and brought it to his lips. The taste was fragrant and spicy, the texture crisp and refreshing, even leaving a slightly sweet aftertaste.
Riding the wave of lingering spiciness, he shoveled a large mouthful of rice into his mouth.
This imdiately awakened the hearty eater in him.
"Delicious, delicious! This Dry Pot Cauliflower is really tasty!"
"It’s a new addition to the nu this afternoon, right? I’ll post an update online."
"Spicy and delicious, it’s perfect with rice."
"Yummy, yummy! I love this kind of flavor. I really like both Dry Pot Cauliflower and big bowl cauliflower."
"..."
Everyone ate heartily. Initially, they didn’t think much of it, but as they continued eating, they began to suspect they hadn’t taken enough rice. How else could their bowls be empty after just a few bites?
Hearing everyone discuss big bowl cauliflower, Shen Baobao turned to Lin Xu and asked, "Does big bowl cauliflower taste the sa as Dry Pot Cauliflower?"
"No, they’re different. The thod for big bowl cauliflower is similar to hand-torn cabbage; fragrant vinegar is added before serving to enhance the sour aroma, resulting in a tart and refreshing taste."
"And what about dry-fried cauliflower?"
"That one is numbing, spicy, and dry-fragrant, with a crispy texture. It’s different from the oily and spicy Dry Pot Cauliflower."
Dry-fried dishes use dried chili segnts and Sichuan peppercorns for flavor, whereas Dry Pot Cauliflower doesn’t include these, deriving its taste mainly from the Dry Pot Sauce.
Although these dishes might seem similar, the differences are quite significant.
"Bro, this is way tastier than the cauliflower in our school cafeteria."
"Of course! Uncle Lin made this himself. How could it not be good?"
"It’s a pity Uncle Lin isn’t our school’s head chef; otherwise, we could eat delicious dishes like this every day."
"..."
Xie Baomin heard his sons’ conversation and, for a mont, didn’t know what to say.
At ho, I prepare State Banquet dishes worth hundreds of yuan per serving for you, and you don’t like them, yet you love these simple als? Fine, I’ll let you see what your old man can do before school starts!
Xie Baomin was annoyed.
In the past, his sons would compare him to the school chef, but now they didn’t even ntion him, instead constantly praising his junior brother.
This was simply unbearable.
To prove his skill, he planned to prepare a similar spread at ho soon to open his sons’ eyes.
As everyone was eating, Old Huang suddenly ca upstairs carrying a bag full of squab.
"It wasn’t easy to get these squabs; I even had to queue up... Brother Lin, I’ve got the squabs for you. How do you think we should cook them?"
Lin Xu imdiately looked towards Xie Baomin, "Senior brother, what do you think would be the best way to cook them?"
After thinking for a mont, Xie Baomin smiled and said, "Junior brother, the steam pot chicken you made last ti was good. This ti, you could use that thod to make steam pot squab."
Steam pot squab? Lin Xu’s eyes suddenly lit up. That’s a great suggestion!
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