The Wuxi Pork Ribs are made using pork spare ribs. The final dish is sauce-red, with tender meat, a rich bone fragrance, and a thick, flavorful sauce that is sweet with a hint of salt, fully embodying the basic taste of Wuzhong cuisine.

The sign has been changed to "Authentic Wuxi Pork Ribs 40 RMB per serving (rice included), combo 60 RMB, with an additional 3 kinds of stir-fried seasonal vegetables."

Wang Fan is sawing the ribs.

The reason for sawing instead of chopping is, of course, the power of technology.

The steel wire moves quickly, soon sawing the ribs into nearly uniform small pieces, with each piece having two ribs, which is why Wang Fan didn’t have the butcher help with the cutting.

If we’re talking about making authentic cuisine, every detail must be right.

Wang Fan’s method doesn’t involve blanching the ribs.

It’s still washing with flour and salt. Blanching the ribs removes more than 30% of their meat aroma, which is an absolute waste, especially since today’s ribs come from a mountain-running boar, courtesy of Guizhou’s many mountains.

After washing carefully with flour and a pinch of salt, the gentle pressing allows the red blood to silently seep into the water. After three washes, the water becomes crystal clear.

His big pot is on the truck, so today’s ribs can be cooked in one go—a total of less than 200 servings, one pot is enough. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

He pours the cleaned ribs into a basin, adds yellow wine, salt, sugar, scallions, and ginger, and gently kneads the marinade evenly so that every rib can fully absorb the flavors.

After marinating for about half an hour, he heats oil in the pot, without rushing to add the ribs, but first places the sliced ginger into the pot. Only when the ginger is fried to a golden, curling state does Wang Fan take it out.

With a constant "sizzling" sound, the ribs jump into the oil, and a rich aroma begins wafting through the air almost instantly.

The rosiness of the ribs gradually changes, turning white, then gradually acquiring a light golden hue. However, since sugar was added during the marinating, each rib also has a slight caramelized red sheen.

The ribs are taken out, scallions, ginger, and spices are sautéed again, then the ribs are put back in, and with a clang, most of a bucket of rock sugar is poured into the pot.

They say Jiangsu and Zhejiang people like sweets, but compared to Wuxi, it’s nothing. The title of the sweetest city in the country is well-deserved.

Zhuo Qianqian was originally curious why Wang Fan brought such a big bucket of rock sugar, never expecting he would pour all of it into the pot.

"Wow, boss, this rib could make teeth fall out from the sweetness, right?"

Some advertising lines really stick, even though in the ad, it’s a girl cooking and a man with a sweet tooth. But Qianqian’s words make Wang Fan reflexively respond, "Miss, is it that your teeth are just weak?"

"Hey?"

Zhuo Qianqian was not convinced, leaning in and pointing at her teeth with her finger, saying, "My teeth are perfectly healthy; everything I eat tastes great!"

Wang Fan doesn’t waste words, taking advantage of the opportunity.

"Yes, indeed healthy."

"Boss, you’re getting mischievous!"

"This might be called revealing my true nature..."

He adds red yeast rice powder, light soy sauce to enhance flavor, dark soy sauce for color, salt for taste, and yellow wine for aroma and to remove odor. He pours in boiling water, covers the pot, and lets it simmer on low heat to let the magic of time work on each rib.

The aroma from making this rib dish is much stronger than when making beggar chicken.

Firstly, it’s because of the large quantity. Secondly, the beggar chicken is wrapped in mud, unlike now when 200 servings are simultaneously giving off fragrance.

Incidentally, the wind is favorable today.

The rich, fragrant ribs are carried by the gentle breeze upstream, traveling far and wide, making visitors who were originally immersed in the excitement of rafting unable to resist lamenting.

"The moment you smell this, you know it’s Boss Wang up to his tricks! Damn it, how much longer do we have to float to reach there?!"

"Inhuman! Whose stewed rib aroma can travel three miles?!"

"Wow, I can’t tell if what’s hitting my face is water or drool."

"Make way, everyone, we’re going ahead first!"

With a shout, two muscular men zipped through the rafts like lightning, charging downstream relentlessly.

Who else but Brother Gang and Brother Hua?

Brother Gang felt that his performance yesterday didn’t live up to his image as a muscular man, so today he decided to challenge extreme rafting once more.

Brother Hua felt he hadn’t eaten enough of Wang Fan’s food, so he stayed behind to accompany Brother Gang for another day of fun.

As they got closer to downstream, the aroma became even more intense.

Not only did their saliva start to flow, but even their stomachs began growling in protest.

Hunger might be one of the most unbearable pains. As soon as they reached the shore, the two quickly ran towards Wang Fan’s stall, faster than they’ve ever run in the Happy Forward Rush.

When they reached Wang Fan, they happened to see him lifting the pot lid.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

The lid was lifted, and a rich steam billowed upward like a mushroom cloud, making the aroma of the meat even more intense.

Wang Fan turned up the heat to high, for the final sauce reduction.

Seeing Brother Gang and Brother Hua, Wang Fan greeted them with a smile, "You two are quite early today."

Brother Gang also smiled, "We wouldn’t have been this early, but the aroma of your ribs drifted into the river. We hurried as fast as we could to catch this sauce reduction scene."

Brother Hua also chuckled, "Wang, you’re challenging the limits today, making authentic Wuxi Pork Ribs— might flop."

He was speaking the truth, as authentic ones are indeed overly sweet, something outsiders might not be able to handle.

Wang Fan nodded, "You’re right, there’s indeed a risk, but showing a region’s signature dish authentically when abroad is necessary so people won’t call me a fraud once they taste the real thing locally."

Brother Hua laughed heartily, "If you put it that way, what you made yesterday and the day before might’ve been deceiving since they’re not as tasty as what you’ve cooked for us as a regular Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine consumer."

This wasn’t easy to answer, so Wang Fan didn’t, giving a simple "Hmm" and said, "Why don’t you both sit down and wait a moment? It’ll probably take another 5 minutes. Are you ordering just ribs or the combo?"

Brother Hua smiled, "We’ll take the combo. Wuxi Pork Ribs are really sweet; some stir-fried vegetables would be nice to balance it out."

Brother Gang also ordered the combo, and then paid for both their meals.

After paying, they didn’t sit down, just stood there, intently watching Wang Fan’s process.

Meanwhile, Wang Fan had already turned on three stoves, placing three iron woks on them.

Brother Gang immediately beamed, "Well, I thought the stir-fried veggies were ready-made, but you’re actually cooking them fresh?"

Wang Fan nodded, "Vegetables taste best when freshly stir-fried."

"Can you handle it if there are many customers?"

"I can manage. This wok can handle about 5-6 servings at once, and it won’t take more than a minute or two."

While the three chatted, the sauce in the high-heat pot became thicker, the sauce-red bubbles densely rising, and bursting in the pot.

"All done."

By then, more and more tourists had run over. Brother Gang and Brother Hua only arrived slightly earlier but couldn’t be that far ahead of others.

When they reached the stall, everybody lined up obediently.

Zhuo Qianqian quickly recorded these orders in her small notebook: one combo here, two ribs there, with clear and concise information. Their coordination by now was exceptionally harmonious.