Golden Ratio Shao Mai is Chef Xie's specialty, combining pork, shrimp, vegetables, and eggs in a golden ratio to achieve the best flavor combination.
Chef Xie once said, "The main ingredient of Shao Mai is ultimately pork, but without supporting ingredients, the main ingredient cannot be highlighted. The ratio between the two determines the taste of the Shao Mai. The ratio of my Shao Mai is eight parts meat, five parts shrimp, five parts vegetables, and five parts egg. The balanced ratio of eight to five with any combination is the golden ratio of taste. With this optimal ratio, the best taste can be achieved." Moreover, the ingredients for this Shao Mai are much simpler than the Three-Egg Shao Mai.
"Kai, what is this?"
When Wang Kai was trying to make Three-Egg Shao Mai, Jimmy looked at the preserved egg in Wang Kai's hand with a look of horror.
"This is a thousand-year egg, a duck egg that has been preserved for a thousand years. How about it, want to try its taste?"
Wang Kai said to Jimmy with a mischievous smile, causing Jimmy's eyes to widen even more.
"NO, NO, Kai, you can't use this kind of thing to poison customers. You'll get us both into jail."
Jimmy believed Wang Kai's words, thinking that it was really a duck egg that had been preserved for a thousand years, or at least many years, because it looked dark and seemed to have gone bad. This would cause food poisoning if customers ate it.
"Okay, I'm just kidding. This is a kind of snack in China. It's a duck egg that has undergone special treatment. It hasn't been a thousand years, only about a month. Don't worry, no one will be poisoned."
Wang Kai stopped joking and explained to Jimmy. Wang Kai had watched many videos of foreigners eating preserved eggs, and without exception, they all found it unpalatable. Seeing these videos, Wang Kai really wanted to say, "Why don't you give them some vinegar? Chinese people don't eat preserved eggs directly like this. Preserved eggs need to be eaten with ginger shreds, vinegar, or even sesame oil. It would be strange if you didn't find it unpalatable eating it directly like that."
Preserved eggs also have a certain status in Chinese cuisine. Preserved eggs are not only a delicacy, but also have medicinal value. In Wang Shixiong's "Dietary Materia Medica from the Sui Rest and stay", it is said: "Preserved eggs, with their pungent, astringent, sweet, and salty taste, can clear heat, relieve alcohol, remove large intestine fire, treat diarrhea and dysentery, and can disperse and astringe." Traditional Chinese medicine believes that preserved eggs are cool in nature and can treat eye pain, toothache, high blood pressure, tinnitus, dizziness, and other diseases, so foreigners are really too simple, too naive.
"Really, no one will be poisoned?"
Jimmy still didn't quite believe it, after all, the appearance of preserved eggs was too strange.
"Don't worry, once I make it, you will forget your current worries and fall in love with this delicacy."
Wang Kai picked up the prepared Shao Mai wrapper, spread a layer of pork filling on it, then put the fish roe in the middle, wrapped it up, and turned it into a small pouch. Then, he sprinkled the crushed preserved egg on top. In a short while, he made five or six of them, and then put them on the steamer to start steaming. At the same time, he prepared another kind of Shao Mai, the Golden Ratio Shao Mai.
After making a steamer of Golden Ratio Shao Mai, he also put it on the steamer. These two steamers of Shao Mai were for tasting, to give Jimmy some confidence, otherwise Jimmy wouldn't believe it, how could he convince others?
After eight or nine minutes, the Shao Mai were cooked. Wang Kai took the two steamers of Shao Mai down, turned off the heat, and came to the living room. Jimmy was already waiting there.
"Is this the thousand-year egg from just now?"
Jimmy asked in surprise, looking at the crystal clear, jelly-like preserved egg white pieces on the Three-Egg Shao Mai. How was this different from what he had just seen?
"Of course, try it and see how our dream of getting rich is. Is it delicious?"
Wang Kai used food tongs to clip a Three-Egg Shao Mai for Jimmy and placed it on the small plate in front of Jimmy.
Jimmy looked at the Three-Egg Shao Mai in front of him, feeling as if he was facing a cyanide, with the possibility of direct poisoning and death if he ate it.
"Come on, take a bite into your mouth, chew hard, and feel the taste."
Wang Kai said to Jimmy, Jimmy's appearance was too tangled, making Wang Kai anxious.
"Okay, if I die, remember to tell my dad, I love him, Kelly is very suitable for him, I don't mind Kelly becoming his wife."
Jimmy looked resigned, then picked up the Three-Egg Shao Mai and put it in his mouth, then chewed hard, looking like he was eating some big bug. Instantly, Bear Grylls possessed him.
But as Jimmy chewed, the face that was originally wrinkled into a bun began to relax, and the wide eyes slowly narrowed, beginning to experience the deliciousness of the Three-Egg Shao Mai. This was a taste he had never experienced before. Although Jimmy wasn't a gourmet, he was a person, a person with all five senses. He knew what was delicious and what wasn't.
"Incredible, this is a miracle, this is so delicious, give me another one."
After chewing and swallowing the entire Three-Egg Shao Mai, Jimmy shouted loudly. He had forgotten the fear of the thousand-year egg and was conquered by the deliciousness of the Three-Egg Shao Mai.
"Ease, man, we also have a second delicacy, come and try this."
Seeing Jimmy's expression, Wang Kai knew he had succeeded. Next was the Golden Ratio Shao Mai.
"No problem, this one is so delicious, the other one must be no problem too."
Jimmy completely trusted Wang Kai. Without Wang Kai's help, he grabbed the Golden Ratio Shao Mai himself, then stuffed it into his mouth and chewed hard, letting the deliciousness bloom in his mouth.
The final result of the tasting was that Wang Kai only ate one Three-Egg Shao Mai and one Golden Ratio Shao Mai, and the remaining seven or eight went into Jimmy's stomach.
After confirming that Americans could also taste Chinese cuisine, Wang Kai decided that his food truck would only sell Three-Egg Shao Mai, Golden Ratio Shao Mai, and Rou Jia Mo (Chinese hamburger).
Knowing that Wang Kai had obtained the business license, Jimmy decided to start business tomorrow. Wang Kai also asked Jimmy to drive to purchase ingredients. This time it was different. To carry out large-scale sales, a large number of ingredients needed to be purchased and pre-processed. Otherwise, how could it be called fast food?
After the ingredients were bought back, Wang Kai began to prepare in advance. First, he wrapped all the Shao Mai, so that he could just put them on the steamer to steam when the time came. As for the Rou Jia Mo, he only needed to bake the bread in advance, and it would be no problem to heat it up the next day.
In the evening, Ben and Kelly also gave a thumbs up after tasting the two kinds of Shao Mai, affirming that Wang Kai and Jimmy's business would be hot. At the same time, Wang Kai also asked Ben where the traffic was higher, which was directly related to the success of the business. As a taxi driver, Ben was able to get first-hand information.