novelnext Chapter 446 - 358: Since You’re Here, Get to Work
Chapter 446 - 358: Since You’re Here, Get to Work
What they want to learn is not some so-called recipe, but rather the free-spirited creativity of a Great Xia chef and the extraordinary ability to combine and arrange ingredients.
Even with the same ingredients, in the hands of a Western chef, it can only be made into Western-style dishes and flavors.
But in the hands of a Chinese chef, these ingredients can shine with a completely different brilliance.
This is what they truly need!
However, it’s not yet their turn to dine because the handcrafted noodles in the pot are ready.
Lin Chen swiftly scoops out two wide noodles, placing them in a bowl, with a spoonful of stir-fried tomato and egg, a spoonful of stir-fried carrot and potato slices, a spoonful of fried meat sauce, three small bok choy, sprinkled with fine red chili powder and scallions on top, and finally pouring three scoops of scalding hot oil.
"Sizzle"
"Sizzle"
"Sizzle"
Accompanied by delightful sounds, the cart is filled with a dense aroma of oil, mingled with a hint of sauce fragrance, the sharpness of chili powder, and the freshness of scallions.
A variety of flavors intertwine and blend together, joining the aroma of wheat and diving into people’s noses, causing their suppressed cravings to stir restlessly again.
"What are you waiting for, get to work!"
Lin Chen looked at the two with confusion: "Didn’t you see that the food in the guests’ hands is all finished? Get to serving!"
"...Yes, chef."
The corners of their mouths twitched, answering helplessly, without needing any communication, they started their work with excellent coordination.
Nagishiro Sho is responsible for scooping the noodles, judging their doneness, while Raphael is in charge of plating and pouring oil, with clear division of labor in their respective comfort zones, ensuring no mistakes.
Lin Chen didn’t idle either, after making room he went to help Zhao Shun make the bread for the Roujiamo, avoiding supply delays when they start to get busy later.
Compared to the previous two mixed noodle dishes, the employees are more curious about these handcrafted noodles.
In the West, handcrafted noodles are just one kind, usually just different shapes.
The magical noodle-making technique of Great Xia is something most people are seeing for the first time in their lives, it would be untrue if they said they’re not curious about the taste.
Only a few have seen it on TV shows, but certainly never tasted it.
The most important is the visual and auditory effect created by the final pouring of three ladles of oil, which magnified the curiosity to its peak.
The first employee to get the noodles eagerly plunges his fork into the noodles, quickly stirring them to blend all the toppings on the surface together, forming a magical aroma of sour, sweet, meaty, saucy, spicy, and oniony flavors.
This scent is completely different from the previous two mixed noodle dishes, having no similarity whatsoever.
The natural irregular wavy edges of the wide noodles make them look especially tempting, covered with light red sauce and tomato bits, faintly with traces of brown meat crumbles.
After being stirred, the noodles seem to emit a faint luminous glow.
The man tries to slurp a mouthful, but the wide noodle doesn’t budge, it was a total failure, utterly different from the thin noodles he had before.
He had no choice but to nudge the noodles into his mouth with the fork, scooping some toppings from the bottom as well.
The handcrafted wide noodles have a firm and chewy texture, just after taking a bite he realizes something’s different.
This firmness is very similar to wide pasta, but the texture is somewhat softer, not as rigid as pasta.
Soft yet chewy as it should be.
In the mouth, the overall flavor is dominated by the sweet and sour tomato and salty fresh meat sauce, though there are visible many chili powders, it surprisingly has no spicy taste, only a faint hint of vinegar aroma.
The flavors of tomato and vinegar are relatively familiar, but the distinctive brown meat sauce is quite unfamiliar to him, seemingly a sauce he has never tasted.
To be specific, it resembles the miniature concentrated meat juices of the Chinese burger he ate earlier.
Soon, more people get to savor the deliciousness of the biangbiang noodles one after another.
Unlike before, there is hardly any sound of slurping noodles, nor any chatter at this moment; the employees just briefly glance at each other and continue silently devouring the noodles.
This silent dining behavior further piques the curiosity of the two head chefs.
How delicious must it be that they can’t say a word?
"Everyone, pay attention here."
Lucas, who is scooping ice cream balls onto the plated agar jelly, calls out to grab everyone’s attention.
"After you finish the noodles, come and get your agar jelly dessert, I promise you’ll be satisfied, it’s a flavor you’ve never tasted before, pure handcrafted natural plant jelly~"
"Hmm??"
Both Raphael and Nagishiro Sho curiously look over.
They had noticed Lucas’s movements when they boarded the cart earlier, but were too busy learning the craft to pay much attention.
Now hearing his introduction, is it really a plant-based handcrafted natural jelly?
