Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 507 Trial Operation

Then she stopped using her chopsticks, lifted them out of the batter, and the batter slowly flowed down the chopsticks, forming a continuous line of uniform thickness and a steady flow.

The consistency is just right, enough to coat the sweet potato chips thinly, resulting in a crispy outer layer while the sweet potato inside remains soft after frying.

Xu Xiaoyan placed an iron pot on the stove, poured in half a pot of rapeseed oil, and turned on the medium heat.

It takes a while for the oil to heat up, so she used the time to move the bowl of batter and the sliced ​​sweet potatoes to the stove, and then took out a pair of chopsticks, ready to get to work.

When the oil started to smoke slightly, she turned the heat down to low, reducing the flame from medium to low. The flame on the stove changed from blue to blue-orange, and it shortened, gently sticking to the bottom of the pot.

She first dipped a little batter into the oil with her chopsticks and dripped it into the pan.

The moment the batter hit the pan, a dense ring of tiny bubbles immediately appeared around it. The batter rolled around in the oil a couple of times, then floated to the surface, its color changing from white to light yellow, indicating the oil temperature was just right.

Xu Xiaoyan first picked up a few slices of sweet potato, put them into the batter bowl, and stirred them a few times with chopsticks to make the batter evenly coat each side of the potato slices.

Then pick it up, letting the excess batter drip back into the bowl from the edge of the potato chip, and carefully place it in the center of the oil pan.

The moment the sweet potato slices hit the pan, oil splattered everywhere, and bubbles kept rising from the edges and surface of the slices, carrying a fragrant aroma of flour and sweet potato.

She fried them over low heat for about three minutes, watching the sweet potato slices gradually darken in color, from light yellow to golden yellow, and from golden yellow to deep gold.

She picked one up with her chopsticks, turned it over to look at the back, and saw that both sides were a uniform golden brown with slightly charred edges.

So she took the sweet potato cakes out of the pot and placed them on a plate that had been prepared beforehand.

Hot oil dripped down the surface of the potato chips, pooling into a small, golden puddle on the plate.

The first batch of sweet potato chips was successfully fried.

She reached out, picked it up, blew on it twice, and took a small bite.

The outer skin is very crispy; you can clearly hear the crispy outer layer cracking when you bite into it. Then there's the sweet potato inside, which is soft, sweet, and delicious.

"Delicious," she mumbled, a few crumbs of biscuit stuck to the corner of her mouth.

She couldn't resist the first slice and finished it in a few bites, her eyes darting to the other sweet potato chips.

Considering that I should be mindful of moderation, I could only take a deep breath, turn around and continue frying. My movements became more and more skillful: picking up potato chips, coating them in batter, putting them in the oil, flipping them over, and taking them out of the oil.

One batch can fry seven or eight pieces, each batch takes three minutes, and you can fry one batch after another without stopping.

Soon, the golden sweet potato chips were neatly arranged on the stove, emitting an enticing sweet aroma.

How much should I sell it for? Xu Xiaoyan wondered as she fried the food.

Although her sweet potato chips don't contain meat, they are sweet, soft, and chewy, and made with high-quality ingredients.

Selling it for two yuan seems a bit low, and her sweet potato chips currently don't seem to have any competitors, which means she can set the price herself.

Things are valued for their scarcity. Large sweet potato chips sell for three yuan each, while smaller ones sell for two yuan each. Is that too much to ask?

She dried her hands and took out an A4 sheet of paper and a red marker from her storage space.

She lay down on the stove, spread the paper out, and then carefully wrote a few words on it with a pen.

Large sweet potato chips, 3 yuan each!

Sweet potato chips (small) 2 yuan each!

Welcome!

Her handwriting wasn't particularly beautiful, but it was clear. After she finished writing, she checked it again to make sure there were no typos.

Then, below this line of text, a simple sketch of a sweet potato chip was drawn, with a few wavy lines representing heat drawn on it.

The painting skills are questionable, but the sincerity is its strength.

She taped the paper to the inside of the glass door so it would be visible from the outside.

Today is just a trial operation, so don't have too high expectations. Xu Xiaoyan gave herself a heads-up.

People in Qing City are used to steamed buns, porridge, and noodles. If you suddenly find yourself eating fried sweet potato chips, they might not be interested.

It's okay, she had a backup plan. If she couldn't sell them, she could store them in her spatial storage and eat them slowly later. They wouldn't spoil anyway.

She opened the door and stood there for a while.

There weren't many people on the street, just a few here and there, mostly elderly people who got up early to buy groceries and middle-aged people rushing to work.

The owner of the noodle shop next door was wiping tables at the entrance, holding a wet cloth and wiping the table back and forth.

He looked up at her, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the shop behind her and her, before continuing with his own business.

The grocery store owner was sitting on a small stool shelling edamame. When she saw Xu Xiaoyan open the door, she paused, her gaze lingering on her shop sign for a few seconds.

Instead of standing at the door shouting, Xu Xiaoyan went back into the shop, picked up a sweet potato chip from the stove, and slowly ate it while standing behind the counter.

Soon, a woman in her forties walked over from the other side of the street. She was carrying a bulging cloth bag, probably just returning from the morning market.

When she reached the door of C-12, her pace slowed noticeably. She twitched her nose twice, and her gaze fell on the red paper on the glass door.

"Sweet potato chips?" the older woman said aloud, her tone tinged with curiosity.

She tilted her head to look at those words, then shifted her gaze to the sweet potato chip in Xu Xiaoyan's hand.

Xu Xiaoyan stood up, revealing a perfectly timed smile. "Yes, these are freshly fried sweet potato chips. Would you like to try some, ma'am? The large ones are three yuan each, and the small ones are two yuan each."

"Two yuan? That's a bit expensive," the older woman frowned.

She glanced at the piece in Xu Xiaoyan's hand, then looked at the price on the signboard, and shook her head.

But she didn't move her feet. Her eyes peered through the glass door, her gaze sweeping across the stove and lingering for a moment on the neatly arranged golden sweet potato chips.

Finally, she shook her head, picked up the cloth bag, and left.

Xu Xiaoyan didn't sell a single item all morning.

Several people stopped in the middle of it, including an old man, a young mother, and a young person in work clothes.

They stood at the door for a moment, glanced at the sign, asked "How much?", then frowned, shook their heads, and left.

No one said "too expensive", but everyone's expressions said "not worth the price".

At noon, she simply closed the door, put the sweet potato chips directly into her storage space, and the stove was clean again.

Although today is just a trial opening and we shouldn't have too high expectations, I still feel a little disappointed.

She walked to the sink, turned on the tap, washed her hands, then turned off the light and went upstairs to prepare for her afternoon nap.