Boss Xiao Chen's culinary skills are truly reliable.

Boss Xiao Chen's character is certainly commendable.

But Boss Xiao Chen's pricing is a mystery that Dunzi can never figure out.

A bowl of noodles for 12 yuan, neither too expensive nor too cheap.

A bun for five yuan, slightly pricey, but very delicious and worth the money.

But this mapo tofu for 58 yuan a serving, Dunzi couldn't understand, "Boss Xiao Chen, what is this tofu made of, how come it's 58?"

As a loyal customer who supported the business from the very beginning, Dunzi was very familiar with Boss Xiao Chen, and he asked bluntly.

Chen Mo paused his work and turned around.

"Have I ever tricked you?"

"No, you haven't."

"Then order a serving, and you'll find out."

Dunzi felt what Boss Xiao Chen said was unassailable, and for a moment, he didn't know how to retort. But he asked out of pure curiosity, not out of dissatisfaction. "Alright then. I'll order one to try today."

The buns were steamed on the way here, and since they sell quickly, there's no worry about keeping them warm. At this moment, the steamers were placed on the counter of the Cloning Chef Machine.

The spot originally for the steamer was connected by Chen Mo with a power strip, allowing for more appliances to be used. Cooking noodles didn't require precise heat control, so this became the new spot for noodle cooking.

On the stove on the side, Chen Mo placed a black pot, added enough water, poured in some soy sauce and fine salt, and then put all the cut tofu cubes in to cook.

The unique heat-conducting properties of the black pot quickly brought the water to a boil, with wisps of steam filling the air, mixed with the distinctive aroma of tofu.

The advanced version of mapo tofu doesn't differ much in early preparation from the regular version.

Chen Mo poured the cooked tofu with its broth into a large stainless steel basin to continue soaking, as the boiling water still served to keep it warm.

"Scrub, scrub!"

The non-stick nature of the black pot made cleaning unnecessary, but Chen Mo pretended to clean it because someone was watching. After cleaning the black pot, he started heating oil!

With quite skillful movements, ginger, garlic, and fermented black beans were added into the pot, stir-fried a few times, and then the cut beef cubes were quickly added.

The pot was half full!

"Holy...!" Dunzi pointed at the pot, "Boss Xiao Chen, is all this for me?"

If that were the case, Dunzi thought 58 yuan for the mapo tofu wasn't expensive at all; this wasn't mapo tofu, this was pure mapo beef!

Chen Mo rolled his eyes at him, "What are you thinking?"

Flipping the pot, stir-frying, Chen Mo's small tricks were already quite masterful. The change to the black pot, due to its properties, accelerated the progress, making Chen Mo's actions look more fluid, giving an impression of a world-class chef.

The large amount of beef cubes in the black pot were continuously tossed and stir-fried, with the even heat conduction ensuring every beef piece was cooked to the same perfect degree, gradually emitting a smell akin to grilled meat.

This aroma was incredibly enticing.

Just like how fried chicken stalls on the street always make passersby take a deep breath.

The aroma of the beef attracted quite a few people to come over and watch.

Initially, everyone was waiting in line, but they couldn't resist and rushed to the front of the food cart to see what was happening.

"Wow, what's this big pot of beef for?"

"Boss, you're not joking with this 58-yuan mapo tofu, right? I came from Central Avenue because my friend said it was good. Could you make it a bit cheaper?"

"Move along, if you want to eat it, eat it; if not, move on. Who puts beef cubes in a mapo tofu for 18 yuan at a restaurant, do you even know what's good?"

"If it's real beef cubes, 58 yuan isn't too bad. As long as it's delicious, I'm okay with anything."

Jingzhou's livestock industry is relatively underdeveloped, with beef and lamb relying on imports from other provinces, making the price relatively high.

So the consensus among Jingzhou people is that dishes with beef or lamb are a tier more expensive than others, and that's normal.

A large pot of beef cubes finished frying, Chen Mo poured it all into a clean basin for standby, so there was no need to fry it fresh for each dish.

He also scooped a spoonful with a spoon.

Soft, fragrant, crispy, with the flavor of meat wafting everywhere.

Eating this beef cube felt incredibly satisfying, making Dunzi almost drool, "Boss Xiao Chen, let me have a bite!"

"No way."

What a joke, this tender beef is very expensive, and it's meant for making mapo tofu. How could it be given to others to eat? Even Chen Mo himself only dared to eat a small bite.

Continue cleaning the pot.

The same steps to fry up ginger, garlic, fermented black beans, then directly add a small spoonful of bean paste, using the bottom of the spoon to crush the bean paste, and simultaneously scooping a spoonful of the high-temperature soy sauce soaking the tofu with his left hand.

The already hot broth entered the pot, with the black pot's properties achieving an instant boiling effect.

The advanced mapo tofu is here!

As the soy sauce broth boiled, it fused the pot's fragrance into the soup, pouring the liquids from the pot into the prepared basin through a strainer.

Heating oil again, adding the beef cubes for a simple stir-fry, allowing the oil to coat the beef cubes, then quickly pouring the soup back into the black pot from the basin.

The previous bean paste, ginger, garlic-type seasonings were filtered out.

At this moment, inside the black pot, the ingredients could be described as very crisp and straightforward.

Just the sauce and the beef cubes.

The meat and the fragrant broth underwent a violent Maillard reaction under boiling, making the onlooking patrons salivate.

It wasn't just the roasted meat aroma, it had the scent of braised meat.

And not just that.

Chen Mo now realized that with the black pot, cooking efficiency improved by several notches, tasks that once required extensive stir-frying now took only a few moves to complete.

It saved time and effort.

Next step, seasoning!

Add chili pepper powder responsible for the spiciness, making the color increasingly vivid, chicken essence and MSG for umami, sugar for a complex flavor, evenly spreading the seasonings then directly adding a spoonful of tofu cubes to it.

Turn the flame down low, thicken the sauce, the thickening liquid entering the pot instantly prompted high flames, causing the sauce to thicken and quickly turning down the flame again.

It looked like Chen Mo just twisted the flame adjustment knob twice, with not even a three-second interval in between.

But actually, it was this momentary change in heat that achieved the initial thickening effect.

"Bubble, bubble..."

The thickened sauce became clear again, second round of thickening, while also adding scallion.

The sauce cleared again.

Third thickening, without reducing the sauce, sprinkled with Sichuan pepper powder, ready to serve!

Chen Mo held the black pot, pouring the completed mapo tofu into the prepared bowl, at this moment, some patrons incredulously rubbed their eyes.

The state of the tofu in the bowl seemed to surpass their understanding.

Just observing, amid the almost full bowl of sauce, the tofu neither sank to the bottom nor exposed on the surface of the sauce, but seemed to float in the middle of the sauce.

What was this situation?

Chen Mo sprinkled some more Sichuan pepper powder on top, enhancing the "numbing" sensation.

The initial Sichuan pepper was in the lower part, this time it's on the top.

Finally, with disposable gloves on his left hand, he grabbed a small handful of fragrant, crispy beef cubes, with his thumb pinching against the other four fingers, the beef cubes fell from above evenly on the sauce surface.

Red broth, white tofu.

Brown beef, green scallions.

The four colors creating a stunning visual, subtly trembling.

The advanced mapo tofu is complete!

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