In an instant, several types of plant seeds flashed through Nagishiro Sho’s mind, but the finished product seemed somewhat different from what he had seen before.
Not to mention Raphael, who had no idea since such ingredients weren’t used in Western cuisine; all the jellies there were made from jelly or gelatin powder, with no concept of anything handmade naturally.
"What kind of plant seed is that?"
Nagishiro Sho was straightforward, directly asking Lin Chen.
"It’s ice powder seed, also known as stone flower seed, originally from Peru, later widely cultivated in Great Xia, mainly used for making jelly."
"Lucas has the preparation process recorded on his homepage, it should be in the first few videos, you can look it up later, I won’t demonstrate."
The two nodded, secretly keeping this in mind, planning to take a look later.
Rovena at this moment also received his portion of meat sandwich, having taken precautions by placing an extra napkin in his palm to avoid the meat juice spilling everywhere.
The warm flatbread was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, baked to perfection, especially the two sides stuffed with meat filling absorbed the soup, making it exceptionally delicious.
Having eaten several big bites, it even gave him a feeling similar to pastry puff cream soup, only replacing the pastry puff with English muffin.
But all that didn’t matter, as long as it’s delicious!
The following three kinds of noodles left him amazed as well, all with sauces he could accept, and the texture of the noodles was very unique, distinct from the taste he previously experienced in Chinese restaurants.
Though the noodles tasted in those Chinese restaurants were also good, there was a very obvious familiarity that came with them, even if he had never tasted Great Xia Cuisine before, he could guess it’s certainly a modified product.
But now, the flavors of the sauces in these three noodles had a very obvious unfamiliarity, yet carried an unexpectedly familiar sense.
He dared bet, these are definitely traditional Great Xia flavors, whether there was a slight adjustment he couldn’t distinguish, but surely the head chef has meticulously selected these specific flavors for the sake of the customers’ acceptance.
"Finished eating, girls and boys?"
He was gobbling up the thick handmade noodles, eating to the point his lips were glowing, while weaving through the crowd, loudly shouting.
"If you’ve finished eating, return to your posts, if you need a nap, make it quick, later when the guests arrive, there won’t be time for laziness!"
Upon hearing the word nap, the employees hopped up like clockwork, and instantly scattered, disappearing onto various boats by the dock.
The once bustling scene now only left the people on the food truck and Rovena himself.
He was in no rush, leisurely enjoying the meal, approaching the food truck window with a smile to ask.
"Chef, what’s for lunch?"
"Garlic roasted oysters."
"?!"
Rovena’s eyes lit up: "Is it the food that ranked first on the official poll?"
"Oh right, speaking of which, it seems like the Chinese burger and noodles were also ranked quite high? Haven’t visited the site for days, can’t quite recall."
"Yes, it’s that one."
Lin Chen nodded, not at all surprised.
"Today’s preparation is plenty, should be enough to last for quite a while, later let the employees come and have some as well when they have spare time."
"We’ll see, we’ll see, depends on if there’s a lot of guests wanting to play, if too busy, no time for them to rest on shore, they’ll have to stay on the boat."
"Ah... is that so? Alright then, since I’m not familiar with the system here."
Lin Chen hadn’t expected that employees were so busy here that they even lacked break time, instinctively turning to glance at the numerous fishing boats docked by the harbor.
Can’t really call them fishing boats, more like cruise ships, anyway he had little knowledge in this aspect, only these few words came to mind to describe them.
If taking these boats to the fishing area, the round trip should take some time, along with the substantial time needed for fishing and diving, roughly calculating indeed they seem quite busy.
Taking advantage of this free time, Raphael and Nagishiro Sho swiftly finished making another batch of food, as breakfast for the team employees.
"So that’s the taste, hmm, interesting, peanut sauce can be used like this."
"What’s the specific significance of this step of pouring oil over chili powder? To release the chili powder’s aroma? How about pouring chili powder directly into the oil?"
"Certainly not."
Without thinking, Lin Chen blurted out.
"If the oil temperature isn’t enough, it can’t release the chili powder’s aroma, but if poured on, the oil will flow away, the chili powder won’t get continuously heated and won’t burn."
"If chili powder is poured into oil, it would cause the powder at the bottom to overheat and burn, while the top doesn’t release the aroma."
"Theoretically, if stirred quickly it might work, but chili powder will settle at the bottom, can’t distribute evenly by bowl, pouring oil is more convenient."
"Most importantly, pouring oil is a ceremonious act, it evokes strong anticipation from the guests for the bowl of noodles."
"Chef, you haven’t seen the process of making Great Xia chili oil, right? Just in time the kitchen needs restocking today, come watch the production this afternoon, what you imagined as that kind of thing should be the state of chili oil, but the production technique is entirely different."